canoodle

My dear friend has an interesting way of eating his food. He starts at the top of the plate from left to right, eating until it reaches the right edge of the plate. Then he moves down a row. Nice straight horizontal line that inches down the plate forkful by forkful. And the plate must be perfectly clean above the line. It's the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I believe he only does this on plated foods. He's fine with cheese and crackers, pizza, etc. He has no food phobias and eats everything. Well, not everything. He has the most extreme allergy to tree nuts I have ever heard of. Even roasting nuts (breathing in the vapors), touching the bark of a nut tree, various hand creams, touching your hand after you have eaten cashews, etc. can cause such an extreme attack that he has to be taken to the hospital. Needless to say, my house is a nut-free zone.

I had 2 scanpan skillets. They are in the local dump with the food that stuck and burned still attached. After about a year wrestling with these 2 pans, I broke down and purchased all-clad aluminum and all-clad non-stick. I did notice that the all-clad regular does not cause food to stick as much as the scanpans. And the non-stick is absolutely fabulous! I wish I could say that the sp lived up to it's hype...but I have learned an expensive lesson in cookware: buy top quality and keep 'em for life.

Just a question for Bruce: How is Surdyk's cheese shop these days? My great friend Sally used to manage it and left last year to start up her own wholesale cheese import business. I haven't been in for some time. I miss being able to call her up and say "what's special?" And in a few days I'd have a lovely package at my door. I'd also stop in when she wasn't busy and she'd stuff me full of cheese. Yummy. I am also friends with Barb, the COO of the evil D'Amico empire. LOL It's great fun to dine out with these two. I'm also with you on Kramerczechs (sp). LOL We usually stop by and get some meats to eat at the hotel. Another stop we make is usually (dare I say it) White Castle on Univ. and then to Como to picnic. We don't have sliders here in ND..and for some odd reason, I crave them. After I've eaten a few I'm so turned off. Shamed probably. The Thai situation used to be so bleak. I'm going to have to try true thai. Sawatai is just horrible. We usually keep going on to Chicago if we want Thai.

I don't get Norwiegen "cuisine". Flour, sugar, lard. Period. All the food is white usually served on a white plate. The pastries are all made with the aforementioned trinity. No chocolate, nuts nada. Grump. Don't even get me started on lefse or lutefisk.

It was Gerbers Singles. Yeah, right. Make people feel alienated, alone and pathetic by naming your products "singles"

Cooked green bell peppers for me. Tasted like iodine to me...or what I imagined iodine to taste like. I have always liked raw bell peppers and cooked red bell peppers. If someone put a tiny piece of pepper in a dish and removed the pepper, I could tell if the dish had at one time contained bell pepper. I recently found out that if I roast and skin the peppers..that taste disappears. Hmmmm..must be in the pepper skin. As an aside, my father said his mother loathed bell peppers also- said they had a funny taste. I wonder if it is a taste receptor that runs in families? I still loathe stuffed bell peppers, but can tolerate lightly sauted peppers and peppers on pizza. Zuchinni- I am able to tolerate it in small amounts. Things I used to love but hate now: fig newtons blech

Wink, Wink...nudge nudge

I've done this version quite a bit. A small piece of foil between the breast & roasting pan works wonders. I sprayed my rack with pam...and it didn't stick at all. I'm all for labor saving steps!

I use this method regularly, and it comes out great. The only other thing that I would add is make sure that you let the bird rest 10-15 minutes before cutting into it. IMHO, If you want roast chicken then I think you want to work with a whole bird, not with bone in breasts or legs. You are absolutely right. I forgot to add the part about letting the bird rest. When I take the bird out, I then make gravy from the drippings...which takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Last night we feasted on the remains of the bird. Breast was still juicy. Yum

I just made a great roast chicken last night. I followed Cook's Illustrated The Best Recipe cookbook. I was dubious at first...but it was the best chicken I have ever made. Preheat oven to 375 Rub butter all over the critter and season with S & P Place the bird ON IT'S SIDE on a V rack in a roasting pan Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the bird to it's other side Bake for 20 minutes Place the chicken on it's back (breast side up) and bake approx 30 min. or until done The breast was tender and juicy . Absolutely fabulous and easy to do!

Denver Sammich!

Un Deux, Trois is closed also? Geez...I gotta get out more.

Sorry I didn't say which neighbor I am. I live in ND. ACK!!! I missed Aquavit. Dang. Why did they close? Actually we love almost any food (lutefisk being the exception). We have no prejudices. The only thing I have backed away from was whole baby eels. I couldn't get past the looks of them. We're always on the lookout for good Vietnamese, Thai or Korean food. We usually go to a little place in St. Paul for Thai. I forget the name..but I think it's on St. Peters??? st. Near downtown. We have friends who take us there...and I can never remember it's name. LOL DH was living in St. Paul when the large influx of Vietnamese came to the cities. He was hooked on the food immediately. As far as upscale dining goes, we love to dress up and have a great meal. It seems we dine more upscale in New Orleans and Chicago than Minneapolis. I seems that I can never get excited about dining downtown. Hmmmm. Anything going on besides the D'Amica conglomerate?

Not from Minneapple... but live next door. So Minn/ St. Paul is the closest place for me to get a good meal. DH lived in your city for years. We plan on visiting early November. Any hints as to where to get a great meal. We love Origami etc. Anything new in the last year that's worth visiting?

Thanks so much for the recipe. I'll have to try this. I never thought of making a infusion of mint and bourbon. I've been using powdered sugar, water and crushed mint and trying to muddle it in the glass with a pestle. This sounds a lot easier. Thanks again!!