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3462. thoughtful - 1/6/2006 10:44:49 PM So here's my current thinking...
Roast pork loin (garlic and caraway seed rub)
Apple/cranberry chutney
Oven roasted sweet potatoes and onions
Cauliflower polonaise
Mixed greens with carrots and radishes and a dijon vinagrette dressing
Still debating on dessert and appetizers... 3463. Ronski - 1/7/2006 2:43:45 AM 
I've been accumulating some orchid photos. This is Burrageara Stefan Isler "Red," a compact really beautiful orchid that I have bloomed twice since buying just by leaving out on the deck during the summer, with water and fertilizer, of course, in semi-shade.
Burrageara is in the Oncidium family of orchids, and is a 4-way cross with Miltonia, Oncidium, Odontoglossum, and Cochlioda. The lattermost adds the red.
It bloomed for me at Christmas, too, which was neat given the color. This one I recommend.
3464. jayackroyd - 1/7/2006 2:47:46 AM parasites. 3465. Ronski - 1/7/2006 2:48:06 AM Ms. No,
Thanks for that Bragg's link. Sounds good.
Canned vegetables are a completely different species from their equivalent fresh vegetable, as far as I am concerned. But sometimes I like canned string beans, french cut -- No, I mean "freedom cut" -- with a vinaigrette, a quick and easy salad. A few pine nuts help, or anything else you have around. 3466. Ronski - 1/7/2006 2:49:48 AM Oops, missed the MSG post. May try it anyway. But I did get one really bad headache after a Chinatown lunch while on jury duty some years ago. 3467. Ronski - 1/7/2006 2:51:10 AM I think I'm also missing the parasites antecedant, Jay. 3468. Ronski - 1/7/2006 2:57:20 AM That sounds like a very good key lime recipe, too, with the sour cream. I've used Nellie and Joe's key lime juice in stuff: Nellie's. 3469. jayackroyd - 1/7/2006 3:47:44 AM Orchids live off hosts, in my understanding. Am I wrong about that? 3470. judithathome - 1/7/2006 6:34:49 AM I like canned French-cut green beans with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese...the Roasted Garlic...melted over them. 3471. Ronski - 1/7/2006 7:13:39 PM Jay,
For the most part, orchids are not parasites. Orchids live attached to hosts, but they do nothing to harm the thing they are holding on to (by their roots, usually), and can live on dead wood.
They get their nutrients and moisture from rainwater washing over the host and then over the leaves and roots of the orchid plant: the water dissolves minute amounts of minerals from the bark of trees which the orchid makes use of.
There are also terrestrial orchids, but they are not parasitic either.
The exception to all this is only in the very first stage of life for orchids. Fungus must be present to germinate orchid seeds. Sometimes the orchid seed wins, and the fungus is ultimately consumed (making the definition of parasite). But sometimes the fungus wins, and destroys the seed. Explanation here:
[Orchids] are obligatory mycotrophic just like Ericaceae. Their causes differ, though (H. BURGEFF, 1909, 1936). Orchid seeds are extremely small (0.3 – 14 µm). They have usually no cotyledons which means that a seed can germinate but not develop further than to a few-celled state. Further development is possible only in association with fungi that provide the nutrient substratum. Orchids are accordingly parasites if only in the first phase of their life. Many of them (those with green leaves) change to an autotrophic life during a later stage of development. The fungus becomes superfluous.
The mycorrhizal fungus penetrates the tissue of the young seedling (usually through the suspensor), from where it spreads into the developing root. Shoot and root tuber (if present) are generally not infected.
The endotrophic fungi do usually perish in the course of the plant’s development and their remains are absorbed by the orchids. If this host-specific action does not take place, then the fungus spreads and becomes parasitic. That is why only a small percentage of seedlings develops in many orchid species. The inhibition of the fungus growth is caused by the synthesis of an antagonist that was at first named orchinol, and was later characterized as dehydroxyphenanthrin by E. GÄUMANN and H. KERN (1959). This fungicide has an effect on numerous mycorrhizal and terrestrial fungi. Its synthesis is only induced in the presence of the fungus.
3472. PelleNilsson - 1/7/2006 7:57:11 PM A briefer way of saying that is that orchids are not parasites but epiphytes. 3473. Ronski - 1/7/2006 8:00:52 PM Yes, except in that very brief window of having germinated and created a few cells and actual viability as a growing plant. 3474. thoughtful - 1/8/2006 5:43:52 PM Lovely orchid!
Denny's blossoms are finally drying up...one thing about orchids is you get to enjoy their blooms so long. I've long since lost track of which Phaelenopsis is Phil and which is Phoebe, but anyway one of them is throwing a stem now and I hoping for a new stalk of blooms to enjoy in a matter of weeks.
I'm really sorely tempted to buy a few more...but I will have to dump the more ordinary plants I have around. Idon't have the space or patients for too many at one time. 3475. thoughtful - 1/8/2006 5:56:16 PM My xmas cactus at work is blooming beautifully now. It has much larger blossoms than my home one with mostly white and touches of pink and salmon in the throat. Sorry no pics of that one.
But my home one is also blooming. A gift from a gf's mother who was clearing out her greenhouse to make room for orchids. Hard to believe that was back about 1975 and the cactus is still going strong. It's enormous and I'm reluctant to move it except as necessary...it hangs in my back room in a west window. A close up on just one of the blossoms. Variegated pepperomia visible in the background.
 3476. thoughtful - 1/8/2006 5:57:50 PM patience not patients. Sheesh.
3477. Ronski - 1/9/2006 12:30:20 AM 
A "dancing ladies" type Oncidium (note the skirts): Onc. 'Sweet Sugar'
3478. Ms. No - 1/9/2006 7:32:18 PM MSG has never bothered me so I don't pay much attention to it. Once I figured out that it's linked to headaches not cancer I never worried about it. It's a natural by-product of soy, isn't it?
Nellie & Joe's is great --- that's what I used for my pies. I want to find a recipe for Grillo and the lime sauce that you serve it with. So far no luck, but I'm thinking I might be able to cobble something together. 3479. thoughtful - 1/10/2006 5:04:14 PM So I made the chocolate molten baby cakes and they were absolutely delish and very easy to make. I was concerned about how easily they'd come out of the custard cups, but they came out nicely. Only thing is the dessert is definitely only for the choc lovers...intense choc lovers. I also baked them and had them leftover and reheated for a few secs in the microwave and they were good that way too. A very flexible recipe. But definitely in need of vanilla ice cream to cut the deep choc taste for those who aren't intense choc lovers. 3480. Magoseph - 1/10/2006 5:24:25 PM I looked up the recipe, which I find rather complicated--did you change it a bit? 3481. thoughtful - 1/10/2006 6:14:10 PM Nope, no changes. It wasn't complicated at all...melted the choc in a double boiler. Beat the eggs, creamed the butter with the sugar, added the rest of the stuff and poured it into the greased custard cups and popped in the fridge until I was ready to bake. First batch i baked 11 min and it was a bit too long. 2nd batch i did 10 min and it was a bit too short. Timing is a bit fussy to get the exact right consistency of the stuff in the middle, but if too long or too little, it really doesn't matter that much as it doesn't change the flavor at all.
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