donk79

If you ever experience a cow having knocked a horn off, or accidentally gashing another cow, you quickly come to understand that there are legitimate safety reasons for dehorning cows. However, I will agree that the hazards of horns are greatly diminished in a smaller herd.

beans and rice meat (of any sort) and smoke grain (of any sort) and butter vanilla and chocolate

Aim for the restaurant that looks like its shaped it suroundings in a good way. For an example, stop at Carmello's Little Portugal in Manassas, Va. Note the two main uptown streets. Count the Mcdonald's signs. Look at downtown. Note that Mcdonald's has not yet found this location worthy of a Mcdonald's. Look on the same block as Carmello's. Note the used book store/coffee shop across the street. Note the Pottery and painting gallery next to Carmello's. Note the gourmet/cigar/wine shop next to the gallery. Note that everything else mentioned looks to be much more recently established than Carmello's. Go in. Order your meal. Enjoy. By the way, most of the locals are in uptown Manassas, either at Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or Joe's Pizza. Only a select number have opened their eyes enough to see Carmello's as a possible place to eat instead of continuing on their way uptown.

Haven't you ever wondered, maybe even just a little bit, what a curry would taste like with dill? Who knows? Maybe it might be the special secret ingredient necessary in order to "set the culinary world on fire." Or is curry too sacred to disgrace in such experimentation? Just don't blame any bad results on my razzing!

Ok, grilling fish. (deep breath) One quick plea. Please put foil over the grates before cooking the fish. Especially if your working with a thin fillet, say, a freshly caught rainbow trout, 30 minutes out of the water. I almost cried when I checked the doneness of my first trout, only to watch it flake in half and fall into the fire.

There once was a man from Sarasota and boy did he like his soda. And so as the weather got hotta and hotta, He went for the Fanta Shokata!!!

Making bread... I've been putting ingredients in a bread machine for a couple of years now. Just this evening, i decided to play around a little bit, and after doing my standard toss ingredients in the bread machine, I started to prep some dough outside the machine. I used the bread machine recipe as my base (1 1/3 cups water, 4 cups flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 1/2 tsp yeast) and then adjusted for consistency and added ground pepper and dillweed. let rise for an hour. Punched down, kneaded for a couple minutes, then set on a floured baking stone in the oven at 400. I just went down to glance in the oven. It resembles nothing more than a mushroom. top crust set, then continued to rise. I wish I had a digital camera so I could post a picture. live and learn I guess, though i'm not certain what i could have done to cause this. It will be quite a novelty if i can repeat it.

Please tell me that wasn't an omlet with catsup that I saw. To each their own, I guess, but has the madness spread that far?

I just had to share this one. Washington Post's Robert L. Wolke I don't know whether the artistry is greater in the creation of the drink or in the creation of the description. The spirit (pun unintended, but you note I don't remove it either ) of Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. is now my official muse.

The milk was like unto nothing that one could ever find in a grocery store today. The sad news I have for you is that no breed of cow produces anything so weak and watery as what is now labled "whole milk." Unless you have to shake the container to mix the cream in, the difference between what you are drinking and what we drank is the difference between tin can stewed tomatoes and a tomatoe fresh from the garden. This didn't lead to picky milk consumption on my part, because everything that wasn't from back home seemed all the same, palatable, but watered down. Fortunately my wife isn't picky about milk either, she won't drink any of it! The ironies of fate....

I've been silent to this point, but at last we've touched upon something so deeply etched in my soul that i can restrain my tongue no longer. I was not fortunate enough to be raised on good Texan beef, nor Scottish Highland. Instead, growing up on a dairy farm, the most readily available source of protein had been bred to put as little energy into producing meat as possible. The resultant meat was tasteless, stringy, and tough as nails. The cut always seemed to be a T-bone about half an inch thick, cooked either under the broiler or on the grill until any trace of moisture that might have accidentally been present in the first place was burned away. I can still hear the refrain of my sibling's and I "Steak again!!!" To this day, despite having had wonderful cuts of beef excellently prepared, I can never raise any enthusiasm over the prospect of eating beef.