memesuze

pimentoes and those Italian Corni del Toro [or whatever ]

One of my favorite variations has mayo, pecans, and green olives

I've only seen hard neck garlic once here in Austin - at Central Market about a month ago. Picked up a few heads, and haven't looked lately to see if they still had some. I've given up veggie gardening - only grow herbs for consumption, but the quality of the bulb made me wish I grew some....

ooh, and what do you think about using a filter wrench as a jar opener?

Just think of all the tools we have brought in from the garage: rasp, mini-hacksaw for cutting the knuckle off the drumstick, propane torch, rubber mallet for flattening meats....I have all four of these and need to wander around my workroom again looking for more ideas.....

thank you, ma'am - mole-making is a glorious enterprise. My only forays have been with the queen of moles: mole negro. The first time, using Zarela Martinez's recipe, took one long session of about 5 or 6 hours of processing and cooking. Now, knowing what the techniques are, and how to divide up the stages, it takes only about 3 or 4 hours to produce a huge batch for gifts and my freezer. I highly recommend Zarela's recipe for the negro, and don't doubt that any of the other types [7 in all, I think] she prepares would be outstanding. I used The Food and Life of Oaxaca, but her Food from my Heart has similar recipes. There's chiles [i found some chilhuacle negros once and used them in my last batch], dried fruits, nuts and seeds, sherry, chocolate, roasted onions and garlic and tomatoes and I can't remember what else. I encourage you to take it on, especially in a cool month when you don't mind standing at the stove....

Anyone notice that the guest chef 's recipe on Ming's show today called for szechuan peppercorns?

I have one of those "jaws of jars" - a v-shaped serrated-toothed contraption that is screwed into the underside of one of my kitchen cabinets out of sight - all recalcitrant jar lids bow down in fear.

yes, so long as we're talking about fresh

Sounds as though you need to park those puppies in the fridge for three months and score them to allow the "hull" of the seed to be free enough to let the germinating seed pop out. Not sure whether you score them before or after the cold storage. Check out Jill Nokes' How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest, ch.3 is 13 pages of germination information. table of contents on germination Or some other tome on germinating.....

the bt injection is what John Dromgoole of The Natural Gardener here in Austin recommends....

One of the worst pests hereabouts is the squash vine borer - all of the sudden the stems collapse and your crop is history. ugly little m****** to be controlled by cutting open the stems and hunting for the m****** the hunt is on I've successfully treated the vines before by injecting bt [bacillus thurengensis] into the stems. [i never did the cut open and hand-remove technique] Use a syringe about an inch and a half above the soil line, just after first flowering. One of my source books says to inject at 4-inch intervals if the caterpillars are already inside the vines. You could also try pyrethrum powder at the base of the vines. Be sure to rotate your squash planting site from year to year.

I can't help you with my personal method, but I was perusing Diana Kennedy's From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients today, and there was a two-page spread complete with color pictures on the rice you want. Hie thee to the bookstore soonest!

I've never tried this with shallots, but for onions, I occasionally let them soak in water for about ten minutes, and then the peel slips right off. If I had some in my basket, I'd try it right now, but alas....

Aren't Central Market's dolmas made by Tom's Tabooley? Foodie52 will have to confirm.

oooh, costata romanesco - one of my favorite vegetables - heretofore only seen at Boggy Creek Farms - what a wonderful flavor and look

I don't have a problem with thyme - mine are in full sun - but tarragon doesn't fare well in the central Texas area - I just substitute Mexican Marigold Mint - the flavor is similar enough and the plant is gorgeous in the fall with the tiny gold flowers. Very hardy - my current one is about five years old at least - I just cut it back in February with the rest of the perennials. Are you watering the thyme too much? As a mediterranean plant, it does well when treated xerically - loves rocky well-draining soil and doesn't like wet roots. You might want to pick up a copy of Lucinda Hutson's Herb Gardening Cookbook - even the first edition is fine, and you can often find it at Half-Price books real cheap - great information about herbs that do well here in Central Texas and terrifc recipes - the basil torta and the tequila margarita cheeseball are to die for.

It's got to be Damiana see here

I can't buy it 'cuz when I do, I keep going back for just one more sip!

I'm with Foodie52 - my landscape consists of Xeric plants that I'm teaching to love my benign neglect - or else they get ripped out and replaced with one of my success stories - and herbs - parsley, a Mexican marigold mint that's going on seven years now, an oregano that I replaced a couple of years ago and is currently about three feet wide, some garlic chives, a puny marjoram, three thymes that do well year round - it's great in winter soups and with roasted pieces of buternut squash and shallots - and two wonderful rosemary bushes that produce thick leaves on sturdy stems[one's Gorizia and the other is either Arp or Tuscan Blue]. Regular and Thai basil will come after it warms up a bit. I quit veggie gardening when I got tired of spending my time picking bugs off and watering the heck out of them come July and August. I'd rather spend my time and money at Boggy Creek and Central Market.... One of my new finds last year that was covered with bees much of the summer and fall was Blue Shrub Sage [salvia Ballotiflora] - got to about 4x4x4 with delicate little blue flowers. Found it at the Wildflower Center sale, which I probably won't do again because it was too much of a madhouse, and I can get most of what they have there at Barton Springs or the Natural Gardener. I'm thinking of trying lemon verbena again.

I've only been on the board for a year or so, but has any thought been given to pulling all of the kitchen products, like cookware and knives, and renovation and appliance threads into a new category like "kitchen hardware"?

Whenever I'm in Chinatown [once a year or so] I always stop at the bakery at 133 Waverly Place - can't remember the name. Just my own tradition - haven't found any others that I like as well - eggy with a touch of sweet.

Les Amis - one of the fireplace-endowed restaurants that I miss, like Senor O'Brien's for stone soup but I don't remember the name of that ice cream place upstairs across from Dobie - too stoned myself - had my first jalapeno ice cream at Ice Cream You Scream over near the Posse

Is the Houston Phoenicia affiliated with the two Austin Phoenicia's?

One variation is to toss the florets with melted unsalted butter, then toss with a bit of sugar, salt, pepper, sweet paprika, hot paprika, and cinnamon before roasting in a 450 oven about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with coarse salt - serve hot or warm. I've converted a few party-goers with that one.