sashorter

Amateur - I've spatchcocked a turkey before. Not sure pig anatomy lends itself to the process, nor do I think we'll need it, but we have a cleaver if desired.

hjshorter here - yes it still worth going to. Just don't be put off by the location - it's in a teeny strip mall next to a Public Storage place and the Montgomery County waste transfer station.

We have it and it is lovely, but there is no room for it in our kitchen when it's open, and we already have several asian cookbooks in regular use. Since we moved to a much smaller house last year I have actually started giving cookbooks away. Shocking I know. Edit to say that was actually hjshorter speaking, not sashorter. Stupid laptop didn't log me in.

I'll be there, with instructions to bring back some carryout for Heather.

I'm sure the purpose of this thread is not to wax nostalgic, but thought I'd share a couple of fond memories from last year:

Just wanted to share a product I recently picked up at the soopermarket. It had a very convincing shade of green within the jar, and an honest to goodness picture of an avacado under the words "Guacamole Dip" on the label. It was only after attempting to eat some that I examined the label, and saw: Ingredients:Skim milk, corn oil, modified food starch, tomato paste, salt, less than 2% of: high fructose corn syrup, dehydrated onion, cellulose gum, gelatin, guar gum, artificial flavor, dried red bell pepper, sodium benzoate (preservative), natural flavor, yellow 5, blue 1, cream cheese [pazteurized, cultured milk and cream, stabilizers (xanthan and/or carob bean and/or guar gums)], glocono delta lactone, cellulose gel, vinegar, lactic acid, sodium phosphate, citric acid, hydrolyzed soy protein, color, garlic powder, malt extract, maltodextrin, mono and diglycerides, avocado powder, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, monosodium glutamate, sugar, soy sauce solids, fermented wheat, tamarind, lime juice, caramel color. WHEW. Now I have a number of questions. 1. WTF is glocono delta lactone?!!!?! 2. COLOR? I ATE COLOR??? 3. Why did they bother to put in 0.01% of sugar when they already have 1.95% high fructose corn syrup? 4. Once they list "artificial flavor" and then "natural flavor", couldn't they just skip the rest of the ingredients? Anyway, googling on Herr's Guacamole Dip results in a number of amusing hits, including Little avocado in some guacomole dips: consumer group and Food Packaging Often More Hype Than Truth, Consumer Groups Charge. Thought y'all might enjoy.

Scott is so dreamy. He's cutting up the other half of the collard greens right now. Dean bought eight bunches. That's a giant honking load of greens. Bring on the fatback! Edit: That was actually Heather posting. Oops.

Thanks, Dean. It was darn good. Just think, I could have been at my Diplomacy tournament right now... Sorry to Tommy, Jason and Rachel, and everyone else who wanted to make it - maybe we can dispatch some leftovers with homebound pig pickers for you. As for the promised wireless network and webcam, I had difficulties setting up the network when we arrived Thursday night... I've gotten some advice on how to proceed and will try again this morning. Cheers, Scott

Jackal has a good idea, but I don't have a webcam. Does an attendee have one to bring? I'll set it up on my laptop if needed...

All and sundry, I'll be bringing equipment to set up a temporary Pig Pickin' wireless network, so if you were waffling over whether to bring your wi-fi laptop, wonder no more. We should be able to upload pictures of the pig straight from the pit. Cheers, Scott

Varmint, Heather suggested I volunteer for the 'pit crew', or whatever you're calling the team to man the pig. Well sign me up. I also thought I would offer to lead the cleanup brigade, unless that position is taken already. We will bring some contractor bags, and I will recruit assistants at the event.

When I heard Tony refer 24-hour laundromats on the New Orleans episode of a Cooks Tour, I said to Heather "Hmm, sounds like he's talking about Checkpoint Charlies". Sure enough, that was the place - my dive bar of choice for a few years in the early 90s. It had it all. Bar and grill, two pool tables, laundry, video games, free red beans and rice with $1 beer on Mondays, live music every night, never a cover charge. If they would have let me sleep on top of the dryers (and if I hadn't needed income) I would never have had to leave.

I would highly recommend Fringale - it isn't really in any neighborhood you'd be going to, but it's not at all far from downtown, and there are cabs aplenty. It's very very good French Basque food. I've eaten there twice, and been blown away each time. One appetizer that I loved was the Sautéed Prosciutto and Sheep's Milk Cheese Terrine. Salty, fatty, and delicious. For entrees I've had the veal osso bucco with caramelized parsnips and the duck confit.

Fried shrimp, catfish, other fish, crawfish tails... all of those are favorites here in Houston and New Orleans. Growing up in New Orleans, I had plenty of non-seafood poboys (we often didn't bother to punctuate the word). An Italian poboy, for example, is pretty much an Italian sub, except on poboy bread... which we called - Italian bread.

Fedex ships everything through Memphis (they may use one other airport too). I did notice on the FedEx tracking website that my steaks are coming from New York to Maryland by way of Memphis. I also noticed that the origin was Rochester, NY. Is this an additional location? I thought it was a NYC butcher...