snowangel

My free range chickens (which I get from an out of town cooperative) have been tended by 4-H kids, and when I get a chicken, it is in a plastic bag with the name of the student who tended said chicken on the label. It is wonderful. It takes me back to those days when my grandmother and I would head out to her cousin's house and kill a few chickens. These are the best chickens ever. I love calling them by the raiser's names when I put them on the table.

Thanks so much for participating in this Q & A. They are one of the many multitude of wonders that populate EG! And, I must confess. I have not read any of your books, but have reserved all of them that my library system has. As the days chill and gardening wanes, you will be my companion. As a bit of introduction, I grew up in Thailand, having lived there from 1966 to 1975. I fell in love with Thai food on the day after we arrived; by 9th birthday. My introduction to raw pork larb, curry, noodles, and those wonderful fish dishes. Further, I happen to be lucky enough to live in the Twin Cities area, which has a huge Hmong population, who all came here through Thailand. Thus, there are a lot of Thai restaurants in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I have eaten at many. I have also eaten at a few in the Berkeley area. I love Thai food, and loved it best at the markets, off the noodle wagons or in those little holes in the wall. Any idea why Thai restaurants in the U. S. seem to rely on the same "standard" dishes? The pad thai, rarely done well. Currys. Tom Yam. A few stir fried dishes. Appetizes that are tired. I never see those wonderful deep-fried radish "appetizers." A very distinct lack of condiments that adorned the table at every Thai restaurant, be it an air-conditioned joint or a noodle wagon. Too much sugar, too much reliance on peanuts, too little basil, too little fish sauce. I have yet to see kanom krok on a single menu. As I peer into many of these kitchens (with a couple of exceptions), I see can after can after can of Maesri curry paste. The ingredients are available here. The best Thai food I get is at the deli counters at the local Asian markets (here, and Asian market is very heavy on the Thai and extremely light on the Chinese and Japanese), where some grandma of the owner is making things that hold well, like larb, som tam, etc. Thai food can be, but does not necessarily have to be, blastingly hot. Your thoughts?

We here in the Northlands are tenuoslly clinging to summer. There were gills firing everywhere. For us, it was the last of the sweet corn, brats, dogs, the last of the finest of summer. All too soon, this season of local bounty will end. In the meantime, we enjoy, hoping that memories of this bounty will sustain us through those cold winter months...those months of nothing fresh, nothing local, except meat.

Although 258 miles north of our home, I really consider The Cabin my home. The land surrounding The Cabin has fed many a meal. Venison, grouse, duck, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and the occasional bug in a beer. I always seem to miss the fiddlehead ferns by a day or two, and always forget to take the mushroom identifying book with me when I go on walks. And, I haven't found any ramps. But, there is, in addition to the bounty we have found, much food for the soul. Next weekend, we will hope that grouse and fish are in our future. If not, we will feast on the sights and sounds, and hope that that bald eagle "buzzes" me from less than 20' up in the air, as happened twice this past summer. Or that I will once again spot that gigantic buck while sitting in the outhouse. In the meantime, I an espie another ripe tomato every day, which I eat straight off the vine, for lunch. Should add that Paul just read a caption of a photo from a recent edition of Outdoor News: "While nine months pregnant, Valerie something of Bovey, MN, bagged this 202 pound black bear on Sept. 1 near Lawrence Lake with a 7 mm rifle. Her son, Benjamin, was born two days later." I'm feeling pretty wimpy having caught a big walleye just 4 days before one of mine was born.

Like Ronnie, I'd hoard those bones for myself

Why, of course. Just as the fritos are a "grain." One can justify anything.

Oh, for venison stock. I think that if there is a deer in our future this fall, I better get Klink over here to help me butcher it (this is probably better suited to the Hunting thread.) Is there some sort of reason that if one "has it done at a place," they won't give you the bones? Anyway, thanks for the tips.

Katie, you are spot on here. I have worked in customer service for an entertainment industry, and fielded all sorts of complaints. The well-worded, succinct, and "not blasting" complaints were handled much more kindly. As a side note, most of us are wont to complain when things are not right. How many of take the time to compliment when things are right? About a year ago, Paul and I had a wonderful dinner at a nice (read not local burger joint) restaurant. We were among the last to leave, but not so late we were bugging the staff. At the end of the meal, I asked if I could speak to the chef. The waitron, concerned with this request, asked if everything was all right. I said, yes, I just wanted to let the chef (who is also the owner) know. The chef came out, we talked about our experience, and what a good time we had had. Talked about the ingredients, the fact that the staff very clearly understood everything on the menu, etc. The chef/owner was blown away. They comped up the bottle of wine we had. We stuffed the same amount of cash in the neck of the bottle that the price on the wine list indicated they charged for this bottle. When I have a complain about the food or wait service, I state that to management at the time. Sometimes they are so busy justifying whatever to whoever owns the restaurant they may miss things. Just don't do t in a bitchy manner or they will figure you have PMS or whatever.

Fifi, could you elaborate more on what you do (or don't do) for venison chili? Did a couple last winter, and I think I over did things. I have told Paul that if he is leaving me home alone with the kids for 5 days for deer hunting, he damned well better bring home the meat.

There has been some talk up above about "toppings" (shredded cheese). In our house, the only topping is chopped raw onions (because I love onions and a little crunch). Where are the rest of you on this topic? Many people I know put out sour cream, shredded cheese, guac (?), etc. ???

I know if I had thai bird chilis, vinegar, shallots, water and sugar, I'd be making that condiment that I'd be making that Thai condiment that accompanies satay. Sure hope you drank, not cooked with, the Diet Coke. Glad to see another heartlander blogging. Awaiting photos of just what you did with this assortment of ingredients.

Chili. Us here in MN are deluding ourselves with thoughts that summer has not yet ended. We are ignoring the leaves that are slowly falling, the lower night time temps. But, chili time is right around the corner. Chunky. Lots of stuff in it. No "chili powder" here, rather a series of dried peppers, whatever is at the market that looks interesting, plumped and tossed in. But, Brooks, no black olives here. Green peppers, or roasted red peppers, yes. Beans, yes. Ground meat? Only if very coursely ground. And accompanied with corn bread, sans sugar, cooked in a cast iron skillet, preheated in the oven with lots o bacon grease. Oh, and it never hurts to sweat the onions in bacon grease when making the chili.

Wow. I've never had a Twinkie. Peter had one at a friend's house once and said it was "weird. Mom, your chocolate cake is better, especially when you have whipped cream or ice cream." Am I depriving my kids?

Thanks for kicking my rear in gear. I need a new wooden cutting board (before my family destroys my good knives on my new granite countertops). I have the old top (maple) from the portable dishwasher we built into our former house. Time to pull out the ryobi orbital sander (a mother's day gift ), sand off the finish, and season. Did you cut your's up? It seems awfully big. Might be a good excuse to use the table saw...

Should have mentioned, Klink, that for lunch today, I sliced up a Honey Crisp apple and some Eichten's aged gouda. Mighty tasty, if I do say so, myself. Couple of weeks ago, got up early in the morning, went to the St. Paul farmer's market. Early enough to get some of their fresh mozarella, which I sliced up with an heirloom tomatoe, garnished with basil from the garden.

Surdyk's latest blub mentioned that the cheese shop is now selling Shepherd's Way Farms a new butter derived from sheep's milk, which prompted me to look them up on the internet. A quick google searched pulled up this piece: click! Has anyone in the MSP area tried their cheese?

This is one of my favorite dishes (I usually use pork, tho). Never add that much nam pla. Yes, long beans are more "authentic," but they can be hard to find, and they don't seem to have nearly as long a "shelf" or plant life as do slender green beans, so unless the long beans at the farmer's market look pristine, I use green beans. The season for long beans, at least here, seems really short, but I suppose, in order to get that long, it does take quite a bit of time.

I always mix the batter before I put the bacon on the stove so I don't get distracted and burn the bacon. But, when I think about how the batter changes as I cook the bacon, me does think that this is the case. It gets all "big and holey" (Peter's words).

When the granite guys came and installed my counters, they said to just call them back if I ever wanted to put in a larger stove or sink, they would scribe it and punch out the extra stuff. ???

Absolutely. My kids love watching the reaction, the batter bubbling up, and the pancakes rising on the griddle. Not only are they wonderful, but entertainment to boot!

Marlene, I second what Melkor said. Look in the basement and see if there is any gas close to where you want to replace the cooktop. If so, it's easy to run a gas line, provided that there are shut off's every so often, if you are doing it yourself. Having gas line work done can be expensive. If the cooktop you select isn't the same size, call a monument company (the kind of places that do headstones) and have them come out and take a look and see what it would take to make the hold larger. Usually not too big a deal. If the gas cooktop you would select is smaller that the current one, however, that's a whole 'nother story!

I should have added to my earlier reply, that although I hated the ceramic top, I would never base a decision on buying a house based on appliances. For example, the appliances in our new house were all junk. Garbage. The dishwasher leaked from the TOP! We knew coming in that we would replace them. Rather, the choice of house should be based on the house, and how it speaks to you, how the space will work in your life. Sure, the appliances were junk here. But, the space was great. It is even greater now that we've begun putting our touches into it. It's not so bad to live with an appliance you don't like for a while. It's a lot harder to live with space that doesn't work.

There was another thread about this recently, but I'm too lazy to search for it. I had one. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I was really glad to move into our new house. The stove was junk (glass top again), and we knew that when we moved in, we'd replace it right away. Upon inspection before we made the offer, one of the things that sold me was a capped off gas line right under where the stove is. Gas. It's good. Edited to add: I really should have mentioned why I hated it. A bitch to clean and keep clean. Awful. I always tried to clean the gunk off right away, but I'm not the only person in the house who used the stove. Keeping that bitch clean was worse than keeping the kitchen floor clean!

Buttermilk and baking powder. For every cup of flour, add two tablespoons of corn meal, 2 T of sugar (optional), 1 egg, 2 T. oil, 1 cup buttermilk, baking powder (about 1-1/2 t, generous) and some salt. If you don't have buttermilk, you can sour regular milk, but it is better to sour it with lemon than vinegar, IMHO. And, if you are going to make them with blueberries that are frozen, use the berries frozen. I make 'em once a week for breakfast (Saturday mornings).

I do mine like Melissa does, but prefer to use a potato masher as my family likes it with that puree/chunky texutre. Leeks and potatos. Sort of like bread and butter. A marriage made in heaven. Cool weather is coming. Potato soup!