jsolomon

Is a cashier at McDonalds a waiter?

Well, it's meant to be a tight definition. In Nebraska, these slight differences are important to the producers. Also, when you look at it that way, I am actually giving more respect to the individual challenges, needs, and benefits of each particular producer than simply lumping them all together as "farmers". There certainly is a grand set of agriculture in my mind, I just don't label the people in that endeavor as "farmers". Farmers are under a much stricter definition due to the nature of where I was raised where there is such a matter of pride as to which things you grow, how, and where. Lord help the person that calls a Sandhills rancher a farmer.

You're thinking of Boone's Farm and Mad Dog 20/20

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to say, Rebel Rose, that to me, vineyards are not farms. But, neither are orchards. Neither are ranches, or dairies. The thing that sets a farm apart in my mind is the growth of annual plants, not perennials. Those technicalities aside, I think that while growing grapes for wine production may have its own unique proclivities and challenges, but there are many analogous challenges that most small farmers, small ranchers, small dairies, and small orchards also have to overcome. But, the question of do I consider you a kindred spirit for eking your life out of cantankerous soil by confounding weeds, insects, animals, weather, and illness of both you and your crops? Of course I do. Rave on edit: speeling erorrs

No, after sleeping on the concepts for the night, I think there is a significant difference. Sort of like the difference between a wine geek and a cork dork is the difference between a gourmand and a foodie. A foodie may need reminded to make toast every now and then to enjoy the simple pleasures. A gourmand needs reminded that lunch is over and to put down the toasted heel of bread with marmalade and go back to work to not get fired! Comparison of wine geeks vs cork dorks.

I always thought that the chow at the USMA dining hall was pretty decent... unless you were a Plebe. *shudder* I suffered all manner of culinary insults inside the muffins...

Okbrewer, that kind of reminds me of the visual I had in my mind's eye Sunday when I was up trimming storm damage in an old oak tree when my GF kept asking me if I wanted a beer... Hmm... 20 feet up sucking down suds. No good can come of that.

I don't necessarily look at that as having an issue with enjoying her food. I look at that as something more playful.

I think it counts double if it was daytime.

I think a sweet pickled bell pepper might fit the bill, now that I think about it. Hmm... Best of luck!

I read through it, and, surprisingly, have done a significant two-digit percentage of those things. What struck me was the number of things that involved items prepared simply. Really, though. Not that I disagree, but a foodie who must be reminded to make toast occasionally must either have Alzheimer's, grand cultural divides to cross, or is simply a poser.

Y'know the best part about being considered a culinary backwater (deserved or not)? Short lines.

Re: food-stealing scum in hospitals There is a post on placebojournal.com somewhere about how a physician took care of his lunch-stealing scum by putting a placebo sandwich in the refrigerator... that had LOADS of sliced habanero peppers on it. You may want to try that in the pt access fridge to see if it grows legs in the first couple of days. Good news is, you'll probably break the thief of his/her habit. Your best bet for finding out what is good to bring vs what is bad to bring is to speak with one of the staff dieticians. They are usually given orders from the physician of type of diet for the patient. Then, they are in charge of making sure that consults and orders to the kitchen are given. Usually if you ask one of the helpful nurses or other staff, they will direct you as to how best to contact the dietician (and which one to talk to if there are multiple dieticians available at the hospital). Aside from those pieces of advice, I'm with Jason and Steven. Calories are key. The hospital will make sure your buddy gets the nutrition he/she needs, so be slightly careful with superceding their food, but feel free to augment as diet/hunger allows. If the dietician says, "bring all you want, and we'll provide a multivitamin," you're golden. Cook it up and pile it on. Also, bless you for brightening people's days whilst in the hospital.

I agree with you, Pan. Wine is not a necessary condition to have a great meal, but (pardon the mathematical/philosophical academic language here) in the set of Great Meals wine definitely has a place. What I find uniquely interesting, though, is that almost invariably, when I think of "great meals" I am thinking of an extravagant supper, usually with wine or beer. However, when I inventory the great meals that I've had, usually they end up being a breakfast (almost exclusively sans alcohol), lunch, or dinner--farm definitions. What I've come up with, and this is a very initial, personal hypothesis, is that the more things like preserved fruits (jams, jellies, syrups), especially sugar-preserved, the less I'm likely to drink wine. What are other people's occasions to not drink wine? Yes, I'm even noticing with "breakfast for dinner" types of meals, I rarely have wine with them.

Depending on the spice, you could also use apricots like the plums. But, alas, SuzySushi is correct. There ain't nothin' like a tomato. You'll notice their absence.

I would recommend going straight to the online sources. If your locals don't have it, there's little utility in making a long special trip for a couple pounds of the stuff.

I think this is rather a red-herring-esque argument, as your stomach can produce acids and digestive enzymes at different rates depending on necessity. No one ever discusses how taking in excess water dilutes the initial digestive juices of saliva, etc in your mouth, because there is constant production that can change its volume and composition as necessary. This is the same throughout your digestive tract. I will submit that wine is food just as much as cheese, yogurt, vinegar, bread, and coffee are foods (that generally have fermentations steps in their production). These foods and aesthetics about application of these foods evolved throughout history to our modern food aesthetic. To say refute that wine is an integral part of fine dining is tantamount to saying that bread, also is not an integral part of fine dining. You can have fine--and even spectactular--meals that do not have one or the other, but you deny millennia of history, wars, science, art, and humanity that have sprung up from the appreciation of these many splendored, scintillating showcases of what a little time, knowledge, and a lot of love can do. God bless Dom Perignon.

I think the answer to your question lies here: The. Implied. Question.

Check out the Coffeegeek forum, too. http://www.coffeegeek.com They have lively discussions and much arcane knowledge of espresso. Personally, I prefer a cup of brewed coffee by one of the 2 reasonable cup-at-a-time methods: the french press or the filter cone. My advice, though is buy good beans, store them properly, grind them yourself, and don't let them go stale. Treat your coffee well and you will be well-known. Treat it poorly, and you will be have an uphill battle.

The flies probably laid eggs when you were in the pellicle formation phase What you'll probably want to do next time is quickly form the pellicle by putting a fan on the cured, unsmoked bacon for a couple of hours until the surface is nice and dry, and then smoke. That is how I've done it a couple of times in the past with good results.

I'm not sure if pizza counts quite as fast food, but the Pizza Hut Priazzo from 20-odd years ago, the pizza-on-top-of-a-pizza was a concept that I loved and dearly wish they'd bring back. Sin against the genre of pizza and all, it definitely filled those deep calorie-indebted days of being a sprout on a farm.

I've been extolling the virtues of my OXO Good Grips for a while. It does the full range of grinds, is nicely adjustable, ergonomically pleasing, and grinds like a grist mill, to boot!

Likewise, I would be happy if the cocktail bars around where I live wouldn't commit Martini sins by mixing pleasant gin with rotgut vermouth.

I will never again space out while I'm grinding coffee to take to work... and dump the freshly ground coffee in the bag with the beans...

When my father and I made sausage this christmas, none of the local butcher counters had any fatback, so we simply used the beef trimmings that they had as the fat. I could tell little difference in the texture of the sausage (it was there, but minute) however, the ingredients were fairly finely ground. I would say, if you can't find/use fatback for whatever reason, you may want to simply try beef suet, or just ask your meat monger for whatever beef fat trimmings he's got laying around. I got mine for free which definitely makes up for any discrepancies in texture/flavor.