Comments for bramblings

Comment on Back in the Kitchen by Nate

Nate — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:59:03 +0000

Hooray!!!

Comment on Back in the Kitchen by Anne Marie

Anne Marie — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:03:08 +0000

Sounds like a lot of exciting stuff! I look forward to the recipes. Jamplzthx!

Comment on Fig Skillet Cake by Dan

Dan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:15:28 +0000

I’m such a gay man–when this came up on Google Reader I literally gasped.

Comment on my bread by Jim Lahey and my fougasse by janina

janina — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:52:23 +0000

I’m laughing at this sad story, but only because my heart is breaking for you…

Comment on my bread by Jim Lahey and my fougasse by Nate

Nate — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:25:40 +0000

I came home the other day to find this book on our kitchen island. It was right after I showed Juls your post and told her how awesome it would be to own this book and that we should buy it. I was elated. I went through it and bookmarked about 8 different pages of things I was eager to try out. She came home while I was doing it and told me she bought it as a gift for someone. BUNK.

Comment on Canning Tomatoes by janina

janina — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:04:36 +0000

The problem with lemon juice is that you can’t use fresh lemons unless you have the tools to test the acid levels. Lemons, like tomatoes, are too finicky based on variety and growing conditions to have a standard acid level. I have added fresh lemons to lots of things and never had that awful chemical taste, but whatever they do to the lemons to get the acid levels standardized makes it taste awful. Really really truly awful. If you were hoping to get a little bit of the lemon flavor, I would recommend including a little zest, either peel a piece for each jar with a potato/vegetable peeler, or use a microplaner. I wouldn’t recommend using a regular zester though, it tends to be too gritty. The other alternative to citric acid is to use vinegar. A red wine vinegar at 5% acidity is the most neutral, you will want to use 4 Tablespoons per quart jar. Citric acid really has been a wonderful find for me, though, and I strongly recommend giving it a try. It is almost completely flavorless, and harmless, and often sold as a powdered supplement with flavonoids at nutritional and health food stores. As long as you keep the citric acid in an air tight container, it shouldn’t ever go bad. Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you have found this article helpful!

Comment on Canning Tomatoes (short version) by DebbiefromCotati

DebbiefromCotati — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:52:41 +0000

By and by…I found your blog by searching out using sea salt in canned tomatoes.

Comment on Canning Tomatoes by DebbiefromCotati

DebbiefromCotati — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:50:29 +0000

Thoughts:

Thank you! I’m in agreement with everyone’s comments.

I’m ready to start. Going to the garden to pick what New Zealand paste tomatoes are ripe. Got the pots going, cold water bowls in the freezer. Make sure I have citric acid according to your recipe. (Does citric acid ever go bad?) Wanna use lemon but will follow the recipe. Clean well the plastic funnel (wish I had a SS one).
My hopes are to not overcook the tomatoes. I would like to see whole fruit mostly with a light sauce around them.
(Has anyone ever tasted that lovely liquid that seeps out of the tomatoe? To me it is the essence of the fruit.

Debbie

Comment on my bread by Jim Lahey and my fougasse by Dylan McCrystal

Dylan McCrystal — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:05:36 +0000

I’m trying to find a selection of Russian fonts on the internet, but to be honest, there are better ones in your books I’m sure.

However, I was looking at the propaganda posters that Mayakovsky designed, and there are a couple typefaces that looked promising. One is this one, from one my favorite of his posters (ПЛАКАТЫ).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Plakat_mayakowski_gross.jpg

It would suit a stencil perfectly, at the very least. Plus, the skeleton and the man eating the grain are awesome. The other I saw was the super blocky straight-line soviet avant-garde typeface. Like this:

http://www.russianartandbooks.com/russianart/images/items/02444R.jpg

Your book of film posters is a perfect source, too.

Cheers!

Comment on Yeasted Waffles | Sweet Lavender Ricotta with Cream by janina

janina — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:55:29 +0000

There are amazing things you can do with lavender. My best recommendation is to think of it like rosemary. It also makes an excellent peppery compliment to jams. This year I dried a bunch from Monica’s garden to use with rhubarb jam (my next post will be a recipe for this), but you can also use it for just about any fruit preserve. I’ve also used it in cocktails (lavender wine spritzers!) and in teas. A friend of mine used a lavender tea for his first attempt at home brewed kombucha, and it was so incredible! It’s become one of my regular kombucha batches. Also, I believe lavender sugar and lavender sea salt is as simple as packing lavender in jars with salt or sugar, and turning it daily for a couple weeks. The only thing I’m uncertain about is whether you need to dry it first or not. Try it both ways maybe?

I am always on the lookout for garden herbs fruits and vegetables, I will happily take some lavender, I’m already almost out of the ones I dried from Monica’s! Thank you!