ness

I googled Greek lemon sauce, that's what came up. I couldn't spell it right now if I had to, much less pronounce it?

It's either your best friend, or your worst enemy ?

Yeah, streams flow downhill. ?

I thought it may be avgolemono, but you may be right.

I've had them with a lot of lemon and rice. The lemon is a good compliment to the leaves, which are kinda bitter. Really, the lemon/ butter/dill sauce at Tasso's is excellent. I asked Tasso about it once but he wasn't talking. You don't want to push Tasso too far I found a lemon dill sauce online that looks close. I'm gonna try it, maybe tonight. Think I'll have a couple for breakfast ?

The cinnamon isn't really very prominent, but it's there. I think it's 3 tsp. in 4 pounds of beef. The grape leaves themselves are what most people have trouble with.

I think if you'd quite feeding Sprite to your maters you'd be able to manage. Mine are too big too. Up into the lights. To infinity and beyond! I transferred them to 4-inch pots and they look a little better, but they're still up into the lights and I've only got so much room between the shelves. I'm not breaking that all down and coming up with something different. These are the suburbs! We have limits! Somebody please remind me of this pickle next January, please!

Alright, here we go on a project tonight. I may have posted something similar a few years ago -- can't remember for sure where I did that, might have been here, might not. Sorry if this s a repeat. It's ness, so there's a story My maternal grandparents came through Ellis Island in the early 1900s from Lebanon. My grandfather's WWII draft registration card said his place of birth was 'Mt. Lebanon, Syria'. I've never researched the history of that location, but family says they came from Lebanon. We all know the borders over there tend to change every few years, right? What I know now is, it was what's now Lebanon. They settled into a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania with a lot of other immigrants, mostly eastern european, especially Poles. It was a tight-knit community of families that supported each other. They were tight, for decades. My mom didn't really carry down any of the old family recipes, but my beautiful aunt Mary did. She was an editor of medical text books, and to say she had to have it 'just so' is a BIG, understatement. Her highly detailed, hand-written recipe cards for 'stuffed grape leaves' is not only a treasure to me, but a window into her personality to anyone who reads them. She passed away last summer at the age of 91, precise, feisty and opinionated until dementia robbed her of her brilliant mind in her later years. I have researched a little, and I don't find the Lebanese name for a dish called 'grape leaves', though a lot of you might know the Greek word 'dolmathes'. (Greek food is very similar to Lebanese food). My mother's family always used the Lebanese words for their traditional recipes (falafel, kibbeh, labneh, tabbouleh, etc. ), but grape leaves were just grape leaves. Tonight I made Aunt Mary's grape leaves recipe for a middle-eastern dinner we'll have at church on Thursday. I'm doing it in her honor, and in the memory of all the wonderful members of the Mansor family. So, first you get your grape leaves: Gotta rinse the brine off the leaves. Not much to it, but the labor. Leaves, ground beef, parsley, cinnamon, salt, pepper. Tomato paste was late to the photo shoot.:D ...then the labor... Rough count, about 120 of these. Did it in a little more than an hour. Solo. My back hurts Just cover with water, bring to a boil then simmer 45 minutes. Serve with labneh. What's labneh you ask? Back in the day, to make labneh, I'd buy plain yogurt and pour it into a cheesecloth-lined colander. Let it sit in the fridge for a day or two to let the liquid drain off, condensing the yogurt into a sour cream-like consistency the Lebanese call labneh. Now the same thing is on the grocery store shelves, it's just called 'Greek Yogurt'. Those darn Greeks!! This whole dish is an acquired taste, but it's not too hard to acquire. The briney, leafy taste of the grape leaves is what is hardest to get used to. The filling has a little different flavor from what we're used to -- solely because of the cinnamon. But it's tasty. Anybody that's had dolmathes at a Greek restaurant has had this. My favorite version in town (at Tasso's) comes with a lemon dill sauce, and it's excellent!! But, I'm doing it the way aunt Mary wanted it done.

Way to go. Teaching the kids the art of poaching is a good thing ???

You may know it, but I've got a Hinnomaki Red. I really like the berries. Here's some from a couple years ago: Anxious to get some currants.

I like a lot of rub too. That's a big hunk of meat to flavor.

... and last, but not least, I received a package from gardener extraordinaire, Sir BilletHead, with horseradish roots in it! I've got a large pot with some pretty good oil in it -- just looking for something to grow. So, here we go: s Thanks, Marty!

I've got ¾ of a 4 pack to drink Easter morning

Getting the Irish fix a couple days late. Beef and Guinness stew with leek, parsnip, carrot, potato:

I'm like a little kid -- when the seeds start to pop, I get a little excited: Perennial herbs coming back -- oregano, sage, chives, thyme: Garlic planted last fall: Almost there: Planted some more gooseberry and some currant last year. They didn't look like they'd make it. Looks like I'll get one of each: Got all the bigger stuff moved into 4-inch pots. Not sure the height of the tallest maters, but about a foot I guess. I just brought these in from a little hardening off: Miscellaneous other stuff -- herbs, Alpine strawberry, onions. Lettuce didn't like being outdoors very much: Planted spinach, carrot, lettuce (seed), radish, beet the last few days. It's gotten cold and windy!

Naw, I checked -- they called my cell, I didn't hear it. Probably the smoke alarms and sirens and doorbells drowned it out.

Well, I must confess the Shawnee Fire Department was out at stately ness manor again last night. First a little background....I got rid of my land line a couple months ago, so I figured the smoke detectors weren't hot wired to the fire department any more. That was a bad assumption. ...So, I got the cast iron grill screaming hot and threw on some seasoned chicken thighs. The house got pretty smoky real quick and the alarm went off several times, but I kept hitting the code and canceling the alarm. No worries, right? Just an annoyance. Besides, ADT will call if the alarm makes it to them, right? A neighbor stopped by just to see if everything was OK. Embarrassed, but no worries, right? Next thing I know I've got the fire truck pulling up. No call from ADT, nothing. They always call, right? I told them I was cooking and the guy said, 'I know, I can smell it' They were cool, but I felt like an idiot and apologized profusely for wasting their time. They offered to drag out their fans and purge the smoke, but I didn't want to put them to the trouble. They did it anyway. I offered up the two thighs I wasn't going to eat, but the Captain refused. Not enough to feed the 6 guys anyway. Plus, he said they had dinner waiting back at the station. Chit. I heard them exclaim as they drove out of sight, 'I hope that dumazz cooks outside tomorrow night.'

Weird! Yeah, I think you just stunt your maters if you get them out too early, not only take the risk of a frost or the hassle of covering stuff up. But, I'm also anxious to get stuff in the ground. It's a pickle! I've got to get my maters transferred into bigger pots tonight.

This is a really great thread. I just skimmed through the first 40 pages of it. I wish somebody would index this thing. Anybody doing any St. Patty's day anything? I may make some Irish soda bread to share, but that's about it.

Hah. Don't know what you're feeding them but 14-inches?? Mine are about 7-8. I let them grow up into the lights. But, I'm wondering the same thing--4 more weeks??? Put them in the cold frame for a couple hours today, and they're looking puny tonight. Gotta replant them in the next day or two. Maters are lush but tipping over. Peppers are nice and stocky. Lettuce looks like it wants to quit. Other stuff okay mostly.

Well, Chief did most of the work ? ?

We're sposta see 32 this weekend.

Can you tell us your method, please? Smoked, corned beef -- like a Boyle's?