Kim D

Hmmmm...do they work on kids' cave paintings? Seems my husband's kids all have the crayon gene & a mother that thought coloring on the ceiling was healthy. We could, of course, just paint. Here's my helpful hint: next time something's cooked/burned onto a pot or pan, try scraping with a wooden spoon instead of any scrubber or metal utensil. I discovered this serendipitously when trying to gently remove a candymaking accident from a tin-lined copper pot. Now I go for the wooden spoon before anything else. It's a really nice way to treat Le Creuset. ← I tried the Mr. Clean erasers on wall drawings. Didn't work. The combination of pencil, ink, red marker and gold paint was too much for it. Kilz worked but only after several coats. The erasers did remove the scuff marks on the hardwood floors. Really well. Too well. I could see dull areas all over the floor where the eraser had done its job. But, all's well that ends well. I ended up on my hands and knees polishing that floor and it never ever would have looked that good otherwise. Believe it or not, I like those erasers. - kim

Show off? Me, I just love to cook. So does my sister. Together, forget about it. We don't know where to stop. She invited me to visit and asked if I minded if she invited a few (forty) people over for dinner. I said sure. Why not? We decided to cook wild game (pig, turkey, venison). Because someone gave it to her and it was taking up too much room in her freezer. Even though neither of us had ever cooked any wild game before. We found a bunch of awesome-sounding recipes and then cooked for a solid three days (starting at 7am, finishing at 1am and taking very short breaks). Of the thirty recipes, twenty-four were new to us. Almost everything was over-the-top good. The rest were merely great. (Except for one dish that we ended up hiding because it was over-the-top bad.) How my sister will ever top that party is beyond me. - kim

The last time I was in London, I found the Australian Women's Weekly for Spanish Tapas. What an awesome magazine. I love every recipe I've made so far and I have more recipes that I want to try! - kim

Chickeny chicken. I've made this dish with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Both are great. I've been using the skinless lately because you got to minimize calories somewhere. I always serve this with mashed potatoes. Sometimes I use cream, sometimes whole milk but always always with lots of butter. When I remember, I add roasted garlic. But there never seem to be enough onions. Each time I make this dish, I add more onions. The last time I used 3 large Spanish onions (instead of the small yellow every day onions) with one pound of thighs. The only problem was that the onions should have been sliced thinner. But there still didn't seem to be enough. The onions make a great gravy for the mashed potatoes. I really should make a bigger batch. Leftovers rock, too. - kim

It's been a very long time since I've been to "Cheese Stands Alone". At the time there was not a very big selection. And for some reason I seem to have this memory of seeing cheeses in the same plastic that supermarket cheeses are packaged. And that made me think that the quality of their cheeses was supermarket quality. But, if you are recommending them, I'll give them another try. And I would be very happy to find that my memory was incorrect. - kim

Thank you! I wish I would have had time to get to Pastoral and Binny's to see if they had Telaggio. I want to find a good cheese source here in Chicago. I do wonder why this thread isn't in General Food Topics but, then again, it's nice to explore a new area of eGullet. - kim

On Tuesday, my husband called from London to tell me he had just picked up some Telaggio from La Fromagerie. He asked me to pick up more Telaggio from Whole Foods and Fox & Obel so we could do a taste comparison... On Thursday, I picked up Telaggio from Whole Foods. On sale. $12.99/pound. (I just rooted through the garbage to find the name of the producer. What, am I crazy?). Vero Cademartori. I brought it home, took it out of the plastic, rewrapped it in paper and set in on the counter. On Friday (4 hours before my husband arrived), I picked up Telaggio from Fox & Obel. Also $12.99/pound. La Baita. I brought it home, took it out of the plastic, and let it breath. I can assure you that the cheese my husband brought back was not treated as nicely. We unwrapped the three cheeses. (I really must find the batteries and recharger for my camera.) And placed them on a platter. With thin slices of baguette. Chilled white wine. Slices of serrano ham. And wondered how the cheeses would compare. The visuals? The cheese from La Fromagerie was a powdery white clean milky color. The rind was a healthy blushing orange. The mold on top looked alive and part of the cheese. The word that comes to mind is vibrant. Living. Healthy. The cheeses from Whole Foods and Fox & Obel looked very similar. After I painfully peeled off the paper which seemed to have grown into the rind. The cheese was a slightly yellow plastic color. The rind was a dead orangey yellow color. The mold looked like it shouldn't be there. The smell? The cheese from La Fromagerie made me think of standing in a forest smelling the musty earth. The cheese from Whole Foods made me think of standing behind a screen door trying to smell the forest and getting a faint whiff. The cheese from Fox & Obel made me think of standing behind a glass door looking at the forest and wondering if I could smell it and thinking that I probably could. The taste and texture? Oh. Oh. Oh. Why don't we live in London? We could. I'm sure of it. Creamy. Milky. Earthy. Perfection. I could easily have eaten it all by myself without even trying the other two. Or the baguette. Or the wine (a soave classico from Fox & Obel). But then I wouldn't be able to properly savor the moment. And I don't know when I'll get my next Telaggio fix from La Fromagerie. The cheese from Whole Foods was better than Fox & Obel. Could be because it had time to warm up and open up? But it still had a plasticky texture that wanted to stick to my teeth rather than stay on my tongue. If I hadn't had the cheese from La Fromagerie, I would have liked it. The cheese from Fox & Obel reminded us all too much of Velveeta. It had that texture and the taste was somewhat similar. And it was just all wrong. And I wanted to like it because I like Fox & Obel. Their cheese person loves cheese. I told her I would report back. And now I would rather not since the results were so awful. I wanted to save her a piece of the La Fromagerie cheese but that was impossible. I'll just have to see if she can give us a piece of cheese that has not been sitting in plastic to see if there's any hope. As I said, we ate all of the cheese from La Fromagerie. Cursing the entire time because we wished we didn't know just how good cheese should and could be but sadly isn't. Then we would take another bite of the other two cheeses and feel happy. Because we knew the next bite would be the La Fromagerie cheese. And then we would get sad again. I hate it when my husband goes to London without me. But, he does bring back cheese. So, I do have that to look forward to. And sometimes I get to join him. His last trip he brought back Caprino Sardo Del Gerrei (so says the receipt). A cheese that literally poured it was so gooey. If we ever move to London, I would want to live in the basement of La Fromagerie. - kim edit: Cheese was NOT Caprino Sardo Del Gerrei. Cheese was: 141 VAL DE LOUBIERES (RESINEUX DE LOUBIERES) ARIEGE Washed and brushed crust encircled with bark collar from local pine trees, this is a very rich and creamy cheese with a sweetly sappy taste rather like a Vacherin Mont d'Or. Best season May to September. (Approx weight 400g. 48% fat)

I'm headed to Texas next week. If I can find goose for $30 or less, I'll pick it and bring it back to Chicago. - kim

I have never made cabbage. Red or otherwise. Seems that I'm coming across recipes calling for cabbage and I started seriously thinking about making goose again. Until I went to Whole Foods. Frozen goose - $95. I didn't even look at the price per pound. Looks like goose won't be on my menu after all. - kim

I've been seeing this thread for ages. I start reading it and stop. Because I just can't believe Larb can be all that great. And the chicken just doesn't sound like a good idea. I looked through Hot Sour Salty Sweet because it was mentioned somewhere in this thread. I had bought it at the suggestion of a woman I met in Dublin. We had discussed her garden and cooking. She was a huge fan of Madhur Jaffrey and Hot Sour Salty Sweet. For some reason, I never even looked through the book. Until this morning. I found the recipe for Laab Moo Tai Yai. Pork. I love pork. The recipe didn't call for fish sauce or chicken broth but it did call for Thai red chiles. I love Thai red chiles. I had a bag of Calrose rice in the basement. I'd never made sticky rice but I have a rice cooker and it knows what to do. I made a trip up to Thai Grocery on Broadway. They had everything I needed. Almost. Well, they didn't have mint and I like buying meat from Whole Foods anyway so one more trip. And then I had everything. And I was determined to make it tonight. I read the directions for making sticky rice. Rice must soak for a minimum of 3 hours. No problem. It's only 6pm. I figured I'd be eating by 10pm. Hubby's out of town so I don't have to worry about him. Except when he finds out. He hates missing out on new dishes. Ok. So I got my mise en place in place. I hand chopped the meat. Because I could. Then I made the paste. Six chiles didn't seem like enough. But I stopped at 6. Because I was afraid that I might be making a big mistake if I added a couple more. Paste? There's no liquid. How does one call that a paste? Chopped up all my green stuff. Chopped and chopped and chopped shallots. I love shallots. My rice was done and it was time to start cooking. Shallots browned nicely. Paste got added. Meat got added. And it all started looking so very good. Recipe said to let it simmer. How does something that has no liquid simmer? Decided not to worry about such details and continued on. Added my green stuff. Put it on a plate. And knew it was going to be good. Grabbed a lettuce leaf. Glopped on a bunch of rice. Added a goodly amount of meat. Rolled it up like a burrito. Thought about grabbing some Sriracha but decided to just go with what I had until I knew what I had. Sat down and took a bite. Oh. Oh. Yes. I may have found religion. Spicy? You betcha. Was 6 chiles the right number. Oh yes. Am I a convert? Absolutely. How do I spread the gospel? Let me find the ways. And I will. - kim

I had fresh killed chicked once. In 1980. The texture was better. I would love to have it again to see if the taste could match my memory. I can't eat regular supermarket chicken. It's a texture thing. Spongy or plastic or something that just isn't right. Organic is much better but not as good as my memory of fresh. Here in Chicago, I can get fresh killed chicken but I can't bring myself to do it. Because I would have to select the bird and wait while they took it in the back room and killed it. At least I think they take it in the back room. I don't think I could watch. Or listen. The horror. - kim

"Simply". Interesting word. "Every cash transaction is an opportunity for the business to steal." Yes, I do believe that it is a possibility. Is it a probability? I am an optimist, at times, and believe it is not. But then again, I believe that waiters are nice to me because I am a nice person and not only because being nice to me will result in a nice tip. If restaurant owners are charged a percentage on a Debit card, they should have their own ATMs on site. - kim

I left my latest batch of yogurt out for at least 15 hours. Very tangy. Too tangy. But Erivan is still the winner as the starter. Inspired by the terrine thread, I made a sorbet, ice cream, frozen yogurt terrine. Mango sorbet, mango frozen yogurt, strawberry sorbet, Alton Brown's banana ice cream and mango sorbet. Beautiful. Awesome mix of flavors. - kim

Are restaurants charged a flat fee for Debit card usage or are restaurants charged a percentage the same as when a Credit card is used? One of my favorite places for lunch only takes cash. I've always assumed it was for tax evasion reasons. If I wrote to The Ethicist asking whether I should frequent this place, I wonder what his advice would be. - kim

Ignorance is bliss. It's been years since I've had Creme Caramel (flan). My husband volunteered me to make one for a party this weekend. So, I read up a bit and gave it my first attempt on Monday... The recipe called for 2 cups of sugar and a tablespoon or two of water to make the caramel. I didn't read enough or I read too much and I retained the wrong things. I heated the sugar and stirred with a wooden spoon. Eventually I got a bunch of lumps. I figured that this is what's supposed to happen and continued cooking. It turned a very nice brown color but it hadn't boiled yet and one recipe said to boil it for 8 minutes. After two or three minutes of boiling, the color was too dark. End of experiment one. For experiment two, I did the same thing except I stopped before it boiled. Pretty smart, huh? The sugar was not burnt but it was very hot. I assumed this was normal. I dug out an 8" round All Clad cake pan and poured in the caramel. Swirled it around to coat the sides. Had way too much and poured off some of the excess onto another cakepan. It looked kind of like shellac. I mixed up the custard. Eggs, sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk. Poured it in and baked it in a water bath. The caramel had melted so I decided that I must have done that part okay. So, I let it sit in the fridge until last night. I flipped in onto a big serving plate that would hold the sauce. Way too much sauce. And runny. I still have no idea what the caramel should look like at this stage but I think it shouldn't be like colored water. I took a bite. Ignorance is bliss. I may have done the caramel all wrong but the end result is wonderful. The coconut milk makes this dish. Experiment three will take place later today. - kim

My husband recently brought back Reblochon from La Fromagerie in London. It was perfect and we wanted more. We were told by the cheese stores here in Chicago that Reblochon was not available. Something about a crackdown of cheeses aged less than 60 days. We were told that Reblochon is aged 55 days. - kim

Wendy, Thanks for that link. I enjoy cooking more when I understand "the why" of what I'm doing. - kim

What a great tip! Can't wait to try this out. I wonder what the science is behind that but I'm willing to chalk it up to magic. - kim

Whole Foods. I can't remember the exact price to be honest. It was somewhere between $65 and $80. I thought the price outrageous as well and I've been trying to forget. Their prices for other game type birds are outrageous as well. A package of frozen quail for $14. Today I paid $6.95 for 6 quail (1-1/2 pounds) at an Asian market. But I'm getting off-topic. If I could find goose in Chicago at a reasonable price, I would be all over it. - kim

I left my curdy yogurt in the fridge for a day before peeking. While it was still curdy on top, the rest was perfect. Nice creamy texture. I like this version made with Erivan way more than my batch made with a Greek yogurt starter. I decided to make frozen yogurt. I strained almost a quart of yogurt then added pureed mango and simple sugar. Stirred it up and tasted it. Just this side of heaven. I ate a bowl and froze the rest. Nowhere near as good after being frozen but not bad. Less calories than the ice cream I usually make (2 cups of heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, three egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup dried milk). I have to start cutting calories and it's killing me. - kim

Send one of those geese my way! I've only cooked goose once. Since it was so expensive (somewhere in the neighborhood of $70), I used every bit of it I could. I made goose stock and goose carcass gumbo. Every once in a while, my husband asks when we're going to have that gumbo again. He's never asked about the goose itself. - kim

When sitting out overnight or when cooking? I don't remember the temperature I heated it to. But I did use a double boiler so it wouldn't burn on bottom. But maybe you mean when you add the yogurt starter? I know I didn't cook it to boiling but stopped somewhere (can't quite remember) between 165 and 185 F (75 and 85 C). I put it in an ice batch and cooled it down to 113 F (45 C). I know that was a bit hotter than the last time but somewhere I read that 114 F was okay. I felt safe at 113 F. Then I added an entire cup of Eviran yogurt to the half gallon of milk. When I opened it, it was curdy. I put it in the fridge hoping that it would just get better on its own. I've been looking for a recipe that uses yogurt for ice cream. Haven't come across one yet. But how hard could it be? I'm thinking about mixing up some squished mango, simple sugar, yogurt, maybe some rum and freezing it. - kim

I have been reading about people trying to turn their red wine vinegar mother into a white wine vinegar mother and that got me thinking... Can I turn an Apple Cider Vinegar Mother (which I can find) into a Red Wine Vinegar Mother? - kim

Exactly what I thought. I went to Sherwyn's (big health food store here in Chicago) looking for a mother. I found Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother and that was it. They may have had two kinds of red wine vinegar but neither of them had any sign of a mother. I did end up buying red wine vinegar from Fox & Obel (what an expensive place!) and Whole Foods. Both had some kind of something in the bottom. Could be sediment but I'm hoping for more than that. Sur La Table had a "Vinegar Barrel with Stand" on sale so I picked it up. I'm ready to get started on making my own Red Wine Vinegar. I'm not in any hurry whatsoever as I don't use a lot of red wine vinegar. So, why am I making it? Because the pictures Abra had of a mother looked cool. And I figure if I have good quality red wine vinegar, I'll find some recipes and start using it. - kim

My yogurt turned out okay. A bit thin. Not very tangy. But definitely rich tasting. It had potential. And that's all I ever ask from a new recipe. I'm going to make it again today. Hubby left this morning to go fishing. What is it about him fishing that makes me want to make yogurt? I realized just now why my yogurt was thin. I followed the recipe for one quart of milk but I was using two quarts. This time I'm going to use Erivan yogurt as my starter. I would never have looked for it if balmagowry hadn't mentioned it. Thank you! - kim