Ellen Shapiro

ummmmm, Peeps. I like Peeps. In my home, we treat Peeps sort of like exhibits in a museum--Peeps are kept from one year to the next marking the passage of time. "These were the Peeps from the year that Michael graduated from the Academy" or "these are the Peeps from the year that grandma died."

One of my favorite cakes, and that's a favorite among a long list of favorites because I love cake, is the Lithuanian coffee cake served at Claire's Corner Copia in New Haven, Connecticut. It so happens I have the Claire's Corner Copia cookbook. I decided last night to make the coffee cake, from the recipe in the book. Silly me. What I baked was quite unrelated to the version served in the restaurant. It was tasty, mind you, just not the thing. I am going to assume that the recipe as printed in the book is just completely out of whack. But let me describe it: It's a basic batter cake, with the cake ingredients being 1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 egges, 1 tablespoon coffee, 1 teaspoon vanilla (I doubled this), 1 cup sour cream, 2 cups AP flour, 1 teaspoon each baking soda and powder. Then there's a filling you layer in with the batter in the bundt, consisting of 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons regular sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon coffee grounds, and 1/4 cup each chopped walnute and raisins. There's also a frosting but it's not the issue here--I nailed it no problem first try. Okay, so the cake I made was very light yellow in color inside whereas the one in the restaurant is darker and grayer. The one I made was pretty light and fluffy compared to the denser, silkier cake at the restaurant. Those are the major differences. Two different coffee cakes, basically. What I'm trying to figure out, because I'm at the end of the road on my baking knowledge, is how I can start tinkering with the recipe to increase density and silkenness. Can we have a little clinic here? Taking the above measures, can an experienced baker tell me what would happen, for example, if I added more eggs? Less flour? More butter? A different kind of shortening or a mix of shortenings? I think this would be a useful exercise (especially for me!) on many levels.

Priscilla it's not just tires that Costco has taken out of the realm of stressful and overly significant-seeming purchases. It's everything. I was walking down the aisles today loading my cart with various essentials--a 128 ounce jar of pickles, 2-dozen rolls of toilet paper, a 20-pack of soap--and then I saw a VCR for like $79 and just threw it in my cart like it was a six-pack of Diet Coke. It's the Costco way. Costco is saving civilization I believe. I also like how after you go to Costco and you go to another store all the packages of everything look really puny and you say, "Oh how cute!" It's kind of like when you step off a boat but you still feel like you're rocking and rolling. And on the tire point, I hope everybody is aware that if you're a Costco member in the US and you get a simple flat the tire department will fix it for free whether or not you bought the tires from them. Ditto topping off your tire pressure anytime. Good habit to get into to extend the life of your car and maintain fuel efficiency. I think about many things now that I didn't even know about before Costco.

That commercial is SO appealing. I think it's the free gifts that really draw me in. After all, the pricing seems so reasonable for 2 pounds of coffee -- if you factor in the current gifts of the coffee maker and some other essential life or death "but wait, that's not all" present. Good thing I've never been by a phone when the swanky, debonnaire Wall Street-type actor struts across my screen.

I really am glad to hear that so many of you are also Costco addicts (I thought there was something wrong with us, though FG has always insisted that really, there isn't). We're hoping to drag FG's mother along with us today and introduce her to the apple pie. It is a fine day when Costco is sampling pies. It is indeed a rare day that I should happen upon say, an apple pie, but I'll happily settle for a berry variety. A cheese cake is clearly sloppy seconds (I'm not a cheese cake fan).

When we drove across Canada we would stop into almsot every Costco that we passed (you'd be surprised how many we found). We did pick up the Canadian "Costco Connection" publication and that's how we knew when to be on the lookout. It was remarkable to see the local products. In the western part of Canada we found giant jars of saskatoon berry jam, which in local stores (same brand) were similarly priced (or more) and 1/4 the size. Throughout the Canadian Costcos there were Canadian products (like the no tears waterproof sunscreen for athletes) that aren't available at Costcos outside of the country.

I actually grew up with a fairly odd family eating arrangement. My whole family would eat dinner--I'm guessing between 6:30 - 7:00--and I would eat between 7:45-8:00. No, I wasn't locked in the basement until everyone else had finished the most succulent selections, I was at swim practice and would eat when I got home. I've never been a late night sort of a person but I guess I did eat pretty late for a kid. In college, at least the first few years when I lived on campus, dinner times were dictated by the hours at the dining hall. Our dorm had the best hours--I think it served until 8:30—and I was always on the late side. Even with restaurants, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone serving after 9:00 in Burlington (it's a bit better now). Of course, that’s where Ben & Jerry came in. It’s really more of a recent (within the past five years) awareness that I’m happier eating earlier. In reality, most of the time we don’t--but I’m always hopeful that we will.

I ususually eat moo shu without the pancakes. I also enjoy vegetarian versions, particularly with mushrooms.

Appetite management, mentioned by many here, is definitely a concern too. A big meal late at night does nothing to take the edge off hunger all day long. The big lunch is great from this perspective. The anticipation of the lunch helps limit morning appetite and afterwards only snacking is really necessary to get through to bedtime. Whereas, with a big dinner coming up, I tell myself not to eat much but it backfires. A small breakfast, a small lunch, and by late afternoon I'm so hungry I eat a pre-dinner dinner composed solely of dreck.

I like to eat dinner by around 7:00pm. I just don't enjoy sleeping on a full stomach so I'll only eat later than that if I'm not the decisionmaker, for example if I'm a guest in someone's home and dinner is served at 9:00 or later, or if friends are going to a restaurant and the arrangements are for late. If I tell New Yorkers I like to eat by 7:00pm, they say, "Wow that's early." Implication: Loser. If I tell people in Kansas I like to eat by 7:00pm, they say, "Wow that's late!" Implication: Man you big city people live the night life. When do you like to eat dinner? What's the earliest you'll eat? (I know plenty of urban folks who absolutely consider it uncivilized to eat before 7:00, 8:00, or even 9:00pm, and in a place like Argentina the norm can be a lot later even than that.) The latest? Your average? What kinds of behaviors have you noticed in your travels? Why is sophistication or at least urban-ness assigned to eating late rather than early? Is there any question that from a health and comfort standpoint it makes sense to eat earlier? Who here will refuse a 5:30pm reservation on principle? How about 10:30pm?

Wilfrid I would want to know what laws are being broken. Some laws are silly don't you think? The law hasn't done much to earn my respect lately and I speak as the victim of an incorrect parking ticket that will cost me many hours to fight and I'll still lose probably. We have so many laws that are the result of the regulatory state and have no moral basis and may actually be immoral because they regulate things that shouldn't be regulated like what kind of cheese I can eat (real example) and what kind of cookies I can bake (hypothetical example not far off). It doesn't bother me to see these laws laughed at and broken if no harm comes from it.

Some notes from our Costco adventures this past year: The Costco in Brooklyn, NY, is two-stories high. You get from one level to the other via a double-lane escalator-type moving walkway--the carts ride in one lane and the people on the other. In Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, you can get a traditional lobster roll at Costco's snack bar. Outside the Northeastern United States, the pretzels at Costco revert from nice soft ballpark-style pretzels to nasty oily suburban shopping-mall style. At Canadian Costcos you can get french fries at the snack bar, and they're good. The 1/4 pound kosher beef frank served at the snack bar is Hebrew National in the East, but can be other brands elsewhere. Some Costcos have polish sausage as a choice alongside the frankfurter. Regional products abound--Cabot cheddar in the East versus Tillamook in the Western United States. So tell us what you know. I see on the Costco site http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=inf...locations%2Easp there are Costcos in Japan, the UK, and all the heck over the place. What are they like?

I've been in a few professions -- marketing; editorial; freelance photography -- and in all of them there have been They Who Went To School For It And Look Down On They Who Didn't and there have been They Who Learned On The Job And Think They Who Went To School Are Pretentious Spoiled Brats. Despite the dynamic, though, every experienced person in most any field save for those where government regulation requires education (law, medicine) most likely knows that school does not guarantee excellence, and that lack of "book learning" does not prevent it. So while I will be very interested to examine the question of whether or not school makes a chef more or less likely to be great, ultimately a chef is judged on his food and his restaurant. Perhaps this states the obvious but it is in my opinion an important thing to bear in mind.

I recently saw both pasta-strainer ads on the same channel during the same show, and jotted down the Web sites: pastapro.com tvinventions.com I believe I am the first on the thread to discover the second one.

Let's make our own dietary laws!

I'm sure I could make some great s'mores on the radiator vent. It could be a combo chocolate melting on the heater vent and marshmallow melting on the coffee plate (on a piece of foil--lest we damage the hot plate for good). And don't forget that the same vent that heats, usually also cools, so if you're in a pinch for refrigeration (no substitute for things that would become perishable but could tide you over for a few hours) you can also cool things on that same hotel air cooler. Now the hair dryer . . . hmmmm, I'm very curious about how a marshmallow would "roast" on med. hot or the full heat blower setting. I guess I'd have to put the marshmallow on a stick or skewer. It might get blown off and it wouldn't take on the browning effect of roasting over a fire but it could be tasty just the same. Maybe I should be thinking more about baking on the coffee hot plate. I wonder how long it would take to bake a cookie.

Jim obviously I'm totally with you (you got a belly laugh out of me on that one). Rollin is such an accessible guy--he'll go into the technical details of exactly how he produces what he does and then, with a Texas size smile and a twinkle in his eye he'll exclaim, "it's cooler than shit" or, in polite company, "cooler than snot." Where else are you going to get that kind of tasting notes? And Mamster I'm glad you liked it and the thing about it is I'm really just a person who appreciates (as in I like it) good wine. I'm not like Fat Guy--I don't retain the facts and figures of things in my brain but I can tell you what I like and I have a very specific idea about it. I think there are a lot of wine drinkers out there like me--we're "the people." I feel you don't have to be a collector, member of a wine club with a notebook full of notes, or even a consistent (as in daily or weekly) wine drinker to drink, enjoy, appreciate, and occasionally engage in meaningful discussion about good wine.

Oh it sizzles alright. If you've ever dripped water or coffee on that plate when it's going full tilt you know it's powerful enough to do some damage.

Jin: Only the condiments come from Taco Bell and the chains. They're great sources of individual packets of hot sauce, little plastic specimen cups of salsa, and such. But we're talking real meat, as in purchased raw from the grocery store, sliced with the Spyderco or Laguiole, and cooked up right there on the coffee maker hot plate. Tortiallas are a dime a dozen even in the Midwest at grocery stores these days and they keep without refrigeration so those will hold 'til the next day when they can be made again but in a veggie version (unless the hotel has a minibar fridge, in which case you can cook beef all week).

Jin: I have only been a witness to the procedure, never engaged in it myself. My friend who is quite the aficionado of coffee-maker cooking, however, is a master of fajitas. The hot plate is just the right size to warm a small tortilla from the grocery store, into which is placed grilled strips of flank steak, peppers, onions, and assorted condiments gathered from Taco Bell et al. I hasten to add that he is quite conscientious about cleaning the "kitchen" after use.

Could you guess that I was one of the people who "got the heck scared out of her" by the live, still-moving shrimp?

Back in the day, I was a marketing person for a couple of big publishing companies. That means I spent a lot of time on the road and stayed in a lot of hotels. Though one goes into such an endeavor with a pretty much unlimited dining budget there are plenty of situations where dining out is undesirable or, in the case of smaller cities where nobody lives and where restaurants close at sundown, impossible. The most creative approach I've ever witnessed is: Cooking with the coffee pot. You know that cheap coffee maker you find in most middle market hotel rooms across North America? Well have you ever noticed that under the coffee pot there's this metal plate that keeps the coffee warm after it's brewed? Has it ever occurred to you that this metal plate is also known as . . . . . . a griddle? Imagine the possibilities. What are the most creative ideas you've all heard or come up with for feeding oneself under such circumstances? Here, I'm not talking about a road trip where you can pack your van with coolers and portable burners. No food preparation at home packed for travel, either. This is about what you do when you've got seemingly zero options.

And it's like I've told Fat Guy a number of times--the majority of people who are sending these gifts are probably sending them on expense account so the contributing factors of 1) ease of ordering; 2) pretty packaging; 3) "gourmet" foods that can ship anywhere in the country; 4) an impressive order department that reminds you of the gifts you sent--and to whom--the previous year; and 5) an overall appeal to the general population, make for perfect corporate gift giving. Perhaps if people had to pay out of their own pockets, they'd be more discriminating but I have heard of people who send these products and foot the bill themselves. Our tower of treats (or whatever it's called) reminds me of those gift baskets I see everywhere at this time of year--bath products for women, baskets with an Italian theme packaged in ceramic pasta dishes, etc. These gifts are tremendously appealing and I'd be thrilled to get one because they look nice and seem like fun. In the end I wouldn't know what to do with half of the stuff and the other half I'd likely never use anyway--but there is something very appealing about these sorts of gifts (and at least I know that the person who sent it not only thought about my gift but also didn't go bankrupt in the process). To me it seems that with the prices that Harry & David charges it's like the emperor’s new clothes of holiday gift giving.

Jinmyo don't thank me thank Canon. Nina I'm no authority on Pepe's but as I learned it The Spot is the original Pepe's store and the current Pepe's is the expanded newer store (The Spot for those who have never seen the layout sits in the lot behind Pepe's). They are in theory supposed to be serving the exact same thing controlled by the same family. If there's a quality difference I'm not aware of it. I'm not permitted as a loyalist to actually admit I've been to Pepe's but were I to discuss the theoretical differences between the pies it's the Sally's crust that makes the most lasting impression. But both are excellent pizzerias (theoretically of course). I don't remember ever having a calzone at T&L's.

Marcus I agree the sauce is understated but that's the pizza-making theory over there. They don't want every ingredient screaming for attention "me me me!" But I'm with you and I like the sauce to be a big thing. That's why I order . . . . . . extra sauce. It's the easiest way to turn up the volume on the sauce -- you just get more of it. In fact my favorite pie at Sally's is a "red" with no mozz. It's just crust, a lot of sauce (like as much as sauce and cheese put together on a regular pie), olive oil, and a sprinkling of parm. My second most favorite pies there are the "white" with just mozz -- no sauce. Those are great especially in season when fresh tomatoes from Connecticut come in -- some customers like my parents bring them from their gardens. They slice the tomatoes right on there, super-thin, and they're better than any sauce could be. Zucchini and summer squash also work. Also they do a white with broccoli rabe, and one with black olives and onions. It's always worth asking what specials are available. I haven't eaten much at Pepe's as we've always been a Sally's family. I'm also not into clams, but I hear the one definitive pie at Pepe's is the white clam -- no mozz, just fresh clams and olive oil and maybe some parm. Sally's doesn't specialize in that pie so they don't keep live clams around. Other than that one pie, the people I trust say Sally's is the better pizzeria. Also I always recommend going on a weeknight (closed Monday) because the lines are killer on weekends.