Toliver

What is "dropping fruit"? Also, if the fruit is trimmed off as part of suckering, does it continue to "ripen" off the vine? Or is it waste? If it's waste, how is it determined which fruit gets cut off and which fruit stays on the vine? Are the trimmings composted to be used to amend the soil next year, or does the risk of disease mean you can't compost the trimmings?

Carolyn, Thanks for posting the updates. I am not a gardner so I have no idea what suckering is. It looks like the plants are being "thinned"...excess leaves removed so the remaining plant energy will go towards the developing the fruit. Am I in the right ballpark?

My mom's fridge was in perfect working condition but it was about 10 years old. She bought a new one recently and the difference between the old and new showed up on her first utility bill after the purchase (as in decreased power useage). Seeing the energy savings with the new fridge, she's sorry she didn't do it sooner. Plus, the new one has see through everything (shelving, drawers, etc) so nothing gets "lost" like it did in the old one. No more refrigerator experiments gone wild!

Shhh...keep your voices down. We don't want Varmint to get jealous. Edited to add: When my mom had to get a new oven, she made the mistake of not taking her biggest cooking pan with her when looking at new models. It wasn't until the new oven was installed in her home that she found out her big dutch oven wouldn't fit inside (the new oven wasn't deep enough). Mom wasn't happy, to say the least.

There is an eGCI (The eGullet Culinary Institute) class on Southern Chinese cooking. One of the recipes in the class includes a black bean sauce. Click here for the class. At the bottom of the class are some links to chinese recipe cookbooks that the instructor recommends. And I am sure someone will come along and post some sauce recipes of their own. edited to add: Welcome to eGullet!

It was just posted here on eGullet...somewhere... edited to add: ah, I see it's linked to in Andrew's post above. I liked how Marcella didn't mind imbibing while on the record. I've always admired a woman who can knock 'em back with the best of them.

I keep a bottle of it in my office desk drawer. It is awesome and really perks up that same ole fast food sandwich.

Taco Salad. Or buy a rotisserie chicken from the store (better the store heats their oven than you heat yours). There a million and one things you can do with the meat.

As a kid I ate saltines with slices of dill pickle ...yes, I was a weird child. They were always served with my mom's homemade vegetable soup, Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup and my dad used to like eating saltines topped with sardines mixed with chopped onion and cider vinegar. They were also used as faux bread crumbs. I remember many a tuna casserole with finely crumbled saltines topping the casserole, drizzled with melted oleo (never butter) and then baked until golden brown. It was a very "50's" way of cooking though it didn't help make the tuna casserole taste any better.

I have the keg o' Light Hidden Valley Ranch dressing from Costco. Ditto fifi's comments on Ranch. I have Bernstein's Cheesey Fantastico (or something like that) that I intend to use as a salmon marinade (from a recipe a friend gave me) and Wishbone Italian, also used as a quick marinade. Now where's the thread about bottles of barbecue sauce?

Ooo, I'd re-think Mr. A's. Rumor has it that since it changed hands a while ago it's no longer the restaurant that it used to be. The chi-chi place to dine at would be George's at the Cove . Technically, it's in La Jolla, but I'd put it on the list of possibilities anyway. They even have a dress code for the evening diners.

In my opinion, I would recommend skipping Calphalon One for now. It sounds like it's little more than their anondized aluminum line all gussied up and that line isn't truly non-stick (as you've discovered). Try finding their Commercial Non-stick line (which has been discontinued). Here is an eGullet-friendly link to the huge 12" Commercial Non-stick omelet pan on Amazon that is currently on sale: Big-Ass 12" Commercial Non-Stick Omelet Pan

Ooo, you have an Oven Rack Squirrel! I bought my mom one of those. She told me she'd rather display it than use it...she's afraid of getting it dirty!

Hazelnuts are an interesting story, illustrating the power of marketing. Did you ever see Filbert Cinnamon flavored coffee? Nope. But Hazelnut Cinnamon flavored coffee is a different story. It wasn't until Filberts were re-named and marketed under the name "Hazelnut" that the nut really took off in popularity. Interesting fact: About 99% of the US Hazelnut crop is grown in the state of Oregon. As an OT aside, Kiwi fruit also took off in popularity thanks to marketing and a re-naming. It used to be called the Chinese Gooseberry. And the Prune People are trying a marketing change, as well, by getting their fruit re-named "dried plums" to avoid the stigma of the name "prune".

You don't really need one. Use a fine to medium sieve and you should be okay. From what I understand, the intent of sifting is twofold: To remove any lumps/clumps of flour (rare nowadays) and to introduce air into the flour. A good sieve can perform both of these functions.

Too many cooks spoil the broth. Especially during the holidays...and while you're exiting the kitchen please be a dear and take the small children and animals with you. Now where did I put that wine? edited to say oops, sorry that this was posted already. Then how about "If at first you don't succeed, order pizza."

As mentioned by others in the pie crust discussion, my mom always rolled out the scraps and spread butter, sugar and cinnamon on top. Roll it up like you're making cinnamon rolls and slice it into about 1-inch pieces. Place on the baking sheet cut side down. Bake until done. She called them Pinwheels. All of us kids called them yummy. If you added some sort of fruit I suppose you could call them a poor man's rugalach.

Googled failed me on trying to find a name derivation. From this article: So it's just a type of peanut. Another quote: Another site said Spanish peanuts are favored by candy makers, especially peanut brittle makers. They also have higher oil content which is why they're ideal for making peanut oil. I remember Farrell's Ice Cream parlors used to use Spanish peanuts on their Hot Tin Roof Sundaes. Dairy Queen uses them on their Nut Buster Parfait. More peanut info Even more info

He sure does! All those -ie's. I like 'A bit of the old foo', though. I use that one occasionally. Our lad's from Essex but uses a fake Cockney accent and manner known as "Mockney". Deeply offensive because it's just so bizarre and stagey. Justin Wilson's accent was fake, too, but I (mostly) forgave him because he cooked the way real Cajuns cook at home, Magnalite and black iron pots and all. I ga rohn tee! And Martin Yan reportedly speaks perfect English. Except when an audience (TV or otherwise) is present.

The basil sounds intriguing! My favorite spin on the BLT was a sandwich I made last year...thick-sliced maple-cured bacon, garden fresh tomato and sliced avocado instead of lettuce, slathered with mayo on toasted whole wheat. Basil would have been a welcome addition. [iTALIAN HOMER] Basil and Bacon...Mmmm [/iTALIAN HOMER]

I believe it is the cold fat (lard, butter, etc) melting during the baking process that gives the crust its flakiness. That's why some recipes stress that the butter should be cold, that any water added should be ice cold, as well. The purpose of the refrigeration of the completed dough (before rolling it out) is twofold...to relax the dough/gluten and to keep the fat in the dough cold so it will melt in the oven during baking and not on your counter as you roll it out. That's why the cutting of the fat into the flour is a key process. You are blending the fat into the dough to help facillitate the later-melting process to achieve the flakiness...the smaller the fat bits, the better. I think Julia use the processor to get the fat cut into miniscule bits which regular cutting can't really produce. I'd be afraid of friction of the blade warming the fat/dough up but if she uses it, it must work.

Ahhhh...that explains why the doorframe stucco was so bright. We're seeing it lit up by your flash and/or the light coming in from the windoew. It was so bright I assumed it was being lit by the sun/outdoor light. This also illustrates a problem that can occur when shooting indoors with a flash. The flash over-lit the nearest object in your framing (the doorframe) and under-lit the farther away subject (the kitchen beyond and what was happening in it). This reminds me of indoor concert-goers who take pictures of the performer onstage with the flash on and end up getting great picutres of the people near them in the audience but not so great pictures of the performers. Then cropping would be your best solution to the over-lit doorway. You still see enough of it to give it flavor and the viewer's focus will shift to what you intended in the first place...the kitchen. As for that question, I'd like to hear what others in this discussion have done or do. Negotiate? Or move on?

Nice picture! I like the rustic texture of the doorway. It adds a timeless quality to the overall ambience of the image. But it's also a problem in the photo. It took me a while to notice there was someone back there in the kitchen which brings up a good point when it comes to photographs: What is lit is what will be noticed first. Photography is often like a magician doing a magic trick, directing the audience to see what you want them to see. Stare at this picture and notice how your eye keeps wandering to either the very brightly lit stucco on the exterior framing of the doorway or to the white plastic chairs inside. Sure, you eventually begin to notice the rest of the details in the image but that's where your eyes go first. Is it fixable? To an extent....you can post-process the photo, darkening the doorframe stucco and then brightening the kitchen interior to provide a better balance. Or you could do some judicous cropping, losing most of the stucco/door frame so it's not so "there". Here's what I did with some cropping (the photo has not been processed otherwise): And this one is cropped plus processed (interior brightened and doorframe darkened): Another thing you could have done was, at the time the photo was taken, come back to the same spot later in the day when the doorframe stucco wasn't so well lit. But that's not very realistic because often, as people passing through, we don't have the time to come back to re-take photos. Cropping the photo also lost the nice porch light but that's cropping for you. As an aside, it would have been great if you could have gotten the woman to come to the doorway. It would have added another great dimension to the photo. Thanks for posting your work!

Che makes some good points about framing. What's important in your picture? What isn't? And if it isn't important, why is it playing such a big part of your picture? Lucy (bleudauvergne) said about the same thing back on page 2 of this thread and posted some pics to illustrate. Take a picture to tell a story and include just enough info in the pic to get your point across. So let me ask you, Owen, why did you take that picture? What was the intent behind it? Was it to show the gelato? Then make the subject of your picture the gelato. Do a closeup (or even a Jason-like closeup) and get us to really start salivating. Or was it more of a study..."Sunday afternoon in Seattle"? Then some judicious cropping, as Che showed, will tighten the focus of the image, leaving off the extraneuous table edge and ground at the top of the picture. The simple framing of the newspaper and the dessert says something..."Here's how I passed some time in Seattle." As you take more pictures, your framing will get better and you'll develop a photographic eye. Practice, practice, practice...and it will happen.

Found using the eGullet Search engine: favorite breakfast food, what's yours? The Breakfast Thread, From eggs Benedict to sardine sandwiches What's for breakfast? And last but not least: Hangover breakfast, after a long, hard session last night...