prasantrin

I have the opportunity to buy a rarely used American Harvest Jet Stream Oven (made by Nesco) for a bargain price. I know they're large and cumbersome, but I'm guessing it would allow me to have baked goods without heating up our large oven (and thereby heating up our unairconditioned house). And I'm hoping it does a better job of roasting than our toaster oven does. Does anyone have any experience with them? The one I'd be getting is a rather old model, but as I said, rarely used. I'm going to ask to take a look at it before buying (if I buy it), but I'd like to get an idea of what to expect. My grandparents used to have a Turbo Broiler and we used to like it a lot, especially for roast chicken. Is the Jet Stream similar in terms of results?

Interesting article. Thanks for the post. I imagine this would dispell Bourdain's "idea of a vegetarian traveler in comfortable shoes waving away the hospitality" of a foreign guest. Yes, because one person's POV dispells the notion that there are some "vegetarian travaler[s} in comfortable shoes" that actually stick to their beliefs and continue to shun the foods and hospitality of their hosts. Having lived in a country where pure vegetarianism is uncommon, my experience has shown me that Bourdain's idea of the vegetarian traveler is more in line with reality. But that's just my experience, and I would surely refrain from generalizing my own experience in order to nullify anyone else's. May I also note that the person who wrote the article was not merely a traveller, but was someone was in the country to learn about and experience the culture for a longer term. I suspect the actions and outlook of vegetarians who are short-term visitors vs. those who are long-term might be different.

If I have money and time, I might go. But can we rent a cool house again?

She has already taken into account (to some extent) overhead, etc. in her pricing (clearly, since she's planning on charging $60 for a cake that costs her about $20-$30 to make). She's only planning on selling to friends and acquaintances, many of whom have already asked her to sell her cakes. She priced cakes at a local grocery store and at a local nice-ish bakery (she's in the Portland, Oregon area), and her price is firmly between the two. I think she said the grocery store 1/2 sheet was about $40 or $45 (fake buttercream-type), and the local bakery was $80 or $90. I'm more-or-less wondering if Kim charged a specific mark-up on her cakes (100% markup, 200% markup, 50% markup?) or if she just chose a random amount based on her costs for making the cakes (including overhead, etc.). I know the markup percentage is a personal decision, we're just trying to get a feel for what other people do. And I also know different items might have different markups, but since Kim made sheet cakes, and my aunt is planning to make sheet cakes, I figure her experience with this particular item would be helpful to us.

Bringing up an old topic. . . May I ask how you figured out the pricing for your cakes? I know someone who is thinking of starting a home bakery business, and we're sorting through the details now. We still have to contact the Dept. of Agriculture for proper licensing, etc., but she and her possible business partner (i.e. her daughter) are discussing how much they could charge for one cake. She does 1/2-sheet chiffon cakes with either whipped cream and fruit or buttercream. Her daughter is aiming to charge about $60/cake (the whipped cream and fruit cake costs them about $20-30 in ingredients alone), but from my point of view, that's rather expensive for a home-baked cake.

I thought this place was about food, period. Is there really that much difference between a company cooking a bunch of bacon and freezing it, and an individual doing the same thing?

Kosher bison is not difficult to find, though I have not seen it in Canada. I don't think the bison guy at SNFM is kosher.

I am slowly getting my pictures up to Flickr in my Michigan set. I'll hopefully have all of them up by the end of the week. But to tempt those who are thinking of going to next year's gathering. Yes, that's Chef Crash's baklava. I have some pieces stashed away, but I won't say how many lest it make me look greedy. But it's gooooooood!

I'm just on my way to YYZ now (free wifi on the airport express!), but I wanted to add my thanks to Tammy for arranging the gathering. I enjoyed everything I participated in, and I especially enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of all the events. Ann Arbor rocks! tino's bread was awesome. Damn that Kristin for being greedy and taking all the bread home. (What? I don't know what you're talking about! ) Special thanks to those (you know who you are ) who brought back some of the camaraderie and warmth (and human relationships) that was once pervasive. It was one of the greatest characteristics of eG, and I hope with more gatherings like this one, that aspect returns once more to the boards, too. Y'all made the trip doubly worthwhile! (And Malawry and Tammy, you missed a great coffee jelly eating imitation--even better than sliding off the massage table!)

Would it be possible to do number 2 and number 1? I think it would be interesting to see how each type of roast changes depending on its brewing method. If not, then I'd vote for 2, but I'm not really a coffee drinker, so even the most basic instruction would be informative to me.

May I add, if you do bring some of your own equipment or dishes, it's a good idea to mark them in some distinctive way as yours. When clean-up happens, it's very easy for personal items to be misplaced or mixed in with other people's goods.

forgive me, I am not usually so obtuse, but I don't understand what you're saying. I understand that individual words, but I'm having trouble parsing the sentence. Are you agreeing with Florida, or disagreeing? FWIW, I don't believe for a minute that Bourdain was referring to lesbians/gays when he spoke of those who wear "comfortable shoes", and I think it's a stretch to assert so. I think he was referring to the Birkenstock-wearing granola do-gooder crowd. Actually, ditch the Birkenstocks (as they are made of leather) and add Chaco sandals or similar. (Not a dis, by the way, as I own a pair of Chaco sandals.)

Nooooooooo!!!! Say it ain't so, Tom! What will I have to gloat over now? Can we just pretend you led the workshop so I can still make my mother jealous? I might join you for at least part of your bread baking Saturday morning, if you're willing. I'd still like to check out the farmer's market, but it opens at 7, so I can go early and just do a quick run, and then I have some stuff to do in the afternoon. What time are you planning on starting? (will pm my e-mail address later for that document!) I'm up for the coffee workshop if it happens Friday morning instead of the bread workshop. I'm not sure if I'd be able to fit it in at other times, though. It depends on how long it is and what I still need to get done.

ChefCrash, I am so excited that you and your wife will be joining the festivities! Your posts (both travel and cooking) have always been amongst my favourites. Lebanese peasant foods and pastries are very welcome, indeed! I personally hope for baklava; so much that we will not be able to finish it all, so some of us will be forced to take home copious amounts! (not that I'm hinting or anything. . . )

Thanks for the map! On the map, the address of the Grange is 118 West Liberty Street, but the icon is on Essex Road. Is our dinner at a special location, or is the icon misplaced?

I recently read this blog post and thought it would be a cool thing to try. Hers don't look like whole cherries anymore, though, but if you're careful, you can keep the part of the cherry that comes out and use it as a plug after (assuming it's in reasonable shape).

Is there any kind of leeway with speeding? In Winnipeg you can go up to 9km over without getting a ticket, but 10km over will cost you more than $170 (12km over is about $190!).

@GlorifiedRice--How did you feel about Ferran Adria's line of Lay's potato chips? Surely Adria earned just as much disgust and disappointment from you as Emeril has. And if not, why not? And let's not forget Adria's cookbook which makes use of convenience foods like supermarket rotisserie chicken and uses potato chips to make Spanish tortilla. Does that cookbook make him any less great a chef than he is? Does it bring him lower in the average eG reader's eyes? (FWIW, I really couldn't care less, but it seems so many people here do.)

Awwwwwwwesome! What a great way to meet people, and try doughnuts! I don't really care for cake doughnuts, and I care for vegan doughnuts even less, but if a stranger offered to share a box with me, I'd definitely dig in!

Thanks to you both! The St. Germain will either just fit in the container I have in mind, or it might be just a touch too small. It's just under 13" high and has an inner circumference of 11.6" (the diameter is about 3.5"). I guess I'll bring it anyway, and just pray it fits!

This may sound like an odd question, but can anyone give me approximate dimensions of a St. Germain bottle? I'm hoping to bring some back to Canada, but will need an appropriately-sized bottle-protector so I can safely pack it in my check-in luggage. I have a bottle-holder in mind, but need to make sure it's big enough.

There was more to it than that, at least according to the jck folks. But between my Japanese and one guy's English, we couldn't get into it in much detail.

I went to the Seki Cutlery Festival in Seki, Japan last year, and chatted with the people from japanesechefsknife.com (they have a different name in Japan, but I can't remember it). They told me never to store my Japanese knives on magnetic strips. I can't remember why, but they strongly recommended against it. You could probably write them and ask, though. Just something to think about since you've started investing in Japanese knives.

I can assure you, Thai people eat duck. It's mostly prepared as Chinese-style roast duck rather than in a traditional Thai preparation (although red curry with duck is relatively common), but it's very popular. You can even find it in most food courts at which most of the people eating are Thai. In Bangkok, there's a small restaurant that specializes in roast duck somewhere around Sukhumvit Soi 15. If you ever go by there, you'll see most of the people eating there are Thai. I think the waitress and your friend are full of something, and it's not duck. (If you're looking for credentials, my father was born and raised in Thailand, I'm half Thai (born but not raised there), and I've returned several times. Many of my relatives live at least part time in Thailand, and they all love duck.)

Filipino-style spring rolls (lumpiang shanghai). They're small and easy to eat. You can also prepare them the day before (or several days before) and freeze them, or fry them up that day and bake to reheat before bringing them over. When I make them, I just use ground pork, black pepper, garlic, and fish sauce (instead of salt), but most recipes are more complex than mine. I usually serve them with Thai sweet chile sauce, but you could use plum sauce for the kids. Sausage rolls are also good. Real sausage rolls, not pigs in the blanket, but those are good, too. If you do real sausage rolls, you can add some vegetables to your sausage meat (I'll usually add asparagus or red or orange bell pepper) to make them a little more healthful.