Book Review: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry.

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School, Kathleen Flinn.

Bob, I saved this recipe, and will likely use chicken thighs. Rabbit is not readily available here, even at a meat shop. I am wondering what you would serve with this, and am thinking rice?

I'd keep it simple, Bob, as you suggest. Rice would be good, the author suggests green beans. In the summer I would consider peas or fingerling potatoes. In winter, maybe a root vegetable like turnips.

So are these Nishigoi in a pond out in the yard? Just curious.

I seem to be moving from graphic novels toward the world of manga, and recently ordered some Japanese flash cards from Tuttle. I am rather sure that the language is probably beyond me but I would like to be able to decode the simpler katakana expressions.

I don't seem to have a problem with the Russian, Greek, or Arabic alphabets but I just bought a set of Hebrew flash cards and was delighted to find that I could read the label on the Israeli mango nectar in my local grocery store. So if the flashcards gave me a quantum leap with Hebrew letters maybe another set would give me some insight into these obscure little books.

I am probably about as sticky a collector as you. Almost by mistake I bought a sterling silver cheese scoop on eBay a while ago. I hadn't realized that there was such a thing, but stumbled across it and placed a bid. Two weeks later I had three cheese scoops, and I had to hold back mightily not to buy one with a carved ivory handle from a dealer in England. It's a sickness sometimes...

Frank

Koi -- This all started in 1977 when David was 7 -- he wanted a small fish pond, and I made the mistake of digging one on a slope of a hill. Three weeks later and some exhausting labor, we had a 1200 gallon pond.

When Janet built our house, she added a 10,000 gallon pond with two windows into a wine tasting room and next to our wine cellar. Last fall we resurfaced the interior of the pond, and when we are sure the pond is safe in the spring we'll stock it with some nice fish that we are boarding in New Jersey.

My office is cantilevered over a part of the pond, and this picture taken from a bridge over the pond. We've just stuccoed the walls and are ready to spray the surfaces; you can see the windows into the wine room.



Here's a view similar to the one our koi will have into the wine tasting room; that koi isn't alive, of course.




Here are two of the future inhabitants, one is in quarantine for KHV in New Jersey; the other is spending the winter in a mud pond in Japan and may be here in next fall unless we decide to enter it in the All Japan Koi Show.





A Kujaku, Janet's fish, and in New Jersey.



A Kohaku, now in Japan, and with luck, my best fish.

It's amazing how the smallest thing can snowball!

And we haven't discussed the indoor pond and the two smaller outdoor ponds.

Regards, Bob

[Robin Garr]

Rabbit is not readily available here, even at a meat shop.

Bob, I'm not fond of chomping on bunny myself, but if you want to try the real thing, check with this Central Kentucky rabbit producer. They sell at the outdoor produce markets and a couple of retail shops in Louisville, and it wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't get their product in Lexington.

Notice that the link will not be clickable because the state's odd use of parentheses in the URL breaks the forum hotlink system, but paste in the full URL including the "(8906)", and you're there:

http://www.kyagr.com/Main.aspx?procedure=show_page(8906)

Robin,

Thanks for the pointer on where to find rabbit. I grew up on a farm in Southeast Missouri, and rabbit was frequently on the table. I can't even remember the last time I dined on rabbit, but I bet I still have a taste for it. Your information has led me to the Ky Department of Agriculture which in turn led me to a rabbit and poultry producer in Frankfort. So I will check them out and I owe it to you. I am thinking a nice Oregon pinot noir (Stone Wolf) would go well with a fricassee. I will check it out, Thanks again.