designchick88

Tonight: Dredged some chicken breasts in flour with some seasonings and sauteed in some EVOO. Removed from pan and made a pan sauce with chopped garlic and portobello mushrooms(hubby's favorite). Steamed some broccoli, baby carrots etc. Had a salad on the side. Wine: Ca d' Solo Big House Red - it's a great wine, very drinkable. Nothing groundbreaking in the least, but it hit the spot tonight.

I have probably 75. That number would be tripled if it were not for dear hubby's standing objection to more cookbooks. After I took up one whole bookcase and the bottom of our kitchen hutch with cookbooks he called for a moratorium on cookbook-acquisition. So I can still buy them, but for every one that comes in, another must go out. This seems very crappy to me but on the other hand, DH has adhered to the computer-parts moratorium I similarly imposed on him so I guess I shouldn't complain. We love books in general and have way too many as it is. The most recent one I got is How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson (I am assuming not the Pam Anderson of Playboy, Baywatch, Tommy Lee etc. fame). It's good but I knew most of the skills she talks about already. It would be a great book for a starting-out cook or someone who hates to figure out what to make for dinner. My favorite cookbooks are Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, Cooking at Home with the CIA, Jacques Pepin Celebrates, The Le Gavroche Cookbook, Dinners in a Dish or a Dash, a few others I can't think of right now. I really love buying big thick cookbooks that have a ton of recipes in them. I like being able to look up four or five different recipes for a given food and deciding between them.

I still eat Campbell's chicken noodle soup when I'm sick. I think it's more the psychological association with it than the taste, which I can't stand when I'm not sick. Anything I was given as a kid and told "this will make you feel better" still tends to make me feel better now. As for Spaghettios, I loved them until I was about 12 and got violently ill shortly after eating some. That was the end of that. As tryska said, I think Spaghettios have a distinctly vomitous aroma and that combined with the fact that I did actually vomit them up one time means no more Spaghettios for me. I never did like the meat ravioli but that's one of my brother's favorite foods, to this day.

If price is your biggest obstacle, and you have a Marshall's or TJ Maxx near you, they sometimes get pieces of Le Creuset. Right now our Marshall's has a 5 1/2 quart round French oven in the cherry red color for $99. It's marked as a factory second, but I couldn't see any visible flaws. The same piece is selling for about $150 on Amazon right now, a little more elsewhere. I have one piece of enameled cast iron but it's not Le Creuset. It's actually a Martha Stewart brand piece from KMart. It's a 7-quart oval Dutch oven-style piece I picked it up on sale for $40 a couple of years ago. The weight and enamel finish were very similar to Le Creuset so I bought it. I really like using it, and would like another piece of enameled cast iron in a different size/shape. I just think it's easier to use and clean than regular cast iron.

This is a problem I think a lot of home cooks encounter. I for one don't like chicken thighs nearly as much as I like chicken breasts, but I always used to have problems overcooking breasts, so they ended up rubbery or dry. I took a cooking class where one of the dishes was a sauteed chicken breast. The instructor told us the trick was to take the breasts off the heat just before the juices ran clear (similar to Marie-Louise's method), and then let them sit for a couple of minutes under foil before serving. She explained that the problem with cooking the breasts up to/past the point of doneness on the stove is that they will continue to cook for few minutes after they're taken off the heat, and that's how they get dried out. When she took the breasts off the heat and cut one open, the juices were opaque, which I had always been taught meant the chicken wasn't done. We waited 2-3 minutes and she cut into the other breast, which was thicker than the first one. Now the juices were clear. It had finished cooking off the heat. I've been using this technique ever since and in the 30+ times I've done it we've never gotten sick, but we use organic, free-range meat, which as I understand carries less salmonella risk. The breasts come out very moist and tender, without chewiness or a rubbery texture. I think timing is a big issue and since breasts can vary in thickness so much, sometimes it's hard to estimate the right moment to pull them off the heat. But with a little practice I've gotten this method to work well. HTH

Another Altoids user here. They were a relatively new thing when I was in HS and since everyone always chewed them anyway, it was no big thing to come home smelling like Altoids. Until one night five of my friends came in with me and we all had the freshest of minty fresh breaths, except for my one idiot friend who hated Altoids and wouldn't eat them, and therefore reeked like a brewery. Then the jig was up. Because no way do six people go to a party and only one of them ends up drinking. At least not among the people I hung out with, and of course my parents were smart enough to figure that out. The beer-in-class story reminded me of the day one of my friends, whose dad was a bartender, brought in a thermos of sex-on-the-beach drinks and we got drunk in the middle of World History class. Still amazed we didn't get busted for that. Mainly because who wants to get busted for drinking something like sex-on-the-beach in class?? Nowadays under "zero tolerance" I think we would have gotten expelled. Good times...

I wondered about that also. My take on it was that there was some sarcasm in Mr. Bourdain's remark that she completely missed, probably because she was seething with rage over the profanity/machismo/what-have-you and didn't read critically enough. Maybe not, though. I wouldn't want to put words in anyone's mouth. Haven't bought the book yet but my old man and I did chortle over a few pages in the bookstore. Next paycheck. (yes, I know that's sad :) ).

This is my first post on this thread, so I don't know how detailed I'm supposed to get :) Tonight we had: Sauteed chicken breasts with a caramelized onion sauce Roasted cauliflower (eGullet recipe) Yellowtail chardonnay We were going to have a spring greens salad with oil and vinegar dressing but got so excited about the roasted cauliflower we forgot about it. Sorry no picture...digital camera wasn't charged up. :)

Spaghetti squash is a great subsitute when you are craving spaghetti. Buy/make some LC spaghetti sauce and Bob's your uncle. I am on a lower-carb, not low-carb, diet so I don't know if spag. squash is appropriate for Atkins induction, etc. I just know 1 cup of it has a lot fewer carbs than 1 cup of regular spaghetti. Spaghetti squash is also good tossed with butter and bacon bits.

I think the Crock-pot would work for a corn chowder but you may have to watch it to keep it from thickening too much. I used mine for a green chile chicken corn chowder but my corn chowder is not really thick. It also wasn't out that long -maybe a couple hours, max. If you are really concerned about the heat factor - apparently old Crock-pots don't heat as highly as the newer models, so if you have access to an older pot through friends/relatives, maybe borrow it and test it out. I have had one foray into selling on eBay and I totally underestimated the shipping, so I didn't end up making the money I thought I would. I will have to try it again. It might be a good way to finance some new kitchen toys. :) We lost my FIL to a motorcycle accident a few years back and you are so right that circumstances surrounding death are never as neat and tidy as TV and movies makes it seem. I have a quick temper also and in times of stress it can really manifest itself in bad ways, but the most important thing for us was just to be there for each other. Best of luck to you both.

OK, I just laughed myself to tears reading that. Thanks for sharing.

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. Don't doubt your skills - I am sure you'll do fine. Sorry to hear about your hubby's dad. Food and companionship can be good comforts during difficult times though. Hope all will be well with you and yours.

I read that MSNBC article earlier today and thought it was interesting. I am sure many foodies have had the experience of telling someone "actually, I love to cook" and then seeing a combo of horror and/or disbelief cross their face. One of the tidbits from that article I found interesting: "Americans continue to be less likely to invite people over for a meal -- in part because a guest diner means not simply home cooking but also some housekeeping, all of which is harder to do with increasingly jammed schedules." Which probably explains why we get reciprocal invitations for one out of every 5 or 6 social events that we host. I think it's sad when even relaxing over a meal with friends is too much of a burden on our time to bother with. When we were in Europe last year I was truly amazed at how much time people take to eat a meal, and how they don't do anything but eat and converse while they're at the table, whereas nowadays I can't get through a business lunch without someone yakking on the phone or tapping at their BlackBerry for half the meal. The worst incident was when a group of coworkers and I went out for dinner to a very good restaurant, renowned for its excellent fare, and one guy sat at the table and e-mailed people from his BlackBerry the entire meal. He had the BlackBerry in one hand and his fork in the other. I was appalled and wanted to grab the darn thing away from him and beat him with it, but everyone else seemed to think it was normal multitasking. There's something wrong with that.

I have a couple of cheapy chafing dishes - one I found at a discount outlet (Big Lots) and one I got off of eBay. They work pretty well. I am thinking about getting one or two from Costco before our annual holiday party this year, they are nice-looking and seem sturdy. I agree that too many electric warmers make for messy cords, potential trip hazards, etc. I have always used chafing dishes because when we set up for a buffet, the way we position our dining table cuts off access to an electrical outlet, and I don't want to get sued because someone tripped over an extension cord reaching for a potsticker. The only electric item I use for keeping things warm at parties is my Crock-pot. That's actually about the only thing I use it for, the other being making pulled chicken for green chile chicken enchiladas. I've used the Crock-pot for a thick soup and a queso dip. Don't know how well it would work on anything else. HTH ETA - just occurred to me the other electric item I've used for food service at a buffet table is our electric fondue pot. It has a thermostat so you can adjust the heat up or down as needed. I used it to serve (what else) fondue, but I imagine it would work for other things also.

--slightly off topic-- Does anyone here work for an employer that would allow them to expense a meal, even an important client meal, at a restaurant like this? Just curious. If I tried to expense a $400 meal I would receive my rejected expense report back via FedEx along with an audiotape of the comptroller and my boss laughing their heads off.

Never tried roasting squash seeds, although I probably will now. With pumpkin seeds, we usually wash all the pumpkin guts off, spread them on a cookie sheet, spray with olive oil and sprinkle with Old Bay or Chachere's Cajun Seasoning (mmmmmm prefab) and roast at 350 until they're browned and crackly. We don't shell them before or after roasting, just eat 'em whole. Pumpkin seeds have something in them that's really good for you. Can't remember what it is offhand. I am new here btw.