Re: heat and water

No wonder American cuisine is dreadful. Are there no farmers' markets where the organic-vegetarian-hippie freaks peddle what they grow?

Had an interesting experience today myself. I make a tart--Pillsbury pie crust bottom, cottage cheese/clotted cream [blended] base, fried bacon and Mexican white onions topping, liberally sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and baked in a 450 oven of 15-20 minutes. So we decided it would make a nice Sunday supper so we began assembling the ingredients in--we should have known better--Wal-Mart.

Everything went pretty much okay until we got to the clotted cream part. I cornered a guy in the deli section and asked "Where's the clotted cream?" He got this really big smile on his face and said, "Hey, man, this is Wal-Mart. We might carry it in 2, 3 years, but don't hold your breath."

On Aug 6, 2005, at 5:10 PM, Cathy Carpenter wrote:

The key is, as you said, "we're set up for it". East of the
Mississippi, (and I think in much of Missouri - don't know about
Iowa) farmers do not irrigate. It does not pay them to do so, because
most years there is enough from the sky moisture to sustain the crops
they plant. Further west, farmers have to irrigate, or they would not
be able to farm at all, so the systems are in place. (Easy to see
from the sky as you "fly over" (no political comments needed!).
Had a "Locally grown" food festival today at our downtown city park.
I volunteered to run the "weird vegetables" table. Brought my edible
soybeans, cooked as "salted in the pod" edamame. Most people liked
it, and asked where they could purchase them. Had to say - two hours
south in St. Louis' ethnic groceries. Had okra on display, and had to
tell inquirers that they too had to go to the "big city". I can't
blame the producers. They have to make a living, and if they can't
sell what they produce, they can't, but there has to be a better way!

Cathy, west central IL, z5b

On Aug 5, 2005, at 10:27 PM, David Franzman wrote:


Hi folks

Just thought of an addition sparked by Pam's comment about how hot
it gets here.  In northern Ca. it doesn't stay as hot as Texas
that's for sure.  We have the cool ocean breezes that come in in
the form of fog that keeps us in a perpetual heat wave.  But many
folks in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys experience that
kind of heat and then some.  That's not to mention southern Ca. in
the desert regions where those are the normal type of temps. My
friend in Phoenix hasn't had a drop of rain since January where
they got so much it almost flooded them out of house and home...but
none since then.

Again, we're set up for that and I think that's the difference.
Mentally we don't expect any rain and so it's not depressing when
it doesn't come.  I remember when we went through a decade long
drought in the 80's and it sucked.  You would see the clouds come
over and break up before it dropped anything.  I know what it's
like and I hate droughts so even though I'm a smart--- I do feel
your pain Pam.

David
http://www.atouchofthetropics.net
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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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