cakewalk

Boy. Schnitzel used to be such a simple thing. <sigh> But really, vive la difference!

Good to see you back @DianaB.

I was being snarky.

Did it produce the same result?

What do you say about vegetarian schnitzel? Can there be such a thing? Someone had posted a photo of celeriac schnitzel. They did look good. And they had a sauce! (I can't find the post to link it here.)

This would be an interesting addition to the schnitzel cookoff!

Considering that the OP was talking about kelp cured cod, I'm going to guess that he was not singing the praises of this dish, although I am not objective. I always think of "sick," in its most general sense, as referring to things that just don't go together well. Behavior is "sick" when it doesn't fit into certain norms. A person is "sick" (or "ill") because something is not going together well in his body. Etc. The OP might be using it in the sense of "bad" meaning "good" (although I think that's a bit outdated now), but given the subject, I think "bad" means "bad" here.

The Berbere seasoning is a very nice idea. I'm wondering if persimmon curd is a doable thing to serve alongside the cake. Or maybe just some sliced persimmons.

Thanks very much, my recipe is similar but the devil is in the details, of course. And your oven is a bit hotter. (I don't have convection.) My main question: just let them rest for 15 minutes after piping, not until the tops harden a bit? I've always read to let them rest until the tops will no longer stick to your fingers if you touch them lightly. That can often take up to an hour, sometimes more. Does that mess up the meringue? I bake at home, but I always notice the difference in the feet between home baked macarons and the professional ones, and I've always wondered about that. Thanks, will keep playing around.

Those are beautiful. How do you get feet like those ^ as opposed to feet (or non-feet; maybe just toes) like these:

^^ I don't see Phantom Thread as a food movie at all. Yes, food plays a role. So does fashion, which has an even bigger role, yet I wouldn't call it a fashion movie.

^ Good point. (No pun intended.) But those blades are still making me cringe.

It all looks great and you really maximized your space. But ... are you sure you want those knives with the blades facing up? It's making alarm bells go off in my head just to look at it.

@paulpegg - do you notice a difference in flavor, texture or anything at all between breads with the old starter and those with the younger starter?

This is the sort of thing that was right up Bravetart's alley: http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2012/01/bravetart-homemade-nilla-wafers.html I do miss that blog.

Of course we all break the rules. We're all so rugged and independent and individual around here! We would never play follow the leader, never. But rules become rules for a lot of different reasons. With food, I'd say it's because the food tastes good together. It does not mean that variations don't taste good as well. But classic parings don't come about by chance. I'm not particularly fond of dill, but you know what? It really does go well with salmon. On a thread about the NY Times Food Section, @Katie Meadow (at least I think it was you) used a perfect word to describe many of the recipes that have been appearing lately: concoctions. Things get thrown together and it's called "innovative," but really it is nothing of the sort. It's just a bunch of things thrown together. This doesn't mean you won't like it, and I think people should eat whatever they like. We can all easily put together a great dinner by just going through the things that are left in our refrigerators. But I think that is distinct from setting out to cook a dish or a menu. I think most of us do not put sriracha into our stuffing on Thanksgiving.

They're more than that here (NYC), more like $3 each. The choice of flavors is much greater than anything I'd ever do, but still a ridiculous amount of money.

I've often made Vanilla Dreams from King Arthur Flour, they're such good cookies, but I had never tried the Chocolate Dreams until now. They are very good. I made a half-recipe, which made a lot of cookies. Great flavor and texture, very easy to put together.

They are really much easier than their reputation (and price) would have you believe.

So many uses for dish towels. But the truth is, I rarely - if ever - use them to dry dishes. I have a dishwasher, but since I'm a one-person household the only time I use it is when I have guests for a meal. Mostly I wash up by hand, and then I let the dishes dry in the dish rack and put them away later. The dish towel's main use is to dry my hands or to clean up spills, etc. while I'm cooking or preparing things in the kitchen. (Which is why they get so ugly, I suppose.) If I need space in the dish rack then I'll dry whatever is in there, but I'll always take out a new towel because I know the one already hanging in the kitchen has seen all sorts of muck. Do most people really use their dish towels to dry dishes?

The buttercream had been in the freezer (it was leftover from a previous use), and I had some difficulty with defrosting, it was quite watery. But it worked out okay in the end, my friends and I will enjoy these macarons tomorrow. I already had a couple, even though they're not quite ready yet. But they're very good.

Macarons. The shells are flavored with some lime rind. I'll fill them later with lemon buttercream.

Yes, it does go back quite a while. IIRC, that particular McDonald's had been told by customers several times that their coffee was too hot. Apparently they ignored this. The woman who burned herself was, IMO, an eejit. I also seem to remember that there was an appeal, and although she won the original case she lost on appeal.

I also have tons of them, and I guess I don't throw them away, either. They end up scrunched at the back of the towel shelf, which is really one all-purpose shelf in the closet. The thing is they get stained and dirty and come out of the wash clean, but still stained. Not very appealing, but they are good cotton towels, so they're really fine, just ugly looking. But just think, if you hadn't kept all those towels, you wouldn't have had all that packing material.

Pain Rustique from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Cookbook, except I made it as one large loaf rather than the two smaller ones he suggests.