KennethT

I wonder if it would dry out, depending on how long you plan to hold it. Most commercial holding cabinets are enclosed and don't have fan blowing hot dry air over the food... Maybe putting a pan of warm water in teh bottom to add humidity would help with that?

@TdeVThe one I use, I bought in a restaurant supply store - I think it was meant for straining tea.

If it's a fine powder, I'd put it in a small, fine strainer. Tap the side to dispense... I use this all the time to dispense fine powders in small quantity - like a light dusting of flour, or finely ground sugar...

@sartoricI'm surprised to see people eating so much meat. I was under the impression that South Indian food was mainly vegetarian? Did you find this not to be the case?

Thanks @sartoric! I can't wait to see and read everything!

Looks great! Thank you!

Bumping up this topic: my wife just came back from Israel with a big bag of zaatar... Other than on flat bread or yogurt, how else can I use it?

I got a confirmation email shortly after submitting my claim - on 12/23... but have not yet received my replacement

3/4 HP!! Holy crap!

I used to do that when I wanted the Robuchon style potato puree (but I used about half the butter as the Rx dictated). It was a lot of work. A lot. I would take the riced potatoes and then dry them in a pan over low heat to remove any extra moisture, then I'd whip in the butter.... Take that paste and run it through a tamis a couple of times, then back into a pot over low heat and add back some of the potato cooking water to get to the proper consistency and season. A lot of work, and a lot of cleanup. But the results are fantastic. I actually learned the technique at a cooking class run by David Bouley about 10 years ago when he ran classes a few times a month at his test kitchen. It's great if you have a staff to do it and all the cleanup...

Since the windowsill garden is only a few inches from the window, on a sunny day, the plants can feel like it is over 90 degrees. In fact, even in winter, on a sunny day, we have to turn on the A/C otherwise the living room turns into an oven. I don't know about these particular rosemarys, but years ago, I used to grow rosemary and it did quite well. But I find that I almost never used it! I also used to grow oregano, but again, barely used it... so that the plants became huge, even when I would wind up throwing out or giving away the clippings since I got so much and used so little. I grew mint (a few varieties that I got from Wellsweep herb farm) in my windowsill garden, and you're right - it's invasive! The roots spread up and down the entire trough! I will actually be growing Vietnamese mint in the new garden, coming soon... That garden is going to be a hydroponic flood table, with separate containers to contain the roots from spreading to each other, since a few of the other herbs I grow do similar things as the mint.

Just wait... I've gotten clearance from my wife to create even more spaceship garden in our living room/dining room area! I'm planning on 2 plants each of 7 different cultivars of alpine strawberries, to get an idea of yield, flavor, etc. I'm also going to move a lot of the plants I keep for a long time (like basil and other herbs which I never harvest completely) into a different type of garden which I think may work better for long term care... I have to think of what to do with the windowsill garden now. There's pluses and minuses to it. In winter, it doesn't get enough light, but on sunny days, it can get really hot... in summer, it gets plenty of light, but it definitely gets too hot... cilantro will bolt in a week... the problem is that I have very little temp control there.... maybe I'll just put some ornamental flowering plants there - some that may be more heat tolerant...

Regarding osmazome, check out the voluminous original SV thread... lots and lots and lots of mentions of osmazome (this is how it was spelled in lots of posts)

@kayb Check out http://fraisesdesbois.com/

I'm going to be growing 'Mignonette' as well as a few other varieties coming soon!!!! I can't wait!

I find that the skins clog the ricer, but I do cook with skins on, then rub them off with a towel prior to ricing.

@quiet1I understand your feelings about the glass floor - both the skirt issue and the fear of heights. Years ago, in Hong Kong, my wife and I took a cable car that had a completely clear glass floor... my wife would have had a nervous breakdown if she hadn't sat there with her eyes closed the whole time!

Personally, I thought the glass floor idea was awesome... to me, it is much more dramatic than having video, images, etc... Plus, I love the idea of an enclosed walkway leading from the entryway to the dining room - it's very ummm dramatic. I've seen this done very well in some places in NYC - there was a fancy Thai restaurant Kittichai (maybe it's still around?) that had a very dramatic dining room and a cool walkway from the entrance leading to it. It was almost as if the walkway was suspended over a small stream. Also, Bouley had a great entryway that was filled with fragrant apples - the second you walked through it, you were transported to a french-country type setting in the Northeast somewhere... like Connecticut or Massachusetts, or somewhere in NorthWest France... So, if it's not possible to have your guests walk "through" the forest while entering the restaurant, to me, walking directly above it is pretty cool too.....

When I started doing SV, I did it with plastic wrap and a pot with lid on the stove top with a thermometer. I had done a lot of reading on this site about how great it was, but at the time, circulators were really expensive, so before I invested any money, I wanted to try it. My first experiment was with a chicken breast - I wrapped it with a couple layers of plastic wrap and used a thermometer to manually adjust the temperature of the water in the pot on the stovetop to about 145degF, using a wooden spoon to stir once in a while. The results came out great, and I was sold. Nowadays, I use a circulator for convenience, but don't have a bag sealer or any other paraphenalia.... I use zip lock bags, and a big stockpot that I've had forever.... and I've done everything from simple chicken breasts to 72 hour beef cheeks, or duck confit with fantastic results.

You can also just type in your conversion into Google... like "60 degrees C in F" and it will pop up the conversion...

I find the duck skin best if you've cooked it low and slow for a long time to soften the collagen. Also make sure that it's salted... So you can either simmer in salted water (but then it likes to curl up and shrink)... another way is to season, then seal and cook SV at like 135 for 24 hours. This will cook the collagen but it won't shrink like a shrinky-dink. Chill, then scrap the fat with the back of a knife. At this point, I put in a 375 oven between 2 silpats and 2 cookie sheets to keep flat... I usually do it until brown - I think about 20 minutes but I'm not sure about the timing... wasn't too long... When finished, the skin is a little puffy and crisp - and melts in your mouth. But it is important to season first, because it doesn't taste so good without the salt.

@cyalexaThey are the same as garlic chives! That would be awesome to see if you had some seed heads! I would really appreciate it!

@heidihhmmmm... interesting. Maybe I'm just not letting it go long enough? That's what happened with the mexican coriander - they took forever to sprout - 6-8 weeks I think - but I wasn't surprised at that since it said on the packet that the germination time can be really long. The chive seed packet doesn't really mention a long germination time, but it does mention a long time to maturity - 80-120 days!

I'm having a problem getting one of my seeds to germinate. I bought a pack of Chinese Leek (Chinese chives) - #107 Tender Leaf allium tuberosum Rottler from Evergreen Seeds several months ago. I have tried germinating them several times over the past several months with no success whatsoever... I emailed Evergreen a while ago, but have not received a reply, and by now am not expecting one. In the same purchase, I also bought some cilantro, yu choi, and culantro (mexican cilantro) and had no problems germinating any of them. I am germinating in rockwool cubes soaked in pH 5.5 water... this is usually good to germinate just about anything... Any thoughts?

hmmm... @shain, this could be a more complicated problem.... there are several viruses that could cause cracking bark as well as whole branches dying.. maybe psorosis? I did a quick google search for "citrus cracking bark" which came up with many hits - at least on the US Google.... This was one of the first results: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/diagnose-citrus-bark-diseases-cracking-peeling-86612.html