KennethT

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

@shain You have much more citrus growing experience than I do, but in my experience, most citrus problems are caused by the soil being too moist and causing root rot. This is a major cause of leaf drop and twig dieback.... Do you have a moisture meter where you can check moisture at the root level? I would also check for pests - my lime tree is a magnet for spidermites, which can also cause leaf drop.

In the past, I have used aged trimmings in a "mini-stock"... I minced, sauteed in a bit of grapeseed oil until nicely browned (doesn't take long since the water had already been removed) then added some cold water and simmered for about an hour.... made a very intensely beefy broth which I then added other stuff to make the final sauce. As @paulraphael mentioned, I wouldn't do it if the trimmings were moldy, but if they're just dessicated, it worked fine.

Another idea is to heat up the Searzall before trying to remove the screw. If the hole gets hotter than the screw, it will expand more and make screw removal easier.... you may not have to get it ridiculously hot though... I think the vice grip idea is a good one, other than drilling a pilot hole into the screw and using an E-Z Out.... I also like the idea of replacing the philips head screw - I haven't seen it, but if the screw is small, another option if you can't find a small hex head screw is to use one with a socket head... Also, I would coat the screw with a high temperature anti-seize lubricant that will aid in removal later.

I assume you put the pot with the chicken stock into the fridge to cool? I do the same thing, and I find that the fat floats to the surface and solidifies on the chicken jelly. I just scrape it off with a spoon, knife, or palette knife - whatever is easier..

@Droo Thanks... I assumed the same things... all in all, the flavors in the recipes are quite good, I was just frustrated by some inconsistencies and terminology!

@sartoricWe're still looking into the order of destinations... as of now, it looks like we will need to go to Hoi An first, then go to Hue because of intra-Vietnam flight times to/from Saigon. I have been debating taking the train from Da Nang to Hue versus hiring a car/driver. While it costs a bit more, the car/driver is still not expensive and would provide much more flexibility. Also, we can make stops along the way - there seem to be a few interesting things that would be worth a slight detour... and we can also take the pass as we get near Hue for great vistas.... Thank you for your thoughts!

@quiet1 I hate to derail this thread, but the mixture was salt and red chilis - either fresh bird chili or dried red chili... once in a while it was salt and pepper... You can see the photos from the trip here:

@quiet1 I saw that done everywhere we went when my wife and I spent a week in Saigon last year...

Well, maybe not so soon... July.... But my wife and I are headed back to: This time, central Vietnam - specifically Hoi An and Hue (and some stuff in between as we go from one to the other). We just pulled the trigger after I found tickets from NYC to Saigon, round trip, for about $1000 pp on EVA. I don't think I've ever seen flights to SEAsia that cheap.... I can't even fly to Europe for that price, and it's a lot closer! So, if anyone had been to that area and has any suggestions, I'm all ears (or eyes in this case)

Looking forward to it @Shelby!

@paulraphaelAgreed...