mktye

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Yum-o Spam-o (Yes, this showed up unsolicited in my "junk" email inbox.)

I also used to wonder if fresh coconut was worth it, but I tried this recipe with both dried and with fresh coconut and there was quite a noticable difference. In my somewhat limited experience, as long as the coconuts have not mildewed or totally dried out inside, they seem not too suffer too much of a decline in quality. Even if they've sat on your kitchen counter for three months.

The pattern is so old (1917) that there is a good deal of variation. Two different types of knives (for both dinner and luncheon). Plus post WWII-era pieces that are smidge smaller than the earlier pieces. Also, there are places like Replacements that are now custom making pieces using the handles of more common or damaged (I hope) pieces -- such as the two dozen ice cream forks they have for $46. At Replacements, those pieces are denoted with an "HC" after the piece name (which I assume stands for "hand-crafted").

The next time I have a dinner party for seven (or less) and serve ice cream, I'll be sure to invite you! The ones that I have a hard time justifying are the dozen grapefruit spoons. Really, when am I going to have 12 people over, serve them grapefruit and use the good silver?

My ice cream forks are a different style from either of those.

Perhaps you are one of those people who tastes MSG as salty. I do. When something has a significant amount of MSG, I tend to find overwhelmingly salty (and I am a salt fiend!) although no one else eating it will think so.

A great place to find discontinued silver (and dishes and crystal -- just keep in mind that shipping will be pricey) is eBay. I found most of the silver to complete my set at around half of what you pay at Replacements and other similiar places. You are lucky, the sporks (ice cream forks) for my silver pattern (Gorham Lansdowne) are $70 each at Replacements because they are nearly impossible to find. They are the very last thing I need (have six, one is in the mail and need five more) to complete the set (well, within reason... there is always that asparagus server... and the bonbon server... and... )

In case you are wondering what you are missing.

It is lack of sunlight that thwarts most vegetable gardening at my current abode. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you to get a better plot! If I recall correctly, when we lived in southern MD, I'd start my tomato and eggplant seeds around mid-March and plant them in the ground late May/early June. Here is a chart to help figure out when (if you can determine the last frost date! ) by plant type. Also, I was just out on my back porch and the sage, rosemary, chives and oregano and all still going strong (well, the oregano is sulking a bit, but I suspect that is more from lack of water/sun than anything else).

It all depends on the amount of light they'll receive. A south-facing window would be the best. You'll probably have better luck with the thyme and oregano, especially if you are able to do what Scott does and get them outside in some sun on the nicer days. But, I have found over-wintering herbs inside is usually not worth the trouble.In my experience, flat-leaf parsley can survive our winters outside. In the past, I've knocked snow off of mine to cut some. But it is a true biennial, which means it will not last much more than a season and a half before it flowers and then dies, so you'll want to plant more every spring. And for a more reliably hardy rosemary, try the "Arp" variety. It is hardy through zones 6-11 (we are zone 7). While they will die back when it gets really cold in winter, thyme and oregano are hardy (zone 5, I recall) perennials and will regrow in the spring (although I've also seen oregano stay green through the milder winters). Cilantro is my nemesis. I cannot get it to grow around here without it immediately bolting. I just buy it at the grocery store. However, you can probably at least get it to sprout inside and enjoy cilantro micro-greens. Someone also asked up-thread about grow-lights/fluorescent lights... I've done the whole fluorescent light route with starting seeds and had pretty good success. The trick is that the lights have to be immediately above the plants (which is not the case with the $$$ HD grow-lights and the more expensive high-output fluorescents) and you'll need to use another light source once the plants are more than 3-4" tall (but, by that point, you can start taking the seedlings outside). I used plain old shop lights (the cheapest I could find) with a mixture of regular fluorescent and "soft" light fluorescent bulbs (my thinking was to get as complete as a spectrum as possible without buying the pricey "plant" fluorescent bulbs). I hung the lights with chains from hooks so I could easily adjust the height as the plants grew. To start the seeds I bought a few of this type of seed-starting trays, filled them with sterile seed-starting mix, sowed the seeds at the recommended depth and kept the trays (with the tops on) on top of my radiators and refrigerator to encourage germination. Once the seeds sprouted, I moved the trays to the table in the basement under the lights, adjusted the lights so they were ~1/2" above the sprouts and left them uncovered. I'd water by filling the bottom tray and adjust the lights up as the plants grew. Another trick is to set a fan (on low) to blow on the seedlings after they sprout. It helps prevent damping-off (a fungal infection) and the air movement will encourage the plants to develop stronger stalks. When the plants had one or two sets of "real" leaves, I thinned them so there was just one plant per cell. And when the seedlings were 2-3" tall, I transplanted them to larger pots (~3" diameter). Once they settled into those pots, I started shuttling them outside on nice days to get them accustomed to the sun, gradually increasing the time spent outside (initially in the shade), but still bringing them in at night (eggplant and tomato plants will get mad if they get too cold and can simply stop growing). Yes, it is all a bit of a pain, but it is difficult to find some of the more unusual tomatoes as plants. And I'd usually get my first tomatoes around the beginning of July. I also started eggplants, parsley, bok choy and fennel indoors, but directly planted the squash, cucumbers and basil once it was warm enough outside (typcially June). Basil grows super fast when it is warm enough, so you don't really lose any time and the squash/cukes don't like to be transplanted. [While writing my tome, I see that my fellow gardening geek, porcupine, is a much faster typist! ] Edited to add: When I had my fluorescent light set-up, I grew baby lettuces and arugula inside one winter. I started the seeds in large flats and harveted when they were 2-3" tall. It worked great!

Some interesting information on storing olive oil from Harold McGee's blog: Read the rest here.

Me too. For two.

Anyone else now (in the last few days) getting two PM notification emails for every one PM?

AKA, the Trader Joe's shopping center at Bailey's Crossroads (from a food-centric persective).

Be sure to click on the "Promotions" link in the top toolbar... $5 off a $25 order, $10 off a $50 order and $20 off a $100 order, through the end of January. You can also create a wishlist and they'll notify you via email when they have the book you want in stock.

It's ready for pickup for me at the Arlington County Library. I ain't buyin' it. $5.99 at BookCloseouts.com. Hurry, only 100 copies left!

I have an ~$35 smaller food mill (like the ss one in the bottom right of this picture), that has served me well for hundreds of pounds of tomatoes. My neighbor had one of the Cuisipro mills and, with the only really difference being the size, my cheapo version worked just as well. I usually make large batches of sauce (10 qts. and up), so I have to add more tomatoes to the food mill no matter what its volume. IMO, opinion the most important part is that the straight handle has a comfortable grip.But I've never tried using my food mill to rice potatoes since I have one of these.

Don't you always coordinate your dress with what you are slicing? Orange for carrots, green for lettuce, burgundy for beets, pony hide for horse radishes...Happy in the Kitchen was the tipping point to make me actually want one of these. [That would have to be one firm avocado... ]

rwtye thinks the cartoon radish-guy is quite untrustworthy in appearance. I am actually more excited that it "Improves luster and taste".

Razor sharp blades, moving parts, what is there to worry about? And the box clearly states that it is "Easy to use" and that "Anyone can use the slicer successfully and prepare beautiful garnishings"! Right now, the box may just be my favorite part of this gift... (Excuse the large pics, but I wanted you all to be able to read it.)

But it will go so well with your $109.95 All-Clad jelly roll pan!

Definitely not something I needed, but I did want one. Late-arriving birthday present.

David Kamp, author of United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation will be a guest on The Colbert Report this Wednesday (1/10/07).