faith

Stan, does the 3-4x multiplier generate a proper profit for producers, or is that the price at which you can't turn a profit at the current market? When I lived in the middle of a city in another state, it was easy to get nice-to-the-animal meats in one place at my local farmers' market. Now I need to drive a little bit more of a circuit to gather everything, but there's the advantage (as far as I'm concerned, anyway) that I get to go to the actual farm. Meat and egg prices here and in my former city are roughly the same--and at your 3-4x multiplier. As a consumer, it would be nice to know whether that price point incorporates most of the externalities.

This is a little bit criss-cross to your question, but all of my tri-ply stainless pans are SLT (6 qt. dutch oven, three skillets, a couple of sauce pans), and I like them enough that I've given them as gifts. I very much like the second handle on my 12" skillet (which I got significantly enough on sale a couple of weeks ago that I'm going to time any additional purchases for those sales). The 12" skillet was my first cookware addition in five years or so, and it seems to be of at least the same quality as my earlier purchases. I don't have any non-stick pans, so can't comment on those. I have not spent enough time cooking on All Clad to know how anything I've said above compares and have not used any SLT anodized (my other cookware is early 90s Calphalon). I have found my stainless harder to clean than I expected based on what I'd read (then again, I'm not the world's most perfect dish washer), but agree that it's only an inconvenience that doesn't at all tempt me to upgrade to All Clad. And cleaning has been significantly less of an issue since I started keeping Bar Keeper's Friend on hand. That all having been said, in your shoes, I'd be perfectly happy trying out the SLT anodized.

I'm pretty sure the parts in my last post have been spoken for. I'll repost if I'm wrong... Edited to add that the parts have not been claimed after all.

If anyone wants spare parts for a Cuisinart DLC-8 Plus, pm me. I've got a bunch of parts that need a new home: work bowl, regular blade, dough blade, three slicing disks and stem attachments (actually four, but two copies of one of them), feed tube and the larger lid piece into which the feed tube fits. (In other words, everything except the base and the lid itself.) Edited to add that I meant to mention they're free.

Liquor and coffee. I realize I am probably in the minority here, but mixing them strips away what I like about each of them. If I want whiskey, I don't want it toned down by coffee. And vice versa. I'm a big fruit and meat person. When I accompany pork with pear compote (or apple sauce), I season the sauce/compote toward the savory end--vinegar, sometimes balsamic; s&p; savory herbs; sauteed onions (at least before I took up with someone with an onion allergy); the like. Not trying to make converts; just elaborating on the intersection of those flavors that appeals to me. I ended up getting an ex to trust me on this one--though I should have known that relationship would never work as the first big dispute we had was over whether fruit ever belonged with meat (and it was just a theoretical discussion; we were having brunch). As for cilantro, I know several people (fortunately not me) for whom it tastes like soap. That's a genetic thing. There's an eG forum on it: I don't know the proper way to post links, so this'll have to do.

Tuna and onion flesh, primarily. Not my allergies, but my better half's. We live in a place and have schedules that mean we eat out seldom (which is fine as we both are happy in a kitchen), and I can't see cooking two different meals, so I learned to steer clear of his allergies. The tuna is a histamine reaction (similar to kids who can't even be around peanuts of any kind), so it's just too risky to get near the stuff, even if we're choosing entrees in a restaurant. He's been advised to stay away from mahi-mahi and halibut as well. Given that tuna and mahi-mahi are all over the menu at my favorite fish taco place, we've crossed that off our list. (Of course, that has started to sting a little less since we've relocated from that city.) And tuna certainly never comes in the house. As for the onions, we're not sure exactly what it is about them--he can have stock or stews flavored with onions that are strained out, and onion powder works as well (thank goodness for Penzey's toasted onion powder)--but actual onions are a bit of a disaster. I'm glad the weather has turned cool enough to make stock more often as that's a prime way I tuck onion flavor into dishes. But not being able to sweat onions till they've released their sugars is something I miss especially every time I make a one-pot meal.

I will never again use my food processor, sad as it is to say. Saturday morning, pie crust, murky electrical smell. Where's the "this is probably stupid" part, you ask? Well, it was the second pie crust to generate that unmistakable smell. I'm thinking a public pledge will take care of the temptation to risk life and shelter for a third fruit pie, notwithstanding it's my better half's favorite dessert. Plus, it could be worse. The food processor was an ancient hand-me-down and had performed valiantly even after a direct hit from a standing mixer falling off the top of my fridge a few years back. Speaking of something else I'll never do again: store a standing mixer on top of a fridge, no matter how little counter space I have (in that kitchen, cabinet space could go without mention).

Hear, hear on the actually using it. The second time I took a spin through eyb to figure out dinner, I found a recipe for lamb shoulder with apples and pomegranate molasses in Paula Wolfert'ss Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean that is now one of my favorites (for the next time I have lamb shoulder in the house, of course). Since I live in the country (I'm not allowed to call it the middle of nowhere...), I had the added fun of making pomegranate molasses (for which Wolfert provides a recipe that I'd also never have noticed without assistance). Edit: Just to clarify: I like the country/middle of nowhere....

Check out Heidelberg Bakery or Randolph's, both in Arlington. I grew up in Arlington, haven't lived there for years, and still make a point of hitting both places any time I'm back. They have different styles, so you might want to check out both places.