pomobabble's Profile

I love Haystack cheeses-- I had no idea they started out in prison! Wow!

We add jalapeno, onion, and cilantro-- but nix the pecans and pineapple. So good!

This post is spot on! We have a knife set, but never use anything in it but the bread knife, preferring to use either our Henckels chef's knife (most often) or paring knife (less often-- those perform any cutting/slicing job you could think of. The knife set is sort of a waste of space.

I was an adult before I realized that there were people in this world, real live people with all their tastebuds and in their right minds, who didn't like okra. And I just barely believed that such a thing could be true.

I love fried okra the most, I think, but I also love pickled okra and little panfried okra cakes with egg, cornmeal, fresh homegrown tomatoes, garlic and onion.

Since I love shopping at small local stores (and happen to work at one), I can't see myself ever really using this, except maybe for household things like cat litter, toiletries, paper goods, etc. I can't imagine it having any place in my kitchen, as I'm so married to the idea of being inspired by what's available at the specialty cheese/grocery store where I work, the small grocery store down the street that specializes in local products, or the farmer's market. Even staples like my sugar (organic raw cane), flour (King Arthur), salt (grey, pink, or fleur de sel), meats (locally sourced and ethical), and cleaning products (Mrs. Meyers!) come from these markets. I have relationships with the people I buy from, and I know that the people who buy from the place where I work have relationships with us. Not maintaining those relationships takes us just a little further away from the idea of slow food, I think. I wonder if Alice Waters would put one of these in her kitchen. :)

Did I just miss the link to the wallpaper in the first picture?

Though Emmenthaler, Gruyere, and Appenzeller are the most traditional fondue cheeses, you could be wild and crazy and try some other mountain cheeses like Beaufort (oh, man, it's the best), Comte, or Hoch Ybrig. I'm not a huge Emmenthaler fan, so I would totally replace it with Beaufort in a heartbeat.

As for fondue pots, I would think that crock pots would work, but if you want fondue pots I'd check thrift stores-- they are usually found in abundance, as I'm guessing fondue pots are among some of the first things people donate in their own kitchen cures. :)

The last fondue party I went to (thrown by the owners of the cheese store where I work, aka the best fondue party ever) I had some fondue that was made with a little truffle oil-- so amazing.