Franci

Were these the lifeliners you were speaking of? Warp Bros. PM125C Plast-O-Mat Ribbed Shelf Liner From the picture the Warp bros looks very similar to lifeliner

Any new advice here? I think I'll jump on the Anova Circulator too, b.ut first I'll get a vacuum sealer. I saw the aforementioned food saver v3880 http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-V3880-Automatic-Vacuum-Sealing/dp/B006EP59MY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379125884&sr=8-1&keywords=foodsaver+v3880 Costco sells it at 50$ cheaper. I don't want to spend more than that and I do not want something really bulky. I'm glad also if it does a decent job at freezing meat and fish. Thanks

So, in case anybody is interested, I got the ikea's rolls. Then I went to BB&B today, so I could touch the lifeliners rolls I was referring to: the ikea's rolls are much harder plastic and tendency to roll up,they are cheaper...the lifeliners are of a softer material, they look easier to cut and likely will stay put when taking items from cabinets.

Mottmott, I've not used the oven yet but so far I LOVE this stove. It gets really hot, much more then my last induction cook top. Maybe I'll have to get a tamer if I want to braise at low temperature. Love the broiler as well. Hopefully I can get the well working.

Brooklyn

Huiray, I sympathize with you...I feel a bit like that when I see Americans just referring to Marcella Hazan for Italian cooking...but then I think better and understand that they ( dulop or Hazan) make foreign food approachable. Dunlop then, if you read her blog, is very down to earth, easy to like person. You are privileged in Chinese cooking...

Thanks! Annabelle, I was too busy today and didn't come to check my messages until now...I cleaned the oven with an heavy duty oven product. It was so, so dirty that I cannot imagine cleaning it with just vinegar, maybe it hasn't been washed in years. I'll look for the product to clean enameled, although part of the rings are rusted a bit. Sigma, thanks for the link, I think I should check that out also to see if I can get the well to work. For what I understood it works almost like a slow cooker...you turn it on for short and the residual heat cooks at low temperature. I think I also need a diffuser, the three burners are exactly of the same size, I was hoping for a bigger flame and a tiny one. I need to buy an emergency pan to try it out until all my kitchen stuff coms from Europe.

That's what I found in my new apartment. I was told it was going to be restored but I guess it was too expensive and the landlady doesn't want to do it. I'll ask. It is a bit rusted and the handle for the well looks broken. My last stove was induction and it feels like a challenge to me to go back to a gas oven after so many years I have not used one. Any suggestions on how to polish this stove and tips on how to use it at its best are really welcome.

Ahhh, I want to make this! Saving for next year. Just looking at your photos guys, since I'm not cooking much these days...

Shalmanese, too bad all my books on pasta making in Italian are traveling at the moment, maybe I'd have more answers. The classic 1 egg every 100g of flour it's for the typical "sfoglia" emiliana. And also in Emilia, some people use flour 00 and others flour 0. The difference being in the ash content. According to Italian law the ashes in 00 flour are .55 max (protein min 9%) and .65 in 0 flour (protein min 11%) On your first point, I think is it very important that the eggs are well beaten so you are not going to have specks of color and the white and yolk are well mixed. Then it's important, when the dough is coming together, to make sure there are no dry bits of dough on your hands and on the boards that are going to stay dry in the dough and make holes in the sheets later on. Some people nowadays like to make the classic sfoglia emiliana, cutting a bit of flour 00 with durum (80% and 20%), it gives more bite for sure and holds the cooking better. Italians mainly use durum flour (finer, like the one you can buy from King Arthur) for pasta; semolina, coarser, for gnocchi alla romana. If you make a Southern italian style dough it's generally durum flour and water, that has being boiled and cooled down to lukewarm, (boiling water in case of cavatelli, at least in my area). Usually this kind of dough is with no eggs. Then you'll find regional variations: flour 00 and water to make casoncelli around Bergamo; flour 00 and egg whites to make stringozzi around Spoleto, in some part of Sardinia semolina flour, egg whites, saffron for gnocchi sardi; flour 00 and yolks for tajerini in Piedmont; flour 00 eggs and water in Liguria and a lot more...I think the general opinion is that working the dough by hand is better than using the pasta machine. If you want achieve the loved rough texture let the sheets dry a bit before going to through the last roll at the desired thickness. Then before cutting let dry until leathery. No drying necessary for southern style pasta like orecchiette. I just moved back to the US after 8 years, I'm going to play a little bit myself with local flours and report back. I generally do 00 flour and eggs for sfoglia emiliana (I weight the eggs out of shell and double the amount of flour in weight). Or do the Southern Style with durum and warm water. I think generally people go for a wetter dough for stuffed pasta, drier for tagliatelle. You can decide yourself if you want to cut with some durum and the amount you like. How long to work the dough? I like this video: Stop at 4 minutes 15 seconds and she'll show how the dough should look like. You can watch also very much loved Simili sisters with subtitles for some tips: I find that if for some reasons my dough it's too wet, I prefer to let if dry rather than adding flour to it. I don't add salt that leaves white dots on the dough. When I use the pasta machine to roll out the dough I prefer to pass it through the roll at each setting only once, only at the beginning I fold in thirds to have a more regular shape and let it rest 10 minutes before passing through the last thickness I want...I feel if you work it too much the dough gets too smooth. If I feel lazy I use a mixer just pulsing the flour with the beaten eggs and when I get "crumbles" I finish up on the board. And this is another very important matter, the board you use. In Emilia they like seasoned poplar wood. But I'm from Apulia and I use the board for orecchiette.

Yesterday, I was tempted to get also the Ikea rolls...I still have not bought anything. I'll report back. Thanks

If you line your cabinets, what product do you use? I read in an old post about LifeLiner, somewhere else of Cushy Cupboards (which are a little more difficult to buy online) or the Duck brand you find easily on Amazon. And what about Warp Bros? Thanks

I also tried water kefir bought from cultures for health http://www.culturesforhealth.com/starter-cultures/kefir-cultures.html and I didn't do a good job...although I really liked the water kefir I tried from a friend. I'll be curious to try the coconut milk kefir.

Yesterday for dinner we had some foie d'oie on a paiou Some lamb chops with salad, since I have only a pan left in my kitchen, not pictured. And some cheese

A lot of info I got from the pickl-it site: here

No. Italians do no put bread in the microwave. Just walk into any bakery and you can have flavorful baked breads, pizza and focaccia. The problem is not fast food, too much food in general, in my opinion. I do not buy baguettes. Also here are at 1 euro and you can buy demi baguette for 50 cents. But it's not the nice crusty bread I've eaten in some nice parisienne bakeries. I prefer a pain de campagne.

Thanks Rotuts, I'll try to keep up! Meanwhile, I think I will have foie gras for dinner and crevette grises, bulots and oysters for lunch every day next week and a lot of Comte. I'll miss my fruits de mer platters.

Yeah, Dcarch! Fantastic, congratulations! Are you going to give out the recipe?

I used to do that when living in the UK! Loved the feature of being able with one click to put in the cart what I already bought in the past or being reminded of stuff I could have forgotten. Shopping in France is so different. But by the end of the month we are moving back to the US, in Brooklyn, so I need to readjust my shopping habits. So, what do you do there. Cotsco shopping for detergents and bulk stuff. Anybody shops at Asian markets and for what. IN the past I've done no no for salmon and fish but yes on crabs, live shrimps or on stuff that I know Chinese are very particular for. Do you use Amazon a lot or sign up for newsletters?

Do you have a strategic way of shopping for food, appliances or other kitchen supplies? Do you prefer on line shopping or you prefer to walk into a store? Do you have an effective way to compare prices, like using apps for this? I guess the major expense in our house has always been food. I'd like to keep the quality high but being a little smarter shopper. I've always liked farmer markets, nice butchers and the freshest fish and I've always shopped very very frequently, wasting a lot of time doing it. Now I feel I should get more efficient in my shopping, so I'm very grateful if you can share your tactics.

I really dislike Barilla. As everyday pasta I like De Cecco much more. As a nicer brand I like Cocco.

I generally make pao de quejio with povilho azedo. I'd like to try this recipe myself http://blog.chefleticia.com/2011/04/06/recipe-for-little-cheese-crackers-from-goias/

Where I grew up, people would never bother deveining a shrimp...now, I really don't care for shrimps, I prefer so much more crabs or langoustines but my husband is crazy about deveining his shrimps, even when I fry them, I keep the shell on but head offs so I can devein from the head. Personally, in terms of grittiness, I find a huge difference among ocean prawns or the smaller fresh caught Mediterranean shrimps.

I prefer the male fennel (round) to eat raw, I slice it extremely thin and dress with good oil, plenty of salt and tons of black pepper. The long fennels are female and I think better for cooking. The fronds and outer shell if fibrous I keep in the freezer and use in stocks (for fennel based stocks and related dishes or for fish cooking). Cooked fennel, slightly caramelized goes very well with pork and fish. I like also to use in stir-fries and keep it crunchy. Can make a very good soup. Can use in gratin dishes.

Linda, that looks so good! You reminded me, I made a cake version of these fritters. I tried with flour, or with white rice or bulgur. Maybe my favorite was with rice, squeezing out all the water from the zucchini. Couldn't go to Italy for shopping, otherwise I would have looked for tenerumi, here on the French side are rarely seen.