Moopheus

My guess is that the difference is mainly marketing. At least judging from the copy on their web site, I'd say the "New York Roasts" are an example of relatively recent brand extension (i.e. since the Sara Lee buyout), and the "regular" is probably closer to what your salesman's dad would have been drinking. Exactly what the "New York Roasts" are is a little hard to tell from the vague descriptions. A "Little Italy Espresso" that "is made specifically for your espresso machine, but can be brewed in any regular coffee maker" is probably, like Australian table wine, not so much for drinking, but for laying down and avoiding.

Chocolate pecan pie, recipe from Medrich's Bittersweet. With whipped cream. I wanted to take a picture of it, but the CCD in my digital camera crapped out on me. Now the question is, how not to eat it all at once.

Jacques Pepin and Andre Soltner come to mind. But they are not exactly "self-taught." They went into the business at a time when it was still typical, at least in France, to start very young as a galley slave in the old-fashioned apprentice system.

I tried the coconut-pineapple tart and it seemed to me (and to the wife as well) that there was not enough pineapple in it. Though I agree that the crust was very good. And other things I have made from that book (only a few though, so far) have been good.

As I recall from my youth, many afternoons wasted in Dunkin' Donuts and similar places (in New England) that "coffee light" usually meant "extra cream" and "regular coffee" would get cream but no sugar, the sugar being on the counter and you could add it yourself. I do think it should be universally understood that if you go into any place that serves coffee, at least in the US, and say, "coffee, black," you should just be handed a cup, a small if there's a choice of sizes, of plain unflavored drip coffee, with nothing else in it. No questions, no hassle. Just be able to say, "coffee, black, please," and get coffee. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, in some places, it is.

Followed, I supposed, by a wafer-thin mint?

Yesterday I made a chocolate-almond biscuit w/chocolate glaze. So that's basically two chocolate cakes in a row; next, I guess I'll have to do something nonchocolate, if I can stand it.

Or even something that ventures into the range of "good". Presumably, for most people, and "average" cup of coffee means something like Folgers, Maxwell House, diners, and the industrial goop they get at work. Against that background, even Dunkin' Donuts coffee is brilliant. I mean, I can understand needing to put cream and sugar in that kind of thing, though what I really don't get is powdered nondairy creamer. That stuff tastes nasty. I guess I should add that the wife puts milk in the coffee I make for her.

Unless you buy muscovado sugar, a natural (less refined) brown sugar, which is generally pretty expensive but tasty. Ironically, in Ye Olde Days, poor folks had to make do with relatively unrefined sugar, and only rich folks could get the white stuff. Now it is reversed. Generally, I don't like any sugar in my coffee. Even if I'm in a diner or someplace where the coffee is not good, I'll just put in a little milk or cream. On the other hand, I like coffee-flavored candy and coffee ice cream, so go figure.

Even after having it in the cafe and knowing what they're getting, they still won't buy? How much do you charge for a cup? It does, on the face of it, seem silly that they'll pay per-cup prices for the same coffee that would presumably be cheaper by the pound (or bag). On the other hand, I suppose it matters how they're making it, too. To get the most out of coffee like that, you should have a grinder and press pot (I remember when the Coffee Connection had table service, and the watiresses would bring individual press-pots to the table--now that was the way to run a cafe), not just toss it into the Mr. Coffee and have it sit on the burner. I guess for most people, most coffees really don't taste that much different. And Charbucks has them convinced that burnt=good. I've got some coffee on order from Terroir now, so I suppose I can say I'm willing to spend what they charge (though I haven't sprung for some of the their more expensive offerings). Actually, the thing that annoys me about mail-ordering coffee is the shipping charge, in part because it encourages ordering more coffee than I really want to have on hand (i.e., shipping 3 or 4 bags is virtually the same cost as shipping 1).

Carrot-Walnut muffin. I had a lot of carrots to use up. And they can be breakfast tomorrow, too.

Wow, I've never heard of sugar allergy before! I thought all food allergens were proteins. Can your brother eat other types of sugar? ← I think this is not a matter of an allergic (immune system) reaction as a sensitivity caused by lacking an enzyme needed for proper digestion, like lactose intolerance.

Choklit cake. Though I screwed up the frosting and used the wrong amount of butter, so ended up with not enough to cover the whole cake. Oops. So now I must eat my mistake. Boo, hoo, hoo.

Also, the water and fat may have separated, so that you ended up with unequal amounts of fat in your cups. Did AB explain why the butter should be melted? I've made many batches of cookies without ever doing that. If you try it again and the dough still seems too soft (was it stiff enough to form a ball, or was it runny?) you try the freezer.

Especially when the shoo-flies are out of season, and all you can get is canned.

Wow, I don't know about you, but just about the last thing I want for a weekend brunch is someone telling me the exact moment I get to order. That sort of thing makes me appreciate the friendly second-rate neighborhood diner.

This week we had a pan of pecan-coconut-chocolate-chip blondies, the recipe from the Richard Sax book being discussed in another thread. It calls for white chocolate chips, which I don't really care for, so I used regular chocolate chips instead. Yummy and now gone.

I have only made a few recipes from this book, but so far all of it has turned out so good that I'm sure I'll be working my way through more of it, because basically every page has a recipe I want to try. The recipes are all clearly written, well organized, and work. The Double Chocolate Pudding was really excellent.

I use many, many cans of chickpeas in a year. Swanson's vegetable broth, in the carton. Things like mustard, ketchup, mayo I think of more as staples than convenience foods. I have made them, but only for special meals. I suppose the line between a staple and a convenience food is kind of a blurry one.

A loaf of stale pumpernickel.

Almost done with a pan of fudgy brownies, with raspberry couilis. I had bought a bunch of raspberries to make ice cream with, then my ice cream machine crapped out on me, so I just turned them into a sauce for the brownies. Works for me.

Well, I'm a bit peeved. My little Krups has started leaking stuff out of its seams. It's only two years old. So I guess I have to get a new machine. I think I may have to spring for a compressor machine this time. I think the leading contender right now is the Lello 4070, or maybe the Cuisinart. I would like to have the Musso, but I can't afford it.

Acids will lower the freezing point of water to the degree that they will dissolve in it. Acetic acid doesn't dissolve completely, so affects the freezing point more weakly than, say, salts or alcohols.

To make it worse, I came home and made more ice cream to have after dinner. Coffee. Actually, making coffee ice cream turns out to be not such a good idea if I want to actually be able to get to sleep tonight.

To add insult to, uh, more insult (I suppose injury if you actually ate it), on the show she presents it as if putting bread crumbs on a baked mac and cheese is a creative variation. That no one would have thought of before, like the corn bread with corn kernels in it.