SuzySushi

It depends upon what kind of information you're seeking, but here are a few of the sites I use when I'm seeking a quick fact: The Cook's Thesaurus Epicurious.com Food Dictionary Food History Links The Food Timeline Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages Online Metric Conversions USDA Nutrient Database

Just my personal preference, but I find myself using my santoku knife (an inexpensive one I brought back from Japan many years ago) more often than any other knife I have, and certainly more often than my two chef's knives. I'd say go for it!

So I suppose they're not putting butter or margarine on bread, either...

Also, does your waffle batter have oil or melted butter in it? It should.

Oooooooh.... cute!!! This triggers a memory of when my daughter was 3 (she's now 9) and we were traveling back East and staying at a friend's place in NYC. We'd brought along what we thought were her favorite toys... but when we were checking out Eli Zabar's Vinegar Factory, a new-to-us gourmet market, my daughter fell in love with some brightly colored plastic vegetable brushes! There was a soft-bristled yellow one meant to remove corn silk, a stiff brown one to scrub potatoes, a green one and an orange one... They were cheap enough, no more than a couple of bucks apiece, so we bought all four. And she played with them, and lined them up, and talked to them all through our trip and back home again. I asked her just now what she thought they were, when she was talking to them. She said, "I pretended they were little humans. Okay, I pretended they were dolls. It was something to do when I was lonely."

Well, they're sure not obvious from this vantage point!

Right, but actually, you greet not only the staff but whoever is in the store, so the greeting is usually "Bonjour, Messieurs-Dames," and one usually says "Au revoir, Messieurs-Dames" upon exiting. ← Ah! Many of the shops I frequented in France were so tiny that there was only the one proprietor behind the counter!

That looks beautiful! I admire your adventurousness!

I'm not sure where this fits in with the above, but when entering a small shop in France (not a huge supermarket, which is as impersonal there as it is here) the customer usually initiates the conversation by greeting the staff member with a polite "Bonjour, Madame/Monsieur." In the USA, the staff is usually first to greet the customer with a "May I help you?" or say nothing until the customer is ready to make a purchase.

I can just imagine! Thanks for today's sweetest image!

We've always been pleased with the teas from Murchie's in British Columbia. They ship to the USA.

Warehouse-size boxes of cereal, snack-packs, and 2 cases of instant ramen. I can't reach the small cabinet above the refrigerator at all, not even with a stepladder, so that's perfectly empty!

I've read -- mind you, I can't say how true this is -- that French liver pates had their origins in the chopped chicken or goose liver made by the Jewish community in medieval Alsace.

Except a Stilton, which is traditionally scooped from its rind!

Another cultural difference that a French friend told us about when we were dining in her home, when cutting a piece of cheese from a wedge, it is "correct" to slice it in a way that retains the shape of the wedge, instead of cutting off the tip as Americans would do.

Much as I love beets, I'd suggest you not bring borscht to the potluck. Beets are one of the least popular vegetables, ranking way up there with Brussels sprouts and rutabagas.

From today's USA Today,

Back in the 1980s, on Manhattan's Third Avenue (between 34th and 35th Streets), there was a seafood restaurant, a fish market, and a pet shop with aquariums in the window. In my parents' neighborhood in Brooklyn, there was a Weight Watchers in a second story storefront just above a fancy cake bakery. I'm sorry I never got photos.

I've never found it raw around here... First tasted it in Brittany, France, where it's added to seafood stews. Delicious!

From their website, it sounds like they're claiming the "green tea leaf" is what boosts metabolism. I'm also a skeptic.

Wow!!! I've gained 10 pounds just looking at the photos.

Have you tried requesting brochures from the French Government Tourist Office or the local tourist offices of the French departments in which you're interested?

Why did you debone the rabbit loin? Why not cook it on the bone and debone it afterwards?

I tried them once and thought they were like chewing grass! Maybe I stir-fried them too long?

Oooooh! Something new to try!