tanabutler

Madonna! How could I have missed this thread all these weeks? What a glorious tribute to Italy you are creating, Ore. I am so happy to be reading your blog and droooooling over the photos. Grazie for all the hard work, and congratulations on your achievements. I am pea-green with envy, but also very happy for the commitment you've made. What an awesome time you must be having. All I can say is WOW, and THANK YOU to Craig Camp.

Thank you, and please give my best to Jonathan. He won't likely remember me by name, but I am the one who introduced myself to him because I recognized him from eGullet photos.

Halibut and salmon do not need bacon. Trust me.

Bob will be right up. He LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES that stuff!!

Wow, Rancho Gordo. What kind of camera do you use? They're lovely photos. You rock, dahlink!

Mongo, you might not have good luck mixing thyme with basil seeds. Thyme plants are woody and sprawling and wide, and basil is more delicate (you can eat the stems, whereas you wouldn't want to eat thyme stems). I don't know how they'll do together. I think the thyme will choke the basil out. I could be wrong.

Can you post more about SANA? Grazie!

Saturday market at Cabrillo College, noonish: a ham and cheese croissant; two oysters; pea shoots; zucchini; a Gravenstein apple for Bob. Sunday market on East Cliff: two baskets of organic strawberries from Windmill Farm and one pound of yellow wax beans from Dirty Girl Produce.

Señor Rancho Gordo himself, faithful eGulleteer, will be in attendance at this event! ¡Cuanto le gusta!

Um, can't you borrow one from a neighbor?

I've been comped at a lot of places, but I don't really know why. Well, at Amma I did: Suvir and Hemant being the extraordinarily generous souls that they are. I think I get very enthusiastic about great food, and the owners have just been kind. (And this was even before I started photographing the food.)

I am constitutionally unable to bring myself to call it "Pasa Rowbulls." Can. Not. Do. It. I'd feel like a xenophobe.

Water when the soil is bone dry and the plants are on the verge of drooping. And really soak it. Don't flood, just soak through and through.

LEdlund, are you squared away with SF lodgings and places to go? Do you know about HotelRes.com for booking hotels in the city? I have been using them for years; they're different and cheaper than the other travel services I use online. Specifically for San Francisco. I recommend the Hotel Majestic if it's in your price range.

What about Dexie's Midnight Runner Beans?

Linky not working, Ms. Tillie, dear.

I hide things from Bob, like chocolate chips (which I buy for the girls), because he will just eat them and then complain about being fat. I've stopped buying jams and jellies because he can't resist those, either. But yes, I hide things in the big drawer with emergency supplies (batteries, candles, etc.). Monica, are you avoiding another deadline?

EDIT for not finding the other explanatory thread first.

P. S., GG, your garden is a verdant wonder. I bet it smells so good there. Sorry to hear about the autumn, though.

Can you start from seed indoors in April or so? Our garden is just a big ol' nothing this year. The Chinese say, "The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow," and Bob is just not out there. He tells me, "Nothing's stopping you from going out there, you know." He's wrong. I lack a green thumb so badly that I killed an air fern. I do fine with roses (the first and only plants with which I've ever had success), but nothing else. Besides, HE gardens: I POINT. ("Over there, honey!") But since I cook seven nights a week for the most part, I don't think I should have to grow the food, too.

I love success stories. Try some grilled salmon. Or halibut. Oh, you are in for some fun.

I understand how you feel. There is a store here in Santa Cruz with a specialty (which I will not name). I have sent literally hundreds of people there, and they know this. The owner's never offered me anything for free. I've been shopping there at least ten years, and I have brought them gingerbread cookies at Christmas many times. It's just how he is.

Is it big enough for that? I can make one that fits, if you need. Let me know.

Worse than "San Fran" is "Frisco." There was a story in the Chronicle a few years ago about a couple of bums arousing suspicion in two San Francisco policemen, who asked where they were from. When they answered, "Frisco," one of the officers went to do a background check, found them with several outstanding warrants, and put them in the pokey.

Ohmygod, like I totally watched the new VH1 Classic (Eighties) channel for hours last night, and I am like SO back into the Eighties. I'm serious. Those were the classics of MTV, and the featured band was REM. Get thee to VH1 if you want to relive some good music. Well, not Lisa Lisa, but a bunch of other stuff. Like Foreigner, "I Wanna Know What Love Is." Or Peter Gabriel. Hey, serve "Shock the Monkey" banana daiquiris.