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4903. alistairconnor - 7/31/2013 4:31:09 PM

However it is completely possible to eat sucky produce in France. When I buy fruit and veg from the supermarket it's generally very blah. I prefer to buy from producers, not resellers, at the market, unless I really need something that's out of season locally. My favourite supplier is a guy whose farm is near where I lived for 20 years, and his produce is EXACTLY like what I used to grow myself. He also supplies raw milk, and meat (beef, veal, sometimes lamb, always poultry) when they have sacrificed a beast.

I would really prefer to skip tomatoes completely for 8 or 9 months of the year, rather than eat the tomato-like entities that come out of factories in Holland or Spain.

Oh and I try not to buy anything from Spain (your Monoprix cucumber, Bibiche?) because it's produced in worse than third world conditions, illegal immigrant workers in functional slavery.

4904. alistairconnor - 7/31/2013 4:32:56 PM

Current facebook meme :

"The key to healthy eating? Avoid any food that has a TV commercial."

4905. arkymalarky - 7/31/2013 4:59:52 PM

Haha!

I'm really lucky to live in a state that can grow pretty much anything, so we have access to a lot of good fresh fruits and vegetables at good prices. But we never buy them at Walmart expecting to get anything that tastes good. We just grab for convenience sometimes. Unfortunately the grocery stores not much better. At our Colorado place we shop at sn organic coop which has really good food, but its expensive. The Kroger / King sooper in Boulder also has excellent produce.

4906. thoughtful - 7/31/2013 6:49:03 PM

Love that meme, AC!

4907. webfeet - 8/1/2013 10:46:38 PM

Yes, single out the cucumber. I stand by that cucumber. But I can't make every trip to the supermarket politucal!

There is always someone who eats more sustaunably than you. Actually, the one who is eating better than all of us, here in th Alps, is--the fox. He just.broke into the farmer's hen house and devoured eight chickens, the coq, and possibly a duck. All that was left were feathers.

There is a fly in my hair and now I must go to sleep. Ah, la campagne...

4908. alistairconnor - 8/2/2013 12:42:51 PM

Well that's political too dear -- my favourite definition of the modern liberal economy is "a free fox in a free henhouse".

4909. vonKreedon - 8/2/2013 4:44:17 PM

AC - I suspect that your bar for sucky is set much higher from being in France than ours for being in the US. In 2000 my family and I spent about three months in France and marveled at how much better the produce, meat, cheese, and of course wines, are in French supermarkets than in US supermarkets. Of course, the food at the markets is even better. The quality of taste of French foods is to me a strong argument for French agricultural protectionism.

4910. webfeet - 8/2/2013 8:39:11 PM

Saint Emilion Bordeaux grand vin 4 euro 90 centimes. The Alps is heaven.

They are totally protected, von Kreedon. How else can these cherished guardians of french gastronomy survive with hail storms in july, foxes and wolves banquetting on their livestock and storms that ruin their wheat and apple crops. You can't live selling discs of fromage to tourists.

But you can have sucky, even in France. There is a supermarche called Dia here that sells buy the bulk which belle mere says is pretty bad. But who knows who shops there--maybe the ski stations. The marche was crowded today. In Nyc, I can't get parmesan, pecorino and gorgonzola like the kind I ate today (nor fresh ravioli). Face it, french bumpkins eat better than cosmopolitans. Although, none of it was inexpensive, unlike the wine.

But Ill take a french supermarket any day over one in the U.S.

4911. webfeet - 8/2/2013 8:52:29 PM

Forget the produce and the little Italian who rolls his van filled with fromage from Turino to france for a moment. Think of the bi-annual sales. Every January and July the markdowns keep the French chic for petit prix. These are state regulated, seasonal markdowns. A totally chic, socialist, fell fed country.

4912. webfeet - 8/2/2013 8:52:59 PM

Thats well fed. And non, its not due to the Saint Emilion.

4913. arkymalarky - 8/5/2013 5:35:22 PM

Man it's quiet around here.

Can anyone offer some basic instructions/tips on cooking with a wok?

4914. judithathome - 8/5/2013 6:17:59 PM

Lightly oil the wok, turn on the heat, add whatever takes longest to cook first, add other stuff and keep moving (stirring) everything around until done.

Keoni sometimes uses a small amount of chicken broth (but always the oil) as a seasoning and to keep stuff from sticking too much. He loves using a wok. He uses only wooden utensils...chopsticks, wooden spatula, etc. I wouldn't advise the chopsticks unless you are very proficient with them.

Oh, get the wok hot before you start...and move the pan around while you're stirring.

4915. judithathome - 8/5/2013 6:19:28 PM

Also, he never uses soap on the wok to clean it...I'm sure people freak out at that statement but it hasn't killed us yet.

4916. arkymalarky - 8/5/2013 9:20:39 PM

Thanks! I use chopsticks when I eat Asian food, but cooking I'm not proficient with anything. I'll need to get a wooden spoon. I think i threw our wooden utensils away. WRT cleaning and treatment that's exactly how you do a cast iron skillet, so that doesn't sound unusual at all. Tommy has a very nice large wok that they don't have room for, so we've been keeping it, and I've been wanting to try to get back into cooking again. I have a nice Thai cookbook and some coconut oil bases from that health food store we went to, which she gave me for free! Plus Ms no inspired me when she was here, so I want to try to see if I can get back on the cooking horse.

4917. Wombat - 8/5/2013 9:21:25 PM

If you don't have a gas stove, don't bother.

4918. arkymalarky - 8/5/2013 9:22:15 PM

on the cooking horse...I really shouldn't say back on.

4919. arkymalarky - 8/5/2013 9:23:20 PM

I do, thank goodness. Nothing fancy but should do. It's rarely used. ;)

4920. arkymalarky - 8/5/2013 9:25:51 PM

of course I'm about to start back to work, so this whole idea might not happen. But I'd like to start eating home cooked meals and that's not going to happen unless I cook them.

4921. judithathome - 8/6/2013 2:25:00 AM

One good thing about the wok...it's quick!

4922. arkymalarky - 8/6/2013 3:06:42 AM

that's one of the main reasons I thought it might work for me. That and Tommy left such a nice one. If I can do slow cooker stuff or stir fry maybe I'll have the energy to maintain it during the school year.

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