EllenC

How about a variation on trifle? Get some pound cake and slice them horizontally into layers. Spread with a berry mixture, then pudding, cake, berries, pudding and whipped cream on top. Make them on sheet pans and put them in the refrigerator and serve like sheet cakes. Refreshing and very summery and you can make it today and it will taste better.

When I want to make sure the meat is flavored, I slash the wings just like Lilija. Otherwise you just flavor the skin. I thought everybody does that. The soy works a lot like brining, but for quick deep flavor, always slash. Ellen

We do a marinade in soy sauce and garlic. Lots of garlic. You can do it in an evening because the flavor really penetrates and makes a great wing. Ellen

How about chopped steak and bleu cheese with steak sauce for dipping?

Thank you very much Rona! He has no time to look on the internet. (Well he gets 30 minutes a week to email me.) But this was most helpful and I will copy the info and send it to him in this week's email. Ellen

I have been lurking on the Japan forum for a while, and I have been remiss in telling all of you how much I appreciate all of your wonderful posts. I am sorry. My son is in The Tokyo area until August of 09. He is a pretty good cook - I can say that as his mother, because I am sure I am not at all biased. Some things he is used to making require flour and he says he cannot find it anywhere. Can someone please help me with maybe store layouts? or maybe what kana to look for? Or how to ask a helpful store clerk? His Japanese is passable - by that I mean that he can generally carry on a conversation without embarassing himself too much. What is the best way to find flour in Tokyo? Sorry for rambling. Ellen

Annie, I post them as two separate ingredients. I just add a note in the instructions that they are not divided. Ellen

Annie - will you post your chocolate cake too? Since you'll have the book out and all. Ellen

Hollow out cherry tomatos, a a few crumbles of bacon, add Boursin and stick under the broiler just until the cheese gets melty. DO NOT serve these at parties. Other people eat them and then there is less for you.

I tested several recipes and found one that freezes really well. I adapted the flavoring for the party cake in Dorie Greenspans "Baking from My Home to Yours" cookbook. I froze it for a week and thawed it and it tasted great. I even left part of it unfrosted and uncovered on the counter overnight and my friends still told me that it was better than any other wedding cake they had eaten. I just freeze the plain cakes and then frost frozen cakes. Less crumbs. YMMV Ellen

A lot of times I will do breakfast for dinner. Either omelets or an egg scramble. Maybe with biscuits and gravy. Sometimes we do crepes for dessert which are fun and everybody stands around and talks and laughs and eats the crepes as they come off the griddle. Sometimes I stir homemade raspberry preserves into cream cheese that people can spread on or they just do butter and powdered sugar. Very interactive, very fun. Ellen

Okay you brought me out of lurk mode. These are beautiful dishes. Can I get a better close up, please? I love the way you describe things. Thank you. Ellen

Hi Helen, I store my flour and sugar in large plastic buckets. I got them from a candy store and they used to hold 60 lbs of corn syrup. After washing and thorough drying they easily hold 25 pounds of flour or sugar with plenty of room for sifting, etc. They would probably hold 50 lbs, but I've just never tried it. Anyway, I measured and they are about 15 inches tall and 11 inches in diameter. Hope this helps. Ellen

I have never seen the Reinhart recipe, but try it. Anything that has so much butter as ANY brioche recipe has to make good cinnamon rolls. Thank you for the complement on my writing style. I have a tendency to write just what I think. Then I read it and think, "Did that make sense to anyone else?" ;-) Ellen

Okay, I'll play. My favorite bread recipe for Cinnamon Rolls is the brioche out of Baking With Julia. Then I roll it out really thin and pour butter on it until I gasp. Then I spread a fairly heavy layer of brown sugar over the butter and sprinkle generously with cinnamon. I roll it up into this giant roll and slice off buns as big as I want. After they are done baking, I make icing out of confectioner's sugar, cream cheese and cream and drizzle that over the rolls when they are first out of the oven, so it soaks in. Let them sit 10 minutes while I tap my feet (because like so many things in life anticipation heightens pleasure - and I hate burning my lip on hot carmely brown sugar). Drizzle another layer of icing and then pig out. I really have started forcing myself to invite people over when I do this because otherwise, I may as well just smear them on my behind. Ellen

I have two children. I was young and foolish when I was pregnant with my first. I ate a lot of fast food and junk food. I had a craving for Taco Bell so bad, my then husband drove 45 minutes at midnight to get me off his back. She is a decided junk food junkie. No really. With my second child I had cravings for fruit so bad that I couldn't stand it. To this day, he wants fruit more than candy. He was reently in an "All you can eat" training situation for a number of weeks, and started to gain weight. As soon as he let me know about it, I only had to remind him of a few basic rules and he is right back to his normal weight. This is just anecdotal evidence, but it sure worked for me. Ellen

I have a two-liter bottle that used to contain soda or something. I fill it 2/3 full with water and store it in my freezer all the time. (I washed the outside really well first.) Then when I need chili or soup/ stock cooled, I put the soda bottle into the soup. I usually transfer the soup to a different pan first, because a lot of the heat comes off when you put it in a cool pan. This is probably a similar method to Nancy's ice paddle. Ellen

Okay, here's what I did. I used fresh orange juice instead of water and mixed 1 tablespoon orange zest in with the sugar before stirring in all the other dry ingredients. I also added 1 teaspoon orange blossom water. I made a half batch according to the original recipe I posted with no cocoa powder. These were AWESOME. I got about 14 cupcakes out of it. Frosted with cream cheese frosting (I used orange juice for the liquid) they were great. They were also goood as muffins. I will be making these a lot. Most particularly for the girls' birthday next week. Thank you everyone for your help. Ellen

These are great suggestions. Thank you. I am trying to avoid using nuts because, while the twins can eat them, their mother can't. I probably should have mentioned that. Sorry. Keep the ideas coming.

Thank you all for the comments. I knew there is a chemical thing with the cocoa powder and I am hoping somebody here can help with that. I really like the idea of rubbing the zest with the sugar, and the orange blossom water. Thank you. I will start experimenting tonight. Ellen

I have twin nieces who are allergic to eggs. We keep epi pens handy incase they have any contact with these tasty little items. This recipe is delicious. We want to be able to make it in a multitude of flavors. We want to try orange next. That means getting rid of the chocolate and putting in orange. We can't use any liquor. Please help. I am happy to bake repeatedly and I have a ready group of guinea pigs at my office. I will also be happy to post results and pictures. 2 c sugar 3 c flour 2 t baking soda 1 t salt 6 T cocoa 1/2 c oil 2 T vinegar 2 t vanilla 2 c warm water Mix wet, add dry (well, that's the "easy way" my friend and I do it). Bake 350 for 30-35min. How do I change this to make a vanilla or yellow cake? Also how much orange would you add? Thank you, Ellen

Oooh! Caramel popcorn. I believe I have a new craving.

What about other fish dishes? Seems to me that being from New England those should come into play. Poached, steamed with herbs, pan fried, fish stews, etc?

Nutmeg as the spice goes really well with peaches.

I think the best place to start is with the potential client. I have several friends with peanut allergies. None of them are suseptable to reactions in an enviroment like the one describe for your shop. Most of them can eat foods that say they are manufactured in facilities that also handle peanuts. If they are comfortable with your precautions, you can always have them sign a waiver.