fifi

Heh... It occurs to me that this sort of catering is really for thrill junkies. At least in a restaurant you have some control over the facilities, the room and the clientel. I would be approaching every one of these jobs with all of the attention required for a stroll through a mine field. WOO HOO!

This Latin Spice Mix has become a staple in my kitchen. I always have a jar of it around. There were several recipes in that Jan 2000 issue of Bon Apetit that I still cook. It was the article on New Latin Cooking or something like that. This spice mix is used in several of the recipes. edit to add: This recipe for Slow-Roasted Pork with Lime Mojo is what started it all. I am always looking for things to do with pork loin when it goes on sale. This one is a winner and features cumin very nicely.

Words fail me. All I can say is that this must be true because you just can't make this shit up. Thanks for sharing. (Now I know why I don't cook for the ignorant masses. God Bless all of you who do. It must be a calling.)

Vermont Soapstone is where Martha got hers. This is a site to drool over. Go to some of the pictures to really appreciate it. I am beginning to weaken. Countertops are $77 a sqft. But they have tiles for $12.10 a sqft. HMMMM... edit to add: DUH! I am a real dummy. I know where I have seen this stuff before. Laboratory bench tops! In some of the older labs I have worked in. I plead temporary amnesia.

I have an archetect friend that has one. It is more susceptable to acid than marble. It has to be sealed and the sealer flakes off. It is a PITA and she is going to replace it. She said it seemd like a good idea at the time. And it ended up not being cheap, either.

Silestone looks a lot like the Corian to me. But the soapstone idea sure seems to be a fit with your architecture.

Thank you. Possibly another digit saved. Check out megaira's post toward the end of this thread.

Knowing the chemical composition and structure of granite, I really don't get the sealing bit. We have a lot of red granite in Texas. The state capital was built with it. The jetties that stick out into the gulf at inlets to bays is made of big chunks of it. Then there are the tombstones that have been sitting out for 100+ years. I can't think of a "sealer" that would add anything to granite but goop. Does anyone know what granite sealer is? I can tell you that anything other than a siloxane of some sort is just stupid. (Still no need for the siloxane.)

That likely, huh?

It is just that kind of horror vision that makes me do some things differently. The part about the dog got me. I had those kinds of visual flashes while reading the Spaghetti Squash thread. Winter squash scare me. I always nuke them a bit or put in the oven for a while before trying to dismember them without dismembering me.

I saw the soapstone featured on Martha Stewart. When she built the new studio it had soapstone counters and even a REALLY big sink. She explained why she chose it, how she got it done and how to care for it. It was beautiful. It looks like one of those things that will acquire a distinctive "patina" with age and use. The only maintenance appears to be wiping down occasionally with food grade mineral oil. Does anyone know how the cost compares?

In my family we call this "bumpin' butts".

If no one is looking, just use that mesh skimmer and whisk them away? That very scenario caused me to change my behavior and let the answering machine do its job. I love answering machines that I can here the message beign left. Most of my friends and family know that I screen my calls.

I have seen information on the resale value of various remodeling projects and how they pay out but I can't find it right now. Maybe someone with better googling skills will help out. I think it was associated with some kind of remodeling contractors association. When I was selling my house, my realtor told me that sometimes the value of something like that is not necessarily in the money returned but in a quicker sale. But she also said that something high value like granite can be a turn off if it is a particularly "striking" pattern because people are hesitant to rip it out and replace it. So... Who knows. I didn't look into it any further because my house was only about 6 years old when I sold it so I wasn't seriously considering changing anything.

I my food history reading, primarily European 17th and 18th century, I get the impression that they included just about all of the accessory organs when concerned about "digestion". There is a lot of discussion about liver, gall bladder and they even threw the kidneys in there... gout you know. It is not always clear that they had a good understanding of how all of those parts work.

This is an interesting idea. I am thinking about mango strips, maybe dusted with ancho chile powder before smoking. Grilled pineapple is a staple. I wonder if it would benefit from the same chile powder and smoke treatment. I may have to try this the next time I fire up the smoker.

I don't have one of these but FistFullaRoux's link reminded me of this one. The Eggstractor! Does anyone have one of these things? I will now nominate my cherry pitter. When the good cherries were coming in last year, I had to have one. It works, but it also sent little droplets of cherry juice all over the kitchen and me. I haven't tried it on olives yet.

Thanks for the link, Brooks. I am about at the point for nailing down these kinds of details. I guess I am a pretty careful cook. I have never damaged a laminate countertop. But then, I always use a cutting board (out of concern for the health of my knives) and I always plan for a place to put that hot pan. Growing up, my mother's kitchen had those little porcelain "drugstore" tiles on what little counter space she had. Then I lived with my sister for a time and she had the typical 4x4 tile countertops. We liked the fact that they had the "bullnose" tiles at the edge so that our frequent spill disasters did not drip all the way down the cabinets to the floor. We even sloshed elderberry juice all over the place making jelly from one of our foraging forays and it cleaned up fine with a little bleach. The balance of my 45 plus years of cooking have been living with laminate... quite happily, thank you. For looks, my favorite was this slate looking stuff in this cool little house I built in Metairie LA. My sister has the same thing in the bar area of her early 60s vintage house. It reminds me of that really cool little kitchen.

I am with you on the tile, Varmint. Yes, granite, Silestone and their ilk are wonderful. But I just CAN'T spend that kind of money. When I saw how many thousands of dollars that would be for my kitchen I just about fainted. I have had tile and I have had laminate (Formica) and I was happy with both of them. The somewhat retro look fits the design as well. I am considering a granite inlay in the island for the rare occasion it would be handy. (I don't bake much.) If I hit the lottery or something, I won't have that much invested in it should I want to change it. That is pretty unlikely.

I certainly hope that we have some knowledgeable folks chime in. This is a fascinating topic. I really think that those of us not inbued with the tradition are doing something like it in a subconscious way. That gives the concept a measure of credibility. I am a scientist. But I hope that I am that sort of scientist that retains an open mind. This is a very complex world and there are a lot of things that we don't know about... yet. As I think about it, I am beginning to think that there is something fundamental here that is guiding us toward pleasing and healthful food combinations and we don't have a clue as to why. What a fun mystery!

By George, I think you've got it. I like the 3 sink idea since that is the same thing I came up with. This is especially true when you have more than one cooking. And, the separate beverage sink always made sense to me because when we are cooking, it is usually one of the "spectators" that has to keep the liquids flowing. And that keeps the bar activity out of the cooking arena. Of course, we will expect pictures.

Soooo... CALL YOUR MOTHER. You probably need to do that anyway.

I cannot add any knowledge here, only more questions. I am wondering how the humoral approach has affected traditional "pairings" of ingredients in traditional dishes. I am also wondering how new ingredients were categorized as they were introduced, for instance, post-columbian introduction of all of those ingredients from America. With no tradition to fall back on, as I think about various foods, I can see how they could be categorized. Chiles=hot. Mint=cold. Tomatoes=hot. Avocados=cold. And all of those may be entirely wrong. But we do have certain preferrences for cold weather versus hot, don't we. Interesting.

Oh Good Lord! Who studies THOSE kinds of statistics. Too much information.

I don't recall "digestion" being a big part of the discussion in Mexico and I have traveled quite a bit out of the tourist areas and I ask a lot of questions. My impression is that the focus is on ingredients, taste and technique. Theabroma and caroline may be able to chime in here with better information since their experience is much broader than mine. Is there as much emphasis on "digetifs" in Europe now as there used to be? Has that changed? I had a tummy upset a few months back and my nephew brought me a bottle of Fernet Branca. That stuff was magic!