Alex

I imagine the Whole Foods in West Bloomfield would carry it. Worth a call, anyway.

Macy's online has a sale (2-day?) on a Calphalon Contemporary stainless 8-qt multi-pot for $99.99, with an extra 20% off with code VIP20 (good only until Sunday). If you buy something else to bring the total to $99 or more, shipping is free.

Sorry, but your friend won't be able to have access to the terminal concourses unless he/she is on a flight or is an airline employee. So that won't work. Right. Wasn't thinking. Thanks.

Just finished Beyond the Great Wall, by Alford and Duguid. Valuable not just for the food, but for some insights into modern China.

Yes: "typo's" Or was that intentional? or the Canadian spelling?

It's not minus the water, it's minus the whey, which also contains lactose and protein. I also don't think there's a 1:1 relationship between thickness and calories (and in any event, how do you judge X times as thick?).

I second the TJ Maxx suggestion. IIRC, several years ago I got my Dansk there for not much $$, complete with steamer, pasta insert, and glass lid. It's made in China, but it has a sandwich bottom so it works fine for stock.

Here's my post about this Breville. I'm curious to hear how the toasting works out for you. P.S. Wouldn't a Dalek-shaped toaster be beyond cool?

Would your friend be willing to meet you at the airport? It's about 45-50 minutes from the Loop via the Blue Line, if all goes well (+ a bit of a walk to the actual terminal). Rick Bayless recently opened Tortas Frontera, in Terminal 1, Concourse B. Frommer's Travel Guides just named it one of the 10 best airport restaurants in the U.S. eGullet contributor nsxtasy offers other suggestions here.

I agree with BadRabbit. Microwave leakage is a thing of the past. Continue with your research and buy the best combination of features, performance, and price. Panasonic generally has a good rep.

At 60, I still eat and drink the same stuff, just in a bit less quantity (both food and wine). I'm more discriminating about sweets. Midnight snacks have moved to 9 p.m. That's pretty much it.

Blu-Tack

Responding to several posts... Ms. Alex and I had the pre-theater dinner at Galileo III during our end-of-December visit. It was quite good (as was pre-theater at Bibiana), but Tosca still is our favorite. Unfortunately, it's not open on Sunday. Other Sunday ideas: 701, Circle Bistro, Ardeo (haven't been there since the remodeling), or, for a hoot, Birch & Barley (all-day brunch, until 8 p.m.). For lunch, the $12 bar menu at Proof is tough to beat. We didn't make it there during our last visit, but the pastrami at Loeb's New York Deli is supposed to be pretty good. Any recent reports?

I think we might need a separate eGullet thread dedicated to putting together tables of 2, 4, or 6.

Just ordered The Soup Peddler's Slow and Difficult Soups, by David Ansel

Making wonderfully soft scrambled eggs the s-l-o-o-w way (in butter, of course).

Full story here. I can sort of understand the reasoning, but still, a chain is a chain, even if it's a cut or five above Applebee's. Not to mention we already have several steak houses (and other places to get a good steak) in the downtown area.

Ah...so you cut it pole-to-pole and lay it in the pan with the small end down, yes? Have you ever tried this with a ricotta-based filling?

I haven't used a Chemex in ages. However, this web page (with pdf option) is almost identical to what I used to do. The only difference is that I pre-heated the carafe by swishing around a little boiling water. IIRC, I used an automatic drip grind, but this can be adjusted one way or the other, of course.

I just added Cooking with the New American Chefs, a 1985 semi-classic (imho) by Ellen Brown, featuring stories about, and recipes by, many of the major figures of the time. Most names I recognized (Lydia Shire, Jeremiah Tower, Larry Forgione, et al.) but some were completely unfamiliar (Anne Greer, Jim Haller, Bruce Lefavour, Susumu Fukui). A few chefs are still with the same venue (Patrick O'Connell, Marcel Desaulniers, Paul Prudhomme sort of) but most have moved on to other restaurants or projects (or have retired from the biz). A few, sadly, are no longer with us (Barbara Tropp, Jean-Louis Palladin, Michael Roberts. I've even eaten at the restaurant of one (Jimmy Schmidt, then at London Chop House in Detroit) and took a class from another (Jackie Etcheber, now Jackie Shen, at Red Light in Chicago).

Yes, that's what we've been using, after living with (and eventually selling) a smaller DeLonghi and a full-size Krups. I think it works wonderfully for everything except toasting sliced bread. The top of the slice usually is fine, but the bottom is striped (i.e., partially underdone) because of the thick bars of the grating. Does anyone have any ideas how to solve this annoyance? If I were more mechanically inclined and had the tools (and the time), I'd develop and patent a grating just for toasting, with ultra-thin wires for bars. Anyone who's reading this post may have this idea for free, so long as you send me one or two of your final product.

Yes, I just placed an order and was going to say that, too. Agreed about the customer service. Thanks so much for the great tip. I've been wanting one of these for a while. I was going to also order an AeroGarden 3 ("Now: $5.99 Was: $49.99"), but they're sold out. (Mostly with a little )

Starbucks Via Columbian medium roast (a Costco acquisition) isn't bad at all. We take it on trips as an alternative to the usually terrible in-room coffee service. It hardly takes up any packing space. At my workplace, it's just a standard Keurig. Pods are in a drawer. Barely worth a picture.

This is a great question, with some intriguing posts so far. Ever since starting Lipitor (atorvastatin) I've been extrememly careful about not eating even a little bit of grapefruit. I don't miss it terribly, but it would be nice to have that option if the occasion arose. The official Lipitor web site has a link to a pamphlet that says grapefruit juice "Contains one or more components that inhibit CYP 3A4 and can increase plasma concentrations of atorvastatin, especially with excessive grapefruit juice consumption (>1.2 liters per day)." However, it also says that consumption of 240 ml of grapefruit per day produced a 16% increase in the maximum plasma concentration of the drug and a 37% increase in bioavailability (unaltered drug in the bloodstream) Regarding JasonW's comment, according to the Wikipedia entry for CYP3A4, "Variability in CYP3A4 function can be determined noninvasively by the erythromycin breath test (ERMBT). The ERMBT estimates in vivo CYP3A4 activity by measuring the radiolabelled carbon dioxide exhaled after an intravenous dose of (14C-N-methyl)-erythromycin." IV erythromycin doesn't sound "noninvasive" to me, but what do I know? The NIH pamphlet that haresfur mentioned says, "Watkins and his coworkers have found that a chemical common to grapefruit and sour oranges, dihydroxybergamottin, is likely the molecular culprit." According to Wikipedia, regular old bergamottin also is found in grapefruit juice and shares responsibility for this enzyme effect. The entry adds, "To a lesser extent, bergamottin is also present in the essential oils of other citrus fruits." So now I'm wondering about Earl Grey tea. The amount of oil of bergamot probably is miniscule enough to not cause any untoward effects, but it still might be worth investigating.

After an extended period of cookbook pruning, I had to add one more: Ad Hoc at Home. I'll be making the Santa Maria-style tri-tip tomorrow night.