Fat Guy

I think a few people could work in there comfortably, though I prefer to work alone in any kitchen. Behind the fridge is just more counter space. The KitchenAid and rice cooker are sitting there at the moment.

According to the Kerry Gold marketing literature, it's all about the grass: "In Ireland, cows roam free in fresh air and graze in lush pastures of tender grass. From this benign environment and extraordinary diet come luscious milk so rich in beta-carotene, it can turn butter and cheese into a natural gold."

Andie, I totally agree. I'm no butter novice. I've had most every brand available in New York City, which includes major brands from all over the world. And I've had local, artisanal butters here and in several countries. I think Kerry Gold is simply great butter. Not the best I've ever had but the best I've been able to get regularly and easily in local supermarkets. Jenni, I'm able to get Kerry Gold both salted and unsalted in the stores near me.

Why is Kerry Gold butter so good? It's a product you can get in a lot of supermarkets, so they must make a ton of it, but it tastes like a small-batch, artisanal product. What makes it taste the way it does?

That is the greatest news ever.

I have one wheel in the front and two in the back, but after looking through the manual a couple of times (the instructions are not terribly clear) I figured out how to raise and lower the top rack.

There are two big conical/cylindrical carbon filters in there. The hood works well for minor filtering, like when I sautee mushrooms. I haven't torture tested it on deep frying or searing meat or anything like that yet. I don't have high hopes.

As far as I know the two are pretty much interchangeable. My understanding is that there may be slight differences between the most traditional pastrami and the most traditional smoked meat, but defined broadly the two are the same.

I just measured and front-back is 18.5" on top, 20.25" on bottom. My top shelf does not appear to be height-adjustable unless I'm missing something, but I do think I can remove it -- I haven't tried.

I'm glad there isn't a simple answer.

I've been living now for about six weeks with a new Bosch dishwasher (Integra 500 series) and have loaded, run and unloaded it enough times now to have some opinions. For comparison, my former dishwasher was a KitchenAid. Things I like about the Bosch: It is super-quiet. Whether or not it's running can be ambiguous if there's any other noise coming from anywhere else in the apartment or even from outside. It is, I am told, energy-efficient. I have no way to measure it but everybody says it's so. It cleans dishes very well. Things I hate about the Bosch: It doesn't dry dishes well. I think this is related to the energy-efficiency issue. The Bosch does not have a heating element. It uses the hot water from the plumbing plus some sort of evaporation/condensation technology. Sounds good on paper, but you have to empty the dishwasher with a dish towel in hand to go the last mile on drying. The top rack is smaller than it should be. I think they thought they were doing people a favor by making the top rack not as deep front-to-back as the bottom. It does help with accessibility of the bottom a little, but it's not worth losing the space. The design of the racks is wacky. Whomever laid out the racks has probably never eaten from a bowl of any decent size. The racks are amazingly great if you have to clean 75 plates at once. For anything else, the placement issues generated by the rack design are just annoying. Who's next?

A mother at my son's school told me yesterday that she uses a menu-planning website, in her case http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/ , to plan the week's meals and shopping list -- and that she's saving about $100 a week on groceries while getting better feedback on meals from her family. Googling around I see there's a whole world of these menu-planning websites. Does anybody here use one of them and/or have an opinion about the phenomenon?

I've gone my whole life without really understanding Tupperware. Like many people I've used the term "tupperware" generically on occasion to refer to plastic containers. But I've never been to a Tupperware party or anything like that. Is there such a thing as a Tupperware party? What happens at one? How do I get invited to one? Is Tupperware any better than the equivalent product from Rubbermaid or some other major brand? Seeking a Tupperware primer.

I've got no clue as to their origins. I think we got them at a thrift store way back.

Is it a pain to dig butter out of that thing?

I packed it up again right after posting but I'd say about 6" long. Next time I get to them I can take an exact measurement.

I found a set of six of these while unpacking: What the heck is it for?

Williams-Sonoma and many others are calling "dinnerware" what we used to call "dishes." How do we feel about this? Is "dinnerware" the right word?

I have to confess that for the past 20 years my system for butter storage has most often been leaving it in its wax-paper or foil wrapper. As I use the butter it gets more unruly. Eventually I might transfer it to a zipper bag, or glass ramekin with plastic wrap on top. I'm feeling that I need to upgrade my butter storage and would love to hear your solutions, ideas, thoughts, wit and wisdom. I'm leaning against a traditional long rectangular butter dish because there are now so many shapes of butter in play: not just the normal East Coast sticks but also the US Western shape Trader Joe's sells, the brick shape that comes from European producers, and the irregular shapes of the Ben's butter I sometimes get at Fairway.

It was a rectangular prism with rind on one edge, so assuming it's from the center it's top- or bottom-center not dead center of the wheel in all three dimensions.

I was cooking with my friend Larry today and the recipe called for the juice of a couple of limes. I handed him the limes and, after washing them off, he threw them in the microwave for 20 seconds. What? According to Larry, if you do that you get more juice. Could it be true? Am I the last person in the world to get the memo on this? Are you all going to post, oh, sure, I always do that before squeezing limes and lemons? Or is it a completely crazy, outlandish claim? Or something in between?

I was up in the Bronx the other day buying some Parmigiano Reggiano. The guy selling it had some whole wheels and also some pieces that had come off other wheels. I pointed to a piece that looked nice to me and asked how much it weighed. It was the right weight for me so I told him I'd take it. He said, when packaging it up, "This is a really nice piece, center-cut." Is that a legitimate claim and distinction? Or was he just making me feel good. I will say, perhaps because I have a feeble mind that's easy to influence, that the cheese tastes particularly good to me.

I'm not sure quantity is the major variable in how well the dishwasher cleans the dishes. Arrangement and the condition of the dishes going in seem more important.

Thanks for all the advice. I think it came out well. Next time I'll probably let the butter brown a little more.

I just took it out of the alcohol bath. I need to wait a bit and check again but, preliminarily, it seems to have worked.