Chris Amirault

Thanks for that idea, Matt. Sounds intriguing. What else did you serve at that meal? It's a basic vintage bowl with basic vintage cups -- though for the party we may break out the melamine cups. I'll be sure to snap a picture of both a bit later. Not sure -- I didn't make 'em. I'll have to ask the pastry chef.

I just confirmed plans with Dave Viola -- Society member vice above. We're going to give you a little tour of southern RI tomorrow. More on that later. Meanwhile, here's the party food skinny. We have an annual Night Before New Years Eve party, and we have about 30 people coming. Drinks are pretty straightforward -- I'll get some interesting beer and wine and make a punch, probably Regents -- but food is trickier. We have a friend who has celiac disease, and we want to be sure to have a nice array of gluten-free foods. Here are the other, rather random, thoughts I've had: No theme necessary. Must. Have. Gougeres. Use up a few items in the pantry/freezer, including homemade bacon, mustard, pancetta, preserved lemon, sausage, hot sauce, smoked salmon. Other seafood also possible (shrimp? oysters?). Must. Have. Deviled. Eggs. Finger food. I think I want to try making crackers for the first time this year. Thoughts? Do-ahead, as always, is preferred. No fryer or grill. Excellent broiler. A few Middle Eastern dips with raw vegetables -- baba ganoush & hummous, say -- are always good. Some reliably edible kid food is essential. Your thoughts are requested!

Sears called. Dishwasher delivered on Wednesday.

When I got out of bed for the second time to shovel, I thought I smelled something really terrific: I love yeasted waffles, which we rarely have here. Being born and raised in New England, I put molasses on all pancakes and waffles: Bebe, on the other hand, made snow ice cream. I will transcribe: 1. snow 2. maple syrup 3. cream 4. oreo Now we sit back in anticipation....

Though non-traditional, I think that brown rice goes better with red beans and rice than white, adding a toothy, nutty edge to the dish: I lost the little cup for the Zojirushi rice maker, and, after some help, a bit of research, and some trial and error, I discovered that one "cup" of rice, fuzzy-logic-wise, weighs 6 oz, so I just fill the rice bowl on the scale: Some tea while I waited, a Taiwanese charcoal-roasted oolong from Norbu Tea: The bowl itself, with some Frank's on top: While I settled into the Patriots romp over the Buffalo Bills, the kitchen plants looked out the window and wondered what all that white stuff was....

Thanks, everyone. Just got the ThemoWorks twofer deal of the timer and the oven thermometer/timer for $30. Downloading some pix from yesterday. More in a sec. Meanwhile, start thinking about party food. Desires, requirements, constraints to come.

Here's my current kitchen timer, purchased without much research due to sudden need post-move: This timer does the job that our old stove used to do, and it does it adequately. But as the Amazon reviews indicate, the OXO SoftWorks timer has some serious flaws, like a recessed display that's hard to read. Makes me think that someone out there has a really great timer suggestion.... You do, don't you?

I'm up in the middle of the night, unfortunately. Bebe's got a cough, and I am on Robitussin duty tonight; once I got her back to sleep, and I couldn't do the same. So I'm sipping a rich, heady mug of my favorite tea of the moment, an Assam Sree Sibbari Estate SFTGFOP -- that's "Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe" for those new to tea lingo like me -- from TeaSource. Everything I learned about tea came from the eG Forums Coffee & Tea forum. Like cocktails, tea rewards careful preparation yet not necessarily supremely expensive ingredients. Save for that Intelligensia coffee I mentioned up-topic, I rarely get my caffeine fix away from home or office these days, and though the teas I use from places like TeaSource and Greg Glancy at Norbu Tea cost more than Lipton or Tazo, they cost a whole lot less than a cup of joe from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.

Thanks, everyone! I'm glad it's close to Valentine's Day because I just fell hopelessly in love with your Bradley smoker. --on a side note, I hope all signed up with we-care.com...it is so simple...I did my main shopping on Amazon, so I hope it did some good for EG!---(ps. i have no affiliation with egullet, just my 2 cents ) You're right about We-Care.com and connecting to Amazon.com through this eGullet-friendly link, Shelby: both are easy and both allow you to give to the Society without paying a cent! We also appreciate your being a society donor, another great way to give back. I hope that everyone who has enjoyed this foodblog so far -- and there is more to come! -- considers giving in one way or another. After all, we all have an affiliation with the eGullet Society in one way or another. If you post, you're a member. And if you are just reading? Well, as a non-profit, public organization, the Society serves its mission of expanding knowledge about the world of food and drink for everyone. All of the managers and hosts are volunteers, giving their time and effort to a cause that they love. Giving back, I should say. I have learned so much from everyone on eG Forums, from eG Cook-Offs to the eGCI to the Daily Gullet to thousands of informative eG Forums topics. Spending a week sharing my holiday with you and volunteering behind the scenes on routine maintenance and special projects are a small way for me to say thanks to you and the Society both. And with that, let's get back to the foodblog!

Crashing early: several days of early to rise, late to bed cooking is catching up with me. More tomorrow!

Just made a toddy for my mother-in-law, who helped Andrea put up some Christmas lights during the blizzard. I'd say that deserves a pretty good toddy, wouldn't you? 2 oz Redbreast Irish whiskey 1/2 oz smoked pineapple syrup 1 oz demerara syrup slice of lemon, seeded Put syrups and lemon slice into mug and pour a few ounces of boiling water over them; stir to dissolve the syrups. Add the whiskey and top with a few scrapes of nutmeg. Working on a little project here that I'll be sharing later today if all goes well.

A few attempts at making an ice cream base over here in my eG Foodblog. Following a recipe by Paula Wolfert, 82C for an hour. Also a trick for keeping a floating bag vertical in there (string is involved.) Will report there on results.

That Xmas eve dinner sounds fantastic. How did you prepare the squid?

Ice cream base update. Here's the bag in the SVS: Strained and cooling in our "three season room." One of the benefits to cooking during a New England blizzard is that you have insta-walkins:

Perhaps later in the foodblog, now that I have a few eggs around. Ooh, interesting idea.... What are you going to do with it?

I intended an overnight soak; turned out they soaked for about an hour, during which I went from "make it tomorrow" to "egad, it's a blizzard outside." As we know, there's no need to soak 'em.

Light lunch:

It's a red bean and rice kind of day. Put the other half of that ham stock in a stockpot with these home-smoked hocks: Trinity, thyme, marjoram, bay, white & black pepper, cayenne, and some ham leftover from the stuffed onions (garlic not pictured): Had the beans soak a little while I was doing prep: Here's one of the ways I keep track of things in the freezer. When the roll of tasso gets low, it's time to make more:

Hot cocoa for the kiddo and father-in-law: Only the best cocoaware:

Thanks, ambra and Genkinaonna! Merridith, that's exactly what I mean: lots of little thises and thats for SVS experiments. As for cajun food, well, as you'll see in a sec, we're thinking along the same lines!

Everything looks great. Chris, what potsticker recipe did you use from Dunlop?

Doesn't someone around here have large plastic containers on shelves for particular items? That seems a smart idea.

I'd cut Bittman a teensy bit of slack, as 8 tablespoons is a "stick" in the US, or a quarter pound. Why he doesn't say "half pound of butter," though, I cannot say.

For me, that's a good example of a piece of cooking equipment on which it's not worth spending lots of money. I've looked at the high-end Webers, Big Green Eggs, and the others, and while they're appealing, for what I do -- briefly push stuff around on a grill over charcoal -- they don't make sense. This Char-Broil has too much plastic, and the circumference of the thing is annoyingly larger than the standard Weber 22.5" grill grate that's available all over town, meaning that I put a Weber grate atop the warped, rusted C-B one. But for what I paid ($50?) and use if for, it's just the thing.

A few shots of food equipment in the capacious garage. You saw the freezer up topic. Here's my beloved Bradley smoker ($250 at this eGullet friendly Amazon link -- yeesh!), sitting on a stainless steel rolling cart that I found at a yard sale: This Patio Wok I got years ago; it's no longer available. I keep it scrupulously clean, as you can see: And those who think I have only "high-end cooking equipment" will enjoy my long-serving Char-Broil charcoal grill, bought at a scratch-n-dent sale: