MelissaH

Our supermarket ads change on Sundays, so we won't know for sure till the weekend what fruit will be feasible. I do know that apples from the orchard store are always a good and reasonable option; should I go that route, I'd just make sure I choose a mix of varieties that will combine nicely into a pie, or crisp, or even applesauce if they don't get eaten as is. Good point about the serving spoon size. I know we have plenty of pots big enough to hold 4 lbs of beans while they cook. This time of the year, we have both the "walk-in" (garage) and the "walk-out" (deck) refrigerators in service, so there won't be a problem storing the cooked beans overnight either. One rice-cooker cup is 3/4 of a standard cup, so that means 10 rice cooker cups would work out to be 7.5 standard cups, which is about 37.5 ounces, which is about 2 1/3 pounds, which would make about 7 3/4 cups cooked. We'll need to run through three full rice-cooker loads (to make about 23 1/2 cups of cooked rice), each of which takes about 40 minutes. That should be no problem if we start in the morning, or even early in the afternoon. As long as we get the first two loads done before people start eating and have the third well underway, we should be good on the rice front. Unfortunately, we don't have much room for a small bookshelf near the door. But I may try putting one of our plastic shelving units in the space behind where the door opens. If I can find something small enough, it won't get in the way of the door opening. But I think we'll wind up stacking the shoes on the stairs, which were NOT just redone. Or we'll set up a shelving unit downstairs in the laundry room. Coats will go on the guest bed, which will be covered with a blanket we don't really care about. They're unlikely to be wet, because we're unlikely to get rain this time of year. What's far more likely is lake-effect snow (Fulton, NY, which has been on several national news programs lately, is the next town south of us). Lake-effect snow is usually fluffy and powdery, so that you can just shake yourself and it all flies off of you. We have some chairs, and lots of floor space and cushions that can be leaned against walls. Nothing like a picnic in January. I'm looking forward to it. They're a nice batch of young women, and we're glad to be able to make their lives a little easier. (We enjoy and support the men's hockey team also, but they have far more external support and a much larger fan base than the women do.) My big concern is that they'll like what we feed them, word will spread, and they'll want us to do it again next year! MelissaH edited for minor clarifications

We have a 10-cup rice cooker. I was planning to use that, and just do plain white rice, nothing special. That way, if there's anything left over, it'll be more flexible than something seasoned. We're definitely planning to cook the beans ahead of time. Worst-case scenario, they'll be cooking overnight in the crockpot or in the oven. That's part of my concern about trying to figure out how many pounds of dry beans we'll need! Nope, we're on for beverages also. We'll talk to the captains to find out what sort of thing the team likes. I'm hoping for a bunch of water drinkers, as that will make our lives easier. Definitely no alcohol, as that's out according to the university. We're contemplating making a big batch of limonada, especially since we'll have help squeezing the limes. The team plays a couple of games this weekend. We feed them on Wednesday, when presumably they'll have a practice. And they have a couple of games the following weekend. So it'll be a post-practice, relax-a-little sort of meal. We're between semesters, so the choices of food are limited, particularly for the majority of the team living in the campus residence halls. That's part of the reason for us doing this team meal during next week. MelissaH

My biggest microwave-safe bowl is an 8-cup measuring cup. I have both plastic and glass. Will this be big enough? Any bigger wouldn't fit in my microwave anyway. Adding a tad of cayenne gives a nice nip to the RC treats! While brown butter and cayenne might be nice, I'm staying away from anything that's even remotely weird or different for this crowd. We're probably already going to be stretching their culinary horizons, in some cases, and this is meant to be an enjoyable and relaxing meal, not a challenging one. Maybe next time. MelissaH

I always do. I make sure I skewer all six sides of the loaves as well. MelissaH

Heather, Thanks for your input---that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Got a favorite dip recipe you'd care to share? We tend to keep low-fat mayo on hand. Do we need to go more extreme than that for the coleslaw dressing? How much dry rice and beans would you cook? That's the sort of thing I'm having trouble getting my head wrapped around at the moment. I'm hoping we can actually find 8-inch tortillas; the larger ones are far more prevalent in the stores here. I know corn tortillas are lower in fat than flour tortillas, but without making a special trip I'd have to make them myself, which means a whole afternoon doing nothing but. Flour tortillas, though, I can buy. We can easily get apples around here, as we live in one of NY's prime apple-growing regions and have a great orchard store just up the road. Bananas are evil, though, so we'll find an alternative to these if we want another fruit. It may depend on what's on sale and looks good when we shop. Everyone loves RK treats; I just prefer them freshly prepared and there's going to be enough going on that day that I'll have to carve out stove and pot space for them. But I'm known as a baker, so I'm inclined to make a batch of some kind of cookies (possibly my oatmeal-choc chip, which I make tiny) or cake (which can get thinly sliced). I'd like to make sure there's something with chocolate. MelissaH

Unless something changed over the holidays, we have no vegetarians, kosher requirements, or halal requirements either. So we're clear on that front. MelissaH

My husband and I have volunteered to serve a meal to our university's women's hockey team next week. We'll have 24 college athletes, plus a couple of coaches and possibly a handful of other adults, plus the two of us. We've already been warned that the team eats a lot! Right now, it doesn't look like we'll have any worries about food allergies or intense dislikes, although this is not an adventurous-eating crowd. For our menu, we've settled on tortillas with stuff to go inside---some might say "tacos" but we won't be doing a traditional taco spread. We plan to slow-roast some pork shoulders and then pull them (for a variety of reasons, I won't have time to smoke them, so the oven will have to suffice). We'll do that the day before, and then reheat the meat the day of. We'll have =Mark's bbq sauce and probably also a tomatillo/pumpkin seed sauce, assuming we can find tomatillos. Shredded cheese, lettuce, salsa, sour cream. Pickled onions. Cole slaw. A pot of rice and a pot of black beans. And flour tortillas. Cookies for dessert: I'm thinking I'll make and freeze a batch of dough each day this week, which can get quickly baked the day of the meal: a couple of batches of choc chip and a couple of batches of something without chocolate such as a dough that can get easily turned into jam thumbprints (or a couple of batches of rice krispy treats); maybe a batch or two of brownies also if I have the time. We can easily have veggie-and-dip trays, for early arrivers or those at the end of the line who have to wait to eat. And we'll have help with day-of prep, as a few of the team members like to cook and have volunteered to come early. At this point, my biggest concern (apart from finding space for everyone to put their wet shoes) is making sure we have enough food on hand. We'll be setting things up as a build-your-own buffet, if that enters into the equation. That said, what are your best guesses on the amount of stuff we'll need to buy/make/have? We're trying to minimize the number of choices available, because past experience tells us that when you have more choices, people tend to eat more because they need to try some of everything. We figured that between the pork and the rice and beans, there would be enough protein choices that we didn't need another hunk of a different beast; do you believe our thinking is correct? (If we did, we'd probably go for turkey breast, or maybe chicken if it turned out to be less expensive when we shop.) Any thoughts on other things we're missing? Would it be wrong not to have chips? How many cups of rice and pounds of dried beans should I plan on cooking? MelissaH

Sorry about that, Kerry! MelissaH

We have some precious stash in our freezer. But a recent trip to Wegman's (a "little" Wegman's, no less) had some Wegman's brand puff pastry in the freezer section. I read the ingredients, and it seems to be all-butter. I hope it's here to stay and not just a seasonal thing. MelissaH

Cart wipes at the entryway of the big supermarkets. Bags at the meat section of both. But only Wegman's has hand sanitizer at the meat section. MelissaH

nxtasy, Yes, TH. My big question now is how buttery the buttercrust is. Do I replace all the oil, or just part of it, with butter? (Or, put another way, how much butter do you get for $0.75?) MelissaH

*bump* Early in the new year, my husband and I will be making our version of Chicago-style pizza for a transplanted Chicagoan friend. We asked him which place is his favorite, and he said Lou Malnati's. Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I has ever had the pleasure of a Malnati's pizza, so we're aiming for an unknown. (We've always gravitated towards Edwardo's spinach pie, but in ten years of trying still haven't figured the filling out quite right. We've also eaten at Due and Giordano's.) So, Chicagoans, I'm asking for a little advice before I start to experiment this week in preparation for the big day. We've worked out a crust recipe that we're happy with over the years. Our recipe uses both salad oil (I usually use corn oil) and olive oil, in about a 2:1 ratio. If I wanted to try a butter crust variation, would I sub butter for the salad oil, the olive oil, or both? As far as crust thickness: I understand Malnati's crust runs thinner (relatively speaking, of course not as thin as what we see here in upstate NY); that's fine because that's what we prefer as well. Does the rim of the crust also run thin? And then there's the tomato issue. According to a previous post, we should use plain tomatoes, with a sprinkle of oregano (dried?) and parm. If this information is correct, there's no way on earth that this recipe can be correct. We usually use a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes, dump both into a sieve to drip-drain well, mix the two together, and use that as our tomato component. How chunky is Malnati's tomato, and how much tomato is there? How strong is the oregano? (Come to think of it, maybe a little dried oregano would help to further absorb any liquid, and thus help avoid soggy crust.) And then there's the construction issue. We usually duplicate what we remember eating: get the crust in the pan, then put down a layer of slices (not shreds) of mozzarella, then whatever toppings we're using, then the tomato, and finally a sprinkle of parm. This is another reason why the Food Network recipe referenced above gives me doubt: it says to "Add the tomato sauce and all of the toppings," which to me implies that the stuff goes on top of the tomato, whereas I'm used to seeing the tomato on top of the stuff. I'm presuming that crust-cheese-stuff-tomatoes would be correct for a Malnati's pie. Any other advice for us? Next time we're in Chicago, you can guess where we'll be going for our pizza fix! MelissaH

Nothing specific and helpful to add, but I'll throw my $0.02 in here to say that in my small towns, most of the "hot chocolate" doesn't seem to have actual chocolate, but rather cocoa powder or chocolate-flavored syrup. They all use whatever kind of milk you request, and use the espresso maker's steamer wand to heat it. (I don't think anyone sinks as low as to just open a packet of powdered stuff and add hot water.) The result is nothing special, and usually overly sweet for my taste, to the point where I need to add a splash of coffee to make it tolerable. If your clientele is sophisticated enough to stay and drink a small cup of something really special, you might consider offering a couple of variations: one that's a little sweeter and good for drinking as-is, and another that's designed to have sweetened whipped cream or a homemade marshmallow added. Rooting for you from upstate NY, MelissaH

Call me a maybe, as I have some scheduling and transportation issues to work out still. MelissaH

I absolutely read the ingredients and the directions. I'm looking to see if the ingredients are things that I can actually get, here in the sticks where I live. And if there are too many ingredients that I can't get or in some cases have never heard of, the book is consigned to the "kitchen porn" pile: you can look but you can't touch. And as far as the directions go, I'm looking to see whether the instructions make sense, for a home cook in a home kitchen. In the case of desserts, I'm looking for things that are doomed to fail, either because the directions aren't specific enough or because the ratios of ingredients just look off for what you're being instructed to do or make. What can I say, other than I'm a geek. MelissaH

Don't discount the Lowe's kitchen designers. When we were in our planning process, we talked to as many people as we could, and the guy at Lowe's had some good ideas that we incorporated. Do you live near an IKEA? I'd also say that if the budget's limited, think about the things that are easier to redo after the fact, and the things that really can't be redone. If you find that you need to economize, do so on the things that can be fixed afterwards. For us, countertops came under the former category but cabinets were most definitely the latter. MelissaH

Any updates on Potsdam or Massena eating? MelissaH

What are people using as their vacuum source with their rotovaps? I've used both aspirators and water pumps in lab, and don't see either as ideal in a kitchen setting. (Not to mention the other little issue of needing to somehow cool the condenser.) MelissaH

When I'm baking something like brownies or bar cookies, I like to use a metal pan, lined with parchment. My glass pans all have rounded corners and edges, so anything not from the middle gets "shorted." My metal pans have vertical sides and square corners. MelissaH

I hope some will play with it. The possibilities are interesting. The resulting liquors might taste especially fresh and three-dimensional. And all kinds of interesting things might be done with the stuff left behind, sinci it won't be deadened by boiling. But, technically, it is boiling. You're just reducing the atmospheric pressure inside the vessel so you don't have to heat it as much to get to the point where the vapor pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure. Anything volatile will still come off; presumably, it'll be captured in the solvent reservoir unless it's so volatile that it gets sucked right down the drain or into your vacuum pump. MelissaH

violetfox, Yes, we installed our Marmoleum Click ourselves. It was pretty easy, once we figured out that you really need a "tap block" and mallet to get the pieces to snap together. My husband made one out of some hard maple, routing it out to match the tongue-and-groove of the flooring. Once he did that, he didn't even need my help! MelissaH

If you're a snob, I'm a snob. MelissaH

I think that should I ever win the lottery, I'd hire a database guru and a bunch of typists. I'd have the typists enter my cookbook collection into the database that the guru builds for me. Then I'd have a collection that was searchable for ingredient(s). I wouldn't even necessarily want the entire set of directions in there; I'd just want to be able to look for recipes that use the combination of ingredients I'm after and then tell me which cookbook, on what page. I don't necessarily follow recipes, but I like to use them for inspiration. MelissaH

I second the pound cake recommendation. Especially if you use one that gets soaked in a syrup, like Dorie Greenspan's rum-soaked cake from Baking: from My Home to Yours. You can make it at home, and it'll keep just fine for as long as you need it to. If you aren't so into the rum, I've had great success using whisky instead, particularly one with vanilla-y overtones. I suspect orange juice would also do the trick, if you'd prefer not to use alcohol. You could serve it with fruit, either fresh cut-up fruit or a dried fruit compote that you've made ahead of time. Or, if you'll have oven access, make cookie dough at home, pack it into a cooler, bring your baking sheets and parchment, and use the interval between dinner and dessert to bake them off. I prefer the cookies after the dough's sat in the fridge for a couple of days, so I always try to make the dough ahead of time, use a disher to scoop out balls of dough, and let them sit in the fridge until I need them. If you're not so into scooping balls of dough, shape the dough into a log, and cut it into slabs and then quarter the slabs, just like the tubes of cookie dough you can buy. Biscotti also keep reasonably well, as long as you don't shake them so they bash against the sides of the container and break into dust. And biscotti go well with many after-dinner beverages of all temperatures. MelissaH

How do nuts made with egg whites compare to nuts made with a recipe like JAZ's seasoned nuts? Has anyone tried a head-to-head comparison? MelissaH