MelissaH

We'll be spending Easter weekend in Lake Placid this year, watching some good college hockey. Our hotel room is three blocks from the ice arena, and we plan to park the car when we arrive on Friday and not move it again until we head out on Monday. Where's good to eat these days? Our tastes definitely tend towards the less-expensive, non-upscale, non-chain, down-to-earth, good food, good to sit and talk with friends places. We haven't been graduate students for quite a while, but think about eating like a grad student and you'll get the general drift. We won't be bringing any clothing more formal than cargo pants and a hockey sweater, so anywhere that would require fancy dress is out. We'll probably be spending a fair amount of time enjoying outdoor activities when we're not at games, so we'll probably get good and hungry. Is there anywhere we should be sure not to miss? And are we likely to encounter closed restaurants due to the holiday? MelissaH

What I wound up doing: I pulled the cabbage rolls out of the freezer about ten minutes before I realized that I needed to get dinner moving NOW. So they were pretty rock-solid still, when it was time to start dinner prep. I took a pot, added hot water from the kitchen faucet, and tossed in the two vacuum-sealed packets of cabbage rolls. I then started heating the pot on the stove. When the water came up to a boil, I turned the heat down to simmer, and left it there a while (10 or so minutes, maybe? I didn't keep careful track). Things felt nicely thawed, and even hot, but I had no way to quantify how hot the insides were without opening a packet. So I turned the burner off, pulled one packet out, snipped open an end, and stuck my Thermapen probe into one of the cabbage rolls. I was only at about 125 degrees F, so I dumped the entire contents of the packet into a dish, covered it with a plate, and stuck it in the microwave for a minute. After that, the Thermapen kept moving well past 165 degrees, so I knew everything was well dead. This whole time, I left the other packet in the pot with the hot water. When the microwave became available, I put the other serving in for a minute to finish heating it through. The result: one delicious dinner of leftover cabbage rolls. I think if I was going to do only one serving, I might be able to go with just the microwave. But for two or more servings, not only did I get them done in a reasonable amount of time, I humidified the kitchen a bit. MelissaH

The bags (standard FoodSaver brand) are both microwave-safe and boilable. I'm looking for quick and easy. Minimal cleanup is a plus tonight! MelissaH

Back when this cook-off was more current, I made a batch of cabbage rolls (stuffed with meat and rice, and cooked in tomato sauce on top of the stove). We ate some, and the leftovers I froze individually on a cookie sheet, then vacuum-sealed in single-serving packets. Since then, the sealed packets have been reposing in the chest freezer. Tonight, we're going to need a quick dinner, so we're going to pull a couple of packets out. What's going to be the best way to reheat these? (Microwave? Boil in the bag?) I'm unable to plan on a specific dinner time tonight, as it all will depend on how organized my husband's students are in lab this afternoon! Thanks, MelissaH

I prefer the Cook's Illustrated technique modification for overnight waffles, noted by Susie Q: put the batter together the night before, but beat the eggs in. Leave the batter to rise overnight in the fridge. No need for baking soda, because the colder temperature reduces the amount of acid produced. I find I prefer the Fanny Farmer recipe to the Cook's Illustrated recipe, but I like the fridge technique because it makes the morning easier, and I find the flavor better. MelissaH

lauraf, Look in Julia Child for instructions---she taught my mother and me both how to make souffles. I think they're in Mastering volume 1. Then, get yourself a carton of eggs, and try it. Really, the worst that can happen is that you wind up with a baked egg dish! Despite the mystique and the "oooh" factor, a souffle is not difficult to make. The hardest part can be separating the eggs! Good luck, MelissaH

Here's a question, for those of you who bake on parchment: do you find that the bottom of your loaf winds up pale, compared to the part that was not in contact with the parchment? I'm using a pre-heated stone, and even when I pull the parchment out as soon as the loaf is set enough to do so, I still wind up with the bottom significantly paler than the rest of the crust. Has anyone tried baking these breads on an oiled pizza screen, placed on the stone? I'm wondering if that would make the crust color more consistent, but at the same time reduce the amount of cornmeal rolling around my oven. And what internal temperature am I shooting for, when the loaf is fully baked? MelissaH

I tried using latex gloves purchased at a pharmacy. They too worked beautifully for non-sticking the dough. This time of year, I just keep the dough in our garage. It stays a pretty constant 40 to 45 degrees F there, and the dough rests nicely next to the lagering beer-in-progress. MelissaH

I have a silicone pan liner, KitchenAid brand (I think). It came as a set of two, one red and one blue, one for a half-sheet pan and one for a more traditional rimless cookie sheet. I tried using the red one (half-sheet size) once, and I watched it expand through my oven window. (The Silpat-brand liners I have don't do this.) It was kind of scary, watching my cookies move and the red liner ripple on the pan. I won't be using it for baking again, but it should work nicely to keep a large cutting board from sliding on the counter. I think it would also be good as a pan liner when freezing items on a pan before bagging them. MelissaH

I'm having a problem with the silicone spatulas. I noticed that every time I ran them through the dishwasher, they'd drip water all over when I unloaded them and put them away. A little examination showed that the handle was separate from the shaft. When I pulled the handle off, water gushed out. I started to always remove the handle and load the two pieces separately into the dishwasher. That solved the trapped-water problem. My husband tried sealing the gap with a bead of clear silicone, but that didn't last. I've stuck to dehandling. I did just snap the shaft of one of my spatulas, in the process of separating the pieces. I like the spatulas, I just find them annoying to use. MelissaH

We decided it was time to rejuvenate our AeroGarden. This time around we went with the "South of the Border" selection, which gives us globe basil, thyme, two cilantros, parsley, oregano, and epazote. The plants are all doing nicely, and when it was time to feed them I decided I'd better read the book that came with the seed pods. And in at least two different places, there are prominent warnings that pregnant and nursing women should NOT use epazote. This is the first time I've come across a warning for epazote, as though it's in the same category as, say, cat litter boxes, unpasteurized cheeses, or sushi. Is this common practice? Why haven't I seen warnings in any of my Mexican cookbooks? MelissaH

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been a most enjoyable week. This has been a most enjoyable week. This has been a most enjoyable week. MelissaH

Definitely contact Chufi. We did a market tour with her, and it was the best day we spent in Amsterdam. She knows everything there is to know about marketing there! MelissaH

I think a jug of pancake mix could be awesome if you're camping. . . ← Bingo! We have a winner!

Kerry, you implied above that you're driving to Buffalo, and thus keeping your flights entirely in the US rather than dealing with international flights. IYHO, is it easier to smuggle good cheese on land, or in the air? (Not that either of us or anyone else on eG would ever dream of doing anything along those lines, of course! ) Wish I could witness the festivities first-hand, rather than vicariously. MelissaH

I called Pulaski Meat Market, the Polish butcher in Utica. They don't carry any veal, so they don't have veal bones. I haven't tried looking up any of the slaughterhouses directly. (I suspect they probably don't deal directly with consumers very often, at any rate.) Where do the veal bones that show up in NYC come from? MelissaH

I looked for veal bones in several places in central New York, where I live. My local supermarket, Price Chopper, laughed. Our nearest Wegman's shook their heads. I tried at a small grocery store here that's known for their meats. No dice. As a last-ditch effort, I tried the German butcher in the big city. They could do osso buco, at $12/lb as a special order. (No thanks.) But they also said that I might have better luck in Utica. Apparently, all the veal slaughterhouses in this area are in Utica. The butcher I spoke with mentioned a Polish butcher somewhere in Utica, a place that's been there forever and whose name I can't remember. I may actually get to Utica next week, and it should be cold enough that I'll have no trouble keeping meat cold in the back of the car. I'd like to try making veal stock, but the raw ingredients are far from a sure bet here. MelissaH

I've made two batches of ice cream in the last two days. Yesterday, I did the lemon ice cream. I had Meyer lemons on hand, so that's what I used. Because so many of the recipes have been so tooth-achingly sweet as written, I started out with half the sugar in the recipe. The directions have you zesting the lemons directly into the blender, adding the sugar, and whizzing them together till both zest and sugar are fine. I couldn't get this to happen in my blender; the blades whirred around but didn't do anything to zest or sugar. I added the juice and then was able to get things moving. I added half-and-half and a pinch of salt, whizzed, and tasted. Much to my surprise, it was TOO tart. I wound up dumping in spoonfuls of sugar till it tasted right. After an hour in the fridge, it went into my ice cream maker. It got another hour or so in the freezer to firm up, and was perfect for after lunch. Today, it was my turn for the malt ball ice cream. I made the custard base last night. Following Kerry Beal's advice, I started with half the sugar. And that was about right. Today, about the time our homebrewing session was wrapping up, I was churning ice cream. It's still in our freezer firming up a bit more, but what I licked off the dasher was marvelously decadent and worth doing again. MelissaH

Lucky you, with some semblance of standardization by color. Our supermarket tends to group the milk cartons by color. All the red ones go together, the greens together, etc. The problem is that some brands use green for 2%, while other brands use green for skim! I always take the time to look carefully. All the UP creams from the dairy are different shades of blue. The non-UP creams are shades of yellow or tan. MelissaH

We got home from our holiday travels last night and headed out to get some cheap pizza for dinner and some milk for breakfast. And lo and behold, at our local dairy, we found something new: a quart container of so-called gourmet heavy cream, with 40% butterfat! (For comparison purposes, the "regular" heavy cream is 36%.) The regular stuff is available in both ultra-pasteurized and non-ultra versions, but the gourmet variety only comes UP. I guess you can't have everything, and I suspect they might not sell enough gourmet cream to make it worth their while for regular-shelf-life pasteurization. So, now that I have a quart of 40% butterfat cream, what do I do with it? I also have four Meyer lemons on hand, but the two don't necessarily need to be connected. I do have an ice cream maker! MelissaH

I'm hoping this is the year that Shirley Corriher finally publishes BakeWise. MelissaH

Or if you're looking for a nice little finger-food munchie type thing: Let some cream cheese and some soft goat cheese soften at room temperature, then beat them together with a mixer to make something that's pipeably soft. If I'm doing this for me and people I know well, I don't use much cream cheese, but for a roomful of students who aren't so into the goat thing, I use about half and half. If the mixture doesn't get sufficiently soft, beat in a smidge of heavy cream, a tablespoon at a time, to save your hands from aching later. For some extra zip, you can add some coarsely ground peppercorns to the mixing bowl. Scrape the cheese mixture into a ziplock bag, press out the air and seal the top. Snip a corner open and use the ziplock as a piping bag to squeeze the contents onto small plain crunchy boring crackers (or cookies if you'd prefer to take this in a sweeter direction, I suppose; tiny gingersnaps might be interesting). Then on top of each, arrange a few pomegranite seeds that you've whacked out of a whole fruit. One pomegranite will give you more than enough seeds for six dozen nibbles. If you want to get really fancy for the holidaze, add a sprinkle of something green, such as chopped mint leaves if you want to go sweet or snipped chives if you want to stay savory, either on top or beaten into the cheese. I don't usually bother because I don't want to detract from the pomegranite seeds. MelissaH

I liked the dolsot bibimbap at Chorong House better than the one at Tokyo Seoul. 1121 E Fayette St Syracuse, NY 13210 (315) 428-0501 MelissaH

maher, This sounds delightful. I'll have to give it a try at some point. I've also successfully taken out Arabesque from the campus library, and found the ouzi (sp) recipe within. If not now, then definitely in January! All the recipes I'm finding seem to require cooking the rice in some kind of flavorful liquid. How much would I lose if I used leftover rice? I have lots of that in my fridge today. MelissaH

Hm. I've never gotten questions at Wegman's, but then again I'm also careful to always weigh and tag my produce in the produce section so it just needs to be scanned. Our local Price Chopper, OTOH, is getting worse by the day. Not long ago, a checker actually had to ask, "Broccoli or cauliflower?" MelissaH