dcarch

After my "bare bone" experiemnt, I ate the marrow. It was pretty nice with most of the fat rendered out. To cut big bones yourself, this is how I do it: 1. Table saw with a carbide blade. 2. Wrap bone in plastic. 3. Cut. It is very easy and messy. dcarch .

Yes. I am surprised how many people actually shop there. dcarch

"How to become a cook?" Everyone has given you good advice. One more thing to consider: Professional cooking is hard work. if you don't have very good health, it would be very difficult to make it . dcarch

With Tax, that's almost $80.00 a lb. (NYC) dcarch

The idea is not to throw away the bones. I was in the store, I saw chicken bones for $0.99 a bag and chicken drum sticks for $1.15 a lb. I was wondering which can make more and better stock. So I decided to find out if bones have any taste. The pork bone stock I made does gel, but not very thick. That is probably from ther softer cartilage in between the joins. If you like gelatin, Go to an Asian market and get beef tendons. Inexpensive pure gelatin. I am also not sure if roasting bones gives you more flavor. Roasting cannot create flavor that is not there. I think roasting changes flavor profile of what is already there by caramelization. But if you go beyond and carbonization happens then you probably will be losing flavor because carbon is very stable. dcarch

Bones make wonderful stock. Pretty much everyone does that. You save all the bones; you buy bones to make your own flavorful stock. Really? Has anyone done this following experiment? I have always wondered how much flavor is actually in the bones. I bought some pork shoulders and saved the bones. I scraped all the meat off the bones, cut the bones in smaller pieces, and with just enough water to cover the bones and a little salt, I cooked the bones in a pressure cooker for one hour. Result? The stock is just rather tasteless salt water. There is some flavor from the marrow, but not worth that one hour of BTUs in cooking it. Anyone else want to confirm this result? dcarch

No. I don't think it is Code compliant. A roof is designed based on some establish weights and environmental assumptions. The Code never included requirement for a farm. I don’t think structural engineers would be willing to put themselves at risk by signing off structural load above the Code’s standards. You will need to get Landlord’s agreement. Who will be responsible for a leaky roof? Most roofs do leak. You will need to get insurance company’s agreement. Roof top may have difficulties meeting fire exits for the worker. Where do the workers go to the bathroom? New buildings can be designed to accommodate a roof farm, but the additional structural load is cumulative, in other words, every structural column all the way down to the foundation will need to be strengthened for the roof load. That is a lot of added cost to a building. I don’t think there are many existing buildings with elevators going to the roof. It is a lot of work not having an elevator to operate a farm. If I am in an apartment building, I don’t want to be in the same elevator with produce, fertilizers, etc. being transported. Plumbing for a taller building will need water pumps because water pressure may not be high enough. If I were the owner of the building, I would not allow a farm to use the drain system of the building. All kinds of stuff can easily clog up the drains. Who is to inspect if everything for a farm is anchored properly in case of high wind? I think a small roof top farm will increase urban traffic. Just my humble opinion. dcarch

Surprised that no one has commented on the beautiful cabinet wood work detailing of that tomato greenhouse on the first page of this thread. Nice blogging so far! dcarch

Thanks Dakki. Terrible watermelon (not sweet) can be good for salads. Thanks SylviaLovegren. How well watermelon pairs with clams? Depend on how the clam sauce is made. Yes, You need to peel the skin off the rind, it is kind of tough. Nice video, Will , thanks. Shelby, I think 10 hours should do it in the dehydrator. It depends on how thick you cut the slices. Thank you all for great ideas. So many possbilities! dcarch

Make your own. Very easy. Get food grade molding silicone rubber and find a pattern you like. Mix the two part compound, next day you got your mold. dcarch

Summer = watermelon Do you know that watermelon is one of the most expensive summer fruits? Around here in NY they are about $0.65 a lb. Since Watermelon is 92%water, and considering throwing away the thick rind, it may work out to be $11.0 to $12.00 a lb, LOL! This is how I enjoy to the max almost the entire watermelon. I consider watermelon has three parts; First the sweet center. As you get closer to the rind it gets less and less sweet. Finally you have the throw away rind. I only eat or serve the sweetest center of the melon. I use the less sweet part for salads. You really don’t want a salad to be too sweet. I also use the not so sweet part to make crispy watermelon chips with my dehydrator. I highly recommend this. The crispy chips become very sweet because they have 92% of the water removed. They make wonderful snacks. The white/pink part of the rind is delicious cooked or pickled. Even the seeds can be turned into wonderful sprouts, but that will be another post, how to sprout watermelon seeds. I suppose you can make watermelon ice, ice cream, ------ What other things can you make wioth watermelon? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few dishes I made for July 4th: dcarch Pan fried Cod and watermelon rind, beet stems Making crispy Watermelon chips Watermelon celery salad Pasta with clam sauce and sautéed watermelon

I have a 55 watt germicidal UV bulb which I use once in a while. I turn it on when no one is in the kitchen, and move it around after a while to avoid shadows. No chemicals needed to cover most areas. dcarch

I agree the person riding is taking the picture. The reflection in the sideview mirror shows the hand is posibly pushing the shutter on the handle mounted view finder of the helmet mounted camera. The other picture is the Tram system in NYC. dcarch

Or someone riding on the back of the motorcycle? Reflections does not seem to show someone is on the back. Photo seems to have deep depth of field, typical of helmet mounted cameras. Of course I can be very wrong. dcarch

Off topic? I have done this experiment a few times. Four identical bowls of dog food in front of a hungry dog, one bowl would be plated nicely. Made no difference to the dog. As humans, we do respond to food geometry visually, beyond taste. dcarch

And so it is. Who's in Tuscany? And someone in mid town NYC? On a motorcycle with a GARMIN ZUMO 550 MOTORCYCLE GPS RECEIVER, possibly a helmet-mounted camera? A man with rough hands? dcarch

And not far from your apartment. dcarch

Scottyboy - pork belly Foie sauce and black lentils looks sinfully good, should be made illegal. :-) Blether – I think I will copy your summer tomato soup, if you don’t mind. Kim – Amazing crust on your toad-in-the –hole. mgaretz – very juicy looking meatloaf. C. sapidus - Linguine Alfredo, green bean salad, sliced pineapple, and champagne mangos; what an interesting combination! menuinprogress – Thank you for introducing "Callo de Hacha". FrogPrincesse – most amazing lobsters! What did you do with the roes? Many beautifully photographed dishes such as the Black gill rockcod. Justin Uy – Very creative plating. Mm84321 – engaging drama on a plate. Tri2Cook – 20lbs of good perfect rib roast. robirdstx – Very interesting and tasty looking pizza. Douglas – Beautiful ginger-salt roasted beets from your apartment garden. SobaAddict70 – I would love to share with you that Spaghetti con granchio e pomodoro, and the Zucchini "pasta". patrickamory – Yes, sensational lamb. ----------------------------------------------- A few recent meals: dcarch Sashimi Ribs on squash Skate on risotto

Mangos, ---- pineapples, strawberries, cantaloupes, peaches ---everything is in season, soon you will be overwhelmed with tomatoes. Yes! Make leather! Let me share with you my way of making fruit leather. From a craft store you can buy ¼” x ¼” wood sticks. Miter the corners and glue into a wood frame. Using Scotch Tape to stretch supermarket veggie plastic bags on the frame. Use your blender to make fruit puree. Pour fruit puree on the plastic and dehydrate. There is no need for oil on the plastic, Fruit leather will not stick to the plastic. It peels off very easily. The plastic is reuseable for many times. If you set your dehydrator at the highest temperature and run it longer, you will get crispy fruit chips, crispy just like potato chips. Crispy fruit chips are my snack addiction. Very healthy Fruit leather and crispy fruit chips are popular with children. You can get fancy and box them for wonderful gifts. Do you make leather? What is your method? dcarch

Using a straw, you will be sucking up all the ground settled on the bottom of the cup. dcarch

Franci – you have such mastery of using vegetables. I can enjoy the Eggplant kuku everyday. Ashen – wonderful pizza. Mgretz – I envy your smoker. robirdstx – Nothing wrong with a nicely grilled steak. SobaAddict70 - Scampi al forno looks delicious and beautifully plated, so is the potato salad. patrickamory – I have made frijoles borrachos a few times, they didn’t come out as nice as yours. Scottyboy – those smoked ribs, WOW! You are a good cook! :-) Chicken ballotine, Wow! You are a great chef! Kim – Thanks. The dressing on my watermelon salad was French dressing with a little wasabi added. Those amazing looking curly bacon! C. sapidus – lovely drumsticks. percyn – perfect steak on fried rice. rotuts – Thanks. The clam dish; the clams were sous vide cooked. mkayahara – Thanks. The cauliflower was very easy pan sauted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Went to the farmer’s market, got some wonderful squashes and purple scallions, some extraordinary scallops and heritage pork belly. Went to the supermarket, and got some Lamb neck bones. Lamb is expensive, but the neck bone was $1.65 a lb. A lot of meat on the bones. The flavor and texture of the neck bone meat is, IMHO, better than other lamb cuts of meat. Kind of like ox tails. I hope no one discover that. :-) dcarch Sous Vide Pork Belly with a Medley of squashes Stewed Lamb Neck Bone Scallops, patty pan squash.

Haven't posted in a few weeks --- a little overwhelmed by all your amazing dishes. Those ribs! OMG! I make a few things for Father's Day. dcarch Lettuce Avocado salad Strip steak, Hosta flowers, Grilled Pineapple Water melon Tomato salad Clams Pulled Pork, Cauliflower, Beets Flat Apple pie

Nothing can clean as well as an ultrasonic cleaner + cleaning solution. dcarch.

Just your normal Blackberry cell phone camera. Those are skew holders. They hold two skewers so that food will not flop around. dcarch

You hear this all the time, “ I am sorry about the quality of my photos, they were taken with my cell phone.” In reality, a cell phone’s camera is a very capable optical device. I have used my cell phone to take pictures for many of my past posts here. Used properly you will be amazed what a cell phone camera can do. All the following pictures were taken with my cell phone. Pictures of my dish of gulf shrimps with fiddlehead fern and beet stems. Picture C – Elephant garlic. Giant gloves, (compare them with the peppers), not a bad shot? Piture D - a macro shot of strawberry seeds. Picture A – a macro shot of a single brown rice. Picture B – a macro shot of two sesame seeds, one black and one white. Macro shots were done by putting a magnifying glass in front of the lens. Two important things will get you very good pictures with a cell phone camera: Good bright lights and steady tripod. dcarch