Frog1879

My wife and I are buying a house this Friday and are looking to upgrade the appliances. Unfortunately I've been overruled on a full-on professional style range (at least for now), but I still am getting an upgrade because the kitchen currently has an electric range. Since we're doing the range anyway we've decided to get the refrigerator and dishwasher at the same time so we can get matching appliances. Has anyone had any experience with the Kitchenaid Architect II Series of appliances? We're looking at one of the bottom freezer fridges with French doors, a hidden panel dishwashwer, and the duel fuel, continuous grate slide-in range. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Frog

I heartily second the raw cranberry and orange relish. That's a staple at my family's Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mom uses hers to grind up the ingredients to make salsa for canning.

I think one of the most annoying experiences of moving to the UK has been the grocery stores. Just finding some items can be a complete nightmare. - The plastic wrap and aluminum foil are by the freezer section rather than by the rest of the ziploc bags, aluminum trays, etc. - No canned broth! Yeah homemade is better, but homemade is a pain when you've got a little freezer and no space for effective cooling. You can buy good stock in pouches but that's about 2 pounds 50 (5 dollars) for a pint of stock. - Carts with four caster style wheels. Load these things up and fight them all the way to the car to keep them from careening into another car. - The Sunday rush. Grocery stores here can only be open for a few hours on Sunday (normally about 6) so they're normally open from only 10 am until 4 pm. Makes for a mad rush of people trying to get their shopping done. Who am I kidding? It's a mad rush all the time at grocery stores here. - Almost complete lack of Italian cheese. - In a country that seems to be very concerned about global warming there is a complete waste of energy in the freezer sections. All the refrigerator sections stand completely open the worst of which is where the milk goes. It's just a cooler on top that they wheel the carts with the milk into. Cold air pooring out the bottom. - Running out of completely random diet staples. I don't know that I've ever seen a grocery store in the US run completely out of milk. I've seen it a couple times here and of course those were the times when I really needed milk. - And the coup de grace: restocking always taking place during the Sunday rush. I don't think they've figured out the concept of having workers there before the doors open to restock the shelves thus causing the already narrow isles to become even narrower with the restocking carts cluttering the place up. I feel better now and I say bring on the little old ladies writing checks, the lackluster baggers, and the random carts in the parking lot. Just give me some low sodium Swanson chicken broth and I'll be a happy man. Frog

Hmmm...blogspot can't find the blog link. Where is the Lucky Wok you mention? I have a Chinese friend whose family always goes to the Lucky Wok on 87th in Lenexa. I've had their seafood hotpot and beef noodles in black bean sauce that are excellent. Great, now I'm craving even more food from Kansas City. Can't wait to move back in December.

Top three cheese experiences in Italy: 1 - Mozzarella di bufala for antipasti at a trattoria in Rome (a ball of cheese with one hand-stretched side, just a bit of olive oil). My wife was laughing at me I was in such ecstasy. 2 - Four cheese sauce (unfortunately I can't remember the cheeses) on gnocchi in San Gimignano 3 - Walking into any cheese shop in Italy and smelling something that I can only describe as old feet but realizing that the separate elements that create that caucophony of smells are all delicious. Yes, my mind works in mysterious ways

Just joined but I've been a longtime lurker. I couldn't find anything about eating out in Southampton except for the one on Long Island so I thought I'd start a thread. These are places that I've found to be really good: Thai Cafe (just opened the new location off Oxford Street) Olive Tree Zen Duke's Head (north of Romsey but it's close enough for me to count it because they do great fish) Anyone out there have others? My wife and I are moving back to the US in December but some new ideas for the interim would be welcome. Frog

Unfortunately I've had it in Rome prepared with cream Granted the restaurant was chosen for its view of the Pantheon rather than the food, but I was still disappointed.

Based on your interests for the trip you are definitely better off renting a car for exploring the small towns. If you decide to spend a couple days in Florence I would recommend the train from Milan and then renting the car there for the continuation of the journey (most big rental companies shouldn't have a problem with you returning the car at Malpensa). If you go down that path there is a bus service from Malpensa direct to the central train station in Milan. Driving around the country side is a piece of cake. The only thing to look out for is the F1 driver wannabes who like to cut the corners on the winding hill roads. Since you're aiming for small towns the easiest thing we found was to drive up toward the town and find a parking lot on the outskirts. It's a lot easier to park and walk then look for that perfect parking space close in. Lastly I would recommend a GPS if you plan to do any driving in the cities or at the very least a really good map of the city. We'll be driving through Piedmont on our roundabout way to Oktoberfest this year so if we find any incredible places to eat or stay I'll come back and post them.

According to Bill Buford in his book Heat this type of preparation is traditional in Tuscany except there is a specific cut (can't remember exactly which one, but it was tough of course) and it used wine instead of tomatoes. He was surprised because there was no browning of the meat or sauteing the onion. Everything went into a pot and was simmered in the oven overnight. Sounded great to me!