Eden

You don't have an officeful of corporate lawyers vetting everything you do and say in front of a national television audience, and Mr. Brown very likely does. They believe (rightly or wrongly I can't say) that if even one of the hundreds of thousands of people who watch Alton gets sick because they were doing something he did, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. And regardless of merit, their job is to keep that lawsuit from happening. ← There's another layer to it though beyond just fear of lawsuits. When I am teaching people about cooking, or when I am leading a team of cooks I am always much more fussy about food safety than I am on my own, mostly because I can't know how carefully they'll follow my instructions, so if they're a little lax from a starting point of careful that's probably fine, but if they get lax, when starting from laxness things could get ugly...

I think they were there to hype a new movie about chefs and cooking that they did and will be released soon. ← Isn't she doing the remake of Mostly Martha?

Quince paste has been around in Europe since at least the middle ages. The late 14th c. french household manual 'Le Menagier de Paris' (The Goodman of Paris) includes a quince paste recipe, as do many of it's contemporaries from Italy and other parts of Europe. There are slight variations of course, but the basic concept is to cook the quinces in red wine, puree, and then mix them with honey, before cooking them down to a thick paste and finally adding various spices.

I use muffin papers filled with dried beans - works great! I keep the muffin papers in the jar with my Pie-weight beans and re-use them...

while we were in Italy last month I came across really cheap little chocolate covered easter colombi in "La Gang del Bosco" packaging (AKA "over the hedge"). Each one had a figurine inside, so I bought two different ones hoping for an RJ or a Hammie, but both times just got Stella and it was a REALLY mediocre cake I might add. So I just left little skunk figurines behind me in each of our apartments

one of my whisks died recently & when I went to buy a replacement I was actually glad of the huge variety on offer. I must have picked up about 20 different silicone coated balloon whisks, before I found one that felt right in my hand. I love that I had so many choices and wasn't forced to accept the big chunky handle that most companies seems to prefer...

Cold stone puts so much gunk in their ice-creams to make them "workable" that they taste funky & have a gummy mouth-feel. Go with Baskin Robbins before CSC.

I beleive the Ben & Jerry's in Ballard makes them.

It's open already. I had a good (not great) cupcake from there a couple of weeks ago. Much better than Cupcake Royale. Finally dropped by here tonight at a friends urging. I agree that the cake is MUCH better tha CR's both moister & richer, but I prefer the icing at Royale. (plus no lavendar at Trophy ) Also these are a bit smaller, but cost more @ $3/cupcake. The space seemed a bit sterile, and the girl working the counter tonight was pretty indifferent both to us as customers and to her product.

thanks for the various suggestions. I literally had no idea gelatin was available as a supplement so I will probably explore that - plus the raspberry brownies!

I need to add a bunch of gelatin into my diet for the next month or two, and while I enjoy Jell-O as a once-in-a-long-while nostalgia treat, I'm pretty sure I'll get bored of it quickly, so I'm wondering what else I can make with gelatin in it? Terrines seem a bit fussy for my hectic life right now, I'd like to find comparatively simple - sweet or savory and fish/seafood free... thanks for any help!

Of course it rocks! Bacon, sausage and corn mush. I so wish I can have that for breakfast now actually Actually that's what I just had for breakfast This soup looks so amazing I just ordered the book from the library - we are big fans of spinach & rice around here...

I made two dishes from Le Marche for today's lunch. Unfortunately the camera cable has gone walk-about so no photos - sorry! Last night I made Becùte, using a conglomeration of recipes since my cookbook (Le Marche in bocca) was really vague. The result was not entirely happy. neither pretty nor as tasty as I'd hoped. I think I over processed the ingredients (whizzed em in a food processor) because my main recipe said I was trying to acheive a "homogenous dough" I later found a photo online that actually showed whole pine nuts & raisins - oh well. I also want to try this again with a finer grain of corn flour, I just used what I had, and the result is a little gritty. OK for dipping in tea/coffee though. Today I made Polenta Marchigiana, with bacon & sausage mixed into the polenta this totally rocks. Next time I'll make it with real pancetta when I'm not cooking for someone who's allergic to sodium nitrite... There's an artichoke & lamb stew that also sounds really good, but we've had a lot of lamb lately so it will have to wait

I am the living embodiment of those "Got Milk" advertisements - my husband knows not to let me have chocolate unless he's checked that there's enough milk in the house first . I love milk, and think it's tragically wrong to have chocolate or almost any dessert at home without milk. I'll have it at restaurants as well, but not nearly as often, since so many restaurants either don't have it, or the waiter gives you attitude so now I don't even bother to ask a lot of the time... We were at a friends house for a lovely dinner with several egulleteers last month and after dinner our host spontaneously brought out a tray with glasses of milk to go the lovely desserts and hand made chocolates we were enjoying - now that's thoughtful!!!

Yay, finaly an exxcuse for me to translate some recipes from my Le Marche cookbook! I have friends coming for lunch next week I think I'll make this the theme

I make a lovely rose pudding cooking the rose petals in the milk, the straining them out & pureeing them to be added back into the pudding at the last minute. and of course garnished with a few raw petals... I also like rose petals in salad. besides using food safe roses, you also have to be careful to cut the white pith off the end of the petal or it adds a bitter flavor. Not surprisingly, stronger scented roses tend to give stronger flavors.

freezer on the bottom! I love that I can take a Large heavy pot (big enough to boil half an astronaut) and walk it straight into the refridgerator without having to bend down, or having to bend to get it out again... maybe this is more important if you have back problems? Also love that I can fit several demi-astronaut pots into the fridge at once, and still have room for more condiments than 20 people really need... I also love that most of the leftovers & perishables are at eye level which increases their chance of being used before they turn into science experiments. We keep the spare astronauts in the chest freezer in the basement & use the one with the fridge for smaller regular items like ice-cream (the wonderful husband makes a LOT of ice-cream...)

I'm not too worried re generous supplies of figs. IF we cant consume it all ourselves the extras will get hauled away happily by friends/fellow cooks. (and I'm pretty sure I could eat 80 - 90 figs over the course of a few weeks ) I hope the huckleberries will do well here in Ballard, they're one of my favorite fruits. Raspberies are also in the plan, possibly including Wineberries, an unusual shade loving berry from Japan

What about ancient roman cuisine mixing with indigineous cetic/germanic cuisines as they expanded the empire? And I think it's safe to say that the Moghul emperors kick-started some pretty fine fusion cuisine in India.

Tis the season to flip through catalogs & reimagine our gardens So we're definitely ordering a fig tree for the one sunny spot in the yard, plus a bunch of huckleberries, but I have a couple full-shade spots that I'd like to put something edible in - any suggestions? (No trees, but anything from about 6 feet tall on down is fine) edited for typo

Am I the only one who thought Penne Arrabiata for Wrath???

this dish certainly seems to still retain "germanic" influence, sounds fab!

I really prefer Haricots de Soissons for my cassoulet, but am completely out, and the only ones I've been able to find online are jarred, and of course I want dry beans so they'll soak up al the yummy cassoulet flavors I have done as thorough a web search as a girl who doesn't speak French can manage, but at this point it's time to ask for help. Does anyone know a source for these fabulous beans that will ship to the US?

I think they're re-running Season One all afternoon, so that's probably what it's talking about...

I don't have issues with the headaches, but also dislike the yeastyness. For me, once you hit the $40+ (US) mark you start to get champagnes worth drinking, though I'm happy to have someone buy me a more expensive one . Try a nice small producer like Godme and see if you like it/it treats you well. I know it's no fun to experiment on yourself when the risk is iintense pain, but since you've already established that there are some champagnes that are OK for you, it's safe to assume there are others and they can't ALL cost $200+ a bottle....