birder53

Grab a seat at the bar at Zig Zag if you can on your next trip. That's the best seat in the house!

The market has eroded my savings. Who knows how long it will take to recover, if it would even get back to where it was? I'd be foolish to spend as though nothing has happened. My health insurance is going up over $100 a month in 2009, property taxes have risen, the season for high heating bills is upon us and the cost of gas for the car is still high. Discretionary income is tight these days and dining out is not a necessity. We try to do our bit by dining at the locally owned businesses, but there are bills to be paid first and uncertainty about the future causes me to not spend money that might not be there.

We've really cut back on dining out. When we do head out it is mainly breakfast or lunch, which are much easier on the budget. The vegetable garden was a money saver, especially since a lot of the bounty came from free seeds. Food expenses are pretty low since we very rarely eat meat. Most of our grocery shopping is done at Sam's Club and Trader Joe's which also helps keeps costs in check. With just two of us to feed, it's easy to cut back. I feel for the folks trying to feed their families, especially young and growing children who may not be as willing to give up their favorite treats.

Well, I had to google "Devils on Horseback"! What a great name for a Halloween dish. Thanks for the suggestion for the advanced prep. I won't feel too guilty about asking for 5 minutes of the oven. This is not the best dish to bring to another location, but my husband has his heart set on it so I'll give it my best try.

This was a wonderful trip! We hiked through parts of Utah 15 years ago and your photos were just beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to document everything so carefully for sharing with us.

I'll second the baking soda. Also, check to see if the odor is coming from something that was in the fridge along with the tuna. It's possible that the odor has lodged itself in another food you have stored. Have you checked the butter? It's pretty good at picking up other odors. Good luck!

A friend made a wonderful dish of roasted almond-stuffed dates on a piece of candied bacon. I'd like to make this for a friend's party but wonder if it will be tasty after 20 minutes in the car. I have a hot/cold cooler for the car that keeps things pretty warm. Maybe a bacon dish is not the way to go. I saw quite a few raves about bacon wrapped parmesan stuffed roasted dates when I googled roasted dates and wondered how that might work. The advantage being that I wouldn'' have to assemble the dish when I get there since the bacon is already wrapped around the date. Just not sure that these are dishes that work best when served right after roasting. Since our host is also cooking for the party I really don't want to intrude and ask to use her oven. Any thoughts here?

Glad I met you and Dennis before the tequila did you in! Sorry you had such a rough night. Did you venture past 10000 waves at all? The rain in town covered the mountain in snow probably above 8,000'. The combination of the yellow aspens and snow covered evergreens was beautiful.

The Fitty Fitty at Pegu is made with Tanqueray and Noilly Prat, as far as I know. ← We first had this drink at Gary Regan's 'Cocktails in the Country'. He made it with Tanqueray 10. We tried it at home with regular Tanqueray and didn't care for it. The Plymouth worked as a less expensive substitute for the too expensive Tanq 10. I guess it all depends on what you expect from a drink and perhaps how you first enjoyed it. It's like the folks who only like certain foods prepared the way their mother made them.

$24 here in Santa Fe. Sam's Club doesn't stock it. We usually go with Gordons and Tanqueray for price reasons. The one drink that needs the Plymouth is the Fifty Fifty. That didn't work as well with our other gins. Hendricks and Millers are nice but don't work well in cocktails for us.

Tonight - a drink from an Ardent Spirits email - organized chaos , mach 2 Created by Gary Regan, 2007. 2 ounces Wild Turkey bourbon (@ 101-proof, of course) 1 1/2 ounces Noilly Prat sweet vermouth 1/4 ounce Pernod Absinthe 1 lemon wedge, for garnish. Fill a medium-sized wine goblet with ice, and add the bourbon, vermouth, and the Pernod Absinthe. Squeeze the lemon wedge into the drink and drop it into the glass. Stir briefly and serve. Even nicer with cracked ice!

My favorite dish for a crowd is Southwestern Chicken Stew w/ Black Beans It can be made ahead, which I love! Serve with plenty of lime wedges, fresh chopped cilantro and sour cream!

Well, this certainly produced a lot of information! I ordered a case of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt and one of DC Iodized 'finer salt'. Neither are available in New Mexico and the stash supplied by our east coast visitors was waning. I should be set for quite awhile. Since my diet here is woefully seafood deficient, I went with the iodized. Thanks to all who contributed to this discussion!

I was reading the salt discussion here and someone mentioned the metallic taste of iodized salt. Since I'm looking to buy some salt by the case, I figured I find out if there really is a difference in taste.

If you have a choice - which do you buy/use? I don't remember what I grew up with, but I usually buy iodized. I don't know why - any thoughts?

Would Vya or Noilly Prat be best here. No Macallan right now. Highland Park 12, The Balvenie 12, Dalwhinnie 15 and Glenlivet. Any suggestions? ← Okay, we went with the Highland Park and the Noilly Prat. Very nice! Waiting for a name!

Would Vya or Noilly Prat be best here. No Macallan right now. Highland Park 12, The Balvenie 12, Dalwhinnie 15 and Glenlivet. Any suggestions?

We still have frozen chiles from the bushel we bought last fall. Even so, I couldn't resist the smell of roasting chiles at the farmers' market and picked up a small bag. My husband couldn't understand why I had to have them when we still have peppers at home. Fresh roasted chiles win over frozen every time!

We haven't had a lot of luck with oj in cocktails. They just don't deliver the bright contrast of lemon or lime juice. The one exception was the Strega Daiquiri which gets a little zing from lemon juice in addition to the oj. Maybe it's just that you want the tartness of citrus in your drink that oj doesn't deliver.

It's chilly here right now. I'd love some green chile corn chowder - even though it isn't even 10:00AM !

The basil isn't as robust as the days shorten. Even with three plants we'll still have to buy some to go along with the heirloom tomatoes from the farmers' market. Three of the four zucchini plants are still providing us with enough produce for at least two meals a week. The pole beans look like they have one more meal coming as well. The mint is doing so well that we made a point of using it in last night's cocktails. Friends in NJ said that they had lots of blossoms on their zucchini plants but not one zucchini! Makes you appreciate your bounty. The 'corn guy' at the farmers' market said he's very near the end of his season. Too bad! I look back and realize we didn't buy enough corn this summer. It all went by so quickly! Local apples are in now. I've made the switch from peaches to apples with my daily yogurt. Gotta go with the change of seasons - again. One bright spot - it's nice weather for Maker's Mark Manhattans!

Marcona almonds roasted with sea salt. Crackers with a nice goat cheese and jalapeno/chile pepper jelly.

Well, the beans were tasty. They had no strings. The skins were rough but they were tender after cooking. I cut them into 1" pieces, covered with cold water, a little salt, and let them simmer until tender. Tossed them into the sauteed zucchini and then added to pasta that was tossed with oil & garlic and lots of fresh parsley and basil. So, we're still not sure exactly what kind they are, but they are surely a nice addition to the dinner table.

So glad to see this! Free seeds in May, lots of flowers on the vines and now beans that are green but not your typical green beans. We picked about 20 today. They are probably romano beans. I'll give they a try tonight. There isn't any pork fat in the house, so I'll try the string, cut and water method. If they survive, they'll end up with the sauteed zuchinni in tonight's pasta.