ElainaA

I can also recommend both Grewlings's orange butter ganache and his strawberry balsamic butter ganache. And I agree that the raspberry is wonderful.

When - 35 years ago - I met the very Italian man who is my husband one of the next things I did was buy Ms Hazan's first book. Followed, in time, by all the others. Even though I know many of the recipes by heart I still pull them out often - sometimes just to read. She is a role model - it seems that she had a long, productive and, I hope, very happy life.

Our food is heavily influenced by my husband's Italian traditions - we have wine with most dinners. Water always - lunch and dinner. As a child, my father always had coffee with his meal - dinner, lunch and breakfast. It was a ritual for my mother to prepare it. The coffee was made in a two level, aluminum drip pot. Milk was then brought just to a boil and the coffee poured into it, then the mixture was poured into a cup that already had sugar in it. In summer that could occasionally change to ice tea. Kids - there were 6 of us - always had milk. I think I was about 12 when I was allowed ice tea with dinner in the summer. In cold weather, I still prefer hot tea with lunch as well as breakfast. Elaina

Linda Ziedrich's book The Joy of Pickling has a large section of recipes for fermented pickles - no vinegar, fermented in brine. They range from basic dill and half sour cucumber pickles to fermented daikon, Vietnamese soured mustard greens and brined cherry tomatoes. I have not personally made any of these - however all the fresh (vinegar) pickles, relishes and chutneys I have made from this book have been wonderful. If there is a specific recipe you are looking for, let me know and I can post it. However her sections on process and safety in pickling are worth the price of the book on their own. As to the grape leaves, in theory they help maintain crispness. I have read extensive discussion of this on another forum site ( Garden Web Harvest). Some of the very expert canners who post there have experimented with and without grape leaves and conclude that they make very little difference but do look pretty. However if you are making pickles from whole cukes be sure and slice off the blossom end - the blossom scar is a weak area and can cause pickles to become flaccid. And no one wants a flaccid pickle, do they? Elaina

While Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Somerville's Field's of Greens are two of my most used cookbooks, I really learned vegetarian cooking form Julie Jordan's now out of print Wings of Life. It gives basic structures for dishes - soups, stews, chili, quiches, stir fry and then riffs of lots of possible variations. The curried lentil soup and cashew chili are among my standards. It is based on recipes from her restaurant, Cabbagetown Cafe, a favorite in Ithaca in the 1970's-80's - rivaling Moosewood. I liked it better - I found Moosewood's food, at that time anyway, too heavy and rather bland. ( I have lived in or near Ithaca since the mid 1970's.)

Wow. This thread brings back memories of when I worked at Cornell many, many years (no, decades) ago, Louie's Lunch was always parked in front of Balch Hall (where I worked) from about noon until around midnight - or later. I can remember many nights running out to get a fried egg sub just before they closed up shop. I can't remember just what was in it besides the eggs and cheese but I do remember that it was exactly right at that time of night.

I am growing watermelon radishes for the first time this year. They seem to be taking longer to mature than the other types I grow (Easter egg and French breakfast) but I expect to be able to have usable size roots in 4 -5 weeks after planting. Radishes are super easy to grow. They do attract flea beetles, leaving the leaves looking like lace but that doesn't seem to bother most of the plants. I bought seed at the local Agway. Johnny's Seeds carries them but calls them 'Red Meat radishes'.

Nice ideas. The cucumber salad is a winner. Maybe with the open-faced sandwiches but perhaps smoked salmon rather than pork loin. But shrimp remoulade sounds so lovely (with avocado?)..... and strawberries are just in season here. I'm thinking a gruner veltliner to drink - with some seltzer to make a g'spritzer. We will have about a two hour drive home, so not too much alcohol. (I do know that gruner veltliner is Austrian not German but I like it and I don't think the car will mind.)

@ Keith_W: I like your menu but unfortunately we are showing a porsche. And sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes doesn't make a picnic for me! I'm willing to be culturally eclectic. Elaina

What would you make/pack for an elegant picnic for two? Each summer my husband and I spend a day at Eurocar, a show of European, mostly vintage, sports cars. I like to take a picnic lunch appropriate for the setting. (Last year we were next to a 1940's Aston-Martin.) Last year was pate with accompaniments and a mesclun salad. And champagne. I would love some suggestions for this year. Elaina

I'm with BeeZee - Kraft mac&cheese, blue box only. It's always for lunch when no one else is around so obviously I feel embarrassed. However, I only eat about 2/3. My dog gets the rest. She likes it as much as I do.

Martin - Thank you! I am going to try this. I am virtually 'next door' to you - in Cortland County so our growing season is identical. It's too late to get the head start you get. I think I'll start some in a container now and possibly some in the garden when i get it started soon, Elaina

Thanks for all the replies! What I am looking for is literally the stems of young ginger. They are white and pink and look more like asparagus than ginger root. Young ginger root is easily available here - it's a staple in my kitchen. Stem ginger is quite different - super tender and less pungent. Martin: I've never thought of growing ginger - odd perhaps because I am more a gardener that cooks than I am a cook that gardens. When you grow it as an annual do you use the white and pink stems? Or do you dig the roots in the fall? Or both? I have a drip tape system in my vegetable garden - would that provide enough moisture?| Elaina

About 5 years ago I happened to be in NYC's Chinatown at the right moment and was able to purchase some fresh stem ginger. It made wonderful preserves - friends still ask me about them. I understand stem ginger is only available for a brief time in early summer. Somehow, it seems that I have never again managed to be in an area with major Asian markets at the right time of year. I've asked in Asian markets in Syracuse, near where I live, but it seems it is never available there. I plan on a few days in NYC sometime around June. Does anyone know more specifically where and when I might track down this elusive stuff? Also, in case I manage to locate some, what else have people made with it? All I have done are preserves and I have candied it. Both were delicious.

It makes a difference if you are right or left handed. Most kitchen tools are designed for right handed people. I bought my left handed daughter a Rosle left handed peeler as a gift and she says suddenly she can peel things easily. This goes for can openers too. Even some knives that are sharpened only on one edge. Maybe there should be a thread about left handed issues in the kitchen?

I've got a lot of it - send me your address. One ad that I found stresses that the "erectile effects" last for 12 hours and that you should not use it more than 3 days in arow. Pretty busy days, I'd think. http://www.bwa-bande.com/bwabande_dosage.html

I've kept homemade pesto in the fridge for up to a week with no ill effects - but I can not speak to the scientific issues. However I usually freeze pesto. (I grow lots of basil and make a year's worth through the summer.) I don't add the cheese when freezing it . I freeze it in ice cubes trays then pop the cubes into freezer bags - that way I can thaw however much I want, mix in the cheese and its ready to go. I do have a set of ice cube trays specifically for this as it is very difficult to get all traces of pesto out.

The mystery sticks have been identified. I posted this question on the St. Lucia forum on Trip Advisor and got an answer from one of their local contacts. He says the sticks are bwa bande, also called bois bande, from the richeria grandis tree. They are used in spiced rum, including commercial brands from St. Lucia (Chairman's Reserve Spiced Rum and Kweyol spiced rum) and other islands. It is also used to make tea. It is said to be an aphrodisiac - I found multiple references to it as 'natural viagra'. I'm going to have to think about whether I use this or not. There is certainly a lot of it in the bag of spices that i bought.

Thanks. I'll try that.

That's not exactly the same as spicing your own rum but, as long as they work, go for it. Sorry. I was having fun, thinking about these "mystery sticks". It reminds me of the gypsy ladies that used to sell "magic heather" in my home town and of course Jack and the Beanstalk. Seriously, I've been wondering if possibly the sticks were primarily there to fill out the bag. They also look cool in the bottle - all the bottles on spiced rum sold in the market contain them (but not the rum sold in the duty free shops). I'm going to try Panaderia's suggestion of soaking them in a neutral spirit - once I get some. Not so easy in liquor stores in a small upstate NY town.

On a recent visit to St. Lucia I purchased a bag of "spices" intended for flavoring rum. Most of the items are easily identified - cinnamon bark, bay leaves, allspice, cloves and mace. There are also some roots that the market woman identified as sarsaparilla. Then there are these sticks. The vendors in the market identified them only as "sweet sticks". I've been chewing on one (being wary of splinters) but, at least to me, there is no discernible taste at all. Can anyone identify what they are? Will they add any flavor to the rum? And what about the sarsaparilla root? I've never heard of that in spiced rum.

My favorite crunchy salad: julienned celery, carrot and crisp apple with radicchio and Belgian endive. Dressed with lemon juice and evo. Crunchy, tasty and very pretty.

Thank you all for some practical advice. I'll pass all this on to my friends.

Thanks for the responses. My friend has been diagnosed with an intestinal condition involving over production of bacteria (after a terrifying mis-diagnosis of stomach cancer). The dietary changes are 24/7 and probably permanent. His wife, the main family cook, is struggling to find recipes. Ozcook is correct: what they need are every day recipes. Neither is into gourmet cooking, although they have taught me really good things to do with venison, moose and elk, all killed by Jeff. I'm just hoping to find a good cookbook that can help them figure out how to have good food within the constraints prescribed.

A friend has been put (permanently) on a no sugar, very low carb diet to deal with serious health issues. There are lots of cookbooks out there on this topic - but are there any in particular that produce really good food? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.