memesuze

I knew that I've seen discussion on other boards that this year's LongJing and future year's crops are threatened, as usual, by industrialization via the loss of land. I think that's an ever-present problem in the tea-growing world, as well as in other parts of the globe, like the loss of habitat, wild spaces, and family farms here in the States

With reference to the cream and green sauce for seafood enchiladas, how 'bout some poblano crema....that's delicate but with a little zip

As far as brewing goes, preheat your brewing vessel, be it a Brown Betty, or a YiXing pot, a gaiwan, a Chatsford with the removeable infusing basket [highly recommended] or a Jenaer glass mug with glass infusing insert [also highly thought of] with hot water. Depending on how obsessive you are, bring the brewing water to a boil in a separate kettle, and then let cool to the appropriate temperature - some use thermometers, others simply learn how long it takes to drop to the appropriate range, empty out the brewing vessel, put in your leaves, let 'er steep for the length of time that fits the type of tea, and decant through a strainer if your leaves were floating free in the pot or pull out the infuser. Our preference is for an infuser that lets the leaves float as freely as possible - fie on tea"spoon" infusers or tea balls. Far better to decant through a strainer into cups, mugs, or another pot. If your pot was preheated, it will retain sufficient heat for the few minutes it takes to brew. As I noted on the other of your tea threads for today, Andie's right about getting samples unless one of your constant visitors is a tea drinker or you find yourself going over to the other side....And if you have any more questions, there are several of us glad to chime in with our opinions - I know there are at least three of us TeaMailers here - me, andiesenji, and jpr54_, and I think I've seen cdh on rec.food.drink.tea

Some folks will okay the freezing of teas, so long as you treat it like coffee, in that you remove a portion for the current week's drinking, and leave the rest in the freezer until you need to remove the next weekly portion. This prevents the condensation-moisture problem that arises with too-frequent changes of temperature. If you are keeping teas on a shelf, they should be kept away from air, moisture, light, and heat - therefore the better sealed, as in a double-lidded container or in a squeeze ziplock bag like many vendors are using, the fresher it remains. Or use opaque or metal containers, not glass. If you have a Foodsaver, you could use a mason jar and suck the air out, so long as you stored it behind closed cabinet doors. For your purposes, as noted on the other thread, you might wish to pick about three or four teas, representing the major thrusts in the tea world, and get as large a "sample" as you can purchase, since a quarter pound/125 gram portion [the ususal minimum size for ordering besides samples] will last a long time if you're not brewing daily.

If you're going for greens, I'd steer away from Upton's - theirs never satisfied me the way greens from SpecialTeas, Harney's, or Silk Roads [the latter has no on-line presence, but gets stunning greens from China] have. I think they do better with their black selections. Other on-line vendors I've recommended would be Capital [Toronto], In Pursuit of Tea, Rishi, and TeaTrader. Remember that greens, oolongs, blacks, and whites all have different brewing techniques in terms of times and temperatures to pull out the best - and even within categories, e.g., Darjeelings, esp. first flush, only about two minutes, Assams 3-4 minutes, Yunnans - up to five minutes; greens 140-165F, oolongs 180-196F, blacks, 205F, and whites can be stunning if brewed for as long as ten minutes using 130F water.

Kasma Loha-Unchit has a website: Adventures in Thai Cooking

Since the flavors in this are fairly in your face, I'm not sure that I'd use the best-tasting corn, but what the heck, it's one of my favorite summer salads - smoked chicken salad: pieces of smoked chicken, corn kernels, roasted poblanos cut into pieces, green onion, cilantro, with a dressing of rasberry vinegar, honey, freshly minced ginger, s & p, garlic, amounts eyeballed and mixed to taste

The 10th works for me - have you run this by the Shorters yet?

My vote for the Peppergun ($23.50) and the Magnum ($31)from peppergun.com. I recently used some birthday money for the dual purchase, intending the Peppergun for my stove/work bench and the Magnum for my table. I am raving about these. They load easily, grind from fine to coarse, and are terrific grinders.

I guess I was having a brain fart - I had thought that the new pennies were now being made of very minimal copper, with loads of zinc sandwiched in between. I may be a hoarder and on the downhill slope, but I don't have any pennies from the Civil War era

kozysnack, you were the one who suggested Castle Hill for our next gathering - in July - is that the intent of your question? I'm game for either of the sisters - does Mirabelle still have that early evening reduced-dinner price special from 5.30 to 6.15 Mon-Thurs? Don't know how many of us could make it that early, but I'm all for pinching my zincs

freeze it and save it to heat up just before boarding an airplane so you can taunt your fellow passengers sorry - the board just went crazy....

freeze it and save it to heat up just before boarding an airplane so you can taunt your fellow passengers

freeze it and save it to heat up just before boarding an airplane so you can taunt your fellow passengers

I had a wonderful solo meal at Zuni one January afternoon during a long museum day

At one of my local thrift stores, I ran into an Electromatic Thermo-Cult Yogurt Incubator and its documentation, apparently made by Wear-Ever, which appears to date from the fifties or early 60's - "how to make your own Bulgarian yogurt". I couldn't find a picture on Google or eBay, but it's a big round pot that plugs in, into which you place containers of uncooked yogurt. All for $15. My assumption is that it still works, so I ask, is anyone interested in my purchasing it for shipment to you?

Isn't there a cookbook based on foodstuffs cooked in the engine compartment?

When I make spring rolls, I've been able to carry them over one day with a wrung-out dishtowel laid on top to keep them a bit damp and to prevent the air in the fridge from drying out the wrappers.

this isn't really a food safety observation, but it seemed to fit with the thoughts regarding not eliminating all bugs so that our systems could build up a natural immunity - my theory is that we should all eat a bit of fast food several times a year so that if we are ever kidnapped, our body systems won't rebel at the food we are forced to eat by our kidnappers!

Since my companion for the evening was unable to make it and I couldn't find anyone else to take the ticket, I decided to postpone Mriabelle until I could share food with someone - the concert was great as usual, and I bet you have never participated in a singalong of Emily Dickinson poems to such tunes as the theme from the Beverly Hillbillies or America the Beautiful! The whole evening was taken up with poems set to music, but the rest were more stunningly done by a choral group that has few peers. Perhaps we should do an Austin gathering here some day, after we return to La Traviata for more of Marion Gilchrist's culinary magic.

Just tested the peppercorns that arrived today from CMC - numbed the tip of my tongue and my lips for about five minutes. I think we have some live ones here....thanks, Foodman. I had just gotten Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook, and was saddened when I thought I couldn't find any peppercorns for her Szechuan Pepper Rub and Dipping Salt. I'll be sealing up most of them into smaller packages with my Tilia....

My general tea-at-work routine consists of a Pyrex measuring cup with the appropriate amount of water heated in the microwave down the hall and then cooled to the appropriate temperature measured by a digital intant-read thermometer, depending on whether the brew of the day is green, oolong, or black, and then poured into my Jenaer glass mug [that's been preheated by sitting catty-cornered in the top of the measuring cup] which lets the appropriate gram-weight of leaves [measured either with my pocket digital Tanita scale or my miniature Indian balance weights] steep freely before I pull the glass infuser out to set into the Jenaer top turned over on my desk. [Can you tell I'm into tools and toys?!] Or if I'm relaxing, I get out the YiXing pot, and do a little gongfu, decanting into a gaiwan with no measuring....

Re: the CP Monday night dinners - what's the drill? Reservations how far in advance, how long a seating....

I ate at Alborz a little more than a year ago with a large group - no expectations and I found the food to be better than average - as I recall, my dish was chicken with a pomegranate sauce, quite tasty, and I remember remarking on the excellent baba ganouj. On the other hand, my foray to Ararat was with high expectations that were not met - the service was iffy, and the food was so-so. However, that could have been our choice of dishes, and not applicable to the menu as a whole. Theobroma, will you be in town for our tapas foray at Foodie52's on the 13th?

I developed an allergy to mangoes last year after a week-long orgy of too cheap mangoes led me to have two a day with the juice dripping down my chin as I turned the skins inside out to get the last bits. Foodie 52 told me that some of the Central Market produce handlers can't touch the whole fruits without latex gloves. I recently had a minor outbreak after sampling some slices at CM. Now I'll have to experiment with carefully placing the slice in my mouth without allowing the juice to smear my lips. Wonder why the allergy only shows up on my face - not inside my mouth? Tryska,does mango sorbet affect you in the same manner as fresh mango?