Bacchusrogue

For future reference, the Cheese Botique has individual bags of the red and the black Hawaiian salt. And I believe the Spice Trader on Queen near bathrust does as well.

Has anyone tried the Crispy ginger Beef (aka sesame beef) at Lucky Dragon(College and Spadina)?

Sadly mrs bacchusrogue and myself have to decline. We had a death in the family and just got back from chicago and the funeral and have to travel to PA for more family meetings But the next one, count us in

Me and missus will be doing it too!!!

Hmm I'd love to come down from toronto with Mrs Bacchusrogue and we can always bring anything anyone is needing. Ive got some good old scotch can bring any wines, beers or other stuff like cheeses people might like (like the Irish cheddar with guiness)

I sort of fall in between the 2 camps. I am ever aware of moochers and they fall off the list after 1 or 2 occasions. On the other hand I have a few friends who could not reciprocate (tiny bachelor place, dirt poor) but are always graceful appreciative of my cooking and entertaining and will still have me to their place even if its just for tea and chat or buy me a beer at a pub occasionally. I lvoe entertaining and dont really worry about reciprocating but moochers really bother me. I can usually discern between the two. That said my place is in a state of CHAOS and i cant entertain until i fix that. But once I do, I'd love to have some egullteers over! Or visit some when im in the philly area as I often are (my wife is from kutztown and we are there all the time)

Try 'El Sol' on the danforth. Authentic food, great taste, really really slow service though

I like the diet Rites but my current fave is now the Waist Watchers brands especially their Vanilla cream Thye use Splenda so no after taste and no caffeine or sodium. Cant even tell it sdiet Yummy

I had to think about this and have to agree with those that state it shows a 'you are an inferior' attitude. I and my wife strive to be punctual and always try to work out how long it will take to be somewhere and everything. We freak among the two of us if we get caught in traffi and will be 5 min late (unless we know its a casual time). I wouldnt put up with people like that anymore. Get your table, eat and leave

I was in Kingston with my wife and a friend who used to live there. We wandered around and got kind of hungry and stopped in front of a restaurant on princess st. Musing about going in (it was called The Schnitzel House I believe and I do like schnitzel) when my friend stopped me and said "This Kingston, all the food here is shit, theres nothing worth anything here, its all crap" As he said this a man was walking out of the restaurant, heard this and said "Im the owner of this place, ever been here?" When my friend said no he shot back "Then you dont know, do you?" And proceeded to tear a strip off him while we laughed our heads off. My rule is that if there is something seriously wrong with my order, I'll complain proactively (glass in my food, asked for no peanuts because of a nut allergy and got nuts, etc) by taking it to my waiter/waitress. If its merely crappy, I'll never come back and not recommend it. In fact warn against it if its that bad. If someone comes up for the "hows everything?" questions there would just get a its fine from me unless I can point out something helpful (cut down the pepper, ever try using this, instead of that etc) and I would be mortified if the chef came out to argue with me and never ever go back. And in fact I saw this once with another person in a restaurant and I was appalled by it and never went back to that place, and i wasnt even involved.

Not to mention what that does to your credit rating *shivers*

Hmm Id love to go to one as I keep looking at their catalog and drooling, though here in toronto I can pretty much find everything similar here somewhere. Prefere it to a candle or tupperware party though and far better than Amway *barf* Hmm Lodge brother DeVeaux??? I was just at my Lodge last night for a meeting

NO but the wife is a YES so I guess it evens out

Same here! I like the cookbook store but using BMV, its sister store, (the discount one on queen and spadina is really good too! as are any of the stores on harbord and a new on on lakeshore near browns line) and the like are just too good. Plus the occasional gem from costco or sams club and failing all that ebay, amazon or the cookbook club. I gotta save money somewhere if Im to afford all these books

Me too! ← Me three!! With the 'Gourmet' book and a rick bayless book one of my $1 picks

Nope, just checked again. They must have screwed up in their catalog. I had not gone to their website to order but did it by fax based on the catalog. And ripoff or not, they aint worth ordering from in canada with those shipping costs I like amazon actually. I use amazon.ca quite a lot and oddly enough Sams Club is tending to be a good place for cookbooks now

Actually the ripoff part was in regards to their shipping. The catalogue I got for winter 2004 syas they ship to the continental U.S., Hawaii and Alaska, Canada as well as U.S. possessions. Then it says shipping is free with a order of $25 or more. But when I tried to order they told me its only for the continental U.S. even though it never states that anywhere in their catalogue or order form and instead wanted to charge $10 +$5/book for shipping

Where do you order cookbooks from? I tried Jessicas ecookbook.com but it was a total ripoff as they lied about shipping Any other suggestions?

Thanks to the surreal gourmet, this is always a hit at my place Cucumber Shooters 4 x cucumbers 1 clove garlic, minced 1 x shallot, minced 1 x jalapeño, stemmed and minced 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves 1 tbsp freshly squeezed limejuice 2 tbsp champagne vinegar 4 tbsp extra virgin oil (I usually just use 1 1/2 Tbsp) Directions: Cucumber Shooters Cut 2 1/2 inches off both ends of the cucumber. Reserve. Peel middle sections, cut in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to scrape out seeds. Discard seeds. In a blender, puree the middle sections of the cucumbers along with the garlic, shallot, jalapeño, mint and lime juice. Strain through a fine strainer. Stir in oil and vinegar. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes. Take reserved cucumber ends and slice off bottom 1/4 inch so that they can stand solidly on their ends. Use a zester or pairing knife to create designs in the peel, then use a small melon baller to scoop out most of the cucumber, creating a cucumber shooter glass. Serve the chilled cucumber gazpacho in the shooter glasses.

But inside this forum there very much would be takers!! After all I live in Toronto too And hey I would trade meals!! And the odd thing is my mother made everything from scratch and I learned that from her (though didnt start cooking until in my mid thirties) And now thats shes 87, she uses instant mixes a lot!! She grew up in england with a mother and uncle who ran a bakery, a uncle who made candies and another uncle who ran a greenhouse and supplied restaurants and grocery stores. She never lacked for good food even during the dirty thirties(except for the war years when she was in the air force)

Oooh I lvoe that place!! I buy lots of DVDs there as well as cookbooks! Their sister store is on yonge, north of wellsley

I should mention that the Purple Pig one downtown (as opposed to the others scattered about the province) changed ownership a couple of months ago and the new owner (lou) does NOT boil his ribs but smokes them for hours I finally tried his wings too, yummy Though not a fan of the pasta

Faves Anthony Bourdain-Loved his books and show and learned a lot from his latest book Anton Brown-Informative tho dorky Nigella *sigh* A goddess who does indeed make cooking like fourplay and Im in love with her Surreal Gourmet-only because I bought one of his books and made most of the recipes and they were great. His show I found annoying Thirsty Traveller(cant remember his name)-love his passion for his job Tyler Florence-not for him, but the people he talks to to get his ideas fascinates me Julia-learned a lot from her Graham Kerr-the old drunk version, loved watching him get smashed as a kid Dislikes Rachel Ray *shudder* Cushing Emeril -and I went to his restaurant in NO at halloween this year, prefer the hole in the wall Cajun Grille i went to instead. Martha

*grins* good point, maybe I'll start for the xmas season. And I was watching the Surreal Gourmet a few nights ago and he said the same thing. He said when you make stock you boil/simmer meat until all the flavour goes into the stock, leaving the meat with no flavour and the stock with it all. Why would you boil ribs and do the same thing when its the ribs you want to eat?

Yup it is, though in no way can the 'cajun' part of it be considered 'spicy' Just spiced but goood. Hmm Im surprised to hear that about the pulled pork though, I've always found it really really good but then I like the sauce *smiles* I really dont have as much experience cooking ribs myself as I would like. Im guessing thats going to be one of my next 'summer' projects