Samhill

Wow. I have never eaten octopus. Now I must.

I was peeling a carrot, at 9 yo you hurry to see how fast you can do it. Comma shaped, and yes, I ran to mom. Give it up.

Crystals? Thank you so for reminding me about pumpkinseeds, gotta make those for thankgiving.

Uh, if you had bought her stock yesterday, you could have sold today at a 35% profit. Hmmm, let's see, shall I buy buy some martha?

Padma's. Iron chef's my second.

Pistachios! I like to suck on them till the salt is gone, then I pry the shell open with my teeth, by which time the membrane around the nut is tender. Makes them last longer, too. (Weird thing I did when I was a younger soul, skip the shelling of sunflower seeds and just eat them shells and all, still have my appendix happily.)

Ah, not so much, even though trillium has the sexiest cooking hands on eG. A good scrubbing with soap will remove films, and dust. Granite is impervious.

Yes, my loss.

I notice you don't mention your Thai granite m&p. Get one, thank eG. [edit] Cripes the granites at that site are 4 3/4", toys.

Develop some social skills, it helps. You won't have to whine to us about it, at least. Sheesh.

I have never done this, but coudn't you leave a couple channels between the ramekins, then rool up a couple towels, open the oven, put the towels in the channels, let em soak up an amount of water, and then move the pan? Just a concept I hope will turn into an idea.

Cripes, what the HELL would you DO with a GLASS M&P???? http://www.typhooneurope.com/dept.asp?dept_id=16 No offense meant to you, origami, but those people are idiotic. [edit] Doh! It's for cocaine! Slaps forehead!

Another vote for the Thai job, for all the reasons above, the texture of the bowl is perfect, and you can seroiusly hammer on them. I use an old coffee can plastic lid to cusion the thing, fits the bottom of mine (2 1/2 cups capacity, I think?) perfectly. Very sexy on the counter, too.

Chicks dig scars.

Definately drain the ground beef+bacon (ground chuck is fine), sherry is fine, so is water if you have no wine or sherry, it's for deglazing the pan after you saute the aromatics (onion, garlic, etc.), and before you add the tomato's and simmer the sauce. You could easily omit the deglazing step altogether. You're doing fine, trust yourself! I'm finding your story quite gripping, as I think are many others.

Lol. Sounds like your husband is developing. You'll be fine with the lasagne in the fridge, put it all together now in the fridge, tomorrow preheat the oven, put tinfoil on the lasagne, bake for 40 mins or so, take the foil off, back in the oven, and in 20 minutes or so the cheese will brown nicely. The recipes you are going by are a bit jejune, lasagne is basically a casserole, cook it long. Let it sit 20-30 minutes til you cut it, as wise heads have said. You'll be fine. You're making me hungry!

Geez, I don't have even that many, I tend to exfoliate stuff I never use. 1) vintage 12" cast iron skillet. Exfoliated the lodge wok because this was so much more versitile, and worked just as well for stir fry. The wok was better for bacon though. C'est la vie. 2) Innova 6 qt. pressure cooker. 3) generic 1 1/2 qt. stainless saucepan with thick aluminum clad bottom and cover. 4) my gramma's wedding present Wagner #1402 (Tip: similar went for about 24 bucks on that auction site recently w/ the cover/skillet, lucky buyer!). The really cool thing about this is the deep pan is gently concave on the interior so the oil pools in the center, even if your burner is non level. 5) pyrex 9x13 dish.

Erm I may be somewhat biased, generally I nibble up most of the olives, some of the cheese, and er, sample the meats.....

To be honest, my instinct would be to leave out the cold meats, and make up for it in olives and chz, swiss lace is nice in cubes, I would get olives WITH pits, the best you can find, and just make sure everyone knows they have pits, it matters! If you can't get them with pits, just get green 'queen size' martini olives, and some kalamatas. Some mixt nuts, some chips for the kiddo, you're set with almost no effort. No need to get elaborate, IMO.

Maybe RS has a tent and sleeping bags? Perhaps 'conveniently' out of mosquito repellant?

True, but, it WOULD get them out of the house sooner, most likely. This is why I love eG, so many good posts advising people who have real questions about cooking. Thing is, we all can relate to your dilemmas, RS, and I've learned a lot from the responses to your questions.

One thing my mom does with the appetizer/snacky type stuff is to just set it off to the side somewhere, with napkins, small dishes of olives, cheese, nuts, crackers, salami, etc. so people can wander by, and pop an olive or whatever. She cuts the cheese into 5/8" to 3/4" or so cubes so that's easier. You could put the drinks there too. This might loosen up any discomfort they bring with them to your home, instead of leaving you all staring at each other around the coffee table, people can pop up for a snack if things get wierd. Remember, you're doing THEM a favor here, if they're ill mannered, throw them out! Best luck!

Starbucks coffee (not the espresso), and greasy hashbrowns. I'm easy.

oop.

Bacon. I've eaten as a veg, but sooner or later bacon would sing it's siren song. Mars needs bacon.