Comments on: Snippy Over Snipes…

By: emsy

emsy — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:21:56 +0000

MM, about your ortolan comment, I read online (Wikipedia) and it said that diners drape their heads with a napkin to savor the aroma of the cooked bird, and not eat the meal with the bird covered (which is what I understood from your comment). The whole draping part is to better enjoy the smell of the food rather than some moral reason (although Wikipedia said that “some” say it is done to hide from God). I also read the same thing here https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9687163/page/3/

By: gino

gino — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:50:35 +0000

well put…that should shut them up. i hunt them when in season. adobo and deep fried…yummy! just discovered this site…good info for recipes

By: betty q.

betty q. — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:06:54 +0000

Do you like raw honey, Corrine? If you do, I will try to save a small yogurt container for you and try to bring it back with me provided it is not confiscated at customs. I am a sucker for raw honey ever since I tasted it some 20 years ago. I used to belong to a community garden in vancouver where they had beehives as well. Early spring and mid summer, we collect the honey. I like the honey collected fromspring since it has a hint of perfume from the flowers, very fragrant honey compared to the one collected in late summer….more of a blackberry perfume and dark as well. Just so, I have more than enough to last us through the winter, I used to volunteer collecting the honey since the volunteers are given free honey for all our efforts. But now, that I have moved, I still can get honey for I know the old lady in charge of portioning them. In fact, it is about this time that I know I will start getting reminders from friends and neighbours not to forget them when I get the honey.

The odd thng you know Corrine, is that this commnity garden DOES NOT somehow feel the absence of the bees. Their beehives are alive and well and the bees are happy campers…mainly because this garden is an ORGANIC GARDEN and the surrrounding area as well within a 10 mile radius. That’s why the bees around there are happy for they can only fly between 2 to 2 1/2 miles when they go out to forage and back to the hive and out again. However, the entire colony can cover an area of 15,000 acres given that there are about 40, 000 to 60, 000 bees in a healthy colony….amazing isn’t it?

By: corrine

corrine — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:59:03 +0000

bettyq, that was very interesting info. I love fragrant flowers. In fact I have several planted by our bedroom windows and I feel so relaxed when I smell their fragrance! But I haven’t seen the bees. We are surrounded by many trees and some of them are huge flowering trees like the caballero. At least, there are butterfly farms…but bee farms? I hope the bees return. *sniff*

By: betty q.

betty q. — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:55:46 +0000

Yes, Corrine…isn’t it scary? Canada is not so much affected yet. So we need to PROTECT AT ALL COSTS WHAT WE HAVE HERE (our honeybees and other subspecies!). One time, Corrine I was driving and waiting for a light change and I saw this bumblebee hovering around the car. I wanted to take her home and release her into the community garden so she won’t inhale all those car emmissions!

Are you talking about the BEE movie by Jerry Seinfeld? Though I enjoyed watching the movie , I think Jerry Sienfeld should have called the POLLEN JOCKS(the bee squad that goes out on foraging for pollen and nectar)…..POLLEN BABES!!!! since they are ALL FEMALES…the drones or the males just stay at home in the hive and sit on their — DOING NOTHING!!!! except going out with the QUEEN BEE!!!

It is not all that bad the the honey bees are used for pollinating trees or orchards. The thing to remember though is that beekeepers take care of their hives and the orchard farmers need to stay away from using any form of insecticide so the bees will not ingest the toxic chemical once they snifff the blossoms. Honey bees are used to pollinate the orchard since they are the effective species for doing so. They won’t be as effective in pollinating say for instance squashes or tomatoes and some other vegetables since if the honeybees even try to pollinate these vegetables, they are usually BONKED ON THE HEAD by the stigma …it vibrates and poor honeybee gets BUKOL ALL THE TIME!!!! KAYA the native pollinators like bumblebee does the job well since they can withstand all the noggin on the head!!!!…they are much bigger than the honeybees!!!…OK, guys this is TRUE! I am not kidding!!!

Besides being the HARDEST WORKING CREATURES besides the ant. they are also smart. Small as their brain is, they have the ability to learn …they can navigate their way through from the hive and back using solar dirrections and communicate it to their sistersin the hive. They are also guided by their acute olfactory sense. So, to bring back the bees to your garden, Corrine, try planting very fragrant flowers! You want to attract THAT SCOUTING BEE and one she finds your garden, the REST WILL COME!!!!

By: corrine

corrine — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:42:12 +0000

MM, I understand your being upset because you really put in a lot of effort in this blog. You are generous with quality information. Flying V is really sniping you, huh?

bettyq, I read about the disappearing bees in Discovery Magazine and it’s quite alarming! Suddenly, I realized, I haven’t seen bees in my garden. I live in a subdivision with lots of trees and some of them flowering…but no more butterflies, dragonflies, or bees around. Ohhhh my!!! The loss of the bees will have a disastrous effect on food production. My son said the Bee story is true (is that a Pixar or Disney animation?). Really sad that bees are actually being used to manually pollinate farms and are transferred by truck from one farm or plantation to another because there are few bees nowadays!

By: Apicio

Apicio — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:08:24 +0000

For anyone with lots of web time, there is an interesting fourteen minute radio coverage of an ortollan experience from the PBS Chicago program This American Life. Click on Full Episode and when the radio screen comes up, move the timer to the 18 minute mark to catch the broadcast at the beginning of the segment:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1218

By: edee

edee — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:48:57 +0000

i’ve seen jeremy clarkson in telly eating ortollan in france, and just as how apicio described, with their heads under a large napkin….and i remember him saying that it was good….and i remember being fascinated with the way they eat it……

By: Apicio

Apicio — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:46:46 +0000

Actually, you cover your head with a hood folded from a large napkin they say to concentrate the cooked bird’s aroma though other’s claim to hide your shame from partaking of the tiny birds which were traditionally blinded first to induce them to gorge on their feed to fatten them up.

And remember the crunchy heads of the quails in their puff-pastry coffins in Babetteâ€™s Feast?

By: Marketman

Marketman — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:46:52 +0000

Pia, and you have to cover the bird while you eat it out of respect for its having surrendered its life for your eating pleasure. Francois Mitterand is reported to have enjoyed Ortolan (illegal to sell it, but not to eat it in France) at a meal (last supper equivalent) he organized for himself and his friends about a week before he passed away. Apicio, yay, you are back home by now I suppose, and to wintery weather still I gather from our recent foray into your general neck of the woods…