Alex

The old school one is fun and practical, but I'd go for this one.

Me, too. That's if I bother cutting it at all. For example, I never cut PB&J unless I'm taking it on a trip or to work, when I might want to eat only some and save the rest for later. (Yes, I know I can do that with an uncut sandwich, but that's sort of uncivilized.) On the other hand, Ms. Alex likes her PB&J cut into four pieces, with cuts along the x-axis and y-axis. Hmm. Just to shake things up, I think I'll try an X cut and see how that flies.

Blender Mousse 6 oz. 70%-ish chocolate, in pieces or chips (a lower % would do in a pinch) 2 large eggs 2 T strong coffee or espresso, cooled a bit 1 t vanilla extract 2-3 T Kahlua (start w/2; increase for the next batch if you like) 6 oz heavy cream at 190°F, give or take Dump all the ingredients into a blender, cream last. Quickly put the top on and blend at high speed for 2 minutes. Pour into ramekins or whatever you're using, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least six hours; twelve or more is best.

Do tell...

We've been using a Brita faucet filter since forever. I was mainly interested in getting rid of that nasty "municipally treated" smell and taste, which it does nicely. Dissolved solids is less of an issue. I'll look into ZeroWater, anyway.

I've done some serious culling a couple of times. I try to be as cold-hearted as possible. My criteria are cooking usefulness (including reference information), reading enjoyment, and emotional association. First, I triage: absolutely no way, probably no way, possibly way. I then go through the possibly way group--more than once, if needed--and choose the lowest-rated, so to speak, based on those three criteria. What helps is that I donate the departing books to my local community college's culinary program. Some go into their libray; the rest are available for students to take. All are tax-deductible, within the limits of the law.

What pretty much everyone else said. Although it's possible to cook pasta in a smaller pot with a minimal amount of water, the traditional (and easier) way is in a large pot with plenty of water. This facilitates the stirring that pbear and Shel_B mentioned. If cooking pasta strands, I use a wooden pasta fork (like this overpriced one). For non-strands, I use just a plain wooden spoon. Add salt when the water starts to boil and stir to dissolve. Season it as if it were a broth. No oil, nonononono.

Which model do you have? What do you use the oven for? Thanks! We have the big one. We use it for toast; bagels, both fresh and frozen; Pop-Tarts (Ms. Alex); frozen pizzas (Amy's); baking (brownies, cobblers, cornbread, etc.); reheating frozen rolls; roasting vegetables; top-browning or quick cheese-melting; plate- and bowl-warming and occasionally broiling a flank steak. The temperature is pretty much accurate, although the baking time tends to be shorter than in our regular gas oven. It's 3-4 years old, used 5-7x a week, with nary a problem. $199 at BB&B is a good price. Pay with an AmEx card and you double the manufacturer's warranty. Just buy it already!

If you have the room, get the larger one. Seriously.

Hi, Tory. Check for a PM from me with contact information. -Richard

Yes, Grove is the place to go for dinner if you have only one night. It'll be a cab ride from wherever you're staying. Make your reservation as soon as you can; they're on OpenTable. The three-course prix fixe, with wine pairings and dessert option, is a bargain. If you're staying at the JW Marriott and don't feel like venturing outside, six.one.six is very good. It's also walking distance from the Amway Grand. Let me know where you're staying and I can make some recommendations. (If you want to also do this via a PM, that's OK, too.) I don't think of our having local specialties per se, but there are some interesting options, depending on your food preferences and how much time you'll have available. GR has become quite a good food (and beverage) town. I love letting people know what we have to offer.

'Tis the season. We went to a "dinner club" meal tonight that was held outdoors in a chestnut orchard. Before the meal, we walked around and gathered about five pounds of Chinese chestnuts. We're planning to vacuum pack and freeze most of them, so the orchard owner gave us a tip similar to dcarch's: Cut each chestnut completely in half from pole to pole, then blanch for a couple of minutes. Most of the chestnut meat should slip right out. If it doesn't, it shouldn't be difficult to remove the shell and skin. Here are a bunch of recipes from the Michigan Chestnut Growers' website. I made this rather good chestnut pâté a few years ago. The Chestnut Brandy Ice Cream and Bourbon Chocolate Chestnut Torte also were quite good, if memory serves.

What recipe? (It looks like you wanted to insert a link.)

Feed the fish... Get Fuzzy, part 1 Get Fuzzy, part 2 --------------------------- Calvin, on vegetables

Do you want the main focus to be on the pasta itself or on recipes using pasta (or maybe equal focus)? It sounds like the former, but I thought I'd ask. edited to add: Welcome to eGullet!

Good timing. Our Saeco Odea Giro and backup machine Odea Go both developed serious issues in the past several months, so instead of dealing with repairs I've been on the hunt for a new one that wouldn't cost us any body parts. As mentioned upthread, the Jura machines still have a decent reputation for reliability, but pretty much any superautomatic machine is a risk. The Jura's frothing system can be odd, too; some will do so only via a milk container and plastic tubing. I decided to get another Giro (the Plus model) because it was familiar and because I got a Seattle Coffee Gear refurb via eBay, with a two-year Square Trade warranty, for about US$360 including shipping. The Vienna is a good basic machine, too, and less expensive than the Odea. I even bought one a couple of years ago for our faculty lounge.

Interesting. This provoked a memory of a chili cook-off I entered about 30 years ago, in the Detroit area. The winning entry, like your pizza, had some chopped celery. Heresy, so it seemed, but the judges said they really liked the texture contrast.

Fish. Hooked.

I'm definitely a cocktail novice. I virtually never order one when dining out (although I'm permitted a few sips of Ms. Alex's) and have made exactly four varieties at home: gin & tonic (David Rosengarten's recipe); sidecar x 2 (cognac and bourbon versions); and margarita (non-frozen). I usually prefer my non-wine, non-beer consumption to be an occasional after-dinner good Cognac or single-barrel bourbon. However, the other day I was looking at our half-full bottle of BLiS Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup and for some odd reason started wondering about using it in a cocktail. Of course, bourbon itself entered my mind as a possible top note (Is that the right term?), so I plugged the two into the search engine at The Internet Cocktail Database, et voila, the Maple Leaf. I wound up making it with slightly more than the 1.5 of bourbon (Maker's Mark) and slightly less than the 0.5 of maple syrup and lemon juice. I liked it a lot. It seemed to mellow after about 5 minutes in the glass. I also wondered how it would be if I made it with some muddled mint, but I haven't tried that yet. I also intend to see how it works when paired with a schmear of pb and bacon on a baguette slice. (I know; I'm weird.) Any thoughts about this cocktail? Have you made it with different proportions or additional ingredients?

Very true for a man. I learned to cook because I didn't have the money to buy a fancy Italian sports car, then I realized it is more effective to win a lady's heart to be able to dazzle her with a multi-course candle light dinner that you whipped up from your kitchen. It's all about sex, for a man. dcarch I probably would have followed the same cooking path no matter what, but it sure didn't hurt my dating life. Twenty-three years later, Ms. Alex still remembers the details of the first dinner I cooked for her (now there's a forum waiting to happen), not to mention what we ate on our first date, at a Chinese restaurant (and even what we wore and where we sat!). About the son, if he's reasonably healthy and happy eating the way he does, I'd leave him alone. I mean, sheesh, he's 58. And how much is he going to resent any pressure, even if well intended, to start eating differently? How about just enjoying his visit and eating some good food together without the pressure or advice? If you (or Toots) feel you must do something, talk with him about how he's doing with finding a significant other who likes to cook. But that, too, like Chris A wrote, "Horse, water."

See here. A lifelong friend lived in Harwich, right next to Chatham, from junior high through high school. His mom was a Nickerson, as mentioned in the article. When I visited, we always ate at his house, so I have absolutely no memories of eating out, except for ice cream.

Could I talk you into some caramelized onions? (Also a good sort-of staple, as you can make a large batch and store it in the fridge for a while.) I mentioned Jarlsberg because that's what we have around most of the time, living as we do just a few minutes from a Costco, but we often have other cheeses. Cave-aged Gruyère makes a killer, if expensive, sandwich. I usually don't eat pasta for lunch, so I probably wouldn't think of offering it, but it's a great pantry item; we usually have several varieties hanging around. A few ideas: 1) goat cheese (also from Costco), sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach or arugula; 2) heated olive oil, garlic, and anchovies, with parsley and black pepper (an augmented aglio e olio); 3) #2 with flaked canned tuna and lemon zest/juice; 4) Ruth Reich's spaghetti carbonara.

Like JAZ, expanding the definition of pantry to include long-lasting fridge items: Bread + butter + Maille Dijon mustard + Jarlsberg from Costco = grilled cheese sandwich Or bread + butter + Costco tuna + chopped shallots (+ celery, sometimes) + Hellman's mayo + Maille Dijon mustard + dried dill + Jarlsberg from Costco = tuna melt Or bagel + butter + farm eggs + Jarlsberg = cheese omelette (I buy a dozen bagels at a time, cut each in half, and freeze.)

What a great first post! Thank you, MrsB.

Looks great! It reminds me of my life-long favorite--cream cheese, bacon, and tomato. (As I progressed into middle adulthood, goat cheese occasionally took the place of cream cheese.) What kind of bread did you use this time? Looks like White put Brown at an early disadvantage (the backgammon game, not the bread).