msfurious1

I agree with what you've said. Marisa did know about the lychee when they put everything in the car. If she knew and felt that something needed to be done to rectify the situation, that was the time to do it. Waiting until they were back in the kitchen and then start to whispering and "ratting" Otto out as the bad guy to cover her butt was not the way to handle the situation. Funny thing is, didn't Tom say during the judges deliberations (and all the judges agreed), that when they bring them all back in, if Otto took responsibility for the mistake, Marisa would be the one to go? The reason being that she was the one that was responsible for that craptastic and inedible rubbery dessert that she knew shouldn't have been served. Unfortunately for Otto, he took himself out of the competition.

Yes, you should remove any food sources. I kept a fruit bowl full and out all last summer on the dining room table for easy access for the kids. I guess, that's where my problem originated. This Website helped me last fall when we had an invasion of fruit flies. It was quite a while before I would even bring bananas back into the house. The rest of the fruit was kept in the fridge. I put all table scraps in several plastic bags before going into the garbage can and emptied and removed the garbage from inside the house a couple times a day. I filled about 6 or 8 small 6oz. glasses with a drop of dish detergent in the bottom (don't get any on any other part of the glass) and then filled with about 2 inches of cider vinegar. As the website says they are attracted to the "traps" because the vinegar gives off the odor of decomposing apples (fruit). I didn't bother with any funnels, cones or baggies on top of the glasses. Make up and set out as many of the traps as you think you need. I set out 3 in the kitchen. 2 in the living room and 2 in the dining room. We knew we had an infestation, but were surprised by just how many flies were dead in the cups everyday. Cider vinegar is cheap, so I disposed of the floating graveyards and refilled every day for about a week until we were sure they were all gone. I didn't do any entertaining during this time.

I'm having fun reading this wonderful blog. Beautiful vegetables and really cute goats. I first time I had cardoons was about 25 years ago. They were prepared by my Italian MIL. She got her supply from a neighbor (nice Italian old man) who had a small garden and grew them. I think that they are very easy to grow and in Italy, grow right along the roadside. My MIL trimmed them of the prickly leaves and strings and then blanched the stalks. She cut them into about 4 inch pieces and dipped them in egg, then in flour and shallow fried them. A sprinkle of salt is all it needs. Delicious.

Love it. My favorite is simply and slowly roasted shanks with some potatoes roasted around them. The potatoes get all crispy with the flavor of the lamb. I cut the potatoes into med size wedges and rinse well. Then I cut an onion in wedges and put it all a large bowl. I add olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and a little grated parmesan cheese. I toss the potatoes and onions well (I've also added wedged fennel as well) and tuck them all around the shanks and add any of the flavored olive oil thats left in the bowl over the all in the roasting pan. Roast in a slow oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Devine.

Bwah! Oh Jason that picture is priceless. I think I just woke everyone up in the house with my laughter. Hmmm. I'm now wondering where the goat is. I know that you will be posting some terrific pictures of everyone along with all the pig pickin' food and shenanigans. The food pictures are awesome. Marlene's butter bars look fabulous. I know that I will be checking in this thread all weekend to keep up with you lucky people. Have a fun and safe time everyone.

Fresh ham with cracklings, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes Sauerbraten, red cabbage, potato dumplings Porterhouse Steak made in a cast iron skillet, homemade creamed spinach, homemade french fries Beef barley soup Baked custards Rice pudding Bread pudding Tapioca pudding Lemon meringue pie Chocolate Cream pie

Purty, purty biscuits...and bacon...and eggs. Lucky houseguests. Thanks Varmint for doing this blog. I'm sooo looking forward to checking in all week. I haven't done it yet, but I have a friend that has done what you did to get the coffee pot. He put a decorative piece of black electrical tape over the Gevalia logo on his pot. If you don't look too closely, it just looks like a stripe on the pot that is supposed to be there.

I've come arcross this a couple of times. It cracks my shit up.

I was going to say the same thing. Just use the whole cookie. No butter or sugar added is needed. I've made this Kraft recipe Oreo cheesecake for a couple of my DS's birthdays at his request. The crust is baked before the cheese filling is added and that seems to hold it together. For the birthday cheesecake, I added a thin layer of ganache over the top and chilled the cheesecake so that I could write "Happy Birthday" on top. It's super rich and decadent and should only be made for a special ocassion.

Posted by Marlene Me: Grilled peaches with Pistachio Cayenne Crumble Poached Eggs over Corn Cakes with Andouille Hollandaise Panna Cotta with Strawberry Rhubarb sauce. Marlene, your "mystery basket" menu is great. I want one of those peaches! It all looks soo good. I hope you will modify those recipes to post in them in recipe gullet. Feel better Sam. The only other thing worse than getting a spring cold is getting a summer cold. Thanks to the both of you for an interesting, informative and fun blog.

Both meals are making my mouth water. I'm telling myself that it's bedtime not dinnertime. Wonderful pictures.

Although not a proper trifle, I'm sure that if you just layered the cake pieces with some jam and softly whipped cream it would be delicious. (My family would like it with some sliced bananas layered in as well. ) You said that you didn't have any fresh fruit. I'm thinking that if you had some canned peaches, pears or even pineapple, that would be nice with the layered chocolate cake and cream.

Atta girl. When life gives you broken cake--make a trifle. Now just pretend that's what you planned for dessert anyhow. We'll never tell.

You're starting to sound like an I Love Lucy episode in the kitchen (without Ethel). As for dessert for Ryan. How about a trifle with those cake pieces? Do you have some fruit, jam, custard or heavy cream?

Wow. Just wow. The steaks look great. It all looks terrific. From the side cars to dessert. Perfection.

For me it would be mushrooms. Never liked them or that woodsy smell, either. When I was a teen my older sister was making stuffed button mushrooms with the chopped minced stems, bacon, onion, garlic, parmesan cheese with butter and wine. The stuffing smelled so good, although, I think it was the bacon aroma that was drawing me in. How bad could that be? Anyway, she had me taste some of the stuffing on a saltine. It made a great spread on that cracker and I thought it was delicious so I was moved to try the baked stuffed mushrooms. From that day on I could cross mushrooms off my list of "things I hate". I really love any kind of fungi now.

Marlene, the cocktails, the table, the food! It all looks wonderful. Rest up and recover from your food induced coma and leg injury. You deserve it. For tomorrow~~~Monday, 30 May: Hot soup featuring garlic. That's next, right?

Ha! Glad to help. Thanks for the answer on the salting. I'm just a homecook that likes to eat and learn. I wish I had just one of those 3in. steaks here today. Hell, I'd take the bone when you are done. Whenever I grill or broil a steak (or a chop-- lamb, veal, pork) I always salt and pepper the "bone" heavily. I am one of those bone gnawers. I enjoy chewing on the bone. There, I admitted it. I'm thinking that a couple of 3in. steaks should be on our menu for Father's Day.

make the custard right before dinner guests arrive (this is just whisking egg yolks with hot cream heated in the microwave and some sugar) and pour it over the bread, then let it soak in while you're eating dinner. Half an hour before you want to have dessert, toss it in the oven. Very simple. Yes, please don't make the pudding beforehand. Reheated bread pudding is good, but it becomes heavy. It's light and souffle-like when just made. I love hot puddings. I'm enjoying this blog. Thanks to the both of you. I can't wait to see the steaks done. A question about the steaks though. Why salt them 24 hours before cooking. I thought that this was a no-no, as it will draw out the juices. Those are awesome steaks, indeed. (Side dishes of sauteed onions and mushrooms with a dash of sherry for mine please.)

Cheesecake. Any kind. Dense, light, or something in between. It really doesn't matter to me. Mmmmm cheesecake. If it's served with a great cup of strong coffee, all the better. The cold creamy cheesecake, the hot strong coffee........ Excuse me, I have to go take a cold shower.

I usually cut up celery into thin sticks and put them right into a container of cold water in the fridge. After a few hours, they do curl a little, but that strong and bitter taste that Cakewalk mentioned seems to go away. The celery also seems less stringy. I also put cut up carrot sticks or baby carrots in a separate container of cold water in the fridge. It just keeps them both crisper and they're always handy for snacking. My kids like to take some of each and dip in ranch dressing when they get home from school. We like celery stalks stuffed with peanut butter or with cream cheese that has some chopped salty green or black olives mixed in. Personally, I love to dip celery into that delicious and fattening Knorr spinach dip.

I also didn't enjoy Sara's Secrets as much as I did Cooking Live. I seemed to always find the time to catch CL every night back in the day. Still, the Secret's show seemed to have good recipes and/or the occassional interesting guest. Now I mostly look forward to the weekends when I can have 3 to 4 hours of cooking blocked on my two local PBS stations. A few weeks ago Sandra Lee made something that she calls an Apple pie Napoleon. I watched in horror as she took a bakery bought apple crumb pie, dumped it into a bowl and then smashed and stirred it to beyond recognition. She then proceeded to fill layers of puff pastry (that she took the time to bake) with the mashed apple pie, crust and all. She layered it with Coolwhip. I'm still not over watching her assemble that abomination. It was served with a Red Bull Martini. I just don't understand.

When my daughter was home on break from college two weeks ago, she told me that a friend had made the best oatmeal cookies with chocolate covered raisins. Sounds good to me. I haven't made oatmeal cookies in a while and I use the Quaker recipe as well. When I did make them, I always added chocolate chips not raisins.

Every once in a while I hanker for a Monte Cristo Sandwich. A great lunch menu item from the '70's. I could go for one right now. Ham, turkey and swiss on two slices from a pullman loaf, dipped in egg, sauteed in butter and then given a good spank of confectioner's sugar before serving.

At our house, the Thanksgiving meal was also proclaimed the best meal ever every year, and my mother always recieved kudos for the meal that was prepared. As a kid, I have only fond memories of Thanksgivings past. I was lucky because my mom was a great homecook, and Thanksgiving was a real big deal with our large family gettting together. Gathering grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that we didn't get to see too much during the year. Don't get me wrong, I love a nice smoked or deep fried turkey, but for me on Thanksgiving, it has to be stuffed and roasted with gravy made in the roasting pan. I can't believe just how much was served on that day and how we ever were ever able to move after that meal. It seems ridiculous now. But hey, it was only one day a year and it was the '60's. My mother did get up at the crack of dawn to get the turkey in the oven. The night before was spent washing, peeling and preping the vegetables to store in containers of water in the fridge. The last thing the night before was to lay out the loaves of sliced white bread on sheet pans to dry out for the stuffing. I can remember waking up to the smell of the celery, onions and sausage sauteing for the best stuffing in the world. She had a pot of stock going on the stove with the neck, giblets and aromatics simmering for the stuffing and basting. We always started eating at noon. It seemed all the women would wind up in the kitchen where the Whiskey Sours and Brandy Alexanders with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top were being whipped up. Some of the men might have been having a highball or a Reingold. The relish tray and cheese and crackers would get to the table first with a champagne toast and someone saying grace. We would all then sit down at the assortment makeshift tables setup in the dining room and living room. One table had a sheet of plywood on top that was carried in by my brothers to accomodate all us kids. You wouldn't know it though, as the the table setting was beautiful and elegant with the tablecloth, china and silver. We would start with a fruit cocktail with sherbet...then a bowl of turkey rice soup...then a shrimp cocktail...THEN we had lasagna. We were already full, but kept on going. The turkey was always moist and juicy and the gravy superb, but we all were too full and could only take a taste of everything. It's the sides that I remember so well. There were so many vegetables and almost every one of them was fresh and made from scratch. Several were creamed, several were mashed and the rest buttered. Creamed onions and peas, creamed cauliflower and creamed spinach...mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with sherry, mashed turnips...steamed and butter carrots, steamed and buttered brussel sprouts, steamed and buttered stringbeans with buttered almonds. Jugs of farm fresh cider and a case of Brookdale soda that were left outside to keep cold to wash it all down. Of course there were a ton of leftovers and I guess I liked those more. Some might think it strange, but I still love cold stuffing sandwich. Around 5or 6pm or so, dessert would be served. The pies and freshly whipped cream would come out with the rice pudding with raspberry sauce and the raisin bread pudding, along with the huge bowls of nuts to crack open, and the platter of fresh and dried fruits...and the chocolates from Nagel's Candy Barn that my uncle would bring. The coffee would be served with an array of cordials such as Tia Maria, annisette, cream de menth and Cherry Herring. Good times, good times. My mother, grandmothers and aunts have been gone a long time now and there is no way that we have this kind of meal anymore at our Thanksgiving table. These days we're a much smaller family and there is no way anyone could eat and drink like that in one meal~~at least not in a public forum. Besides, my kids hate creamed vegetables. I always give thanks for just remembering those days and those that aren't with us at the table anymore. Sorry for rambling on and taking this off track with my childhood reminiscing. You did say "any stories?".