NancyH

For a wonderful cinematic treatment of this topic, run out and rent Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman"; which features a character who does exactly this.

Sorry to jump in so late. My husband walked off of the staircase prematurely and ruptured both patella tendons almost 3 weeks ago, and I am just starting to catch up. Our Passover trip to NY is cancelled, and I am not going to have much of a holiday this year. But I love making chicken soup, so I can't resist jumping in here. I respectfully disagree about the stewing hen - pullets make the best soup. I know this because I can't get true pullets here in Cleveland; I am usually stuck with either stewing hens or capons, and the soup is just not the same, even with a big handful of chicken feet! I also respectfully disagree with the notion that you make stock first and then turn it in to chicken soup. While this process works with just about any other type of soup in the world, to make "Bubbe's" chicken soup, I put pullet in the pot, cover with bottled water (not tap water - unless you really like the taste of your tap water), bring to a simmer and skim, add parsnips, carrots, celery (preferably with some leaves), onions, simmer again and skim, then healthly doses of both curley and Italian parsely. The two keys to delicous soup, in my opinion, are: (1) don't let the soup boil - simmer only - boiling will release chemicals in the bones and make it turn cloudy; and (2) cook that bird until the bones are dry and falling apart - get every bit of goodness out of the old girl! A lot of people follow recipies and cook it by time - I cook the heck out of it and wring out every bit of flavor! Season with salt and pepper and strain. Oy, I miss not being able to make my own soup this year.

Welcome Ben! I am a little behind in reading my E-Gullet mail becuase my husband had an accident last Sunday night - fell down the stairs and ruptured tendons in both knees. So, I expect to be getting a lot of take out the next few weeks. I've lived in Cleveland for the past 9 years, and would love to see additional chat on Cleveland restaurants. We also have an active Food & Wine Forum on Cleveland.com - www.cleveland.com/forums/food. I haven't yet tried Sans Souci, though I have heard good things about it. Perhaps after my hubby heals, we will have an opportunity. Best - NJH

We just enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Lola in Cleveland last night. As you all may know from another thread, Lola will be closing at the end of April and re-opening later this year in downtown Cleveland; the current Lola space will become Lolita and feature Greek/Italian influences. Cleveland Food & Wine Forum member Joel arranged for Michael Symon to prepare a special "going away party" for us, and about 38 people feasted on Smoked Sturgeon over Sweet Beef cheeks, Pickled Yellowtail, Lobster Pierogi, Rabbit Strudel, Micheal's famous Mac & Cheese, Veal Sweetbreads, Duck Confit Stroganoff, and a fabulous chocolate-caramel "pretzel" to finish us all off! So, Michael mentioned that he is scheduled to be a challenger on Iron Chef America. His show tapes the first week in May; he did not know yet who he will be battling. If the dinner I had last night is any indicator, it should be one heck of a battle!

I love indulging in those special Passover foods - some of which I only eat once a year. There is a sweet farfel pudding from the East Northport Jewish Center's sisterhood cookbook of my youth, Elegant Essen; potato kugel, matzoh balls, gefilte fish from scratch, matzoh pancakes and brei. I do miss bread a little by the end of the week, but I am usually too stuffed on the Passover goodies - the last few years, I made too much and the leftovers lasted past the end of the holiday!

How long will you be in Cleveland? What price/style range of restuarants interest you? We have many wonderful dining options here.

Before I learned anything about cooking - had to try my fiance's wok to make a stir fry becuase we both loved Chinese food and I thought "how hard could it be"? I figured that the 5 spice powder I found in the cupboard would make it spicy, so I dumped a bunch in. Well, as you might guess, it took what would have at least been an edible meal and made it horrible! I think we wound up getting take out (Chinese) that night!

You can't go wrong with brisket, and it is always better the next day. You can re-heat on the stove if necessary for space. Side dishes can be almost anything potato or farfel. Good luck!

Redfox - welcome to the Greater Cleveland Area! I moved here about 9 years ago. First - Amir's retail operation (ie the restuarant) has closed , though I understand that their manufacturing and distributing operations are still running and in fact increasing their capacity. Second - Heather's store rocks! We are replacing all of our spices as we use them up with products from Heather's store. They are reasonably priced and given the level of quality an outstanding value. This means that while you can find large bottles of some spices cheaper at the big box stores, the quality of Heather's products makes them well worth their cost. And you will find many spices that are not available in major stores. The hot sauce and condiment selections are excellent - for New Year's Eve, we got a rasberry salsa that tasted almost fresh (I usually despise bottled salsas). As someone else noted, virtually everything in the store can be tasted, so you always know what you are getting. And - Ronnie S - FYI - the Wasabi root we bought in October at Matsua is growing happily in a pot in our basement under a shop light - we'll let you know if it actually makes it to propagation! Third - please look up the Cleveland Food & Wine Forum on Cleveland.com - we have a vibrant community of local (and some not so local) folks who love to indulge in and talk about food and wine. http://www.cleveland.com/forums/food . Fourth - egads this is getting long - for meat and poultry, Mr. Brisket delivers. His meats are of excellent quality, though a bit more expensive than elsewhere, I have generally been very satisfied. I was skeptical that his meat was so much better than the grocery until New Year's, when we ordered 2 ducks and a chicken to roast. What could be so special about a little chicken? It was picked clean in no time - I am told it has to do with the chicken being cold plucked instead of hot plucked - all I know is that it was incredibly delicious. The fresh ducks were so fresh the heads were still on them! http://www.misterbrisket.com. Finally - if you are willing to travel a little: the best eggs I have ever tasted come from The Blue Egg Farm (and poultry is available in season by order). http://www.breychak.com 26140 Akins Rd.Columbia Station, Just West of Strongsville, Just South of North Olmsted and Olmsted Falls.

Sorry to chime in so late; I'm so behind on my EG Mail! My mom swore the secret to good kugle was the same as the secret for latkes - use the smallest holes on the grater (and, of course, the little bit of knuckle that goes with it . We thought she was nuts, until we tried it - it creates a truly pudding-like consistency in the final product. We have since learned that you can use the smallest grating wheel on the Cuisinart (the one for grating hard cheese, that doesn't actually have holes in it) to get the same effect.

Bond Girl - something similar happened when I first moved to Cleveland 9 years ago. I ordered a burger from a downtown Burger King and was appalled that the woman who assembled the sandwich wasn't wearing food service gloves. I complained, and was told that it wasn't required in Cleveland. I walked out without the sandwich. I looked into it and learned that the server was correct - there were no requirements in Ohio or Cleveland for gloves to be worn during food service. That has since changed - but I think you were right to walk out. Cross contamination is a bad thing. Another time, I bought some Turbot filet at a grocery to make into a stir fry. As I was cutting it up, a worm wiggled out! I saved it and returned the fish to the store the next day (we ate out that night) and was told this happens sometime. The Cleveland Health Dept. and the FDA later told me the same thing. All the more reason for fresh fish products to be kept from cross contaminating, though the authorities assured me that had I cooked the fish thoroughly, the worm would have disappeared from sight and been harmless. Ugh.

Sorry, I've been offline for a week, so I couldn't respond to those of you kind enough to respond to my question about making the queso in the microwave. I followed the recipe on the Ro-Tel can and used regular Velveeta. Chunk the cheese, combine with tomatoes (no draining) and nuke. I forgot how long is recommended, but I nuked it for that amount and then took it out to stir it, as recommended, and it seemed already overdone. But since I like to follow a recipe the first time I make a thing, I nuked it a little more (not as much as the recipe said) and the cheese had broken. I will try it the slow way in the pan next time! Could it have made a difference that I nuked it in the crock from the crock pot? Once prepared, we planned to leave it in the crock pot for a while.

I just tried the venerable Ro Tel and Velveeta for the first time, in the microwave, and the cheese (if you can call Velveeta "cheese") broke! Any tips for making this next time?

How do you obtain/keep this tree alive in Minneapolis?

There is also a recipe for Master Sauce in Barabara Tropp's China Moon cookbood; I made it once and kept it a number of months (in the freezer between uses) before pitching it. I would assume that so long as you follow the general food safety rules (no more than 4 hours total time in "danger zone" tempuratures between 40* and 140*), it should keep forever; I regret pitching mine and need to start another!

Happy New Year to all of you and especially Jo-Mel! We cooked for New Year's for a few friends - the menu was supposed to be: Garlic Pate w/crackers, carrot and celery sticks (from Garlic Garlic Garlic by Linda and Fred Griffith) Raspberry Cilantro Salsa with Mexican Tortilla Chips (from Heather's spice shop in Cleveland) Belly Lox, Mini Bagels, Cream Cheese and Red Onion Thai-Style Turkey Soup Golden New Year’s Noodle Pillows with Crab Meat Roasted Duck stuffed with Sauerkraut, with Apple Dressing (from Garlic Garlic Garlic) Roasted Fresh Chicken Home made Cranberry Sauce Bob’s Home made dinner rolls Jalepeno-Garlic-Cheddar Spoonbread (from Garlic Garlic Garlic) Cherry Trifle We wound up with so much food, and having so much fun, that we never made the Noodle Pancakes (and we had to toss the crab meat because, even though it was frozen when I bought it, it had been mishandled and wasn't very good) or thhe Apple Dressing (the cranberry sauce did fine). The duck was so fresh, they still had heads on them - I guess that means we'll be making duck soup next!

I am having a few friends over this year; we're planning the following menu: Garlic Pate w/crackers, carrot and celery sticks Raspberry Cilantro Salsa with Mexican Tortilla Chips Belly Lox, Mini Bagels and Cream Cheese Thai Style Turkey Soup Golden New Year’s Noodle Pillows (Chinese noodle pancakes) with Crab Meat Linda and Fred Griffith’s Roasted Duck stuffed with Sauerkraut and served with an Apple Dressing (from their "Garlic Garlic Garlic" book) Roast Chicken (for the non-duck eaters) Home made Cranberry Sauce Linda and Fred Griffith’s Jalepeno-Cheddar Spoonbread And for dessert – Sherry’s Cherry Trifle and maybe a New Year’s Pretzel.

We have the All Clad roaster and love it. For the longest time, my mother's brisket recipe was ruined by non-stick or disposable pans, but we do everything from braising brisket to roasting meats and fowl (our Thanksgiving Turkey came out perfectly this year!) in the All Clad. Do not get non-stick - it soaks up liquid and will leave your pan (and meat) dried out. I hear good things about LeCreuset, but can't comment from experience. My mom uses good old stainless steal pans made by Farberware in the 1960s, but they don't make them like that anymore.

For those of you who commented about turkey meat being dry - the cure is to brine the turkey for 6-24 hours prior to roasting - the meat comes out juicy and delicious! We've been using Alton Brown's brine the last couple of years: For the brine: 1 cup kosher salt 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1 gallon vegetable stock 1 tablespoon black peppercorns 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger 1 gallon iced water This year, after I read about this idea on E-Gullet somewhere, I replaced some of the sugar with a healthy pour of real maple syrup - and it was the best turkey yet!

Get yourself a digital probe thermometer - the kind you can insert in your bird when you put it in the oven. Set it to ring when the appropriate tempurature is reached (which will depend upon where in the bird you stick the probe) and no worries!

I will share my favorite hot pot story. Shortly after I moved to Cleveland, my husband and I invited his best friend David to have hot pot at the Bo Loong restaurant in Chinatown. We explained the pot of hot stock and the platter of raw goodies to be cooked in it, and the pile of noodles at the bottom of the raw plate for the final cup of noodle soup. The waiters brought out the stock and set it on the table, then returned with the goodie platter. Sitting atop the platter were 3 blue crabs. As the platter was set down, we realized that one of the crabs was not fully dispatched yet, and was gently waving one claw back and forth in the air, as if waving hello (or goodbye) to us. Well, as soon as David saw the crab moving, he turned white as a sheet, and in a voice email cannot fully capture, said, "please forgive me if I skip directly to the noodle portion of the meal". He was a good sport, but could not bring himself to eat a bite -- too bad, because the food was really good! Bob and I had a lot of leftovers and a great story!

Whatever you do - don't buy cordless! My mom gifted me with the Cuisinart Cordless a few years ago; it retails for well over $100. First, the supposedly dishwasherable blending end got waterlogged from the dishwasher. Since it was out of warranty, I had to pay $18 plus shipping for a new part - and the darn thing still doesn't work - it limps and whines. Just got a new Braun - sprang for the $100 model with all the gizmos even though Alton Brown recommends the $29 model - and I am thrilled with it! Two speeds (one of them adjustable) and lots of power.

When I had to take prescription pain medicine after foot surgery, I asked the doctor what I could do to address the nausea. He explained that food won't have much of an impact - as part of its action is helping you cope with pain, the drug affects a part of the brain that controls nausea. So, coedine, etc. makes you sick to your stomach from your head, not your belly. Taking it with milk, food etc. helps stretch out the time and intensity of absorbtion, so it hits your head a little slower. So said the doctor; I have no idea if he was right.

On the lighter side - my Grandma Lillie always helped herself to Sweet 'N Low packets. Not sugar, salt, pepper, or any other item -- just Sweet 'N Low (of course, this was before Equal, etc.). To this day, long after my dear Grandma has left us, recalling her furtively slipping little pink packets into her purse never fails to make us chuckle.

Thai Style Turkey Soup. Coconut milk makes anything taste brand new!