Lucylu

we are so sorry we cant be a part of your vacation, we have sent " the daughter" to a spa , and she is finishing her last treatments, please feel free to come by and at least have a look and introduce your self. there is also a new place that my wife and i like that just opened on the square, the harvest moon cafe, the owners are nick and jen , they are closed on tuesdays, and only open for dinner ,but a great meal can be had there, 707- 933-8160, other than that lahaye is great , saul and john, and we like della santina as well, sorry i cant cook for you , but please stop by we are training staff and testing recipes, my office 707-996-0345, hope your vacation revives you, if we can help any way, call. preston and nichole the generals daughter 707-938-4004 ← so kind of you to write. When I called the woman who answered also suggested harvest moon. So much to eat, so little time. Will let you know where we eventually end up. Cyrus was on my list also, but it seemed more upscale than I had in mind. It can be really hard to gauge all of this--sometimes the photos on a restaurant's website leave more of an impression than the menu.

SO disappointed. Based on the wonderful reviews on this thread, I tried to make a reservation at the General's Daughter, but they are closed for dinner now. I will be in Sonoma for a brief but much anticipated mini-vacation next week from the intermittently frozen tundra of Boston. From reading recent posts, I'm thinking about Manzanita or Cafe LaHaye for dinner, Girl and Fig, Harvest Moon for lunch. Possibly John Ash? I like his orientation from using his cookbook, but I'm always afraid the expectation exceeds the experience. Please advise.

I don't recommend putting a lot of eggs in a pot if it means that the eggs will rest in layers. Having boiled hundreds of eggs on several occassions, I found that by the time it takes to get the water up to a boil, the eggs on the bottom are quite done while the eggs on the top are just getting done. Plus it's hard to stir a pot jammed full of eggs. So...in my opinion it's better to cook fewer eggs at a time in several pots than it is to put do them all at once. Also, the most important thing is that if you screw up, you haven't ruined all the eggs. No matter what I do, while on the subject, I can never count on getting the shells off easily all the time. I think it really matters how old the eggs are. My worst experience was buying a case of eggs at Cosco and cooking them the next day. Not one shell came off cleanly.

Moderator Note: I deleted the duplicate posts. Rachel oops. I think I pushed the wrong button to reply. I'm fairly new here... Just asking about your potato kugel, golden and custardy. I've tried several recipes and they are always leaden, major disappointments. Bleech. Would you kindly share your recipe?

Yes, both those sites carry them. Thank you. Qualita sells them by the case-2000 pieces. That's way more than I need. Bakeware also has them--12 for $7.95. Too few. I'd be willing to order around 100-200. Does anyone know of a place or website that will break down a case? I've been to Restaurant Depot in the Boston area but they don't carry them. Any suggestions?

Does anyone know where to buy those brown (they have a pattern on them) paper cupcake liners? They are taller than the conventional fluted ones and stand alone (don't need to use cupcake tins) . Maybe they aren't really for cupcakes--probably for small individual cakes. Come to think of it, maybe they're not French... Thanks.

I swear I will never wear a bandaid on a finger without wearing a glove or finger cot secured with cement because when I realized the bandaid wasn't there anymore I had just finished plating 75 salads and had to look under every leaf to find the disgusting thing before a guest did. Or my boss. Not finding it does not mean it IS NOT THERE until it is found, which I did 20 minutes later on the floor. Dodged that bullet. Second thing while I'm thinking about it. I will never run the disposal in a client's kitchen while on a job without checking inside first because I once crushed a monogrammed silver spoon (not silverplate mind you) that belonged to the family for 200 years and had to frantically try to pound it back into shape with a cast iron skillet WITHOUT attracting too much attention. And one more thing. I will never boil 13 dozen eggs purchased the day before because they are too fresh and the shells don't peel easily or at all and you end up with 156 mangled pitted eggs that you have to throw out (I mean, how many can you eat or even give away?). OK, I feel better. It's good to confess.

I use Cheddar Shake, powdered Vermont cheddar cheese, from Cabot cheese www.cabotcheese.com. This is the same cheese that comes with Annie's Noodles (actually I don't know if Annie's uses Cabot or another brand). I first heard about it in a recipe by Todd English of Olives. It's excellent on popcorn

Is foam created when processing liquids? This would be a problem with soups.

I've been obsessing over whether to buy a Vita Mix with the wet blade container. The 4500 model has a high and low speed knob, the 5000 has a variable speed. If you own one, do you really use it often enough to rationalize the expense, or is it collecting dust on your counter? Is there a good reason to buy the variable speed model, which is around $400, or the less expesive 4500, which occassionally shows up at Cosco for around $250 I think.