fifi

I forgot about daylilies. We used to eat daylilies. We would put the buds in stir fry. Then, when I was on my tempura kick, I would dunk some small ones into the batter and drop them just-so into the fry pot. If you got it right, they would come out like fully opened flowers. It blew the guests away. On another subject... I was out shopping a little bit ago and got stopped next to a subdivision entrance with a beautiful planting. There were closely spaced purple flowering kale and alyssum border. But nodding above it all were ranunculus. I had not thought of those in years. I used to love those for cut flowers. It seems like I planted them along with anemones. Does anyone grow these? Do you plant them in the late fall or winter for blooming now?

Yep. The key words are: If never having eaten the stuff isn't due to religious or dietary restrictions, how do you do that?

Absolutely. When I make gumbo of whatever type, I always make a double batch so I will have plenty for the freezer. It is a bit of a PITA (but a fun PITA ) to make so I certainly want plenty of leftovers. One of my tactics for freezing gumbo, stew, soup and such is to fill whatever size Zip Lock freezer bags you find convenient. I don't typically do any larger that 1 quart size. Then, with a little fiddling, you can squeeze just about all of the air out as you seal them. I flatten them out on a baking sheet to freeze. They stack neatly in a freezer basket if you have one. They also defrost quickly in a bowl of hot water so you can reheat it quickly and don't have to do additional "cooking" to get it to serving temperature. This is especially important if you are dealing with seafood. I really don't like what the microwave does to anything containing meat and I wouldn't go near one for seafood.

Strange maybe. But not incredibly strange for purposes of this thread. From up-thread:

*painfully rising from prostrate position on floor*

My sister and I were just discussing yesterday how we miss the "heirloom" violets that my mother grew in great abundance for years. We would sprinkle the flowers on salads. They were really beautiful with nastursiums. The tender leaves were used in salads. They are sort of like spinach. We even made violet jelly once. My mother's violets looked like the dark purple kind you find in the east Texas woods but supposedly they were originally from our great grandmother and may have traveled here from the east in a covered wagon along with cuttings for the fig tree. We think there may be some violets surviving at the old homestead in Garden Oaks and we plan to go knock on the door and go into our begging routine with the current owner. Mother kept some escaped rabbits at the current homeplace and they ate them all and killed them off there. You might be able to grow violets in central Texas if you find a cool and shady place for them. I highly recommend having them around. Does anyone know if you can eat sweet pea flowers?

yep and yep... suzilightning and Mabelline have been hit. I don't think it is your meds, Mabelline. Dark forces are at work here. Start making your tin foil hats, ladies. Dates and cream cheese I get. But with jalepeno slices? Woof! (Actually, that sounds kind of good.)

For the sake of staying on topic, I am going to assume that a salad bar is a buffet, or at least a sub-set of a larger buffet. Have you ever noticed how people approach salad bars differently? Some are of the heap and dump persuasion. At the other end of that spectrum are the anal retentive composers. Every bit of brocolli must sit upon the greens just so. Then there are the separatists... little heaps of ingredients meticulously separated. And when you add in the various styles of adding the croutons and sunflower seeds things can get really interesting. But have you ever seen anyone actually add the raisins? Then there is the ceremony of the annointing. First you have to choose the dressing. Then there are a variety of ways to apply it. I suppose the same could be said for the whole buffet, but I find salad bar behaviour particularly interesting. Surely, someone has written the definitive work on the psychology of the salad bar.

I am really just wondering how there could be such a discrepancy in reviews repeatedly.

Owen... Did you check your oven temperature? Also, I am hearing some variability in time and the type of pan. For instance, I was using clean heavy aluminum half sheets and it was 40 minutes at a verified 400F oven. Then I added that sheet of non-stick aluminum foil and I had to add 10 minutes but it cooked more evenly.

And is this also true of the other nominations that bombed? I think I see a trend here.

John... Unless you are suggesting that the patrons sample the whores at random, I don't get your analogy.

Mabelline... I think you are gettin' close. And they PAY this person to destroy their credibility?

The last heartbreak that I had to go through was the day I had to "put down" my beloved basset hound after 15 and a half years of togetherness. Hell... I hate that oh so correct phrase "put down". Get real... I killed her... euthanasia. That led to a round of martinis. That was NOT a good idea at the time. For a couple of days I was prone to eating things off of spoons... dulce de leche, peanut butter, even Hellmans Mayonesa. Then, oddly, I made bread for the first time in years. There must be something to all of that kneading. The bread wasn't very good because I had beat the crap out of the dough. It tasted ok but the texture left something to be desired.

Good summary. Oh the burdens of actually eating in a restaurant before we put it in the annual list. What in the hell do you do for 3 days going to West Texas from Austin? Hell... Austin to San Angelo doesn't even consume a six pack.

Actually, I like buffets a lot. They give me the ultimate in control. Ok... so I am a control freak. When in Mexico, give me a breakfast buffet and I am in heaven. They really do those well in most places. There is an Indian restaurant here that has a buffet for lunch that is to die for. (I can't think of the name right now.) The common denominator for a successful buffet is the quality of the food and how they cycle it so that it doesn't get "tired". I do have a problem pacing myself. I am not a big quantity eater and if there are a lot of options that I want to sample I have to be careful to take very small quantities of each dish. I can't stand waste. For entertaining, I use the buffet concept a lot. My limit on sit down dinners is about six... and those have to be friends and family. At large parties, buffet is about the only thing that works for me. Usually, I am having to juggle different eating habits and restrictions and my most successful ones have been Mexican cuisine. Instead of one big buffet, I have often set up "stations" for different groups of food. For instance, I have a couple of friends that have shellfish allergies. I will put the crab and shrimp offerings on a separate station so that we don't have to worry about cross contamination. I can also group the dishes that would appeal to the odd vegetarian. And the pork stuff is over there. You get the picture. That approach also allows me to enjoy my guests and not fuss over setting a table and all of that.

Back in the early 60s my grandparents and uncle had a small scale hog farm operation. They didn't have those kinds of problems, but then the hogs weren't overcrowded either. Grandpa had some kind of rule as to how many hogs could be in a pen. They made good money at it, too. Grandpa's hogs were the preferred source for a local sausage company and they were willing to pay a premium for them. It didn't smell all that bad, either. Well... It didn't smell good but no worse than a cow pasture.

So... What is not to like about bluebonnets? They are pretty. I think the point is that Texas Monthly has a distribution much wider than just Texas. I read the stats a couple of years ago in some article in our newspaper business section and was really surprised. I just find it pitiful that a magazine such as that would put up with this kind of nonsense from a reviewer. The fact that they "depend heavily on press releases" for this kind of feature is unsupportable. After all, it isn't the first time that they bombed on a high profile annual feature article. It looks to me that Robb chose to invoke the "3 strikes and you are out" rule. After all, he did say that it was so bad that he wasn't going to revew it, until the feature came out. I have a lot of respect for Robb's reviews and he does NOT dump on a place unless they are a truly deserving dumpee. I talked to a friend this afternoon that went there basis the Texas Monthly feature and was going... "WTF? And what is with those silly bandanas?" (No. He had not read Robb's review.) Sounds like Robb nailed it.

Great catch on the Houston Chronicle article. Parsnip Soup

Brooks... You are reviving some great memories. Pictures! We need Pictures!

Our own Robb Walsh reviews an Italian restaurant and doesn't particularly like the sauce. A tide of jamlike red sauce splashes over the cuisine at Terra Bosco's Ok... Reading along... well written revew... enjoying Robb's writing as usual... THEN... Here is the interview that Robb referred to. Wooo Doggies! Maybe I have been spending too much time under my rock. Words fail me. Let us discuss with our usual eGullet candor.

I deeply miss the Taco Bell chihuahua.

The Houston Press - Dining A tide of jamlike red sauce splashes over the cuisine at Terra Bosco's Ooopsie... Robb found a lot not to like. But, after skillfully "dismantling" the restaurant, he takes on Texas Monthly restaurant reviews and things get really interesting. That a magazine as prominent as Texas Monthly would engage in these practices is just... well... words fail me.

Nope. None of those are incredibley strange. Nope. They don't count. (Why do I have to keep defining incredibly strange????? I need a magic command that puts that in this thread every half page or so. Hey... Tech Boy!)

Hmmm... But what the Iron Grandmothers could do with sous chefs and pot cleaners and such could be awesome. I don't think they would be shy of... um... giving direction.