kayb

Interesting. I've been fortunate to have been associated with a couple of farmers and farm cooperatives who have been successful at small vegetable/fruit/livestock/poultry farming. I also know a lot of people involved in large-scale commodity row-crop farming. Crop insurance, USDA subsidies and having the ability to shuffle/rotate what crops they produce keeps those guys solvent, if they're big enough. I know one farm family that farms about 10,000 acres -- wheat, rice, soybeans, cotton, occasionally corn, with forays into peanuts and sunflowers, and I think they may be trying their hand at hemp. Another couple that started a small farm with, initially, organic vegetables, fruit, chicken and pork have now expanded into raw milk (you can sell it in Arkansas if you sell it from point of origin; i.e., they can sell at the dairy, but not from the farmers' market), lamb and beef, and are running a much larger operation in terms of sales volume; he's also a partner in a feed mill, and sells grain to a local craft brewery, and in turn gets the used mash from the brewery to feed his hogs. One of his feed mill partners is also a partner in three slaughterhouses/processors that process small-batch beef, pork, chicken and bison. Lack of slaughterhouse availability is the biggest roadblock to small-batch livestock; my farmers from whom I get most of my meat are having to wait interminable amounts of time to get animals processed. When I lived in Hot Springs, I was part of a buyer's co-op that served as an intermediary between farmers and consumers. You paid $25 a month to belong to the co-op, which was open two Fridays a month. Those Friday mornings, farmers would deliver their produce/meat/fruit/etc. to the co-op, and in the afternoon, the consumers would come pick up and pay for their orders they'd placed online. The co-op banked the money, paid the farmers, and kept the books. Volunteers staffed everything, except for the bookkeeper. It worked well, and I miss it. Here, I do have available several different CSAs, which I don't participate in because they always want to bring me kale.

Never thought about cream cheese in it. Bet that's good.

Fair Hope, by chance?

Ditto, though I never tried nutmeg. Ought to be good, though. Mine's a box of Jiffy, can of creamed corn, small pkg frozen corn, 2 eggs, 8 oz sour cream, 1/2 stick melted butter. That about like yours? For cornbread, though, I tend toward Martha White Self-rising Cornmeal Mix. Right proportion of flour. No sugar. I will "cheat" with it, gluten or no, from time to time. I've made GF cornbread with GF baking mix. It'll do...

I'll try to remember that, next time I get it out. Let me commend to you King Arthur Baking's Harvest Grains Bread. I sub sprouted wheat flour for the white whole wheat, because I misread the recipe the first time, and I also brush with egg wash and top with "Everything" bagel topping before baking. Fine stuff.

Wandered into Hobby Lobby today, and found they had my favorite candy that I can't find much of anywhere any more -- chocolate cream drops. I love them squashed flat and eaten atop cheddar cheese. Extremely sharp cheddar cheese. These were had on Dubliner for a late lunch.

Finally bought another deviled egg platter -- which has the big round thing in the middle. It's carnival glass, so I bought a carnival glass bowl to set in the center of it. I've used it for ham salad, English pea salad, or just a mix of pickles.

It hasn't looked exceptionally appetizing. I would suspect given the setting/situation -- you have no choices other than what the camp offers -- is enough to put one off his food. My son-ni-law worked as a deck hand on the river boat for a while, 30 days on, 30 days off. He said the food was wonderful. Now, it was heavy on the meat and carbs, nothing fancy at all, but typical heavy Southern cooking. I get as tired eating with the same people (or lack of them) as I do of the food.

Stunning.

No toes?

May I commend to y'all the only gin I can drink? Try Seersucker, if you can find it.

Well, damn. I'm impressed. I'd travel with you on the basis of what I've seen.

Chicken salad. Their names are legion. There's one that has apples and pecans and curry powder. That's good. Then there's one that has chicken, avocado, fresh whole kernel corn and a yogurt/cilantro/pimenton dressing. That ain't half bad. One of my faves comes from a local catering service; it's shredded chicken, a sweetened mayo (I think with pineapple juice), and green onions. I bring that home and add almonds, or pecans, and chopped grapes and/or apples. Point of interest. Chicken should be shredded. It spreads easier on a sandwich, or scoops easier on a chip. Grapes, apples, nuts, et. al., should be chopped relatively finely. All additions are game. Except green bell peppers and raw onions. Get thee behind me, Satan. If you want onions, have the decency to soak them in ice water first, before adding them. And don't be bringing no GBPs up in here. And scoop me out a couple of scoops of that on a romaine leaf or two, and let me go.

Oh, dear God. Favorite dessert? Right now, when strawberries are in their prime, strawberry shortcake. All kinds of base -- shortcake, shortbread, sponge cake, pound cake. All good. A little later -- blackberry cobbler. Pie crust, cut up in strips, cooked under a crust with the barely-sweetened blackberries. Kill me now. Ice cream on top puts it, well, over the top. Year-round? Chess pie. Southern America's answer to the butter tart. No wonder I was so intrigued by butter tarts. There are, btw, two kinds of chess pie; there's one thats somewhat custardy, and there's one that's like a pecan pie without the pecans. That's the chess pie I grew up with. Those are likely my favorite desserts, along with coconut cake. Cake made with coconut milk; frosting/filing of sour cream and fresh coconut and sugar, final topping/frostign of whipped cream and coconut. Has to sit in the fridge three days to "ripen." Damn, it's good. Way too good. Then there's hot fudge pie (a seriously fudgy brownie) topped with ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Oh,yeah.

Garden update du jour: Have been having salads out of the garden for a week: The radishes aren't quite there yet. (Please forgive fuzzy cell phone photo.) Tomatoes are getting there. Crucifers, back right, are thriving. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage. All new territory for me except cabbage. The asparagus bed needs weeding. At least the damn squirrels didn't eat the sets this year.

A couple of dinners from my time at the Redneck Riviera: Dear Sweet Baby Jesus. Acme Oyster House has an outpost in Gulf Shores. These were perhaps the best chargrilled oysters I've ever had. Just broiled enough to crust the parm, not enough to shrink 'em up and dry 'em out. And the were Big Damn Oysters. May have been my best meal in Gulf Shores. Then again, not in Gulf Shores, but on the way. The George Salad, shrimp and lump crabmeat, at Mary Mahoney's in Biloxi. There is, in fact, lettuce underneath that. And these people make the best blue cheese dressing on the face of the planet. Once I got home, there was grouper, snow peas and dirty rice. Not half bad...

I can testify to Garden and Gun. These people are wonderful.

I think that's correct.

When I can tomatoes, I always toss them in a colander over a big stainless bowl to collect juice. I can the juice separately. Now, I like me some V-8, or the Kroger knock-off of same, but when it comes to making a Bloody Mary, the home-canned juice cannot be beat. It does tend to separate in the jar. Be sure to shake before using.

Me, I'm dealing with the two critical questions of the moment: 1. What is the appropriate wine with my Gyro salad? 2. What is the appropriate wine with my barbecue plate that's looking likely for tomorrow night? All that aside, I am booked in for Bulrush in two weeks, with wine/beer pairing. And looking forward to it!

I have spent the last four years looking at every farmers market and every produce stand I pass for Kentucky Wonder green beans, which are the beans we used to grow in the garden. They decidedly have strings, have a very textured, nubby pod that is slightly fuzzy. And when cooked for a couple of hours with a hamhock or a piece of salt pork, they offer up the most exquisite flavor you can imagine -- sort of earthy and sweet, full of umami at the same time. Most of the stringless varieties, I'm good with a five-minute cook. There's a sort of flat green bean that lends itself fairly well to a long, slow cook, but it doesn't approach the flavor of a Kentucky Wonder.

I add plain Greek yogurt. With a grilled cheese on the side.

Classic. Good account.

I am so very sorry to hear this, @liuzhou. As others have said, I'm glad you got to see her recently, and the expression on her face when she saw you was truly a joy to behold. May God comfort you.

I cook. Child A does not. Child A complains because the kitchen isn't neat. However, I clean the kitchen. My thought is that if I cook in it and I clean it up, she can deal with walking through it.