Hard H2O

Does your university have an art department? You might be able to find someone skilled enough to cut a circle from the material of choice and fold up some pleats. I would think it would be simple enough.

Have you looked at Costco or Sam's Club? Costco has a couple online and Sam's Club has about a half dozen. The Cosco ones run from $140 to $500. The Sam's Club ones run from $421 to $2,727.

Did the waiter ask how you would like it? If so then why ask if he knows what is best?

I do not think I would base my dining decision on whether the menu on a website was a .pdf or some other format. There are some god awful flash sites out there. .pdf files work. They are stable. I know I will be able to open them with no problem. That other stuff can be iffy at times and offer data that is superfluous to my researching a dining option.

One nice thing about the .pdf format is you can download it for offline viewing. You can also easily attach them to an email. Printing of a .pdf file is sometimes nicer than a flash or similar menu. It is nice that you can cut and paste out of a .pdf.

That is exactly how it has worked for us.

We have learned a bit over the years about this process. With each change of butcher my cousin did we had to communicate and let them know what we wanted versus what they would or could do. One of them charged extra for special sized and weighted packages. With one we didn't get any porterhouse. The current one will handle special requests with no problem. The wrapping and marking is great. The meat has held up very nice to freezing for an extended period. The meat is fabulous to work with. Flavor and texture are incredible. We know what the animal has been eating and what they have not been given. The price is not too bad. I have had a lot of practice cooking with beef. It is actually fun going out to the farm and seeing an animal that will be on my table in a short while.

Interesting: I was not sure how it worked. Do you know if the market hogs are actually picked up by the new owners, or is it possible to have the folks from the abbatoir come pick them up? I don't have a truck or a trailer, so I'd have a hard time transporting my new pig anywhere. Or do you suppose you can make arrangements with the farmer to pick up the pig at a later date? ← I have no idea how that end of it works at the fair. Our beef is taken from the farm to the butcher by my cousin and we pick up the packaged meat much as you did with your hog. There were a few show bunnies for sale as well as market rabbits. My 4 yo wanted to buy one of the bunnies. I was checking out the market rabbits. I do not think he had the same thing in mind as I did.

Our fair runs from August 21 until September 1st this year. The station I listen to at work broadcasts from the fair. I heard one of the sheep farmers on the radio telling about the 4H kids getting a bit upset the other day. The market sheep that they had been showing were being picked up by the people who bought them. The market animals that are sold during the fair are collected by the new owners when they change over the barns to the new breeds. So like with the horses they start with the quarter horses and sometime during the fair they leave and they transition to draft horses. The sheep and poultry barn had a change over the other day so a lot of kids had to hand over the animals they had raised.

Do you have any county or state fairs that you frequent? I attend the Washington County fair in Lake Elmo, MN and the Minnesota State Fair every year. There are a lot of hogs and beef farms represented. Might be a local one that could answer your need for a fat and tasty hog. The big boar at the MN State Fair topped out at 1240#. Not the biggest but he was pretty impressive. There were quite a few labeled and judged in the "Market Hog" division so I know that at least at the MN fair ther were hogs raised for the table and not the show ring.

Congratulations. It is exciting looking at a freezer full of meat and imagining the possibilities. For several years we have purchased a half of a steer. We started with a farm owned by a friend of the brother-in-law. We didn't like a few of the ways he handled things and my cousin had an opening for half of one of his so we go with him now. We have been getting a half of an Angus Steer from him for about 4 or 5 years now. Sometimes we have split it with someone but most times we just fill up the freezer. He will be slaughtering his in a week and we are taking a quarter and our friends are taking a quarter. Last year our half cost a total of approximately $720. I will have to look up what it weighed. He has switched processors twice since we have been buying with him. He switched feeding regimens once. We pay the cousin for the steer and then we pay the processor seperately. We talk to the cousin and remind him that we would like ther heart and things like that. We then talk to the processor about cuts, grinds, weight of packages, number of steaks per package, weight per roast, thickness of cuts... The first year we didn't know how it worked so we just took the processors reccomendations. It has been a learning experience. We have been doing it a few years and we have learned what to ask and how we like things. Chalk the first year up to a learning experience. Even if everything is not exactly how you want it you still have some nice pig there. Next time you will know. My uncle raises hogs. He has a long waiting list to get one. We are patiently waiting for a shot at one.

I went on Saturday. We ended up spending 14 hours there. With the kids in tow we didn't get down to trying much of the new stuff. I did try a pickle pop. My 9 yo daughter ate one whole one. I could only eat half of one. It had very good pickle flavor. It was just a bit too concentrated. She later had one of their pickles on a stick and enjoyed it. Our friend ran over to the Big Fat Bacon booth while we took the kids up the DNR fire tower. When we got back down My wife was inspecting it with her. She took a few bites and tossed the rest. I didn't try one based on their review. The lefse with lingonberries was great as usual. The mini-donuts were fabulous. I am not sure what they put in the sugar they roll them in but they made for a great breakfast. My daughter ate her entire hot dago on a stick. In the International Bazaar I tried the prosciutto wrapped asparagus. I handed over my $3 expecting 2 or 3 spears. In return I recieved one spear. It was ok. There was a bit of marscapone under the prosciutto. The version I made last Christmas was better. I was hungry by the time we hit the giant slide. I sidled next door after my trip down and snatched up a corn dog. With a bit of mustard it was just the thing. True fair food.

It is right here: Phil's Tara Hideaway

Had an enjoyable meal last night. They specialize in Greek type stuff with supper club fare thrown in for good measure. We had the Greek Flatbread appetizer. Very nice. I had the Pear Gorgonzola salad. The wife had the Romaine Gorgonzola salad. Both are delicious. Wife had a chiicken dish in filo. I had a sort of stew of roast beef over polenta. I forget what they called them. Price was very reasonable considering quality, portions, and service. This is my new favorite restaurant in the twin cities. Phil's Tara Hideaway

mmmmmm pie I added one more thing to my list for the MN State Fair. Bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin So an addition to my Big Fat Bacon, Pig Lickers, Stuffed peppers, Lefse with lingonberries. It will be a sad fair for the Danielsons. Bill Danielson died shortly after the fair last year. William Danielson Those are the onion rings to judge all others by.

I will be there Saturday morning. I was talking to the wife last night. I told her we were going to have to track that bacon on a stick down. She told me she was scheduling a cholesterol check for next week. I am worried. My last test was a bit high. The doc did not believe me that I had fasted. Looks like my diet might be in danger of undergoing a change. I hope to hear how it was for you.

Just lucky. The buckets were iced up on the bottom so they sat in the tub while we ate dinner. That was a trip up to Sioux Narrows in Ontario for Lake Trout the first week in January this year. We ended up with a mess of crappie, lake trout, walleye, and perch. Nothing like fresh fish pulled out of an 8" hole. We had a couple of meals of crappie, perch, and walleye. One of the meals we had 3 hotel pans full of fish between 6 anglers. We ate until we almost exploded. The cook at the resort prepared one of the meals with a wash of evaporated milk and corn flake crumbs. No seasoning. Just the milk and the corn flakes. I quizzed her on this. It was one of the best fish fries I have ever partaken of. I tried to duplicate it in my home kitchen. Should be easy. Same fish, fresh, evaporated milk, cornflake crumbs, hot peanut oil. My attempt was nowhere near as tasty as what she put together. I am not sure if my deep fryer versus the resorts commercial unit could make a difference or if it was a different brand of canned milk or corn flakes but I was sorely dissappointed.

There are products, intended for those with arthritis and the like, to assist in opening screw caps: DYCEM BOTTLE OPENER CAP TURNER We have a combo tool that the wife uses. It has a cap turner on one end and a slot for lifting can tabs on the other. It has a magnet and stays on the fridge. My young daughter uses it all the time. It is from Pampered Chef. Similar to this one: KUHN RIKON PARROT 4-IN-1 OPENER We also keep a couple of square silicone sheets intended for aiding in removing lids. Your idea of snipping off a square of one of those is a nice idea. It would be small, portable, inconpicuous, and undoubtedly effective.

If you take most freshwater fish. Say a crappie and you have 10 gallons of them. You set up four stations. The first station involves slicing vertically down behind the gill to the spine. YOu rotate the knife 90° and slice the side off leaving a fillet with ribs and skin attached. At the second station you slice at the top of the ribs to seperate the pin bones and then with a sweep the ribbs peel off. The third station is skinning. If you are transporting some jurisdictions require a patch of skin left on for identification. The fourth station is cleaning and packaging. With a mess of fish it can be quicker to remove the ribs in a seperate step. With sharp knives it can be fun. We do not save the skin to eat but I can see that argument for scaling.

Then I can understand removing the scales from where you are going to cut through the skin but not the whole fish.

I'm sure this is not the only new entry to the Food On A Stick category. But, a 1/3 lb. slice of bacon? Wonder if it's deep-fried? I'll have to check this one out, and see what kind of dipping sauces they offer. ← I am going to have to try that. Pork fat is good. My favorite at the Minnesota State Fair is the Hot Dago on a stick. It has been around for a few years now so it is nothing new. You can get them at Luigi Fries. The stuffed peppers are always good. The Scotch eggs are quite nice. We go early and have breakfast. My usual is the venison Polish sausage with scrambled eggs on a rye bun from Schumacher's New Prague Hotel: Here is the food finder list: Food Finder List We always buy the Blue Ribbon Bargain book. It pays for itself just in beverage purchase savings.

I have read in articles and seen on TV that chefs and cooks sometimes scale a fish, fillet, and then remove the skin. Why scale a fish if you are just going to skin it? When I clean fish I fillet, skin, and then fillet out the ribs. Am I doing it wrong?

The Sharpmaker will sharpen and maintain a blade that is not too dull. From what I hear it is not the best for changing angles or bring back to sharp a dull blade. For maintenance it seems to be the ticket. You need to have a blade that matches the angles available on the Sharpmaker however.

Do not worry about being fast. Learn to do it right. Speed will come with practice. If you do not get a lot of practice at a certain skill you are probably not wasting a lot of your time anyway. I find that I make up more time in the kitchen by being organized, reading recipes beforehand, and managing my time than I do by chopping and slicing fast. Sometimes it matters that your sliced and chopped bits are uniform and sometimes it doesn't. Relax a bit and have fun. One thing that does help a lot is to have a sharp knife of the right size and shape. Another is having a cutting board big enough to allow you to manage the job. If you are constantly stopping to clear an area for work then you will slow down. Organize your work area and you can work more efficiently.

That kind of thing is done all the time. You have the main bevel at XX° and then a secondary bevel at XX°. It is done not only with hand sharpening but on the guided systems as well. That is one of the advantages to doing it yourself. You can experiment and if you don't like how it slices or cuts you can redo it. Also a similar thing is done with the guided systems to simulate a convex edge. You vary the anngle and have maybe 4 or 5 secondary edges down to the main edge. You end up with a series of flats instead of a smooth convex but the cutting effect is similar.