enidjane

I hate cheesecake, too! I generally dislike that feeling of cream coating my throat when I swallow - I can't seem to get the cheese part of the cheesecake swallowed. I don't like mayonnaise or ranch dressing or other creamy dressings for the same reason. I hate cream in my coffee. And oh man, those Ceasar salads clogged with dressing are disgusting!

Yes, yes, welcome to the special hell that I live in 5 months of the year. We crank the air-conditioning, ignore the weather, and cook whatever the hell we want.

I'm from Montreal but live in Tallahassee now. I wonder if my dinner party guests here in Florida find it strange that I make them sit at a table for 5 hours while I serve them course after course. I guess I never thought about it! My longest restaurant meal is probably about 4 or 5 hours for the tasting menu at Lumiere in Vancouver.

I'm so grateful for everyone's advice. I'm going to print out your suggestions to bring with me, and I'll report back with photos when I return. I can't WAIT to try cloudberries!! :)

Wow, thank you so much for the wonderful advice! :)

I'll be doing some travelling in Scandinavia next month and I'd love to hear any restaurant recommendations for Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo and Copenhagen. My preference is for meals with typical Scandinavian foods and preparations. Also, what are some typical meals that I should try? Herring!? Gravlax!? Lingonberries!? Meatballs!?

Florida State University has a lemonade cart. /shouldn't it be orange juice??

I'd make soup! I'd boil up the bones with ginger, star anise, five-spice powder ... and then add some vegetables and the duck meat to serve.

Furters

2 lbs beef steak cut into small pieces 1 tbsp seasoned flour 6 tbsp butter 8 rashers of bacon, chopped small 5 onions, chopped 1 tbsp raisins 1 tsp brown sugar 1 1/4 cups Guinness shortcrust pastry beaten egg to glaze Brown meat and simmer for two hours with other ingredients. Top with pastry & egg glaze, cook in a hot oven until golden brown. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This recipe is adapted from a little cookbook that I bought at the Guinness factory in Dublin. The cookbook is magnetic, so (a) it sticks to the fridge and (b) the recipes are certainly fabulous!

It looks almost like we have a consensus that the best thing for a cold is some sort of chickeny-spicy soup.

I like Ginger Ale Carrots. The recipe is: add carrots, butter, ginger ale to pan. The ginger ale makes the carrots sweet and gingery. Delicious. I also love soup made with roasted carrots - I either go with ginger here as well, or some orange juice.

When I visited Ireland, I had great oysters, mussels, smoked salmon and trout dishes. We also had some delicious local cheeses (Gouda style, though, really) and pates and terrines. My husband liked beef stew made with with Guinness, beef ribs made with Guinness and beef pie made with, yes, Guinness. I have a recipe for Steak and Guinness pie if you're interested. It involves bacon, raisins and brown sugar.

I really enjoy the process of making the kind of cookies where you have to make little balls. You know, you grab a lump and turn it into a neat little sphere and put it on the baking sheet. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I find it very relaxing.

The World66 website marks the countries that you've been to in red. I've got 22 countries. <img src="http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries/worldmap?visited=CAUSBSDOATBECZDKFIFRDEIEITNLNORUSECHUKCN"><br/> <a href="http://www.world66.com/myworld66">create your own visited country map</a> or check our <a href="http://www.world66.com/centralamericathecaribbean/costarica">Costa Rica travel guide</a>