Grovite

Any cook worth their salt knows how to cook a damn steak! Medium Rare does not mean charred with the texture of jerky! (This goes out to the fines folks at Del Frisco's in Ft. Worth, TX)

Come on! Electric skillets are great, you should break that thing out and give it a whirl.

According to his interview on Ron & Fez last week, they will be showing the crash in episode four.

I have never found anything as impressive as some of you, but I did find a little treasure this weekend. Most of you know that the old, color glazed Pyrex is hard to find, and when you do find it, you'll be paying through the nose (I bought a Pyrex four bowl nesting set in the primary colors a few months ago and paid $90 for them, just so you get an idea.). Anyway, after delivering a birthday cake, I passed by a garage sale that wasn't loaded down with clothes and kids stuff. I caught a glint of copper on one of the tables so I had to stop. I walked around the tables filled with coffee mugs, stuffed sea gulls glued on pieces of driftwood, you know, the usual tacky garbage. The copper I saw was nothing more than an old, dented FTD vase, so there went my hopes of finding a real gem. Then I stumbled (literally) across these: For $2.00, I could not pass these up. I had never seen Pyrex bowls that had the pour spout/handles, so that was an added "bonus".

You won't regret it, they have some damn fine chile con carne! And I couldn't agree more. The first (and last) time I went to Mi Tierra, I was digusted with not only the food, but the service as well. I'd rather drunkenly stumble into a Taco Cabana at 3:30 AM then ever step foot in there again. I get that same feeling whenever we have out-of-towners come in to visit. Their first time here, they want to either go to the original El Fenix or get barbecue. I always try to talk them into some hole-in-the-wall Tex-Mex place or convince them to take a trip to the Austin area later in their visit for barbecue. Somehow, we end up at the El Fenix with the rubbery enchiladas, soggy tacos and bland refritos (thankfully the tacos al carbon are still decent), complete with a member of the Martinez clan sitting at a table looking sullen.

I had a Cuisinart for several years till the thing caught fire in my hands, that was fun. I picked up a 5-speed KA after that incident and that thing performed well, but tended to bind up on things I knew I should have tossed in the stand mixer. This past Christmas, I was given a Dualit 5-speed and I love it! It has a lot of torque compared to other hand mixers. It can do on setting "1" what some can barely do when cranked up to the max. The price is higher compared to some other brands, but well worth it.

If I recall, the only Carrabba's that Johnny and Damian currently own are the one on Kirby right off of 59 and the one on S. Voss on the west side. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Wow, great tips about the dummies! I do have one question, and it may be stupid, so bear with me: We have been doing "First Monday" type shows selling various breads and cookies (no cakes during the summer, Texas heat and all). We are wanting to promote our wedding/birthday cakes, when not at home in the bakery, by bringing our dummies to the shows. Most of these shows are outdoors or under a pavillion. My question is, will a dummy iced with "fake" buttercream, fondant and/or royal icing, once hardened, hold up to the high temps that are the norm at these shows?

Hell, I can't remember any "bad" times working in restaurants, catering or in the bakery. Yeah, bosses, customers and clients can sometimes be assholes, but that's expected. That also holds true for the retail jobs. I worked in radio for a bit, and most of those people were a-holes, but again, that's expected. The worst would have to be my time as a middle school art teacher. My one, and only, year as a teacher was capped off by an angry parent taking a swing at me, ahhhh, good times, good times

Tin Roof, Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter Cup and good ol Cooikes 'n Cream are my favorites. Kent, drive over to Brenham and take the tour, you'll love it.

I've had luck finding card holders for our display case at a regional restaurant supply house called Ace Mart. They're not as fancy as the one you linked to, but for $1.00, I'm not going to complain. Clicky

The real question is, is anyone going to "take one for the team" and try it?

Have you checked out the Bodum Santos? We have one here at the house and it puts out a damn fine cup of coffee. The Cuisinart brewstation that we have at the bakery also does a great job. Over the past few years, we've spent a lot of money trying to find a better than average coffee maker. The Bodum and the Cuisinart are the two out of that search that consistently produced a good cup of coffee. Definitely check those two out.

Pie. Everyone loves pie. If you don't love pie, I question the existence of your soul

They could do far worse than have Calphalon Katanas (which comes with a god awful "diamond sharpening steel", get them a better one.) on their registry. Let me guess, they are registered at BB&B? If they have no knives, or cheapo crap like Farberware or whatever Ron Popeil is hocking, then those Katanas will be a major step up. Those knives are decent knives, a little above the Spanish made Henckels International Classic line (not the piece of shit "Eversharp" line that Henckels unfortunately makes. What garbage!). Think of it like a "gateway drug" , they get some knives that are decent then a few years down the road, they'll be coming to you, wild eyed, shaking and sweating demanding you get them some Hattoris and a custom Murray Carter ...actually, that's scary, but you get the idea.

Hey, not just the creaky jointed. My hubby, nine years older than I, with ridiculously low cholesterol, low body fat ratio, low blood pressure, no arthritis, loves his! 19 year old daughter and 25 year old stepdaughter love thiers. Nurse practioner stepdaughter and her ER Nurse husband love theirs. "Springy sponges" does the sensation justice, I guess, but like all other similes I can comprehend, seem to fall short. "Walking on clouds" seems trite and overused. "Comfortable" seems an understatement. I guess you just got to try them. It is sort of like trying to describe the aroma of truffle to someone who has never smelled one, or the mouth feel of foie gras to someone who has never tasted it. Hallelujah! ← Too bad they don't make them in a 15 I would love some red ones to wear to work.

I catch a lot of grief from my non-Foodie friends. They don't get how I can spend hours walking around Central Market or Whole Foods. They don't understand that I have the need to spend an entire day at the Dallas Farmers Market. They are flabbergasted that I worked hard to get two degrees, yet decided later in life to cook for a living...even though they were the ones that said I should cook way back in high school They don't share my enthusiasm for wandering around in various restaurant supply houses, Sur La Table, Viking Culinary Arts Center or any other gadget/cookware store. They really don't get how I could spend over $100 on one knife or $250 on a sauté pan..."Hey, I bought a whole set of knives at the Wal-Mart for $29.97! Did you look at those before you wasted your money?!". They shoot me funny looks when I break out the camera at restaurants to snap a shot of dinner. They roll their eyes when I tell them I took a 400 mile road trip just to try the barbecue at some hole-in-the-wall joint I heard about. They laugh when I speak lovingly of my "Blender Army" or that I want to paint black racing stripes on and add "Boss 302" and Mustang badges to my yellow KA Stand Mixer. What I say to them: "At least I eat well. Now shut up and eat the dinner I cooked!"

Ahhh, the joys of living in Texas. Skirt steak, i.e. fajita, can be found everywhere and is cheap. If you can't find anyone else to go in on the beef with you and you can't justify spending the money, you can sub in flank steak.

I'll second that! Not to be nit-pickey, but it's at the corner of Greenville and Lovers. Mockingbird runs parallel to Lovers.

Perhaps, and fingers crossed, you got a few lemons. I've been using the MC2 line with my catering and have had no problems. Granted, they don't get the abuse that they would see in a busy kitchen, but mine go through a lot more than what a typical home cook would put them through.

Thank you!! The food was "okay" for the price. It is a nice place but it most certainly does not live up to the hype.

Damn you peer pressure! I was forced to go to www.japanesechefsknife.com and purchase a Hattori HD-9 Gyuto. It will be here next week Now I can kiss my LamsonSharps goodbye!

I'll add on to the folks that are telling you to build your collection up as you can, it's a good idea and you can shop for bargains. If you have a friend that works at a Bed, Bath & Beyond, ask them about their "employee incentives". Once a month, they get various products at cost, not just their standard discount. I was able to stock up on some All-Clad MC2 for cheap becasue of this.

Lucky for me that my wonderful girlfriend is a pastry chef as is my sister! Our families "kinda" get it. Most of the time we'll get, well, less than steller things...a Sponge Bob Ice Cream scoop comes to mind. Suprisingly, for my birthday last year, my parents gave me a few pieces of Emile Henry bakeware and gift cards to Sur La Table and Penzey's.

I'll second that book. It is a great read and does a great job of elevating Tex-Mex from the bastardized slop that Diana Kennedy makes it out to be, to what it really is, the regional cuisine of Texas and the Border. Anything by Rick Bayless is great as are The Los Barrios Family Cookbook by Diana Barrios Trevino, A Gringo's Guide To Authentic Mexican Cooking by "Mad Coyote" Joe Daigneault and Nuevo Tex-Mex by David Garrido and (again) Rob Walsh.