jsolomon

At my place of employment, we're pretty fond of Bellco glass. Available in handy 2 litre models! Oh, you're not talking about laboratory glassware. I'm an idiot.

The last meal that I cooked was Friday night... Shepherd pie using chicken and beer bread (homemade) as the crust. Saturday and Sunday I had drill, so everything was Army Issue. Thursday was St. Patrick's day, so I had beer for supper (hey, it's whole-grain, right?) Wednesday I worked 14 hours straight and had to be at work 4 hours early the next day so I don't think I really ate anything. Tuesday, too far back to remember. I currently have chicken thighs marinating in soy sauce and sriracha. I need to stop by the grocery store and pick up some vegetables and fruit. But, I have class til 9:30 tonight, so that'll wait til tomorrow.

brine and smoke 'em

That half-buzzed stage a glass of wine gets me when my stomach is empty. Having my significant other (or anyone else, for this matter) refill my wine glass while I'm not paying attention. knowing that some of the dishes will have some "magic" in them... like browned cheese, and crusted bits claiming chef's privilege when I want to taste something

If it's for a dinner party at my abode, I usually make sure that the meal is planned to be ready 30 minutes after the scheduled time, so there is some informal "drinks" time while dishes are finished. At a restaurant? Usually after 10-15 min I give a phone call, and if there is no response, I simply start, or leave, depending.

Forgive me for being confused, but are you looking for people in slow food for commerce, or people who cook slow food for their enjoyment? For instance, when the chokecherries don't get the blossoms don't get frosted off, my family typically picks enough for a few years' worth of chokecherry jam/jelly/syrup. Likewise with a few wild plum bushes we know of and a sour cherry tree or two. I think there are also some wild grapes I get. It's not all fruits, though. I havea couple out-of-the-way places I go for morel sponges, too. But to sell? Hell no. And for the purposes of being gourmands? No, as well. It's simply tradition and we like it. I don't know about crave, but they are soul-satisfying foods... comfort foods for us, not gourmet foods to be sought. My family isn't really slow-food people. We're just farm/ranch people who make a living with and watching the land, so we know where many of the treats are.

I've done bacon using the Alton Brown method and a couple of different smokers, as well as jerky using a home dehydrator. For Christmas gifts this year, I'm thinking of making a few country hams for some people special to my heart... I'll post more when I get a few more minutes to myself.

I resolve not to be threatening to retarded bartenders who look like they got the job because they're cheaper than a barback who Knows The Job when they can't get my dry dirty martini right. The most entertaining was when I sent one back which had too much vermouth, and then the bartender proceeded to add more vermouth to the same drink and serve it to me again! I seem to remember asking point-blank if the bartender was getting tip-wage, or an honest hourly wage...

Dude, after the pain/anguish/physical output/emotional rollercoaster/hormonal upheaval that a woman goes through to bring a screaming milkmonster into the world, you'd better get her something good, or I'll hold the nurses back to let her beat you over the head with one of those hospital trays. The courier is a great a idea. What she thinks she'll want midway through labor (or even once the contractions get close) will likely be a far cry from what she wants afterward. My suggestion, though, is in the meantime, between when she's finished and the courier is still on the way, produce a few of her favorite pickles. After that much sweat and effort, the sour/salt flavors will stimulate her salivary glands to produce and remove the cottonmouth and the sour/sugar will help to quickly recover those flagging glucose levels. Also, bravo on planning to start your child on foods early. May you both have a wonderful experience... better yet, have the experience for me. I'm a confirmed non-father.

Not being someone who follows the "Slow Food" movement, I can't characterize it well. Could you explain it for me slightly? However, I did speak to my mother this weekend while I was back in central Nebraska and she, her sister, and possibly her mother would be good people to interview. I assume all four of us, me, mother, aunt, grandmother all have things inadvertantly in the slow food concept, we've just never thought of ourselves as activists in that realm--that's simply from the name "slow food", though.

I find it extremely alarmist-weenie that the people who wrote this article doing all of their great science don't mention: (1) The methodology used to detect the pesticides (2) The pesticides detected and their levels (3) The relative toxicity of that amount compared to the size of a representative human (say 50 kilos for an arbitrary, meaninful value) So... I'm going to drink another cup of the top contender in mutagens, teratogens, and carcinogens from Patrick S's list and not worry. I'm more likely to die from having some methamphetamine-dependent 16-year old cream me with his car while I'm riding my bicycle. BTW, some of those pesticides, like the organophosphate class cause really odd symptoms when you're toxic on them, so you'd know if you were getting a significant dose. Alarmist psuedoscience.

I do! Only problem is, the buggers are out walking around where I want to ride my BIKE!

I've always been fond of beer with either orange or grapefruit juice in it. At my running club, when we have people crash at my place, I serve them the same thing... except using tang!

I've given a few of their wares as gifts. I like their can opener that doesn't leave a sharp edge. $17.95 last I purchased one. I don't own anything of theirs, but I've used it. As was said uplist, it's BB&B or WS level of quality and requisite price. Not the best, but worse can certainly be purchased.

Of course the adults are going to shrug. They kiss those little germ ridden mouths each morning. Besides, there's basically no significant culture time for the germs so there's not going te be anything of note happening. But, my spurs are always a-janglin' apparently.

Shiner Bock....mmmm

Dude, if you truly live in the northern AZ mountains where it's dry and all of that, unless you make your soup in a kitchen that runs 12+hours a day every day and is constantly hot + steamy, you're not going to have the conditions to have enough vegetative bacteria floating around to inoculate your soup with enough of a culture to have a meaningful population in the time your soup will cool in your refrigerator. The difference between a personal kitchen that is used at 3 distinct times a day and then sits and a commercial kitchen is that the personal kitchen spends much more time dry, so there aren't the cultures present that are readily available to cause illness. That's why I'm advocating you doing what makes your wife happy (or you, if it's not a huge argument). Just a few days ago I posted something along this line in another food safety topic. Bully for you for being proactive, but you'll go further by cleaning your kitchen regularly and not letting biomass build up or water stand around. Being someone who does environmental quality control for parenteral drug manufacturing, this is something that I do have to keep an eye on, and has given me a new appreciation for the differences between Les Halles's kitchen, and mine. So, my advice to you, again, is "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew." Our ancestors certainly lived through worse food conditions, so I'm certain you will too. It's not worth being hypertensive about if you're healthy and robust--ditto for your wife and other housemates. Edit to soothe my internal grammar police.

Allowing the soup to cool to room temperature is not going to significantly change the time frame in which the soup will spoil. Neither is placing it directly into the icebox. I'm not going to ask what either of your lines of thinking are for which side of the argument you're on (for fear of channeling a Magliozzi brother), but I think you should give in if sticking to your guns will make you sleep on the couch. Otherwise, you're right.

inspired from Pomegranate and chicken recipe, how about a pomegranate, onion, and veal sausage?

Dark meat, sour cherries, mustard, and bacon. But, how did I know it would be Al who would make that suggestion?

Interesting..... Can you explain a bit more.... Use the coffee as i would port,wine etc? I think we're on the same page. Take some brewed coffee of the volume you would add to moisten the amount of sausage you're thinking of making. Preferably, the coffee should be strong, and day-old or so. Toss it in a saucepan and heat it to boiling so it's really scary-tasting. Then, let cool and add to your sausage mixture. Even better is if the coffee is reduced by about 1/4 to the volume you're thinking of using (i.e. 400 ml to 300 ml) If you have more questions, we might want to try to bring Varmint into the discussion.... he's a red-eye gravy guru from my understanding.

How about a red-eye gravy-inspired type of thing? Ham fat, black boiled coffee, and chili flakes? Or a chipotle and cocoa powder theme with lots of garlic and port Or, honey, dried mustard, and lemon juice? These would be pork and/or duck in my mind's palate.

I'm not going to say one person is right and one person is wrong in this discussion. But, I will urge people to remember that effectively there are 2 types of contamination: chemical and biological. In this example, I'd be more worried about biological contamination. However, with the likely small number of viable pathogens transferred to this fish, you would need a fairly long incubation time to have them be at a meaningful population to get someone ill--beyond that, if the skate is still a whole fish, the contaminated part of the fish is going to be subjected to the most severe environment and will be effectively sterilized. I think you have a point to make a suggestion and deny the sale, but that is a severe reaction, IMO. On the other hand, if you were intending on eating this fish without any cooking, please, allow me to recant what I wrote about a severe reaction and place me squarely in your camp. But, humans never evolved with a sterile, cooked food supply. A healthy, robust human can handle a few germs in their diet. Lord knows we breathe enough in, and ingest enough simply by our food mixing with our sputum. Support the little guys with education and suggestions to keep you coming back.

Over this past weekend, I introduced my GF to those... with some zucchini and yellow squash to boot. I usually use olive oil and lemon juice as my flavorings, though. Ditto with roasted asparagus. Come to think of it, those were all broiled instead. Oh well, still browned and lovely!

baked cheese when it gets all brown and crusty and tasty! That's magical