fifi

Funny you should say that. that is how I am leaning for the new kitchen. But... Guess what? REAL linoleum is NOT cheap! I am going for the commercial vinyl tile.

I remember hearing about this method on another thread some time ago. I have always meant to try it but I haven't had the opportunity... enough folks around for a big batch of eggs. Does anyone know the origin of this method?

My sister and I have gardened "organically" for about 35 years. So did our mother and our grandmother. I put organically in quotes because there is no way that you can let Mother Nature rule and ever eat anything. Mother Nature is a bitch. Uuuuhhh... That is what a farmer or a gardener does... Try to outsmart the bitch. Someone tell me what the difference is between grinding up that innocent looking daisy and spraying it on the tomatoes and buying that bag of pyretherin dust. Yes... pyretherins come from a daisy. Another favorite pesticide from "the good old days" is nicotine. Both of those "natural" compunds are pretty potent and kill bugs quite well, thank you. Good ones included. The best you can do is take care of your soil, make your compost, encourage those earthworms, etc. etc. etc. But most gardeners can't turn a bunch of ducks loose in the garden like my grandma did to keep the bug population down. Even with her ducks, sometimes the hoard of grasshoppers would come through and the choices were... spray the SOBs or lose the garden. The principles and intentions of "organic farming" are noble and in the right direction. But if you have never actually tried to do it, in some purist sense, you don't know what you are up against. At least not in the Gulf Coast where the bugs have an advantage. They almost never freeze to death.

I will nominate transfats. Who ever thought THAT was a good idea? On top of that, there have been all of these "health campaigns" over the years to ply us with un-natural sources of oils and fats to displace those that we have evolved with. Remember the tropical oils brouhaha? It was all crap. The horrors of pig fat? More crap. At least until Armour started hydrogenating it (= transfats) so they could store it on a shelf. Butter bad/Margarine good? I don't think so. I did see an encouraging sign yesterday. I bought a loaf of Orowheat bread and it had a big banner on the label, "No tranfats". But I will say that some things have gone in the right direction. Flash freezing is one of them. Flash frozen shrimp are a pretty darn good alternative to meeting the boat.

OMG! That is about all I can say. I can't even make much sense of the pictures. The dishwasher/marble slab/oven arrangement got me. We are definitely talking demo here. But I understand where you are coming from on getting out of the batshit mode for the short term. In that case, I wouldn't spend ANY money on make-pretty at this point and just go for some changes in functionality with an eye toward the final demolition to minimize rework. This is going to require 3 floor plans... in this order: 1) As is... with plumbing indicated. Include a list of what drives you batshit. 2) Final dream kitchen 3) Interim fix Don't worry too much about support beams. There is almost always a work around. For that you need an architect. When I said I wouldn't spend any money on pretty, that means that I would live with a patched floor or wall where I took out a cabinet for example. I am assuming that pretty is not one of the batshit factors. After all, you have been living with all of that lovely tile. You must have an absolute fetish about your siding to have done that first.

I like the ginger pancake idea but I am also a big supporter of fruit salads. They make a nice counterpoint to the eggy/cheesy/bready characteristics of brunch. I usually try to stick to 3, maybe 4 at the most, fruits. We are getting good mangoes here and citrus is always good. My son and I got to experimenting with adding some sort of seasonings. Tropical mix with citrus was good with a sprinkle of ancho chile powder and not really hot. Going the papaya, mango route we like Chinese Five Spice. On the stone fruit side, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg worked well. Just don't use too much of anything. You want a hint that makes people say "yum... what is that?". We have also played with vanilla and almond extracts. These are really better made the night before. Then if it freezes in your car you can call it a Fruit Freeze.

Brooks... You brought up one of my favorite reading habits. When I get bored with what I am reading, books or on-line, or just want something different, the international threads are great fun. Talk about diversity! WOW!

First let me preface this with the statement... I know absolutely nothing about this. Aren't there some products out there for "leveling" a floor that could either level the tile or level the surface after you rip the tile out and do an ok job of cleaning up the subfloor? Then it might be good enough for the vinyl tile. With a little pattern in the vinyl, absoute perfection shouldn't be necessary.

For floors, check out Commercial Vinyl Tile. I had that in a kitchen about 20 years ago and absolutely loved it. I brought up the idea to my architect and he said it is all the rage again. Then they actually featured it on one of those kitchen design shows so I felt vidicated. It comes in a zillion colors and patterns and is just about indestructible as well as super easy to clean. It is comfortable to stand on, too.

Pay dirt! We have hit pay dirt! Many thanks for the information, Jay. That Russian market has me really curious.

I don't think eGullet is now or ever was intended for "the vast majority" of Americans or anyone else for that matter. Keep in mind that this site has a very concisely stated purpose and that is discussion of issues related to food. The natural audience for eGullet is the group of people that take food seriously, may even be passionate about it, and probably have a strong desire to learn. I think you can take that can of green beans seriously and come here to get ideas of what to do with it. Then if someone comes up with something along the lines of "Oh my dear... Throw that out and go down to the Elbonian Farmer's Market and get some of those divine Heirloom haricots ver that were watered with glacial water from Mount PoohBah. Just remember to salt them only with the Sacred Crystals from BumFuk Bay that was gathered by nymphs at the full moon." Well... then a lot of us will have a real good time tearin' 'em up.

This is a large and diverse group. That is the source of its charm to me. We have professionals and we have home cooks. We have a wide range of experience in both of those groups. I consider myself an experienced cook. The day I think that I know so much that I can't learn something new, that is the day that I should hang it up and go home. I can't tell you how many things I have learned since joining eGullet but I can tell you that a large percentage has been from new members that had the courage to put their "toe in the water" and post something they knew. I also learn valuable things from the seasoned professionals that are here. And I see evidence all the time that they learn here, too. There is a lot of evidence that the vast majority of members also enjoy a lot of diversity in their dining experiences. I, for one, enjoy the tamales from The Tamale Guy in the van by the side of the road or my favorite seafood joint as much (sometimes more, actually) than that $200 fine dining experience. (I think dressing up is a PITA and the food has to be really good for me to do it.) What we have to try to achieve here is a climate of inclusiveness where all members feel comfortable to state their preferences and pecadillos without fear of recrimination or reprisal. It kind of bothers me that someone up-thread was "afraid" to post that she didn't like seafood. Well... I HATE truffles and caviar makes me gag. SO THERE! I noticed something the other day. I am prone to playing computer solitaire while stuck on some particularly boring teleconference. When you deal a hand that doesn't have a lot of variation, the chances are that it is not a winning hand. (Who needs three 7s?) A well varied hand has a much higher chance of winning.

And a warm Texas eGullet welcome to you franktex! Thanks for that link. That one is one of the funniest. If I am in that part of town, I plan to stop in if just to watch the goings on. I may even bring a notebook just for the hell of it.

I guess that leaves out brussel sprouts.

I'll be damned. I found the thread here. My post is about halfway down.

Dean... Before you sign up with a kitchen designer, let them blather and listen. If they don't ask you a LOT of questions about what you cook and for how many... How you cook, organized mise en place or grab and do... How you expect your family to use the kitchen with you or without you... In other words, if they focus on the latest fashion in countertops and colors and don't get right down to the real purpose for a kitchen, function, and how YOU function, show them the door. I actually kept a diary of how I used a kitchen for about two months before I worked with my architect on the final lay out of the kitchen. That diary showed me things I never thought of. I identified what worked well in my current kitchen as well as the things that aggravated me. The right answer was rarely things that cost any money, just thought. If you don't want to wait a couple of months to study your and your family's habits, spend a few hours going through the motions in retrospect and write them down. I went into more detail on the process I went through in another thread here. I will see if I can find it and copy that post.

Many thanks for the enjoyable blog. And please do post the photos. You would be surprised how older threads get reread or read by new members. I don't have the statistics but I suspect that the blogs are pretty popular. Stay warm!

Well... um... thank you. That was absolutely riveting. (Sort of like having rivets driven into your temples.) I can't believe that the old ba... er... esteemed chronicler of New Orleans society is even still alive. And her writing style has remained consistent all of these years, too. Bless her heart.

If I remember right, we got the cream and sugar mixture really cold and only mixed what we would eat right away. We didn't refreeze.

I just did this for lunch. This is the single most delicious vegetable dish I have EVER tasted. I went 30 minutes at 400F on a heavy aluminum half sheet. I could have gone maybe 40 minutes and gotten more browned pieces. This was a smallish cauliflower and fit nicely on the one sheet. I ate the whole thing. Now I have a logistical problem. I have oven room for 2 half sheets. If I have more than 2 diners, I will have a discipline problem... hitting, kicking and biting over "fair share". Maybe the answer is not to plan on it as a side but as a garnish on salad, pasta or something. Good Lord that stuff is good.

I have always hated turnips. Still do, actually. But I was at a friend's house in Delaware one cold night and my friend was fixing us a simple beef stew. When she got out the turnips and started peeling them I said... "Uh oh." (I didn't know them well enough to go ick.) Resigned to my fate of having to choke down a small portion and plead my usual (and true) small appetite, I sat down to the table. Well... That was the single most delicious stew I have ever eaten... EVER. I had three servings. I have since tried to duplicate it and failed. I even confessed the situation to my friend and she has no idea why I can't duplicate it.

Thank you for joining us, Vickie. Can you enlighten us on what foods get a thumbs up from the astronauts and what gets a thumbs down? Do you keep track of that sort of thing and does that information direct your research into new "menu items"? Do you have a best and worst? I am guessing that this is a more important issue on the long missions (ISS) rather than shuttle flights. Is that true?

Sorry to be a pest about this, but you know I will anyway... I went to the Emile Henry site in Amazon and found just the pot I want but then I read this: (emphasis mine) This is the one I fell in love with. Do I get out my limp and weary gold card and go for it?

Those big suckers were REALLY BIG. Think about eight gallons.

Many thanks for your reply, Paula. You have confirmed what I was thinking about the pots absorbing the aromas. After all, if they didn't they wouldn't contribute that special character. I think I will get a sand pot for Asian and an EH or similar for Mediterranean. My smaller Hong Kong Market bombed out on me yesterday. They only had the single serving sand pots and then the really huge ones.