judiu

Ever read Beard On Food? He recommends using fingers as the primary mixing tools to "get the feel" of whatever you're mixing, be it a dressed salad or whisked egg mixture for an omlette!

I'm not Munchy Mom, but the bottle is Thousand Island dressing, and the front packet is a good brand of corned beef, from the deli counter (I THINK it says Boar's Head...)The completed ensemble (sp?) is called a Ruben sandwich, which must be grilled, NOT served just on toasted rye, to my taste! (YMMV) And, by the way, my sainted grandmother had a marmalade cat who would kill for asparagus 'butts'. (That's the stringy part that should snap off IF you flex the stem; Nana never did, so Ike could have his treat...)

The whole idea started because I wanted to try a cake with eucalyptus. The first pairing that came to mind was tobacco, can't explain the mental reasoning behind it, it was an immediate association. Teo Kool cigarettes, or maybe Salems? I see you're from Italy, so feel I must elaborate. I don't know anything about cigarette brands, other than those found in the US or Canada; but the two afore mentioned brands are mentholated, quite possibly with a eucalyptus oil in the flavor profile.

What, no plomeek soup? (I'm a nerd, too!)

Trifle! All it takes is instant vanilla pudding mix, milk, canned or frozen fruit (get the best possible), whipped cream (or -cringe- Cool Whip, which I actually LIKE for this application, as it holds up better ) and a pound cake, or an angel food cake or an unfrosted yellow cake. A little sweet wine maybe, depending on the # of kids present, and the syrup or juice from the fruit. Tear the cake into hunks and use it to line a trifle dish (a deep glass bowl will look pretty, too, especially an embossed or cut glass one.)Dampen with the fruit juice/wine mix, pour fruit over the cake and 'frost' with cool whip. Refrigerate overnight, bring to cool room temp before serving. This 'recipe' is very flexable and it will accomidate almost any fruit. I'm partial to peaches and Mandarin oranges, personally, but Y.M.M.V! HTH!

Re: 76 I would suggest it read "High heels off, comfy shoes on" I'm a barefootin' fool, bur I've had to jump back away from dropped knives, spilled hot fat and all manner of potentially damaging things to usually go barefoot in the kitchen anymore. (Unless I've indulged in a couple of adullt beverages, in which case all bets are off! )

Kim, just DON'T put them in the dishwasher! Some friend got a 'redneck wine glass' for Christmas, had his s/o put it in the dishwasher and the stem of the thing came unglued. Oopsie! Yes, I envy Quiltguy those bowls! They look perfect for the heat gun coffee roasting technique!

My mom used to love Ginger Marmalade, as made by an English company, the name of which escapes me now. It came in a crock, not a glass jar, and had quite a kick to it, iirc. This sounds like it might be close, and good!

Paul, look for a large 7 bone cut labeled as chuck pot roast. I'm not sure where you're from, but down here in Florida Publix markets carry some nice bone in chuck roasts.

Ruth, may I suggest you try it with toasted pecans instead of walnuts? I love the rich flavor of pecans, especially toasted ones. Just toast the nutmeats in the oven on a baking sheet until you can smell them, or in a clean dry skillet on the top of the stove. Stir or toss gently until slightly golden. Watch them carefully!

A person with whom I had stayed intrduced me to the pastry scraper called a Bash and Chop. I love it. Saves the hassle of making a fine chop of celery, onions, etc. for salads like Macaroni or Potato, and also serves as a dough scraper. You just cut the desired veg in smallish pieces on a flexable plastic cutting board, apply Bash and Chop with a chopping motion, scraping material being chopped into the pile, until the pieces are as small as you'd like, then pick up flexable mat and funnel into the bowl of mixed ingredients. Leaves counters clean and cutting board goes int the dishwasher's top rack, or just give it a rinse, if all it held was veggies. The Bash and Chop does not have a sharpened edge, so is safe for little 'helpers', too!

You just can't beat a BLT on white toast with plenty of Hellman's mayo (aka Best Foods in the west), but a grilled Swiss cheese on rye with bacon and tomato runs a photo-finish second second place!

Dear God, and I thought bacon jam sounded like heaven! This sounds SERIOUS!

OMG! That's a thing of beauty! Where did you find red raspberries fresh at this time of year?

Er, getting stoned? (Sorry, couldn't resist!) Thanks for a great blog; now I'm hungry!

(Moan) I'm weeping for joy, here, but also out of frustration! Me want!

Chris, to me those onions just cry for mushroom duxelle and maybe a little drop of balsemic vinegar to fill an omlette or a crepe. My mouth waters!

Andi, maybe if you blanched the smoked chops for about 30 seconds or so, it would take a little of the smokiness out, while leaving the flavour? You can also find casserole recipes here. Even though it's sponsored by Kraft, the recipes sound pretty decent!

Holy hot dish, Andi! Some of those sound great; gotta bookmark that page fer sure! Thanks for the link.

Chris, how about a big beach pail, the kind kids love? It has a handle, usually a pour spout, and no rim.

Yes and yes. If it tastes good to you and yours, the hell with 'authentic'! That's what tweeking is all about, personal touches.

LindaK, I dearly love lemon curd on things like pound cake that was lightly buttered abd toasted in the toaster oven. The Simply Fruit brand of jams is quite good (I hope I have the name correct!) It used to be advertised as 'spreadable fruit', but I haven't seen the ads for a while. The blueberry is excellent, as is the seedless raspberry and the peach.

Kim, where could I find the recipe for that salad? I looked in your Cookbook, but didn't see it. TIA!

Zweibach(sp?)teething biscuits work great for crumb crusts; I imagine that other 'twice baked' (mandelbrot, biscotti, etc) cookies would do as well.

That's what ink fans say aboout tattoos, "I only want one more tattoo; the NEXT one!" (Yes, I know whereof I speak, having collected both.)