Moopheus

You might be disappointed. It seems there is no longer a USDA standard for Grade C, what was grade C is now grade B, and Grade B is "dark" grade A. Below Grade B is commercial grade, and it's not sold retail. Commercial grade syrups may not necessarily be pure maple syrup, and are used to make syrup substitutes with 2% syrup. Apparently as the buds start appearing on the trees late in the season, it makes the syrup bitter.

You can have any cookie you want, as long as it's an Oreo.

I like chocolate cake for breakfast, but the wife does not agree.

I think the South End Tavern was the place I was thinking of--still has a sign up for the separate ladie's entrance to the bar. I have had occasion to go back every once in a while to visit friends and I make a point of always going to Duncan's for breakfast. They have the best french toast. And their seasonal fruit pies were always yummy. The thing that was practically a daily staple food for us was Freihofer's chocolate chip cookies, which were still made in Troy then. Which, sadly, seem to be becoming more and more like Entenmann's since they're now owned by the same giant food congolemerate (and they aren't sold in New York City, which is annoying). edited for cookies

I remember Manory's, I had an apartment near there. But that wasn't the place I was thinking of. Connie's, that was it, I remember now. I left Troy in '88. Did you go to the Daily Grind? It was right next to the Bruegger's, it was the place that turned me into a coffee snob. Another diner I remember but have forgotten the name of was in South Troy, looked like it had been frozen in time back in the 50s, the waiters were big guys with dirty smocks chomping on cigars. Another good food thing I remember was a small Italian grocery run by an old guy who made his own very excellent sauces and pasta in the back room--I can remember being given sauce fresh out of the pot. A real luxury for a student on a tight budget. There was a McDonald's in the Atrium Mall, the World's Ugliest Mall. I didn't think a McDonald's could go out of business.

I was not aware that this adjustment existed on the KA mixer, so I went to their website and downloaded a PDF of the user's manual (lost mine years ago), and indeed, the beater height is adjustable. It says right in the manual: "NOTE: When properly adjusted, the flat beater will not strike on bottom or side of bowl. If beater or wire whip is adjusted too close so that it strikes bottom of bowl, coating may wear off beater or wires may wear through on wire whip." So that would seem to be it. I'm going to have to check mine; I think it's actually a little too high.

There were definitely other fast food places in town--usual suspects, an Arthur Treacher's. There was a good lunch diner downtown that was great for burgers but it's gone now, don't remember the name of it. Had a double-U shaped counter. The Rolls is now where the Puritan was. The last time I was in Troy was about a year ago.

Us RPI students would have killed for a white castle! All we had was a lousy KFC. We used to have a Sutters of our own, but they changed it to something else, still a bar, but not nearly as cool... Oh, I miss the old days..

"We're not going to change anything" is merger-speak for "it'll be gone in six months, tops." Are your chefs willing to get it by mail order? chocosphere carries Guittard, probably some others do to. (Locally I can buy the 'classic' Guittard at Sahadi's in Brooklyn for pretty cheap)

The other day I made chocolate syrup with her recipe, and Valrhona cocoa powder. It'll be weird making egg creams without Fox's U-Bet, but I'll get over it. So easy I had to wonder why I ever bothered buying the stuff.

Presumably they both agreed to do it willingly. So it's unlikely there will be dueling on the set, though that might be fun to watch. Maybe Flay will have to watch how close his fingers get to Morimoto's sushi knives.

What is this margarine? Food of the pods?

Just yesterday I was at the Strand and happened to pick up a book called Great Old-Fashioned American Desserts. Some that sound good: poached apples with maple cream Old Maine blueberry batter cake (a kind of baked pudding with a cakey layer and served with cream) New England Indian pudding (for that _real_ old-fashioned flavor) Amana Village plain chocolate bread pudding Denver fudge pudding Cinnamon wild rice pudding (served with berries and cream, apparently good for either dessert or breakfast) Apple roly-poly (kind of a biscuit baked in a cinnamon syrup) Colonial molasses pecan ice cream These aren't 'upscale', as most traditional American desserts aren't. But they are 'all-American.' And anyone who would ask for an 'all-American' dessert and then turn up their nose at one for not being 'upscale' enough should get a kick in the pants (I mean your sales manager, not you).

I have had conversations very much like that in other places (I won't go to Charbucks). I am old enough to remember the places were practically all you had to do was sit down and you'd get a cup of plain old coffee. Though, at least in New England, "regular coffee" often meant with cream (or more likely half-and-half); if you wanted black you had to say black. None of this skim milk crap. What's the point of skim milk in coffee anyway? You might as well just be adding water.

It's true, medieval vinyards in England were wiped out when the weather changed. It's thought that the difference between the average temperature in the warm and cold periods was about 1 degree, which doesn't sound like a lot but it was enough to cause serious food shortages across much of europe. The Little Ice Age wasn't really global in extent, though, it mainly affected northern europe.

And score minor diplomatic bargaining chips that can be used in negotiating other issues; i.e. food bans can be removed in exchange for other trade concessions.

So, I served mine in ice cream bowls. When I made the chocolate decadence cookies (which were quite rich and tasty) I only got 12 cookies instead of the 36 the book says it will make. So far I've found that the recipes are not that hard to make and work well, but her idea of a serving is itty-bitty.

I suppose the administration would say it couldn't possibly have anything to do with this.

Apparently, Starbucks is now promoting the radical idea that you can order coffee any way you want it, but is afraid that we won't know how to order it and has supplied an instruction manual. There's an article about it here.

In Boston, where I was for a wedding reception. The wedding cake was chocolate cake with whipped cream and strawberries.

Not quite. There was one in the Stardust hotel when I was in Vegas last spring. However, you aren't missing anything; it was not good.

I made the 'Albert's Mousse' recipe and it came out well, but more like two and a half servings. I got the book at Xmas and have only used a couple of recipes out of it so far, though I expect to be doing more.

That's funny, that's what I had for dessert last night too. You weren't also at the Seaport Hotel were you?

The key thing about my fantasy kitchen is that it's in my fantasy house in the country with the view of the Berkshires out the back window overlooking the fantasy kitchen garden with the fresh veggies and berries in it and not in my nonfantasy crackerbox Brooklyn tenement rathole apartment.

One problem I've had making my own is that the dough is very very sticky. It is very easy to make, but don't let the dough dry on the utenstils, it'll dry like cement.