So I just joined Costco. The greeter asked if I'd just moved to the area, then acted as though I was some mad eccentric who'd finally decided to have the electricity connected after 8 years. OK, I've finally joined Costco. What's yummy there?
It's hot, and I need some ideas for couscous salad. Do you make a savory one, with cucs etc? Or sweeter, with dried fruit? What's your take on couscous salad?
Ed, cheers on your weight loss to date. Its a slow, frustrating business. I guess I'd be less inclined to respond well to being lectured, even in the most loving fashion possible, than you or others in this post. For one thing, its far from certain that fat folk have shorter life spans. There are studies to prove just about any conclusion you favor on that score. For another - until you've dealt with weight issues yourself, you really haven't a clue. Walk the treadmill, level 1, in my stretchy yoga pants before you judge me. But, hey, that's just me. Whatever works for you. Good luck, and keep up the great posts.
The way this worked in Italy when I was there years ago was that there was a barrel of red and a barrel of white in the back of the grocery/general store. Table wines but perfectly fine, and cheap. You always had an empty wine bottle from somewhere, and you could fill it up for a few lire. If you didn't like the wines the guy on your street carried, you walked a block or two over and tried the next one. It was perfect for broke students like me back then, but upscale WH types? Maybe a few cheap and cheerful house wines might sell from the barrel, but I can't see it working for most broad market wine sellers.
White zin in a box
cheap bulk wine, a waste of time
blush if you drink it.
Le Moulin de la Vierge, 166 Blvd Souffrin in the 15th arrondisement. The best bakery ever, and just around the corner from my old apartment in the 7th. Their baguettes were perfect, no way to get one home without tearing off the end and eating it on the way. Croissants - impeccable. Their take on brownies - amazing. Maybe not a restaurant, strictly speaking, but all the basics for our best meals in Paris.
Thank you! My daughter is an anime/Japan-ophile, and wants to make miso shiru at home. I've pulled together everything but the bonito flakes, willl follow your lead when we're ready to cook.
I was sorry to read of this author's death. But if we're discussing his writing, I thought that "Consider the Lobster" was a self-righteous, self-referential slam of the Maine Lobster Fesival. I'm not from Maine and almost never eat lobster, and I came to the piece (which ran in Gourmet) with an open mind. But it seemed like Wallace had no affinity for the event he was supposedly covering, and his contemputous attitude left me with no interest in reading anything else that he wrote.
HIs death is a tragedy, but I can't join the universal acclaim for his writing.
Try "The Daily Soup" cookbook. Those guys know soup - a lot of good ideas. I found a copy at the library.
Wow, what a lot of great ideas! Cheeses and nut mixes sound especially appealing. Thank you all. I'll need to go back soon!
Cream cheese and olive sandwiches, or cream cheese and walnuts. Or the occasional Fluffernutter. A piece of fruit (apples, or sad bruised bananas), milk money, and maybe one more goodie, if it was my lucky day. Good stuff.
Euw. This is just vile. Stripper deer tweaking figleaf bear's privates? Strippe-critter's chest sprayed with orange-yellow liquid? ZEBRA strippers?
@ fluffnik, I agree "Scantily-clad gazelle" is a deal-breaker.
I'd rather see a French naked yogurt ad than this nasty foolishness.
I intend on finding out the possibility of this tonight at my local wine shoppe. This is a very thought provoking article! When I lived in Prague there was a new wine festival in the Fall and you could do something similar to this; just bring any bottle to a spigot and for a dollar fill 'er up!
As previous posters have mentioned, the American market is about choice. Throughout Europe. drinkers have a CHOICE. You can decide to go to your local wine shop and buy the bulk table wines available, or you can spend more money and buy the premium bottlings.
Having been to both Italy and France, where these options exist, this gives the consumer the option to decide what they want to do. In Italy, some of the best wine I had was a bulk local Barbera, sold for about 5 euros a liter. I certainly had wonderful bottles of wine, but for the quality and price point you couldn't beat it.
If we can offer a choice in the States, fill your own for everyday varietals, or go to the 300+ bottle shop, and increasing the recycling efforts, carbon neutral wineries, and better environmental responsibility, then we can achieve a balance.
oh, and WORLD PEACE! ;-)
One other issue would most likely be storage....can we trust them to store the wines properly, at the right temp, etc?!? Knowing how most grocery stores' storage conditions are less than stellar, I don't know that I'd trust them with my wine. But we certainly should continue to think of alternatives and move in different directions.
I can't drink alcohol so this might be a bit odd coming from me, but in principle if this ever went through, this would be a wonderful boon for local growers by potentially opening people's eyes and going to the source to purchase wins, or as Pourgirl mentions, patronizing a store that has a particular flavor that you want.
I guess it's really silly how many wines there are at your average grocery store chain (300+ types), and thinking about how each wine comes in a(several) case(s), and each case is delivered to each grocery store. For the amount of floor space all those wines take, 3 barrels would take up less than 1/2 the floor space.
If the particular barrel doesn't sell well, get a different type next time an order needs to be placed. Warehousing, ordering, and contract negotiation for wine would change, but I'm sure all that's changed over time anyway.
Very very traditional consumers of wine much prefer to buy wines directly from the barrel or the vat. This has been usual in our winery in the last decades. Some of them come here between March and May, just after the malolatic fermentation has occurred, with their own bottles and demijohns to take home a wine they think is healthier and more genuine.
As you say, probably is old-fashioned, but wineries can find here a good way to sell their wines.
I'd have to agree with the previous commenters, as much as I really love the notion (and by the way, I think it may be legal for producers in CA to do this - for example, some micro-breweries have refillable "growlers". But I suspect this is at the producer location only, not the retailer.)
A barrel weighs several hundred pounds full, so you would need a large enough truck to make that delivery safely, and a forklift at each end to move it - you either have to take the 'lift with you or there has to be one available. Kind of leaves the smaller retailers out of the picture...
I'd have to agree with the previous commenters, as much as I really love the notion (and by the way, I think it may be legal for producers in CA to do this - for example, some micro-breweries have refillable "growlers". But I suspect this is at the producer location only, not the retailer.)
A barrel weighs several hundred pounds full, so you would need a large enough truck to make that delivery safely, and a forklift at each end to move it - you either have to take the 'lift with you or there has to be one available. Kind of leaves the smaller retailers out of the picture...
Deb, thanks for mentioning Free the Grapes! Yes, the exclamation point is part of our name and our goal is to channel consumer frustration over direct shipping prohibitions into constructive action (i.e., better laws). The Supreme Court may have ruled on the issue, but we still have more grapes to free.
And we have our winners! Congrats to jpschust, shalomblack, jboylan, Holly, and kathleenyohanna. But a toast to all who came out with their wine-kus. It was fun reading them all as they came in over the weekend. Winners will b contacted by email, and you can always see a list of recent winners on our Contest Winners page. Thanks!
My honey drinks wine
I don't appreciate it
Gary teach me, please
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