DMS

Alice Water recommends salting meat as soon as you bring it home from the store, wrap it back up and stick it in the fridge. I haven't tried it yet to see if it makes a difference. I usually salt when I pull meat out to come to temp before cooking/roasting/grilling.

Sigh. I am not painting you with any broad brushes and I would expect the same. I am talking about invasive species and the argument you are making is not parallel with that. I am against invasive species running wild and screwing up my state. If that is the heavy hand of government or whatever you want to call it, fine, but it doesn't speak to my politics. Annabelle, I do not know for certain as the state only reports "feral swine." Here is the report that they recently issued (PDF) - Michigan Feral Swine Reports. My guess from reading the accounts in the papers and local news on the run up to this is that our population here is from escaped swine/boars from game ranches and not heritage pigs. That is why I said it was probably screwed up on implementation. I think there is a difference between neutered heritage pigs kept for small family production and boars kept on wild game ranches, but then again maybe the differences are not that far apart genus-species wise. Here is the PDF ruling that lists exactly what they are banning.

Cooking oil doesn't start breeding once released and making 4-6x its volume. There is a difference between a pollutant and an invasive species. Boars are an invasive species. Cooking oil is not. And I think you would trust there is already regulatory systems in place for many pollutants here with all this fresh water we have in the state.

The government wasn't going off half cocked. The DNR has been trying to get game ranches and use of wild boars stopped from the moment it started. Here is the webpage they set up on the topic: http://www.michigan.gov/feralswine One species of swine is banned - Sus scrofa. Domestic pigs are Sus domestica and not banned. There is a lot of politics and heat around this issue, but I think they made the correct decision. It is fine to disagree with me.

Has anyone tried making their own dishwashing detergent? This is a sample recipe. I make my own laundry detergent which works fantastic, but I still have quite a stock of detergent to use before I would try making my own. That would get your CPL down quite low.

Re the plastic dishwasher packets. I use those. I used Cascade for the longest time, then when they removed the phosphate from it, it suddenly worked awfully. All the dishwashing liquids or powders sold here have to have the phosphate removed. I use the Quantum Powerball tabs because they actually work. I tried many other products before settling on those. I buy them when on sale and have a coupon for it so we stock up in streaks.

I live in Michigan. What they are doing is fine by me and overdue. Feral pigs cause destruction on a massive level to crops and farms. Michigan cropped up a number of these "game ranches" and owners stocked boars on them where you could pay to hunt them. The problem is that many of these boars escaped, and some ranches just released all the boars when they went out of business. Those boars are now running hog wild over our state and breeding. Agriculture accounts for a huge percent of Michigan's economic output and closing down this is good step in my opinion. Wild pigs are already becoming a problem here and it definitely does not need to get any worse. Michigan is very sensitive to these kind of issues. Look at the Asian carp problem. That started eerily similar to the feral pig in that the fish "cafo" farms swore the Asian carp they brought in to help clean their ponds would never escape. Whoops. You can also add all the invasive species that are dropped by cargo ballast water to this. That is how the zebra mussel got in the Great Lakes which is now a massive eco-system problem. I do think the state screwed up the definition of a feral pig and included some heritage breeds that should not have been included. But when you are looking at an epidemic of wild boar destruction, I will take heavy handedness at the start and then look for exemptions later. We need to get this under control, now.

A bit early here in Michigan. I've already ordered all my seeds though. Garlic and shallots were planted in the fall. Our last frost date is probably Memorial Day, so I usually time back from that. I am not growing any peppers this year which I would have started first, but a few varieties of heirloom tomatoes some of which I save year to year here. Other than that, bush beans, nasturtiums, a mini-broccoli, leaf lettuce, spinach, Charentais melons, some pickling cucumbers and my herbs. Most of this is in a 4x8 ft raised bed and a few pots - I use the Square Foot Gardening method. I need to sit down and figure out what I need to start indoors and what can go outside. Fun!

No. There is no adjustment. They slide up into the leg and rest at the lip of the plug. I don't think I can put anything up the leg. Maybe I could file down the bottom. that is about all I can think of doing.

Yes - the above link is the plugs. They are glued in to a hole and that rests on the cooktop.

My KA 4 burner cooktop grates are unlevel. The cooktop itself is perfectly level front to back and side to side. Any suggestions what I could use to level the legs on the grates? They have a plug that is set into a leg hole. When previous plugs have fallen out, I've tried varying glues but they never seem to hold. It drives me nuts that everything flows to one edge of my pans. Help! Thanks!

How To Cook Everything is a solid recommendation. Pepin's new book Essential Pepin is excellent as well plus it has a DVD demonstrating kitchen techniques.

I have a Rosle press. It is solidly built, easy to clean and will last the rest of my life I predict. It is not perfect though - some garlic presses up the sides of the chamber. But it is quick and easy and cleans well. I will keep using it. I replaced a Zyliss press that the coating started flaking with my current one.

A librarian at the NYPL has a blog on the rare cookbooks and menus. Very interesting.

Small update: The Hazan and Colicchio books are both very good. I like the style of the Colicchio book but he features large sections of his book around things that can be hard to get a hold of or things not in my normal repertoire or budget - specialty mushrooms, ramps, lobster. I checked out from the library Cooking By Hand by Paul Bertoli and Eduard de Pomaine's French Cooking in 10 Minutes. The EdP book was really delightful, but not what I am looking for. If I find a used copy of this book out and about, I will pick it up. The Bertoli book is also excellent and one of the better cookbooks I've seen in a stretch. Alas, it had to go back to the library but Grace Young's Breath of a Wok is coming in its place.