JPW

I always found the heartbreak diet to be extremely effective for me. The last one before Mrs. JPW saved me from a life full of them saw me lose 15 pounds. That equals about a week of being unable to keep solids down and a couple more weeks of not being able to eat much. My comfort food was mainly beer. Once I could eat, I found that a big pot of long simmering pseudo- chili was the best way to go for me. It's about halfway between real chili and a meaty red sauce and goes best with a baguette. The aroma that filled my apartment was just the right amount of warmth and spiciness to get my stomach working again. These days when I'm feeling down I generally go for anything that's a long simmering dish on the stove top. Making chicken stock when you're down is a great way to get those beautiful warm aromas going. To quote my wife's favorite movie, ondine - just remember "Tomorrow is another day"

Enjoy! If the smoked duck breast salad is still on the menu, one of you must try it!

The list of nasty stuff that was consumed in the name of being a teen is very long -- Mad Dog 20/20, Liquor cabinet Surprise (the take a little from every bottle), Iron City beer. My favorite bad drink though is from my time on St. Thomas called the Bushwhacker. It's named after the particularly odd local phenomenon of guys who would jump out of the bushes in front of unsuspecting ladies and begin, you know, whacking.... Recipes vary, but basically 1 shot light rum 1 shot dark rum 1 shot vodka 1 shot tequila 1/2 shot kahlua 1/2 shot Bailey's 1/2 shot frangelica Put in blender with ice fill to top of ice with Coco Lopez and mix.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't care who they use this time, as long as it is people who actually know about food. Of the 3 (4?) episodes of Iron Chef USA that they aired, the only one that knew anything about good food was my man Ron Popeil

Not to sound too certain about it, but... Inevitably it will be better than that disasterously distasteful first go-round of Iron Chef USA. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll troll eG for some of the tasters.

Just remembered one other place from my time working in Reston. Anybody recall the name of the Tex-Mex (actually IIRC it was labeled as New Mexico cuisine)place in Herndon? I can see it perfectly, except for the name. Aunt something? Of course, I'll recall it exactly once someone points out the name to me. Hate when that happens.

Yes, I do. But mainly right now I'm blotting the drool off my tie from the description of your roast.

Swankalicious, Who ARE You? I think maybe DonRocks' evil doppelganger.

For 75 fuckin' quid you better bake my sea bass "very carefully"!!

I don't think it's necessary, but if you really want to do an easy peel of the inside - Remove top and bottom of bell pepper. Cut a slit top-to bottom. Carefully unroll. You will have to ease the membranes apart. Insert knife at edge horizontal to board and carefully sweep/saw away from yourself.

For me, it's a spread for bruschetta - Mince the leeettlle fishies into a healthy pond of Olive oil, add minced garlic, diced toms, white beans, a splash o' lemon juice, crushed red pepper flakes to taste. Or just add whatever sounds good to you Let combine for a couple of hours in the fridge. Serve on slices of a good baquette with your favorite NZ Sauvignon Blanc. It greatly helps if it's warm enough to sit out on the back dusk as the sun sets.......

fifi, dicing is too ambitious for me. getting down to slivers is enough. my best results are basically from constantly rinsing knife in hot water to reduce *goop* buildup.

Mediterranean style - A garlicky dip for toasted pita Good thick greek yoghurt (or drain some plain american style through a cheesecloth lined strainer for a couple of hours) Minced garlic Slivered dried apricots Pinch of salt (to taste) Mix well, cover and refridgerate. The longer it sits in the fridge the more the apricot flavors the yoghurt

PS -- srhcb, I like your idea, but as she is also a creature of design, using a plate on her favorite cake stand is not acceptable.

Thanks for all the replies. Sinclair, you did indeed understand everything perfectly. As for how she makes it - yes two cakes in two pans, put one down, apply icing on top, place 2nd on top, apply icing all over- think traditional birthday cake. The light composition of angel food is not something that I had not considered. Of course, now that it has been pointed out to me, it is painfully clear that just about any void of space would cause it to split. I'm not 100% sure of the frosting recipe, but it is indeed one that does NOT require refridgeration. To sum up -- We have two options: trim the top of the bottom layer to make it flat, or make one big cake and slice it in half. Thanks again all!

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't check back until tomorrow morning, but I look forward to whatever other ideas pop up. Yinz are the best!

That's kind of the rub. The end goal is to avoid the splitting. But what I thought was the correct solution (skimming the top of the bottom layer off flat) was deemed unacceptable by Mrs JPW. So, if there is a way to avoid the splitting if the top of the bottom layer is a little rounded then I'm all ears. Or any suggestions to keep the tops flatter (not quite sure what you mean by "baking strips"). Finally, if the only solution is to trim off the top, Mrs JPW has said that she will bow to the collective wisdom of the group. Gloating will then commence.

Which one?

It is a real town!! Uhhhh, Actually it's Needles. That's where Snoopy's brother, Spike, lives. And since it was before the birth of Spike Lee, he has been unable to successfully sue the Schultz estate. JPW -- You are right! Needles - not Noodles. I was walking around with not much on my mind, and all of a sudden -- "Needles" popped in my head and I realized I was wrong. I'm happy that there actually is a Needles, AZ --- is there a Noodles, too? I couldn't find a Noodles, AZ on mapquest, but it did bring up a "Noodles Lake, Michigan" However, I too was wrong. I always thought that Needles was in AZ, but a couple of different searches failed to turn it up. There is a "Needles Eye" in AZ, but I think that the only real Needles is in CA. Spike's home

Don't spend much time on this forum, so please excuse if I have missed a recent thread. Plus, I know even less about baking than I do about cooking. Here's the situation, Mrs. JPW is the family baker. She's made two lovely layers of angel's food cakes. However, each one is a little rounded at the top. End result is icing the first layer, putting the second on top and icing. Inevitably the top layer splits as the edges are weighted down with icing. Mrs. JPW hated my idea of trimming off the top of the bottom layer to make it flat. What is correct way to avoid this problem? TIA

Like my father, I am a creature of extreme habitude. I must have a half-dozen different small pans and pots suitable for melting butter for popcorn, but will ONLY use the little 1 qt All-Clad. We must have 3 or 4 different non-metal flippers, including a nice high tech silicone one, but I still must use ONLY the piece o'junk $2 one I bought at Target 5 years ago. Dad's worse. Every Monday to Saturday morning that he has been at home for the last 30 odd years (and as far as I know even before). He has had the exact same breakfast. 2 Eggo waffles with Land O'Lakes butter out of the tub and Log Cabin syrup, 2 Bob Evans sausage links, and a glass of fresh squeezed OJ. He's been using the same cast iron skillet since I can remember. The same plate, the same OJ glass, etc. I think the biggest crisis of his life occurred when his ancient juicer (the big mechanical metal kind where you put the glass under the spout with the hopper and the long handle) broke. It took him a couple of months to find a replacement and I could just tell that having to drink juice out of the carton was killing him.

I've eaten at the Rio Grande in Gaithersburg and I can't say that I was terribly impressed. Not bad, just nothing that really made me overly ecstatic that I had chosen to eat there. I think it may be one of those cases where the franchises pale considerably when compared to the original. My main complaint about Tex-Mex when you're in neither Tex nor Mex, held true there -- absolutely drowning everything in sauce that is way too sweet.

Risotto Steamed Broccoli with a hint of balsamic

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