PRODUCTS THAT ARE STAPLES IN MY KITCHEN

Crystal Hot Sauce - CHS is a Louisiana-style hot sauce. No day is complete without it. Period. Don't even think of Tabasco as a substitute.

Smart Balance Buttery Spread Made With Exta-Virgin Olive Oil - tastes great and is a great alternative to butter

Chobani Greek Yogurt - Vanilla, non-fat: spectacular, smooth flavor. Manufactured in upstate NY and is the current food sensation. Knock out flavors and "numbers" that compete with or do better than regular non-fat yogurts. We buy the large sized container. I do not like the fruit-on-the-bottom smaller cups of yogurt, though my wife does. The vanilla variety is sinfully delicious.

Emeril's Creaole seasoning blend made without salt or scant salt. I mix my own which enables me to use up my seasonings so that do not become stale and flavorless. His recipe is readily available on-line or in several of his cookbooks. I reduce or eliminate the salt. I also like most to all of Paul Prudhomme's blends which I make the same by eliminating the salt. He has a line of spice blends for specific uses.

Celestial Seasonings Teas: Try any with a fruit in the name.  Everything they make is delicious.

Three Crabs Fish Sauce: Lynn Rosetto Kaspar is right. Very small amounts enliven many dishes. Her ace in the hole and now mine.

SOIL SOLARIZATION OF RAISED BEDS WITH PLASTIC TARP TO COMBAT PESTS

This is a good article on using plastic tarps to solarize raised beds. I plan to do mine in the peak of the hot summer. It should bake away the "unwanted" effectively.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

MUST-READ LINK TO INTERVIEW WITH DIANA KENNEDY, WORLD AUTHORITY ON MEXICAN CUISINES

AN ABSOLUTELY MUST-READ INTERVIEW WITH DIANA KENNEDY, THE WORLD AUTHORITY ON MEXICAN CUISINES: http://www.thecookbookblog.com/2011/12/05/author-interview-diana-kennedy/

I WANT TO LIKE HARRY'S FOOD, BUT I AM MOSTLY DISAPPOINTED DURING EACH VISIT. MAYBE THEY SHOULD RE-NAME THE RESTAURANT," HARRY'S SALT LICK"

I keep wanting to like Harry's food because I am a student of Louisiana cooking. The genre is varied, robust, and ranges from the proletarian/rural to the more urban, high cuisine of France. Harry's is not even on the same planet with much of Louisiana cuisine. As I say, I want to like their food, but one fine meal out of five poor ones is not enough to keep me coming back.

I ordered the special this week which was a collection of their featured seafood dishes. The seafood all tasted basically the same and was way over-salted so that the essential flavors were totally obscured. The accompanying grits cake was soggy and under-cooked. It should arrive at the table crisp on the outside and hot and moist on the inside. Mine tasted more like a sponge. The fried green tomatoes appetizer was very good, however, as was the salad.

My recommendation is to ask the chef not to directly salt each dish. Do it yourself. Harry's chefs season with heavy hands and Harry's is now more of a salt lick than a restaurant. Be forewarned and take the seasoning with salt into your own hands. Bring your own sea salt and and add salt to your own tastes.

If you find that the choice of the restaurant is not your own and your dinner companions are hell-bent to go there, you may want to consider an appetizer and a salad with a few glasses of wine. You will come out with more of your money in your own pocket and probably better satisfied with the taste of the food.

I wish Harry's would kick it up a notch and really become a fine Louisiana-style restaurant. Right now, it is a very poor facsimile of what it claims/aspires to be.

ABUNDANT EDIBLE LANDSCAPES FALL PLANT SALE AT INDIGO GREEN STORE: NOVEMBER 12, 10-1

 Abundant Edible Landscapes will be hosting their annual fall plant sale on Saturday, November 12^th from 10 am to 1 pm at Indigo Green Store, 322 SW 4^th Ave. The sale will include fruit trees, berry bushes, perennial vegetables and herbs. There will also be 5 gallon buckets of soil amendments- worm castings, green sand and organic chicken manure for sale. Oliver Moore will demonstrate tree grafting techniques hstarting at noon.

Recipe from Cookbookblog: Cheerwine Barbecue Chicken

http://www.thecookbookblog.com/2011/10/31/the-recipe-cheerwine-barbecue-chicken/

The Southern Foodways Alliance cookbook is excellent and this recipe is drawing "wows" all over. Check it out.

Don't Miss This Video on How to Shuck Corn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBF6bv4Oe4

Revised link list

I have gone through my LINKS YOU SHOULD FIND VALUABLE sidebar (on the right side of this page) and have culled those links that are no longer active. In doing so, I looked at each site and was quite taken with how much improved many of the sites are. I invite you to browse this list. There are many gems there to enjoy.

NOLA.COM publishes excellent article on Jambalaya.

http://www.nola.com/food/index.ssf/2011/09/jambalaya_shows_both_sides_of.html

Highly recommended article on Jambalaya. 

I Do Give A Damn How They Do It In Western NY

Note: For years, Southern truck stops sold t-shirts and ball caps with the slogan, "I don't give a damn how ya'll do it up North," a not-to-subtle dig directed to the hordes of tourists that descend like locusts on the state of Florida every winter. I must say that, in spite of a sympathy to these blue-collar thoughts, my ventures north of the Mason-Dixon have been illuminating. Below are my reactions to a heavenly Italian restaurant "up North."

Traveling clarifies ones view of home. Tasting the Italian food of numerous locally-owned Italian restaurants in western New York State (Rochester, to be exact) has awakened my sense of what a fine Italian meal is supposed to taste like and what I should expect from Gainesville's Italian restaurants. Our meal the other night at Mr. Dominic's on the Lake, near the shore of Lake Ontario in Charlotte NY, was like being kissed by the Mona Lisa herself.

With this post I have pictured my order that night: Pasta Josephine, a dish fragrant with mussels, scallops, and shrimp finished with garlic, seasonings and olive oil. What aroma and what taste! The flavors were harmonic and wed to each other.

The ambiance of the restaurant further amplified the perfection of the food. We were seated by the kitchen door (not always the best place to sit). I had a 3/4 view of the whole kitchen in action. Three line chefs were preparing dishes in slick, glistening skillets into which they were spooning marinara sauce, sun dried tomatoes, garlic etc over veal, chicken, and seafood. With a twist of the skillet each concoction slid out onto a china plate of steaming pasta. A steady progression of waitresses delivered these fragrant dishes to hungry clientele. Every plate went right by our table and the aromas were unforgettable. The only thing missing was a snowfall outside.

Always packed, the Italian-American aura of Mr. Dominic's was pervasive, the real McCoy. We felt like we were seated at the head of the table of the proverbial "Nonna's kitchen." Autographed photos of the owner's famous friends filled the walls. The room and staff embraced us with everything Italian.

What does this have to with food in Florida? Gainesville Italian restaurants overlook one quality of Italian food: love. The sense of family and community that is typical at Mr. Dominic's is missing from Italian dining options in Gainesville. Instead, this robust cuisine is treated as an elitist dining experience, not a robust, embracing one.

Albeit, that trend is waning and some are doing it well. Satchel's and Pomodora's, come to mind as "guardians of the love" in restaurant service and preparation. Others can learn from them and these New York purveyors of Italian food.

My advice is to "stop and smell the garlic" and create a restaurant experience that better reflects the true nature of Italian cuisine. Skip the elitist pretenses. Serve Italian dishes worthy of a Nonna's kitchen rather than a "nose in the air" substitute for the real thing.

Leave the snootiness to the French. They do it better.

Gainesville Sun has published an excellent article on my favorite local grocer in Gainesville: Wards

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110904/articles/110909889?p=1&tc=pg

THE COLUMBIA ANNOUNCES THAT GROUPER DISHES WILL RETURN TO THEIR MENUS AFTER BEING REMOVED IN 2007

Grouper Back on the Menu at All Columbia Restaurants

We have new lunch and dinner menus at The Columbia! Grouper is back on our menu again at all six of our restaurants in Florida after a four year absence.
“We took grouper off our menu back in May of 2007 due to overfishing, which led to the difficulty in meeting the demand for authentic grouper,” said Richard Gonzmart, 4th generation family member and Columbia Restaurant President.

“According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, red grouper is harvested in the Gulf of Mexico, and the red grouper population is healthy and is harvested at sustainable levels,” Gonzmart said.

“We are proud to once again offer our guests classic and unique Columbia preparations of this delicious mild fish with five red grouper entrees on our new dinner menu, and two items on our lunch menu,” Gonzmart said.

New Grouper Dinner Entrees:

Baked Stuffed Grouper - Boneless fillet of red grouper stuffed with fresh lump blue crabmeat and a tropical passion fruit butter sauce. Gently baked. Served with yellow rice and fresh vegetables.



Grouper “A la Rusa” - Columbia’s signature preparation for fillet of fish breaded in Cuban bread crumbs and grilled. Garnished with chopped parsley, hard boiled egg, and a mild lemon butter sauce. Served with yellow rice and fresh vegetables.



Grouper “El Greco” - I created this recipe after many visits with my college roommate and lifelong friend, Jimmy “The Greek” Philopoulos and his family in Canton, Massachusetts. They are the multi-generational owners of restaurants, including the legendary 57 Restaurant in Boston. Boneless fillet of red grouper, grilled on a flat top with olive oil, smothered with seasoned onions, garlic and oregano. Served with yellow rice. OPA! RG



Grilled Grouper - Simply delicious. Seasoned and grilled. Served with yellow rice and fresh vegetables. 

Grouper “Bilbao”- Traditional Basque preparation of fillet of red grouper, baked in a casserole with sliced tomatoes, potatoes, onions, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and lemon. Served with fresh vegetables.

Grouper "Bilbao" and Grilled Grouper have also been added to the lunch menu.

Cooking Light Tasting Sessions: What Goes On?

Thorough testing of recipes is a "must" towards ensuring the reliability of recipes published in a cookbook,on a web site, or in a magazine. The following was a post describing the tasting process at Cooking Light:


A Guide to Taste Testing at Cooking Light

Taste-testing is a daily working session in which we analyze and rate dishes for publication in Cooking Light. Here is the method, and what you can expect:

1) The TK staffer responsible for the recipe summarizes the ingredients and procedure (see "Procedures" below for criteria).
2) The recipe is discussed.
3) All participants then rate the recipe on a scale of:

3 = Superior in all aspects
2+ = A high-quality recipe
2 = A very good recipe overall
1+ = A good recipe overall
1 = A simple recipe that is sometimes just okay
Retest = Recipe with a chance of passing, but needs adjustment in
flavors, procedure, yields
Fail = Poor procedure, bad taste, unacceptable appearance,
misfit for CL.

Criteria for Taste Testing

These are the items that taste testing participants evaluate before rating a recipe with one of the above values:

1. Appearance - is the food appetizing.
2. Taste/flavor
3. Texture
4. Ease of Preparation
5. Number of Ingredients
6. Accessibility of Ingredients
7. Creativity
8. Realism (Would you make this at home?)
9. Wow factor (Would you tell friends about it?)
10. Worth (Is the end product worth the effort, time, and cost?)
11. Repeatability (Can you get the same results time after time?)
12. Context (How good is it for what it is?)
13 Amount of equipment used and how it affects clean-up time.

Procedures
Here is what the Foods staff is looking for or discussing during taste-testing:

1) The Recipe Summary
- The responsibility of identifying and relating pertinent and/or questionable parts of a recipe rests on the TK staff either during testing, taste testing, or meeting with the food editors afterwards.
- Standardized procedures facilitate testing, taste testing, editing and the reader success.
- Talking through funky procedures allows them to be addressed and streamlined.
- Preparation time is relevant when: First because of AOL, and the end product is not worth the effort; every recipe in the story takes so long or is so involved that raders might not prepare them; or if the recipe is in Dinner Tonight and Superfast.
- Ingredient amounts and procedures are important in how they affect the end product.
2. Yields
- The serving size and the yields must equal for correct nutritional info at the end of the recipe.
- Must discuss how to juggle ingredients or procedures to fit yield.
3. Ingredients
- Ingredients should be discussed when national availability is questionable, the cost of the ingredient or several in the recipe are expensive, the amount of sodium and/or fat may be too high or need to be decreased, the ingredient is not what we usually call for, or to identify ingredients that may need to fall in the Glossary.

The Participants
Anyone is welcome to attend taste-testing. The TK Director sends a Group Page alert to those who normally participate. There are some things to keep in mind:
1) This is business that is central to the magazine's identity. It is not social hour; though not a drudgery either.
2) Arrive as quickly as possible after being alerted; please don't expect a well-balanced meal.
3) Help us stay focused on the recipe at hand; whispered conversations are very distracting.
4) The majority rules on whether a recipe passes or fails.
5) Everyone should rate the recipes.
6) Diversity of opinion is welcome and expected. So is working together amicably.


http://community.cookinglight.com/archive/index.php/t-52573.html

ARTICLE ON TODAY'S DEATH OF STETSON KENNEDY

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/27/ap/business/main20098243.shtml

GAINESVILLE SUN REPORTS ON TASTI-LEE TOMATO DEVELOPED BY UF

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/locally-bred-tasti-lee-tomato-hits-publixs-produce-aisle/1186149

QUEEN OF THE SUN: FILM ON BEEKEEPING AT THE HIPP ALONG WITH TALKS ON B'KEEPING

Shirley Lasseter cinema@thehipp.org to shirley

show details 11:28 AM (7 minutes ago)

Hi all,

We have another important film opening at the Hipp this Friday, August 19th. It's a great new nature film about Bees, called "Queen of the Sun".

Can you help us spread the word by posting it to your websites, emails lists and most importantly, bringing your friends and colleagues with you when you come to see it.

We have timed the film to coincide with National HoneyBee Awareness Day and because of that we have going to be hosting the visiting National and State Honey Princess and Queen at a fun and fabulous "Honey Reception" from 6:30-8:30 on the opening night sponsored by the Alachua County Beekeepers Club.

There will also be a honey bee mascot and several speakers throughout the week.

Here's a little about each speaker:
Aug 21st Sunday 4:30 show (6pm-6:50) Jerry Latner has been working with honeybees for over 50 years. This father of two is the owner of Jerry’s Beehives and has been the manager of the Dadant & Sons Beekeeping supply company in High Springs for over 40 years where he does research and development on new items for the Dadant Company. Jerry serves on the Honey Technical Council and has served on the Board of Directors for the Lake City Farm Bureau and is also a member of the Alachua County Beekeepers Club. Always willing to help a new beekeeper get started is one of his strong points.

Aug 24th Wed 5:15 (6:45-7:45) show Jason Graham: The recent honeybee declines have shown us that we should not remain solely dependent on the European honey bee for the pollination of our crops. There are an estimated 4,000 bees that are native to the United States and over 300 bees have been identified in Florida. Though these bees do not produce honey or beeswax, they are efficient pollinators. Currently these bees are providing "background pollination" and have been termed "the unsung heroes of pollination". During this presentation, he will discuss what you can do to help native bees in your area and will introduce you to some of the bees that may be residing in your own backyard. Jason Graham earned his Bachelor of Science degree at University of Delaware. He went on to obtain his Master of Science degree with the Honey Bee Research & Extension Laboratory at University of Florida. Jason is continuing pursuit of his PhD at University of Florida, majoring in Entomology & Nematology with a minor in Agricultural Education and Communication. The Native Bee Nesting Sites which are providing data for his project can be found at many places in and around Gainesville including: Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo and Morningside Nature Center.

Watch the Trailer
Queen of the Sun
Buy Tickets

"Queen of the Sun" is as soulful as it is scientific, as uplifting as it is alarming. —Film.com

A remarkable documentary that's also one of the most beautiful nature films I've seen. —Roger Ebert

What it is doing, and beautifully, is making a sunny and optimistic case for why the world is worth saving, via gorgeous imagery and poetic appreciations of the bees themselves. —NPR

From the director of The Real Dirt on Farmer John comes a profound, alternative look at the tragic global bee crisis. In 1923, Rudolf Steiner, a scientist, philosopher & social innovator, predicted that in 80 to 100 years honeybees would collapse. His prediction has come true with Colony Collapse Disorder where bees are disappearing in mass numbers from their hives with no clear explanation. In an alarming inquiry into the insights behind Steiner’s prediction Queen of The Sun examines the global bee crisis through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, scientists, farmers, and philosophers. On a pilgrimage around the world, 10,000 years of beekeeping is unveiled, highlighting how our historic and sacred relationship with bees has been lost due to highly mechanized industrial practices. Featuring Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva, Gunther Hauk and beekeepers around the world, Queen of The Sun weaves a dramatic story which uncovers the problems and solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature. 1hr 23min | USA | NR

Directed by: Taggart Siegel

Featuring: Gunther Hauk, Michael Pollan and Vandana Shiva
SHOW TIMES

Fri (08/19) 6:30 8:30
Sat (08/20) 2:30 4:30
Sun (08/21) 12:30 2:30 4:30 7:00
Wed (08/24) 5:15 8:00
Thu (08/25) 6:30 8:30

WWW.THECOOKBOOKBLOG.COM: New Blog that focuses on cooking from a few cookbooks

I just found this blog and love its premise. Basically, the writer focuses on cooking from a small number of cookbooks and using many (or all) recipes from each book. Right now, the blog is focusing on the Southern Foodway Alliance's Community Cookbook. Other cookbooks that the blog has "cooked from" include one of Lidia B.'s Italian cookbooks, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, and the revered Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy.

The writer's taste in food writing is exemplary and the format of diving deeply into each work is unique and welcomed by this reader.

I feel lots of reading and cooking in my future.......

Agritourism: a new wrinkle for the small farmer

The New York Times wrote about agritourism, a way for small farms to supplement their modest income. Great idea. I will be looking into how this is applied.

Read their article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/business/10tourism.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=agritourism&st=cse

or check out this web site:

www.farmstayus.com

CAFE C: "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good" (thanks to Peter Noone)

I have heard rumors that Cafe C was a fine local lunch spot, but, for some reason I had not gone by to find out first-hand. I had been lured past the wildly colored restaurant by the loves of my culinary life: Satchel's, The Jones, Ruby's, and East End Eatery. I was way-late in trying out Cafe C and was thrilled to find another restaurant option on the east side of Gainesville. Like the above restaurants, Cafe C has the WOW factor fully in hand.

We used a Living Social coupon for the cafe that I had bought from an e-mail and Cafe C "knocked our socks off" big-time.

First, Cafe C is an off-shoot of Celebrations Catering, long revered by all who have sampled their wares at local receptions and events. Celebrations' reputation for creative, quality local food is the highest and it carries over to their cafe.

Cafe C features local, fresh ingredients that are good for you and are like fireworks of the palate. We both remarked that everything was served at its optimum freshness. Nothing was wilted, all was at peak flavor. Cafe C "takes you there."

I ordered the Tango Chicken Salad Plate which their menu describes as "our crunchy Chicken Salad...sprinkled with Toasted Almonds and Sliced Mangos, Grapes, and Flatbread Wafers." I ordered their ginger dressing on the side. It was so good that it might be a go-to dish hard to work around to savor the rest of the menu. Every dish I saw was beautifully presented and full of fresh ingredients.

Menu descriptions often over-state the case for a dish and, more often than not, what you get is not what the menu claimed you would get.

In the case of Cafe C, the chicken salad plate was way better than the menu description. It was crisp, sweet, and sophisticated. A collection of flavors in harmony. As tasteful and tasty as it gets.

The service was welcoming and embracing. Our server was proud of the restaurant and its offerings and was gleeful in turning us on to the cafe. We followed her advice willingly and were delighted that we dined at Cafe C.

The owner told us about their Sunday buffet which I am betting ahead of time that it is a knock out. We hope to try it next week end.

Make plans to go to Cafe C. I will be shocked if you do not become a regular customer.

As for the "loves of my culinary life," be assured that I will not be seduced away from you. We are just going to add another meal out to accomodate the many wonderful options for fine dining on the east side of Gainesville.

EXCELLENT NY TIMES ARTICLE ON MISLABELING OF FISH

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/science/earth/27fish.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bar%20coded%20fish&st=cse