Kim WB

OK, I don't like any of the beverages flavored with lemon..I'm in the "tastes like Pledge" camp on that one. But, I can understand the reasoning..Consumer Sally is at a vending machine, prefers her DC with lemon, so she chooses a competitor instead of Diet Coke... WAIT, now DC comes with lemon, so she buys it...and anohter sale is made. Most people at a vending machine don't have access to a lemon wedge. However, if you are opening the can of tuna, most likely you are at a kitchen counter, where the proximity and aquisition of a lemon wedge is in your favor..so why add lemon flavoring?

UGH! You won't get my vote on that...its a strong personal preference of mine...unless I am eating Hong Kong Style Cantonese, I prefer beer, tea or sparkling water with my Chinese. Different strokes for different folks, as they say!

wine, schwine....I've always ben a fan of light, dry and slightly lemony beers with chinese...Asahi is a great match, Tsing Tao sold in America is a little less dry than that sold in China but still good.

updated. 14 confirmed, 2 waiting confirmation. If my ex and kids come, they will join up and order a regular dinner. I'm bringing beer. Tsing Tao or Asahi.

I edited the above to reflect the current standings, as I am aware of them. I have been off line a few days, hopefully I caught up correctly!

Chefwear was a total bitch to use for me. I ordered about 20 pairs of pants and 30 black show jackets for our dining room staff, first they sent us the wrong ones, and then they blew us off. I hope that a representative from Chefwear reads this, because they lost over $1000 on that order, and countless other dollars by their jackassery in handling my order. They just sat there and told me that they didn't have any, so they gave me the next closest model jacket. Even though it was an upgrade, it still didn't match what we needed, corded reversible black show. DOn't buy from Chefwear if you can help it. hmm...perhaps I was presumtuous in my praise..I use them about twice a year, a 3-400 order each time..I buy teachers gifts, aprons, loungewear, and for every 5 year old on my gift list, a cool hat/apron/pant combo and the Little Tykes kitchen. ( I don't order the kitchen from them!) However, I should amend my praise to specify that for my home needs, in smaller quantities, they have always been great. I can imagine its very frustrating if you are purchasing on a professional level and have an experience like you had.

Varmint, I am a bit late joining this thread, but I enjoyed catching up with your progress. I made a "lifestyle" change on August 1,and have lost 44 lbs. I would like to suggest a book, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, by Walter Willet. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Good Eating. It includes a revised food pyramid. It is NOT a diet book,with criteria and eating plans. It adresses carbs, fats and alcohol in a pragmatic, realistic way. Keep up the good work. I used to reward myself with weekends "off", and for the first few months I would eat everything during those weekends..but eventually, it just became so ingrated into my habits, that I really hardly consume more calories on the weekends anymore. I might have a few extra glasses of wine or a dessert, but I'm so out of the snacking and overeating habit, I don't fall back into it even when I'm not paying attention. And, wehn you reach a smaller size clothes, throw or give your old ones away, and only buy a few new pants that fit in your current size, plus I pair a size smaller! I don't mean your work suits and stuff, but casual clothes.

Chefwear is a good source, great customer service and fast embroidery time. You can use CWS's rep, but if for any reasonn they are not in your area, the website and caltalogs work well, too. http://www.chefwear.com/ They also have the cutest kids wear, and the chef pants are great loungewear out of the kitchen. My kids did some "modeling" for them way back when, and got the greatest mini aprons and toques and such.

Yes, it's very strange. I've never seen it. But, there are shapes of spaghettios noodles ( Find Waldo, Blue's clues) and perdue chicken nuggets in stars and moons. I guess that's differnet b/c they are manufactured shapes, not created ones.. My mom used to make me Mickey mouse pancakes.. boy, do times change. It's a hotdog, how hard can it be to get a kid to eat a hotdog?

Miso soup. And a bit of reheated chickpeas and chorizos, from the e-gullet recipe archives. Thanks, Rachel!

I really have to get out more... Serioulsy, there are not a lot of thrift stores in the area I live in, ( Princeton) and the churches tend to have endowments instead of tag sales! But I am going to visit a used book shop that I know of, and start there, with maybe a single book or two to determine if they're worth it..and I refer more to Hey Jude's comment of shelfspace, which is just as valuable to me as a bargain! Thank you all for your comments, I am going to look for both the Foods of The World series, and the Good Cooks.

Hi...I did a search, I hope I am not beign repetative. Different recipes call for such variation in preparing this stock. Madhur Jaffrey lets the konbu reach a boil, then turns it off. Other recipes call for it to not boil, the bonito to sink..add cold water with bonito, simmer....some add carrots??? I'd appreciate the definitive word on the best preperation..to be honest, my miso soup tastes pretty darn good, but if I'm going to make it, I'd like it to be the best that I can make it. Thanks in advance,

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian Julia Child, The Way to Cook Bastianich, Lidia's Italian Table Madhur Jaffrey's Step by Step Cooking, Calvin Trillin, Feeding a Yen, which I am in the middle of and enjoying immensely..to the point that I slowed down reading it in order to extend the pleasure

i think I mentioned Mr. Cluck you is my neighbor...I think he has great wings, and I think they are just floured, they don't seem heavily breaded. I must admit its been over a year since I had any..but I'm pretty sure. Next time his Rotty jumps his own electric dog fence,a nd my electric dog fence, and I call him to come retrieve her, I'll ask and let you know!

Hardcover started bidding at $60 for 26 books. Most individual books start at about $3-4...the set will cost close to 20 dollars to ship, though, I think.

I've heard this series referenced by a talented cook I know, as well as heard it mentioned on some egullet threads..and today, while leafing through Sara Moulton Cooks at Home (great Spice cookie recipe in there) I noticed she also reccomends finding a used set of this series. Any comments?

pizza threads are so much fun and so interesting, becasue even if you are not from the area being discussed, you can enjoy the age old discussions of thin crust, toppings, cheeses, etc.

Hi Shermar, you might also want to consider McCafferty's Market, on Harrison Street in Princeton, specifically for their butcher, and Bon Appetit in the same shopping center, for cheeses. In season, it's worth the 20 minute drive up to Lawrence to the Trenton Farmer's market. Subzhu Indo-Pak grocers, on Route 130 in North Bruns by Rennaissance development has a very helpful staff. The new Shop Rite is supposed to have a great ethnic Food selection as well, perhaps more packaged than bulk. The gren grocer on Route 1 and Aaron Rd. is inexpensive..you need to pick carefully but great variety..and the fish monger there is helpful, they have a VERY high turnover, so its fresh, if not particularly exotic. Edison has great Asian Markets..if you are mostly in th eSouthern area of North Brusnswick, you might also want to consider the Asain Market in Plainsbor, in the Plainsboro Shopping Center, Plainsboro Road off of Scudder's Mill Rd. Of course, in my humble opinion, it all pales in comparison to Wegman's,the Disney World of foodies.

I forgot one, too. Spearmint. I don't like wintergreen, either, but I'm not sure that this is an actual herb, perhaps it was invented by chewing gum manufactureers? Spearmint definitely falls into the "aroma" category of aversions...if my kids are having spearmints or wintergreen altoids, I won't let them have them while driving in the car with me..in that confined space, they make me a bit nauseaus.

I (and about 10 friends) have all tried growing zucchini here, me for the last 5 years. i have only managed to get 1 zucchini in all of those years! I have tried everything, but it tends to all rot in the middle of rainy season, which just started last week! I have 2 plants now and they are the biggest I have gotten them and I have about 4 pinky sized zucchini, however in the past as soon as they got this big they started to rot. So I guess i will have to wait and see, it is a lot cooler this year than it usually is, so maybe that is helping.

If Tommy handles the ordering and the restaurant end of it, I'll handle the RSVP list and the money details. I assume we won't have a final $$$ figure until we know how many and what the preordering is..but Rachel's 25-40 bucks per is a good ballpark. Rachel, don't mean to curse you, but I hope the food at your function sucks and you join us! I don't think we'll need a booze coordinator, but can someone volunteer putting together some "better than mapquest" directions, say from the turnpike and the parkway, or 287 or somesuch. REgarding RSVP:S I would greatly prefer no "Anonymous" guests, but you can RSVP either by this thread or PM'S. *edited, realized how important the apostrophe is in PM'S

What county is Nutley in?

My combing of the threads show: 201- any date was ok, so I included him Rail Paul and Dee Mark Glenn Rosie Kim JPR was interested, new poster, did not give specifics on date Double OO was not a definite NO, but Sat's preferred Jon never specified a date or preference, or even a yeah, but was active on thread edited to add Tommy, of course.

Great, I'm in, too. Rachel. should I start a new sign up thread, or do you want to change the subtitle? And can we pin it? Thanks,

OK, the 8th got the most votes, closely followed by the 1st. So, I guess its the 8th. Now, time? Earlier, its a Sunday. Not to early, its a commute for some. 6:30? 7? Kim