onehsancare

Thanks! I hadn't even noticed the omission!

Page 8 of this thread, or here (I just copied it for my use!): Coconut-Cranberry Chews makes 7-8 dozen cookies Ingredients 1½ cups (¾ lb.) butter, at room temperature 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 large egg 3¼ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1½ cups dried cranberries 1½ cups sweetened flaked dried coconut Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, beat 1½ cups butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in egg until well blended. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together. Mix in cranberries and coconut. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on buttered baking sheets. Bake at 350° F until edges just begin to brown, 11 to 15 minutes. If baking two sheets at once in one oven, switch their positions halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer to racks to cool completely.

Zombie cake! An almost flourless bittersweet chocolate cake with orange zest and Grand Marnier, marzipan zombie hand. I wish I could say it was my idea, but it wasn't!

I've been trying for (literally) years to coordinate our trips to San Francisco to include dinner at New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro, in Talent, Oregon (just north of Ashland). Their schedule is limited: Thurs- Sun 5pm to 9pm, so it just hasn't worked out. You probably won't need lunch by the time you hit Olympia, but we had the most wonderful garlic fries of my life and excellent barbeque at Ranch House BBQ on our last trip up to Seattle. There are lots of threads already on eGullet with suggestions for the Oregon coast and the Willamette Valley. You may want to do some searches (use the "Search" function at the top of the screen for best results). Unless you're on a leisurely trip and want to visit the wine country, there isn't much exciting food directly on or close to I-5 in Oregon. My family insists that we stop for ice cream at Rice Hill, which has very good grocery-store-type ice cream in very large servings. Have a great trip and report back.

I picked up the Mario Batali prep bowls on impulse at Christmas (I think--in any event, they were a "present" for Mr. Care!) I love using them--someone wrote that they make him feel like a chef--but they have not held up well. The melamine is cracking on several of the rims, and the color has faded unevenly. My go-to bowls are the pyrex custard cups.

Received my Steam Baking Master Artisan Bread Pan on Saturday, so I had to try it out. Having no baking time available in the schedule for the day, I used the second recipe in the instruction booklet, which used a small poolish in a very simple recipe. Baked the loaves yesterday, and ended up with french bread that I think might rival Safeway's! Okay, I didn't use any independent judgment at all in choosing the recipe or following it, but I'd still hoped for something with body, a little chewiness, a little taste . . . but it did have a crisp crust. Not worthy of a photo. I'll play some more and report when I have some success.

We’re back! As it turned out, we didn’t take the train. (The plan had been to play bridge all the way up and all the way back—the Talgo trains have 2 x 2 seating with a table between—but Amtrak just took the Talgos off-line for repairs.) So, we drove, which was more efficient, but cut down considerably on the card playing! On the other hand, driving meant that we could do eGullet research for meals on the road . . . . On the way to Seattle, we stopped at Ranch House BBQ, outside Olympia, based on Daddy-A’s recommendation. I had the pulled pork sandwich, which was excellent. The high point, though, was the HUGE serving of fantastic garlic fries—absolutely superb, not too greasy, clearly from actual potatoes. I’m embarrassed to admit that I ate the entire serving. There was an article posted on the wall that said that they go through 400 pounds of potatoes a day, so I suspect that I’m not the only one entranced by their salty garlicky goodness. The coleslaw was excellent, too, but took a big backseat to the fries. Seven hours later, we were still pretty full, but managed to drag ourselves to the Dahlia Lounge. It’s been on my list to visit for years, as we’ve always enjoyed Etta’s, but the stars were finally aligned to make it happen. I had the mutual taste of the day, an unimpressive marinated squid, and one oyster, which was sweet and ocean-y and wonderful. I wanted more, but I knew I didn’t have room. The Peking duck was hot, and crisp, and deeply flavorful, and absolutely everything I could have asked for. It was served with shitake noodles (not exciting) and a very good slaw. Mr. Care had the pork shank and reported that it was excellent. I had no room for dessert, but the sorbet terrine with panna cotta was reported to be very good. Brunch was at Steelhead Diner. We sat at a window with a lovely view of the rain and the market. I had the Sequimbled Eggs, which I could eat for breakfast seven times a week! (Sequim is a town north of Seattle, pronounced “Skwim,” so these were “skwimbled eggs" . . . I loved all the puns in the menu.) The eggs were poached, placed on a bed of the sweetest crabmeat I’ve had in a while, on top of toasted bread (very slightly cheesey—I wouldn’t call it cheese bread, though), with a smooth, tangy hollandaise. VERY yummy. The Mariners game was great fun—it was Kids’ Appreciation Day, so there were all sorts of non-game involvements for kids. A couple of home runs, a couple of nice defensive plays, and a win over the Rangers—who could ask for anything more? (Okay, sunshine, but I'm not greedy!) Then came the long, rainy drive home. We stopped in Centralia for dinner, at La Tarasca, based on Pupcart’s recommendation from several years ago. Mr. Care had wonderful chile verde, I had excellent, tender and juicy carnitas; our friends had the pork loin and a chili rellano and all were quite happy. The service was very good. All stuffed, we rolled back into the car and arrived home by 10:30. I’d repeat any of those visits today, if I could. It will be a long time before I stop dreaming about more garlic fries! Thanks for all of the suggestions—this was a 100% eGullet recommended trip! edited for clarity

I'm not certain of any one particular reason. I can see their position from a safety point of view. Right now, the main cause of domestic fires is "chip fires", where "certain groups" of expats leave the oil on hot for their chips (French fries, frites, freedom fries, or whatever you care to call them), and forget to turn it off when they go out. ← I'm confused--why would they be more likely to leave the oil on with a gas stove than an electric?

Great ideas, all! Thanks! (And keep them coming--we're not going for three more weeks.) Green Leaf was on the top of my list, but we're traveling with older, non-foodie friends who vetoed any Southeast Asian. (Frankly, I'm surprised they suggested Szechuan, but I'm not complaining!) They're also not into cocktails, so if a special trip for a drink is in the works, it will probably just be me and Mr. Care. (Hey, that sounds like a great idea . . . !) Timing Sunday afternoon is going to be really tight (the game starts at 1:00, our train leaves at 5:30), so I'm hoping we'll actually have time to make it to Spanish Table and catch the train on time without missing the final inning(s). I'm taking the advice to trade Etta's for a different brunch; I'll run all of the ideas by our friends and will report. Thanks again!

We're planning a trip to Seattle for the end of September, and boy, will it be fast. We're taking the train from Eugene (at 5:30 am ), arriving in Seattle around 12:30. Lunch: Szechuan Noodle Bowl after lunch, check into hotel and do touristy things. Dinner: Dahlia Lounge next morning-- Brunch: Etta's 1:00 Mariners game Shop for picnic dinner at Spanish Table Catch train back to Eugene, to arrive at 12:30 a.m. So--any thoughts? Recommendations? Warnings? Thanks!

There was never any doubt about that!! (He's the best husband in the world--I hardly ever get to blame him for anything!)

I will never again . . . 1. Make a watermelon wedding cake (here’s the thread about why we needed it Non-Cake Cake thread); 2. Leave to deliver the cake; 3. Allow Mr. Care to take care of the huge bowl of scraps (which we were going to eat); 4. Not question where the scraps were moved to get them out of reach of the dogs; and 5. Eight days later, open the oven to preheat it and discover the most disgusting mass of flies, fermented watermelon, and mold I've ever seen. (It’s been warm here.) GAG.

I picked up the Mario Batali prep bowls on impulse at Christmas (I think--in any event, they were a "present" for Mr. Care!) I love using them--someone wrote that they make him feel like a chef--but they have not held up well. The melamine is cracking on several of the rims, and the color has faded unevenly. Still, they're fun, and I'll keep my eyes open for another set at Ross or TJMaxx, but just won't expect much durability.

Ding! Ding! We have a winner! They loved the watermelon idea. I made a "dry run" last week with all red, but still thought I'd try a yellow layer, too. The yellow watermelon we got today was tasteless and not as firm as the red, so we trashed it. The wedding was tonight, and everyone LOVED the cake! (I got more compliments on that than for anything I've ever baked!) I used organic edible flowers to decorate.

I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle a few weeks ago. (BTW, I recommend it highly!) She had a recipe for Disappearing Zucchini Orzo that I'm going to try tonight. Shred zucchini, saute w/ onion. Add thyme, oregano, mix w/ cooked orzo and parmesan cheese. The recipe is available on her website, Animal Vegetable Miracle.

Just beautiful! I am green with envy--and that's just the walls so far!

marionberries, this summer's berry of choice. Marionberries are a sweet-tart blackberry, developed in Marion County, Oregon. I much prefer them to boysenberries.

I've been looking for a recipe or guide to brandying fruit, especially berries. I've not found a consensus about the following issues: sugar/no sugar/amount of sugar seal immediately/age in crock how long to macerate? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.

I feel like a rich woman when I know that there will always be a clean measuring cup in the cupboard, so I don't have to stop cooking or baking to wash the right-sized one out. I made that cream cheese/pesto/sundried tomato torte last night and must have used eight measuring cups (yes, of different sizes!), so I didn't have the pesto contaminate the cream cheese, etc. I think we have four sets of dry measuring cups, maybe four one-cup liquid cups, and a couple each of the bigger liquid cups. Okay, I'm spoiled.

Wedding date has been moved (again!) to August 13. I haven't had a serious sit-down with the bride and groom for several weeks. I'll see them this weekend, and I think we'll start the discussion by reading this thread! Thanks again for all your wonderful ideas--if they're not happy with one of these, I don't know what we'll do! I'll report after we meet.

ANYBODY in the FOH wearing cologne, perfume, aftershave. Oddly enough, I like to smell what I'm eating, not the hostess.

PLEASE tell me that you're not going to enter into a several-hundred-thousand dollar deal without having a licensed lawyer WITH MALPRACTICE INSURANCE handle the transaction.

They've since told me that they want something to serve the function of a wedding cake--to share a symbol of their union with all of their guests. I don't think they're really aiming for a "cake"--I know that they don't want a regular cake with stevia substituting for sugar, or anything like that. Thanks for your good thoughts.

Boy, LOTS of great ideas! Thanks so much! Tri2Cook really put her finger on the real issue--what does "NO SWEETS" mean in practice? For many of the OAs I know, it doesn't matter if the sweetener is artificial or not; they don't want the experience of eating sweets. Others do use artificial sweeteners, and I think EVERYBODY eats fruit. One more thought I had was a Ukrainian wedding bread, a korovai. I'm going to experiment with making it less sweet. Serving that would mean that the "no bread" people won't get any, but I think we came into this knowing that we weren't going to be able to meet everyone's limitations. I'm going to be meeting with the bride this week, and I'll let her be in charge. (Was there ever a bride who wasn't in charge??) Thanks again--you guys are wonderful.

WAY cool!