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I've made the Fresh Ricotta and Egg Ravioli with Browned Butter and it is hands down one of the best dishes I've ever made. Of course, depends entirely on the quality of your ingredients. But it was really outstanding. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/10/fresh-ricotta-and-egg-ravioli-with-brown-butter-recipe.html

I signed up for it through a gilt group offer about a month ago. I can honestly say I've learned quite a bit. You can see all the courses listed without being logged in (I think they allow you to view the first part of a lesson without being logged in). Anyway, i got a year for $99 and have taken maybe 10 out of the 60+ lessons. I can say that I've learned as much - if not more - in those ten courses as I did in the $1400 course I took at a local culinary institute. It's nice because you can replay courses as many times as you want - which would have been nice in my real life course. As for watching YouTube - maybe it's similar - I don't really know cause I haven't watched any YouTube cooking demos. The videos on rouxbe are good quality - very clear and very close up. Anyway - I guess it's been a good experience for me so far- I recommend it.

I actually quite like my teeny tiny kitchen in my teeny tiny condo - it is very efficient. The only problem is there is no ventilation to the outside - so the hard-wired smoke alarm tends to go off from time to time. Now my mother's kitchen in her brand new house that she designed (with the help of an architect)...is a nightmare. Oven and fridge are way too small (smaller than mine). It's a very big kitchen, so nothing is ever handy (or where you think it should be). And her lovely Kohler faucet that she spent a small fortune on - while pretty to look it - sprays water in 50 directions any time turn it on and stick something under it. Nice...

Wholeheartedly agree with this. Something I've been bad at, but am vowing to be better about responding to other's posts (I'm a blog newb, what can I say?). A little give, a little get.

Submit a blog post on tastespotting and foodgawker. I got a lot of traffic from that. I don't get a ton of hits a day, but more than none. But yeah, a blog can be difficult to keep up with. This is my third try in like 5 years and I've finally kept with it for a bit. I mainly do it to keep track of things for myself and as a creative outlet.

I just participated in Hobo Mondays mentioned above. Also - there's Tuesdays with Dorie (which happens way too often for me and my waistline). And you might get some ideas from http://www.ismyblogburning.com/

Ditto this. Spotted Cow is made by New Glarus - the brewery alluded to in a previous post. Sadly, they do not distribute outside of Wisconsin (can't keep up with demand according to a spokesperson).

Funny, I was just thinking about Jungle Jim's yesterday. I used to live in Cincy - about 9 years ago (wow, didn't realize it has been that long...) and used to make special trips to go there. It's HUGE - the size of an airport hangar. It's like every ethnic market you can think of combined into one. So, in the ethnic foods section, each aisle is devoted to a different country or region. It's amazing. Everything you could possibly think of under one roof. The produce was great and so was the fish, meat and cheese sections. Definitely worth a stop. But from what I remember, it was a nightmare on the weekends.

I recently had a fabulous meal at Umami Moto in downtown Milwaukee. The chef used to work with Beau McMillan at Elements (Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain in AZ). The lobster chowder was to die for. Also very good were the Ahi sashimi (loved the pairing with watermelon), the heirloom tomato salad (with olive oil ice cream). The diver scallops and and the sea bass were also outstanding. For dessert, the pistachio ice cream with champagne sabayon was sooo good. We really enjoyed our meal(s - ok, I admit, we went twice in one week when I was in town a few weeks back since we liked it so much). http://umamimoto.com/ I have also heard great things about Hinterland from my family, but have not made it there yet. http://www.hinterlandbeer.com/restaurantmilwaukee.shtml I moved away from Milwaukee maybe 4 years ago and it seems like there has been an explosion in restaurants since I left. The area near Umami Moto has a number of interesting restaurants. I'm going to try Carnevor next time I'm in town. If anyone has had any experience, I'd love to hear about it. http://www.milwaukee.com/carnevor-steak-house/

Nope, we don't know any further than the general vicinity. And right now, it's only been narrowed down to the three areas I listed above.

Thanks for your responses! At the moment, we are hoping for 30 people. We potentially would like to get 90 people, but that is being rather ambitious (for us). We are at the beginning stages of planning and need to come up with a cost estimate. No dietary restrictions at this point since we have no idea who is all going (although, I'm sure there will be at least one vegetarian in the group). We have been given three possible locations for the work we will be doing: St. Bernard, Orleans or Jefferson Parish. I agree a restaurant would probably be our best bet - so any recs regarding that are greatly appreciated. I will look into the ones you have posted.

Hello - I am not located in New Orleans and am working on a volunteer trip to the area. We are in need of a lunch caterer for a group of maybe 30 people (could be more) for next spring. The first thought is a boxed lunch or something that travels well and is easy to eat on the go, but I think it would be nice to have something that would be a good sample of local flavors (turkey sandwich sounds really boring). Anyway, if anyone knows of a good caterer or restaurant that could supply for a large group, I would greatly appreciate the recommendation! Thanks!

I was just going to recommend Chef Interrupted as well. Some of the recipes aren't all that simple, but the results are great. I also have ATK's Restaurant Recipes - similar concept (and some great stuff in there too).

Just brought some vanilla beans back from Tahiti (and tiare tea). To be honest, I have no idea if I'm supposed to have them or not. Anyway, I marked the seeds category on my customs form, like a good girl, and handed the agent my form. Since my husband and I have different names, we filled out separate forms. The agent asked if we were married. I said yes. So he says "you only need one form" and crumples mine up and throws it in the trash. Well, ok. I guess I won't declare anything!

It's one of my family's favorite restaurants in Milwaukee - even among the Bartolotta restaurants. Beautiful setting and the food is always excellent. I usually am pretty boring and order the steak au poivre - but it's always very good.

Shoot, this is probably way too late...but anyway - we just got back from FP. Stayed at Moorea Pearl. Nearby the Pearl: 1. Caramelines for pastry and sandwiches - very good and probably the most economical meal you will eat there (what I love about FP - there is gruyere on EVERYTHING) 2. Le Sud - great pizza - I had the creme fraiche, potatoes, onion, olive and bacon. Very good. 3. Te Honu Iti - for a nice meal out. Very good. And you get to watch stingrays swim by while you eat. I had Mahi Mahi with vanilla sauce. My husband had a filet. Both were outstanding. Bora Bora: 1. Villa Mahana - outstanding. One of the best meals I've ever had. Make sure to reserve the top table ( it is so romantinc and also so obnoxious patrons don't ruin your fabulous meal...). Again, I had fish with vanilla sauce and my husband had filet. We started with foie gras - everything was fabulous. Cannot say enough good things about it. 2. St. James - we enjoyed our meal there. On the water, decorated a little more modern than most places. 3. We did not eat here, but I heard great things about Matira Restaurant. 4. Fare Manuia - our meal was good, but not excellent here. Enjoy your trip (if you haven't already gone)!

We also have the cat litter issue - have always used plastic grocery bags for this purpose. Recently, I bought biobags for this problem. Really, they are made for dog waste and I had to buy a special sized scoop (i.e. really small) so I could scoop the litter into the bag. Considering contacting the company about making bags with a wider opening... But anyway, it's sort of working and in my mind I feel better since they are supposedly 100% biodegradable. (as far as scooping only once a day - our female cat would not be tolerant of that and our male cat...well, he's pretty stinky)

So I finally made the jump and bought some BioBags for our pet's waste (drugstore.com is running a buy one, get one at 50% off deal right now). I always justified my use of plastic grocery bags because we needed something to dispose of the daily kitty litter scoopings. Now I need a replacement for my plastic grocery bags. I'm contemplating a basket - anyone use one? They are so cute, just not sure if they are more/less practical than a reusable bag (there are just two of us so we don't have huge grocery trips). Reisenthal Basket Metro Basket Anyone have any experience with these? I'm also looking at ecobags.com for mesh produce bags.

Finally bought a bottle of coke with sugar at a local fruit market ($1.19 I think for cute little glass bottle). Did a side by side comparison with regular coke and...I don't get it. I mean, it's good but I barely detected a difference to be quite honest. Certainly wasn't the earthshattering revelation I was expecting. Ah, well...

pansophia - than you for that confirmation and recommendation! I will look into it (and I see we have come up with yet another use for GMO corn?!)

We reuse our bags for pet waste - and to be honest, grab extras cause we run out. I have looked into "biodegradable" bags for pet waste - and would be more than willing to buy them if someone can convince me that they will degrade in a landfill (since I've heard complaints that they really don't). And yes, packing groceries is beyond a lost art. I was at Whole Foods of all places, where I guess I would expect people to know how to bag groceries (I guess since I'm paying so much more, I expect better service too) and the woman put my EGGS in with TWO 28oz CANS of tomatoes. Really? Do you really not know better???

I'm pretty sure BB&B lets you return registry gift items for cash - hence why it's a popular registry. At least that's what I recall from when I was registering last year. Macy's also lets you do 15% everything you don't get after the wedding. They also give you something called Macy's points that supposedly translates into a Macy's gift card (um, where's my card Macy's?? I think I better call them...) We registerd at Macy's, Crate and Barrel and a small local china shop. Crate and Barrel was by far the most popular among our guests. No one went to the local china shop - even though you could purchase online.

Hello, Can you count me in +1 for the Violet Hour? Thank you!

Smart suggestion. I also love hot McDonald's fries - even today's non-beef variety. And also second the nomination of Arby's curly fries (not sure if I've ever seen the spicy ones, but those sound good too).

I love it - all my food news contained in one spot (like today - male fish in the potomac are growing eggs - probably due to human birth control pills in the water supply - I didn't know!). Lots of interesting info to peruse (yes, while procrastinating work). Downloaded Diary of a Foodie and watched the first episode on my way to work today (train - not car!) and am convinced I need to make my own butter. Love it!