cakewalk

I'll taste everything on my plate, decide what I like best, and then save the best bit for last. I have always done this, whether it be dinner, dessert, or anything in between. Best for last. I'm a middle child.

"The law is a ass." To quote Charles Dickens. Sorry, carry on with the EVOO talk.

Agreed that gloves that are kept on are really no cleaner than hands that are unwashed. However, it was my understanding that gloves were used as a barrier in case there was an open cut or sore on the person's hands (and not just for "cleanliness" per se), in which case they do make some sense.

I guess "minimum requirements" and "health" are mutually exclusive! The other day, after ambling through the Gates and freezing for a good couple of hours, a friend and I wandered into a diner-type coffee shop on Broadway. We just wanted to warm up with a cup of coffee and maybe something light to eat. So -- we went to sit at a table, and the seats were all full of food. Okay, we brushed them off. The waiter gave us menus, and they were all sticky with honey or maple syrup or something of that ilk. We ordered coffee and toasted corn muffins, and the coffee came first, with lipstick stains on one of the mugs. We got up and walked out (after telling the waiter that the seats were dirty, the menus were dirty, the cups were dirty, and they should not be open for business!)

My friend told me if I swallowed my gum it would stick to my heart and I would die. I was horrified. An old Yiddish saying: if you're a "nosher" it will rain at your wedding.

Hey yous guys, next time tell us what yer sayin' 'stead of speakin' so fancy-like! I ain't splitting my funny-money with no one.

Interesting. I have heard this same argument applied to rennet, but not to gelatin. Are the two similar in any way? I'm not really sure what rennet is. In any case, the argument for rennet is that the end product no longer bears any chemical resemblance to the product of origin, so what you're using is no longer a meat product and can therefore be used in the process of making cheese. I have no idea how true/unture this might be.

I cannot tell a lie. I couldn't tell what it was from the picture (I thought it was a cauliflower dish), but your hint was a dead giveaway!! Good going.

Brains.

So, I'm just after making those ginger scones as my first attempt at scone-making, and this is what happened (no laughing at a novice): Actually everything seemed to be going along just fine until I started to cut out the scones. The recipe says it makes 8 scones; I got 24. Even though I used a 2 1/2 in cutter (actually, a glass) instead of a 3-inch as specified in the recipe, I figure I must have rolled the dough out much too thin. I didn't really roll it, I just kind of used the rolling pin to flatten the dough out a bit, but I guess I flattened it too much. So I figured I'll just bake it for less time than the recipe calls for, since I didn't want to mess around with the dough too much. Then I realized I didn't have any parchment paper -- and I didn't want to butter the baking tray because I figured the scones would burn that way. So I used aluminum foil. They were in a 400 degree oven for about 13-14 minutes. The recipe said they should bake until they begin to crack a bit on top. They didn't, but they started to brown on the bottom and I didn't want them to burn. So I took them out. Now, I have nothing to compare them to since the only scones I've eaten are the kind you buy in a store, and those are really not good. These were good. Very good, in fact. They didn't need any clotted cream or jam or anything else, they were soft and tender and lovely, and I ate way too many. They are biscuity. There are, mercifully, a lot left over (which is a good thing, since I really didn't make them for me), and even now that they've cooled they're still soft. The only thing I would change is that I would mince the ginger into small, fine pieces. (And next time, I'll have the parchment paper and I'll cut much thicker scones!) And I used heavy cream. (Screw the buttermilk -- and my trainer!)

I didn't see this until now. Mitchell London is on 9th Ave. between 35-36 Streets. (Or possibly a block before, but definitely not more than that.) It's on the east side of the street. I hope you read this on time! Enjoy your stay. There's also a Mitchell London (if it's still Mitchell London?) upstairs at the Fairway Supermarket (Broadway and 74th Street.)

Avocados have been amazingly cheap the past few weeks in NY ($1.29 each, which is a tremendous bargain here, since they're usually about $2 apiece). So I've been buying and eating them, and I have a couple hanging around which are now at the perfect state of readiness. And I just recently got home from work, starving and ready to eat just about anything in sight. However, properly chastised by "that other thread," I left the veggie burgers in the freezer. Instead, I mashed up an avocado, squeezed in some lime juice (heh, I still laugh at the fact that I have limes hanging out in my fridge as a regular thing nowadays), S&P, red pepper flakes, and some good cheese with black peppers in it (what's that called?) on WW bread. No garlic only because I was too hungry to peel and mince fresh garlic, and I can no longer bear the thought (or the taste) of garlic powder. That was a good sandwich.

I'm with you on that one. I just started working with a trainer again, who says, "how's the eating going?" and I look the other way, like maybe she's really talking to someone else. Turtle Meng: can buttermilk be used instead of heavy cream in your scones recipe? I am going to try them this weekend (with buttermilk, I apologize profusely, but, you know), and was just wondering if you can clue me in on the differences I should watch out for. Maybe I should make once recipe of each? Hmmm. (Do they freeze well?) Many thanks.

Great poem, wonderful! I also hated liver when I was a kid. And I had (and still have) low iron levels, so my parents always tried to get me to eat it. Never worked. However, I was not as poetic a child as you: my response was to do an about face if I got to our door at suppertime and smelled so much as a faint whiff of liver coming from the other side. I still won't go near the stuff. (Although I will eat chopped chiken liver, if it's made correctly - e.g., not too heavy on the liver.)

Oh no. I can already see that instead of my usual fruit-and-yoghurt breakfast, today is not going to start out well! (Diet-wise, that is.) Amy's Bread sells slices of a very wonderful toasted almond brioche. This is one of my favorite treats. Their whole-wheat Irish soda bread ain't bad either. I find the muffins I buy at just about any shop in NY to be terribly disappointing. However, it doesn't stop me from trying again and again. I love that comment about Danishes looking "well, damp." Good hamentaschen, with a nice crumbly dough, are my favorite. (After the almond brioche, that is.) I've never made scones. TurtleMeng, if you have a (simple) recipe, can you post it? I'm sure I'll think of more good breakfast treats as the morning progresses.

That apple galette does look good. I also usually don't use non-dairy products in what are essentially meant to be dairy desserts (like cheesecake), I just make something else. But I'm curious, because there has been such a huge marketing response to the prevelance of lactose-intolerance. I'm not lactose intolerant, but since I keep kosher I can jump right on the bandwagon. And my friends, being cheesecake fanatics, can give me a real rundown on what they think of it. I'm sure they won't be shy. Thanks for the galette recipe.

Wow. Woody Allen would have a field day with this post.

Not if you're willing to share the recipe. ← All you have to do is replace the cream cheese in your favorite recipe with the soy cream cheese. If the recipe calls for sour cream, the soy sour cream is great too. (the recipe I use doesn't call for any cream, but if yours does you can replace it with Rich's coffee creamer - I haven't tried using the potato milk, but I think that may be a great alternative) I'd be happy to share my recipe with you, but it's at work and I am not. I can post it in the next few days though if you'd like. ← Just a one-on-one substitution? I think I'm going to try the soy cream cheese. I have friends coming over this weekend and I know they're cheesecake fiends, but we're having chicken so I figured it's just out of the question. I also never heard of potato milk, and that sounds like it could be useful. I've tried Rich's coffee creamer, that's a no-go for me. Many thanks.

Not if you're willing to share the recipe.

Hold on! The square ones are not homemade, the round ones are. GOOD, fresh, round homemade knishes cannot be compared to the packaged square ones - no contest! ← PACKAGED??!?! Where'd ya get that one from? I'm sure you can buy packaged ones, but you can buy packaged bagels too, y'know? I don't know anything about the history of knishes. I tried looking it up on google, but the only thing I discovered is that there's a publication called knish.com that seems to be Judaism's answer to The Onion. I think the square ones are fried, which is what gives them that distinctive and delicious crust. I have no idea how that crust is made, or what it's made of. (I'm not sure I want to know.) And I don't know which came first, the circle or the square. (Does anyone?) It seems to me that the round ones would be easier to make, especially in quantity. But as a kid (and even now as an adult), a knish meant a square knish! I really have no recollection of ever seeing anyone buy a round knish! I've always thought they were two completely different things, and still can't understand why they both have the same name!

A bit of New York knish dogmatism (all true, but appropriately tongue-in-cheek): Get a square one. I don't even know why they make the round ones, no one eats them, so they'll definitely be stale. (At least no New Yorkers eat them.) Knishes are filled with potato. A cheese-and-fruit-filled knish? What the hell is that, an avante-garde knish? Maybe it belongs on that other thread? Who invented it? Where did it come from? And when? Stick it with the blueberry bagels and run as far and fast as you can. I never had a knish at Yona Schimmels, so I can't say anything about them. But the fact that they even make something called a cheese-and-fruit-filled knish makes me very, very suspicious. I do like 2nd Ave. Deli's potato knishes (the square ones!), although in truth I haven't had one in a couple of years. (They tend to stay with you.) No microwave-warming! The crusty outside and mushy inside is what does it. And potato knishes should be made with tons of pepper. Have a good time.

Damn. Why don't you guys just learn how to spell? St. John as "Sinjin" I know from my "Jane Eyre" days. But if a church were called St. John's, would you also pronounce it Sinjin's? Mercy.

L'chaim!!

Ever on the lookout for more chocolate cake recipes, I copied yours to add to my collection. It does look good. Reading through it, I noticed that hot coffee makes an appearance in the instructions but not in the list of ingredients. Can you fill us in please? (Many thanks.) I've made cakes using vinegar instead of eggs, but they were already eggless cake recipes. I don't know how much to substitute, or if vinegar can be substituted in all recipes (somehow I'd hesitate to add vinegar to a recipe that calls for milk.) Sorry I can't help you here.

I toasted some walnuts for a banana bread that's now baking in the oven. What is it about toasted walnuts? Definitely the best thing I've had today. Good thing I made some extra, or I'd be baking a cake without nuts.