Commander's.
Good choice. There are a few dishes that I'd
always been happy to spend the pills on, caramel
custard/creme brulee/flan being among them.

A good one is well worth the pills, a bad one, not so.

Exact.

But unless you've been to the variouos places, you don't know how good
(or bad) a dish might be. Guess you take a chance with it the first
time, and hope it doesn't go down hill before you get to eat there
again.

I could of course just make the stuff myself.

Stupid kid tricks: Bonnie's youngest came
over with his prospective bride and her kids,
and the 15-year-old wanted cereal, but Bonnie
(as she is under my influence) didn't have
any milk, so she sent her (40-ods) son to the
store to get some, and he came back with a
gallon! Mind, the gaggle was only staying over
for a weekend. And the kid decided she didn't
want cereal anyway. So there's this gallon of
milk sitting there, so maybe I'll make cajeta
or something like that.

Sounds good to me. Our butler has a leaf that runs the length of it

by > about 18" wide, folds down when not in use, that is handy when we need a > bit more counter space for a cooling rack or whatever.
A pullout or folddown can be a great solution
for where space is at a premium.

We've found that to be true. Also, if you can hang pots/pans, that frees

I still prefer a permanent island, not quite
trusting things with joints when I'm going to
be using a heavy knife or cleaver.

up more storage space.

Janis's kitchen was pretty ideally set up
that way.

I'd be leery of making a value judgment in
such a situation. I almost wrote "incapable,"
but I would be idealizing me.

That's where you get a second opinion from someone who you trust to

be > honest in such.
Nope, I don't bother with such. Though I'm
thinking of wearing my shirt with the black squares
with a peculiar tie for my semi-formal event tonight.
P.S. Edited to add: did so.

Any comments?

An architect tried to pick me up at the
reception afterward. I don't know whether
that my outfit was artistic or aesthetic
or I was viewed as the human equivalent of
a condemned building waiting for a makeover.

Or have a completely different idea, honesty
not necessarily entering into the equation at
all. There are those who would think black and
orange go together even when it's not Halloween.

I'd be more likely to pair something in the brown family with orange. We don't "do" halloween so black and orange is a no go for us to begin
with.

I'm not so much against Halloween, but black
and orange is an abomination.

Sounds like brown may not be a color that works well for you then.

What > about colors like golden yellow or orange? If they don't look good (in > your opinion or others) on you, then you're not an autumn.
I generally don't take into consideration what
other people think looks good. I don't like
those colors on anyone.

It's your opinion but I'll continue to wear them.

You'll look better to me if you don't.

Pack clothes you can layer easily.

Sure, and a minimum of them. The funny thing
is I almost never end up bothering to layer
even when the raw materials are in my suitcase.

So you freeze or bake, when you have the means to be comfortable in your suitcase?

There's a balance between taking the effort to
avoid discomfort and being uncomfortable. Usually
taking the effort loses. This doesn't apply if
it's much below freezing out.

Twice I was blindsided by funerals. On one I was
on my way to a rehearsal and the death of a friend
of mine was in the paper, so I went and borrowed
a jacket that didn't fit and a tie that didn't
match (of course, given the above discussion you
know that the nonfit bothered me and the nonmatch
didn't); lucky the others in the quartet also
knew the guy, and the husband of one of them had
a spare jacket at all to lend. The other I did have

That was a help. We had nobody that we could borrow clothes from.

I wouldn't have been kicked out in any case.

a jacket and tie but ended up being the only man
present who wasn't wearing a tuxedo - that was in
Berlin, and no way am I going to travel with a tux
just in case someone should die during my travels.

At least you had the jacket--beats not having one.

I probably wouldn't have been kicked out in any
case, but at the reception afterward even with
what in the US would have been acceptable funerary
garb people did look at me funny, and I noticed
that the ones who deigned to talk to me had lived
in the US and presumably were accustomed to
American bumpkinishness.

Country Ham
categories: pork, holiday, odd, main
servings: 20

1 country (dry cured) ham
1 L Dr. Pepper
1 c sweet pickle juice, opt

Unwrap ham and scrub off any surface mold.
Carefully remove hock with hand saw. Make
sure you keep the hock, it's the best friend
collard greens ever had.)

Place ham in cooler and cover with clean
water. Stash the cooler in the bushes.
If it's summer, throw in some ice. If it's
freezing out, keep the cooler inside.
Change the water twice a day for two d
ays turning the ham each time.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place ham in a large disposable roasting
pan and add enough Dr. Pepper to come about
halfway up the side of the ham. Add pickle
juice if you've got it and tent completely
with heavy-duty foil. Cook for 1/2 hr then
reduce heat to 325F, and cook another 1 1/2 hr.

Turn the ham over, insert an oven safe
thermometer (probe-style is best) and cook
another 1 1/2 hr or until the deepest part
of the ham hits 140F (15 to 20 min/lb total).

Let rest 1/2 hr then slice paper-thin.
Serve with biscuits or soft yeast rolls.

Cooks note: Even after soaking, country ham
is quite salty, so thin slicing is mandatory.
If you're a bacon fan, however, cut a thicker
(1/4-in) slice and fry it up for breakfast.

Alton Brown
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)

Hi Michael,

A good one is well worth the pills, a bad one, not so.

Exact.

But unless you've been to the various places, you don't know how

good > (or bad) a dish might be. Guess you take a chance with it the
first

time, and hope it doesn't go down hill before you get to eat there again.

I could of course just make the stuff myself.

I've not yet tried to--made vanilla pudding (from scratch), tapioca,
rice pudding, etc but not creme brule'.

Stupid kid tricks: Bonnie's youngest came
over with his prospective bride and her kids,
and the 15-year-old wanted cereal, but Bonnie
(as she is under my influence) didn't have
any milk, so she sent her (40-ods) son to the
store to get some, and he came back with a
gallon! Mind, the gaggle was only staying over
for a weekend. And the kid decided she didn't
want cereal anyway. So there's this gallon of
milk sitting there, so maybe I'll make cajeta
or something like that.

At least you didn't dump the milk over the kid. Make something yummy out
of it instead.

Sounds good to me. Our butler has a leaf that runs the length

of it > ML> by > about 18" wide, folds down when not in use, that is handy when we > ML> need a > bit more counter space for a cooling
rack or whatever.

A pullout or folddown can be a great solution
for where space is at a premium.

We've found that to be true. Also, if you can hang pots/pans, that

frees

I still prefer a permanent island, not quite
trusting things with joints when I'm going to
be using a heavy knife or cleaver.

I use the counter top when doing that, or the kitchen table.

up more storage space.

Janis's kitchen was pretty ideally set up
that way.

I know--I saw that one before I saw Rachel's kitchen.

That's where you get a second opinion from someone who you

trust to > ML> be > honest in such.

Nope, I don't bother with such. Though I'm
thinking of wearing my shirt with the black squares
with a peculiar tie for my semi-formal event tonight.
P.S. Edited to add: did so.

Any comments?

An architect tried to pick me up at the
reception afterward. I don't know whether
that my outfit was artistic or aesthetic
or I was viewed as the human equivalent of
a condemned building waiting for a makeover.

One will never know. (G)

Or have a completely different idea, honesty
not necessarily entering into the equation at
all. There are those who would think black and
orange go together even when it's not Halloween.

I'd be more likely to pair something in the brown family with

orange. We > don't "do" halloween so black and orange is a no go for
us to begin

with.

I'm not so much against Halloween, but black
and orange is an abomination.

Tangerine and black is almost as bad--saw a car dealership in Raleigh
yesterday that used those colors. I'll never buy a car from them. (G)

Sounds like brown may not be a color that works well for you

then. > ML> What > about colors like golden yellow or orange? If they don't look > ML> good (in > your opinion or others) on you, then
you're not an autumn. > ML> I generally don't take into consideration what

other people think looks good. I don't like
those colors on anyone.

It's your opinion but I'll continue to wear them.

You'll look better to me if you don't.

You would see the difference if I wore something that wasn't in my color family; it would be painfully (to the eyes) obvious that it didn't work.
The golden yellow or orange, OTOH, would be quite appparant in how it
did look on me.

Pack clothes you can layer easily.

Sure, and a minimum of them. The funny thing
is I almost never end up bothering to layer
even when the raw materials are in my suitcase.

So you freeze or bake, when you have the means to be comfortable in

your > suitcase?

There's a balance between taking the effort to
avoid discomfort and being uncomfortable. Usually
taking the effort loses. This doesn't apply if
it's much below freezing out.

Come down here this week and it would be freezing. Sunny, but cold
south.

Twice I was blindsided by funerals. On one I was
didn't); lucky the others in the quartet also
knew the guy, and the husband of one of them had
a spare jacket at all to lend. The other I did have

That was a help. We had nobody that we could borrow clothes from.

I wouldn't have been kicked out in any case.

No, sincereity and effort to show up goes a long way in times like that.

a jacket and tie but ended up being the only man
present who wasn't wearing a tuxedo - that was in
Berlin, and no way am I going to travel with a tux
just in case someone should die during my travels.

At least you had the jacket--beats not having one.

I probably wouldn't have been kicked out in any
case, but at the reception afterward even with
what in the US would have been acceptable funerary
garb people did look at me funny, and I noticed
that the ones who deigned to talk to me had lived
in the US and presumably were accustomed to
American bumpkinishness.

The others should have considered that you were travelling and couldn't
get a tuxedo that easily. But, their loss.

Country Ham
categories: pork, holiday, odd, main
servings: 20

1 country (dry cured) ham
1 L Dr. Pepper
1 c sweet pickle juice, opt

I've also seen this with pickle juice.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Computers run on smoke. They stop when it leaks out.

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)