beans

When I drove the length of I-90 westbound, I looked for clean facilities, particularlly ones with a fair amount of green space to stretch and take a stroll. Cheap fuel prices were not always an option to browse for as I had a schedule to catch a Blue Canoe that I was lucky to gain a lucky car space reservation. I found I became a Mountain Dew junkie at all of those Exxon monster plazas. My favourites were the well kept and very pleasing stops all throughout Minnesota. Other than that, I looked for my exit to complete my plotted length of travel for that day and the pillow on my motel bed!

Whats wrong w that one? I suppose in opposition to "Sad Hour" ??

Cheeses. Be on the look out for the local and/or regional cheeses from Tillamook (cheddar), Oregon blue cheeses from the lush Rogue River Valley. I'm not sure of the folks of the Matanuska agricultural area of Alaska are hand crafting cheese, but they may be, so keep your eyes open! Edit: A list of resources I knew I had laying around somewhere in the filing box -- although some of it may be out dated, be sure to check! Be on the look out for these producers: Rogue Gold Dairy, Inc. Grants Pass, Oregon - 18 varieties of cheeses, including blud, cheddar, jack, smoked and raw milk cheddar Rogue River Valley Creamery Central Point, Oregon -Oregon blue cheese Rollinghouse Chevre Parma, Idaho -Goat cheeses Sally Jackson Cheeses Oroville, Washington -Handmade cow, goat and sheep's milk cheeses Talk Talk Dairy Canby, Oregon Goat milk cheeses, yogurt, German and summer sausages Enjoy!

Hi. I'm in Cleveland now, and at the rate of our current recent weather conditions, it has been much like the Pacific Northwet. Cooler, cloudy and rainy. Business-wise, it annoys me because it is keeping our customers indoors and/or at home. After all it is home graduation celebrations galore right now so customer traffic has been markedly slow city wide. I suppose we're off to a slow start for the hot sunny summer Cleveland normally gets. Damn I used to almost bribe my managers for tiki bar shifts! *wink* However, I never seem to notice how the gray skys affected me. It was just a fact of life. Personally, there are many times I often look forward to those dark grey days with misty rain here in Cleveland! Admittedly not lately! With gray skies above you'd be surprised at how many pot lucks (this is very Alaskan) on Saturdays with friends, cards and rented movies take place. The public libraries are busy and reading is a popular past time. As a matter of fact the large part of my craftsy projects (wreaths, jewelry, candle/soap making) all came out of when I last resided in Sitka. But I enjoyed it immensely. Moss covering your roof is something that is no shock. Oh, and never carry an umbrella. That's a sign of a tourist! (hee hee)

Pimentos as in jarred red bell peppers? I think I remember that as being one and the same ingredient by a different name. If so, yikes! There are so many things that lovely pepper can grace! Salads, dips, crab cakes, sandwiches, pastas.... Yum.

The Vesper: 3 ounces dry Gin (such as Gordon's) 1 ounce Vodka 1/2 ounce Lillet Combine in a shaker with ice. Chill cocktail glass with ice and water. Shake cocktail. Throw out ice water and strain cocktail into same. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Hi Jaz. Give this a try: The Marquis 1 1/2 ounces bourbon 1 ounce Lillet Rouge 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier 1 thin orange slice Fill a cocktail shaker with ice; add bourbon, Lillet Rouge and Grandma. Stir until well chilled. Fill an old fashioned glass with ice, strain cocktail shaker contents. Garnish with orange slice. Enjoy!

My pet peeve is "fresh farm raised salmon" for a myriad of reasons. I picture the old man and woman with the pitchfork when the word "farm" is evoked. On the other end of "jumbo shrimp" how about "popcorn shrimp" ? The words alone "fresh frozen" is a bit odd, it is an abrupt description of a process.

Thanks Fat Guy! I'll keep that info in mind and an eye open on my travels! I've got to try them!

Eeks, this is verring in a different direction, but I remember something horseshoe crab like in the land downunder that they capture and are a micro step away from lobsters that they call "bugs." What are those? I think I saw one once on some FN show and they were added to some salad. They looked odd, but I bet they were WONDERFUL!

Hmmm. Along something similar and will annoy me so some clarity is requested! U-15 shrimp being labeled as "prawns." I remember learning something that prawns were freshwater and shrimp are saltwater. Are they interchangeable? Why the confusion?

Oh, talk about homesick. Sorry, going slightly off topic here. [Knorthrup did you get to see this too?] It's on at this moment in my PBS televised market, but by all means and if at all possible, catch The Harriman Alaskan Expedition wherein railroad tycoon Edward Harriman's 1899 journey along the Alaskan coast is retraced. I saw people I knew! People I was related to! And places yet to explore myself. Geesz, they traveled to the itty bitty Siberian islands! Shared food, lore and tradition. Awe inspiring. Golly, I'm proud of where I grew up and of the rich Tlingit cultural heritage, by which I am very much a part of too. *sigh*

Well stated. Perhaps a wee peek into the heart and soul of Chef Spencer?

A favourite Italian market did something similar for me too. I don't know the name of it either (hmmm, may need to stop over there soon) but it was a "find" by the owner on his last visit to Italy. It is delicious and am glad to have been the recipient of such a lovely suggestion. By the bottle it is $5.99 and by the case it is around $4 a bottle. He referred to it as simple Italian Table Wine. Will have to work on the name .... Savvy and definately not shabby.

Tipping culture. It is geography-specific. Now the $5000 bottle of wine is a bit extreme. While I don't doubt there is such a bottle to command that amount of change, the likelihood I would be ordering it would depend on my luck to win the Mega Lottery and become an instant multi-millionaire. Highly improbable. That being said, I tip what is ordinary and customary in accordance where I am. When it is the American way of paying service staff barely more than $2.13 an hour, tips are essential to make ends meet, and being in the service industry, I tip and tip fat. But that is not limited to my travels throughout the States, I will always compensate those with what is comensurate to their effort in providing a pleasurable experience, be it handling my luggage, expertly concocting a fine cocktail, opening/pouring a beer, serving a meal and/or pouring and decanting a lovely bottle of wine.

Good Eats is perhaps one the few remaining reasons I watch FN. Alton fascinates me almost to the point of something cultish, which I'm sure has its own life form and exists among his fans. Perhaps the love of film and a fine sense of sharp wit and humour. (I did start out in university as a Film/Television Studies major). Mario rocks. Was it Bourdain that called him the lightning in a bottle? Or something like that?

He's looking at apartments, but I'm sure he's gonna do fairly well with his public sector experience in salary. My father just retired from Northworst Air and was hearing grumblings about Boeing scouting out alternative cities. Airbus is a dirty word in Seattle, although Boeing may become one too and that's unfortunate. Think I'll pull out my big The Beautiful Cookbook: Pacific Northwest for food inspiration and gaze at some of the wonderful culinary things that are uniquely to that area. My favourite short jaunt is The Salish Lodge (the Great Northern!) and Snoqualmie Falls/North Bend. But Multnomah Falls is on my list.

I think I need to spend more time in Portland. Haven't been there since I was about 10 years old. Seattle was a mecca for someone that grew up in Sitka, Alaska. So, I'm biased. I have a friend who may be accepting a position with the City of Seattle very soon so he was asking me about housing options. He's looking into Queen Ann. Despite I have a Nordie's and West Side Market, they pale in comparison to my beloved downtown store and Pike Place. And does it rain there? You become so used to the weather that you hardly notice it anymore except for those gloriously blue sky days of Summer. How is Boeing doing lately? I heard rumours it isn't as well as in previous years. That's too bad. Heck if I were to be relocating, I'd spend time in each of the cities to get a feel, read some local papers, stroll the streets and window shop, drive around a few neighbourhoods looking at the houses and drink some coffee. Bellingham has always been fun, but I'm usually running for a Blue Canoe and only pass through in a blur. Now I'm rambling whistfully....sorry. I look forward to my trip this up coming Fall.

My convenenience items: canned san marzanos Busha Browne's Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning (made jerk seasoning before from scratch, the jury is out on which I preferred) Demi-Glace Gold from More than Gourmet (would never have the patience to make my own; and surprisingly watched a visiting club chef make a demi from a instant disolve envelope thingy while at work) frozen puff pastry (just won't do that at home and would probably kill someone if I had to make it at work) jarred roasted red peppers I've tinkered out of curiosity and made my own spreadable mustard and once tried ketchup from scratch. I always try to buy ingredients in wholes instead of already grated or ground. But I'm not into the make your own butter, bread (on a regular basis) grind my own meat for burgers or hand mix and stuff sausages, although one afternoon I may give it a try. I've once enjoyed the thought of purchasing wheat berries and grind my own flour, but then I took a look at that price tag of one found in King Arthur Flour's catalog -- Yikes! But this is no way the day to day sort of thing! Guess I eat out more than in.

Why that would be lovely. You, and anyone else who wished to do so can PM, email or instant message anytime! It is always a pleasure to meet another that one can share any one passion and/or enjoyment of anything relating to food, drink and song!

Aww, Matt, that was lovely and funny! That scotch sounded ethereal. The fun with Alton must have been outrageous. Thank you for sharing.

But they do the math each and everytime, at least where I work. tommy have you ever served?

glenn: Were these the articles you were thinking of? http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=...=106783,00.html http://www.irs.gov/individuals/page/0,,id=...d=15580,00.html The IRS has a sense of humour? (hee hee) I had to giggle with some of those "5 Phrases for Getting Bigger Tips." Yes, allocations are the pits.

tommy: The "names" aren't directed to anyone specific to take offense. I just call it as I see it because whatever is the rationale behind that bottom line tip, if it doens't equate at least 15% of the grand total, well then most get salty and somewhat resentful as the the never-ending "why"????? rings in their heads. Most service folk don't take the time to add up and delegate a portion of the amount of the tip to x percent toward the food part of the bill and y percent to the wine portion in comforting rationalization. And besides when tipping out all of those that helped your sevice, which BTW was nothing less than spectacular, they don't care what percentage you were tipped out on your wine sales. Not earning a 15% or above equates the guest was displeased on the service, or is too cheap to tip what is usual and customary. Managers take note too, sometimes equating it to something negative toward that server's job performance. I've worked in restaurants where the server's assistant, bartender, hostess and expo were tipped out from your evening's earnings and it was all against a circled grand total of your shift sales report. There are usually preset percentage amounts to each person/position, but it is at your discretion if you straight line percentage them to the penny or just fork out a few extra bucks because you know pouring 17 different wines by the glass for one drink order just plain old sucks. These are things customers need to understand that the whopping amount they feel they are excessively tipping out to their wine service is not necessarily what reaches that server's sole little pocket. It is divi-ed up to reward the team effort that made that dining experience all possible. Oh, I know, parting with funds is always an emotionally charged sore spot, but that's when I make the decision to go out to eat or stay home and raid the wine cellar and fire up the grill. I tip obscene amounts when I go out and it is remembered when that person comes to my place of business, Cleveland isn't that big.

Katie: You are my hero.