But I’m not allowed to chop their heads off until tomorrow. I was allowed to clean the icing bowl.
12 Likes
How is that possible? Hibiscus is so strong of a flavor. Maybe ethanol doesn’t do a very good extraction of the desirable aromatics? The mead recipes I see with hibiscus treat it like a tea and extract with hot water.
5 Likes
What would you do to improve it next time, should there be another try?
4 Likes
I wonder if the honey is contributing too much, perhaps.
More of the fruit zests, I think.
5 Likes
More photos, the Crescia cut, the pastiera (very traditional grain cake, cooked in milk with cream, orange and lemon peel, and loads of eggs), and the gnocchi freshly made with local red potatoes…
18 Likes
We were going to have some BBQ lamb, and the cake, but we realized we’re full, and will have them for dinner!
14 Likes
That gnocchi is pretty. Wow.
10 Likes
Save some for me, I’m on my way!
7 Likes
Our former neighbors used to have white, brown, and blue chicken eggs, but none of us liked the taste of the blue ones (which were, objectively, the prettiest!). Does your family agree, or maybe those are a different breed that also lays blue eggs?
8 Likes
duck eggs are blue. i always liked them (unless they are living on a lake. they will get a fishy taste from their aquatic diet. ours were grain fed. their eggs were clean tasting and fluffy).
as for chicken eggs, my recollection is of aurucana((sp?) chickens who lay colorful eggs, from pink to green and blue. i don’t remember them tasting any different.
edit: auraucana is how it is spelled. interesting chings, those.
7 Likes
They’re supposedly Marche style, but style is more about the size and shape.
4 Likes
We would have liked some additions, it was a quiet one this year 
6 Likes
Can’t seem to get any pics, as i gobble them up too quickly, but I’m in France, strawberries are in season, and my new favorite salad is:
Fresh greens, sliced strawberries, candied almonds, blue cheese (my favorite so far is the Roquefort, but I liked the milder Basque blue cheese, as well), all drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey.
At home I like to make a balsamic reduction, but I’m finding the new approach just as yummy and not as much trouble.
13 Likes
Full disclosure, I am not the biggest Kale fan. Laurie does hide it well in many of the foods she prepares to surprise me? But this is so cool: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/jersey-kale
9 Likes
I respect that. But…
KALE CHIPS!!!
7 Likes
Have her make Colcannon with kale instead of cabbage. And use the Lacinto/Tuscan version: long and lean with one central rib.
7 Likes
Recipe for a kale salad for people who don’t like kale
Half a bunch of kale on the stem
Large carrot
Handful of nuts of choice
Dried berries of choice
Dash of curry power
Vinegrette dressing of choice
1.Remove kale leaves from stems, cut leaves small
2.Use a peeler and make a pile of carrot shreds
3.Chop nuts with a sharp knife
4. Put nuts in mixing bowl and mix with curry powder
5. Mix kale, carrots, curried nuts and dried berries together. Add salad dressing and mix rigorously.
Cover and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes
The refrigeration +dressing will soften the kale.
7 Likes
To provide a more accurate answer posed to me (jokingly) in another thread by @FloridaManJefe - what am I doing in France?
Eating like a king, I tell you!
We went here this morning:
And it was everything I’d hoped for and more. The old building is lovely, and the variety of wares was off the charts. Hundreds of types of cheeses, seafood so fresh it wriggled, every sort of meat: duck, rabbit, all the parts of the pigs and cows, fresh bread and pastries, produce that looked like it was picked this morning, and then all sorts of prepared foods.
We maybe overdid it, but got a bunch of veggies and strawberries and croissants and a still-warm baguette, a slab of pretty fish turreen, head chees (this was Mr. Linkey’s idea…), 2 little rounds of soft cheeses, crab salad, marinated rabbit to cook at home, wine, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something.
And a rain shower broke out while we were shopping. It sounded so nice on the vaulted roof.
10/10, highly recommend 
14 Likes
