foodie52

I'm going to make the Jamaican Black Cake. If I divide the batter between smaller pans ( say, 8 inch springforms instead of 10 inch and the rest of the batter in mini loaf pans ) how long must I bake them? The recipe says 2 hours for the 10 inch springforms, so should I reduce baking time to about 1 1/2 hours? Or just do the "jab with a skewer" test?

Mr McGee: I think the subject of preserving food is fascinating. Who started pickling food?

So specifically, which of the 38 current varieties of apples are you talking about?

Wouldn't you think that freshness is key, especially in "low end" chocolate? When a Toblerone bar is stale, the crunchy bits become chewy. There's no way to know how old the chocolate bars were. I've never thought about this , but I wonder if fresh Hershey bars taste different from .....aged (!) bars?? High end chocolates have sell by dates on them.

And I though I was the only person in the world who doesn't care for chocolate-covered strawberries . I like non-acidic fruits with chocolate however: bananas..mmmmmmm! I made frozen chocolate-covered bananas on a stick for my birthday bash a few years ago. Rolled them in candy, nuts and/or coconut.

A personal chef to cook dinner for me twice a week .

Since when have cookbooks become macho? Whose is bigger? Personally, I'm more into color illustrations than size. Too much testosterone. Martha? Martha? Where are you? You two just wait. When she comes out, her cookbook/memoirs is gonna put y'alls to shame. Have you two ever been in prison? Huh?

An industrial size bottle of Tums

I lived in Kobe in the mid-60's. There was a vendor who would come and sell tofu from a cart which he wheeled down the street. Do they still do that??

Paula Lambert (Mozzarella Company) wraps goat cheese in a leaf.

Y'all will think I'm crazy, but I've made "amaranth treats"....same recipe as rice crispy treats, but with amaranth! I pop it in my iron skillet. a little at a time, then proceed with the butter and marshmallow. Fabulous!!

I'd go to Australia: they seem to have every cuisine in the world.

I dunno...I kinda liked the English (ITV) sitcom, "Chef".....

I have a deaf friend. She has large mirrors both in her workplace and at home. In her home kitchen, the mirror is propped behind the sink so that she can see behind her and watch everyone else. At work ( she works a lot at a computer ) she has a mirror propped against the wall right behind her monitor so that she can see who is coming in and out of her work space. If your coworker has a specific station, you might think about asking if management would buy a large mirror: at least 36 by 36, to prop up at his station. Would that help?

It's 97 degrees outside but I just HAD to roast a chicken. It's covered in fresh rosemary and chopped garlic and smells heavenly. The AC is valiently trying to keep up with the oven.... Baked, stuffed squash....especially pumpkin: stuffed with bread and gruyere in a lovely custard. I can't wait for the temps to drop to do that . It'll be late October. Edited to add: rhubarb and apple crumbles! How could I forget those??

By the way, last week's Food Issue of the New Yorker had a wonderful article by Bill Buford: he worked the pasta station at Babbo for a week! Very funny, very insightful and above all, very entertaining.

I feel another Austin egullet event coming on.....

I had never had garlic scapes until this summer: we found them at the farmers' market in Santa Fe. We didn't know what to do with them, so we chopped them into shorter lengths and tried to caramelize them in a skillet. They never did caramelize, but they tasted darn good!

I got to meet Julia and Paul Child in the early 80's. I was working for PBS in Austin, and she was attending a Public Television benefit in Dallas. She was judging some kind of cooking competition and I took loads of photos. After the judging , we were allowed to meet her. I had brought two cookbooks of hers to be signed: one is Julia Child and Company with her recipe for roasted boneless leg of lamb: this recipe had inspired me to bone out a leg according to her instructions. When I brought my books to her to be signed, she was wonderfully gracious. Paul, who was several inches shorter than her, also insisted on signing the books because, "After all, I took the photos!". And then when I thrust the photo of her from the cover of Parade magazine to be signed as well, she did that cheerfully. Now I can't believe I asked her to sign all that stuff... I was privileged to be seated next to Paul Child at dinner afterwards. Thanks, Julia, for all you did. You had a heck of a ride!

Thanks to everyone. I've eaten at the Elite and it was pretty good. However, we took the backroads to Ft. Worth and ended up eating at the Koffee Kup in Hico both going and coming back! Great down home food and an amazing PIE menu. I'd even consider doing a day tour just to go back....why doesn't Austin have something like this? Or does it? On the other hand, Lonesome Dove ( at quadruple the price ) left a lot to be desired.

Hate to burst your bubble, but what the checkers are actually doing is making sure that you haven't secreted some expensive item in the egg carton!!

My sister in law is Thai and she went to culinary school in Bangkok. She told me not to buy fish sauce in plastic bottles. She likes the Three Crabs.

These guys smoke dry them. Of course, you're not going to do that, but they are wonderful: super interesting flavor. see Boggy Creek Farm in Austin

I'm still bitter about all the stock I bought years ago and recently unloaded.... I love their restaurants. I know the two very talented women who developed their bakery line. Their restaurants are always crowded. The food is always good. But their upper level management..... thanks a LOT, guys.....