DRColby

Laura, I should have added that artichokes do well in this area, especially if you are close to the water. They take about two years to establish themselves and they don't get as big as the California commercial types.. Don't let them get big because they get tough. Pick them small and get the crown bud out early. Make lots of gratens out of the small ones. One of my favorites is a gratin of aritchokes and favas. We have three types (along with some cardoons) and about six plants. They provide far more artichokes than two of us can keep up with. You can divide them after a couple of years and have enven more. Hard winters, though, they die off if not mulched. dave

I haven't seen any slugs in our letuce patch. Right now we are picking mache', some endives and some fake Romaines. It was beautiful last week and is starting to go this week with the hot weather; especial the mache'. it is going to be a terrible year for insects. the tent catapillars in our neighborhood have devoured everything. Yesterday I found htem started on my 100 year oold Italian prune. Also aphids and mites are terrible. Small plants that I set out are gone overnight. And yes, slugs love green bean starts. My fava beans are just going from bloom to fruit and I hope the aphids say away for awhile. We're eating good out of the garden this week but who knows what's ahead. That's the Puget Sound report from south Normandy Park. dave

Few mushroom guides agree on much. Most, though, will tell you that all in the morel family contain a chemical compound similar to rocket fuel; they all need to be cooked to be rid of the compound. They will also pretty much agree any wildl mushrooms should be cooked. It is interesting to meet immigrant mushroom pickers when hunting. They relish many wild mushrooms we wouldn't touch. When we were out Thursday there were pickers specifically looking for verpas. Different cultures, different mushrooms. Yes, I eat verpas but only if I can't find morchela. My 82-year-old friend, who I hunt with, has ate them for 50 or 60 years and thinks they are great. To me they are watery and without much flavor. I guess I would put them in an edibility class with oyster mushrooms. Their claim to fame is that they are one of the first Spring mushrooms. I have also had them off a restaurant menu in Hood River where they were listed as “Spring morels with salmon”. I pointed out to the chef that verpas aren't true morels. I also pointed out, - as I did to John at Lark - that some people can have a reaction to them. John was aware of what he had. Dave

Four of us ate at the Lark last night and I would agree with all that has been said: it is not to be missed. We proably tried a dozen plates and all were impressive. I dropped off some "false morels", or Verpas, this afternoon so they won't have to list "half wild mushrooms" on their menu. (Kept the true morels we found for our own supper.) Would definetly go back. but do hope they get a curtain or shade for the front window before the late Summer sun takes over. It was very warm last evening in the front of the resturant. dave

Two Bells, Belltown. dave

What's between the confit and French bread? I have all the rest of the ingredients which looks like a great meal for tonight. Thanks, dave

Never counted our cookbooks and related texts (there is sepage from gardening and novels). Would SWAG it at about 1,000. I base that on shelf space. Six shelves, two deep. Here's how the math behind that works: We used to exhange houses with people with similar interests. One of our exhangers was a bachelor in Santa Barabra who lived to cook and claimed to have 4,000 cookbooks. When we arrived I surveyed two sets of metal industrial shelves in his basement full of (I suppose) 4,000 volumes. The guy was also suppose to have some abalone for me in one of four freezers in the place. After opening one freezer, andgetting a peek at the permanent mess in a beautiful kitchen, my wife decided we would eat out the rest of the trip. The man was very picky, though. His last girlfriend, who tried to tidy his kitchen, was sent packing out the door. I guess my favorite cookbooks would the Time-Life series that Olney edited. I never use them but after reading his bio I became currious about all the work this project required. My most used would be Beard's Art of American Cookery which is going on its secon re-bind. Dave

It's a beautiful sunny day in Puget Sound today. Spread 15 cubic yards of composte last week. Fava beans are up, and cat has left a pile in center of my sprouting letuce. Where I dig he digs later. To get even I threaten t to pull his catnip out. On my way out now to pick some late winter greens for supper. Looks like it's going to be a great garden year, but then - at this time of the year - every year look like it's going to be great for gardening. Dave

Thanks,all. Guess the choice is "elsewhere." Dave

We're planning to take in a show at Jazz Alley. Has anyone eaten there and is it worth the money, or should we go some place else first? Thanks for any input, dave

I know this is a "no-no" but I make creme fraiche and keep it around for months in the refrigirator. It seems to be fine. After all, it is spoiled cream and if you keep other ogranisms out of it why would it go bad. Someone plase straighten me out. dave

Here in the Pacific Northwest we find the early true morels under cottonwoods and along river bottoms that get early sun. Latter the true morel hunting is good in areas that have been logged and then burned the following year. In a couple of weeks we will start finding "false" morels (or verpa bohemia) under the cottonwoods. They are the first of the morels. Some people have a reaction when eating these. It is a good generalization is to always cook wild mushrooms, although - as with every rule there is an exception - I have had raw cepes in a salad in Paris. True morels, or morchella, are about as good as you can get when sauteed in butter and put on top of fresh aspagus and toast tips with a poached egg. Add a little parmasian and a glass of white wine. Wow! Dave

Get yourself a Cameron's stove-top or oven smoker which you can use in your kitchen. I think they are about $60 and a very useful pan. It's sealed so it doesn't come close to a broiler for smellingor cluding up the kitchen. Besides smoking on the stove you can use the bottom for a roasting pan, etc. I have a regular smoker, but when short on time or want to do small items I use the Cameron. It's great with fish that have been brined and aired or with meats with fresh herbs. dave

I watch the way the French eat. What they can afford and it is not the Patricia Wells style, or NY-Herald Tribune-now-NY Times. I watch the French lunch in Luxemborg Gardens, and on weekends and evening in places like de la Soi,l or whatever the name is of the bistro by the Porte de Clgnancourt flea market is (Margaret, I think you put us on to this place). Seeing this I don't worry too much about French food. I think the world-wide problem is too much discressionary income that goes to resturants, and a lack of home cooking skills or apprecation of home cooking. When the French start losing their butchers - and especially offal butchers - I am going to worry. I'd like to see us with more Anne Willans and Jaques Pepins, fewer Patricial Wells and NY Herald-NY Times reviewers. I'd also like to see more real butchers in this country and less big box beef procssors like Tyson and IA Beef Packers. If that happened we'd have better food and better resturants. But, then, that's just my take. dave

Good Midwesterners (being an ex mself) love the Market, Why not take them there and then to Maximillians. those wanting seafood can eat mussels, those that are vegies can have the omlet or French onion soup? dave

I whole heartedly agree. I think les Magnolias is one of the real food treats in France/Paris and at a most reasonable price. Plus, the staff is very nice. dave

We used Zagat's last year in Paris and found it didn't work very well, I think the obvious problem with it is that they don't get enough participation to make the ratings very meaniful and accurate. I think Zagat's works well in NY where it has a huge following but not in the newer areas where participants are few. dave

These look like Pacfic oysters and should be relatively flat. which makes the job easier. The easiest way is to put them either in an oven (which I believe you don't have) or on a grill or hibatchi until they "pop." Make sure you put them so the juice side is down or they will dry out. High heat, short time. Short of that method take a wood cutting board lay the shell flat side down on it, use a dish towl or better yet a glove on your non-knife hand to proptect it. Use the oyster knife to "feel" for the hinge portion of the oyster; you should feel a difference a different pressurer at the hinged point. Insert the oyster knife there and twist. When you have the shell open loosen the oyster with the knife and fish out any grit you may have created. Make a minion sauce of chopped shallots, cracked black pepper and red wine vinegar. Put a spoon-full in with the oyster and slurp alway. Dave

We'll be there between 5 and 5:30 - unless there is a day change -and leave early to make my wife's practice. dave

I just bought a MAC vegtable knife, which is more like a mini-cleaver. I love it. Entirely different cutting leverage. It is quick, it is easy to use, and it is sharpe. Now, how do I keep it sharp, MAC advertises there knives need little sharping . I also noticed that the warranty had an exclusion if you sharpened it wrong (I think it was if you used anyone else's sharperner). Since the age of 6 I haven't been worth a damn with a whitstone or set of rods. I do have some Globals and have one of their 2-set wheel sharpeners. Dare I use the Global sharpener on the MAC? I am not wild about taking it to my local knife shop, in Pike Street Market, when they don't even sell MACs. dave

What's the difference between "without prices" and "market price" ? We were in the Reno Hilton the other night and the menu had abalone at "market price." I always feel like what they are really saying is, "If you have to ask you can't afford it." I also always wonder if this is something they really have it in stock or just scoot out the back door saying," We're got a sucker in here. Anybody got any abalone," dave

Lisa, Sorry to take so long to get back to oyu but we have been traveling the last weeek. Ourselves and another couple try to eat our way through Paris each Fall; so far we haven't been able to get ouot of the 6th. This Fall I thnk we will try to get a lunch reservation before leaving the US. How did your time in the restaurant come out? Thanks for the info, Dave

These are an Oregon-grown seedless grape that sold for $4.95 at Fred Meyer. They are next to the neighbor's fence (they're in Arizona and haven't checked out what I am up to), and close to Puget Sound, where once the great Island Belle variety thrived on Grapeview Island when fruit wines were still in vogue. Meanwhile in the Spring - after a nice Valentine's Day - an old man's (that's me) hopes turn to Spring and potential new feed from the grapes for the birds, to keep them out of my blueberries and raspberries. And, meanwhile, the horseradish lurks away growing deep in the heart of Winter. dave

This I do know: when I dug the roots I by no means got all of them (You can never get rid of horseradish. It's kind of like dandilions). I recently planted grapes closeby the horseradish. After reading about the applesauce-horseradish I am wondering what I will come up with when the grape roots and horseradish intermingle. A new Korean food cloning? dave

Could we make it a little earlier on Wednesday, say 5 or 5:30 p.m.; my wife has7:30 chior pratice in des Moines? dave