>  ML> We'll figure out something sometime.
> I'm sure we will... And just a heads up... I leave tomorrow for the Pond
> for another almost week, so I'll be not around either bbses or email for
> the duration... Then I'll be home for less than a week before I head off

Thanks for the heads-up.

> for my family's camping (also without internet access).... I'll try to
> stay as current as possible in between, and will be taking the 'puter
> with me both trips to be catching up on messages while away...

We're counting on that - the echo operates ons a 
delicate balance.

>  > the berries, very sad....  While up at the Pond with the kid, he bought
>  > a couple quart boxes of strawberries (probably Driscoll, don't remember
>  > from where) at the ALDIs there in Potsdam... He ended up gifting me with
>  > one of those boxes, as they were starting to go earlier than he
>  > expected, and needing eating right away...
>  ML> I find that about to go industrially farmed berries can 
>  ML> improve a bit in flavor shortly before their demise.
> I'm not sure that these were doing so.... 

I've found often enough that peaches go from unripe to 
rotten without passing through the yummy stage.

>  > I decided mine needed heavy cream to be edible... at least in that
>  > quantity...  
>  ML> That treatment doesn't hurt.
> It certainly didn't...  

Today's berries were giant and beautiful, both the 
blacks and the blues - and they both were almost 
totally lacking in flavor. Not sweet either. I
think possibly Driscoll's again (they were bulk).

>  > At home, I might have halved them and sprinkled sugar on them, then let
>  > them steep in the fridge for a day or so before using on biscuits.... 
>  ML> Or perhaps made jam.
> Possibly, but that's generally more effort than I put out... 

Jam is almost bizarrely easy to make, and if it doesn't
set up, you can call it syrup.

>  > They probably were exported somewhere, too... not a very good
>  > advertisement of quality, to be sure... I remember hearing of such,
>  > but I don't recall what the brand was, either....
>  ML> Whatever possesses people to do that, I mean sacrifice
>  ML> their own good name and that of others for a fleeting
>  ML> and short-term bankability.
> No clue at all... seems so counter-productive....

Some people are as short-sighted in insight as 
I am in eyesight.

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01

      Title: Speculaas
 Categories: Cookies, Ethnic
      Yield: 24 servings

      4 c  Flour                               1 pn Nutmeg
      1 c  Butter                              1 pn Ginger
  1 1/2 c  Brown sugar                         1 pn Black pepper
      1 ts Salt                                     Milk
      4 ts Baking powder                            Blanched almonds
(opt.); OR
      1 ts Cinnamon                                 Candied fruit peel
(opt.)
      1 pn Cloves

  Speculaas are a traditional Dutch biscuit or cookie baked on St.
Nicholas'
  Eve (Dec. 5).

  PREHEAT OVEN TO 325F. Mix all ingredients but the almonds and candied
fruit
  peel together. Add milk until it makes a stiff paste that can be rolled
  out. Roll into sheets and then press blanched almonds and chopped candied
  peel on top, if you desire. Cut into rectangles roughly 2-by-4-inches and
  transfer to a greased cooking sheet. Bake until light brown.

  MARION CUNNINGHAM

  PRODIGY GUEST CHEFS COOKBOOK

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