mktye

... (especially) northern California seems to have access to much better milk...

Someone has to say it... Happy Cows.

But seriously, I agree. I grew up in northern California no other milk has ever compared to Clover brand. (Although Clover has grown a lot since way back when, so not sure if that still holds true. ) However, getting milk from the west coast is probably not a realistic option due to shipping costs, not to mention time and temperature issues.

Locally, I am a fan of Garelick heavy cream as I posted about here, but I've never tried their milk.

I really like the following recipe for morels and asparagus. Although I've only made it with dried morels, I suspect it would also be good with fresh ones (but would require a bit of tweaking).

Asparagus with Black Morels

Serves 8

The stunning combination of asparagus and morels makes for an elegant, easy-to-prepare and marvelous spring vegetable dish. Though excellent with fresh morels, this dish is even better when made with dried morels which have a deeper flavor.

The milk-and-water soaking liquid, a very important step in the recipe, makes the morels more succulent, but be sure to strain it through several layers of cheesecloth before using. The perfume of the sauce becomes intoxicatingly intense if it is prepared in advance and allowed to stand a few hours. Serve alone before or after a main course, so that the extraordinary flavor and aroma can be appreciated.

2 ounces dried dark morels, stemmed, halved if large

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice, or more to taste

salt and freshly ground white pepper

1 cup heavy (whipping) cream or crème fraiche

½ cup chicken stock

5 dozen asparagus spears

1 tablespoon fine Port or Sherry (I used Marsala)

12 sprigs Italian parsley

1. In a bowl, soak the morels in the milk and 1¼ cups of warm water until softened, about 30 minutes. Scoop up the morels, squeeze the liquid back into the bowl and set the morels aside. Strain the soaking liquid through cheesecloth and reserve it. Rinse the morels thoroughly under running water to remove any sand. Combine the soaking liquid and morels in a skillet and bring the liquid almost to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes or until the liquid has been reabsorbed by the morels. Add the butter, ½ cup of water, the lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste, and cook, partially covered, 5 to 10 minutes, or until the morels are tender and the liquid in the skillet has once again evaporated. Add half the cream and the stock; bring back to a boil and remove from the heat. (Do not worry about the abundant amount of sauce, the morels will absorb most of it.) Makes about 2 cups of sauce.

2. Wash the asparagus under running water, break off the bottom portion and peel the spears using a paring knife or a swivel-bladed peeler. Cook the asparagus, until just tender in boiling salted water (time depends upon the thickness and age of the asparagus). Drain it on a kitchen cloth; cover, and set it aside. (The dish can be prepared several hours in advance to this point.)

3. Just before serving, reheat the morels and sauce in the skillet, add the Port or Sherry and the remaining cream. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and a few drops of lemon juice. Reheat the asparagus in a microwave or arrange the stalks on a flat plate and reheat over simmering water. Pour the sauce over the asparagus, strew with torn bits of flat-leaf parsley, and serve.

From: Mostly Mediterranean by Paula Wolfert

check out the wallet guide now! Logo looks great, BTW Wallet Guide

I have a woodpecker.

How do y'all keep your starter alive?

I must confess that I abuse my starter. A lot. It will occasionally go a few weeks without being fed (in the refrigerator). But it has always bounced back with a couple of feedings (if I am that patient and don't just use it as is).

When you say your starter turned "funky", how so?

My 2-cents -- there are a lot of methods that work. If you find one that is good for you and produces the kind of loaf you like, stick with it!

My favorite topic.

King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalog.

My current starter is a mixture of theirs and one a friend gave to me. I would also be happy to share some of my starter with DR.com members. Please PM me if interested.

My apologies to all who tried to download the guide and received an error message. It is now fixed.

Download away!

I'm watching "Throwdown" (which is terrible) but realize The Caja China solves my problem of wanting to do a Cuban pig roast for my boyfriend's birthday. Having lived in Miami, I love a pig roast, but don't think my landlord wants me to dig a hole or build a cinderblock oven.

Does anyone have a Caja China that they may want to rent? Or know of such a thing?

We also had Caja China-roasted pigs at our Fall '06 picnic. The recipe for one of the pigs is here and pics can be found in this thread.

FWIW, more discussion here.

Saveur.

I searched for a thread for this most basic of liquid sustenance for office workers worldwide and was surprised not to find one.

It was hiding in the Wine & Beer forum, but has now joined your post.

And the thread on coffee makers is here.

eta: apparently there were three threads, now down to two... I am confused.

[There are certain subjects that have two dedicated threads... one that focuses on acquisition (shopping) and the other on use and preparation (cooking). In addition to the obvious one of Meyer lemons, other examples are: gelato, sausages, rockfish, ramps and so on.

This is how most of these threads naturally evolved and the main reason they have not been combined (yet) is so those looking to purchase an item do not have to wade through a bunch of discussion regarding cooking and those who have already bought something and are looking for cooking ideas don't have to scroll through a bunch of posts on how it is on sale at WF for $2.99/lb. That is not saying that these threads may not eventually be combined, but for now, they remain separate and are listed under either "Shopping" or "Cooking" in the index.

If anyone feels strongly about this topic -- if the shopping & cooking threads should remain separate or be combined -- I'd be happy to hear your input via PM. ]

There is a Meyer lemon thread here .

Mktye: What’s the name of that substitution website you mentioned? I promise! I’ll bookmark it five seconds after a reply is posted.

Cook's Thesaurus

Non-dairy eating sister-in-law and nephew have been visiting the last week, so I've been making a lot of milk- and butter-free desserts. When it comes to baking, almond milk seems to be one of the better milk substitutes. It has a similar consistency to low-fat milk and the slight almond flavor compliments most dessert recipes.

Non-dairy boy's favorite food is strawberries, so I made strawberry shortcake for a birthday celebration on Wednesday. The shortcake base was pretty easy -- non-transfat shortening (not the new Criso, but the one they carry at WF) and vanilla almond milk worked just as well as their dairy counterparts in the biscuit.

For the whipped "cream", I finally used the iSi Gourmet Whip that Santa brought me at Christmas. 2 cups vanilla almond milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 sheets gelatin, 2 CO2 cartridges. It tasted surprisingly good, but was still a bit soft -- not quite soft peaks. Next time, I think I'll double the gelatin to 4 sheets. However, for the non-dairy folk, it was a big hit.

The only non-dairy disaster was an attempt at buttercream using soy butter. Everything looked good as I was beating the soy butter into the meringue and then.... kaplooey and it got runny. And it would not firm up again even when chilled for a couple of hours. Plus the salt level in soy butter is through the roof. I guess a trans-fat-free shortening would work better, but I worry about the mouthfeel (and total lack of taste). My first impulse was to go with an Italian meringue (aka Seven Minute) frosting and I should have done that.

(After looking at what I've just written, I realize there are certain, and you know who you are, DR.com members who are going to read through the last two paragraphs above and have a field day. My preemptive reply -- get your mind out of the gutter! )

An unfrosted, milk- & butter-free yellow cupcake.

FYI -- Soy butter is evil and is not suitable for making buttercream.

I also had the duck confit with soft egg. This comes with a frise salad, but if you've ever eaten with me you know that if I want a salad, which I regularly do, I'll order a salad. In this case it got knocked to the side. It looked pretty, but not what I was interested in. Soft egg makes the world go round, especially in the world of confit. The flavor meshing here was truly astounding. This is a go to dish.

Jeebus. How big was that pie and what sort of barrier did you use to separate all the sections? Did you build some sort of fence to keep the cheese from contaminating other parts?

Pizza an Unequal 5-Ways:

Large section -- sausage & bacon w/cheese (for the big boys)

Small section -- bacon & pineapple w/o cheese (for non-dairy boy)

Small section -- bacon & pineapple & sausage & roasted cauliflower w/o cheese (for non-dairy mom)

Small section -- roasted cauliflower & pineapple w/cheese (for me, a combo not to be repeated!)

Small section -- sausage & bacon w/o cheese (as a back-up for non-dairy boy, but eaten by big dairy boy who eats everything in sight)

Dessert:

Nocciola (hazelnut) frozen-custard from the Dairy Godmother (Highly recommended -- my new favorite flavor!)

yes that is one thing that annoys me about all the FN travel shows, no matter what the host (ie: Rachel Ray) is like "This is the best thing ever."

(Please forgive me, mdt and Mr. Dente!)

We went on a trip to the "country" this morning to go strawberry picking at Cherry Hill Farm in PG county. The berries were sweet and ripe on a hot morning. There were lots of families and an bounty still available for picking at $1.49 a pound. It is a quick, 20 minute trip from Old Town, Alexandria and you're transported to a beautiful little valley farm that feels hours removed from the hectic pace of DC. There is a small market at the farm with other local produce, baked good, jams and jellies as wells as soft serve ice cream. It was a terrific way to spend what felt like the first real day of summer.

It's simple: you hand them their coats and tell them the next bus leaves in 10 minutes.

The only exception I've found to this was rwtye's immediate boss at our last duty station. He was a Colonel, out-ranked everyone at dinner and took full advantage of that (which is actually very rare, typically, the more senior the military, the more thoughtful and polite). Earlier in the evening, when I asked him and another guest to please come to the dining room and sit down because dinner was on the table, he told me that he was still talking and would come in whenever he wanted. Then he stayed late (past 0130) and held the whole dinner party hostage. I suspect that if we'd asked him to leave, we would have gotten the same response as when I asked him to the dinner table. We never invited him over again.