Patrick S

Life without copious amounts of #4 and #6 would be more bleak than I could endure.

I hope they're not actually claiming that their beef is "hormone-free," because that would be clearly false. They can say that their beef came from cows that did not recieve hormone supplements, and that would be true, but all beef contains hormones, and the hormone levels in the beef are pretty much the same whether it came from cows that were or were not given growth-promoting hormone implants. Regarding the original topic, I am glad to have WF in my town, simply because they carry some things there that other stores don't. But like you Mottmott, I never buy my basic ingredients there.

I made one with vanilla bean and Nutella pastry cream filling that was good. The vanilla pastry cream was on the bottom and the Nutella pastry cream was on top. I love mille feuilles but they are a bit messy to eat. How do you keep the pastry cream from squishing out when you bite into it? And cutting them seems to be a pain, unless you freeze it or have very stiff filling.

Italian Meringue : I've baked the first baking sheet just after pipping them. The second one I've used a regular tray covered with baking paper and let them sit for about 30-45 min. The second one was better than the first one. But no foot at all. ← Hmm. Ok, second and third questions: did you bring the whites to at least room temp before you beat them, and did you beat them to firm peaks?

And hoesome, too.

Humans also do not have receptors for pesticides, yet some pesticides stimulate hormonal activities in humans despite the different molecular structures. The reason why is still unknown. ← Humans, cows and indeed all mammals have receptors for GH (growth hormone), and it is known that many if not all of the effects of GH are receptor-mediated. For instance, we know that many of the effects of GH are caused by increasing IGF-1, and we know that the increase in IGF-1 production by the liver is a major receptor-mediated effect of GH, and is blocked by a GH receptor antagonist. The reasons rBGH in milk has no effect on humans are, firstly, rBGH is not orally active (like most proteins it is destroyed by digestion --which is why cows receive rBGH via subcutaneous injection), and second, BGH is sufficiently different from HGH in its protein structure that it does not act as an agonist at human GH receptors. To use the lock and key analogy, the BGH 'key' does not fit the HG receptor 'lock.' Indeed, in the 1950's BGH injections were actually tried as a treatment for dwarfism, but the treatment had no effect whatsoever.

The almond flour probably was not the problem. Did you let the cookies sit out to dry before you put them in the oven?

I've made something a long time ago with a similar shape but different ingredients. What I made was basically chocolate baklava (dates, chocolate, almonds, sugar and spece) baked in a coil in a cake pan and then doused with syrup. The recipe just called it "chocolate phyllo coil" or something like that.

Well, since Mad Cow disease only occurs in cows, humans are already at zero risk of contracting it. On a more serious note, since the risk is vCJD is so extremely low to begin with (there is no evidence that anyone has ever contracted it from eating US beef), and the spread of BSE among cows is linked to feed practices like rendering that are no longer used, that I would spend my meager health-risk-reducing food premium on something else. If I recall correctly, one two cows in the US have ever tested positive for BSE, and both were born before the rendering ban took effect. In UK, by contrast, about 200,000 cows were positive for BSE, and even so, only about 150 people in the UK have died of vCJD, and it is estimated the total number of deaths from vCJD will be about 200 (Valleron et al, 2001. Estimation of epidemic size and incubation time based on age characteristics of vCJD in the United Kingdom. Science 294(5547):1726-8).

I tried the Susan B cake back in September, and thought it was ok. But I prefer the similar oil-based Hershey's cake recipe.

There is a product called WonderCocoa. There are a bunch of web pages saying its caffeine-free, however several sites that sell it say that it is 99.7% caffeine-free, in which case it has 0.3% caffeine and actually has an average caffeine content as far as cocoas go.

Many, many things, including several already mentioned. One example fresh on my mind is ladyfingers, for charlottes and such.

Does the recipe in la patisserie use Italian meringue?

What exactly is it that Hooters (Hooter's?) sells? ← Opportunities to gawk at scantily-clad waitresses. ← Is there some special foodstuff that they sell to go along with that activity? ← Overpriced beer and chicken wings, among other things.

Hmm. Hashish garnish might be a good way to ensure that your guests stayed a while and ordered dessert.

What exactly is it that Hooters (Hooter's?) sells? ← Opportunities to gawk at scantily-clad waitresses.

Very nice. What recipe did you use?

I realize that this sounds crazy, but I have a really hard time saying what my favorites are. So many things can be great if they are just done right. But at their best, yes, those macaroons and that lemon cream are among my favorites.

"Famous hamburgers"

I made some pastry cream cookies using Sherry Yard's recipe. Basically this is 1/2C pastry cream, combined with 1/4C each toasted ground almonds and hazelnuts, 2T powdered sugar, 1t dark rum and 1C dry cake crumbs. But instead of cake crumbs, I dried out three minicupcakes, and added them along with about 1T of flour (I just added some bit by bit until the batter was thick enough for cookies). Scoop out onto parchment with a tablespoon sized disher and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Well, I sample everything I make. But the truth is, I make way more than any one family could or should eat. So I freeze some and give the rest away. You'd flip if you saw how much stuff I accumulate. At one point last week, I had two kinds of ganache, chocolate pastry cream, caramel sauce, vanilla buttercream, 2 kinds of macarons, lemon cake, some tart tatin and a St. Honore in the fridge, and 2 tart doughs, cinnamon dough, pizza dough, lemon cream, and dacquois in the freezer. Its pretty ridiculous. I need someone to come over and help me clear out the fridge from time to time.

Almost-flourless mini chocolate cupcakes, with a little crown of caramel-chocolate ganache on top.

Yep, that's it.

There is a market near me that still sells bars that are about 3-3.5ozs. I don't know if its old stock or what, but its the only place I know that sells it. The last time I was there was a few weeks ago, and they still had it.

The Bailey's and white chocolate tart I made actually turned out pretty good. It would have been really great if I had used Lindt white chocolate, which is the only one I really like. I used Callebaut for this one, and though I generally like their chocolate, their white chocolate has a touch of that weird aftertaste. I'll try this again sometime when I have Lindt around, and add in some vanilla bean for good measure. ETA: The sun has apparently abandoned my part of the world, so I have no choice but to use the flash, which generally makes my pics look crappy.