John Braise

What other point could there be? It's a contest.

They have this sun-dried pork appetizer that is freakin' awesome. Not exactly the most healthy option on the menu, but holy pork is it good.

E-Noodle Cafe is worth mentioning. It's south of 36 on Rice street in Roseville. I've mostly stuck to the soups, but everything has been well prepared. For the money, it can't be beat.

And I'm your vector, Victor Subservient chicken was good, but this is better. Any chance this will hit US airwaves? Does it even matter?

The anagram genius server came up with a few promising ones: COD ROW HO CORD OH OW DR OW COHO ORCH WOOD CHOW DOOR CHOW ODOR CROW HOOD Chow Door has a real down-home appeal. The rhyming is nice too.

How about $7/lb? http://www.secure-kew.com/grimaud/display.mv?1099018927 ← How about $5/lb?

Re: the texture thing If you mush the mashed potatoes (or I suppose anything else) through a mesh strainer with a spatula once or twice, they get crazy smooth. It's almost like they become something else. Of course, a lot of butter/cream helps with the lubricity . I thought they would get pasty, but the mesh must incorporate enough air to keep things lovely. I'd imagine this would work especially well for transforming the more fibrous root veggies into a smooth product.

Weird. Literally 20 minutes ago I was flipping through a USPlastics catalog and thinking how funny it was that they were marketing stainless stockpots as "Heating and Storage Tanks with Covers." Anyway, they also have sheet pans and deep pans made by Polarware. Googling "Polarware" turns up a few more vendors. A more general search for stainless labware might turn up even more. I'm not sure that they're standard sizes, but I'm not sure that matters either.

It works very well. Boiling water comes in at 210 or 211 or so, which is probably about right given that I'm maybe 1000 ft above sea level. Higher temperature liquids (oil) seem to be accurate as well, but I don't own anything to compare it to. It doesn't have much mass in the tip, so it comes up to temperature very quickly, and it doesn't need to be very deep to get a good reading - only 1/4" or so is all that's required. I think that's what you were asking. If not, I guess I haven't tried boiling the case... I don't think the outcome would be good. There really isn't much I would improve. It's a model of brutal simplicity. Maybe a little smaller display so you could slim up the case. The numbers are HUGE! Or maybe added ballast to make it feel more substantial - for 80 bones it should feel like there's something in it. But the actual performance is superb.

For me, a good thermometer is an essential tool. After going through a few dial type "instant read" thermometers (which never died - I just didn't like them) and about 5 or 6 probe type electric thermometers (which go bad the instant any liquid graces the crimp), I gave up and got one of these bad boys . Best kitchen investment ever. It's fast enough that you can get a pretty accurate temperature profile in seconds. You push it in a little, take a reading, push it in a little more get another reading, etc. Of course, you can do the same thing with any thermometer, but the Thermopen makes it practical. You can easily take 10 measurements in the time it would normally take for 1. Maybe it's the engineer in me, but I love mentally mapping out temperature gradients of roasted chicken thighs. I thought I would miss being able to leave the probe in the oven/oil/whatever, with the display at a safe distance, but it takes measurements so fast that it's not an issue. For all practical purposes, it's instant. Put it in the oil, pause for two beats, take reading. Accuracy has been excellent so far - it's lasted far longer than any other thermometer. Anyway, I can't recommend the Thermapen highly enough. It's a great gadget. I'm actually kinda pissed that it's recently started popping up in cooking catalogs and stores. Do you have any idea how many hours of googling I put in to find these things in the first place?

I'm waiting for a non-caloric (or low caloric), non-carcinogenic, tasteless, colorless food grade heat transfer fluid that's good up to 500 deg F. Automatic Nobel Prize.

That's one of my favorite bits of food trivia. I think I learned it from "How to Read a French Fry"... oh wait... Another one (which I haven't verified) was from Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Supposedly, onions cut longitudinally (root to tip) stay more crisp than when cut the other way (into rings or half-rings or whatever). I'm guessing that it preserves more of the onions internal structure, similar to slicing a flank steak across the grain vs. with it.

Oh heavens no! Mangoes are cliché!

Those are certainly all good tips, but imagine how much more powerful these messages would be set to music.

And nothing matches. If you were stuck with a shard of pottery and a nail, you adapt or steal someone else's stuff. It'd be great fun.