cakewalk

Liver. (Is there a barfing emoticon?)

Chocolate. Anything that has chocolate in it. Or on it. Or around it. I can't resist, and there's no such thing as having just a bite, or a piece, or a taste. It's the whole pint of ice cream (I dare not buy more than a pint. I know from experience that I will not put the rest back in the freezer for another day), the whole box of cookies, the entire chocolate bar. I am definitely an "all or nothing" type of person. M&M's with almonds. Now there's a fascinating bit of intelligence.

Thanks. I never even thought about making nut butters, but I think I will give it a try. Maybe I'll even try making some nutella ... ?

Thanks for that link. Do you know anything about amounts? For examble, about how much cashew butter would I get from one cup of cashews?

Quiche.

Here, here. I have more room on the stove than I do in my cupboards, that's for sure. And anyway I do use it every morning to boil water for my French press coffee. And it looks nice. So there. You want illogic? I have two separate sets of dishes and two sets of pots & pans and two sets of cutlery. I use them for different types of foods, and never the twain shall meet. Now that's illogic.

these are my favorite recipe reviews on sites like epicurious.com: "i tried to make this hazlenut torte with burnt sugar buttercream. but i was out of hazlenuts so i used peanuts. and i didn't have the amount of all purpose flour it called for, so i made up the rest with cornstarch and talcum powder. for the frosting i only had half the butter necessary so i made up the rest with bacon fat. and my cake pan was in use, so i baked the whole thing in an old running shoe i found in the basement. and my family hated it! i would definitely NOT make this recipe again, and i rate it one fork, but only because it won't let me give it zero!" uh... ok.... ← Readers' reviews on epicurious are often like that, and depending on my mood I find it either hilarious or terribly frustrating. Sugarella: thanks for all that information, it's great. I love to bake. I'm getting much better at it. This thread is a wonderful idea.

Oh boy do I remember that stage. (Important: it is truly only a stage. It goes away.) I can remember sitting at my desk at work and feeling that I wanted to literally climb the walls. I really thought I would go nuts. Just one cigarette, that's all, just one. (I didn't.) That was about 13-14 years ago (I smoked 2 packs a day for many years.) It does get easier, it really does, and sooner than you'd think. Those killer physical cravings subsided after about a week or 10 days, not more. I got through it by telling myself I'd have the cigarette "later." The cravings would come, and I'd say, okay, I'm going to have that cigarette, but I'm going to finish this letter first. And by the time I finished the letter, the cravings would have subsided. It is exhausting, but it worked. It is hard as hell, but you can do it. You really really can. And I'm loving the food!

Breakfast in bed is yukky. Coffee in bed, however, is sublime. And if you've got the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle to go along with it, well, that's a little piece of heaven right there. And when you finish the puzzle you get up, get dressed, and GO OUT for breakfast!

Oh boy. I just had my apartment painted, so I decided I should clean stuff as well. Kitchen first. Oy. I think cleaning the stovetop gets my vote here, although that might be because I haven't started on the fridge yet. Grease, grease everywhere. How can something that tastes so good as food be so awful otherwise? Eeeyewww. Really gross. But the stove looks so wonderful when it's clean. Makes me wanna cook and dirty it up again.

What a wonderful way to commemorate your grandmother -- and to give us all the chance to remember ours. Thank you. I remember only my maternal grandmother, who died when I was about 11. (The others died before I was born.) I've mentioned this before, but my main food memory of her relates to beets, or, more specifically, borscht. She used to make huge pots of borscht each week, and I can remember when I was a little kid standing on a chair by the stove in her South Bronx kitchen and eating the warm borscht from the pot. It is still one of my fondest memories. My grandmother would fill empty jars with the borscht and give several to my family each week. We drank it in glasses, cold, and the beets that remained on the bottom we would then eat with a fork. We never had it in a bowl like soup, and I remember I thought it was strange the first time I saw someone eat borscht in that way (although now I love it like that.) I love beets because I love the way they taste, but they're also a tremendously emotional food for me -- I can't even see them without remembering my grandmother, and the memories are always good ones. Also -- my grandmother owned a candy store on Southern Blvd., and I remember visiting that store (it was in the same building she lived in, and it was where my mother grew up.) She sold the store when I was about 5 or 6, but I remember it well. I remember that my very favorite candy bar was (and still is) Chunky! And I remember that my first ambition in life was to be a candy store lady, like Bubby. (Actually, I should have stuck to it.)

Oh, Israelis would never do such a thing. I'll be there in March. What I'm really looking forward to, Yerushalmit that I am, is Sima's and HaShipudia. And the beit cafe at the cinemateque, because I love the view and miss it terribly. But I'll let my Tel Avivi cousins call the shots in that great city.

It all depends on the size of the cookie in relation to the size of my coffee cup, because (I admit), I'm a dunker! Cookies have become enormous. Humongous. In order to dip them properly into one's coffee cup, they must be cut down to size!! Not that there's anything wrong with that. And if there's no coffee, then I'm usually a tearer. Or, more accurately, a breaker.

Gin & tonic, easy on the tonic. Very easy. Like maybe just a splash, but it doesn't really need to be there at all, really. Macademia nuts are good. They're luxurious, self-indulgent, and delicious, and you can contemplate that marvelous crunch, which is a great way of getting your mind off the other stuff. And dark-chocolate-covered macademica nuts, well, what more need be said? I do hope the worst is past, and never returns!

Glad y'all liked those muffins, they're really something, eh? I added the recipe to recipe Gullet. But I have to admit -- I peeled the ginger! (I'm such a wimp.) But next time, I'll try them unpeeled. And thanks for the info about turning the muffins into a cake!

Last summer I was in the supermarket and bought, among other things, a six pack of beer. The cashier insisted that she had to see some ID. (I'm 51. Although admittedly last summer I was 50, so maybe I looked younger.) I decided I loved her and would go to her checkout line and no other from that point on. A few years ago I was visiting a friend in Cambridge, MA -- the land of perpetual students -- and we decided to go out for a drink. There was a line at the door of the bar we went to, and there was a guy there carding everyone before they went in. My friend and I looked at each other with big grins on our faces. Gee, do you think he'll card us? We got up to the door, the guy took one look at us and just waved us in. We were terribly disappointed. Asking for ID is one thing. Rudeness is something else altogether. On all sides.

Ginger Lemon Muffins Serves 12. This recipe is adapted from Marion Cunningham's "The Breakfast Book." 2 oz fresh ginger, peeled & cut into chunks 3/4 c plus 3 scant Tbsp sugar Rind from two lemons (peel off strips of rind with a peeler) 8 T butter, softened (1 stick) 2 large eggs 1 c buttermilk 2 c AP flour 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 tsp baking soda Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, grease muffin tins. Whiz chunks of ginger in food processor until finely chopped (there should be at least 1/4 cup chopped ginger.) Heat the ginger and 1/4 cup of the sugar together over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the mixture is hot. Allow the mixture cool. Process the lemon rind and 3 Tbsp sugar together until the peel is in small bits. Add the lemon mixture to the ginger mixture, stir together and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter for a few seconds, add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and beat together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the buttermilk and mix until well blended; then add the flour, salt, and baking soda, beating until smooth. Thoroughly mix in the ginger-lemon mixture with a wooden spoon. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins (3/4 full.) Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm. Keywords: Easy, Breakfast, Brunch, Snack ( RG1600 )

Wow. They're really stunning. Do you ever make cheese knishes, or anything sweetish? If so, do you use the same dough for the outside? Wow again.

I made these ginger muffins last week, and I think they're the best muffins I've ever eaten, ever. I'm wondering how it would be as a loaf cake, probably just as good. The receipe is from Marion Cunningham's Breakfast Book: Bridge Creek Fresh Ginger Muffins Source: The Breakfast Book, Marion Cunningham 2 oz Gingerroot, whole/unpeeled 3/4 cup Sugar plus 3 Tbsp sugar Zest from two lemons 8 Tbsp Butter, room temperature 2 eggs 1 cup Buttermilk 2 cup Flour 1/2 tsp Salt 3/4 tsp Baking soda Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease the muffin tins. Cut the unpeeled ginger into large chunks. If you have a food processor, process the ginger until it is in tiny pieces, or hand chop into fine pieces. (You should have 1/4 cup. It is better to have too much ginger, than too little) Put the ginger and 1/4 cup sugar in a small skillet or pan and cook the mixture over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the mixture is hot. Don't walk away from the pan, this cooking takes only a couple minutes. Remove from the stove and let the ginger mixture cool. Put the lemon zest and 3 Tbsp sugar in the food processor and process until the peel is in small bits; or chop by hand and then add sugar. Add the lemon mixture to the ginger mixture. Stir and set aside. Put the butter in a mixing bowl and beat a second or two, add the Remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and beat until smooth. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the buttermilk and mix until blended. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda. Beat until smooth. Add the ginger-lemon mixture and mix well. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins so that each cup is 3/4 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.

I would let her eat cake.

BTW -- my father (who was a kosher butcher, at a kosher meat-packing factory) would never eat frankfurters. "They make them where I work," he'd say. "You know what goes in those things?" ← What goes in those things is quality kosher beef. From the front part of the cow. If you see "variety meats" on the label, then you will be getting undesirable parts of the cow, or pig if the dog contains pork. Do you know what your father may be referring to? ← You and my father could probably have had a very interesting conversation. He never mentioned exactly what he was referring to (except by referring to it as "chazarai" -- a generic translation of which could be "garbage"), and he is now deceased, so the secret lies with him. In any case, there were no labels on the hot dogs. (Imagine!!) He used to bring home frankfurters (because, although he wouldn't touch them, my brother, sisters, and I would holler for them all the time) of the "old school." A long line of hot dogs, each connected to the other. They had to be cut apart. He'd bring home a few pounds wrapped up in brown paper, so there were never any labels for us to read (or not read, as the case may be.) I'm sure the beef was pure beef, and good beef. However, I think in addition to that pure beef there was probably a lot of not-so-pure stuff as well.

Looks like what we really need to explore is not the hot dog, but the concept of a "proper" meal. For most people, if you have a hot dog (or two) on a roll with the works, is that a meal? Or is it a snack in between meals? Does it make a difference if you eat it "on the go" or if you eat it sitting down at the table with napkins (or serviettes) and everything? I really love those A&H bison frankfurters. And I can certainly make a full meal of them. BTW -- my father (who was a kosher butcher, at a kosher meat-packing factory) would never eat frankfurters. "They make them where I work," he'd say. "You know what goes in those things?"

It's nice to have the alternatives in the winter time, since there's not much doing at the Greenmarket off-season for obvious reasons. But come Spring the greenmarket at union square is loaded with tourists, sometimes I think they get most of their money from that source. I wish the opening of stores like TJ and WF didn't automatically imply the doom of smaller merchants -- can't we all just get along? -- but inevitably it does. It creates a lot of tension all across the board. I look forward to checking out TJ, but I don't think I would shlep there for regular shopping. However, I do shlep to the Greenmarket pretty regular shopping in the spring & summer.

Where ya been?

I made the Guinness Stout ginger cake, and it is truly wonderful. A bit of a story: I mixed the batter about a week ago, figuring I'd freeze it and then bake it next weekend because sister, brother, et al. are coming over and we're having brunch and I'll have a lot of stuff to do. That was when I discovered alcohol doesn't feeze all that easily. The batter hung out in the freezer a while, semi-frozen, and I baked it Friday night because I knew some people would be dropping in this morning. So, with due diligence to all the warnings on this thread, I let the baked cake hang out covered in the fridge since Friday night, and we had it today, and my goodness it was good. Still had a bit of a ginger bite, but a good one, not too strong. Wonderful spiciness, moist, a little dense. I used one cup of molasses (Grandma's), 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. This is a really good recipe. Next I try the fresh ginger cake.