Alex

If this year follows past years' practice, the coordinator (Katie, it appears) posts a schedule and asks for replies as to who'll be attending what. At some point there may be a pre-payment request. Katie, are you asking for who/what now, or just some "this sounds good; go ahead and firm things up" feedback? (I'm guessing the latter, as the specific weekend hasn't been set yet.)

Waiting on the actual dates...

Hey, watch it, buddy. You're messing with some serious nostalgia there.So, Paul, what was the pizza decision this year?

I'm disappointed. I read the title of the thread and anticipated a spirited discussion of an odd but amusing esoteric food-related religious practice. Oh, well.

Hmm. I wasn't familiar with this brand at all. A Google search prices it at between $62 and $75 for a 750 ml bottle.

Wow, you can actually buy raw milk. Here in Michigan, we can be part of a cow share or herd share program, which is closely monitored for sanitation by the state, but selling the milk outright is illegal As you probably know, the milk's characteristics will vary depending on the season, what the cows are eating, and, of course, the breed. We always let the milk sit in the fridge for a couple of days, skim the cream to use for coffee or sometimes cooking (great vanilla ice cream, especially with farm eggs!), use the mostly skim milk for cereal or occasionally drinking, then make yogurt with what remains after the next biweekly pickup. You also could make whole milk mozzarella, if you're up for it.

Ha! It wasn't intententional on my part, but the first dinner at my place was indeed our third date. Ms. Alex remembers everything I made (green salad, chicken cordon bleu and redskins, vanilla ice cream (Breyers, probably) with strawberries and homemade chocolate sauce) -- and this was 21 years ago. Not only that, she remembers what we ordered (and what we wore!) on our first date. And where we ate on our second date (but not what we ordered) -- and that it was Sunday brunch because I had asked her to go to the symphony with me on Saturday night but she already had a committment to run a Bingo fundraiser. Whew.

I recommend keeping things light so he doesn't want to fall asleep right after the meal. I'd also go easy on the meat. I like the idea of a fennel salad to start, followed by a small serving of gnocchi with fresh peas, proscuitto, and non-boring mushrooms. For an entree, some veal (or chicken) marsala. I'd finish with a fresh fruit dessert like clementine segments macerated in a vanilla bean simple syrup, over a piece of sponge cake and topped with whipped cream.

From The Atlantic, Megan McArdle on her Thermomix, and on kitchen gadgetry in general. (Warning: misleading headline)

a-LO-ss cor-TON. Follows the same rules as Freixenet. You're correct, Charles. Freixenet is is a Cava (i.e., Spanish), so the "x" is pronounced as "sh".

Oops. That's pronunciation. Sorry.

No, don't drink it with Julia's (or anyone else's ) boeuf bourg. She knew what she was talking about, of course. And even if it were a Junior League cookbook recipe, I'd still go with the St. E. I agree with Zachary: for this bottle, keep the food simple. Lamb would be OK, as would venison with red fruit. Me, I'd probably opt for veal, preferably with wild mushrooms in some form or other.

What, no "ratatouille" (a.k.a. "ra-ta-TOO-ee")?

Actually, the New Oxford American Dictionary says that either pronouncation is correct... ...while the New Oxford Dictionary of English (the U.K. version) says that Jenni's version is correct. What gets to me is when it's spelled "carmel" -- as in "carmel corn" -- which I see all the time here in the Midwest. Not to mention the equally irritating "corn beef." I understand why those spellings evolved (devolved?), but it still bugs me. And thank you for the Hindi pronounciation lesson, Jenni.

Here's one difference: What's Lurking in Your Countertop?

FYI, Amazon's "Deal of the Day" today (November 28) is a KA Professional 600 (575 watts, 6 qt. bowl), in silver or red, for US$259.99, plus a $50 mail-in rebate from KA (which includes a two-year subscription to Food & Wine or Travel + Leisure).

Is this the one?

It depends on what and how much and how dark you're toasting. It also depends on whether you're starting with a cold (i.e. room temp) interior or one that's already heated up from the previous toasting or other use. For us, the first two slices of multi-grain bread, medium darkness (setting #4), are done in four minutes. Two frozen bagel halves take five minutes. Banana bread, for some reason, takes a little longer. I haven't used the broiler much, but keeping in mind the size of the unit, it seems pretty efficient and even-heating to me.

If you use the Search box for "black bean sauce" (with the quotes), you'll get two recipes from Recipe Gullet and two pictorial recipe threads from hzrt8w. There's no specific eggplant recipe, but you might be able to adapt one of them. (I've made several of hzrt8w's recipes, and they're spot on.) Salting (+ rinsing and pressing) eggplant is often useful for the bigger and more common purple globe variety, but it's unnecessary for the smaller Japanese or Chinese types, which probably is what you'll be using for this dish. That's really nice of you to make this specially for your inamorata/inamorato.

Good to know my memory is still intact, more or less. From p. 243 of Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking: She does recommend using the mushroom soaking liquid. She also says to use water rather than a fish fumet for a seafood risotto.

I agree with the previous posters, but only up to a point. Using the incident for publicity is a great idea, and it's good you made a police report, but a recipe book being stolen (anything else?), as jrshaul wrote, certainly points toward a former (or current) employee -- possibly disgruntled, possibly wanting to start his or her own business, possibly both. Not to mention that breaking and entering is a felony -- a 10-year one here in Michigan -- and I'd hate to see anyone get away with one. However, unless there's not much else crime going on in your area, I suspect that your local police would place a pretty low priority on investigating a B&E where the most valuable stolen item was a recipe book. Still, I'd give them some names and keep my eyes and ears open.

Can you explain your (or Hazan's) thinking on this a little bit? It doesn't really make scientific sense to me but what do I know. It was the author's opinion, but I don't remember whose. I'll see if I can dig out the info for you. It's been a while. (We psychologists call this phenomenon source amnesia -- knowing something but not remembering where it came from.)

Yes, brine. Many years ago I did something like this (but not as elaborate) with a non-brined cut-up bird for my very traditionalist extended family. I used a similar recipe from Bon Appétit or similar mag, braising both the legs and the breast. The wings went into the stock pot, as back then I probably didn't even know what confit was. Several older relatives greeted it with some skepticism and a bit of disappointment (people love to see a whole roasted turkey in all its mahogany splendor), but were quickly won over once they started eating. I don't glue my food, so I can't comment on the "tenderloin." However, what would you think about not gluing them but instead perhaps doing a simple pan roast? That way you could put a compound butter under the skin to add flavor.

If buying some white wine doesn't involve getting your dog sled team together and mushing 30 miles through the recent snowstorm to get to the nearest store, then yes, use a decent dry white, and not too much; a Pinot Grigio would be fine. And don't stir; save that for the stock. And speaking of stock, I agree with faronem -- water it way down, then add some soaking liquid. Early on in my cooking "career" I read -- I think it was from Marcella Hazan -- that too much chicken stock tends to make a bitter risotto.

Ms. Alex will be at the downtown Hilton for four nights and is in the process of deciding where to eat dinner. Although not a stranger to MARTA, for this trip she'd like to be within a reasonable walking distance of the hotel, or very nearly so (maybe walk there, cab back). We came up with six reasonable-sounding candidates. Which of these would you pretty much unequivocably recommend? Would you avoid any of these? Are there any other really good places in downtown that we missed? Thanks. In no particular order, the six are: Lunacy Black Market (a long walk, and no reservations, but cool small plates and on Atlanta magazine's Top 50 list) French American Brasserie (Ms. A is a big fan of skate wing) BLT Steak (or would Morton's be better?) Truva Ray's in the City (she's been there before) Sundial at the Westin Peachtree (ditto)