chromedome

There's also this, for when you want to cast a broad and non-specific net in search of inspiration. I've used it off and on for years (research is a large part of my freelancing life, and I used to read Tara's newsletter regularly).

I eventually came to embrace them, because the concomitant of solo dining is "It's hardly worth the effort of cooking [x] for just me..." After I while I just cooked my usual batch of whatever, and portioned it into the fridge and freezer. Days when I didn't feel like cooking (which were plentiful) or when I was busy with work and didn't think of it until mealtime (ditto) I'd just pull out the first thing that came to hand, and reheat it. Things are more complicated now because I'm perfectly happy with the first-thing methodology, but my GF has to be "in the mood" for a specific food. This, I've found, complicates meal-planning decisions profoundly. I have also come to notice that that what she's in the mood for very seldom corresponds to any leftovers we have on hand. So...my lunch on any given day is generally a previous day's leftovers.

Oh, I keep my eyes open every time I hit a Salvation Army or Value Village. I haven't seen one yet, but you never know. I also keep an eye on Kijiji*, but so far have only seen cheapie Chinese-made knock-offs. (* That's the Canadian edition of eBay Classifieds, MUCH bigger here than Craigslist...Anna's a Canadian and knows this, but I mention it for the non-Canadians)

I used to have one of those Imperia pasta machines, and it was wonderful. Alas, I once neglected to clean it immediately after use, and had to take it apart and reassemble it after prying all the dried-on dough out of its innards (I'd been interrupted by my kids, and had forgotten about it by the time they were in bed...my then-wife thoughtfully boxed up the machine for me and put it away). I did *something* wrong along the way, because afterwards it was always loose and "clunkety." I tried taking it apart and putting it back together several more times, but without any improvement. It was terribly disappointing. New ones sell here for well over $100 CDN, so I'll doubtless order one online at some point in the next while. Been debating the Kitchenaid attachment kit instead, but it hardly seems worth all the extra cash.

Links #6 and #7 are non-functioning.

For future reference, "I just didn't care for it" is explicitly considered a valid reason to refund a PC product from Loblaw's. I've never had them/seen them refuse a grocery return for any reason, nor any piece of store-branded general merchandise. For brand-name products out of their general merchandise section, the rules might be different.

I'm not a regular gin drinker, but apparently an artisanal gin from my neck of the woods has been making quite a splash. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fils-du-roy-gin-award-1.3514793 I suppose I should pick up a bottle and try it.

Well, cooking is applied physics. ...and applied chemistry, and I suppose you could make a case for applied biology as well. I have to agree that I find the most pleasure in books that provide context (cultural, sociological, scientific) for the food as well as just recipes. ETA: Welcome to eGullet, Paul! It's a fine community, and whatever your culinary interests you'll probably find someone here to share them.

Congrats on "cracking the code." I'm sure your customers will be thrilled.

I've taught kids that age to make fresh pasta, and it was a big hit. Perhaps a manual pasta-rolling machine, if you can find one in your price range?

(shrug) Can't answer for what worked/was used elsewhere, of course. In my part of the world, oil was relatively (I stress relatively) uncommon and expensive until the late 1960s and early 1970s. Pork fat was cheap and local, so that's what was used.

Lard and cured pork would have been the defaults until relatively recently, I suppose.

Here in my neck of the woods ricotta's about twice as much as cottage cheese ($5-ish per tub) so local dairies do a fine-curd cottage cheese described on the label as "lasagna style." I've used it many times when making lasagna for friends or family, just so it's not quite such a budget-busting extravagance. When I'm making it for myself, I usually opt for a bechamel layer rather than the cheese.

Oh, hon...that's just brutal. All the pain, without the closure.

Top sirloin is by far the tenderest of the sirloin cuts, so it doesn't need extended cooking. When cut as a steak, it's tender enough for straight-up grilling. I often opt for it instead of pricier rib or strip steaks, because I find it's more flavorful than the premium offerings and almost as tender (usually).

When I lived in Edmonton, one of the leading restaurants there called its daily special "soup of yesterday"...because as everyone knows, most soups are better on the second day.

No, that was just a "Wow...weird." Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but they're pretty easy to find in supermarkets here. Usually Ocean Spray, and often a couple of other brands as well.

No, no. Cane sugar. Trade with the sugar-producing Caribbean has been a part of life here in the Maritimes pretty much since Day One. Sugar beets are a prairie thing. There have been sugar refineries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for some time as well, though the one here in Saint John closed a while back. http://www.sugar.ca/International-Trade/Canadian-Sugar-Industry/History-of-the-industry.aspx

I reasoned similarly when my wife passed away unexpectedly a few years ago. I had little interest in food for the first while, but I approached it the same way I did everything else...just went through the motions of normalcy. I got up at the same time as usual each morning, had my habitual bowl of steel-cut oatmeal, worked for the usual number of hours (I'm a freelancer), ate everyday food every day at the appropriate times, and so on. Eventually the colors and flavors came back, so to speak, and in the meantime I found that keeping my life structured helped me hold things together.

??!!

Drowning in anything would be an unpleasant way to go, but at least in water you can try to swim. Molasses? Not so much.

Football for me, too...Hotspur at Chelsea.

Wow, yeah. Dysphagia's no joke to deal with.

My chef at that place was very fad-averse, so no MG for her either. Her attitude was that fads come and go, but good technique is forever.

It was fine dining. Not international state-of-the-art kind of fine dining, but comparable or superior to anything else in the city (Edmonton, AB) at the time.