MicBacchus

I have the same mentality as ghostrider - my parents indoctrinated me! Wine and water work in the kitchen for cans and jars while cooking; with mayo I scrape until the bitter end. My DH takes care of the soap in the bathroom. What makes me crazy is watching other people [whether on the food network (no surprise there, PBS, or a friend/relative] not getting everything out of the bowl. I mean, sometimes they leave a WHOLE SERVING behind

OOH - tortilla de patata - haven't made that in a while, but it is now on an upcoming-menu. I first had it in college when my Spanish roommate's mom sentone up -- don't know how we avoided getting sick A friend from Puerto Rico made it last year for her Spanish students, and it brought back such good memories!! So easy and filling, especially for my meat-and-potatoes-minded husband.

My daughter says that the smell of cooking brussels sprouts is what she thinks feet would taste like.

As an educator, I think part of the responsibility lies with the parents and their need to inform the teacher if there is a potential problem with food and their child. I know of one child who had a gluten allergy. The parents did the necessary investigation and found out that their child could eat raisins as long as they came from the small, individual boxes. If they ate from the large box there would be a problem as there is some wheat product that goes on raisins in a large box to keep them from clumping together. Granted, that this child probably wouldn't be able to eat any 'treat' b/c most likely there would be something with wheat in it. However, most parents would be unaware of this (and shouldn't necessarily know) and happily send in a treat for a birthday, etc. Then the problems arise: Did the teacher read all students' files? Did all parents fill out a form stating allergies? Did the parent donating said goodies inform teacher as to ingredients? Etc., etc. In today's society, schools 'should' constantly consider all possible/probable outcomes in advance to offset problems and/or possible lawsuits {and I teach in a private school!!} As a recipient of said goodies --- unfortunately I have to look at the student individually. If the child is 'hygienically challenged' or brings 'questionable' lunches, then I happily take the offering and dispose of it at the end of the day. If everything is ok, then (since it is usually a cupcake for me) eat the icing and dump the cake - I am not a cake eater

Add 3 for me - we went to Costco and I succumbed. Even though I walked in and didn't plan on buying something we'd have to pack, I gave in to temptation, leaving with books as well as produce

I'm making the Beef Rendang from the Molly Steven's book as we speak -- I can't help scraping the sides of the pot and taking a taste. By the time it's finished, I'll probably be full! Have you noticed on some of the cooking shows that they leave a lot in the bowls? Sometimes it looks like they leave at least a serving behind! That's one of my pet peeves I guess.

3 for me - Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeurves, one each by Rick Bayless and Todd English. Still have some on my wish list - I still think I have a problem

Sunday I made the Zinfandel pot roast - yummy! Tonight was the Soy Braised Chicken Thighs - so easy and quick. It was a bit salty tho, so I added a splash of vinegar (as recommended) and problem solved! Have some leftovers so I anticipate it being even better tomorrow.

3 more for me - I think I have a problem

Has anyone tried "Adriana's Caravan"? I received a catalog and it had some interesting things...

My dear husband (because he did this, he deserves more than a DH!) got me the entire set from eBay for Mother's Day. The condition was that I had to cook something from each volume . So inspirational!! But does anyone do what I do --think about the people in the pictures and won what happened to them? Am I thinking too much?!

Upon arriving home and having a house at 62 degrees, chili was the perfect choice. I used two kinds of dried powders - ancho and chipotle, plus chipotle in adobo Wanted black beans but there were none on the store shelves, so I really drained a can of black bean soup - how desperate is that!! Now on to making the corn bread with whole corn, shredded cheese, and a hint of sour cream.

My condolences as well. Tomorrow my dad will have been gone since 1993. It's possible that my granddaughter will be born tomorrow -- my daughter looks at it as the circle of life. Looking thru the album, there's a picture of him and me standing beside his 9 foot tomato plants -- I kid you not!! He had a 6 foot square patch in the backyard where he grew the most amazing tomatoes year after year. Neither of my parents were great cooks but very simple ones. You never knew what would be in dad's scrambled eggs - worcestershire sauce, green olives, chopped sausage - it was like a challenge to him to come up with something new. He cooked breakfast on Sunday while Mom went to church, and she was always glad to be gone because of his 'inventiveness'. He loved food and would eat any seafood except for raw oysters. He tried to, sober and drunk, but just couldn't...! But he loved steamed crabs, being from Baltimore. I remember how my mom would fuss at him for eating what she thought was too much on holidays, but he was just enjoying her cooking, as he told her. When I hear the word 'martini', I think of how he'd have to have 3-4 olives in his. It's interesting how much food is intertwined in your memories of someone you love. My son and his wife are also expecting any day and are naming their son after him. Hopefully this new addition will share in his grandfather's love of food.

I am so jealous; your wine cooler is gorgeous - who makes it? When we move, this will definitely go on my list. My vote is for Parsi, Amish and, oh I don't care - they all sound great! We live near the Amish community in S MD and I frequent the Amish market all summer. It'll be interesting to see what they do with the produce.

I have a glass cooktop. When we purchased it, they said no cast iron. So my 60 year old skillet is now stored away. Can't I use it because it's so heavy that they're afraid you'll drop it and break the cooktop, or is there some kind of heat reaction that will harm the cooktop? What about a wok; could I use a diffuser? And my ancient glass double-boiler has a triangular wire thingy that I put on top of my former coil burner -- I assume I don't use it now, but will the glass be okay? What about a cast iron tagine or something else that is coated. Appliance booklets obviously weren't written with me in mind!

For me, it depends on who is the 'guest'. For real guests, I'd prefer that they stay out -------- and let me prepare what I have planned, get it plated, and served the way I want. I was raised by a mom who wanted her plate heated so the food stayed hot - a fine idea, but that needs coordination - and I guess that paved the way that food should be served a certain way. On the other hand, after dinner with family, my SIL is awesome - he'll clear the table, load the dishwasher, and wash what can't/shouldn't go into it. He's invited ANYTIME

I just got this book a week ago, and it looks like lately everyone is trying something new. I did the braised leeks and then made the leek and bacon tart -- it was terrific! I doubled the recipe for leeks, had half left over (obviously) and hubby liked it so much that tonite I made another tart. Minimal effort for maximum enjoyment!!!

Include 3 more for me please: The Frog Commissary, The Art of Braising, and Patio Daddy-o.

A can of tomatoes (whole, stewed, diced, doesn't matter) and you're good to go. Selection 1) Add elbow macaroni, ground beef, bagged shredded cheese. Selection 2 ) Add chopped hot dogs, onions, bagged shredded cheese. Don't remember what the name of the second one was, but we used to call the first one slumgullion

This incident is not embarrassing because I was young - just taken a HomeEc class. I made Christmas cookies and decided to decorate them with colored icing, and in my enthusiasm, got carried away with the amount of coloring and icing put on top of the cookies. Anyway, my dad sometimes had a hard time limiting himself in the amount of food he ate and consumed about a dozen of them at once. That night when he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, he forgot the bathroom door had been pulled to and ran into it headfirst, giving himself a nice slit on his forehead. He then proceeded to pee, and lo and behold, it came out green! At first he thought he was seeing things because of the bump on his head but then realized, no, he really had green pee! It took a few minutes for him to realize the source of the color, and in the end was grateful that he'd eaten mostly green-decorated cookies instead of the red ones! Not sure what the moral of that story should be...

I remember my dad sprinkling it lightly on greens - usually kale. My mom cooked the kale with potatoes and some type of meat in her pressure cooker. She wasn't big on spices or herbs, so I'm guessing the malt vinegar definitely added flavor to the kale.

What type of places does your brother enjoy? Is Olive Garden (and other such chains) part of his comfort zone, or does he prefer more upscale? My DH was such a plebian eater when we first met that something so common as cumin was an unknown commodity . Meals made from scratch reminded him of his grandmother! (That's a good thing; she was an awesome baker). [Evil aside - his ex was an abysmal cook and served burned/cold food.] But patience and careful meal planning now has him eating calamari, shrimp (even this was a big deal) and any ethnic cuisine I suggest. Although it could be love . I just guide him to something that I think is close to what he'd like, 99% of the time I'm right, and then it's time to expand the menu. Maybe that's the track you'll need to take when entertaining them.

We're moving from the DC suburbs to Myrtle Beach SC next summer, and as someone who loves to cook, I'm a bit concerned about the shopping experiences I'll have to adjust to. Now, I have a great variety of grocery stores to choose from - ethnic and chains. Having looked in the phone book in SC, basically I'll choose from Food Lion (I know about this one), Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, an Asian store and several Mexican ones. I just heard that Harris Teeter is closed there and am unfamiliar with the others. How do the the 2 chains there compare with those in the 'big cities'? Will I have the variety of products? I'm thrilled with the fresh seafood markets and know I will have no problem finding fresh produce during the summer. But what about the variety of items that I've become accustomed to finding easily? I love Trader Joe's and Whole Foods but don't think I'll be seeing those...

I replied earlier but then got to thinking..... what about corn dogs? Do they count? I had my first one just 1 year ago at a fair, and it was interesting, something I'd eat maybe just a few times each year. Any comments?

Went to Ollie's yesterday and found two more: Good-Tempered Food and Vegetable Heaven. I have my eye on some others, but we're probably moving and the thought of boxing up all my cookbooks is appearing overwhelming.