CaliPoutine

Your dinner looks wonderful, swoon on those potatoes. I noticed the Boursin is 7.49. That seems rather high to me, I've seen it around 4-5 bucks in MI where I do a lot of shopping. Are prices high in your area? Re: Panera bread. Isnt it amazing that we'll always pick the lesser of two evils when it comes to food? I never in my life thought I'd eat at a Red Lobster( let alone wait 20 min for a table) or Chili's but when we go shopping in Port Huron, the only choice we have is a chain restaurant. Still, its 100x better than anything we have in our small town. I'd also take a bread from Panera over anything( sans Ace Bread) that we have at my local grocery store.

I'm with Chris upthread. I love CI recipes( I've rarely had a failure) and I usually look to the first( check my foodblog, I've cooked a lot from CI). I do HATE their customer service with a passion. I never received the last 3 issues of the magazine and made 100 million phone calls and I FINALLY got this months. I also got a book I didnt order( sent it back) and then was blocked from ordering anything else until I got a supervisor on the phone and gave her wholly hell. At my last job, I made dozens of their Blueberry Scones each day and people went beserk for them. Litterally lines out the door the day before Easter to get these scones. They're that good!!

I just got home( 2 hours ago) from Ann Arbor. I ate at Zingerman's for lunch today( the deli) and last night at The Common Grill. Not sure how far Brighton is from Chelsea, but I'd highly reccomend The Common Grill. I had a really fantastic fish dish that was 24.00. Btw, not a restaurant. But I fell in love with the new Plum Market.

combo's and pringles are to coin an old" Weight Watcher term " RED LIGHT foods for me. I can't stop eating them so I dont buy them.

Yummy, dinner looks fabulous!! I'm a big fan of wearing gloves when I cook anything that is slimy(ie: chicken) or smelly(ie: onions). I'm assuming thats why you were wearing them. I too recommend blanching the spinach first. Its amazing how little spinach you end up with after that. It really shrinks down!! I'm a huge fan of goat cheese, those look fantastic and I love the cheese knives.

Hot Behind!!

She had another one? Where was I for that I wonder?? Yay, I was right!! I dont think I've ever been right before( guessing on the blogger, I'm always right at home!!) Love all your cookbooks( and your online cookbook). I see you have Marcy Goldman's A Passion For Baking", thats my newest aquisition too. Have you baked anything from it? Btw, I've seen other pics of you and you look great!!

Based on these reccomendations, I included this dish in an upcoming catering event menu for 60-90 ppl. Wish me luck!!

Maybe I've been out of the US for too long, but is that DC or VA? If so, I guess Kim Sook!!

Yes, very very sad!!. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale( Plantation) and my parents and grandparents used to go on every few months on a Sunday. I remember my gram making my sister some coffee/milk in those little creamers.

Brigid Mary, Is the pound cake a Carole Walter recipe? It looks great!! Meyer Lemon CreamCheese Pound Cake. I met an Eg member in Florida last month and she gave me the biggest meyer lemons I'd ever seen. These looked like grapefruits!!

Any news regarding Friday night's plan?

I always buy unsalted butter, but if per chance I had salted butter and the recipe called for unsalted, I'd use what I had and leave out the salt. Why do I always buy unsalted? Because thats what my mom did!!

I believe it was July/August 2007 but the cheese/herb variation is discussed on the CI message board.

Do you have access to Cook's Illustrated? In the last month, I've made hundreds of blueberry scones for my job. The recipe has a cheese/herb variation thats excellent too. The scones are a bit labor intensive, but really fabulous. Let me know if you can't access CI, I can PM you the recipe.

Thanks for the response. I actually threw it out because I was having ppl over for brunch and I didnt want to risk it not coming out. I ended up using the streusel that I made for the crumb buns on a sour cream coffee cake recipe( my mom's) that I've made many times. I was totally bummed about the dough though, especially since I wasted 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter.

I'm not sure what forum to post this in, so I thought I'd try here first. I made a yeasted sweet dough from a Carole Walter book called Sweet breads, muffins, coffee cakes, etc, etc( or a similar title to that effect). Anyway, The recipe called for 1 packet of active dry yeast, but I didnt have that so I used 1.5 plus 1/8tsp of instant. I also used "light sour cream" instead of regular. Those were the only changes I made except of course I didnt proof the yeast. The instructions said the dough would be soft( it was) and throw it in the fridge overnight before using it. I did that and it didnt rise at all( Yes, the yeast is very fresh). I took it out, shaped it into balls( I was going to make crumb buns) and put them in my oven on the proof feature and 45 min later, nothing. It didnt rise at all. I left the other half of the dough out of the fridge to see what it would do and NOTHING. I just made hot cross buns 2 weeks ago with the same yeast so I know its fresh. What do you think went wrong?

I've never eaten a package of instant noodles in my life!! I have an aversion to " canned soup" and too much sodium.

I went to college and lived in my dorm when I was in my early 30's and I'd already developed an interest in food( I'd previously attended culinary school) so YES, I did thank the chefs in our dining hall. Especially since I made frequent requests for off the menu items. Yesterday, I also complimented and thanked the sous chef at work for making us lunch. I don;t think I'm asking for too much to hear " Thank You" every once in awhile .

My store also sells these. I bought 1 when it was on sale for 3.99. I like them more than the bags, but then again I must remember to return it to my car. I wondered how they'd know I'd already paid for it when I brought it into the store. Here's how.

Ummmm, Steven have you ever seen a Florida cockroach? Those suckers are huge and will find even a crumb of food.

I noticed this when I was in S. Florida 2 weeks ago. I constantly had to say " use as few bags as possible" Not sure why they did it, maybe just the mentality of the cashier.

Yes, just google and you should find it. Its in my foodblog as well.

I baked these back in November I believe, but I'm making them every few days at work and they're flying out the door. Zingerman's magic brownies w/ dulce de leche swirled in. I love this recipe, and I really never liked brownies. They have an unorthodox mixing method and they use cake flour and a bit of levening.

I was contemplating buying some lamb shoulder( low, low price of .99lb) for the Senior's. I thought I'd better check with the person in charge and was told NO, the Senior's no likey lamb. I discussed this on the senior dining thread, and it was suggested that when they think lamb, they're really thinking mutton. Anyway, long story short, I ended up buying 5 of them and hauling them on Via Rail to KerryBeal and Anna N. They enjoyed them!!