Mjx

I'd add the annual prosciutto festival in Langhirano. I was there a couple of years ago, and definitely recommend it.

Not exactly: True, olive oil is expressed from a fruit, but equally true, it is an oil, and not a juice (i.e in the sense of a suspension of plant solids in water), so suggesting it be treated as the latter is incorrect. Fruit juices treated as you describe would deteriorate rapidly.

My refrigerator is at 3.33C (38F) but I never use oil from the refrigerator. I keep a cruet at room temperature, which I refill from the refrigerator every couple of weeks. I just haven't noticed any negative impact on flavor or texture from refrigeration, provided I'm using the oil after a decent amount of time back out of the refrigerator. Whereas, I do notice degradation with unrefrigerated oil after a few months. Just based on my very limited general knowledge, I don't see how cooling short of freezing would damage the stuff. Then again it is said to damage tomatoes, so who knows? I wonder who has studied olive-oil storage and where we can get the data. Don't know about damage in the sense of actual chemical degradation; I just find that refrigerated olive oil changes flavour, and, at least in some cases, texture (not actually certain that the blobs are cooler, I've simply noticed them, felt unhappy, and tried my unreasonable best to keep them from touching the inside of my mouth on the way down... I really do find them incredibly awful). But I have to admit, I also can't imagine any bottle of olive oil I buy lasting several weeks, let alone several months, so I've never had the problem of dealing with rancidity, or comparing it (at a purely taste/consistency level) to the unpleasantness of oil that has been refrigerated. In fact, now that I think of it, for all I know, the 'blobby' olive oil may have been previously frozen: It never occurred to me to ask, until now.

By the time I'm eating it, it is room temperature, although the little blobs seem a bit cooler. It's possible that Danish refrigerators are run a bit cooler than US ones, and that that may be responsible for the results (5C/41F is standard). I didn't realize that canola oil generally had a bad rap; I have some vague recollection of a fuss over a pesticide-contaminated batch (?) or something of that sort, but that's about it. I've spent most of the past decade or so outside the US, so I guess I've missed something. It isn't something I've noticed in shops here (it never seemed a very interesting oil, so I never bothered with it much), but plain old rapeseed oil is very standard.

The taste goes flat. It doesn't really fully describe the change, but it's about as close as I can get. I've also noticed a sort of granular clumping, which I find a little disgusting, because I have a bit of a thing about textures.

Only thing I'd quibble about is the bit about 'two wings: the self-appointed sophisticates and the supposed rubes.' From what I've seen, the 'supposed rubes' are frequently as unrelenting snobs (albeit with an inverted snobbism) as the 'self-appointed sophisticates'. Of course, the inverted snobbery of the former may simply be a defensive response to the standard-issue snobbery of the the latter.

The dark glass helps occlude light, if the storage place happens to be, say, an open, dim (not fully dark) shelf. Incidentally, if you really want to minimize the exposure to oxygen, you can add (carefully cleaned) marbles to the olive oil to keep the volume at 'full', as you use it up (I've done this with photo chemicals for the same reason, but not olive oil; I buy small bottles I use up in a couple of weeks).

From what I remember (without rechecking a source like McGee), collagen wouldn't render during such brief, relatively high-temperature cooking; you need to go 'low and slow' for that to happen (e.g. simmering for at least an hour).

Keeping it in a cool place makes sense, but refrigerating it is a terrible idea, because you really notice the change in flavour in refrigerated olive oil, and pretty quickly, too. I know the stuff gets pricey, but given the fact that its flavour is a primary reason for using olive oil, it makes more sense to just get smaller bottles, and use them more quickly. People here in Denmark seem to refrigerate all their oils (and their chocolate!), even though the climate is quite cool... makes me nuts, every time I find a river of flat-tasting, coagulated oil lavishly poured over a salad.

They must still be making them, because I saw some just a week or so ago, in J.D. Redhouse, in Willits, CA.

Good luck: You may just have to go to the source whatever you want, as I do, here in Denmark, when I want to get suet. For some reason, all suet is apparently exported, so I have to go to the abattoir and get the fresh blobs of it, if I want to make things like plum pudding.

I'd guess a good number of restaurants serving non-Western food might be open, the same as in NYC. Also, kosher restaurants.

If possible, make your choice something you've made for her on previous occasions, and that was a particular favourite, something that doesn't make her feel like a convalescent, but instead reminds her of the good things in the world that still persist.

Weirder than keeping a cow or goat in an artificial state of lactation and drinking that? Since I've given the whole dairy industry/human consumption of dairy considerable thought, I find those things pretty weird too, at least in Western societies. So, I'd have to say I find both the use of human milk and the dairy industry equally weird, at a strictly rational level. At a gut level, I admit I find the use of human milk in products for adult human consumption more off-putting. Also, at a practical/ethical level, does the nursing mother mentioned in the OP really have a recipes'-worth surplus of milk? I've known a lot of nursing mothers, and their babies generally had a good, solid use for all the milk available.

For recommendations on this sort of thing, we've got most of our leads by asking restaurant staff (anyone from waitstaff to owner/manager) where they source a given ingredient, which usually leads you right to the source (we toured quite a few places in Emilia Romagna thanks to this). You can do it on the spot (we did), or you may prefer to send out queries in advance, and nail things down.

Could a little of the sugar at the bottom be caramelizing? I could imagine this happening, particularly if the bottom of the pot is on the thin side. I've noticed some odd reactions with aluminium pots when acids are involved, no idea of whether the pH of sugar syrup is low enough for that to be an issue (although it seems unlikely).

Keeping rice in salt does keep it from clumping (I did this routinely, when I lived in a damp climate, until I switched to a salt dish), BUT you have to change the rice every once in a while. I've no idea of whether the effect is due to moisture absorption, mechanical impact, or a combination of these (I'd bet on option 3). My mother keeps rice in the salt shaker, but has a fit if I so much as suggest replacing the original rice (now reduced to bits only a little larger than the salt crystals), so I can't imagine it's doing much (or really needs to, in Brooklyn; no idea why she put it in in the first place). Wouldn't the humidity in the enclosed space of a salt shaker, especially if it's made of something relatively non-porous, reach higher levels than what you'd get outside, even on a really humid day? Sort of funny... isn't Morton's the salt with the girl with the umbrella, and the slogan 'When it rains, it pours'?

I don't trust any review sites, ever since one that shall remain nameless offered me considerably more than $5 to revise my scathing (but polite) review of a nonexistent hotel. Yes, you read that correctly. This hotel also demanded an advance deposit for the first night, and (no surprise) refused to return it. On Yelp, this hotel has nothing but 5-star reviews. Great reviews on Tripadvisor, too, although if you look at the forums, you read about a different story. I trust the reports of people I know who've had direct experience of a place, and who know something of the sorts of things I like. Everything else I take with a heaping fistful of salt.

It really depends on where you go, but the 'Too Cool to Care' attitude seems pretty widespread, and I really resent it. And I can't even be accused of being too old to understand, or never having been on the waitstaff end of things, because neither statement would be true. I know waiting tables can suck, and during the brief time I did it, hated virtually every second of it. On the other hand, I'd signed on for the job, so I made damn sure that my feelings didn't show: I was brought up to believe that when you go to work, you act professional, whether you have a shit job or dream job. I've never quite figured out most of what it means to be a grownup, but 'being able to act professional' was the one piece of the concept I nailed down early (I began working when I was thirteen). I kind of sympathize with waiters that hover; they appear to have not figured out that it's appropriate to say 'Please let me know if/when you want anything, and if you don't see me, have someone get me from in back: my name is Xxxxxxxx', and just keep an eye on things from a ways away. At least these people are trying. If a hoverer is really breathing down my neck (water refill after every couple of sips? I'm not dehydrated!), I just smile and say 'I'm good, no worries, I'll let you know if I need anything', which usually works. I have to disagree: There may be no specific criteria or standards for waiting tables, but surely 'being professional' (i.e. shelving the idea that you're the special one in the situation, and that it's all about you; being polite; making a point of actually finding out what your designated tasks are, and executing them to the best of your ability) should be a given. Pink slip, if you don't make the grade. It also helps if there's a senior member of the waitstaff who keeps on the back of the newbs and slackers, but in a lot of places, it seems that senior waiters are too cool too call someone on being too cool to care.

It is possible to slip the fortunes in after they're shaped, though; I've done it.

Could they be the sort of thing that you bake twice? First, when they're starting as little blobs of batter, then again after they've been formed, but before the 'fortunes' have been slipped in?

Been ages since I've had these, but when I was little, my mum used to slice them, and just toss them with a little olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and herbs (no idea of what they were). Really delicious.

These days, I spend most of my time in Denmark, where most things are really expensive. As a comparison, the strictly-for-tourists prices at Florence's Central Market (which I show people, but never shop at) seem reasonable, as does shopping at Eli's or Dean & Deluca in NYC. It's also really hard to find decent produce outside of people's gardens, here, so I just stick with the cheap supermarkets (one of which is a five-minute walk from the flat), where the merchandise is more or less the same as in the more expensive places, anyway. Between the selections on offer, and the prices, it's hard for me to work up enough enthusiasm to think more than one dinner ahead (i.e. the one for that evening). There are shops that carry various imports, but the prices tend to be so disturbing, compared to what we can get in the US or Italy (we travel a lot), that we when we travel we leave with empty luggage, and bring back as many of our favorite things as we can (this has included portions of prosciutto that occupied nearly the entire interior of the motorcycle's topbox). I really miss living in Italy.

I'd go this route, too. I've often frozen the shells, and the results are good, plus it takes very little time to re-heat and crisp them. I'd save discovering how using refrigerated or frozen paste plays out for when you don't have anything at stake, since unknown factors related to the paste being cold/thawing times could make for some really awkward and frustrating surprises, under the circumstances.

I shop pretty much every day, because my plans to plan ahead never seem to happen. For the most part, I still end up going to the local supermarket (early in the morning, usually, when there's no one there apart from a scattering of octogenarians), because I bake all our bread, and the local butcher charges prices that suggest that he is funneling substantial funds into a Swiss bank account he does have. I think I actually spend more when I buy ahead, since I'm spending so much money and getting so much stuff already, getting a few impulse purchases doesn't seem as spendy. When I'm shopping for that day, I stick to the list.