daniellewiley

Careful with the microwaving. Microwaving in plastic leaches estogen-mimicing hormones into our food. Not a positive. I still store everything in plastic, but transfer to ceramic or glass prior to microwaving. From a Johns Hopkins researcher

I always have to make my salad. Often, when going to eat at our friends' house, I bring all of my supplies, so I can make it just right. I smash garlic in our giant wooden bowl with fleur du sel. Then, I add Maille Dijon mustard, sherry vinegar and EVOO. The following ingredients are optional: - capers (added with the mustard) - olives (added with the mustard) - cheese (added with the lettuce) Once the dressing is mixed, I add the rest of the ingredients. Always cucumber and lettuce. I also love to add garbanzos, radish, and lately, celery.

Joining this discussion late, but Michael just got a Senseo for Christmas. The man is obsessed. I quit coffee drinking a few weeks ago, so he's been flying solo, and this is perfect for that! He just ordered a case from Podhead, and is excited to try that. Just found out that he's been making two trips a day to Starbucks at work, so he'll be getting a Senseo for the office as well. Two trips a day!! I'm thinking the Senseo can pay for a trip to Europe by replacing that!

We have some food insults that we use in our house: Stinker bean Goober (my daughter's favorite insult - "You silly goober!!")

Glycerin is a by-product of the soap-making process. I do not think that it has the negative effects that mineral oil does. Glycerin actually attracts moisture.

Ooohh, I get to put my non-food/cooking hat on here. In my other life, I sell botanical skin care products. Mineral oil and petrolatum products are actually really bad for your skin. Sadly, they are present in 95% of the beauty care products sold in the US. What mineral oil/petrolatum does is leave a film on the skin that does not allow moisture to enter. It can also act to draw moisture OUT of the skin. The molecules in mineral oil/petrolatum (refined crude oil) are too big to penetrate the pores of our skin. Mineral oil can be necessary for our skin, especially when dealing with a wound (when you DO want to keep moisture out of the area), however, for daily skin care it will actually dehydrate your skin in the long run. The shea butter recommended above is a great alternative as are other lotions made with botanically-based ingredients that do NOT contain mineral oil. Also consider bringing in your own cleanser, one that is not drying and also does not contain mineral oil.

As I mentioned in the Panera thread, I go there all the time just for their free WiFi, and I always eat/drink when I'm there. I seem to recall reading that WiFi is moving from a retail to a wholesale model, with restaurants and other establishments offering it as a value-add. I personally find the fact that Starbuck's charges to be obnoxious and offensive.

This isn't a question - more of a gush. Eating in Italy was our primary tour guide on our trip to Italy almost four years ago. From our porcetta sandwich at the Greve in Chianti market, to our luscious dinner at Arnolfo in Colle Val d'Elsa, we followed your recommendations almost religiously, and were thrilled at every turn. I just read your response to why you choose Florence as your home base, in which you mentioned Cibreo as one of your favorites. Cibreo will forever hold a special place in our hearts. We ate there (on your recommendation of course), imbibed way too much wine, and nine months later welcomed our daughter into the world. You can see her in my avatar, happily eating mussels at an Italian restaurant. So, no question from me at this point, but I just had to share my sincere thanks.

I haven't had Thanksgiving with my mom for a few years now, though I was just informed that next year I will be, and that she is cooking. (hmpf) We usually have it at our house, and my sister-in-law and I cook together. This year, my dad and stepmother will be driving out to Ohio to join us. Neither one of them loves cooking, so no worries there. We have a menu that has evolved over the 6 or so years that we've been cooking together, though each year we vary it slightly. This year we'll be attempting homemade vegetarian marshmallow for the sweet potato puree. Fun 70s nostalgia, that my sister-in-law (vegetarian) will actually be able to eat. Everyone knows to stay out of the kitchen and leave us to ourselves. We have a great synergy, and Megen does most of the cleaning up after me, which I am notoriously terrible at. My mother-in-law, her mom, would LOVE to help us, but we don't let her, b/c she'd just drive us crazy. We do let her bring devilled eggs, and sometimes a batch of her cheesy potatoes. She makes them better than we do, b/c we have a hard time using enough butter to make them taste their best. (one stick per five pounds plus dots of butter over the top of the dish - this is on top of the entire package of cream cheese). I need to start planning now for Thanksgiving at my mom's next year. I will absolutely not be able to cede control.

I actually go to Panera quite a bit. It is very close to my daughter's pre-school and they have free WiFi, so I can have a snack or drink, or even breakfast or lunch while doing work or surfing eGullet, and waiting until pick up time. Last week I went for breakfast and loved what I got. It was only $.57 too! A slice of 7 grain, toasted with butter. Much better than their bagels, which are really rolls, and just piss me off. For lunch, I like the roast beef on asiago bread with horseradish sauce. Not bad at all.

Regis and Kelly tasted them on air yesterday. Regis claimed to love them, and said that they truly did taste like the dishes they emulate. Kelly almost barfed after sipping the mashed potato one and refused to try the green bean casserole drink. I don't know that I could try one of the savory ones. Cranberry, for sure, but green bean casserole in a bottle? ewwww

The Earle is my favorite. We sit at the Wine Bar, where you can eat from the same menu, but in a more relaxed, homey environment. The whole place though is pretty darned cavelike and relaxing. Food is country French and Italian. There is an Earle Uptown now too, but I haven't been. I love the original downtown Earle on Washington Street. Zingerman's Deli is not the place for a relaxing dinner. We only tried the Roadhouse for a special tasting dinner, and while we loved everything we had, I don't know it well enough to vouch for it. La Fiesta Mexicana in Ypsilanti is the best Mexican food I have EVER had. Our favorite bar for eating is Casey's on Depot Street. Great, great burgers. And, I second Common Grill in Chelsea, though that is a good 20 minutes away from downtown A2.

Everything looks great - I'm excited for your blog!! I have long wanted to visit Salumi - now I KNOW that I must go! A good friend is moving to Seattle in February - I can't wait to visit her! Looking forward to the rest of the week - you're doing great.

We've used this recipe for brine and glaze from Bon Appetit for about five years now. The flavor is amazing, as is the color and flavor. We always have to BBQ our turkey because our oven is so small that you can't fit one in it!!

And it comes in colors? Or do I mix in the black food coloring? (can you tell I'm not a baker?)

Hey all, I'm back. I'm going with the above idea, but I did a search for fondant recipes and was overwhelmed to see multiple types. What kind of fondant do I want for the above application? What is the best recipe for this?

Have you asked Leo? My sister-in-law and Thanksgiving cooking partner is vegetarian, but she absolutely does not want any special entree. She is so enamored of all of the side dishes that she wants nothing else. In addition to our bbq'd turkey, we serve: cranberries (from Cook's Illustrated) cranberry horseradish relish creamed corn made with Cope's dried corn mashed potatoes mashed sweet potatoes green beans with roasted onions in a balsamic glaze roasted brussels sprouts turkey stuffing vegetarian stuffing

His name is Bill Lockwood. He won't be overwhelmed this year b/c he doesn't have any turkeys. He said that I can feel free to tell people about him but he is, and will always be small scale. He does have quite a bit of honey that he'd like to get rid of, however, so PM me if you want his email address.

It's getting published Thursday in our alternative weekly. If they don't put it online, I'll ask my editor if I can put the text on my site. I'm sure I can, and I'll let you all know when it's posted.

That's just the sort of information that's valuable to put into a review, isn't it? ← Heck yeah!!

I just wrote an article about this. Heritage Foods is selling fresh Bronze turkeys from Kansas. You can also go to Local Harvest to find sources for other breeds, including Bourbon Red and Narrangansett. Last year, we picked up our Heritage Turkey from a guy south of Chelsea, but this year he didn't raise any b/c he was out of the country for a while. I'll probably be ordering from Heritage Foods. Next year, though, I'll get from my little guy again. The turkey was amazing, and since I didn't have to get it shipped, I saved about $30.

We were at a very high-end restaurant earlier this week. I was reviewing it. Entrees were all over $30, and included a salad. The server recommended the roasted garlic bleu cheese dressing. I said that sounded great. She then asked if I wanted crumpled Maytag bleu on top. I said, "sure." I later noticed that the menu charged extra for BOTH of these items. So, it wasn't hidden, but certainly not expected. I ended up paying an extra $2.50 for my salad toppings. This is on a bill that for two people came to over $200. I don't think the waitress was scamming me. I'm upset with the owner for being so tacky. The restaurant had a wine list with an entire page of Chateau Lafitte Rothschild. And, they are charging extra for bleu cheese????

One of our favorite pizza places in Toledo (Inky's) cuts theirs in rectangles. Once down the middle and then straight cuts perpendicular. The corner pieces are long triangles, and the middle pieces are all rectangles. I'll need to go soon and take some pics!

Oooh, I agree with most of these. I always feel special when eating Zingerman's cheese. They store and sell it perfectly, so while it's expensive, it's always fabulous. I love sitting by myself with a great magazine and eating a hunk of their farm bread covered with slices of a great, aged goat cheese. That always feels decadent to me, and really it's not TERRIBLY expensive. I also feel decadent when using any of the products I've purchased overseas. I always save them forever. I have a jar of chestnut cream from Paris in my cupboard, and I took a long, long time to eat my Fauchon Fig Preserves.

Maybe some mashed sweet potatoes? Or, a potato gratin? Green beans with almonds would also be tasty with that. I think eG favorite roasted cauliflower, or even a roasted cauliflower/brussel mix would be good too.