fifi

{ok... shhhh... I have set up the {} so that FG can't see what is within.} {We have to be careful here that we don't hurt FG's feelings. He is a sensitive guy, after all. We all know that we are really interested in Momo. We would not want jealousy to intrude on the man/dog relationship. So, we will have to be careful about how much we inquire about Momo. Yes, Momo rules. But FG thinks he does. Let us not disabuse him of his fantasy.} Cool sandwich, Fat Guy!

I remember arguing this point when they split the regional threads and put Texas in Southwest. The eastern part is definitely in the "South". So why is my Central Texas cobbler a Clafoutis???

tommy, you HAVE to try that port mentioned further up in the thread. I am not a wine nut by any means but I do like that port.

JAZ... Most intelligently and thoughtfully stated. To give a concrete example of what you just said: A few years ago, I was involved in a project in Mexico to supply the plastic for soft drink bottles. Everywhere in Mexico you see fleets of soft drink trucks with the wooden boxes of single serving glass bottles. These glass bottles, of course, are recycled in that they are returned and refilled. Recycling is very popular in Mexico. It is another cycle of commerce for the people. The appeal of the PET resin bottles was that with the weight savings, fuel consumption for transport, at all points of the cycle, would be greatly reduced, and the PET bottles themselves are very recyclable. In fact, whole new enterprises could be built on the recycled plastic. Then my next question was... What is with all of the soft drinks? These people are poor so why waste resources on what I considered an optional "treat". I was informed that the soft drinks supply clean water and much needed calories. Boy did I feel stupid. Diet Coke is hard to find in Mexico outside of the tourist areas.

No, its a Clafoutis. But maybe the original audience wold not be familiar with the french term, so called it by their closest equivalent. You can make them with cherries, apples or almost any fruit. Eggy batter works even better. I believe cobbler was originally biscuit dough in lumps on the top to resemble a cobbled street, but by extension means any fruit (or indeed savoury) pie where the topping is not in a continuous sheet. Good saoury cobblers are with the filling topped wih lumps of dumpling dough OMG! All of these years I have been making that recipe and now I find out I have been making a Clafoutis? I find that deeply disturbing.

My foggy brain doesn't remember enough details to do a good google, but I remember hearing on NPR (I think) not long ago about some chef in New York that was using a private school to try out the concept of serving healthy food that actually tastes good. I think he is out to prove a point. It would be interesting to have a link to that story. I am hoping that someone with more info than me can dig that one up.

Does that mean that after all of these years I have never met a pregnant shrimp? Weird.

Ok... Marble slab is now added to the island. I don't do a lot of baking but maybe I would do more if I had one of those.

Aaaannd... Mickey D is hurting lately. See... It works!

I have been known to get up close and personal with a lot of shrimp and I don't recall seeing what you describe. What kind of shrimp were they?

And mighty fine sulfites they are, too.

I was going to stay out of this one but I can't resist. [soapbox coming out of closet] I am always amused and dismayed when I hear someone moaning about "all of those chemicals" in our food. EVERYTHING IS CHEMICALS FOR CHRISSAKES! Ok, (deep breath), I have a degree in this stuff but it doesn't take a trained chemist to get the basic concepts. A high school introduction to chemistry should be sufficient. We seem to have so neglected education in the basics of science in this country that a lot of the population does not have the knowledge to make rational decisions on issues regarding food, the environment, etc. AND THESE PEOPLE VOTE! God forbid that anyone should be subjected to a curriculum that takes a little work. I mean, like, it might hurt their self esteem, you know. The chapter in Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything on the lethal veggies should be required reading. [soapbox going back into the closet, cork being pulled on a good bottle of merlot, whew]

Yes, I looked at it. It is an interesting product. A bit pricey though. (I am cheap about some things.) It certainly has merit and should be considered for kitchens.

Well, this is getting interesting. I find myself back in the materials business. As to caulking or sealants... think pure silicone, not epoxy. I see the undermounted sink as independently supported and the sink/countertop juncture sealed with silicone. I am with Dave on the cost of laminate versus Corian. Corian is a wonderful material. I... just... can't... spend... that... much... money. The other material of choice around here is granite. Now we are talking REAL money. Beautiful? YES! Functional? YES! But with the cost difference versus laminate, I could buy that small fridge for the beverage area, the 42" plasma TV, and a rockin' custom smoker. All of my past kitchens have had laminate and I have been very happy with them -- thank you very much. Now here is a surprise. My mother and sister have had tile countertops. They were wonderful. A lot of folks worry and whine about the grout. That was never a problem. If it got stained... CLOROX. We did things like make elderberry jelly, turned the place blue, and a swipe with some Clorox made everything new again. Also, the bullnose trim on the outer edge kept spills from running off onto the floor. The house I grew up in was built in the 40s and had the porcelain "drugstore tile" counters and it was just fine and stood up to everything that my mother could throw at it. Looking at the cost per square foot, it seems to be an economical choice. For my own house, I am seeking the drugstore tile. The style of my house is sort of "retro-contemporary" so it fits. If I can't find what I want, I will probably go with laminate. That "look" would work as well. Be very afraid of concrete. It looks cool but is not very practical in a kitchen. Any acid (lemon juice, vinegar)gets to it and FIZZ. You are totally dependent on whatever sealer is used. I have an architect friend in the Anacortes WA area that has a gorgeous house and B&B. She has the concrete counter tops in her house and has had real trouble with the sealers. She called me in to consult on the problem at one point a few years ago. We never really solved it. The polysiloxanes I was after aren't really available commercially. The polyurethanes were a mess. Since this is already getting off topic for sinks, I will continue to floors. Has anyone considered commercial grade Composite Vinyl Tile (CVT)? I had that in a previous house about 30 years ago and it was wonderful. I saw a "Kitchen Design" program on FTVN or HGTV not long ago that had "rediscovered" the stuff. The rest of my living areas will have pine plank flooring, stained, sealed and waxed. (Don't even go there for polyurethane finishes.) That won't do for a kitchen with a cook that spills and splatters. It is available in thousands of colors and "patterns", dropped things don't necessarily self destruct, and it is easy to clean. Luckily, it also fits with my "look". My last house had ceramic tile floors and I was always worried about that dropped heavy pot.

That sounds absolutely delicious. And I am a t'mater hater. This kind of thing could inspire me to grow the damn things. I will be passing this along to my sister who has at least several bushels of tomatoes. Then I will proceed to appropriate some of the product for my own evil uses. (I like cooked 'maters ok.)

As long as you include the dog.

Years ago at my parents country house, we didn't have a dishwasher and had the old big single sink. We kept a small plastic basin for the dishsoap and rinsed to the side. As far as washing vegetables, we would use a big stainless bowl. That worked fine and we still had the big sink for the big pots and those vegetable bins. I had forgotten about those. Good point. Also, the big sink was handy for bathing the first 2 grandkids. Then they remodeled the kitchen, got the dishwasher and the oh-so-modern double sink. (Dumb!) We always regretted that afterward. Besides, the third grandkid (my son) was a huge kid and wouldn't fit!

I talked to my friend. He keeps his slow simmered sauce real simple. For a big dutch oven sized pot (he uses a big LeCreuset, a heavy pot is recommended) put enough olive oil in the bottom to cover. Then sizzle a couple of smashed garlic cloves for about 3 to 5 minutes or until fragrant. Remove the cloves and dump in the tomato pulp. (In fact, he does use a food mill.) Lower the heat and simmer slowly, no lid, until it is the concentration and consistency you like. The simple basic sauce is then frozen or canned for use later. A good reason to keep it simple is... who knows what you might want to add to it in December. You might even have some fresh herbs in pots. I am not the best judge of tomatoes because I HATE them raw. Everyone else raves over his tomatoes and I will say that sauces I have had made from his preserved tomato sauce is damn good. Canning toys are cheap. go ahead and get the kit that you can usually find in the grocery store somewhere around where you get the jars, lids and rings. The jar lifter and wide mouth funnel are worth it. I can't find my canning reference right now but there should be something that comes in the kit that will give you the processing times for tomato sauce.

Damn! I've been counting potato chips as a vegetable.

A friend of mine has the same problem every year. He makes various tomato sauces and then freezes them or cans them. My favorite is a long cooked concentrated version that he learned from some Italian friend. I don't have a recipe but I think it is very simple and slow simmered. He puts it up in jars and processes it in the hot water canner. Then he has the basics to add whatever to when tomatoes are out of season. That approach also gives you an excuse to buy a new toy. http://ww2.williams-sonoma.com/cat/pip.cfm...82354&root=shop

I have 3 sinks. I think I will go for the one big-ass clean-up sink if I can put a disposer in it. (We can do that here.) The beverage area sink has the water filters and instant hot water. The water filters also serve the ice maker (separate, not in the fridge). Jason... Dynamite pictures.

Totally agree with the undermount. I also favor one big deep sink. The trick is to mount the disposer but I think that can be handled. Integral hose in the faucet, yep. Extra holes... nah. I seem agree with FG on all points. (This is getting frightening.) Oh... Another thing I learned with my sojourn in the apartment... The value of the single handle mixer valve. I thought the retro look hardware was cool and was headed that way. Then I am here in the apartment with two valves for hot and cold. What a pain in the butt! I would really love one of those foot valves down on the floor for when I am up to my elbows in chicken juice. Now I am curious... FG, what would you add given space and money? Go ahead... Tempt me.

Yeah... Definitely stainless. But I am curious about the gauge. I keep hearing that and my engineering experience tells me that heavier is better but the "builder grade" big sink/little sink I had in the house was just fine. No complaints. Possibly gauge will be more important if I am able to find one larger and deeper than I had. What has been your experience with gauge? Thanks for your reply.

There seems to be a run on topics involving ranges lately so maybe there is a lot of kitchen building/remodeling activity out there. Most of the posts are in Cooking so I am putting this here. Admin, move it if you wish. Have any of you working on kitchens thought about your sink? As most of you know, I am in the design phase of my kitchen. One thing I forgot to mention in a previous post on the design process was consideration of the kitchen sink. I was reminded of it this morning when I was attempting to clean up a half sheet pan and rack in this stupid double sink in my apartment kitchen. I was reminded of how much I miss the sink I had in my previous house. It fit into the same space as the ubiquitous double sink but it had a big deep side and a small side with the disposer. I loved that sink. Big pots and pans were no problem. I could sit my roasting pan in the big sink and let it soak for a while. It was not some exotic or commercial model. You could have bought it at Home Depot. It was big enough to hold a turkey or big brisket for processing and easy clean up. My daughter lives in an apartment building that was built in the 20s. Her horror of a tiny kitchen does have a nice, big single porcelain sink and no dishwasher. Clean up is a breeze. You use a bowl or pot for the soapy water and rinse things off to the side. The roasting pan or broiler pan is no problem. It fits. Where did the stupid idea of the double sink originate and when? Was the idea that you wash in one side and rinse in the other? It seems to me that about the same time, dishwashers became more common so what is the point? But, if you go into most new builder homes today... IT IS STILL THERE! When I bought my house and requested the substitution for the normal double sink, the builder looked at me like I was nuts. When my neighbors saw my sink, most said "Oooo... I wish I had thought about that." New house will have a large sink for clean-up, maybe with a small side for the disposer. There will be a medium size prep sink in the island (no disposer, I compost) and a small bar sink in the beverage prep area. Do any of you have any suggestions for the big sink? I haven't done an exhaustive look yet nor have I gone to the plumbing supply yet. What I have seen in ads and at Home Depot and the upscale design centers are the regular brands and then some ridiculously expensive "German" models that can cost you more than you paid for your car back in high school. (Hey... I'm not a spring chicken.) Any pointers will be appreciated.

The hands down favorite for summer in my crowd is the "bean and hominy salad" variations that I make that all started with the Pace Picante Texas Caviar. The original called for blackeyed peas, hominy, Pace, onion, bell pepper, fresh jalapenos, cilantro or parsley, etc. It has morphed to using garbanzos, black beans or red kidneys, preferably Goya brand. I like to use different salsas. A current favorite is La Victoria chunky green type. Add your veggies as you wish. Celery is a current favorite. Ripe red, orange or yellow bell pepper is preferred. Finely minced garlic is good. I find that you usually need to splash in some kind of vinegar to give it a kick. I don't think I have made it the same way twice in the last couple of years. I just dump stuff together until it looks pretty and tastes good. I get threats with bodily harm if I don't bring this to some occasions. Or, at least, "You can come if you bring that bean and hominy stuff."