ness

Nice! I found just one, lonely shroom today:

Is it all black and smelly???

I was thinking about this just the other day. My Brittanys can smell where pheasant USED to be. Of course there are the drug and explosive sniffing dogs, and the cool stuff BilletHead talked about. They use dogs (and pigs) to hunt truffles. A quick Google shows there is some discussion out there, but as rare, precious and hard to spot as those mushrooms are I'd think it would be a natural. The only thing that surprises me is that this isn't more of a topic.

My mom always said don't buy seafood on sale, but $1 oysters at McCormick and Schmick's seemed a safe bet. But these were fishy and gritty and teeny too. Told the waitress they weren't fresh. She said, 'You didn't like them?'. No, I said they're not fresh. She said, 'We ran out of Blue Points, and these are even fresher than those.' I said, OK, but they're not fresh. She said, 'These are from the Pacific, maybe that's why you don't like them?' I said they're not fresh -- you're gonna make somebody sick. Oh well, not gonna argue with a waitress. She sent the manager over and he was apologetic but the damage was done. No more M&S for us. Tummy is fine this morning, thank goodness! Gimme my Crock Pot (R) chicken!

I did a whole chicken in the Crock Pot® yesterday. Heavily seasoned with salt, paprika, pepper, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and rosemary. In a plastic bag overnight then started in the AM. Cooked 8 hours on low the a couple more on warm until I got home from the old salt mine. Very tasty and juicy. The skin was dry but not quite crisp. Gonna tweak the seasoning some next time, but the basic idea is a keeper. Good bachelor dish -- ready to eat whenever I roll in.

MOPanfisher, I like the way you think!

Moved the ness mess outside for a bit: A few asparagus spears coming in:

I brought all my stuff upstairs and jury-rigged my lights under a card table so I could accommodate the height. What a pain.

Looks good, again. Oh, and the eggs were really good. I simply poached them in this sauce. Don't know how available that is outside the KC area since it's a local restaurant, but very good. Fresh, tomato flavor with a good amount of heat. Had them with a take and bake ciabatta. Really tasty, really easy, one pot.

^^ That, plus... Get them set up right -- light tackle, fine line. Keep them untangled and fishing as much as possible and never let yourself get frustrated with them even if they do the same stupid thing a hundred times. It could be worse, it could be 200 times. Oh wait, you said you've got 2 kids, make that 200/400 Also, read your kids. If they're getting tired of it, discouraged, frustrated, bored, whatever -- go find something else to do. When you all look back on this a few years down the road, the unproductive times will be forgotten and the good things will be remembered.

Wow! I missed this thread. That's incredible!

Why did you start things so early??? I've got some blooms on pepper plants too.

Hint: what came first, the chicken or the egg?

Heck, I dunno what this is really -- but it tasted good when I put it in my mouth.

I have used sourdough once. Not sure if any of those in the pics are the one though. I posted about it way back in this thread somewhere. I'd love to have a way to cook pizza with wood.

Chicago deep dish is misunderstood and butchered by a lot of places. Big, thick regular pizza isn't Chicago deep dish. The crust is totally different, more like a biscuit but crunchy. Cheese on bottom sauce on top fillings in the middle. At least that's the way Malnati's and Uno's do it, and the way I like it.

You quoted me before I edited the post a little. A couple things -- I'd love to say I can get there just by feel, but I don't do it often enough to really get it right. I have found there can be a lot of variability in the outcome, and if I'm precise in the weights I can eliminate a variable. Using oil on the surface rather than flour eliminates that variable, and introduces a little oil into the dough to boot. I'm getting really consistent, good results, and that's exactly what I want. And then, there was the Lou Malnati clone I did once. Oh, baby.

Kinda funny, because I've been on a quest to perfect pizza for a number of years. I think I've got it, then it doesn't work. Then I tweak, then it's broke, then I fix it. Repeat. But I have settled in on a recipe and method that I like very much, and feel it's perfection for my tastes. It's Peter Reinhart's NY Style stretch and fold recipe. Nothing but bread flour, water, salt, yeast. Cold ferment 1 to 3 days or more. Very wet dough that's hard to handle (75% hydration) but yields a crust that's light and airy with a little crunch. The technique is important. It's also important to weigh the ingredients to get the best, most consistent results.

Mine's better We need details, man. I like what I see though.

Have not heard of that, but it sure looks tasty! Let us know how it goes. Lots of recipes out there. I've got about a half jar of a good, spicy tomato sauce I need to do something with. Might toss a couple eggs in tonight and see what happens. Not the same I know, but in the ballpark.

But they were dorks. You got that part, right?

You sure that's not grits?

In college, we had a spray bottle filled with vermouth. Spritz a little onto the cut-rate Stanley's gin and you had a dry martini like our heroes Hawkeye and Trapper would have liked. We didn't bother with ice. Lately, I've been slowly upping the vermouth content, but I'm not at 2/1 yet. Probably makes sense to concentrate on the vermouth quality if I'm upping the ratio. I'm not opposed to 2/1. I'm a green olive guy. The more the better, but not dirty. Dilly beans I haven't had or tried in a 'tini. Can't get my head around that

Sounds good. And, good call leaving out the cilantro I think.

That's a pretty wet martini. Not familiar with that vermouth brand.