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John's
first flame Christi Barbour -- Dr. Christi Barbour, a professor of American
Politics at
Indiana
University, more details on our Friends page -- is very serious about
healthy food. Among other things, she doesn't eat meat, but we're lucky she
serves it to her guests. Christi also contributed to our other pages,
especially travel. She recommends for recipes:
http://www.epicurious.com : all the recipes from Bon Appetit and
Gourmet, completely searchable, with feedback (sometimes wacky) from cooks.
The following are Christi's sites for buying incredibly good food on the
Internet, with her comments.:
http://www.farm-2-market.com a broker for fresh seafood and Kobe beef
(don't ask me why). I can vouch for the seafood (amazing diver scallops
from Maine, oysters from the west coast, so-so American caviar), and the NYT
likes the beef. The guy who runs it is a character, but efficient. You
email an order, he emails his suppliers, they harvest and overnight the fish
to you the next day. Amazing. The scallops bring tears to my eyes. Really
cheap shipping costs (important since oysters are heavy) and one shipping
fee covers all the different shipments from different suppliers.
http://www.iseafood.com a wider variety of wares than farm-2-market,
but they gather it all in a warehouse and then send it out so it's not
always as fresh as it could possibly be (though always fresher than what we
get here in Bloomington). Scallops, lobster, and fish are good, but
oysters don't survive as well. This is picky, but I don't always like the
way they pack things. Stuff spills. I once ended up with cocktail sauce
over everything. They replaced it all the next day, and they always replace
the dead oysters, but still.... Maybe a little pricier than farm-2-market
too. On the other hand, it's a great source for great bagels and great lox.
http://www.hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com really good foie gras and fresh and
smoked duck. As a vegetarian I'm only interested in those things to serve
to other people, but what they have that is breath-takingly good that I love
is an imported Italian fig syrup. Not as extensive a selection, but cheaper
than
http://www.dartagnan.com (which is also a pretty good site, however, but
pricey) and William Sonoma and all those folks.
http://www.nuts4u.com a Texas guy that ships nuts and dried fruit.
Really fresh, great selection, delicious. Helpful too. I get emails like
"Tell me quick if you want these roasted and I'll do it before I ship your
order."
http://www.fromages.com a French site that sells French cheese. The
unpasteurized so-good-you-think-you'll-die kind (which I suppose is remotely
possible, given the raw milk content). Given that it comes from France,
it's not as pricey as you'd think, and so well worth it. And they do some
hard to find, reasonably priced wines too (though I feel about those pretty
much the way I do about the duck). They are also helpful. I've emailed them
a dinner menu and asked what cheeses will work best as a cheese course and
they've had great advice. Also they have been willing to get me cheeses
that aren't on their list. Fine folks.
http://www.earthy.com This guys is not cheap, but he supplies many
great restaurants and has a good selection of ingredients. I get great
haricot verts from him, and ramps and morels (and also dried mushrooms) and,
when I feel really flush, truffles (but don't get the summer truffles -- not
worth it). Even heirloom tomatoes out of season -- like April!
http://www.zingermans.com site of Zingerman's Deli (Ann
Arbor).
Great breads, cheeses (best Stilton I ever ate, bar none), and all sorts of
deli stuff. A treasure.
http://www.igourmet.com good source for cheeses that are not French and
unpasteurized. I get American cheeses from them often, like Humboldt Fog,
that could probably be ordered directly from the farms but come perfectly
fresh from igourmet and you can just order once. They have other good stuff
too.
http://www.pezzinifarms.com from
Castroville,
California,
the artichoke capital of the world. A crate of baby artichokes for $18 (but
of course you have to add more than that for shipping). The only way I can
make all those great Provencal dishes that call for whole baby artichokes.
http://www.nimanranch.com good meat -- beef, pork, and lamb. Again, I
only serve meat at dinner parties but I have friends who order all their
meat from these guys all the time.
http://www.sweetpalace.com A place we found in
Montana
that makes terrific fudge in house and has an outrageous candy selection
that you can order electronically. I've browsed the site, but never
ordered, so can't vouch for the service, only the fudge.
http://www.eastwestmart.com Again, I haven't ordered from these folks,
but friends of mine (who know them) have and swear by the middle eastern
bakery products. The only reason I haven't ordered from them is that we
have a decent middle eastern store in town and I sometimes get lucky enough
to get my pita delivered from Detroit by friends.
http://www.peck.it/peckshop/home.asp Haven't ordered from them yet
either, since the need hasn't arisen, but it's on my list. I assume it's
reliable since it's Peck.
http://www.projecttruffle.com/ a new food (to me) site. domestic
artisanal cheeses.
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