Suzanne F

I have a Russell Hobbs 6-Quart (oval, though, so you can ignore the rest of this post). Got it last summer at the Broadway Panhandler Yard Sale -- different from non-commercial yard sales in that it's all "new" (unused) stuff they haven't been able to move, and discount even more deeply than normal. Anyway, I've been very happy with it. Big ol' ceramic insert that cleans up well in the dishwasher. Glass cover, also dishwasherable. Off, Low, High, and Automatic which starts on high and switches to low when the bubbling starts. And what I really like is that off really does mean off -- unlike, say, the ancient electric skillet that still has a bit of juice flowing through as long as it's plugged in.

YUM!! Looking forward to the pix and writeups! Have a great time, y'all.

Let's look at this question from the colonizer/colonized dichotomy: In terms of straight culture, all colonizing nations attempt to impose their ideals on their colonies. When the British, Dutch -- and to a lesser degree, Spanish -- colonized areas, in addition to introducing the standards of the mother country, they also adopted some of the indigenous foods and incorporated them into their eating, albeit as total dishes rather than as a set of individual ingredients to play with separately. (Think Sunday curry lunches, rijstaffel, and such.) For those nations and their colonies, there has been a back-and-forth, culinarily. The French, on the other hand, seem not to have been at all open to receiving much of anything from their colonies. It was THEY who exported their culture in all its supposed superiority, without generally incorporating foods from outside. In fact, it is a point of pride to many in former French colonies that they are culturally French, not so much African or Caribbean. (Think baguettes in Saigon.) Which is all to say that the French, they are and have always been right, without anyone else's foodstuffs or other culture, thank you very much. And since haute cuisine is French, it can never be anything other than what it has always been. However, that is NOT to say that wonderful, exciting, glorious food cannot be created using hot/spicy/strong-flavored ingredients. It can; it is -- but it can never be haute cuisine. The French don't think that way.

Absolutely. Look at restaurants like Tabla and now The Biltmore Room in NYC: three stars, and not timid in their spicing. Food can be both hot AND subtly flavored, it just takes a chef who really understands how to balance the flavors. While most wines may not match up, there are many that do. A wine director should know how to match wines with the restaurant's food. Whatever the food might be like. That's why even on its modest scale, Amma is such a joy: well-spiced, subtle, balanced food and wine suggestions that work.

There is an Asian grocery-cum-chotchka-store on Third Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets in Brooklyn -- a block or so from the Costco. They are having a going-out-of-business sale for the next 2 weeks, with discounts on packaged goods and most frozen stuff. The base prices are already better than in Manhattan. And it's only a block from the subway!

Well, I'm glad someone listened. After I posted, I got down to work and the next thing I knew it was 3 o'clock.

Actually, confit is the past participle of confire, to conserve or preserve or pickle. Think "confiture" aka jam. Doesn't have to be with fat, with sugar, to be confit. (Although I must say that versions having nothing to do with preservation drive my 10-years-of-French-study sensibilities up a wall. ) And when I make anything like the items already mentioned, I DO "conserve" them, in sealed jars in the bottom of the fridge, or in the freezer.

The soaking-in-water trick certainly works for garlic -- I've seen prep guys do 1/2 a case in no time flat. Five-pound jars of pre-peeled shallots and garlic have no preservatives. If you can use that much before they go moldy, go for it. Besides, then you have a great storage jar when it's empty. But yeah, bigger shallots -- especially the torpedo-shape -- are easier to peel than little ones.

Arthur Lubow??? On WNYC, Leonard Lopate has a promo for his show today (Friday, 2/6/04) on which there will be a discussion of Spain as the new France, with Ruth Reichl and Does this mean Lubow is IT!?!?!? Here's the blurb on the Lopate segment. From the way it's worded, probably not. But you never know.

What to do with them? Add them to ANYTHING you are cooking that needs salt. Soups, stews, braises, sautes -- they will add the necessary salt AND give an undefinable frisson of flavor. Kind the way fish sauce does, but with more subtlety. Or you could mash them with butter, spread them on white toast, cover with a slice of American cheese and a slice of tomato, and broil until the tomato is hot and the cheese around it is bubbly and browned. I grew up on that, and still love it, even if it is disgusting.

You can easily butterfly and bone them to grill. If you grill them, serve them with a salad of bitter greens -- puntarelle if you can get it, otherwise standard frisee, endive, or chicory -- with a garlicky vinaigrette. Heaven!! And if you don't grill them, well, what's the matter with you?????

I have a 300-gram jar of Signature Secrets Culinary Thickener (read: modified food starch) I received as a sample. I would be more than happy to unload, um, I mean, send it to you, if you like. It actually does work as a thickener in cold liquids as well as hot. PM me if you're interested.

Is that a threat or a promise?

Corn silk makes an excellent tisane for soothing the stomach. Just brew it up with some boiling water, like any other tea or tisane. How "far out" do you want? The big, thick broccoli stems (the trunks of the trees), peeled and diced? Cauliflower leaves? The fat trimmed from meat, rendered and turned into cracklings?

Lamarca, Third Avenue and 22nd. M-F only; cash only, but so inexpensive!

Big names get special treatment?

He Who Only Eats was just down in Boca 2 weekends ago visiting his about-to-be-93-year-old mother. Just about the only place he can take her to is Nino's (in the Delmar Shopping Center, Palmetto and Powerline). It is mediocre at best, but he says the scungilli is not bad. And she likes the eggplant parmesan. We used to go out more (by ourselves) when we were down visiting, but now that's not possible. In fact, Maxaluna was where I first met and fell in love with roasted garlic spread on bread.

Soba's suggestion of souffles is great: you don't really need to make a yolk-enriched bechamel base. Just puree vegetables, fold in the beaten whites, bake, and voilà. Great way to use up leftover cooked veg, too.

Well, that's the problem: I'm almost out, and could not bring myself to by the zillion-pack of Bounty at Costco (which I visited before the accident anyway, so how could I have known . . . ? ) Morning update: the floor seems not much the worse for its moisturizing treatment, although it was still "glowing." So I mopped with a solution of the Lysol A-P cleaner, sponging up whatever floated to the surface, mopping again and sponging off again. It's mostly dry now, and looks degreased. Thank you all for your suggestions and concern. Since this is the second time in a few months I've pulled a stunt like this, I will definitely look into keeping on hand some of the products mentioned.

Jeffy -- and all: the floor is something like quarry tile, so an orgy is out. Now, if this happened in the summertime when the floor is warmer . . . So here's the update: I wiped up as much as I could. Left the kitchen (and apartment) to deliver the dressing that was the cause of it all, along with the salad and garnishes it was to go with. Came home, wiped up more. Declared the kitchen closed for the night. We went out to eat. Came home, finished a project. Ignored kitchen floor. I will deal with it in the morning. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll probably just go with whatever cleaners I have in the house. Lessee, I've got a small bottle of Goo Gone liquid, lotsa Murphy Oil Soap, lotsa Glass Plus, and some Lysol All-Purpose Cleaner. I'll go back over your suggestions and pick the one I have the most of. Sigh.

I'll definitely want to get together, guys. Actually, by "last minute" I meant calling the day before or day of, since the group won't be put together until we're all there. But I do like to do my research ahead of time, lest I forget to do it at all.

Hey, Devotay! Good to see you here! I posted earlier today before I opened the jiffy bag from Australia: 3 more, models to use for the one I'm working on.

My first time at Costco today. All that walking up and down the aisles made me hungry, so I stopped at the snackbar before leaving. Had a "Chicken Bake" -- something like a baked calzone or stromboli: outer layer of dough, topped with shredded ?cheese?; filling was shredded chicken breast, bacon, onion, ranch dressing, cheese of some sort. Surprisingly, the chicken actually tasted like chicken, and the bacon was, well, bacon. Otherwise, nothing supplied any flavor to the thing. Pretty strange to me, anyway.

My first time at Costco today. Herbs: The cook's guide to flavorful and aromatic ingredients

HELP!!!! While making a very large batch of salad dressing in the KitchenAid, I knocked over a quart measuring cup of (soybean) oil. Oil on the counter. Oil dripping down the front of the cabinets. Oil dripping down the inside and outside of the cabinet doors. And a puddle of oil collecting on the floor. I have wiped up as much as I could with terrycloth towels, but I still have an oil slick between the counter and the stove. Not exactly where I would like to slip. Does anyone have a suggestion for cleaning up this Soybean Valdez?