viva

McDonald's also has the advantage from an international perspective - when I travel for long stretches, sometimes I just want something that reminds me of home. McDonald's serves the purpose because I know the fries will taste the same no matter what (now, if they would just introduce the McGriddle in France, I would be a happy camper - pain au chocolat can't come close to providing the hangover cure that the McGriddle offers). Sometimes, when I just want something familiar, the McDonald's at the Sao Paulo airport does the trick just nicely, no matter how wonderful the churrascuria next door might be. From a domestic US perspective, I'll take anything In N' Out Burger has to serve up. But they don't change their menu, so the point is moot.

grilled jerk chicken thighs... thighs are the way to go. Clickety here for the marinade. I make extra of these puppies to keep cold in the fridge for wraps and salads.

I wound up eating the leftover PB burger with swiss cheese and bacon topping. Yum - the salty smoky bacon & swiss went very nicely with the nutty burger. This one's a keeper. And thanks for posting the beer burger recipe! I'll have to try that next week. A little beer for the burger, a little for me. Burger... me.

I did the PB burgers tonight - thanks for the recipe, Marlene! They really are very tender. It almost didn't need cheese (which is burger heresy!). You can definitely taste the peanut - I think some scallions or baby leeks and soy would hit the spot for condiments. Maybe ginger? I also like the ketjap idea, Chufi. I've got a spare patty for lunch later in the week so I can do some experimenting.

And what might be in beer burger? I've got ground beef in the fridge and was going to give the beanut butter burgers a shot tonight... but if there's a beer alternative, I'd love to know about it. Beer...beef...good.

My first word was "cheese". Really.

Yes! Papaya smells like... poop. It tastes okay, looks okay, okay texture, but... poop.

People don't understand my abhorrence for the potato. It's a very specific potato dislike, based entirely on texture. Specifically: Littler potatoes may be okay - the little purple Peruvian guys have a creamier and less mealy texture. Roasted in bacon fat, even better. The little brown ones taste like their larger Idaho cousins and therefore must be avoided at all costs. The little red guys can go either way, making them somewhat of a crapshoot. Sweet/yams - no worries. Sliced thinly and fried, julienned and fried, sliced thinly and baked with plenty cream or cheese - all good. None of the mealy texture will shine through. Slice/julienne too thick - all mealy, all bad. Dice 'em in a stew - bad, unless they're really really tiny and virtually dissolve. Mashed potatoes are simply vile heaps of mealy nastiness. I don't care how much garlic/goat cheese/cream/wasabi/whatever you toss in 'em - they still have the mouthfeel of a bad apple. Mashed into gnocchi - perfectly acceptable. Thank you for listening... [steps off soapbox]

I just had a bottle - I hated it. I thought it was much sweeter than the normal Diet Coke - almost a Pepsi taste to it, which to me is abhorrent. Don't mess with my Diet Coke.

Actually, that makes me feel better, because it was the cut of meat, and not my technique!! After two days sitting in the cooking liquid, it has finally reached an acceptable stage of moistness - good enough for sandwiches with plenty of mayo. I'll be interested to try the same recipe with a different cut of meat. Only variation I made to the printed recipe was to use rosemary instead of sage - my rosemary bushes have gotten completely out of hand, and since I was trimming them, I just trimmed a little more.

Marlene, I just made this recipe two nights ago, and yours looks so much better than mine! I'm jealous. Mine was a bit dry, and I'm not sure what the cause was - I did use a top round roast that Molly does not recommend (it was on sale - now I know why). The cooking liquid came up the sides of the roast about halfway, so I think I had enough - it was also all there when the roast was done, so it didn't percolate away...cooked the 3 lb roast at 300 for about 3 hours. I wonder if that was too long...? Hmm. Things improved after a day in the fridge, soaking in the cooking juices.

How's the Happy Dirt Veggie Patch at South Mountain? I've never made it over there (it's very close to me as I live in Ahwatukee) but keep meaning to go. Otherwise I see a list of farmer's markets every week in the AZ Republic food section that may provide pointers...not sure if you've seen that. I've been using the Boxed Greens organic produce delivery service and have been very pleased with the quality & variety of produce.

I had never heard of him before, but thanks to this thread I just bought a copy of Desserts by Pierre Herme and... holy schmoly! This guy is a genius! I can't wait to try making some of these - I feel so intimidated (i.e. I am clearly a culinary moron compared to this guy) but inspired (i.e. won't I look cool if I can manage to pull one of these recipes off) I love egullet for turning me on to these things that I might not have otherwise heard of.

That is good information to know. I think I might have seen the Toucano at my local store, not sure if it was Toucano *Gold*, but I will check it out.

Go for it, Ron! You can always try the green sauce instead of the red. Their green chile pork stew or green chile roasted pork burro (specials, not on the regular menu) are just incredible, and not over the top from a spicy perspective. Ditto the fish tacos. The red sauce, OTOH, will, er, clean out the average person's digestive system and sinuses. We all use napkins at lunch to dab the runny noses caused by the red sauce. All around the table: "sniff"... "sniff". I'll need to give Richardson's a shot if I'm around that way in town... thanks for the write-up!

That's awesome. Easter brunch in Phoenix this year was wonderful as well, it was 80 and sunny, so we did the bloody mary bar and appetizers outside which left the kitchen vacant for me to get the rest of the meal done. Doing most everything either via casserole or grill was a great approach to leaving my hands free to drink bloody marys. That savory bread pudding recipe above was delightful, and the boys did a great job of grilling up the lamb and quail. I did quick red and orange carrots with brown sugar and balsamic vinegar glaze. Nigella's Forever Summer cookbook really came through for me, the cold pea and mint soup was a hit, and her new potatoes and chocolate pavlova recipes will need to be repeated in future years. Everything was just super-easy to make in advance. I love Spring.

Welcome, Gracie's Mama! Your menu sounds delicious - creme brulee french toast! What kind of quiche are you making?

That sounds delightfully easy and a perfect fit for my menu flavors. Thanks so much!

I found what looks to be an easy recipe for balsamic and butter glazed carrots here. I wouldn't mind seeing your recipe with the garlic and olives, though! I'd like to use the pretty little whole carrots with the trimmed green tops. They look so lovely on a platter.

I used to be habitually tardy, until I had friends who caught on, and who started telling me that our arrival time was an hour earlier than it actually was. So, if they wanted to meet for dinner at 8, they would tell me 7. I would then arrive at 8 and all would be well. This is until I actually showed up at 7 and was pissed that I had to wait until 8. A taste of my own medicine worked. This also works for my younger sister, who cannot get ready on time to save her life.

Thanks for the link, Liz - I'm doing more of a French bistro-y theme, so I've found a recipe for a tarragon-mustard marinade that should work out pretty well. I feel that my responsibility ends at the marinade - the boys are responsible for cooking it correctly on the grill. I found a cool recipe in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for a savory bread pudding with asparagus & wild mushrooms that I'm adding - was doing an asparagus & lemon sauce dish, but the bread pudding can be assembled in advance & baked on Easter, so for ease of preparation I changed my mind. I'm all about advance preparation! I wish we could do an Easter-egg hunt, but no one under the age of 23 will be there! Even though I'm in my 30's, we still kept doing Easter egg hunts as long as there was someone still in their teens to justify it. I just got to do the hunt with a glass of wine in the other hand.

He did take a little sip from his wine taster - said it was a "very complex wine". Dude, it's brown.

I am so totally guilty of this. I feel better leaving the crumbs of the bottom bagel for someone else than just pitching the thing. I only do this with free bagels that my fat corporate employer has paid for, though.

We thought the wine was bad, the sommelier heartily disagreed - we wound up ordering a bottle of something else just to make the sommelier go away and stop telling us loudly that my dad was wrong. The cork was completely soaked through & crumbly, the wine was brown & smelled like a barnyard. This was several years ago, I don't remember the details of the vintage, unfortunately. My point is - even if we were wrong, or it was just a weird wine that is supposed to be brown - there were better ways for the sommelier to handle the disagreement. At a restaurant of the caliber of Daniel, embarrassing the guest should not be one of those methods.

No, having a big chef embarrass me isn't going to make me any happier about the situation. If Brad Pitt grabs my breast he's going to get the same slap as if a co-worker did the same. ← We had not a defensive chef at Daniel, but a defensive sommelier. My father is not a wine schlump like me - he knows his stuff, has a collection of several thousand bottles, buys wine futures, etc. He orders a wine he's been dying to try at Daniel - but when we get it, the cork is soaked all the way through and the wine is brown. Even me, the wine schlump, thinks that it doesn't look right. My dad points this out to the sommelier and asks for a new bottle of the same stuff, figuring that since the cork was soaked through, the wine got bad, but that a new bottle wouldn't necessarily have the same problem. The sommelier tasted the wine, said that it was fine, and refused to bring another bottle of the same wine, and basically insinuated that my dad was some sort of Neanderthal that didn't know good wine from bad. Even if that were true, and the sommelier didn't want to waste another bottle on what he perceived as a wine schlump, couldn't he have just said "oh, that's our last bottle - can I recommend something else?" Instead, he chose to be a snotty asshole. My poor dad was so embarrassed - it ruined the rest of the meal for us. I don't care how good Daniel is, I'll never go back there.