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Eden

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Posts posted by Eden

  1. Re the judging

    Nope. Not at all. Every scoring decision I took was the decision I wanted to take, and I know that's the same with my fellow judges. The line is, however, an accurate description of the process in that, on a show of this scale, there are a bunch of exec producers, some from magical elves (the production company), some from Bravo. At various times as we reached our decisions, in a closed room, various of those execs would be in the room. We told em what we were going to do. Simple as that.

    That's great to hear - thanks.

    When you're talking to said Bravo & Magical Elves people please do let them know how much more we're enjoying the professional personal-drama free atmosphere of this show in comparison to the regular TopChef!

  2. I've heard bad things about the parking lot (small spaces), but I walked, so I don't know if those complaints are valid.

    They are!

    Having my favorite Kefir nearby seems like it will be a good thing in spite of the tiny spaces (as long as most of us continue to do our primary shopping at local places like the Ballard Market so TJs doesn't drive them out of business...)

  3. World Spice and the odd Indian grocery. In desperation, the bulk jars at the coop.

    I used to love Worldspice back when Tony was still the owner, but both the quality and the customer service have plummeted since he left. The people behind the counter have been downright surly to me at times, not to mention claiming my cooking groups spice blends, which we had shared with Tony, as their own recipes :angry:

  4. so how DO you make mozzarella in a crock pot??? I have a friend who is lactose intolerant, but can hnadle small amounts of goat & sheep milk, so being able to make a mozzarella for her would be lovely.

    Note that I have made both firm & soft cheeses in the past but never Mozz.

  5. Often, the problem with acidity is that we do not have a wide choice of ingredients at hand to adjust a dish.

    Vinegar and citrus fruits comes to mind easily

    Than what do we have:

    - some other fruits like cranberries and granny smith apples

    - some herbs and vegetables such as sorrel

    - rhubarb

    What else?

    in addition to these & subsequent items mentioned, over the dairy department you have yoghurt & sourcream to add a nice acid component to a dish. Green gooseberries can add sour as well.

  6. That is why I keep most of the bottles/jars etc., in my fridge contained in wire or mesh "organizers" which also makes it super easy to clean the fridge.  Instead of moving all those small containers, I only have to pull the organizers out and set aside while I wash and dry the shelves.  I have both deep and shallow ones.

    Great idea. Our fridge is clearly a refuge for stray condiments, because half the time there's no room for anythng else in there & moving things aside to see what's in back, or clean up any spills is no small task.

  7. Our party here in Seattle (far far from the maddening crowd) will also be fairly casual, but with some appropriately themed treats.

    Because they're local AND we know that the Obamas like them we'll be enjoying Fran's Salted Caramels (yumm)

    Of course there will be arugula - if it's wrapped in prosciutto with some pomegranate glaze it should be elitist enough for anybody :biggrin:

    Cribbed from a local bookstore there will also be "campaign trail mix".

    Purplechick I like your suggestion of something Kenyan, I will look into that, and am considering Mr. Obama's chili recipe as an easy "leave the crock pot on low & people can serve themselves" dish.

    I'm leaning towards Martha Washington's Rum Punch, and of course we'll be imbibing a lot of sparkling beverages!

    I feel like we're neglecting Mr. Biden, but a Pot Pie is nust not a good party food...

  8. Not the best trick in the world but still a nice discovery to me: you can freeze toasts. I can buy a nice loaf of bread and partly grill them on a grill-pan to get nice char marks, then freeze them. You can then pop them in their frozen state in the toaster oven to defrost them and finish toasting them... this way you can get nicely charred toast will the grill marks and all and that wonderful campfire smell without getting the grill-pan out. I find it is a great way to use extra bread.

    you can also reheat in the oven if you're making more than your toaster will hold.

  9. Eden:

    Can we see a picture of one of the square eggs??  That sounds interesting looking.  You could build a foodscape of a bed with a poached egg pillow...

    Reminds me of the hyper-hybridized square watermelons that Japanese farmers created for better shipping and easir storage.

    Funny it was reminding me of the old Japanese square egg widget.

    If I make another batch this way I will post photos, but yes it would work perfectly in said foodscape :laugh:

    there are now tins that are a lovely half round that should be perfect for eggs - I have been intending to buy some but not yet gotten around to it.

    like these half ball pan

    You're killing me! I just got rid of an easter egg muffin pan like this one, but without the decorations, that would have worked beautifully because "I was never gong to use it" :wacko:

  10. I am trying to find a way to reasonably cook 150 individual eggs at once, so the egg poaching tip intrigued me. (They could also potentially be baked or fried, just not scrambled or hard boiled, if anyone has suggestions)

    Since I already use the heavyweight Vaccuum sealer bags for the boil-in-bag cooking technique, and figure thaat since they're marketed for this application they should presumably be "safer" than the clingwrap, I tried varying the method by putting my eggs into little vaccum bags. They did indeed cook perfectly, so the tip is awesome from that perspective, but they came out as scary looking industrially square pillow shaped eggs :shock: just not appetizing!

    I'm going to try baking eggs in muffin tins & then reheating them stovetop for my next round of "eggsperiments" since we will not have spare oven space at the time we want the eggs

  11. I love the original piece! Thank goodness the kitten was saved :laugh:

    I agree that angelfood cake ought to be OK, along with the standard names of other dishes like Saltimboca, but I would probably reject possesive names like "mom's potroast" or "Bob''s angelfood cake". I'm not sure where dishes like Joe's Special fall in there...

  12. What if you put (well supported) hooks directly on the ceiling so there was no height wasted by the pot rack? As long as you're careful not to hang any pots/tools longer than 20" in the space you should be OK?

    or suspended some kind of shelf at 6'2" and set pots etc on it instead of hanging them?

    Good luck - I hate low ceilings and at 5'4" I have a lot less to complain about than you do!

  13. I don't actually do Vegan cooking as a rule, but one of my friends is allergic to eggs (and chocolate, and flour and... :sad:) so many of the sweets I make for her end up being vegan... I really recommend that if you expect to do much of this type of cooking you mail order some flax seed, and make flax seed goo* as an egg substitute.

    I just made a vegan version of this Hazelnut Clementine Cake subbing in a scant 1/4 cup of flax goo per egg and it came out beautifully.

    *Basic Flax Seed Goo

    Bring 1/3 cup of water and 1-2 tbsp of whole flaxseeds (per egg you want to replace) to a boil, Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes until liquid is gooey & highly reminiscent of eggwhites. Strain out and discard the flaxseeds.

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