elion_84

I have to add my vote for OXO Good Grips. It's very sharp - I've never seen potatos so smooth after peeling. It was almost making it hard to grasp it

WMF. We bought the Torso style on Amazon - very simple, modern design and very nice balance. Crate&Barrel carries them as well.

My local paper (Austin-American Statesman) had a recipe for cranberry maple chutney where they used 2:1 ratio of maple syrup and sugar. They also added chopped pecans or walnuts- I think bits of nuts add suddle texture variety.

I have a brass Atlas pepper mill. The one I have is 7 1/2". I'm a bit ashamed of the fact that I spent $45 on a pepper mill. Seems rather extravagant. I've only had this pepper mill for a few months, but I'm very happy with it. I used to have one of those pepper ball where you squeeze two handles to grind. The atlas mill grind much faster, more evenly, and is much easier to adjust.

What is larding? I've never seen this term.

This weekend I discovered a vendor at our local farmer's market who sells chickens, game birds, and rabbits. I didn't want to risk it the first time so we got the chicken. It was really, really good. Now I'm ready to try something more interesting - I was thinking rabbit and pheasant. The problem is I have no idea how to cook them. I've tried making rabbit stew once and it didn't taste all that good. I'm considering making rabbit cacciatore this time. Any advice? I'm not sure how to go about browning it (like I would chicken) since rabbit doesn't come with skin and it's so lean. What about the pheasant? Can someone recommend a good recipe for the first taste?

We had Silestone countertop installed in our kitchen in late August and I think it's great. It feels cool like granite, and looks similar, although the color variations are not as natural. The color that we got is Blue Sahara which is brownish with blue spots and looks beautiful in our kitchen. As Jason mentioned, Silestone is not porous as granite, so you don't have to worry about sealing it to avoid staining. You can put a pot right off the stove onto the counter without causing any damage. Still, you can't leave a pot of soup or a lasagna to cool on the counter since heating a small are will cause it to expand and lead to a crack. This is common with all stones - natural or man made. Silestone costs about $50/sq ft. This varies with color and location. In some areas it's more expensive than granite, in others it's cheaper. Here in Austin it's about the same price. When we placed our order Silestone had a promo for a free sink. BTW, you can get an intergrated stainless steel sink which is another cool option that you don't get with granite. Overall I'm very happy with our choice and I would strongly recommend silestone to anyone.

Suzanne F, where do you get the Italian chili pepper paste? I've been looking for it in local stores (Austin, TX) but haven't been able to find any.

I'm with Jaymes and others on this thread - I don't trust the Statesman star system for restaurants (or movies, for that matter - but that's a different board). I just read the review for descriptions of the dishes, ingridients, and flavors. If I like what I read I try to go the restaurant and taste the food myself. In general I think the food scene has gotten worse in Austin over the last couple of years. Probably not enough .com $$$ to support a lot of high-end places.

Have you considered fish as a main course? You can do cod or bass filets oven roasted with garlic, cherry tomatoes, and capers. There's a great recipe like this in Donna Hay's "Modern Classics." You can scale this to 20 people without blowing your budget. If you use cherry tomatoes on the vine, it makes for very nice presentation. You can serve it with a simple side dish like couscous with vegetables. Leg of lamb would also be an easy dish - but you may need to get 3 or 4 to cover this many people. If you want to save on the side dish prep, roast the lamb on top of thinly sliced potatoes and onions. Roasted tomatoes make an nice pairing that would add some color, too. For desert, if you want to avoid a cake, how about simple pastries like eclairs. You can bake the shells in advance and fill them the night before. Another alternative is fruit desert - like vanilla poached or baked peaches. The former should be made a day ahead and chilled. The latter you can prep ahead of time and bake while everyone is having the main course. Good luck. Cooking for a big party like this can be nerve wrecking, but it's a satisfying experience.

Another Austin BBQ place that delivers is County Line. They have a service called Air Ribs that will deliver anything off their menu. I think their brisket is a bit too dry and lean, but the beef ribs supposed to be quite good. Look for Big Daddy, it's a huge hunk of ribs.

As far as flatware - I would recommend WMF. Very simple, clean lines, and good quality. A lot of C&B flatware is WMF (such as Torso line). Amazon has a few designs, at very reasonable prices, much better than C&B.

Like: 1. Michael Chiarello - his food rocks. The NapaStyle special on FoodTV was somewhat disappointing, but his PBS show is great and his Mission Fig Clafouti is devine. 2. Alton Brown - I never get tired of his schtick 3. Sara Moulton - great recipes and style Dislikes 1. The crew from Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen - can't stand how snobby these guys are 2. Iron Chef - ok, so it's not a person. Still can't stand that show, espcially the american version with Shattner. 3. Bobby Flay/Mario Batali/Jamie Oliver - they are way to hyper for my liking. And how many foodtv do you really need?