andiesenji

Thank yor for that, Jason! I do like a great many heat and eat things, even though I am mostly a "from scratch" cook. And it is not because I don't have enough time. In fact, sometimes when I have lots of time available and could easily cook something from scratch, I find that it just feels right to pick up something that is 99% prepared. I kick back, put my feet up and enjoy the freedom to do what I want when I want. If it is not the healthiest thing in the world, then I am willing to live (or not) with the consequences. It is my life. While I was out running errands KNX radio had an interview with the guy that did the movie "Supersize Me!" He mentioned how much weight he gained and the changes in his liver, cholesterol, and etc., during his month of eating the "bad" stuff. Finally they talked of the anomaly, of people who do eat fast food all the time, but within reason, not including the fries and additional things that contribute to the fat and sugar content, and how they beat the odds and remain healthy. Once in a while an indulgence is not going to cause havoc. I forgot to mention that my favorite heat and eat things are the Chicken Teriyaki bowls I buy at Costco, 8 to a pack and beef and green chile burritos, I forget the brand name but they are the only one made without the soy protein.

Anka makes strudel but it takes a very deft hand (I can't do it) to stretch that pastry out to the required thinness. A few months ago she and some of her friends from school made the dough and stretched it on the big kitchen bench. They made potato/ham strudel, cherry/nut strudel and prune/apricot strudel - it took almost all day. She corrected me on the cake/cookie thing - it is apparently spelled Zserbo but pronounced sherboo, or something like that.

The main different between the Le Cruset and the Staub is the little bumps on the underside of the Staub lids where steam condenses and drips onto the meat, or whatever is being cooked, in an even pattern, instead of running down the sides of the pan. The Staub lids even have a depression where you can put ice if you want to speed up the drip-drop self-basting process. Old, old cast iron Dutch ovens had these "drip-drip" basting points and my old Descoware cookware had raised concentric rings on the underside of the lids that filled the same purpose. I pulled out a couple of my old "Guardianware" cast aluminum braziers and they too have the "basting dimples" on the underside of the lids. This is not a new idea and it does work quite well. It all depends on what you like and how much you are willing to spend. My Bourgeat copper pans, have flat lids with raised rims that actually set down into the pans. This has a similar effect to the basting points, that is, the steam condenses on the underside of the lids and drips back onto the center area of the pot instead of running down the sides inside the pots or pans, as happens with a domed lid. Calphalon lids are made the same way. When I choose a pan, I consider the shape of the lid, as well as the shape, size and weight of the pan, depending on what it is to be used for. I choose domed lids when I do NOT want liquid to be dripping onto the food in the center of the pan.

I still have some shopping to do, down here in the Valley (I am at work). Later, probably around noon, I will be taking a run over to the Persian Palace, the local nickname of the large produce market on Vanowen in Reseda. I should have brought my camera along so I could take picutures, the place has an amazing array of produce at fantastic prices, as well as other "ethnic" ingredients that are not easy to find.

First of all let me stated that I make a lot of bread pudding. I have specific amounts of the other ingredients, however the amount of bread can vary with atmospheric conditions, the bread itself and perhaps even the phase of the moon. (Or from the way your quirk your eyebrow, for all I know. When I was a child our cook would scold the kitchen help if they frowned while making some dishes. A superstition, but one that apparently did affect some dishes, may as well play it safe!) This is the way I do it. I use softer breads, often homemade brioche, or panettone, or King's Hawaiian sweet bread, usually the rolls which I buy in the large packages at Smart & Final. I pull them into more or less bite-sized pieces and let them rest on a tray for an hour or so to stale a bit but not get hard. Meanwhile I mix, in a very large bowl the following: 4 eggs + 2 egg yolks, beat till creamy 1 1/2 cups milk 1/2 cup cream 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 cup sweet sherry (optional) 2 loaves of Hawaiian sweet bread or better yet, two packages of rolls or one large package of rolls, if you can shop at Smart & Final. Tear the bread or rolls into bite size pieces and spread them on a tray and allow to dry for an hour or so, then prepare the above mixture. The NEXT step is the variable one. Dump the bread into the egg mixture and press down, keep adding the bread until all the egg mixture has been soaked up, you can allow it to sit for 15 minutes to make sure it is well soaked and add more if some free liquid comes to the top when you press down with a broad spoon, fork or what I use, a potato masher. If you have extra bread left over, use it for bread crumbs. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Grease a 9 x ll lasagna pan or similar deep baking dish. (or two large loaf pans) Place the pan or pans in a larger pan and set in the oven on center rack. Fill the outer pan with hot water and bake until the custard is set. (Time varies with the size of the baking dish and the amount of custard) For a deep 9 x 11 baking dish it should be done in about 35-40 minutes, a loaf pan will take longer. Test with a thin knife blade at 35 minutes, if not done (knife blade will be wet), continue baking and test every 2 minutes after that until blade comes out clean. This is the recipe I use for my "Mock French Toast" - That is, the bread pudding, baked in loaf pans, cooled and allowed to set overnight in the fridge, then sliced and cooked on a griddle in butter, the uncooked side lightly brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with granulated maple sugar, then turned so that side can develop carmelization. Or you can just griddle it on both sides and serve with maple or your favorite syrup. However the sweet crust from the granulated maple sugar is delicious.

Anka, my housekeeper, says that you roll puff pastry out so it is 1/4 inch thick, cut with a sharp knife into strips 2 inch by 4 inch melt honey in a dish and brush one layer with honey, sprinkle with finely ground walnuts add second layer and spread with apricot jam (also warm so it spreads easy) add third layer and brush with honey and sprinkle with more nuts. Bake like it says on the package (per Anka's instructions) until it puffs and just begins to show color. Cool, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and pipe on some whipped cream just before serving. (Anka says for kids the stuff in the can is good - she means the "real" whipping cream in the pressurized can.) She has a recipe for a sort of cookie/cake called sherbo, it is made in layers and cut - the way she is explaining it, it sounds sort of like baklava but she has to translate it into English and we have to figure out the measurements. How soon do you need the recipe?

I'll ask my housekeeper when she gets home from school. She is from Hungary, (Csorna), which has (from close ties to Austria) many pastries similar to the ones seen in Austria, but usually a bit less elaborate. Lucky you, puff pastry plays a big part and is available frozen in most markets!

You just reminded me of something I haven't made in years. I would brown off wheels of hot Italian sausage, dump the Ro-Tel in there and cook down. Then I would split a crusty loaf of Italian bread, brush with good olive oil and fill with that stuff. Press it for a while and slice into serving pieces and you have pressed sandwich heaven. Sounds almost like the same thing. All great minds! ← The thing with my version is that first you eat the tomatoes and sausage with a spoon, then you pull off hunks of the crusty bread into which the sauce has soaked. It stretches a small amount of sausage into something very filling, with stick-to-the-ribs goodness!

?Chimay

Weekly at least, occasionally more often, Tater Tots or shoestring fries, hushpuppies, fish, falafal, fritters of different kinds, tortilla chiips, potato chips, vegetable chips of various kinds.

I have 4 magnetic knife racks, 3 in various places around the kitchen and one in the pantry because I like to have the knives I use in a particular place in reach so I can take a single step and grab, rather than trek to the other side of the kitchen, open a drawer, etc., etc., etc. The ones I don't use very often are in a case - I think I got it from The Knife Merchant or the other knife place online. I have had several knife blocks, tossed them all out, often my knives did not fit and having something sitting on the counter with only a few slots filled seemed a waste of good space to me. The magnetic bars I have are 3 24-inch and 1 18-inch (longer wouldn't fit in that area) I haven't noticed that they have harmed any of my knives. They certainly hold the Chinese knives (the ones like a cleaver) easier than any place else I have found. The ones I have are like this which apparently has them on sale right now. I do have one of these knife racks with the wire cage (bottom) somewhere on a shelf and have intended to put it up in the pantry for my butchering knives (the big ones) but haven't gotten around to it. It seems to be well made but since I have yet to use it, I can't say for certain. There is one made of stainless steel this one which I ordered in mid December but kept getting back order notices and finally cancelled the order. I thought it would be good to take out to my outdoor kitchen so my knives won't be laying around on the counters or tables. Dave the Cook bought one and I believe he is pleased with it.

Look at a place that carries printmaking supplies. The paint rollers for printing inks (about the same consistency as chocolate) are specifically designed to pick up a thin layer and release it when it is applied to a firm surface. They clean up easily using glycerine then water, for food-safe applications. They come in varioius widths from 3 inches to 12 inches.

Doesn't One Pico at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica still have their nice Saturday and Sunday brunch? It has been a few years since I had a meal there but I liked it very much and it is decidedly French.

You actually have a combination of things, affecting more than one nerve. The Radial nerve will affect how you lift your thumb and fingers dorsally, that is, toward the top. On the palm side, the Median nerve affects the thumb, index, middle and half of the ring finger. The Ulnar nerve affects the outer half of the ring finger and the small finger or pinky. You can stick your finger in the roove on the underside of your elbow (the part next to your side) press and feel the numbness in the pinky and outer half of the ring finger. Radial epicondylitis, at the elbow on the upper or outer side, will affect you if you do constant gripping with your fingers/hand cocked up. You can relieve these symptoms by keeping your wrist and hand in a neutral position or in a straight line from the forearm to the base of the fingers. Sometimes, something as simple as a figure-8 wrap, across the top of your hand, crisscrossing the wrist and fastened on the top of your forearm just above the wrist is enough to remind you to avoid the position that causes the stretching of the nerves. For radial epicondylitis, at the elbow, a strap, fitted snugly around the forearm 2 inches below the bend of the elbow, where the dorsiflexor muscles attach, will help relieve that stress. I have worked for an orthopedic surgeon for 37 years and he always was extremely conservative about surgery in these areas - he said that if you give the body half a chance, it will heal itself. He has always been very good about educating patients about the mechanics of the body that cause problems and how to correct them. He said the carpal tunnel problem that many people have nowadays, stems from the so-called "ergonomic" placement of computer keyboards lower than desk height. Women and men too, typed on regular typewriters, set at desk level for as much as 40 years and never developed carpal tunnel - because with the typewriters in that position, the wrist is straight, not with the hands cocked up putting the wrist at an acute angle. It is all in the mechanics of musculoskeletal use.

I haven't seen the book. I have not cooked these before. Mike and I were communicating (we have a bit of language difficulty) and he showed me these and a few other varieties made by the same company and convinced me I should try them. Since he hasn't yet steered me wrong, I bought them to try. The other package in the background is buckwheat - I buy it there because #1 it is cheaper and #2 much fresher than in other markets - I grind my own for breads and etc. The Freekeh (green cracked wheat) is the other package behind the couscous. I mix that half and half with millet then layer it in a casserole with beans to make a vegetarian dish for some friends who visit every three months when they come through this area on sales trips. If I am feeling particularly ambitious I will wrap the spicy mixture in grape leaves and steam, then serve with a yogurt dip.

I don't know yet if I will have any restrictions on the types of foods I can have. I dreamed about food all night, not eating, but preparing. For some really strange reason, I found myself in Australia, visiting with friends and being asked to prepare some really odd things but can't recall now what they were. Weird (I have never been to Oz.) The other dream had me in an enormous kitchen, sort of like the one in "The Great Race" (the Tony Curtis/Jack Lemmon/Natalie Wood one). more weird The oddest thing was that I never got to taste anything - every time I was going to try something, I was interrupted. Frustrating, even in dreams.

I had made a multilayer cake for a party I was working for one of my clients when I was a personal chef. While removing it from the fridge, one of my helpers bumped the fridge door and the cake was upended onto my shoes. I had nothing to back it up, but fortunately the job wasn't too far from home (I still lived down in the Valley then, so I nipped off to my house, found a panettone in the pantry and I always have a few quarts of my homemade lemon curd on hand, as well as various syrups from candying ginger and citrus peel, etc. I simply hauled it back to the job, put it together and stuck it in the freezer to "set" for about 30 - 40 minutes, nailed it with the skewers and cut it crosswise then crosswise again and split each quarter so it ended up in 8 wedges, (my client had 6 guests) and it worked so well and got such raves that I kept it in my repetoir. As far as I know, no one else has ever done it and I am posting it here for the first time.

I slice it crosswise into rounds, about 3/4 inch thick, toast lightly in the oven, brush with butter then spread with lemon curd, add a layer, spread with more lemon curd, finish with the top round au naturale - then drizzle with a lemon syrup glaze, sometimes mixing lemon and ginger syrup together to make the glaze. I stick long thin bamboo skewers from top to bottom about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in from the outside, in the center of which will be a wedge slice, then chill. I cut the cake with the skewers in place, arrange the slices on plates then carefully remove the skewers. This keeps the layers in place while moving it. I then very lightly dust with XXX sugar. Looks very pretty and tastes wonderful.

I am fasting for 24 hours because of some medical tests I have to have tomorrow and my fast began at 10 this morning. I am trying to keep busy, too restless to sit and read and nothing on TV interests me at the moment - Food TV is doing a chocolate marathon and I don't eat chocolate. So I did some shopping, made a special stop at the middle eastern market to restock on several things. Low on couscous, I bought several kinds to show the varieties they carry. Mostly I use the bulk type they package in store: Here is a closeup so you can see the textures - except for the ones in the box. The smaller covered bowl inside the large one is the steamer I got from Clay Coyote recommended by Ms. Wolfert - it is wonderful. The dark stuff in the lower right hand corner is zaatar or zahtar, a mix of thyme, sumac and sesame seeds I use in vegetable dishes, cheese dishes and on bread. I also bought some bottled fruit syrups, lovely moro oranges, tiny pears and a few other things they carry that I can find nowhere else for such reasonable prices. (A giant jar -24 oz- of wonderful tomato paste from Turkey that is better than any domestic product and only $1.99.) Now I can spend the next 24 hours deciding on what I will have for dinner tomorrow evening, assuming I can eat just anything and am not limited because of ongoing tests......... I can only hope.

The problem is that in the office where there are anywhere from 10 to 15 women on any one day, some people might see something and toss it out, thinking it is spoiled - this has happened in the past. When the stuff is in the yogurt maker, everyone knows it is supposed to be there and look as it does.

At 10:00 a.m. this morning I began a 24-hour fast, required for a medical test, among a battery of several I will have tomorrow. When something like this is in the offing, one does need to stoke up a bit on something that will keep one feeling satisfied for some time. So, I made corncakes: I also had earlier cooked some homemade bratwurst. (please excuse the variable sized sausages, I was doing it without help and occasionally one got away from me or I twisted one a bit short, and this was the end of the batch. The brats are simmered in apple juice for 40 minutes. They are then fully cooked and can be eaten as is or incorporated into a dish. I cut them into thin slices, sauteed them and then added eggs to make an omelet. I forgot to take photos of the omelet as I was trying to get it finished while the corncakes were still hot. Yummy! Now I can survive until tomorrow evening with nothing but water.

It wasn't a church cookbook, but the first cookbook I received as a gift, at age 11, was Charleston Receipts, and I still have the first one, carefully put away, and have several of its descendents, which I still cook from. As noted here it is "the oldest cookbook of its kind, continually in print." Some of the lowcountry recipes have never been published, exactly as recorded in this book, anywhere else that I have found and I have looked.

I make yogurt at home most of the time. Several of the girls at my office make yogurt - there are two yogurt makers, the kind that hold a regular quart milk container, always going as they consume a lot of yogurt. You don't really need a "yogurt maker" but this particular item is absolutely foolproof and is safe to use.

Pastry chef is the source from which I order most, although some equipment I order from Fantes - sometimes better prices and very quick ship.

Long, long before Cool-Whip and its imitators came onto the scene, I worked in my mom's bakery in a small village in Wisconsin. The dairy industry was adamant that "imitation" anything could not be used in anything sold to the public and we used only the best, butter, cream, etc., (there was no such thing as "low-fat" milk). We used milk powder in baking but it was full fat milk powder. One of the salesmen from a bakery supply place came in one day with a can of dried powder that he was trying to peddle to the independent bakeries as they had recently gotten a permit to sell in the state. It was supposed to whip up like whipping cream and could be incorporated "safely" into pastry cream for filling cream puffs, cream horns and eclairs, filling in cakes, stacked pastries, and so on. And it was much, much cheaper than using heavy cream....... The head baker/pastry chef, (a Hungarian who was one of the refugees resettled after the 1956 revolution) said he would try it but did so with much muttering and slamming of mixing bowls. He mixed up a batch, pronounced it inedible and dumped it into a box of trash which I set outside the back door. He practically threw the salesman out the back door and triumphantly pointed out the platoon of cats, that routinely hung around the back door, were sniffing at the stuff and turning away. "See!, he yelled, "Not even the damm cats will taste the stuff, it's crap." (I could understand him but the salesman probably couldn't, his English was pretty rough back then.) Later, when my mother came in and heard the store, she said that none of us were ever to waste our time trying out something like that brought in by a salesman. The first time I tasted Cool Whip reminded me of this little episode and I called home and had a chat with my mother and we both had a bit of a chuckle. She was in the bakery at the time and reminded the baker about it also. They were still using only the "good stuff" even though by that time Wisconsin had relaxed many of their regulations and you could actually buy colored margarine in a store. both of the Hungarian bakers that my mom sponsored, as well as giving them jobs and homes for them and their families, had trained and worked all over Europe, one had been at the Metropole in Brussels for several years and had a medallion from the hotel that he always wore on his toque. I could never stand the stuff. It left that greasy residue in my mouth and I could always tell when it was used in a dish. If people want to use it that is their right, but just don't ask me to eat it.