eG Foodblog: melkor - Insert Clever Subtitle Here

[melkor]

I'm feeling lazy so I'm having cheese for lunch.

P'tit basque (boring but tasty), la tur (three milk soft cheese), some random comte, a gouda, and brebiou (soft sheeps milk cheese). Acme walnut bread to go with it.

La tur has been my favorite cheese for a while, I seem to be stuck in a rut since I buy it every time I'm buying cheese. The other cheeses are just what happened to look good when I was out shopping for cheese last week.

[Smithy]

It's strange that citrus feels like a winter ingredient now - I blame the meyer lemons that are just coming into season.

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Navel oranges, mandarin oranges and minneola tangelos are all comin' due soon, too.

My avatar looks to have the voice I hear when I read what I've written.  I'm not yet a crotchety old bastard on the outside, but I certainly am inside.

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[johnder]

Just in case anyone is under the impression that I'm 900 years old - the guy in my avatar looks to be about 50 years older than I am, though I think I owned that shirt when I was in elementary school .

I'm a computer geek of some sort for a living, though most of my time is now spent working with customers selling and supporting high speed internet connections (DS3 and bigger) for medium-large companies.

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<geek>

Awesome. Can you hook me up with a OC-192 to my house?

</geek>

Nice roaster. I am using the iroast2 at home. I actually roast about 6 oz at a time, which will last me about 4 days. I think I could save some considerable coin by roasting outside with propane. That iroast2 sucks up the juice.

john

[melkor]

<geek>

Awesome.  Can you hook me up with a OC-192 to my house?

</geek>

Nice roaster.  I am using the iroast2 at home.  I actually roast about 6 oz at a time, which will last me about 4 days.    I think I could save some considerable coin by roasting outside with propane.  That iroast2 sucks up the juice.

john

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I can hook up an OC-192 to your house, but I suspect you wont be happy when the bill shows up. I'm running on a pair of bonded 6mbit dsl lines at my house - 12mbit seems to work ok for me

Buy yourself some junk from home depot and office max and you'll be all set to roast outside in the snow.

[melkor]

Work took me briefly to the east bay today so I stopped in rockridge for some groceries. Lamb shanks from ver brugge; citron, purple broccoli, shallots, and butter lettuce from market hall; and two rustic baguettes directly from the oven at la farine. I only managed to eat half of one baguette on the drive back across the bridge.

[Marlene]

Purple broccoli?

[melkor]

Purple broccoli?

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Yeah, like green only purple. I'll go take a picture

edit:

I assume it tastes like broccoli, I'll find out tomorrow.

Edited November 28, 2006 by melkor (log)

[srhcb]

I buy catapults, cannons, and giant nets from that Acme.  The other Acme sadly only sells bread.

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A long time ago I had a business named Acme Lye & Caustic Soda Company. At least that's what we had written on the storefront window.

Actually, we didn't sell anything at all, but the old clay flower pot with a For Sale sign next to it in the window got the smalltownsfolk excited!

SB

[munchymom]

Purple broccoli?

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Yeah, like green only purple.

I assume it tastes like broccoli, I'll find out tomorrow.

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I was dreadfully disappointed once when I bought some purple carrots - when I went to peel them before cooking, they were ORANGE underneath. I hope your purple broccoli isn't green in the middle.

(Actually, purple and green might be a good combination...)

[Lori in PA]

(Shh. I think his purple broccoli is gonna turn green when he cooks it. Let's see if I'm right.)

[melkor]

(Shh. I think his purple broccoli is gonna turn green when he cooks it. Let's see if I'm right.)

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I'm hopeful that it turns that nasty gray that purple potatoes sometimes get. Nothing says delicious like gray food .

I'm cooking them tomorrow for dinner with the lamb shanks I got today - we'll see what happens.

[mizducky]

According to this article, purple broccoli gets its color from a naturally-occuring antioxidant known as anthocyanin. So purple broccoli is apparently even better for you than the green stuff. (Though, yeah, I think the color will fade at least a bit with cooking, much the way red cabbage loses some of its vivid color when cooked).

All the panchan with your Korean meal really made my stomach growl.

[melkor]

Dinner tonight was slightly less successful than last night. My first and hopefully only visit to Salt House - I wasn't able to photograph the food, but that's for the best. They've got it all going - horrible service, sauces are either gloppy or broken with fat floating on top, plating is terrible, the lone highlight is that their desserts are reasonably satisfying. Bacalao and poutine as starters seemed like a good bet, but the salt cod was flavorless and stringy and the fries limp even without the over reduced gravy. Veal breast, roast chicken, and ribs as mains, equally safe bets - the veal breast was a complete train wreck with the dish falling apart on the way to the table. The ribs listed as 'pastrami ribs' on the menu had no signs of even residing in the same building as anything anyone would call pastrami. I didn't bother trying the chicken. An ice cream sunday did a good job of clearing the veal mess from my palate. If you like Town Hall, you'll love Salt House - if you like good food, you'll avoid both like the plague.

I'm going to go make myself an espresso. I really really hate wasting a meal.

[melkor]

According to this article, purple broccoli gets its color from a naturally-occuring antioxidant known as anthocyanin. So purple broccoli is apparently even better for you than the green stuff. (Though, yeah, I think the color will fade at least a  bit with cooking, much the way red cabbage loses some of its vivid color when cooked).

All the panchan with your Korean meal really made my stomach growl.

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If purple broccoli is even better for you than green, does that mean kids are even less likely to eat it? I assume the same antioxidant causes purple cauliflower and romanesco. The orange cauliflower seems likely to get its color from something else.

[eje]

[...]

I should check out this bayshore J'fish joint.  Any clue what their hours are?

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They seem to close pretty early in the afternoon and are definitely not open on Sunday. I'm not sure about Saturdays. I know I've seen it open and the only time I usually go past on Bayshore would be on Saturdays or Sundays during the day.

[snowangel]

And, just why did you go to the Salt House?

[melkor]

And, just why did you go to the Salt House?

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I was out voted. Besides, salt house is fairly new - I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I had some pocky with my espresso, I'm back to being a happy camper.

[dvs]

And, just why did you go to the Salt House?

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I was out voted. Besides, salt house is fairly new - I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I had some pocky with my espresso, I'm back to being a happy camper.

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i do hope you will post that glowing review in the CA forum

sorry to hear it sucked so bad... but not at least i don't have to think i might need to check it out...

dvs (hasn't been to town hall either)

[davidthomas8779]

I'm in the outer mission down towards Daly City.  I fish out of Emeryville and Half Moon Bay - rockfish and lingcod from Half Moon Bay, everything else from Emeryville.  Now that dungeoness crab season started I should go out again.

do you shore-fish or fish from a boat? If a charter boat, do you have a recommendation? I want to take my kids fishing (or you could take us )

[melkor]

I'm in the outer mission down towards Daly City.  I fish out of Emeryville and Half Moon Bay - rockfish and lingcod from Half Moon Bay, everything else from Emeryville.  Now that dungeoness crab season started I should go out again.

do you shore-fish or fish from a boat? If a charter boat, do you have a recommendation? I want to take my kids fishing (or you could take us )

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I fish from different charter boats - I like the salmon queen in emeryville and the tigerfish in half moon bay. Both boats are focused on catching fish more than anything else. This time of year is best if the weather cooperates - with each ticket out of emeryville you'll likely come home with 10 rockfish and half a dozen dungeonness crab. Fishing for rockfish is more like shopping than finishing and the fish are fairly small (most are 1-3 lbs) so the kids should have no trouble reeling them in.

[Kouign Aman]

After learning that your avatar reflects your interior voice, the Tenor wants to know why you chose the name of the first of the fallen Ainur for your user name.

[Sea Urchin Ragout]

The pictures on this blog are positively stunning. Might be an idea for some of the photography boffins to write up a basic guide to food photography?

The magic that fuels me every day.

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[FabulousFoodBabe]

Dinner tonight was slightly less successful than last night.  My first and hopefully only visit to Salt House - I wasn't able to photograph the food, but that's for the best.  They've got it all going - horrible service, sauces are either gloppy or broken with fat floating on top, plating is terrible, the lone highlight is that their desserts are reasonably satisfying.  [etc.]

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If it wasn't so sad, this would be too funny! Melkor, I'm enjoying this blog about your life (may you enjoy many years of bliss with MsM), and the beautiful area you live in.

Your avatar: Is that Euell Gibbons, Grandpa Walton, or that guy from The Real McCoy? Or, is it you?

[hathor]

I have a question about the flour that you use for your pasta. I was going to post this on the Italian forum, but it seems like you know your way around pasta.

What is the U.S. equivalent of Italian Tipo 0 and Tipo 00? They produce very different results and the flour here seems to just be labelled "flour".

Thanks!

[melkor]

I have a question about the flour that you use for your pasta. I was going to post this on the Italian forum, but it seems like you know your way around pasta.

What is the U.S. equivalent of Italian Tipo 0 and Tipo 00?  They produce very different results and the flour here seems to just be labelled "flour".

Thanks!

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I don't think there is an equivalent, though I've seen some recipes call for cake flour. Some specialty markets sell tipo 00, but I've been using a mix of all purpose flour and semolina - more AP if I want softer pasta, more semolina for firmer ones (like lasagna or pasta that will end up in soups).