Emily Kaiser

If you want two sheets of something, you might also try wax paper. Still cumbersome, but a little less so than saran wrap.

The original salamanders were iron or steel rods with a sort of hockey-puck metal attachment, that you'd heat up in your wood fire before hovering over whatever food you needed browned. The puck-like attachment gets so hot, it radiates a nice browning heat very quickly. Those are more fun to use, and far less expensive, than the superfluous professional salamanders. I second the 'no salamander' votes - I would agree with Rachel that the convection is the problem. Cheers, Emily

Susan McCreight Lindeborg, chef of the Majestic Cafe in Alexandria, VA did a fun smoked-turkey-leg "faux pho" (forgive the terrible pun - I made it up, she didn't) for a $10 meal challenge in the Washington Post Food section. The article that goes along with the recipe is simply magnificent. ;) http://www.emilykaiser.com/text/000417.php Cheers, Emily

Added bonus, he's a local yokel - grew up right in town. It's so nice having these local folks - Karoum, Wabeck, Krinn, who've returned to town to help make it a great eating spot. Go DC! And yes, go eat at Asia Nora.

The Mother's Almanac used to have fantastic recipes that were age appropriate - in the section on five year olds, they'd list recipes for fivers, six for sixers, etc. I don't know if it's current incarnation does this, but if not, it's worth seeking out earlier versions - I certainly enjoyed what we got to do when we were little thanks to its advice. Sounds like there are some lucky kids out there, from this thread!

For cooks with too many cookbooks (if that's a possible condition) - Ian Kelly's biography of Careme, Cooking for Kings Jay Rayner's fun novel, Eating Crow Nigel Slater's new memoir, Toast (though this also falls under the previous post, 'anything by Nigel Slater' - which I heartily agree with!)

Well, it's an excellent policy to start a nonbash fest with a bash, I guess. Let's look at that post more specifically: Washington, D.C.: Hi Kim, submitting early. My birthday is coming up in 2 weeks and I thought it would be really nice (and fun) to make dinner for some friends since I love to cook and entertain. But the question is...what to cook? I don't want it to be terribly expensive (like lobster) but I also don't want it be something regular and boring or do god forbid a cookout...and I'm having a tough time coming up with something...any advice you can offer would be appreciated. Kim O'Donnel: What do you (and your guests) eat? Is anything fair game? First thought is risotto, which is so festive, but I wanted to hear from you first. --- where did you see "large" group in this, or that she was committed to risotto as the best possible solution? I actually agree with her that risotto - something delicious that many people don't have the time to make - as a great dish for a special occasion, especially for a moderate-sized and moderate-priced crowd. My general point is, I'm a big fan, and if you're going to criticize so thoroughly someone who works as hard as Kim does and consults regularly with professional cooks to get her readers the best possible sources on a tremendously broad range of subjects, you need to make a better case. As Tom Sietsema regularly reports in his chats, the online forums are not easy for weekly thoroughness and accuracy. Honest mistakes happen all the time. Working with enthusiasm to carefully consider so many questions week after week, that's hard.

a.k.a. Frisco's 4115 Wisconsin Ave. NW (244-7847), between Van Ness and Upton St. Open M-Th 11am-4pm, F-Sa 11am-3pm. It opened 10 or 11 years ago, a transplant from San Francisco missed SF and so it has SF themed things like the Bart etc. Very popular w/ local high schoolers and Fannie Mae folks.

I'm sorry I can't make it, but what a fantastic book, I look forward to perusing a copy. Congratulations!

Why ask if__ shad do it,__ Wait - er, bring me shad - roe ... Definitely in the right place ! And welcome. I am ashamed to admit I have never sampled the stuff, even after growing up here. Shad I can vouch for, the roe I just can't muster it. But Phyllis Richman always had nice things to say about it ... anyone?

Java House on 17th and Q - yummy coffees of all kinds, perfect snacky menu, nice laid back servers, and hilarious conversations to overhear.

But on the other hand mongo's claim is perfectly valid: at a restaurant you do (hopefully) have a full brigade of people contributing to each plate - many restaurants, you've not only got dishwashers to wash your pots, you might have one cook doing the meat, one veg, or you've got prep cooks doing half your mise - whether it's haute cuisine or McDonalds, much of what you put out, you've gotten help from others. You're part of a well-coordinated team. Home cooking solo, absolutely you might be tempted to make the plates a little simpler, to save yourself some of that extra work. Would Thomas Keller go home and serve his wife a 9 course tasting menu every night? I would hope not. Seems like professional cooking is much about building flavors, building complexity, where home cooking (eGulleteers excepted) often tends towards the more simple, the better.

I would not wash them, either -- if there's dirt, a small pastry brush works great for dusting them off. Stuffed blossoms looking like open flowers? Hmm. How did they keep the stuffing in? All the blossoms I've met or made came out looking kind of like little footballs: stuffed in the middle, pointy and closed at the end. Mm-mmm tasty. Happy eating!

This is the part that troubles me about the movie. You eat 3 meals a day at any restaurant and order their biggest dishes on the menu each time, your health is going to go down the tubes. Did anyone see the editorial cartoon a week or so ago, about McDonald's new adult happy meal, with the water, salad, and pedometer? A guy is sampling it and says to the clerk, "well, the pedometer needs salt." Cheers, Emily

Well, but Walmart doesn't charge them, either, and, well, they're pretty cheap ...