Pam R

Oh my God! Isn't that how everyone eats??? Is there a different way? ← Yes there is a different way. I do not suffer from this, but a family member does. What she will do is eat ALL of the turkey, then all of the potatoes, and so on. It gets annoying if you want seconds on something because you have to make sure she's had firsts!

There's nothing wrong with the list. As Arne says, find a reviewer with similar taste to yours and then make up your own mind. For the restaurants, it's always nice to be recognized - and congratulations to them. My response is the same as always feel sorry for ourselves people in the middle of the country that nobody else seems to ever notice and we obviously have no good restaurants here so thanks for reminding us of it kind of response. I don't mean to take anything away from the winners. Please ignore any bitterness. We need it here to survive the winters. Note that I've changed the topic title - no longer just the 2005 awards.

Anthony, Congratulations. Your desserts looks incredible and the flavour combinations are really appealing to me. Don't forget to add recipes to RecipeGullet

I love that course. But also remember that not all the food we see in magazines or books is actually edible. The stylists use tricks to make things look as good as they do. I'm not saying that food at home can't look as good, or close to, what you're seeing - but keep this in mind.

Most of the rehearsal dinners I've been to (or catered) have been in homes. Another option that's become really popular around here is to use condo 'party rooms'. A similar thing would be to get a hospitality room at a hotel - then bring in any of the above suggestions (bbq, deli, chinese, italian, etc.) This summer I went to an out-of-town wedding. There were over 100 out of town guests (including the bride and groom) so the parents of the bride rented a huge tent (no sides) and had everybody to the house. They got a caterer to grill steaks and salmon and everybody just hung out and had a great, relaxed evening. Save the formal stuff for the wedding.

Lots of provinces with hungry people and nowhere good to eat... Lesley (or anybody) - any idea how the restaurants are chosen?

woops. cross posting. I'll wait 'til Friday! Thanks.

Neil, I caught a segment on your local news tonight - but the twins did get top billing Is the menu set? Or will we have to wait until after the fundraiser for details?

Woops! Thanks. That's exactly what I meant. I prefer paste colour for white chocolate, but powder works too.

We use Kenwood mixers at work (and Hobarts). We've used them for at least 15 years and I like them. I don't own a Kitchen Aid but I've used them often enough in various kitchens. I prefer Kenwood.

Dye - powdered or paste.

"dad, did Baba make her helzel with matzo meal?" Emphatic shaking of the head - no. "breadcrumbs?" Emphatic nodding of the head - yes. He also says that she usually made it with chicken, because they were more available. But, he added, duck was better.

I don't have a recipe myself (just another thing somebody should have watched my grandmother make..). There are several listed here or here's one. (the difference between kishka and helzel is the kishka stuffed cow intestine, the helzel is stuffed in poultry neck skin)

Nice try There are health concerns with stuffing. The stuffing can harbour harmful bacteria that won't get to a high enough temperature inside the turkey. Theory is that by the time the stuffing gets hot enough, you'll have some dried-out turkey. If you are going to stuff the turkey, it should be done just before placing in the oven and not ahead-of-time. Stuffing cooked separately from the turkey, I believe, is 'dressing'. (IF you cook it this way, make sure to pour some turkey juices over it to get the flavour in it) Now - Back to where/what turkeys to buy?

Asking my father and his buddy about this now - the two men are panting . They both grew up with helzel - like kishka, the skin was stuffed with breadcrumbs and griebenz (chicken cracklin') and maybe vegetables . Then it was roasted along with the chicken, duck or goose. They both want it. Now.

Thanks for the post Neil. I can't wait to hear the menu - but I can wait until you have some time (even after the dinner). Good luck and take pictures!

They're in grocery stores too (I got mine at Wegman's). But really, much better at the diner. With ice cream. Really. Go there.

Just a note that I've merged the 'food-on-a-stick' topics here. -Pam

Skip the pizza, have a stickie

Not that I ever doubted you Ah Leung, really, but the wrappers sucked. The filling was good though. I realized my problem last night was that I shouldn't be planning these experiments for weeknights. So I put the rest of my chicken jello in the fridge and will try again on the weekend. (When I got home at 6:45 last night I was too hungry, tired and cranky to really give it my all.) ETA: I should point out that the dumplings closed, held together and kept everything in. They were just a little small, didn't hold enough filling and looked nothing like they should. They were the 'hong kong' wrappers - yellow with egg. The cooked dumplings seemed too pasta-like and not dumpling-like.

I appreciate that nobody pointed out that coconut is the same thing no matter how many times I list it and I have, in fact, only 6 layer. What's missing that makes it 7-layer?

Fantastic pictures. It's amazing what can be done with chocolate - thanks for sharing! Was there sampling?

No. The site doesn't give you much info. either. I'm going to try to get to McNAlly to check it out.

At the beginning of the day I really was thinking that I might try making the wrappers myself. It's been such a long day that I've given up on it. I think I have enough soup to do two batches though - so I'm still going to go ahead with the frozen wrappers. Ah Leung - we're going to have to accept the fact that these aren't going to be pretty. They may not resemble soup dumplings at all. Just as long as they're dumplings, and have soup in them, I'll be happy. The next batch can be used to make 'good' ones (I have high hopes).

There are step-by-step instructions for posting pictures here. I hope there are pictures of the oven as well as the empanadas!