Tracy K.

Bake with it! Goat's milk is so rich, it would improve any recipe you'd want to try. Oooh, how about a poundcake, then serve it with some sesonal fruit!

Madagascar Bourbon vanilla is named for the islands now known as Reunion and the Comoros, but in the early 19th century were called the Bourbon Islands. Madagascar (the island nation) had a brief period of French colonization, i.e., they had established trading posts in the southern region of the island, until their relations with the native Malagasy deteriorated and they fled to Reunion and Comoros, which are east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. This activity took place during the reign of the "Bourbon" kings of France, which ended with the French Revolution. Before the Europeans arrived, Madagascar had extensive trade relationships with the costal communities of East Africa. (She's not just a baker, she's a history teacher too! And actually, the history of Madagascar is as fascinating as the search for the perfect vanilla. )

Like I said at some point along the line, I learned from Scott Woolley, who doesn't like anything inedible anywhere near his cakes. I can understand the use of a wire to get a really blown look, and that way any wire sightings would be obscured by the rest of the flower. I'll have to check out Richard's work...I'm not sure how subtle you can be with an airbrush, but I haven't used one and am only used to seeing the disgusting airbrushing on bakery cakes that go for $2 a slice. (Ah, the blue rose....)

I have never heard of this--individual rose petals on wires. I think it's a very bizarre way to make a rose...a real assembly line type of thing, I suppose. The only way to make a rose petal on a wire would be if it were thick. There are lots of people who like a "fake" look to the sugarcraft...this must be how they do it. I'm very anal with my roses...each petal is veined, very thin, applied according to the Fibonacci sequence...and no, I don't do this professionally any more... My only comment on dipping the floral-tape-wrapped "stem" wire into chocolate would be that they wouldn't look realistic. Cherry blossom stems are delicate and woody--which is the effect you'd get with tape and brushing with cocoa. (Edited to add link)

My berries were from the farmer's market...they'd been sitting in the refrigerator waiting for me for three days...so the lack of freshness is sort of my fault (althought I don't know when the berries were picked). It is interesting how your supplier--whether it be a Sam's Club/Costco, large grocery store chain, small grocery, farmer's market or simply mother nature--has a great influence on how one can use ingredients. I agree with others here that the admonition to use fresh ingredients is probably for less-experienced cooks. Gauging what is fresh, and what is in season, when you go to buy is a task in itself.

Living in the Chicago area now, I am pizza deprived. (Pizza here is another genus and species altogether.) However, things I miss...the meatball (meeetbuaahl) slices...Tastee Pizza in Hawthorne...and the joint on Amsterdam between 119th and 120th (lived on it thru grad school).

Oh you have no idea how nauseating it is to pitch so many (formerly) lovely raspberries that are overrun with botrytis so I can make my four jars of jam....

Oh how dare you brag about your squash!!! Our weather has been so strange here that my plants have barely started to show buds! How about donating some of the veggies to your local soup kitchen or "plant a row" for the hungry organization? Or, you can do like our neighbors in Jersey used to do...just leave a bag-full by your door.... Somewhere I'll dig up my recipe for a zucchini quiche that's mostly sauteed squash with herbs, eggs and lots of cheese, spread over a par-baked pie crust that's been spread with dijon mustard...freezes great...not at all watery.

Just had to add my story about McSorleys. I was in graduate school at Columbia and went for a "tour" of the village with two guys in my class--one who used to live on 9th and one from somewhere in the Connecticut boondocks. The tour was for the Nutmegger's benefit. Anyway, we went into McSorleys, and the bouncer comes up to Oliver, the guy who used to live on 9th, and said "NO CHILDREN"...Oliver didn't have a clue what the guy was talking about, but I knew. I am blessed with a youthful look, plus I'm just over 5 feet tall (I think of it that way now, in my 40s, but not then...but this was hilarious). I just stepped up to the guy and plastered my NY drivers license in his face and said, "is this what you need?" Oh that bouncer was so P-O-ed. He didn't want to believe it. Then we sat and enjoyed our lovely beers served in two mugs so the head wasn't overwhelming. And yes, $3.50 for a plain slice sounds crazy. But then again, in Chicago, we can't get a plain slice, so what am I complaining about?

I have a line of scars on my left arm: two about two cm apart mid-forearm; one at the wrist/thumb joint; one in the web between thumb and forefinger. The oldest is about two years old, the others are fairly new. Also had a knuckle-topper on the right hand. I tend to get these scars when my mind is preoccupied. I purchased two nomex guards that snap on the rack from King Arthur/Baker's Catalog. When you're trying to look sexy (at least for women) cooking scars just don't make it.

BB-filled balloons, what a great idea! The best tip ever for royal icing came from a British Sugarcraft magazine...now this is just off-hand, I'd have to go dig in the basement for the exact recipe, but basically when you make the icing, all the ingredients go in a spic-and-span bowl (kitchen-aid-type) and you use the whisk beater. Beat on low as low can go for ages...such as 20 to 30 minutes. No bubbles, no stiffness. Really works. If you need, I'll go dig it up. Ever thought of making panels on parchment then gluing the pieces together? It wouldn't be completely round/smooth, but would create the same sort of effect. I made a cage to go around a small rose arrangement between tiers of a wedding cake. I made ten, I needed four; when I got to the reception site to assemble the cake, all but four of the lace panels broke. I had just what I needed. Always a good idea to expect breakage, in my opinion....

According to Webster, the two terms are interchangable. However, please keep in mind the true definition of icing: An infraction called when a player shoots the puck from his side of the red line across the opponent's goal line. Play is stopped when an opponent (other than the goalie) touches the puck. The face off is held in the offending team's end of the ice. A team that is short handed can ice the puck without being penalized. I don't think that frosting will get you time in the penalty box....

A recipe for Il Timpano (plus a veggie version) is in the cookbook published Stanley Tucci's (now ex-) wife Joan called Cucina Familiglia. (Pub. by Morrow). While I haven't made it (because it will serve the First Army...) there are other very nice southern Italian recipes in there. Love that movie! Made me yearn for Jersey...and it takes a lot to do that!

Does anyone still go to taste? What is the Chicago equivalent of NY's "Bridge and Tunnel Crowd"....??

Absolutely nothing may be served on a stick. And come on, Ronnie, gotta have an orange whip for the members of the Illinois Law Enforcement Community! Oh yes, and the martini of margaritas--from Cafe Las Bellas Artes in Elmhurst.

I don't have any of the silicone pans, but I do know some people who have them and they complain that they flatten out with the weight of the batter, so shaped items end up a little flat on top...and you do have to place them on a cookie sheet when you use them. I just keep my gazillion different cake pans in a milk crate in the basement...which doesn't help if you live in an apartment....

Okay, I am a sucker and I went to the "Tostabags" site. There, you can watch a "Tostabags Movie!" which is not worth the time taken to download it...except when the woman with the bizarre accent (british/german/japanese hybrid) describes the bags as "hygenic." I have a Dualit. I bought it as a reward for finishing another school year as a teacher of wacky kids. It is the only appliance allowed on my counter. It makes fabulous toast. I actually don't use it that much. It is my shrine, my totem, my reminder that a reward for a job well done actually works wonders for the psyche.

Charlie Beinlich's is the closest burger to a White Manna that I've had around here--cheese and grilled onions!. Hackney's does a fine reuben, but their burgers bore me. And Meier's tavern is too...well...paper plates and "characters" who've been at the bar all day don't exactly enhance my cullinary experience (not that one can expect a cullinary experience at Meier's).... ["Peel back foil to reveal tater tots...] If you love a crusty char-burger, hit the Little Island in NW Evanston. And their fries are my definition of perfect...grease that's just old enough to give the fries the perfect crispy-ness, with a couple of completely overdone crunchy ones lurking in the salt at the bottom of the bag.

Don't forget Lobel's fabulous prime rib roast! I found Lobel's on the net while looking for mail order meat that was not frozen--most of them are. Lobel's is pricey, indeed; but you do get what you pay for.

I can only show detail pictures of my cakes...my photos have too many pixels. Here are a few to show what I like to do with flowers: This one shows one of the ways I disguised the insipid plastic pillars... And this is the base of the same cake; I used a styrofoam wedge covered in royal icing to add the Lambeth details. I like to use foamcore as bases for the cakes. The wedge above sat on double layered (i.e., glued together) half-inch foam core that was covered in royal icing. I think there is more strength gluing two together than using the thicker foam core.

Wendy, Regarding Scott Woolley, I never worked for him, but studied sugarcraft with him. He is such an incredible inspiration to me, and I was lucky enough to tell him so...this was a number of years ago when I still lived in NY/NJ/CT. I've had people complain that my flowers look "too real", that they don't look like sugar. Duh. Right now my work is strictly my own, as I have a one-year-old son. There are a number of new people in the Chicago area whose work has raised the bar here--there is a woman in a western suburb, who shall remain nameless, who had a corner on the market for a while. Luckily, people are having the opportunity for more choices. I'd love to post a pix or two but I can't figure it out.

Some of the things you can get at Sunset are definitely worth the price charged; some items are just mainstream. You can often find things at Carrot Top that you can't find elsewhere, like rainbow chard on the cusp of the season. I'm a big fan of Treasure Isalnd on Ridge (Gross Point) Road in Wilmette. Their selection is outstanding and quite fresh. They also have a good selection of unusual items/spices that you'll never find anywhere else. I've gotten a lot of crap from Lincolnwood produce, but they have some ethnic items, like frozen favas, that you can't find elsewhere. Lakeside Foods in Winnetka has a wonderful full-service butcher shop with prime beef at amazing prices--amazingly reasonable, that is ($9.99/# prime porterhouse).

I'm going to be the party pooper here...I'm not thrilled with the idea of using plaster knives or paint tools on things people are going to eat. I have a 16-18 inch stainless bar that I use as a smoother...I can run it under hot water, wipe with a clean towel and the warmth smooths the frosting just fine. Also, I understand the copper tubing for support on the characters, but if someone at the party decided to try to eat one of them (I assume they are royal icing or sugarpaste), you'd have a dental bill on your hands. I worked with Scott Woolley, who published "Cakes by Design"--the name of his business. I was actually surprised by the book, because the photos of the cakes were really much better than they reproduced in the book.

Has anyone given any thought to trying the recipe in Gourmet that poached the rhubarb with whisky and used white chocolate in a blind-baked shell? I'm not sure that I have the will to try it, as it seems so out of character with rhubarb. BTW, rhubarb makes a wonderful ornamental plant. I have one planted with hostas in my front yard. Spring is the best time to harvest the stems, so for the rest of the season, I enjoy the huge textural accent of the leaves.

The usual internal temperature for pork is/was 160 degrees. I've had plenty of success with 140 degrees (as suggested by Cooks Illustrated). If you brine your pork before cooking, even way-overcooking it (180+) won't dry it out (been there, done that). As for food safety in general, I'm always happy to be safe rather than sorry. Eating raw pork is disgusting. And I'm not a fanatic, but even in these United States, things can go wrong...need I say bovine spongiform encephalopathy?? Thank goodness we can still eat our beef on the bone! Last time I was in London, you couldn't find a standing rib roast anywhere...but that was at the height of the scare. And don't bring up sealing jelly jars with parafin without a water bath....