KennethT

I'm impatient and decided to try the Indian mango once it warmed up to room temp (Fresh Direct delivers everything in a refrigerated truck). I am a bit disappointed, but not surprised. It was ok. Decent aroma, moderately sweet and only slightly fibrous, it didn't hold a candle to the Florida grown mangoes I've gotten in the past, not to mention the ones I've had in SE Asia. Pound for pound, it's probably about the same price as the stuff I get from Florida, shipping included.

Tomatoes are a high light crop - they need like 25 to up to 50 mol/day of light which translates to either several hours of full sun per day or like 20 hours of strong shade per day. Most commercial greenhouses have much more light than a shaded area would get, plus, during the short day season, they would have supplemental lighting fill in the gap. It is not difficult at all to get 50 mol/day in a greenhouse - heck, I can even get it indoors using a really strong LED grow light. Years ago, I grew a fantastic Goose Creek heirloom tomato plant in my southern facing windowsill using supplemental LED lighting. Since it was indoors, I had to hand pollinate, but that doesn't take a lot of time for 1 plant and I had a LOT of tomatoes. Probably 3-4 tomatoes every day for 6 months at least (Goose Creek (as well as most heirlooms and greenhouse hybrids) is indeterminate which means it will keep growing and fruiting for about a year as opposed to a determinate tomato which fruits all at once and then dies at the end of the season).

This year, my local grocery store delivery company, Fresh Direct, started offering a few different types of mangoes. I didn't buy all of them, but a selection to try: The two on the left are "Champagne" mangoes (aka ataulfo) - these are very common around here - basically in every store. They're relatively inexpensive - right now, FD had them 2 for $3 which isn't a great price, but not terrible either. They will be destined for some kind of mango salsa or mango som tam later in the week. In the middle is what they're calling an Indian Kesar mango - despite it being still greenish, it is soft. It was $5 The two on the right are what they are calling "South Asian" mangoes - but they didn't have a name. They're definitely not the Thai varieties Brahm Kai Meu or Nam Doc Mai. They were $3.50 each, or 2 for $6. I hope these will be good. As much as I like to support farmers and buy mangoes directly from the farmers in Florida (they grow some really great varieties), it does become expensive, especially when you factor in the cost for shipping. Although I'm sure I'll do it once or twice this season, especially when they start coming out with selling them green, which is my wife's favorite.

wow! those loaves look amazing!

Induce vomiting for poison control?

btw - you can treat peppers like other plants - take a cutting off of a really healthy plant (before it starts flowering) and root it, then you can keep it under 14 hours of light continually to keep it like a mother plant. Each season, take a bunch of cuttings off the mother and plant them (once rooted and hardened off) outside to finish to maturity.

@ShelbyAnd here I was proud of myself that I rooted a piece of grocery store Thai basil and planted it in some coco coir last night!

I get it from Wild Fork foods - everything they sell is frozen.

The elk meat is the same - it's actually the left over ground elk from the Yunnan version. The meat comes in frozen 1 pound vacuum sealed packages - which is too much meat for two of us, so I take 3/4 and use for something like the Yunnanese dish or burgers or something where the meat is the main protein, and use the left over for mapo tofu, where meat is more of a condiment.

@shainThanks so much for posting this - I truly enjoyed it.

Back on the horse.... Err... Elk. Mapo tofu

Thanks so much for sharing. I loved all the great seafood - you definitely made me want to head down there asap!

Usually with a 20A plug you would use 12GA cordage.

Nothing like raw fish sitting out in the sun!!!

I've been pretty sick with a nasty stomach virus since Thursday evening, so I haven't really felt like eating anything since then. Today I felt a little better, so I wanted comfort food that would go down easy but would also be fast and easy to make... hence: Miến Gà Grandma style Viet chicken soup with mung bean noodles, homemade chicken broth.

Sorry to hear about your loss - I think I remember you saying how you were quite close with your neighboring family. But I like the idea of bringing food over - the family has enough to worry about so taking care of them is one less thing for them right now.

With shrimp head fat.....

Keep it coming! Can't wait for more!

No shrimp head fat?

The Yixin teapot that I have has a handle. So you can pour the hot water over teh rounded surface of the teapot to warm it up, pour water into it (to brew the tea) until it overflows a tiny bit and put the cover on. The handle should stay cool enough to hold. Can you hold a small handle or is it too difficult to hold a small handle?

Speck for sure. Percebes - who knows. I had them grilled at Etxebarri and they were amazing, so why not lightly smoked? Or cook normally and serve with a smoked butter?

To appease the Barcelonian you could smoke some seafood. Lightly smoked mussels/clams.... yum.... percebes????

Pad cha pla cod

That is incredible to see it so empty!!!

For what it's worth, in my neighborhood of Manhattan, my tap water measures about 30ppm of total dissolved solids. Most municipal tap water is in the 200-300ppm range and well water can be upwards of 600ppm