jgm

I have arthritis in my SI joints (where hips hook onto spine, very low back) and in my knees, so I can relate. Two things. 1. Stretching is a lot more help than you'd think it would be. Strengthening is bound to help, too. 2. The voice of experience: once you've wrecked your joints, you're done. Knee replacements, while possible, are expensive and extremely painful. I'm hoping to put mine off as long as possible. But your back. . .well, simply put, you don't want anyone cutting on your back for any reason. Most back surgeries aren't terribly successful and carry high risk. In my case, there is no surgery for SI joints. Listen to what the people (above) say when they tell you that 80 hours is too long to work, and it's not worth it. I know you're thrilled to be working where you are, but if you can't modify it somehow, and give those joints a rest, you're going to pay for it later. It's a very dear price to pay.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone made a roux using schmalz or bacon drippings? Or even duck fat? It would seem that any one of those might impart additional flavor.

The NY Times has an article on people who are making lists of things they want to do before they die. When I started making my own list, I found most of the things on it were culinary. (surprise, surprise...) Although this is similar to our New Year's Culinary Resolutions thread, for me it includes some things that will not go on a yearly list for awhile. I want to learn to cook without recipes. Getting closer, but not there. Especially, I want to be better at looking in the fridge and using things up. I want to eat dim sum. We have a couple of local restaurants that serve it; I've just never gotten around to it. I want to eat at Alinea, or at least at another restaurant that has a similar menu. I want to grow most of my own vegetables, including lettuce and herbs. I want to develop awesome knife skills, and learn to sharpen my own knives well. I want to take a European vacation and eat at a multi-star restaurant in France, or maybe even at El Bulli. OK, there's the beginning of my list. What's on yours?

I ain't lettin' you guys rain on my parade anyhow. It's in print. These young ladies, whether or not they are bona fide New Yorkers, had better food in Kansas than they had in New York.

Well, whaddya know! This morning's Wichita Eagle has a story about three Columbia University students who, having read about Kansas' Flint Hills in National Geographic, decided to come and explore. The link is here , but I expect it'll work only a couple of days. It seems they took a bus -- 30 hours -- to Emporia, took a taxi 20 miles to Strong City, and found the natives in a friendly mood. Several locals showed them the sights: "For Kaufman and Edney, it was their first taste of homegrown tomatoes. They ate about eight peach-sized tomatoes Tuesday they'd picked from the garden of Susan Smith, owner of the Hitchin' Post in Matfield Green. Kaufman and Edney, who are vegetarians, took a "When in Rome" attitude and ate steak. "We never got meat like this in New York," Kaufman said. "Without all the fat and stuff this is just so much different. This is great stuff. It's really good." Let it be remembered that in August, 2007, a trio of New Yorkers came to Kansas and ate better food than they could get at home.

Most of the store is completed, and I am happy. There's still a section that's being worked on, but what I saw last night will do just fine. First of all, there's a nice selection of imported cheese. Since I'm not highly familiar with such things, I can't remember many names, but most of them were things I've never heard of before, so I think that's a good sign. I'll have to grab my copy of "Chocolate and Zucchini" and see if they have any of the varieties mentioned in there. I also found the brand of San Marzano tomatoes I like, and at half the price that I'd been paying at another store! I also found a lot of prepared foods that I don't really care about; there are some frozen soups in the freezer case I've not seen before. I don't see myself buying frozen soup much, but every now and then it's nice to know about such things in case I need to pick up lunch or dinner in a hurry. Could this be a twinkle of hope that some decent cheeses might be available here? Dare we hope for even more?

May latest acquisition was actually on sale (though by the time I paid the shipping, I pretty much paid full price). It's a zucchini corer. It's a long slender blade, kind of semi-circular, so that you can slice the end of the zucchini off, remove the center core, and stuff to your heart's delight. Then I guess you grill the zucchini and slice into rounds. Of course I'm going to use this ! Why, several times a week, I'm sure! And that will result in my eating more vegetables! You don't believe me?

Seconded. That bread is incredible! And the onions...mmmmm.....

How about mini-hamburgers/cheeseburgers, and mini-grilled cheese sandwiches? Around here, popular fare for years has been the "walking taco salad", and it consists of opening up a single-serving bag of Doritos or Fritos, adding chili, and then allowing guests to add toppings of their choice. If you're interested in something 'interactive' - but it's kinda labor-intensive - have someone dipping apples in caramel, and then allow guests to choose toppings, such as nuts, candy, chocolate drizzle, etc.

Maggie, my gut tells me that you should let this be for awhile. During that while, buy very good cheese and very good bread, etc., to keep your soul satisfied. And a few brief forays into food of the Bennigan's ilk, as suggested above, will eventually help, too. It's all subliminal. Part of it is grief. I adore caramels, and always shared them with a gorgeous black cat named Zues; each had to be halved, and one of the halves, halved again, so that he ate 1/4 to my 3/4. It was a great ritual with us. Then Zeus died, and it was two years before I could eat caramels again. The desire was gone... but it eventually returned. But the next time I allow another cat to acquire me, I'll probably take caramels in my pocket to the Humane Society, and take home the one whose paw shoots out of the cage at me, upon smelling them. Sharing caramels with a cat is such a lovely thing to do! I go in spurts with my various creative endeavors. I do scrapbooking; I have no children, but my parents are crazy about their great-grandchildren, and think and talk of nothing else, so I do scrapbooks of the little ones to give to Mom and Dad for gifts. I find myself getting on a regular 'bender' about it, and during such times, I can't think of anything but scrapbooking. A single page can take hours, thanks to my extremely anal nature about such things. After the last bout, I wondered if my passion for cooking would ever return, but it eventually did. I just didn't push it. But one day, a recipe caught my eye, and ignited that place in my psyche where passion for cooking lives. Slowly, the fire rekindled, and thanks to a particularly cold winter last year, I was in the mood to create things in the kitchen that would warm my stomach as well as my soul. And breathed a sigh of relief. Jenny

I've never heard of this dessert, but I can (somewhat) address your final question. I have a ceramic ginger grater. (Do a search on the Williams-Sonoma website if you haven't seen them.) I have noticed that after I use it to grate ginger, there's quite a bit of juice in it. If you only need a teaspoon or so, this would be an effective way to get it. If you need quite a bit more... well, you're going to be grating a lot of ginger for a long time! Will watch this thread with interest. This dessert sounds interesting!

OMG that looks good! But I'm really trying to find something to come up with in my kitchen. We can't eat out every night, and we've already ordered pizza once.

Our microwave is just about kaput, and I am considering replacing it with a combination microwave and convection oven. These are the considerations: 1. Even though plenty of people on this list think microwaves are worthless, I actually use mine a lot. I soften butter for all kinds of applications; heat milk for mashed potatoes, heat milk for hot chocolate in winter, warm up my coffee, and heat up entrees that I have previously cooked, frozen, and thawed. Not getting a microwave is not an option. 2. I really would like to have a second conventional oven, or even a toaster oven, but there's just no room for it. 3. We'll be building a house in a year or so, and at that time plan to get a Maytag Gemini range. We'll also have a built-in microwave/range hood above it. So this new purchase will probably go in the basement, where the family room will be, or in the garage, where the '67 Mustang is being rebuilt. (Ragtop, red with parchment interior, to be exact. Can you tell I'm excited?) Does anybody have a micro/convection combo, and if so, do you like it? Do you have recommendations for brands to consider or to stay away from?

Temperatures here in the midwest are currently in the 100+ range, and after a long day at work, standing in our kitchen (on the west side of our house, catching the worst of the afternoon sun), I can't even bring myself to boil eggs for tuna salad. So what do you have for dinner when you can't bear the thought of turning on the stove or the oven?

If I understand the question, that you're looking for books that aren't really cookbooks but nevertheless have recipes, Amanda Hesser's got a couple out; "Cooking for Mr. Latte" and "The Cook and the Gardener." I haven't opened it in years, but I think Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" may be another.

If you do "the talk" lovingly, letting him know how much you care about him, it probably will hurt his feelings, but you can end it with an invitation to come to dinner the next night. You can't put it off forever. If you try, one of his antics is sure to hit you wrong one day, and you'll blow up at him -- whatever your version of blowing up is. That would be far worse. Maybe he does know better, but taking liberties at your place is his way of constantly assuring himself that you're the kind of friend he can push the envelope with. If that's the case, he doesn't understand that envelopes wear out. This guy has never been taught how to act, and until someone compassionately deals with it, he will be lonely forever. You sound like such a generous and forgiving soul. He is extremely lucky to have a friend like you. But if you will go this extra mile for him, who knows, he may end up with several good friends. What a gift that would be! And therein lies your "excuse" for the talk: he's such a wonderful and interesting guy, but these little quirks are annoying to a lot of people, and they are standing between him and the friendships he deserves to have. People who can't get past the quirks, will not have an opportunity to appreciate the wonderful things he has to offer. Regardless, you have my vote for Woman of the Year.

I hadn't yet started to look for the oil. But when I Googled "pistachio vinaigrette" to see whether all the recipes I'd located, called for it ... lo and behold, I found a recipe for pistachio oil! Link

No, it's not important to replicate the salad perfectly, but I haven't used these ingredients before in this way. Nor do restaurants around here serve a salad like this. The problem I have with just trying to 'wing it' is that if there's anything I'm missing, it's always good to know about it before spending the money on the ingredients (although these aren't expensive ingredients). If I make it and we don't care for it, I'm not an experienced enough cook to be able to tell what it "needs".

We ate there a few nights ago and had a nice dinner. But then, we live in Kansas, which is hardly a seafood mecca. I've had seafood at several other restaurants in town, and I can tell you that it's often more expensive than at RL, but hardly ever any better. Not that the RL fare here is what East or West Coast-ers would consider really good seafood. The cheddar biscuits were, as usual, hot and fresh and tender and (the rest is pornographic). The salad was fresh and crisp. Mostly iceberg. Bleu cheese dressing was probably not made on the premises, but wasn't bad. My dinner consisted of lobster, scallops, shrimp, and crab. The lobster was a bit overcooked (but still very enjoyable), but the scallops, shrimp, and crab were just fine. The butter was, at least, a decent grade of butter. Service was competent and quick. Our water glasses didn't stay empty for long. No, it wasn't 4-star restaurant dining, but we can't afford to do much of that. It was just a weeknight meal out, and it was fine. Edited to add: Although most restaurants in the area have substantial waits on Friday and Saturday evenings, the wait at RL here is usually not as long as at other places. We probably eat there about twice a year, and it's been several years since we've had more than a 20-minute wait.

Michael Ruhlman's latest book, "The Reach of a Chef" describes a roasted beet salad served at Melissa Kelly's Primo restaurant. It sounds wonderful, and since I'm not likely to be in that area anytime soon, I'd like to try to make it at home. The salad has (if I remember correctly) slices of roast beet and orange supremes on a bed of greens, dressed with a pistachio vinaigrette, and served with goat cheese "truffles" - balls of goat cheese coated with chopped pistachios. If you've had this salad, I'd appreciate some comments about the ingredients. I've googled "pistachio vinaigrette" and have come up with several recipes that look like good candidates. I've also had nut-coated goat cheese on a salad, but I'm not sure how to try to duplicate her "truffles". How big are they? Were the pistachios roasted before they were used to coat the goat cheese balls? Is there anything added to the goat cheese? Are they baked or warmed before service? (And if so, any tips for doing that?) I assume the salad would be composed of about 1/2 to 1 cup of greens; about 5 to 7 slices of roasted beets (depending on the size of the beets); maybe about 3 to 5 orange supremes, the usual amount of dressing, and maybe 3 to 5 "truffles", depending on their size. Any comments, suggestions, or other information would be appreciated!

On my way to work a couple of days ago, I picked up watermelon and scallions at the salad bar at the local grocery, and dressed them with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar that I keep at work. My co-workers are now beginning to understand why I am all but addicted to this group! It was delicious.

My ultimate comfort food is chicken and noodles. It also freezes well. Homemade bread is always comforting; be sure and bring butter, and maybe even flavored butters. See the minimalist bread thread for Mark Bittman's recipe, if you don't already make it. Simple and nearly guaranteed to turn out well. How about some homemade cream of tomato soup, and some individually wrapped cheese sandwiches, with outsides buttered, ready to pop into a pan and fry or grill? And even though I always love foods like this at difficult times, sometimes it's nice to just have some fresh fruit and vegetables around, when everything else is too much, too heavy, and too rich.

It's rare for me to find a recipe in Cooking Light that I don't like. Not only would one of their cookbooks be a good start, but I love going to their website and searching for recipes. And of course, the magazine is available at most grocery stores. Edited to add: There are a couple of new dieting resources out that you may want to take a look at. One is the Beck Diet Solution, which is not a diet in and of itself, but it uses Cognitive Behavior Therapy to help the person stay on the diet and keep the weight off. Keeping the weight off, contrary to popular belief, is the most challenging part. (Most people think that if they can just shed the pounds, they'll stay away. Not true for most.) The other is the Volumetrics Diet, which encourages a healthy array of foods, but emphasizes those that are the most filling for the least calories, thereby (hopefully) easing the hunger issue. Good luck to your friend.

Absolutely priceless! Wonder where they went from there. . .?

Would you care to say more about that? I've always wondered whether there's a point where the soap isn't doing its thing anymore. Would love to have more info about it.