Della

Thank you for the responses and advice. I will get the filter and basket to bring along. Have a lovely holiday. Della

I love tea sandwiches and have made them for several "girl" parties such as my best friends bridal shower. I like to do cucumber & butter, egg salad, salmon w/cream cheese and chicken salad w/almonds. I pulse the chicken salad in the food processor and it turns out quite good.

I am getting ready to head out for the Thanksgiving holiday in a couple days and just realized that the home we are going to does not drink any caffiene. I am planning on bringing tea for myself but my boyfriend is a big coffee drinker. As there are not really any places near where we are to grab a latte in the morning I was wondering if anyone knows of any "instant" coffee / expresso that is not absolutely horrible? I know about Nescafe but am not sure if it is vile or not. Are there any other brands out there that anyone knows about? Tomorrow I am going to head out to Whole Foods and the Metropolitan Market (here in Seattle) to see what they have to offer. Does anyone have any knowledge about this type of product? Cheers ~ Della

Thanks for all the input. I ended up getting the non-stick darker finish. It was about $5.00 more but as my crusts aren't that great yet, I figure it can't hurt!! Cheers ~ Della

I'm heading to Williams Sonoma tomorrow to buy a tart pan...and I seem to remember hearing something about the darker "burnished" finish is superior to the typical shiny silver finish. Anyone have an opinion? Thank you Della

Silly question. But, uhh, why aren't you running with that, then? If you like red and understand red, sally forth! ← Sometimes things call for white wine and while I have substitued red wine at times (like when cooking pork) I don't know that you can always substitute red. Also, I like white wine at times, I just don't have the experience with it to the degree that I feel confident just picking out a bottle knowing that I am going to be cooking with it so I wanted to learn a bit more about it.

Great Job Wendy - I enjoyed your blog very much! You did a great job touting our fair city and showing people your love of food, wine and how you and your husband and the lives you share together are enhanced by your time cooking together. Della

Dinner was WONDERFUL last night and as Little Miss Foodies dinner guest I can back up everything she said about the food. Lark is a great spot. (the ice cream on our apple tarte tatine was MAPLE!) and very good.

My 1997 Cook's Illustrated May/June says that you can use 3 1/2 sheets gelatin to one package powdered geletin (volume = 1 tbsp of powdered)

Your Tuna & Bean salad looks great - And I know how good it is! I will have to try to make it this week.......You are inspiring me to be a little more creative in the kitchen and not just live on Taco's for lunch everyday.

I was in Nice several years ago with a friend and I dragged her to a MEXICAN restaurant we saw when we were walking around. (Poco Loco, 2, rue Dalpozzo is the address and as a side note they also have a restaurant in Cannes as well called Mexico Loco) We had been out of the states for about a month and I can't live w/o a taco from time to time. Now I know you aren't going to Nice to eat a taco salad with tuna in it but while my friend didn't like it and wouldn't have gone if I hadn't dragged her, I thought it was fun to try the local food turned into another type of food. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you need a taco - I would go there

Hey Cap't John!!!! Nice to "see you" Is Little Miss Foodie's post great or what??? And to keep things in the family calm, please note that she tried a mild blue cheese at my house recently and managed to eat a couple bites!

Thanks girl! Laurel and I have exchanged happy wishes already and I know you are going to tell everyone that I am 26!!!! Keep in mind I am not very much older than you...........

If you are looking for bottles for limoncello - Here is a link for Bader Brew and Wine. I am sure I posted the link improperly but I will work on learning how to do it better. I used the clear bottles - about 5 down on this page - they are VERY cute with a nice design and they were very reasonable on the cost of the bottle and shipping. They package them VERY well and they arrived in great shape. Don't forget to get extra washers - they are the next pic down. Good luck. Cheers ~ Della http://webtrolley.org/mivastore/merchant.m...egory_Code=1072

Last year we made limoncello and dry rubs. We made one dry rub cajun and one all purpose. We put the dry rubs in baby food jars with painted lids and paper labels. We are getting requests for mere this year! It was fun. I like the lavender cookie idea alot!

Such good ideas! Thank you!!!!! I know it should be a no brainer but the white wine is just more difficult than the red for me. I used a Pinot Grigio tonight a Gaetano D'Aquinio, delle venezie to deglaze my pork chop pan with onion first, butter next, wine then chix stock then poured over my double cut stuffed chops and I have to say it was the best jus I have ever made. I am going to try a few of the suggested wines and the Sake and post back. Thanks again. I appreciate it. Della

I kind of messed up on the previous post but I am guessing people can tell my paragraph! Sorry! Cheers ~ Della

hmmm, I don't remember saying that we had LEARNED anything about wine, just that we drink a lot of it! haha! Really what we know comes from going and talking to these wineries. I have been visiting wineries since I was about 23. buying cases of wines with friends and trying to remember things about grapes, regions, methods, etc. I know nothing about many wines and just this week learned a bit about this Pouilly Fuisse I've been enjoying. I look up things on the web and read a bit in Food and Wine. " As LMF's best friend I will have to jump in here and say that she has shown me quite a bit about wine. We were "roomies" for a while from 1995 - 1997 ish o0r so....? maybe 1998 and she used to take me to many wine tastings here in Seattle and we would go and buy different wines and try them. She has been interested in wine and determined to learn about it for many years. She has great knowledge and it is a great time to try new and different wines with her.

The cheese look very yummy! I have to admit that LMF has used her influence with me and steered me towards trying more cheeses over the years. I grew up with american and swiss slices in the plastic (ugh) and she started me on good cheddar, brought me to the manchengo and opened my mind up to the triple creme. Your picture makes me want to have cheese after my dinner tonight!!!! YUM

I have spent the last several years having dinner at my best friends mom's for Thanksgiving and we always have artichokes. While she served them with our other appetizers perhaps you could stuff some artichokes or cut them in half, pare the leaves down and roast/grill them with lemon and evoo? Just an idea. I don't really have a recipe for you but I do love the artichoke and I don't think people eat them enough as they can be a little time comsuming to prepare.

Have you ever made Carnitas? I have and while it takes a while - it is well worth it~!

Thank you so much for the hints and advice! I appreciate it. I also really like the idea of freezing some of the left over for future use. I am going to try something tonight and will post what I end up buying and how it works out. Cheers~ Della

It's a little less horrifying to me to see the locals jamming into those chain restaurants: they're going out for foreign food, in a sense, just as it was exotic for our family to go to a Chinese restaurant when I was growing up. That's the one hand. The other hand, of course, is that junk food is being encouraged as "nutrition"...and oh why oh why, are these sorts of thing among the USA's largest exports!? It sure doesn't help our image! ← As my boyfriend is fond of saying.... "If something has enough fat and salt in it, it will taste "good" to people." That is also his way of saying he won't eat something!

I am floored by people who say they are vegetarian, then proceed to eat fish both at home and out at restaurants. Also, they tend to eat soup, rice, tortillas and other various items out at restaurants they contain stock and/or lard. I don't mind picky eaters as long as they know exactly what they dislike and hopefully why - or at least can admit it makes not sense (example - I like everything that goes into pesto, but I don't like pesto). But general comments like "I am a vegetarian" but then they eat rice out at a restaurant or even yet, split fish and chips with me...........grrrrr!

I am fairly new to egullet and am sure I have missed this topic. Please redirect me if I have.........I am just wondering does anyone have a white wine that they use to cook with for just general cooking/dining? I know the rule - just cook with what you are drinking that night. But I don't often drink white wine (I usually drink red) and wanted to inquire if there are any standby's that people like to use that work well for deglazing or adding to the jus or gravy etc etc. THANKS! Della