cakewalk

The avocado looks like a great addition to that grapefruit salad.

Very beautiful, especially those tiles. Also love the boldness of your colors. But mostly I keep thinking -- look at all that counter space!!

You can fry the bacon as usual and then drizzle some sesame oil over it when it's done instead of cooking them together. That should be interesting. (I have never thought that sesame oil tasted anything like bacon.)

I finally got around to trying out the ATK gluten free book. I made the Mutligrain Sandwich Bread, which is not bad at all. I mixed 1 1/2 recipes and baked it in my Pullman loaf pan (13x4x4", baked without the lid), figuring with its four-inch sides it would offer better support and I wouldn't need the collar they suggest for a regular loaf pan. It rose up to the edge of the pan when proofing, but deflated about an inch during baking. Timing is very different. It is mixed, then put into the loaf pan (it's extremely sticky), let rise for about an hour, then they suggest baking for about 1 1/2 hours at 325F. I was sure I would end up with a brick. They don't give a suggested internal temp for doneness, which is surprising from ATK, but this loaf was about 210 at 1 3/4 hours and I called it done. (It wasn't done at 1 1/2 hours.) It's very flavorful, and although I haven't made sandwiches yet I think it will work well. Texture is dense but not much more so than a regular multigrain loaf. It is very heavy - this loaf weighed in at 3 lbs! I probably should have started with their Classic Sandwich Bread and made it in an 8 1/2x4 1/2 pan as they suggest. That will be next, so I can get some idea of what the rise should really be like. I understand why gluten-free bread is so expensive, the ingredients really do cost a small fortune.

That is really something, very beautiful. Is there any particular custom in terms of when public food establishments can open during Ramadan? Are there any restrictions at all? I guess it must differ by country, but I am curious about it.

Boy, that's a lotta cake for two people! How does the semolina get so beautifully browned? Do you by any chance have a recipe to share?

Try with parchment rather than silpat.

Needed some biscotti. These are fig/pistachio, unbaked, once baked, twice baked. They were nice. These had about 3 Tbs of butter, next time I'll go with olive oil.

Thanks for that information @docjavadude. I ordered one as well. (Actually, I ordered two. It made the shipping cost, which stayed the same, seem more reasonable.)

The Gold Medal comes with a very good endorsement. So far I've never seen it sold in a single bottle. Amazon sells it by the case. Since I don't bake professionally, I have no need to buy a case. But if I ever see a single bottle of it, I will definitely try the Gold Medal. It doesn't seem that any other brand of imitation vanilla has come close.

I think people re-work baking recipes all the time, but I wouldn't say it's "instinct." It's more a matter of either learning by experience, or knowing what substitutions would work scientifically. There are a lot of variables. It depends on what you're baking, it depends on whether you want a very particular result, etc. If I'm feeling lazy and a recipe calls for two whole eggs and one yolk, I might just use three eggs. I wouldn't worry about the result. I've reduced the butter in a recipe and added sour cream instead. Better result. Again, it's not instinct, it's experience, and of course you have to be prepared to be wrong. But I would not measure a cup of flour by eye. Ever. Even I have my limits.

That's a biggie for me, too. When I go for that first cup of coffee in the morning, I do not want to do battle with anything from the night before!

Bingo. I wash pots and pans as I'm cooking in case I'll need them again, or just to get them out of the way. If people are coming over I try to make sure the kitchen is organized before they get there - especially that there's nothing in the sink. Also, my kitchen is way smaller than a butler's pantry, Organization is key.

That is something totally new to me. How do you make it? What do you do with it? (It's a lovely color!)

Six-stranded challot. I love the braid.

That star-shaped plate with the mango pickle is amazing. (So is the food, but sometimes I get distracted.)

Not unlike a frittata. It can be made intentionally, with specific ingredients, or it can be made with leftovers. Delicious both ways, neither of which is disrespectful to the dish.

@Norm Matthews, that's a lovely loaf. (The dinner is nice, too, but the loaf is really eye-catching.)

Some fun with these layer cakes: http://www.tastespotting.com/search/lapis/1

This is similar to the Indonesian "thousand layer cake" or Spekok: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spekkoek I'm pretty sure there's a thread about this on eGullet somewhere. But your main question seems to be how to scale up, and by a huge margin. Hopefully someone will be able to help you with that. With the constant need to remove the trays from the oven to keep adding more and more batter, I'm not sure this cake is a good candidate for what you want to do. Here is one link: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/100426-lapis-legit-spekuk-spekkoek/#comment-1528296 There are others.

I always thought I was the only one who had this problem. The main issue, for me, is that I don't particularly like cream cheese. It's great in some dough recipes, or cake recipes, for texture, etc. But otherwise, meh. I'm not a big cheesecake fan, I don't even like it on bagels. (Butter is better.) Yet I always like to have some in the fridge, so I also don't buy the smaller package. But once that package is opened, next time I look at it, it has green mold growing around it. I think the best solution is this: whatever you're making with that half a packet of cream cheese: make two of them.

Yes, in general I agree, I'd much rather have weights. To clarify: I meant if a cookbook uses volume as its "main" type of measurement but includes weights as well (as many books published in the US are starting to do), and those weights are incorrect, then I'd rather they just had the volume measures. The incorrect weight is beyond unhelpful. And I hear you about the pan sizes, but I always figured they were standard sizes for whatever country the recipe originated in. Annoying, for sure, but can't blame them. (At least not too much.)

This makes me livid! It's inexcusable, and I'd much rather have volume measurements only if their "equivalents" are off. (And they're often off by a lot.) I can think of several recipes in particular that I love, and at some point I used their weight measurements rather than the volume. Inedible cake was the result. No wonder people are hesitant to make the switch.

Chag sameach. I was waiting to see what you had in store for us.

Wow! Great work, Franci - congratulations.