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Lindacakes

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Everything posted by Lindacakes

  1. Not grass fed but delicious. The beef tastes beefy and it has fat in it. I think Shake Shack is the perfect burger. I like the bun. I taste butter and a slight sweetness. I will stand in line, I will eat them in the cold, I will share mine with squirrels. Who will not accept bun pieces. They only want meat. And they will take it from you with their furry little hands.
  2. I subscribe to Saveur and I buy Lucky Peach now and again off the newsstand. I don't think I will renew my subscription to Saveur. It's horrible since James Oseland left. I am interested in James Oseland's new magazine.
  3. I work in publishing and am on the front lines of this issue, although not in cookbooks. This will likely eventually happen. Although it will make me sad, because I love books and I especially love cookbooks. I go through my cookbooks carefully when I buy them and make lists of recipes I want to try and make notes about the book's strength. There are certain books I know have certain strengths and I call those sections out. Like a strong fruitcake section in a baking or cake book. It is a problem of many books, not just cookbooks, that they have extra not-so-good material in them to fill them out to be standard length. I would be really happy to see standard length and standard price go out the window. This is already starting to happen with cable programming. SICK TO DEATH of books that are really very good long magazine articles puffed out into horrid books you are angry you wasted your time reading.
  4. That's a testimonial for it. I really liked all the personalities and I'm sad that it's over. I would have liked to have known the criteria for judging. I personally care more about taste than looks or originality. Too many times I've bought a beautiful pastry that wasn't very good. I don't watch competition shows so I'm unused to the pressure valve principle. I felt sorry for them at the end. I bake because I find it relaxing and fun to delight people. Which is kind of the opposite of pressure and judgement. I thought Nancy was the "best" baker from the beginning, but I really liked the journey of seeing how each person excelled at different things. I was delighted to see the two male finalists do so well, I thought that they had done interesting work. I felt really bad for the older man who was hounded because he wasn't creative enough.
  5. Anyone watch the finale? Surprised at the outcome? Love the engraved crystal pedestal cake plate? Think that final challenge was cruel?
  6. I just bought some from the Spice House. What do I do with it?
  7. I just found this thread because I was going to start one. I love this show, and I can't believe that more people aren't talking about it. I unplugged the Food Channel from my life many years ago because I didn't like the incessant food competitions. I don't particularly like the competition on this one, either, but I'm getting a bang out of it. And I've learned a few things. Like Princesstarta. Who knew? And how could the British be so ignorant of the charms of Kouign Aman? And was that thing they made really a Kouign Aman? And why does there need to be 12 exact copies of everything? And what is the rating scale used (what percent of points for tastes good vs. looks good vs. good technique)? And who else misses Jordon besides me? And who will help me beat The Male Judge to death with a wooden spoon? And is there another "home hobby" that is as demanding and yet as denigrated as home baking? And why aren't they complaining that the flour arrives in a narrow glass jar? And had anyone ever heard of Mary Berry before this? And how can I get all the British episodes? And do they edit out people actually using a scale to measure because you rarely see it? And when are we all going to have a wild baroque caramel party?
  8. Can anyone recommend a natural food color? I want to do a red velvet cake for Valentine's Day and I would like to use natural coloring. I want a good, strong red.
  9. I have enjoyed myself in a restaurant on Valentine's Day but I've only gone to one -- a quirky little French place we like. We do this every few years and I like to do it with another couple, too. But sometimes I make a red velvet cake and we eat it in the bathtub. Been doing that long before red velvet was popular. Then there are heart shaped chocolate box years. Food is always part of it . . .
  10. Well, reducing the amount of cheese by 43% would change the taste, wouldn't it? I would also like to add, at the risk of offending some, that a thick coating of Miracle Whip goes very well with a cold Velveeta sandwich. Iceberg lettuce. Tangy and crispy.
  11. I don't think Velveeta tastes the way it used to. Even if my palette has changed. My mom made Creamettes elbow macaroni with Velveeta for macaroni and cheese. She also used it for grilled cheese sandwiches. Both of these foods lost to me because Velveeta doesn't taste the same. Macaroni and cheese doesn't taste the same and grilled cheese doesn't taste the same.
  12. The one that came into the house with the least promise and ended up being used the most: the Bamix immersion blender. Not the least because it makes excellent milk froth for cappucinos. Also very simple for soups. I'd like to try the steel milkshake container and do nut butters. Excellent solution. The one that came into the house with the most promise and ended up being practically useless: the food processor. I loathe cleaning it and it's too powerful. I like to have more control over texture. However, when you really need one, you really need one. The one I miss the most because it is currently in storage: my KitchenAid mixer with ice cream attachment. I really miss making ice cream. The one I once had, used constantly and no longer need because life circumstances have changed: the covered electric skillet. It was deep and square and I cooked everything I ate in it, including pot brownies, when I was in college. Best low tech non-appliance: the mokka coffee pot for espresso and then cappucino. It makes better espresso than 90% of commercial sources.
  13. Lindacakes

    Holiday Nibbles

    Cheese. Lots of cheese. All kinds of cheese. Last year we got one of those upscale cheese presents from a client at work. I was in heaven. Not quite on topic, but remember those tiny loaves of bread, teeny rye sandwiches? My parents used to put that out. Those are good with cheese . . .
  14. How about gingerbread? With or without candied ginger.
  15. That is insanely beautiful. Talk about clay pot cooking. Thank you for sharing.
  16. Pheasant? One year, when I was in college and most of my friends were vegetarians, we formed a small alt. Thanksgiving before we dispersed to go back to our square families. We gave plasma to raise funds and then spent it on a bottle of Wild Turkey, sweet potatoes and a bag of marshmallows, and fashioned a ground tofu product into a poultry shape. Tofurky. We got very drunk and ate these things and one of my friends broke her front tooth on said tofu product. It was really one of the sweetest most memorable Thanksgivings I've had. However, I love turkey and find it to be an excellent support system for pools of gravy.
  17. Lindacakes

    Mel-Fry

    Thank you for your insights, they've been helpful to me. I've learned about cottonseed oil and why I don't want to consume it. I was actually completely unaware of it. So, even though I seem to have offended many with my ignorance, I'm where I started: I think I'll stop eating fried food.
  18. I don't eat a lot of fried foods, at least, I think I don't. A friend of mine who once worked in the restaurant business told me about Mel-Fry. I understand that it's a "bad" oil to begin with, that it is used to fry for a long time before changing it, and that a truck needs to come round and suck out the Mel-Fry to get rid of it. I am hoping that Willie Nelson's car is running on Mel-Fry. How bad is it and how prevalent is it? I'd never thought about my occasional Indian banana pakoora or Nathan's french fries or doughnuts as having been steeped in grotesque dirty chemicals. I guess another treat has gone out the window . . .
  19. Not all Peppadews are created equal. I don't like the ones from Trader Joe's but I love the ones from Murray's Cheese in New York.
  20. I just bought the Cut Up Cake pamphlet, because I collect those, and I am seriously jealous of all you people who got to pick their cut up cake. What a brilliantly simple idea.
  21. I am searching for the perfect apple crisp and I think I found it. I made a variation of the Caramel Apple Crisp on Epicurious and it was pretty well near perfect, although a bit of work. A crisp should be easy, really. I like oats in the crisp and if nuts, they have to be walnuts. Brown sugar. Salt in the caramel. I am partial to Honeycrisps, which is not a baking apple, but I just buy a bag of Honeycrisps and use them.
  22. I don't think that it spread or distorted much, but as I recall, I baked it in a sheet? It's been a while. I do know that the Springerle pattern held, so it couldn't have puffed up that much.
  23. That would be lovely, I will try to try yours in that time period. I rolled out the dough, then rolled it with a Springerle rolling pin. Then I cut the dough into squares based on the Springerle pattern. It looked really pretty with a glaze on it, like a snowy scene. This is a cross between a cookie and a cake -- spongey for a cookie, and dense for a cake. I really liked it.
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