Tere

Interesting, Costco does do fresh food online here, I was looking for a raclette wheel a few weeks ago and it showed up as one of the cheaper places. I guess in part it's easier for online food delivery to flourish as overnight delivery is feasible to most parts of the U.K. our most deserty place would probably be up in the Scottish Highlands, there certainly are areas there where it's hard to get hold of fresh fruit and veg unless you grow your own.

Interesting - I would technically qualify - my nearest supermarket is 13 miles away although the nearest place I can go for bread and milk and basics is 6 miles away. They do have some fresh fruit and veg but it's fairly minimal although the non perishable stuff they try hard to keep an OK range. They are well used by the small town they are in. I actually do most of my shopping online and comes from a store 40 miles away, because it's a better store for the products I want. I am at the edge of their range but clearly there are enough people in the valley ordering that it's still profitable. They do tell you when the van is in the area to encourage less driving and the drivers occasionally phone if they are in the area to see if it is convenient to deliver. Is online grocery shopping basically not a thing in the US? I get the sense from that report probably not?

We are cordonning the fruit trees, so they won't go too bananas. And I'm relaxed about not needing to pick everything. I have an enormous cooker / cider apple at the back of uncertain provenance, and I don't try to harvest it all. The birds are very happy to help me out, and the deer like the windfalls

Just planted 30 asparagus crowns (10 each of an early, a mid-season, and a late), and a trip to the supermarket to buy more compost yielded yet more cheap fruit trees. Came away with two plum "Opal", a "Doyenne du Comice" and a "Conference" pear, and a Coxes Orange Pippin apple. They are resting overnight in a bucket of water, along with 2 cranberries and three more of the cheap blueberries. I've also ordered a slightly different cranberry online, along with 6 whimberry / bilberry bushes and three lingonberries. The idea is we'll plant them just the other side of the rabbit fence from the veg plot in groups of 3 so we can drape netting over them if we need to. I'd love some cloudberries but am reluctantly resigned to them almost certainly not working. Next projects, buy some hefty planters for wild and cultivated strawberries. And plot an edible hedge

Not crab apples, but I've had good success with making damson cheese with wild damsons and the recipe here, although it's VERY hard to cut if you overset it. I reckon it would work for crab apples too. It does indeed keep forever, I have some that's 3 years old in the fridge that's perfectly good http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/07/damson-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall

Heh. I actually own a Sodastream and have been known to do this

M.R.ing?

It's a beautiful day here, the first really springlike day we've had, so I decided to join the cats and have lunch outside. Caprese sandwich - buffalo mozzarella and heritage tomato on bought sourdough, with jack in the hedge as seasoning as I didn't have any basil. And a cheeky glass of white

I've just educated myself, they're not a couple, lol. http://lespetitsgris.co.uk/aboutus/ I've never seen Damien front of house Anyway, as you were. I think it's a hard balance, trying to insulate risk while building loyalty. Some of the most incredible places I ate in Japan had a max of 12 - 16 covers, and built their business. But that organic growth can be a really tough act. Good luck.

I realise it's a very different market. But I wonder if you'd get something from looking at http://lespetitsgris.co.uk/ (they also have a FB page) from the tiny amount of diners you are trying to cover. I'd have happily paid a fee up front the second time. But not the first time. That's your difficulty.

I also wonder if you could do something umeboshi-like with them? They certainly have mouth puckering astringency...

I am going to also add since it doesn't seem to be on thread that I have made pectin water if I am not going to make jelly simply by boiling up the crab apples as if I was going to make jelly, then freezing it for help with low pectin fruits. As the fruit cage develops I will probably do this more. You don't even need to chop them although slicing them in half makes them break down quicker. This recipe explains more if needed, it's just the first I found from a Google search. The reduction phase is not necessary I think, it's just to keep more space in the freezer. http://www.mountainfeed.com/blogs/learn/37065729-make-your-own-pectin-for-jams-jellies-homemade-apple-pectin-recipe

Necrobump because it seemed like the best place to put this. As part of my clearing out my freezer project, I discovered I had 4 kilos of crab apples, 700g elderberries, 500g of blackberries, 400g rosehips and some stray sloes lurking in the bottom drawer. My solution to this has been to make a simple crab apple jelly (dump crab apple in jam pan, boiled in water to cover generously, 7 parts sugar to 10 parts liquid - lower than usual because I don't have a sweet tooth, juice of a lemon, rolling boil to set point (about 15 mins for me). And hedgerow jelly a la River Cottage Preserves book with the remaining kilo of apples and the rest of the berries is on the way (just done the first boil, waiting to cool to pass through the jelly bag). Like the crab apple in vodka idea up thread, might have to research that. I have many many crab apples on the land

I got the opportunity to eat at the Fat Duck in 2006 because I happened to be back in the UK, in London, and a notoriously scatty friend had decided at the last minute she couldn't afford it, because at that time they were taking the full price of the tasting menu if you didn't show. Best last minute decision I've ever taken advantage of, it still ranks up in the top 5 meals I've ever had, for sure. I didn't think that was unreasonable, at the height of the initial 3 star hype IIRC.

I mainly use cold pressed rapeseed oil (canola I think is the US name) for everything, apart from roasting veggies / more Meditteranean dishes, when I have a herby/spicy and a neutral olive oil. And more basic rapeseed for the once a year I will probably deep fry, having tried it for the first time for Valentine's. Great Ness is local and pretty good. Rapeseed from small suppliers is becoming more popular in the UK (I showed a shelf mostly of it in Grocery shopping the other week). Thought this article on the changes was quite interesting. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/11710297/Goodbye-olive-oil-why-weve-all-fallen-in-love-with-rapeseed.html

You just reminded me I need to buy edamame for the garden sometime

We attend a quarterly pop restaurant in Ludlow, Les Petits Gris (which is excellent and always full, and shaved to the bone on margins, including great deals on the house wines, since it is a labour of love for the chef and his other half, whose day jobs are running the cafe in the Food Centre, and this scratches their restaurant itch). I really felt for them at Christmas, when out of 30 covers or so total they had 10 no shows. The table of 6 just didn't show up, the table of 4 called with an hour's notice. On those tight margins I am sure they made a loss, and I know they were having to turn people away beforehand. I said I would be happy to prepay, and many others were, but clearly they don't feel they can ask. Instead the price has gone up by a fiver (still a very good deal). Thanks a bunch, no show people! That was a .... move on their part, especially for a pop up where everything is bought for that service.

Heh. ElsieD, you have my granite counter tops

Heh, looking at all the other overpriced junk on that site, I am assuming it's not remotely artisan! Also chocolate pizza, ewww.

Cool. I want to do something similar with wild ramsons soonish. There's a whole lot naturalised in a dell not very far away so I have hopes that they will spread well if I introduce them - a couple of test bulbs are relatively happy! I think they are slightly different plants - yours would be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_tricoccum? Mine are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_ursinum. Very tasty.

I hear you on the freezer sorting. I think I'm just down to some field mushroom ragout from last year and a 1.5 kilo brisket that I need to sacrifice to the virgin flight of my Kamado Joe Jr at some point when we have more time!

Also I had to wiki what the heck scrapple was, but it looks tasty! Is it the kind of thing that comes in big blocks from the store and you slice as you go, or pre sliced slices, or do you make your own or what? (leaving the wiki link here in case anyone else wants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple) It looks like a cultural cousin of haggis / Lorne sausage / white pudding. What's the texture like?

Awww. I hope your day goes better than you think x

I saw this quite recently in Morrison's of all places but I cannot for the life of me remember what veg it was. It was near the potato section so I am guessing in that family.

I wanted to find you an online copy of one of the specialist ramen mags in Japan but my Google fu isn't up to it tonight. I did find the English language website of the ramen museum in Yokohama so that will have to do the build your own ramen booth is apparently very popular! raumen.co.jp