Toliver

Regarding the Egg picture, again it depends on what you want to convey. If your purpose was to show off the food (as will be the purpose of most eGulleters posting pictures of food..."Here's what I made for dinner last night", etc) you need a fill light so the egg will look better. I'd suggest placing a white card (like white cardboard or posterboard...the pros call them "reflectors") off-camera to the right of the egg which will bounce the light coming from the left back onto the right side of the egg. It won't be as bright as your Key Light (which is what your main source of light is called) but will help to fill in the underlit areas/shadows. You can prop the white card up with a salt shaker or whatever is on hand. If you actually used a low powered light on the right, it would be called, of course, a Fill Light. And if this were video production there would also be a back light which helps separate the subjects from the background. But depth of field will help do in still photography what a backlight does in video. Regarding the candle/wine pic, you could also use a little reflector (again, off-camera) on the left side to add a little highlight on the left sides of all the glass. Also, compare the light in both pics. You have very warm, inviting light in the 2nd picture but the light in the egg picture has a blue tinge (fluorescent?) which lends a "coldness" to the image. Perhaps a reflector would help, or maybe a filter change to adjust for the blueness of the light (if you have that option) or some post-tweaking in an image processing program like Photoshop to shift the ambience more towards the red to gain back some warmth. That being said, when we (the company I work for) shoot food for video (a whole different animal), we put the Key Light in back (so it's pointed towards the food & camera) and place a reflector or soft Fill light in front. Works like a charm for us.

One reason could be that unpeeled potatoes won't absorb as much moisture as peeled potatoes do.

Carolyn, Thanks for posting the new pictures. The young grapes look to be very hard/firm. Is this the case? I'm also assuming they are inedible at this point. How long will it take to get to an edible (but not necessarily ready to harvest) state?

dumplin, What year is this cookbook? They drop some recipes with every new edition so each is different. My mom's '56 edition was falling apart so I paid about $80 for another copy as a Christmas surprise. If your copy is old enough and in good enough condition, it could fetch a good price on eBay. Just a thought....

I found it with a Google search: Kaspar Super-Stuffed Turkey Burger Recipe (scroll down)

I concur. Roasting offers a different way to taste the usual suspects. Besides cauliflower, I've roasted beets and I've done carrots with dill which were very good.

Hmmm..."nice", eh? How about something unusual like hat boxes? Or is that too "out of the box" , so to speak?

You can find it ocassionally at different stores. I've seen it next to Blackjack (licorice) gum, usually at the checkout stand. I think it may have even been at my local Bed, Bath & Beyond store. You can order it online, too. This (click) is but one place I found selling the gum after doing a Google search for "teaberry gum".

Well, I can attest that my "little" bit of water was nowhere near 1 tablespoon. It was enough to cover the bottom of the pan but with no depth which was probably 7 to 10 tablespoons. [HOMER] DOH! [/HOMER] Thanks for the feedback, TrichCT. Life is about lessons and boy, did I learn something.

I thought you were talking about an English pub there for a minute. I have to admit I have never had Indian food before. Experiencing it (and fusion food) vicariously through your blog will have to do until I can get around to experiencing it firsthand. Blog on...

Well, my Blueberry Slump was a disaster. I think the problem I had in following Trish's recipe was the key word "little" when referring to how much water to add. I may have added too much since by the time the berries came to the boil, the little bastards had given up all their juice and I actually had blueberry soup. So when I added the dumplings, which were supposed to steam on top, they dropped right through the floating berries and down into the soup. If anyone wants some purple doorstops, let me know! Not wanting to waste the berries, which had thickened up into a heavenly deep purple blueberry sauce, I used it on top of vanilla ice cream. Now that was a success. I may have to try this again (with less water) before the blueberries are gone from my Farmer's Market. Can frozen blueberries be used instead of fresh?

Just a quibble, but I believe this is incorrect. Meat nearest the bone is actually cooler than meat away from the bone (which is why you're not supposed to insert meat thermometers near any bones since you will get an incorrect reading). Because of the internal structure/density of the bone, it actually acts more like a heat dissipater than a heat conducter. It does, however, add more flavor to meat than if you had deboned the meat and then cooked it without bones. Why? I haven't a clue, but it does.

Click here for a past discussion on San Diego restaurants. Point Loma Seafood, recommended in the discussion, is in the general area of MCRD (both MCRD and NTC border Point Loma). If money's no object, George's at the Cove would be a good choice (I believe they have a dress code...coat & tie for men...you may have to call to verify this). There's an Anthony's Seafood right on downtown San Diego bay if you're looking for a view. They have an upscale place right next door, too (Star of the Sea Room?), if you want ambience (they used to have a dress code but the owner of the Chargers may have broken them of that rule...call to find out). Peohe's in Coronado (seafood) also has a great view of the San Diego downtown skyline. If you call for reservations, make sure you request seating with a good view. Afterward, you can drive over to the other side of the "island" and take in the famous Hotel del Coronado. You can also eat some awesome ice cream at the Moo Time creamery (kind of like a Cold Stone, but a wee bit tastier) on Orange Ave.

markk is correct. With the lid down, your grill will actually become an oven so you won't need direct heat. Same thing with Webers, smokers and such.

Yes. You end up with nothing but the "meat". They might not be as pretty as if you did them skillfully by hand but it sure is easy. It also works for larger oranges. fifi, I think they are referring to the membranes between each of the interior segments, not the exterior pithy stuff. I have the Grapfruit Express, as well, and used it often enough to get burnt out on grapefruit. Now I can't stand to look at the stuff!

More on Colored Mulches. So the red paper, boxes, etc, may aid in the ripening of the fruit. And for you chileheads out there, Chile Pepper Magazine had a recent article on colored mulches and found that silver plastic mulch was best for growing chile peppers.

Captain Crunch with Crunchberries is one of the best reasons to raise small boys. I love all of that sugary goodness. I especially like the way that my teeth are coated with a padding of sugar paste after a big heaping bowl. MMMMMM. THat's good eating. My brother used to pour them out into a big bowl, like Jethro, and eat all of the Crunchberries, take the toy (Captain Crunch had cool toys), and then put the plain cereal back in the box. I hated him for that. I've seen an all-Crunchberries box of cereal called "Oops! Crunchberries" (as if they made a mistake at the factory). I don't think it's a regular item, though. The FAQ is interesting: Cap't Crunch's web site

Whatever you do don't ever refrigerate them. That completely stops the chemical process that makes home-grown tomatoes as flavorful as they are. My mom always placed tomatoes that needed ripening on her kitchen windowsill. They don't need the sun anymore...it was just a place to put them so they were out of the way of day to day kitchen use, but still visible enough not to forget about them. Once the ripening has started (I believe that happens when about 10% of the tomato is red) it's a done deal. They should continue to go all the way to full red assuming the chemical ripening process has been triggered and wasn't interrupted in any way.

I believe you're thinking of Maitia's. They used to have quite a large restaurant on Union Avenue but closed it and moved to a strip mall in the booming Northwest area. I haven't been to the new restaurant but the word I've heard is that something got lost in the move and it's not the same anymore. Between you and me, while Woolgrower's is the number one restaurant for Basque food here, during the last meal I ate there we were joined at the table by a couple of cockroachs (I guess they heard the food was good ) and I've never been back since. Speaking of family-style restaurants, does anyone remember the restaurant chain called The Big Yellow House? They were popular about 15 or 20 years ago but are no longer around. What made them distinctive (besides all the restaurants looking like big yellow houses ) was that they served the food family style. Unlike some of the other restaurants mentioned previously, at the Big Yellow House you didn't share your food with strangers, meaning your party was seated and when the food was brought out, you passed it around to the people at your table. I remember there were always long lines waiting to get in and we never seemed to get enough food to pass around, which says something either about us or the stingy-ness of the restaurant (which may be why they're no longer around). Another quasi-Family-Style restaurant was the Hungry Hunter chain (which has since "disbanded", if you can call it that, to become similar restaurants but operating under different names). While your main course was yours and yours alone, the starters were usually shared. The soup (if ordered) was brought out in a mini-cauldron that you passed around the table and served yourself. The salad came out in a big bowl which you also passed around. With the salad, they also brought a small condiments tray with the fixin's for the salad (bell pepper, green onion, bacon bits, etc) that you could pass around, too. And now that I think of it, the Olive Garden currently offers quasi-Family-Style dining in regards to their bowls of salad and their baskets of garlic breadsticks that usually come with every meal.

Marlena, Regarding the Basque food, you're right about the daily menu changing, now that I think of it. The evening I went to Pyrenee's Cafe, with a large group from work (I think there were 30 of us), the main dish was the oxtail soup, though it wasn't really very soupy. Many in our group were uninitiated to the Basque cuisine and declined the oxtail soup once they found out what it was. That meant more for me! I am currently living in Bakersfield where Pyrenee's Cafe still offers family dining (though I haven't been there in years) which is probably too far south for your parameters. You can also eat in the bar. It was in the bar that I first tasted ginger beer, which is a story for some other day. Pyrenee's also has a well known Bakery that provides bread for many restaurants and grocery stores. The first time I had pickled tongue here in town, I was reminded of the old joke: "I don't eat anything that can taste me back." You will still find pickled tongue at various buffets around town...even some of the chinese buffets offer it! edited to add: If anyone wants some Basque recipes, these are from the Kern County Basque Club: Click Here

This questions seems famliar and I think was asked in another recent thread but I can't seem to find it. Here is a past discussion about pasta that might or might not help until someone can come in and contribute a solution.

Ronnie! I am taken aback and left speechless at this confession. I figured if I buried it in someone's blog, no one would notice - DOH! =R= Ronnie, Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. Adox, Technically speaking, not being able to scoop out flour with your measuring cup is a good thing. Scooping flour can pack the flour into the cup giving a false measure, supposedly. I am looking forward to your biscuits!

You people are seriously whacked and need to see therapists!! Having said that, I can't stand foie gras (or any organ meat or innard), oysters, clams, mussels, octopus or squid. Guess I won't be eating at any high falootin' joint in the near future, will I? Shun me, I dare ya.

Ronnie! I am taken aback and left speechless at this confession. As for lunch, adoxography (can I call you adox?...less typing ), I'm with you. The later I can take it, the better. I think I've been able to push it to 1:30 but later than that I might as well go home and have dinner.

I see. It sounds as if the WSM folks were trying to be overly cautious on checking the water.