MelissaH

i've personally seen a lot of famous chefs do this. i thought they were just making a fuss because its on camera. ← I have the show on my Tivo; I hope to get around to watching it tonight. But reading about this, and other gross things, reminded me of a really nasty instance on the first series of Charlie Trotter's PBS cooking show. It was the show about fowl, and there was a little segment where he was talking about all kinds of birds. This particular segment was done in one continuous camera shot, so everything happened in order. First, Charlie T caressed some raw birds (quail or something like that), cupping them in his hands, stroking their breasts and wiggling their feet. Then, without even wiping his hands on a towel, he turned to some cooked birds that were resting, and touched them with his dirty mitts! (We'd eaten at his restaurant a few years before we ever saw this on TV. And I can safely say that after seeing that, if it's the sort of thing that goes on in his kitchen, I'd never eat there again!) MelissaH

The Girl Scout cookies that I always look forward to are the Samoas. At least, that's what they were called when I was selling them in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. Here in upstate NY, they're called Caramel Delites. Whatever you call them, it's a cookie with caramel, coconut, and a drizzle of chocolate. Divine! MelissaH

We finally got to it on Monday night. And yes, it was amazing, and will be making repeat appearances on our table at some point! I let my husband make the mashed potatoes (one advantage of waiting for a night he was home) and I made a warm brussels sprout slaw (thinly sliced the "little brains," as my husband calls them, sauteed them in a touch of olive oil with S&P, added the zest and juice of a blood orange, and served) and some green beans to go with. It was a very nice birthday dinner for me, although not even close to the last birthday dinner you cooked. MelissaH

I'll do that. But then again, we usually make a point of buying the "select-a-size" versions of paper towels, because that makes it very easy to use only a little bit. And if you just need a small piece, say to wipe off a little dribble on the floor, there's no reason to waste a large piece. If you need more, you just take more! One of my husband's older relatives didn't particularly care for or appreciate the select-a-size, though: they asked for a paper towel to clean up a biggish mess, and someone brought them one select-a-size piece, which is about half the width of a traditional paper towel. They got upset at the person bringing the paper towel. I find that hilarious because that person was only following (inspecific) directions! ETA: My husband also will use only the amount needed for the job. Great minds think alike, ghostrider! MelissaH

I finally made a batch of butter-braised beef. The house has smelled heavenly all day. As I graded exams, I daydreamed about eating it later this afternoon, when my husband gets home from his conference this afternoon. I have green beans to nuke and potatoes to mash. I also have brussels sprouts, which my husband thinks he doesn't like so I'm planning to turn them into a sort of hot slaw with ginger and OJ (since I have a blood orange, that's what I'll use) to go with, so maybe he won't be totally repelled by them. And then my husband called about an hour ago...he's stuck in National Airport because his flight was cancelled. The next plane heading this way doesn't leave until 9 PM so he won't be home in time for dinner, and I'm thinking if he's not going to be home to share it with me, it might be a good night for takeout. What's going to be the best way to keep the beef till tomorrow evening, when we can both enjoy it with all the proper accompaniments? MelissaH

So that begs the question: what's the difference between a great cupcake and a great slice of a bigger cake? How do you tweak a recipe to optimize for one or the other? MelissaH

When we were in Amsterdam in January, we visited the Heineken brewery. "We" in this case means me and my husband, as well as our colleague Jeff and his oldest daughter Erinn. My husband and Jeff will be teaching a course on fermentation science during the second half of this semester, and the course will have a study-abroad component. This will be the first time they've taught the course, and the trip (which will take place just after the end of the semester) will be to Belgium. Our trip in January was to scout out locations, and most importantly get the lodging set for the class trip in May. But it's much easier to get flights to Amsterdam than to Brussels, hence our visit in January. The brewery open to visits is not currently used for beer production, since that's all been moved to a facility outside of town somewhere. This building has been turned into a museum of sorts, and of all the beer facility tours we did, this was the most fun, if a little commercialized. It reminded me of what would happen if Disney ever got a hold of a beer factory...oh wait, wouldn't that be Busch Gardens? Make no mistake, this tour is all about beer. You enter and pay your 10 Euros, and in exchange you get one orange drink token, two green drink tokens, and a white prize token, as well as the opportunity to walk through the facility. Early on, you see this diagram of the beer-brewing process. And you get walked through the beer-brewing process in general, although with a Heineken-specific slant: the Heineken water, the Heineken yeast, the Heineken grain, the Heineken hops, the Heineken logo, the Heineken label, the Heineken bottle.... One room was wallpapered with print ads from over the years. Another wall was covered with bottle caps. We particularly liked the water room. Heineken is proud of their low (relatively speaking) water usage for a commercial-scale brewery. The architecture in the room where they talked about water (everything on the walls was printed in English and in Dutch) was really neat: there was a suspended ceiling made of plexiglass, filled with a thin layer of water, with lights above the suspended ceiling. Above the lights (so you wouldn't see shadows) were a series of nozzles that slowly dripped water into the ceiling, and the lights would then cast shadows from the waves (constructive and destructive interference!) on the floor and ceiling. I could have done without the audio "drip" effects, but the visuals were way cool, something we briefly considered doing in our kitchen when we remodel, but decided would probably be better in the wet bar area of the family room. The old copper brew kettles are still intact, and they use them for all kinds of demonstrations (with small TVs mounted in holes cut in the sides). Our favorite part of the first half of the tour was a ride, in which you got to "be" a bottle and go through the bottling line. The seats shook and jiggled in synch with the video, but we didn't get blasted with water the way the bottles on screen did. We all thought, though, that a bottling line would be a terrific inspiration for an honest-to-goodness rollercoaster, though: you get shaken up, spun around and upside down, several times, and in an amusement park you could even include the jets of water! (We decided that although you might find something like that at Busch Gardens, you'd be unlikely to find anything as beer-related at Disneyworld.) The first half of the tour concluded in a room with many of these copper kettles, but that wasn't the highlight of the room. See the staircase going down that's blocked off with a velvet rope? At the bottom of the stairs is the stable! Anyone who's watched a Super Bowl in recent memory knows about the Clydesdales that pull the Bud wagon. Heineken is associated with Shires, a different breed of draft horse. They're big and black with white blazes on their faces, and about a dozen of them live right there in the old brewery and get taken out every day. Erinn's a horse lover, and this room was a real highlight for her. After we watched the horses for a bit, we went to the bar in the middle to redeem our orange drink tokens. One token gets you one drink, and you have a choice of beer or something non-alcoholic, 25 cL of whatever you choose. Immediately following the bar in the middle, there was a setup where you could take photos or even a short video of yourself, and e-mail it to people around the world. We were there at a slow time, and were able to spend plenty of time having fun. The second half of the tour was less about beermaking and more about entertainment. We did another ride, this one "delivering the beer" on a horse-drawn cart through the cobbled streets of Amsterdam. We sat in special chairs with audio and video, and watched vintage Heineken commercials. And we played in the party room, at the DJ bench running the music and lights. Finally, we went through the gift shop (had to get through that before you could leave) and then spent our green tokens at the bar at the end (same choices as before). Finally, we claimed our gifts at the end: it turned out to be a 25 cL Heineken glass. Educational? Sure, especially if you've never seen a large-scale brewery before. Fun? Absolutely! A good deal? Yes, especially if you're a visiting American and the thought of getting three (small) beers plus a glass to take home for the equivalent of about $12 (at that time) seems like a good deal; it was also a great couple of hours of entertainment if you don't mind being bombarded by ads for one specific beer. It wound up being a perfect break from the other more "serious" museums we visited, and is well worth a visit. MelissaH

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! It looks like I won't be short of ideas, at any rate. I do have one more question, which hasn't been addressed before because I didn't mention it in the first place: what about breakfasts, or late® night? I'll be leaving home on Friday evening in the late afternoon, and supposedly arriving on the ground a bit after 9. My committee is feeding me breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, but I'm fending for myself on Monday and Tuesday mornings. My flight out is a bit after noon on Tuesday, and I'd like to get enough food in my system that I won't need to worry about anything else until dinner. You guys are amazing! MelissaH

Oh, man! The hotel we stayed at was right near Rembrandtplein, and we somehow missed out on this! Guess this means we'll need to return to Amsterdam, in the not-too-distant future! MelissaH

Any chance this might be suitable for a group (30ish people) dinner? I'll be subjected to one of those, and the last few haven't been anything to write home about. MelissaH

The clementines we ate in Belgium and the Netherlands in January. Something changes when they're carried across the ocean from Spain. MelissaH

We've hit a possible snag, and definite frustration. Last night we were looking at the kitchen plans, both A and B, as well as the not-fully-fleshed-out C and D, discussing cabinetry in detail. We were coming to the conclusion that with the way things were set in Plan B (which we much preferred over Plan A), we'd be headed down the road towards multiple semi-custom or completely custom cabinets. We based that on the IKEA catalog and also the Kraft-Maid catalog my husband found on line. But then my husband noticed something odd. We still plan to keep our existing refrigerator, which is not a cabinet-depth refrigerator. And in Plan A, which I haven't posted plans for, the cabinets around the refrigerator were specifically moved out from the wall to give us a 30 inch wide countertop, so the front of the cabinets would be more or less even with our fridge. But in the drawings for Plans B, C, and D, the refrigerator is also set to be even with the cabinet fronts, but the countertop is just 24 inches wide! This in itself isn't a huge problem to us: so the refrigerator sticks out a few inches in front of the cabinets. The bigger problem is that in Plan B, which we liked in general, the refrigerator is directly opposite the range. According to the GE Monogram catalog that I had handy, the 36-inch range is also about 30 inches deep, which means that the range would also protrude slightly from the front of the cabinets. And with the refrigerator and the range directly opposite, each sticking out half a foot in front of the cabinets, the walkway between the two is narrowed by a full foot, to only about 3 feet. This seems like a really narrow space to us, especially between two appliances that would likely get relatively heavy use. But worse, the refrigerator is about 33 inches wide. I'm concerned that we wouldn't have enough room to open the fridge door without bashing the oven handle. And that's a huge problem! We've e-mailed our designer, to be sure we aren't overlooking something. And until we hear from her, we've come up with a workaround. Our workaround is to move the refrigerator to the other side of the kitchen, so that as you walk in the side door to the kitchen the refrigerator is immediately to your right, where the tall pantry cabinet was in the original drawings. Then, next to the fridge heading back into the corner, make the countertop next to the refrigerator 30 inches wide, so it's more or less level with the front of the fridge. We also considered relocating the dishwasher to the other side of the sink, so it's closer to the dining area. In this rearrangement, between the edge of the refrigerator and the front of the baking area, there's enough room for a 12-inch-wide base cabinet. That's not a problem, per se. But if we lower the countertop in the baking area, we'd probably end up with a dead corner space or an expensive custom cabinet. Furthermore, with the six-inch-wider countertop on the refrigerator side, to accommodate the refrigerator depth, we'd have to shorten the baking area's lowered countertop by half a foot. And I'd be worried about having my rolling pin bash into the non-lowered part of the counter if it got shortened. So I went looking a little more, and found this post from Dave the Cook's kitchen renovation thread, which describes the "rule" for countertop height: measure the distance between your bent elbow and the floor; subtract 3 inches for normal tasks and 6-7 inches for kneading and rolling out dough. So I had my husband measure the distance between my elbows and the floor last night, and we came up with 39 and a half inches or so. This means that a standard 36-inch counter should be fine for normal tasks (and it is), but for kneading and rolling I should be a couple of inches lower than standard. I was in bare feet at the time we measured. But my favorite most comfy clogs add about an inch and a half to my height, so if I put those on before I roll out my dough, I'd supposedly be very close to the "ideal" counter height. (Hmmm: might need to try that recipe for potato-stuffed parathas in Mangoes and Curry Leaves this afternoon and see how it goes. Part of my current rolling issues come about because my rolling surface is a wooden board that I put on top of the counter; it has a lip to grab the front edge and also a built-in backsplash; it makes the surface about 2 inches taller than the countertop itself. Maybe I should learn to roll in stiletto heels? ) But this got me thinking: maybe the baking area countertop would be just fine at standard height, especially if I wear shoes to roll my dough. (Shoes in the kitchen probably aren't a bad idea in any case.) And if we put the baking area counter at standard height, we'd be able to put in a non-custom corner cabinet next to the fridge and not lose the entire corner space. The tall refrigerator would also serve the same purpose as the tall pantry cabinet in the original design: blocking the view of my potentially-floury dark blue stand mixer and food processor, which would live in the corner of the counter when they weren't being used. We'd still have landing space countertop next to the fridge. An added benefit of relocating the refrigerator to the end of the kitchen is that we wouldn't have to worry about whether or not the baseboard heater could be removed: if it needs to stay put, we just bring it forward to the toekick of the cabinet. And that would work even if we put the dishwasher to the left of the sink (rather than the right, where it is in the drawings). We don't see a real problem in having the range and dishwasher directly opposite each other: for one thing, the dishwasher is standard depth, so you have an extra six inches of aisle space compared to the fridge. And it's unlikely that we'd be doing anything at both the dishwasher and the range at the same time, especially compared to the likelihood of using both range and fridge at the same time. And another big bonus: by relocating the refrigerator, it looks like the space got juggled enough that we'd be able to use mostly stock cabinets, from either IKEA or KraftMaid, which will help us stay within our budget. We're working on the assumption that our appliances (range, hood, DW) will cost on the order of $8k. We're also working on the assumption that the cabinets (without countertop) will run on the order of $5-6k. And those are the big things that won't be easy to change out afterwards, so we want to get them right from the start. In playing around with things, we've discovered that we should have the room to put a wine fridge under the counter to the right of the stove (if you're standing at the stove cooking), facing out to the dining area. This is a fun idea, if the budget allows! The original plan didn't explicitly show a place for the microwave. We use the microwave for two things, mainly: reheating leftovers for us, and heating up the cats' afternoon portion of canned food after it comes out of the fridge. (Yes, they're pampered.) Other than the fact that we need to plan for leftovers (this semester, both of us get home late on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which means that dinner on those nights is leftovers, nuked and eaten at whatever time each of us gets home), we think we could manage quite nicely without a microwave. So it makes sense for us to put the microwave down near the dining area rather than the cooking area. And we're considering a location facing the dining area in the cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen. We haven't quite worked out the details, particularly whether the existing microwave will actually fit down there, but we're hoping to do so. First, we need to see what our designer has to say about the refrigerator depth issue, and her ideas for workarounds (if it is, in fact, a problem). In the meantime, we've compiled a list of cabinets we'd need from IKEA, and an equivalent list of cabinets we'd need from KraftMaid. This will enable us to do an apples-to-apples price comparison, and should let us know whether IKEA is a viable possibility, especially in light of the long-distance vs. local factor. We'll try to talk with our local KraftMaid people this week, since IKEA's easy to do ourselves on line. MelissaH

My one experience with fresh water chestnuts convinced me that the best thing to do with them is leave them in the grocery store. Their taste and texture weren't much different from jicama, which is much easier to peel, slice, and use in general. MelissaH

I'll second what Klary said about the goat sate, as we helped her eat it that night! One of the things we most enjoyed on our trip was eating poffertjes. On Klary's suggestion, we stopped at the poffertje place that was by the skating rink set up on the Museumplein. (I think; correct me if I've got either my geography or my Dutch incorrect.) We ate them with just butter and sugar, and they transported all of us back many many years. For my husband, they reminded him of the aebelskivers served in the town he grew up in, which has a large proportion of people with Danish ancestry. For me, it was like the way we'd sometimes eat regular American-style fluffy pancakes, when we didn't have any maple syrup. And for our friend Jeff, it was like when he was a kid in Milwaukee and visited the woman in the apartment upstairs. Absolutely transporting, and we agreed that we could have easily demolished at least twice as many as we did. This was our lunch, after doing the Heineken tour and spending an hour or so in the Rijksmuseum...but that's another post! MelissaH

I"m wondering just how one can have both 'no fragrances' and 'no stinky sweat' at the same time?[...] ← Try rubbing alcohol on your underarms after you shower. Seriously. ← Obviously, you've never shaved your armpits! MelissaH

Anyone who gave me a Borders card would be at the top of my list! No experience with Costco here; they don't exist in this neighborhood. But we do have a choice of warehouse stores. Last year, instead of renewing our Sam's membership, we defected to BJ's. I liked the idea of putting the money into someone else's pocketbook, and I haven't heard the employee horror stories about BJ's that I have about the Walmart empire. Furthermore, of the two stores in our area, the BJ's locations are nicer to shop in, and have more of the products we get on a regular basis. Because of that, when the time comes, we'll probably stick with BJ's. I have been to a Costco: the one my sister in Tucson uses. Their selection of produce was to die for, compared to what we see here, but that's possibly more because she's in Arizona, closer to where it's all grown. MelissaH

Hey, if it's got great food, it's miles ahead of either Anaheim or Orlando as a conference spot, in my book! Those two have nothing remotely interesting within easy walking distance: just Chain Food Hell. Fair enough. I usually try to do that in any case if there's more than just a couple of us, and we have a destination in mind. These all look possible. But Baraonda gets marked down in my book for gratuitous noise on their Web site, with "on" as the default! While these are all probably great dining opportunities, they're out of the budget. I'm no longer a graduate student, but I still tend to eat like one at a conference. Many of my likely dining companions are graduate students. Quality is important, but most of us would like to be able to afford more than one meal every two days. Actually, though I wouldn't personally recommend the Sundial for a meal, the bar is a great place to visit, particularly at sunset: the bar rotates (about 45 minutes for a complete turn, if memory serves) and offers great views of the city and surrounding area. You have to buy a drink, of course, but it's a pretty good deal considering. ← This is a definite possibility. You're ordering good weather for us, right? MelissaH

Gosh, I guess I should consider myself lucky. Our local dairy store, Byrne Dairy, carries mostly normal pasteurized cream. They're barely a mile and a half from my house, and I don't even think about getting cream elsewhere. MelissaH

All the ones I've seen during my last few sojourns have been renamed "Buffalo Wild Wings." I guess the Weck is no more, and they're now only BW2? MelissaH

I've done this walk, when I was in DC for a conference last August. It wasn't a bad walk, but as Rochelle says, Rockville Pike isn't a pleasant road if you're on foot, unless you like sucking exhaust. It's a much easier walk if you leave the Metro station on the proper side. Rochelle, nice to see you blogging again. MelissaH

Well, after reading through the two threads, it sounds like I'm going to be in less of a culinary wasteland than either Orlando or Anaheim. I'm relieved. As far as specifics: I think we're going to be downtown. At least, that's what the GWCC Web site keeps referring to the area as. And I think we'll be near a MARTA station. I'm happy to hear that Watershed is accessible by public transit. They've been on my radar for a while, and I'm thinking that may be a good option for Monday, possibly at lunch. Would I need a reservation for either Monday lunch or dinner? I never know how many people I'll be eating with until we actually walk in the door of wherever. But I'd like to hear other options, since I'll have other meals and I don't think the budget will support more than one meal there. I should probably mention that while I don't mind walking, I've been accused in the past of leading people on death marches. The food's usually good when we get there, but my short distances obviously don't match other people's short distances. Keep it coming; eG hasn't steered me wrong yet! MelissaH

Hi everyone, I'll be in Atlanta for the national meeting of the American Chemical Society during the last week of March. My schedule for this meeting is working out such that I'll need to find dinner on Sunday and Monday. I'll also have Monday morning and early afternoon (including lunch) to myself, unless something comes up in the meantime. I'll probably have a few people with me on these days, since I've somehow (can't imagine how ) gotten a reputation as the person on my committee who always knows the good places to eat. I'm definitely on a budget, and I like to try and find things I can't get at home (which doesn't rule out much). My transportation will be limited to my feet and whatever public transit is available. The meeting will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center, so that's where my activities will be centered around. Any suggestions for restaurants? Or my morning to myself? Historically I've gone to a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, if there's one in the area, to get the stuff I can't get at home for a reasonable price. I know there isn't a TJ's in Atlanta, but is there a Whole Foods or other fun or ethnic shopping within reach? At that point we'll also probably be finalizing the plans for our kitchen renovation project so if there's somewhere I can get to that has fun stuff, that's an OK substitute for food this trip. Of course, if any other eGulleteers are also chemists who will be attending the national meeting, please yell! MelissaH

Three cheers for all our quitters! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! You've all been incredibly gutsy for doing this in public, and letting us see it all. (And it's been fun rooting for you from the peanut gallery.) Great work, terrific job to everyone, and many wishes for more successes of all kinds, big and small. MelissaH

The "boil in can" method is only dangerous if you let the water boil away so that the can is no longer completely submerged in the water. At atmospheric pressure, the water temperature can't get above 100 degrees C, or 212 degrees F. However, steam can get much hotter than that, which is where you run into problems. I suppose it's also possible for the bottom of the pot to get hotter, which is another reason to put a dishcloth or trivet in the bottom of the pot. If you're careful to be sure that the water level stays well over the can, just as many of the early posts in this thread say, boiling in the can shouldn't be a problem. The safety note in the link that ruthcooks points to looks like a CYA kind of link, as in "We don't recommend you do this, because it may be unsafe if you don't do it properly, and we don't want to be sued." I like the crock pot idea. Might need to investigate that one myself. MelissaH

Nutella. On a spoon, straight out of the jar. MelissaH