rlibkind

Herewith, "real time" reports (well, nearly so) on our visit to Savannah, which began with the departure in our trusty sedan from Philadelphia Easter Sunday morning and will conclude, after a week's stay in Georgia, with the return drive back north. We overnighted in Wilson, NC where I meandered over to Bill Ellis' BBQ in search eastern North Carolina 'cue. No line, no waiting, probably because it was Easter Sunday and everyone else was stuffed with their ham dinners. My order of a pint of 'cue, four pieces of chicken, cole slaw and hush puppies arrived within five minutes for the grand total of $15.43. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I ate plenty back in our motel suite, with leftovers for at least one more meal (consumed in our Savannah holiday flat off Troupe Square this evening after a quick trip to Krogers for bread and other staples). I'm no expert on barbecue, but I found this just a tad dry and the flavor subdued; just the slightest touch of vinegar. SWMBO thought the chicken was very good; once again, I thought it a tad dry, though the sauce was nicely done. Still, a very good bargain given that we got more than four modest servings out of it. The hush puppies were fine when hot. The slaw was tangy and good, chopped like what we call "pepper hash" in Philadelphia, and dressed yellow which, until someone educates me better, I'll assume reflects mustard as an ingredient. I've got a full list of potential eating spots and places to buy food for feeding us in our flat (we've got workable kitchen facilities, but I plan no heavy duty cooking). Below are the possibilites I've researched so far (obviously, we won't hit them all in a week's time), but I welcome suggestions/warnings. Keep in mind we will probably not do fancy-schmantzy, unless someone insists we can't visit Savannah without a meal at whatchamacallits. We're more interested in local flavor and good value than high-falutin' feedin'. <ul><li>Belford's (I hear the shrimp, greens and grit cakes are good). <li>Sweet Potatoes <li>Toucan Café <li>Gerald's Diner <li>Fiddler's Crab House <li>River House Seafood <li>Firefly Café <li>Mrs. Wilkes (if the line isn't too long) <li>Madison Cafeteria <li>Crab Shack (Tybee) <li>North Beach Grill (Tybee) <li>Old School Diner (Townsend) <li>Sunbury Crab Company (Sunbury) And for consumption back at our flat: <li>Polks Fresh Market <li>Baker's Pride Bakery <li>Harris Baking Company </ul>Again, suggestions, warnings, menu recommendations and restaurant prioritization most welcome. I'll continue to post post-prandial reports.

<a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_123152.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_123152.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; width: 360px; height: 480px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_123152.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>It's officially spring. No, I don't mean the movement of the tilt of the Earth on its axis to create the vernal equinox. No, the true sign of spring can be found at Earl Livengood's stand at the Reading Terminal Market. To eat, he offered young, tender dandelion greens this morning; to enjoy visually (or tactually) you could purchase pussy willows. <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_595990.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_595990.jpg"><img style="margin: 10pt 10pt 10px 10px; float: left; width: 240px; height: 320px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_595990.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> Over at Iovine Brothers, Brother Jim explained how they manage to sell organic green seedless grapes ($1 a bag for a bag that, by my estimate, weighed a pound and a half) for less than the conventional variety ($1.99/pound): A Walmart or other big buyer "kicks" a lot, sticking it to the distributor who has to find another buyer. When a distributor has produce that just has to move, they've got the speed dialer on their phone set to Iovine's. (As always, click on a photo to see a larger version.) Other relative bargains at Iovine's this morning: bags of California clementines for $3.99 and one-pound clamshells of Florida strawberries for $1.99. Not such a bargain, but still a welcome seasonal addition, were the baby artichokes, $3.99/pound. Lemons and lines still exorbitant at 50 cents each. <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_663685.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_663685.jpg"><img style="margin: 10pt 10pt 10px 10px; float: left; width: 320px; height: 240px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_663685.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The price of the gutted, headless sardines at Wan's seafood went up to $3.99/pound, but the price of whole sardines at John Yi fell to $2.99. The latter's refrigerator case of cephalopods, fresh water salmonids, and clupea harengus looked particularly attractive today. <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_366789.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_366789.jpg"><img style="margin: 10pt 10pt 10px 10px; float: right; width: 320px; height: 240px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_366789.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Young's Flowers has given up its Saturday daystall in the market due to insurance costs. They are still expected to sell when the Headhouse market gears up later this spring. Market management is near a deal to fill the vacant space most recently occupied by the natural food store and, before that, Margerum's. The new vendor will sell a range of packaged grocery items (trending to the gourmet/high priced side), so if you need that canned broth or ketchup to complete your recipe you won't have to make a second stop elsewhere. This will be the vendor's first expansion beyond his current single store in another section of the city.

It's highly emulsified, but I'm pretty sure it's egg-less, which means it's not mayonnaise.

You sure about being mayo-based, Sandy? I always thought the house dressing was a vinaigrette-based concoction. I'll ask next time I'm there.

Calling it a "prix fixe", though, is silly. Why not "complete breakfast blue plate special"?

The phrase may ring wrong, but the price doesn't. Two eggs, bacon, home fries, toast and juice at a Jersey über diner, Ponzio's, will set you back $9.29 -- and that's without the coffee. And the food at Down Home Diner is much better than you'd get at Ponzio's or most other Jersey diners, where the pancakes taste like they come from a waxed container and the bacon is Armour institutional. It's real food at the Down Home Diner. And you'd have to look hard and long to find biscuits as good.

In New Glarus, don't forget New Glarus Brewing. I consume massive quantities of their Spotted Cow every time I visit Wisconsin. In Madison later in the spring, should you be there then, the Dane County Farmers Market starts its season around capitol square. If you've got to choose between Harvest and L'Etoile, pick L'Etoile. A fun restaurant on the square would be the Old Fashioned; get the sausage platter, which features Miesfeld brats from Sheboygan. As info, the Old Fashioned is the Wisconsin State Cocktail, which helps account for why Wisconsin consumes more cheap brandy than any other state, since cheeseheads usually make it with Korbel rather than bourbon or rye. About a two-hour drive from Madison is Racine, which at one time was home to more Danes than any city in Denmark except Copenhagen. I think it's worth the drive just to try and acquire kringle, the ultimate Danish pastry. It's just a coffee ring, but the best one you'll ever try. Comes in a variety of flavors, though the pecan is the classic, and raspberry is a big seller, too. My favorite kringle bakery is Bendtsen's, which has the best old-time flavor and texture (because they use butter and lots of it; the other kringle bakers don't appear to use butter, or as much of it.). I'm partial to Bendsten's almond, which derives its flavor not from sprinkled sliced almonds, but from almond paste. Down the block and across the street is Larsen's, which also makes a fine kringle, but I think particularly excels in their cakes. The third recommended kringle emporium is O&H Bakery which has a couple of locations. The kringle is good, but my wife will kill for the sweet poppyseed rolls. The Durand Avenue store is also known as Danish Uncle and features some other Danish foods, including one of my favorite cold cuts, rollepolse, a brined, herbed, rolled and pressed mix of either lamb, beef or pork flank, or any combination thereof.

Come on now Bob, you should know better... are you making this fatal error here on purpose, or did I miss something? They aren't hoagies or subs, they are sandwiches. Just sandwiches. Roast pork sandwiches. ← C'mon, Joe. I was just talkin' about what a sub's called here. As far as what you put together, that's not a sandwich, that's a WORK OF ART!

There are times when you definitely do want to peel beets before cooking. One that comes to mind is a beet rösti. And some beets -- like the cylindrical one I mentioned upthread -- are sweet enough to eat raw. My Amish supplier calls them "candy" beets.

A couple of interesting veggies popped up in Iovine Brothers' bins this week. First, asparation. No, not as in a small burst of air, or the entry of secretion into the lungs. That's aspiration. I'm talking about asparation, which is the trademark name for broccolini, a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale. Didn't see a price, but given that it's a trademarked-veggie, I would expect it not to be cheap. But it did look interesting: a stalky broccoli, but of daintier proportions than broccoli rabe. In the same bin could be found cardoon, a southern European winter vegetable. At first glance it looked like a giant, dull bunch of celery stalks, but botanically it's closer to the artichoke, as it is a kind of thistle. That means it takes a bit to prepare properly: trimming and de-ribbing, cutting and dipping in acidulated water to prevent browning before braising. It's $1.99 a bunch, which looks like it would be enough for four or five servings as an appetizer or side. Bet it would be good in a cream sauce after preliminary cooking. The Mexican avocado crop has arrived, and that means lower prices. Iovine had medium-sized ones at 50-cents apiece. Limes, alas, are the same price. Outside of the various greens (I picked up some escarole to braise with raisins, capers, pine nuts and olives this week), one of the better veggie values was the frying peppers, $1.49/pound. I'm still impressed with the South American late summer fruit at Iovine, especially the plums. Domestically, nice navel oranges, medium sized, were selling at 20 cents apiece. With enough daylight at dinner time to fire up the grill, I picked up some beef (chuck with some short rib) ground to order at Harry Ochs yesterday, but when I passed Wan's Seafood I couldn't resist the sardines. They had already been headed and gutted and were selling for $2.99/pound. I was a tad wary, because other fish mongers were selling them whole for a buck more, but these were firm and smelled fine. They cooked up even better. I had a few right off the grill yesterday as an appetizer, but ate most the rest for dinner tonight after concocting a curry sauce for them to bathe in, trying to duplicate a curried pickled herring I tasted at Aquavit. It tasted delicious but, because of the textural delicacy of the grilled sardines, turned into a spread. Next time I'll also add some beet for color, because when sardines get mashed up, they are decidedly gray. I'll also start with pickled herring: the flesh is firmer and doesn't break up as easily. I've gotten so used to microwave popcorn that I've forgotten how easy it is to make the old fashioned kind; the pot cleans up easily enough. Ben Kaufman has a couple of different varieties; the "red" popcorn I bought last week popped up fluffy white, with just a speck of red left in the nearly hulless hull. According to a new video, 16 of the 73 shops at the Reading Terminal Market are owned by immigrants. That's the crucial fact behind the message of a video produced by the U.S. State Department aimed at foreign viewers. Featured are the owners of Nanee's Kitchen, Profi's Creperie, De' Village, and Tokyo Sushi Bar. You can find the two-minute video here. Want an egg broken over your head? It will bring you good luck and go to a good cause. It's the cascarones tradition, which has been growing in popularity in the Mexican community, especially at Easter. The hollow eggs are filled with confetti then "cracked" over your noggin by a friend. The cascarones decorated by local children will be sold at the market March 19-22 to benefit the Cascarones Por La Vida Art Fund, which benefits children with HIV/AIDS. The project is led by local artist Marta Sanchez. RTM General Manager Paul Steinke will be co-host with Sonny DiCrecchio of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market when the National Association of Produce Market Managers holds its annual meeting at the Loew's hotel at the end of the month. Members of the 60-year-old association come from not just public markets and year-round farmers' markets, but wholesale markets, too. Among the speakers will be David O'Neil, who as RTM manager under the Reading Company helped plan its revitalization, and April White of Philadelphia Magazine. Kelly Novak, the RTM's marketing and event coordinator, is leaving at the end of the month, so the search is on for a replacement. If you're interested in the job, check out the market's website for details.

In Washington DC, they're called subs, so he called them by what his readers know them as. It would have been nice to mention somewhere in the article that they're called hoagies here, but he wasn't writing for us.

Ah, Peterstown. aka, "The Burg". Spirito's. DiCosmo's. Yum.

I use the foil-in-oven technique (except when I've got the outdoor grill going for some other reason, in which case it's the foil-on-grill technique). I trim the leaves off, but don't trim the root end, scrubbing the beet under cold water with my fingers to clean. CaliPoutine's timing seems about right for a 400F oven, depending on the size of the beets. I usually wrap them two or three to a foil package, so if I'm not using them right away I just keep those I' m not using stored. I test for doneness just with the tip of a paring knife; if it goes in easily, they're done. A let them cool slightly, then for those I'm using immediately, take them out of the foil and slip off the peels under cold running water, perhaps trimming with a paring knife if necessary, but it's usually not, other than the root end. Sliced beets, dollops of fresh goat cheese, a fruity vinaigrette, and a sprinkling of nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc.) make a near-perfect salad; perfection may be obtained by adding a few sections of citrus fruit: tangerine or similar mandarin, or grapefruit work very well. A very complementary flavor is that of clove. Try adding a single clove to each packet before cooking to add a lovely perfume. Of course, nothing wrong with a plain hot buttered beet, or a quick-pickled one. The latter goes particularly well with cold meat plates. There are many varities of beets, all of them worthwhile, though I think some are prized more for their color than their flavor. What I can't wait for every season are the plain red cylindrical (rather than round) beets one of the Amish vendors at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market sells; these beauties, usually about an inch or a little more in diameter and three to five inches in length are the sweetest beets I've ever tasted, and their shape makes them very easy to cook uniformly.

Based on some googling, it appears that that Sweet Sue brand had been owned by Sara Lee until a bit more than three years ago, when it and another shelf-stable meat division were sold to Bumble Bee Seafoods, itself the US division of a Canadian open-ended investment company (Connors Bros. Income Fund). Sweet Sue's line is apparently still marketed under that name, but the more likely driver for the acquisition was so that Bumble Bee could easily enter the market for canned boneless chicken under its own brand. Just such a line introduced about a year ago as "Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breast". No whole chicken under the Bumble Bee brand, though.

Yes, the polenta! An incredibly delicate, thin gossamer of a crust surrounding a creamy interior.

Oversalting by the kitchen was the one issue we had, and I'm the type of guy who salts his buttered slices of baguette! Either the bacon on the lamb could have been blanched first, or they added salt. Either way, salt became a flavor rather than an augmenting device. SWMBO complained that while the "creamed" (really, exceedingly rich buttered) spinach with her steak frites was superb, it was very salt. Sometimes, though, I think spinach just is salty, even without adding salt. I agree, at least one overloaded mushroom dish would have been welcomed. My scallop and risotto were perfectly cooked; I can imagine an undercooked risotto, but it's hard to contemplate how you can undercook a scallop -- overcook, yes, but not undercook, given how quickly even a large sea scallop can go from raw to rubber when not properly tended. Just say the word heat over it and it's cooked!

This week's $45 tasting men: Kennett Square mushroooms! Fungi Delecti! No single course was dominanated by mushrooms; instead, they were welcome accents to the main events. I certainly wouldn't object to one mushroom-overload dish, but the restraint used by the kitchen was admirable, yet still conveying all the woodsy goodness of the glorious fruiting bodies. Each course, however, surpassed the previous plate. First was a thin mushroom-foie gras dumpling in a thin, gingery broth. Great starter and stimulant. Second: duck terrine with pickled mushrooms (looked like some sort of bolete) and a coarse grained mustard. Third: scallop cooked with a dusting of porcini powdered served over porcini risotto with sea urchin nage. Incredible! I didn't think that could be topped, but it was. Two rib lamb chops cut from the crown with just a little of the fat still attached (I like it that way!) crusted with mushroom and -- hold onto your hat folks -- bacon ! ! ! ! ! Perhaps the dish was a tad salty, but it was totally over the top in intensity of flavor with meltingly tender lamb. Dessert was a mushroom-less perfectly poached pear in red wine filled with mascarpone and served amid some crème Anglaise adorned with sugared marcona almonds. My dining companions stuck to menu items -- steak frites and branzino -- and thoroughly enjoyed their meals. I brought along Ste. Michelle blanc de blanc and, to go with the red meats, a neighbor's homemade zin, which he has developed into a fine wine in his 15+ years of wine-making. Get over there tonight or Thursday to enjoy this mushroom extravaganza.

Every day's a brat festival in Sheboygan, Holly. Try Meisfeld's Triangle Market, just out of town on Rt. 42, for a prize-winning brat (they serve them at the Old Fashioned on the square in Madison, among other establishments), or better yet, Brockman's Meat Market in S. 12th in Sheboygan (get the smoky hot dogs, too).

No doubt about it, Capogiro is wonderful. But, hard as it is to be believed, you can find gelato and sorbet of similar quality in some other cities.

As JMT noted, the Swedish "anchovies" are an essential component Janssons frestelse, a.k.a. Jansson's temptation, a potato, cream, and onion bake gently flavored by the fish. I've regularly use the "Greenland" shrimp, tiny specimens ideal for use in salads or in any application where you don't require larger whole shrimp. The are a wild product, and similar shrimp are harvested in the cold northern waters off Canada as well as Greenland and Norway (I obtained a big bag recently at BJ's). Oh, don't forget the lingonberry preserves. We buy them by the bucketful.

Ron, I think where you're heading might influence your choices, though certain picks (like DiNic's) are constants. For example, if I was moving inland I'd tend to favor local fish -- you'll never see a fresh bluefish in Peoria, or Chicago, for that matter. Then again, if you're heading to the Heartland, no need to indulge in steaks here: I've yet to visit even a small Midwest city that doesn't have at least one excellent steak restaurant. Me, I'd fill up on our indigenous fast food, as you have: roast pork sandwiches, cheese steaks, etc. I'd also go for the ethnic specialties I am less likely to encounter in my new home. And although some ethic foods are ubiquitious, like Italian, the versions in some areas leave much to be desired. And, given that we're at the start of the beer fest activities, I'd make sure to enjoy the best of the bread you can drink. A visit to any of your favorite tappies would be in order, along with a pot of red mussels. Speaking of bread, I'd add Sarcone's hoagies to my list, plus a couple of pieces of their Sicilian pizza. And being a Jersey born-and-bred kid, I'd make myself a Taylor's ham and cheese sandwich on a kaiser before leaving town. But maybe with a side of scrapple in honor of my adopted city for the past 29 years.

That Lowel Ego looks like the idea product for you. I hadn't heard of it before. Although an electronic flash would be more versatile and useful if you wished to expand your photographic activity, this product is clearly designed for photographing items for sale on eBay or Amazon that fit on a tabletop; I doubt anyone would have developed this product if not for eBay! It's an ideal product for catalog photography on the cheap, done with a mini-version of the light banks used in studio photography. Be sure to use the bounce card supplied with the product for fill light.

If your camera has the capability of syncing an exterior electronic flash, via either cable or hot shoe, that's the way to go. You'll want to bounce the light off the ceiling or a card attached to the flash; this softens shadows and produces a much more even and pleasing light. With a bounce card fitted to the flash you'll get fairly even light for your purposes to soften the shadows. Basically, you attach a small white card to the top of the flash with rubber bands and angle the flash head and the card so that light from the flash is bounced from the card to your subject. Here's a web page that shows one way this can be done; in this case it's with a 35mm film camera, but the technique holds true with any digital camera that can accommodate an exterior flash, even some compacts. (There are even some inexpensive devices sold which can bounce light from a built-in flash; the results might be acceptable, but a separate flash would be better.) If you have a low, white ceiling and/or wall, bounce the strobe off that for even more uniform light. Set the bento box on one white board, and place another white board perpendicular behind it. (The flat boards store easily.) Depending on your camera and requirements, electronic flashes can be had for $30-$250 (you could certainly spend more if you wanted to, but not necessary for any but the most demanding professional use). You'll get much better results using an exterior strobe than with the on-board flashes built into cameras. (If you ceiling/walls are not white, they will effect the color balance of the image, which might be correctible if your camera has suitable color balance controls and/or you do it through PhotoShop or similar software.) Given the fact that you'll be taking photos of the bento box from within a fairly close range, a foot or two I presume, the bounce card may work better than bouncing off the ceiling, but both are worth a try to see what gives you the best results under your particular shooting conditions.

Let's not forget agaricus bisporus. The humble, common white button mushroom, the cremini (baby bella or brown), and the portobello are all agaricus bisporus. It's a versatile mushroom and always available. While I adore morels, chanterelles, pom poms, porcini and just about any other mushroom I can lay my grubby hands on, I can't contemplate a good rib steak without an accompaniment of garlicky sautéed white buttons. Lacking more sophisticated or rare mushrooms, they can always be augmented by some dried boletes (a.k.a. cepes, porcini, etc.) to intensify woody flavor. One of the most satisfying entrées I've enjoyed at a fine restaurant was a vegetarian plate one spring at L'Étoile in Madison, Wisconsin: morels and asparagus points surrounding a savory flan, all accented by a beurre blanc. It was a perfect evocation of the season. When it comes to my favorite mushroom, I'll paraphrase the old Yip Harburg lyric from Finian's Rainbow: "When I'm not near the mushroom I love, I love the one I'm near."

Alas, we will not. Sam reports that the poke crop he set out in his cold basement in the fall has failed to send up much in the way of shoots for harvesting. Where he had expected to get five pounds a week right now he's barely reaping a pound. Sam isn't sure why but suspects the lack of a strong cold spell in the fall is responsible. He speculates that the poke needs the cold to snap them into the dormant stage for the rest of the winter. What little supply of poke Sam does have is earmarked for Farm To City's Winter Harvest program. Sam does have plenty of Jerusalem artichoke, however. In the fall, Sam digs up pokeweed from his favorite Lancaster County foraging grounds and stores them on two six-foot long shelves in his basement. He stacks them tightly to preserve moisture and waters them daily to "mimic the same way they'd get moisture in the wild." By January they start to send out edible shoots (the leaves, berries, taproot and older shoots are poisonous) which Sam harvests and usually sells through Earl Livengood and Farm To City. This year, however, no shoots appeared until February, and the crop has been meager. If you do happen to find Sam's poke, treat it as you would spinach or asparagus. The new growth poke has a bleached appearance because it's not been in the sun; according to Sam, "the wild stuff has a little bitterness because it gets some sun; with what I have you don't need to boil it twice and discard the water" as you would with poke shoots that haven't been coaxed out of the darkness in Sam's cellar.