memesuze

Places I would look: the Natural Gardener for both seeds and plants, It's About Thyme, and Barton Springs Nursery. But then that's depending on what you're searching for. I've never noticed seeds or plants at any of the Asian markets. If seeds are your desire, why not check into some of the online seed vendors, like Shepherd's.

If you're bothered by prairie voles, use sichuan peppercorn oil....Sichuan takeout

Hoping that it's "the third time's the charm,", and not "three strikes and you're out," I'm now asking, what are your recommended dishes there?

I'm going to the Conspirare concert at 8 on Saturday night, and am looking for a place to eat beforehand - the site is on Mesa, just north of Spicewood Springs. I'd thought of Ms. B's for some gumbo, but am open to other suggestions. Not sure if we have a $$ limit - but I'd prefer a place that takes reservations so we don't get tied up - we need to get to the concert around 7.30, since it's general admission. Okay, all you north Austin foodies, start your suggestions....

I'm holding off on the caprese until the tomatoes at Boggy Creek come in - nothing will save the red winter blobs we're still seeing - that is one of my summer faves, tho. Robyn, how 'bout posting your salmon recipe - always looking for my omega-3's. Sally Schneider, in her New Way to Cook, has a recipe for cilantro, mint, and basil oil that may take this batch since I have the other two herbs already in the fridge. Thanks, all....

I pruned my transplants the other evening, prior to putting them under pots to protect from what was to be a night in the upper 30's [didn't come to pass], so now I have around twenty big leaves still "en stalk" - the whole shebang weighs an ounce. Any suggestions for them? - my first thought was Jerry Traunfeld's basil oil, reduced by one-third, since his recipe calls for 3 cups gently packed or 3 ounces. But I'm open to other ideas, beside the usual pasta sauce....

Haven't eaten in Lubbock, but my recollection of the County Line's here in Austin are that they are pretty "sanitized" versions of Texas BBQ - nothing like what the recent Texas Gluttony Tour found between the Hill Country and the coast. I'm not knocking the food, but the Lubbock operation probably is "just like" the Austin operations - and that doesn't seem to be what you are searching for. Check out the recommendations at texasmonthly.com

Back in my yogurt-making days, I'd use non-instant from the local coop grocery, Wheatsville - you should be able to find it at Whole Paycheck or Trader Joe's or any other "natural" food store....It's interesting stuff, I recall it as being "squeaky" - the particles, that is, and they blew around as freely as other white powders....

Now that you have the citation, why don't you go to your friendly local library and look it up on the microfiche? Most libraries carry back issues of the Times in fiche. who knows what else you'd discover there....

Of my two rosemarys, the Tuscan Blue is the most upright - it's now in its second year and is two by two by 2.5 tall, whereas the Gorizia is 3+ by 3+ by 3. In the original edition of Lucinda Hutson's Herb Garden Cookbook, she says of "Albus" variety: "tall and more slender variety...seems especially winter hardy; surprisingly, its blooms are white instead of blue." A fellow Austinite, Lucinda has written a great cultivation and cooking book - her basil cheese torta and her tequila margarita cheeseball are to die for.

the latest thinking in compost tea is to make aerobic compost tea by using an aeration device such as a bubbler to introduce oxygen to the water to have "live" microorganisms for better juice. John Dromgoole of the Natural Gardener here in Austin has a commercial setup that produces gallons for sale fresh each week. I think he got the idea from SoilFoodWeb.org. Check out Soil Food Web's media and their links page

Mudpuppie, wanna let us in on the name of the place - for research purposes only, you understand - we locals have begun a migas crawl and since I'm not the most eager migas eater, I'd try some breakfast tacos instead....

I need to check with Larry and Carol Anne to see how big the Meyers get how fast. One thought would be to prune after the last of the fruit pick so that they could put on new wood in time to bud for the next year. Until you get a definitive answer, I'd see about pruning only one branch to see how it produces buds. I got mine at Lowes - a 12-inch pot for $22, IIRC. But John Dromgoole was touting a fresh shipment at the Natural Gardener on his show yesterday. I don't have a clue about the lavender seeds except to say that the little transplants go in now. You might call that lavender farm out in the Hill Country to see if they have any suggestions. Or the herb farm at Round Top - they grow lavender.

Can't forget my two rosemary bushes - with big fat leaves, unlike those thin ones - varieties "Tuscan Blue" and "Gorizia" - they're beautiful bushes

I've been thinking more and more about hauling the Meyer in as it gets bigger and I get older and stiffer - what is the size I'm looking at on this - pot-bound and ground-sunk? Here in Austin we might have a mild winter that sees nary a day below 25 and then we might have one of those pipe-busters - I remember a cold week a few years ago when it was in the single digits for quite a long time. Very much the anomaly, tho. If it doesn't get too tall, I can always rig a wood frame covered with plastic with a trouble-light inside.

As perennials that have consistently done well for me here in Austin, I have an immense Greek oregano, an English and a French thyme, Mexican oregano, Mexican marigold mint for my tarragon needs, chives, and parsley. Then I've replanted marjoram - just seems to crater every year or so, sage, this year's basil, and I'm waiting to find a Thai basil. One year I had lemon verbena, but only one year. I'm gonna try that one again in a different site. I have some bay laurel in a pot out back, but I suspect it's the California variety - so when I'm wanting depth of flavor, I use some dried Penzey's Turkish bay leaves.

Today I planted a couple of basil plants that I had divided from a large multi-stemmed plant from Central Mkt - no Thai basil in the ground yet - Howard's doesn't have it, and I wasn't into taking the time for a special trip to the Natural Gardener or Barton Springs. Also put in lavender for the first time - Goodwin Creek variety - with a one-inch layer of pea gravel beneath the transplant for drainage. Now I'm pondering whether to get a big pot for the Meyer lemon I picked up, after urging from Jaymes, or find a protected sunny spot in the landscape for it, as Larry Butler from East Austin's Boggy Creek Farms recommends. His and Carol Anne's are said to be blooming profusely right now with that gorgeous scent and they didn't freeze during last winter's two nights of 19 degree temps. The Italian parsley overwintered so well, that I need to crop it and make the first tabouli of the the year, before the caterpillars arrive.

As a child, I'd eat the "ears" off the large Milk-Bones, never the body, and never a smaller size - they had a crisp neutral grainy taste.I've always looked on it as my foray into pica - but it was probably some acting out when I couldn't find my mother's stash of Hershey's dark chocolate bars!

This last Wednesday's food section in the NYTimes had an article about inexpensive mandolines, including all the Benriner models - check it out: for thin vegetables, at a slender price

chefrodrigo, we're having an eGullet gathering the evening of 31 March for Cajun food - if you're in town then, join us

I got a half-pound of the Chilhuacles a year or so ago at Central Market here in Austin, for around $16/pound. They haven't been seen there since. I looked all over the markets on Airline in Houston, but they're not there. I saved one pepper after making mole negro this last winter - it's sitting in my spice rack above my work bench to remind me what it really looks like. Susannah Trilling told me that they are not easy to come by in Oaxaca these days. I was contemplating throwing a few plants around my yard so I'd have a source for the dried under $20 a pound. That internet source for the dried peppers works out to $40 a pound. Of course, the water in austin's summer heat may cost that much....Rancho Gordo, can you give a rough estimate of how much dried weight one plant would produce?

so far in Texas only Dallas and Houston are listed: open days I've been tempted by the info on the pepper thread to order some chilhuacle negros, even tho I've given up vegetable gardening, so I can have some for my mole negro and not have to pay $20 a pound, if they are even available. I've only found them locally once - at Central Market, about a year-and-a-half ago, and I threw a pound in my freezer. All gone now, after two batches of negro....

How did you translate the 3 large onions in the original recipe to whatever amount of confit?

There's also the Garden Conservancy's Open Days - I'm not sure if it's on the same day nationwide, but I've seen some gorgeous places. The Peckerwood is separate from the Garden Conservancy's gig, tho.

Fifi, are you thinking of Peckerwood Gardens, near Hempstead? It's a private garden that is a "world-renowned repository of rare and endangered plnats, many of them from the Sierra Madre region of Mexico." It has open days from 1-5 pm on the weekends of 20-21 March, 3-4 April, 17-18 April and then some in May and June. I've not been but I've heard raves. Peckerwood Gardens Crushed granite seems to be the choice here in Austin - I just haven't called for a truckload yet. So my paths are a mix of mulch and stepping stones and dirt and weeds, with no edging - perhaps this year will be the year I remedy that.