Nick

Maybe you haven't been around Texas oil-field workers when they're out on the town. A friend of mine that worked heavy construction (jack-up barges) from Singapore to Scotland (and the Middle East) for over forty years once remarked that Arabs couldn't understand us cuz the only Americans they'd ever seen were from Texas. (With due apologies to Fifi, Jaymes, and the rest of the crew from Texas.)

I kind of figured that. On the other hand, I was thinking you might be making something special for Momo.

Brodo - or broth.

Just out of curiosity, what are you going to do with all these duck legs?

The whole thing doesn't bother me at all, except for the effect on small beef producers. I've been leaving beef for some time now and getting more into lamb, goat, and duck. Don't tell anybody... the prices are already too high, at least for lamb and goat.

This has been an interesting thread and, so far, it seems to be that it's mostly city and urban people responding. Becoming more so with all the posts about coffee and half and half or whatever. Coming from the country and being fairly conservative and thereby willing to accept one never knows what might be headed one's way - think about what you might need in the cupboard if things got tight. Like all you had to eat for the next two or three months was what you had on hand. What's in your cupboard, or freezer, that will get you by for a couple of months?

Geez. You'd know where this guy was from even if he wasn't Host of a particular state forum! But no cayenne? Hey Dave, Loosiana or Maine, that's the list. I'd just add dry beans, potatoes, and shallots. And meat in the freezer.

If I had an obscene amount of money and time on my hands, I would have an Aga.

I wonder how much of this has to do with people first moving to the city, and then to the suburbs. This has removed people from most any connection with the land and growing of food. For those of us who grew up in the country, and still live here, the kitchen remains the center, if not the heart, of the home, and good food and good cooking remain an integral part of our life.

I haven't worn a watch for somewhere around forty years. I used to carry one in my pocket, but gave that up too. I don't really use a timer when I'm cooking. Sometimes I start the one built into the stove just to remember when I started something. People seem obsessed with time these days. Some issues of the New Yorker are filled with ads meant to entice people into buying watches costing thousands of dollars. Though that obsession may have more to do with ego than time. Think of the number of good meals that could be had for the price of some watches.

Thanks for that link Fifi. I just happen to have all that stuff on hand, except for the cocoa or Mexican chocolate. How important are they?

No, the brussels sprouts were not a lure. That's illegal. Years ago I got busted by the Maine game wardens for "enticing deer." Had something to do with apples being found under a pine tree. But no, Susie raised the Brussels Sprouts and now has enough dogs to keep the deer away. The deer meat came in the form of a "care" package from the feller that built my house a few years back. It was a fine package. Some liver, some heart, some steak, and some "hamburger". Mighty fine eating.

All the stones I have now are oil stones... a regular Norton double sided (course one side and fine on the other) that's gotten pretty sway backed on the fine side after 30+ years of use, an India stone that was my grandfather's, and a black Arkansas I got about thirty years ago. Years ago I used Nye oil, which at the time was whale oil and could be found at any decent hardware store. Then the whaling ban kicked in (for which I'm mostly grateful), Nye oil disappeared, and I started using mineral oil. A couple of years ago I was in a gunshop and spotted some old tins of sperm (whale) oil on a shelf in the back room. Brownell's "natural, refined, sperm oil" in half pint cans. I bought four cans for $25 each. Whatever you think of killing whales these days, sperm or whale oil is the best oil that can be found for sharpening knives (IMHO.) It's main use is in lubricating fine machinery, such as clocks and, apparently, Nye oil can still be found for that at Bartlett & Co. Whether it's whale oil or not, I don't know. At the price they're asking, I doubt it.

Yeah, a "super" Walmart didn't make it in Rockland, but a Home Depot has. It's up high to the west of Rt.1 and will probably become a navigational aid to summer mariners on Penobscot bay.

Fresco, we live in a society that has lost its way.

you may think different if your neighbor decides to open a live poultry store. I guess none of us would want that right next door, but it would be nice if live poultry stores made a comeback. Back in the early 1900's my father's folks lived in Boston and my Danish grandmother would go to get a chicken, pick out the one she wanted, and it would be killed, feathered, and gutted. Nothing like a good fresh chicken to take home.

Now that's a fish! And should be some good eating.

This doesn't have much to do with gumbo, but about all I've been eating for the last week is deer meat, brussels sprouts that the deer didn't get, and other goodies locally grown and stored. Food lovers unite and stop eating from the corporate trough! One of these days I've got to learn how to make gumbo - northern style.

I agree. Maybe it's just the way I grew up (I'm 62), but my mother used Joy and my grandmother in her early days attended the Boston Cooking School (Fannie Farmer.)

Amen. I couldn't do without Joy. Between that and the Pro Chef almost any answer can be found. Edited to say, that is, in every day cooking. Zuni Cafe is wonderful for branching out. For Thanksgiving I decided on a leg of lamb and Judy's recipe for that and lamb stock were great. I followed her directions for "corkscrew" boning and it worked perfectly.

I don't know much about this, but I always soak my dried shitakes in cold water.

This summer I had to move out of my house so that some work could be done to finish off the interior. Since I moved back in I've only put three cookbooks back on my shelf.... The Pro Chef, Joy of Cooking, and the Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

Roadblocks for any reason, except in the most dire of circumstances, are but one more step toward an authoritarian society.

It's unfortunate that so many, living so closely together can only find their food at a corporate trough.

Take a break from the Atkins diet and eat some fish cakes. Real ones, potato and all. We've got to break the rules once in awhile.