Ins and Outs, for my friends!

[elleng]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07mini.html?em

[hippywife]

1. I've already managed a good

three quarters of that list. We don't buy shrimp anymore, tho, they're already over fished and the farmed sources are dubious.

Read this story in an old National Geographic waiting for my other half's back procedure last week. I've sworn off buying much fish at all anymore:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0515_030515_fishdecline.html

:hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. My friend at Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution told me years ago never to eat open-sea fish or shellfish. He hasn't touched any in years. The waters are contaminated in ways that will never be made public, according to him.

[hippywife]

3. I'm not surprised at all.

We've totally screwed up this planet in so many ways. :mad:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. That's why I get so agitated,

but I keep my mouth shut - most of the time - when people go on and on about how healthy their diets are because their consumption of fish has gone up.

I stay quiet and I chew my steak slowly. Happily.............

[hippywife]

7. That whole article as printed in the magazine

was actually three stories. They talked about how huge and majestic the blue fin are and how they are trapped by the thousands in the Mediterranean to feed the world-wide sushi trade, how it's done, etc. It was incredibly sad. :cry:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. The commercial fishing industry

is barbaric. I don't think there's been a lot of publicity given to it - and I'm going to read that article carefully, thank you - but it's quite horrid.

So is the state of our oceans and seas. When my friend starts telling stories, I just lose all hope. And it's all being kept quiet. This is the guy who told me years ago that Navy sonar was causing whales to beach themselves. Everyone knew what was causing it, but the Navy wouldn't own up.

[Warpy]

5. They'll pry my citrus reamer from my cold, dead hands

because it gets a lot more juice out of lemons and especially limes than any hand squeeze will do--especially my arthritic hand squeeze. I do strain it with my fingers, though.

I also am reluctant to give up my real vanilla extract. I'm afraid simmering vanilla bean in milk doesn't occur to me every time I want to bake something, thanks, and the extract serves a very real purpose. Bag the imitation stuff, it was originally developed as a lice killer.

Other than that, it was a great list and stuff I've already pretty much done over the years.

The exception to canned stuff is corn. That seems to survive the canning process. Canned stems & pieces mushrooms can be useful in a pinch. The main advantage is that they don't go bad as quickly as fresh.

[hippywife]

6. You might want to re-read that article.

I think you're okay. They advocate real lemons and limes, as well as real vanilla.

Canned corn makes me gag. It's the worst of all the canned veggies. So much of the starch has turned to sugar by the time you eat it. Ugh!

[Warpy]

17. They sniffed at reamers and vanilla extract

as though no real cook would ever consider using either.

If they'd have left it at real lemon instead of that foul processed juice and real vanilla instead of the lice killer, it would have been better.

[japple]

9. I noticed that the writer lists a lot of "good" things:

"good" olive oil (several times), "good" anchovies, "good" olives. I think I'll stick with a few bad things. Canned beans, for one. I prefer cooking dried beans, but since I live alone, I often use canned beans when I make a small batch of chili or soup. Kroger sells a line of organic canned beans that has a blend of 3 beans: black, pinto, and dark red kidney beans, which I use quite a bit. If you drain and rinse them before using, they're almost as good as dried.

[Warpy]

11. I use the canned beans, too

especially when I'm making a long simmered soup like minestrone. Beans just don't get done at 6000 feet unless I use the pressure cooker and minestrone is weird in a pressure cooker.

I do prefer black beans cooked with a sprig of epazote, though, and that's something I've never found in a can.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

10. I wish I could still find the dried mushrooms that used to be available at Sam's Club

It was a big old clear container of dried white button mushrooms slices (NOT oyster or shitake or portabellos) and they were FANTASTIC and easy to use and now they don't have them anymore. I have looked online for something similar to no avail.

[Warpy]

12. I still have a big jar of them

but I don't often use them in anything but Asian cooking as the flavor is somewhere between button mushroom and shiitake.

[Mojorabbit]

13. I order them from this company

everything is wonderful so far. I love their dehydrated celery as with just the two of us it always has gone bad when I go to use it.
http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Mushrooms_c_18.html
I also order from this company and they have good products plus they are cheaper and just as good.
http://www.bulkfoods.com/search_results.asp?txtsearchParamCat=32&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&txtsearchParamTxt=1280

[eleny]

14. Here are several soruces for dried white button mushrooms

http://www.thefind.com/food/browse-champignon-white-button-mushroom

I hope you find some!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. eleny and mojo rabitt - you are so awesome!

Thank you so much for those sites! Now of course I'm wondering, how did they do it when I tried and failed?

I don't know - but you did! That is exactly what I was talking about - And affordable!

:loveya:

[eleny]

16. I just searched using

I'm looking for mushrooms, too. Last year, my King Soopers had some fresh mushrooms that were so good. One was a clump of small mushrooms with longish stems with some dirt still on the bottom and the other clump was a bit of a larger mushroom. The woman in the produce dept remembers that they got them as a one time deal but can't recall what they were. they were from California. What made them so special was that when I coked them, they tasted just like the wild mushroom I used to pick with my family.

I'm still hunting for mushrooms one way or the other! :D