lorea

For me, if I don't plan out my meals, I end up scrounging around for food (cereal, eating out, etc.) - so I ALWAYS plan out my menus in advance. What I'll do at the beginning of every week is write down a list of food I would like to eat that week - usually about 1/2 a week's worth. If I get some ideas along the way (ahem...eGullet), I'll jot those down too. I write down a shopping list about everything I need. When I actually go shopping, I see what's on sale or see what is super-fresh and I buy those too, to fill up the rest of the week's meals. So...if butternut squash is on sale, I'll buy it and figure out what I'm going to do with it later. I usually end up buying enough spur-of-the-moment to last me through the whole week. Sometimes, things don't go according to plan (e.g. - using an ingredient you planned for something else), but I just try to be flexible!

Fresh unsalted butter Sesame oil Honey (all sorts of different flowers) Cayenne powder Freshly ground black pepper Yummm..... Add noodles, and you have a ....hrm..... kind of a weird dish.

Speaking of copper...is there a reason why Falk, Bourgeat, & Mauviel don't make stainless steel handles on their 2.5mm lines (as opposed to most other major cookware manufacturers)? I emailed Falk about this and the representative responded back, saying that using stainless steel handles are too cost prohibitive. I don't understand though....why would it be cost prohibitive to put it on a copper pan rather than...say, an All-Clad pan? If those manufacturers used stay-cool stainless steel handles (read: low-maintenance handles) on 2.5mm cookware, I would buy that line in an instant. And do the cast iron handles get hot during normal stovetop use? They also rust if not dried, I'm assuming?

I have -parsley -chives and that's it! It's a pitiful little garden. I was wondering...do you normally start your plants from seeds or cuttings? Or do you just purchase whole plants? I've visited quite a few nurseries and Home Depot-type places and I can only find parsley, chives, rosemary, and lemon mint. And I'm in California...I would have thought the selection would be pretty good here.

The Rosco's Chicken and Waffles restaurant in Oakland used to be really good if you wanted soul food. I haven't been there in years though.

Wow, you guys really are great...thanks! I have plenty of places to scope out now, but please keep them coming if there are more suggestions!

I personally like Cook's Illustrated with the way they test their recipes, but I tend to think their "ethnic" foods are very disappointing (maybe it's their test subjects?). So....I'll look to Cook's Illustrated for coffee cakes, but not Chinese food. I used to just stir-fry my cornstarch-coated chicken in a little oil, but since I've discovered velveting, there's no turning back! There's a HUGE difference in texture between velveted meats and non-velveted meats. Ever since I started doing that, people have started asking me if I ever thought about becoming a chef at (insert a great Chinese restaurant here)! I find that it really doesn't take much longer, and it's definitely worth it. Thanks, eGullet.

I was wondering if anybody has recommendations on a good butcher in the Bay Area? I'm specifically looking for the South Bay and East Bay areas, but tips on butchers in any other area are welcomed too. Also, are there any places where I can get fresh seafood without incredibly high prices? Thanks!

I would think a hand mixer would result in glue-y mashed potatoes because the beating action is more violent than the paddle attachment on the KA. But I get great results with using the KA (paddle attachment) with huge batches of mashed potatoes. Just keep the machine on low and make sure your potatoes are perfectly cooked.

I would say Lychee as well.

Oh gosh....I always felt the exact opposite. I hate biting into an oatmeal cookie and getting chocolate chips! As a raisin-lover, I eat oatmeal cookies for the raisins, banana bread for the raisins, raisin bran for the raisins....the other stuff is just filler. Oh, and I used to love raisins so much, I would eat them soaked in milk....kinda like raisin bran and milk, but without the bran!

Actually, I think Calphalon had it internally clad at one point....it looks like the Commercial Stainless line was internally clad. If you look around in Amazon, there are a bunch of these products still online that are no longer available. Maybe they discontinued it due to production issues?

Yeah, I had heard about the warping problem, but I just wanted to test it out myself! I'd rather not have a pan prone to warping, so I completely returned it.

I admit I was intrigued when I went to Williams Sonoma in January and saw the Calphalon One line. Sear and deglaze? Resists sticking when you want it to? Oil doesn't pool like nonsticks do? So yesterday, I bought myself the 7qt. Sauteuse to replace a 6qt. nonstick saute pan I use just for making potstickers. Reason? The terrible warping has started to make an uneven crust on my beautiful handmade potstickers, and after all the work I put into them, I want them to come out perfectly! First, I tried out a piece of chicken...it seared fine, but I couldn't get as nice of a crust on the chicken as I can with my Calphalon Tri-ply copper (which I REALLY like, btw! I think it's heavier than the other stainless tri-ply line too.). There was fond! Deglazing went fine, and my cats had a nice meal. Next, I started making dinner...potstickers. I put the oil in the pan, put the potstickers in, and fried the bottoms. The heat didn't seem to be very even, as I could feel different heat variations with my hand over different parts of the pan, and my potstickers browned unevenly. But, onwards...I poured a glass of lukewarm broth into the pan to steam the potstickers and the pan warped! Argh....And just to be sure, I tried to spin the pan around on a few different surfaces, and it spun like a top. To test if the surface was warped, I spun different pots (including a wide 24qt. stockpot) and none of them were warped. After only 2 uses, my brand new Calphalon One pan warped under normal usage. So today, it went back to the store. I want to love it, but I can't.

Yup! Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches are made by Klondike. Hope you find them!

Yum....those giant Oreo ice cream sandwiches are my favorite! They still carry them around here, so they're definitely still in production.....you might want to try requesting them from your grocer - they might start stocking them!

Igor's piroshki. Lu's Le Bastogne cookies (or at least, I can't find them anymore!)

I was wondering having an aluminum stockpot has any advantages or disadvantages over a stainless steel one (with aluminum bottom)? Are there any health risks with cooking with aluminum? The restaurant supply store near me carries 20-qt. heavy-gauge (I would estimate it is about 1/3 inch in thickness) aluminum stockpots for about $30, which I think is a great deal. The store also doesn't carry stainless steel stockpots, so I am assuming most restaurants use aluminum stockpots? Is there a reason why aluminum stockpots aren't normally used at home? I don't think there's anything acidic in the stock I normally make. I don't normally put tomato paste in my stocks (as the eGCI class did), but if I wanted to in the future, would that small amount be enough to make the stock taste metallic? Thanks!!

I like homemade peels for steamed/boiled dumplings and potstickers, but storebought for shu mai and wontons for that slurpy texture. To test if your baking powder is still effective, just take a glass of hot water and drop a bit of baking powder in it. If it fizzes, it's still good. I wouldn't trust the "new package" thing...I've had a bad new package of baking powder before.

Maybe your baking powder is no longer active?

I didn't know that! How did you ever find that out? I'll take the Bordeaux, anyday.

Cranberries float when they are ripe - that's how they pick them off of the vines (they float them off). In order to combat the floatation problem, maybe you can try one of the following three things: halving the cranberries, lightly cooking the cranberries before using them in the recipe, or tossing them in a little of the sugar before putting them in to weigh them down. Your cake LOOKS like it tastes good though.

Hey, I thought I was the only one to feel this way about shrimp tails!! I'll eat the shells sometimes, but I refuse to put that humongous tail down my system. Argh, I can't stand slippery avocados in burgers. You take one bite, and they slide out the other end, usually taking all the tomato and pickles with it. If there's going to be avocado in my burger, it had better be lightly mashed.

Great posts, and thanks for all the tips! I'll try all of them and see what works best for me.

Are there any tricks for peeling shallots? Those little buggers drive me crazy! I've tried using "tricks" for garlic - smashing them (I just end up with a squashed shallot with the skin still on), rolling it in those little tubes (I end up with a rolled-up shallot), but I can't figure out if there's a good way for peeling shallots. Any tips?