cakewalk

That they are fake!! Imposters! Poseurs! Stay away!! And aside from that, I don't mind so much when they're called "blondies." At least that name suggests they're something in their own right, which perhaps they are. I turn into a vampire when they're called "blond brownies." BROWNIES ARE NOT BLONDE!!! Well, you asked.

I think this is the most dangerous thread I have yet seen on this site. Thank you all!

Sorry for the misunderstanding. No, this isn't a snobby thread. In truth snobbery gets cut down to size pretty quickly around here. I was referring to the "are you a food snob" thread. Which is not a snobby thread, either (it's just a little, um, repetitive?). I was just being lazy and playing with the word "snob" in the title. Sorry.

Interesting convergence of words. What could it possibly mean?

Do you think there is a difference between "innovation" and "inventiveness" -- and does this matter at all in what you're asking? Are you asking when it's okay for a chef to be innovative (e.g., make changes) with an already existing dish, or literally to "invent" a new dish? And what's the distinction between the two? (Or is this just completely off the mark because I'm tired and punchy from reading the snobby thread? In which case, never mind.)

I think good Ashkenazi cooking has quite a bit more (it at least has the addition of garlic and pepper), but your post pretty much describes the way my mother cooked. Paprika and salt were the only two spices, and dill and parsely were the herbs, and they were used in chicken soup only (they came with the "soup greens" my mother bought every week). And that was it.

Foodstuff: I just bought "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini" and I'm having a lot of fun learning about vegetables I've never heard of before. Non foodstuff: "After the Quake" by Haruki Murakami, and I just finished "Reflecting the Sky" by S.J. Rozan, who has a very good series of detective novels.

No, grated on my grater, with knuckles and skin included. Good question. I wouldn't consider it an herb, though -- would you? So. Not a spice, not an herb. What have we here? I understand the distinctions you're all making, but in general I guess I consider herbs and spices (and ginger, whatever it may be) to be in the category of: stuff I add to my food to give it a particular flavor. Or nuance. Or whatever. addition: thanks for the clarification, Suvir.

Herb: tarragon, mint Spice: nutmeg, ginger

Haven't read the article, just your comments ( ), and I venture this guess: the WSJ is really saying, hey, the restaurants are hurting a bit. It costs too much to cook for yoursevles, why don't you go out to eat? It's really a "money saver."

Actually, I think it sets a new low in seasoning.

Pizza pie. Pita bread.

I was there a while ago (quite by accident, turned a corner and there it was) and two things I loved: they use cloth napkins, and when I wanted coffee Eve said, "I'll put up a pot and then you go help yourself."

YAY IVAN!! Encore!

Thanks Suzanne. Just in time for my risotto experiments! Do you actually cook with the truffle oil, or just pour it on after cooking, like sesame oil? (I love the smell of sesame oil, and I used to fry stuff in it and it seemed to die. And then I read somewhere that it should just be drizzled onto food after it is cooked and boy, did that make a difference. There's nothing quite like sesame oil. Except truffle oil, maybe?) Thanks again.

So now that we know what truffle oil is (thank you), um, what do we use it for?

The waiter doesn't have to stand at my side to see when I'm finished. Waiters at plain old diners pay attention to the coffee cup, I don't see why they can't at other restaurants. Refilling a half-full cup leaves me with a cup of lukewarm coffee that I won't drink anyway, so what's the point? (I'm a novice at food, but I get very grumpy when people mess with my coffee. )

Thank you, Soba and jaybee. I can see that I'm going to be practicing this a lot. I always cook more as winter approaches, and risotto is going to be a biggie this year, I can tell.

Thanks so much for that link, Saffy.

There was a thread a while back in which everyone "waxed rhapsodic about risotto." It was a good thread, and I realized I had no idea what the hell risotto was (never mind how to pronounce it). So about a week or so ago I decided to try to make some. My main objective was just to get an idea of what the rice "does" when you make risotto, since it seems to behave completely differently than when you make regular rice. I didn't have any stock, of course, since I've never made any stock (I make soup, hell with stock), so I used fake stock (Seitenbacher vegetable broth, not too bad really). I guess it served its purpose. And of course I bought arborio rice, since to use regular rice would be a major sin, and in addition it probably wouldn't work. I followed along with a basic risotto recipe from The Joy of Cooking. So. Diced and fried an onion in olive oil (EVOO, voila) until translucent. (Is this what you call sweating an onion? Jeeze, I been doing that since I was two.) I think butter would have tasted better in the long run. Added the rice and stirred till combined w/onion and EVOO. I think that's a more important step than Joy of Cooking points out, it needs to hang out a bit longer than that. Started adding the simmering stock, cup by cup, and stirred and stirred and stirred. It's quite incredible to watch this process. Anyway, at a certain point I realized I had forgotten to grate the cheese! So I left off stirring to grate (in thirty second intervals). I wasn't making a large amount, so it wasn't too terrible. It came out not bad. It wasn't as creamy as I thought it should be, given everyone's descriptions, but it wasn't all clumped together either. It's hard to know if the rice is all through soaking up liquid or if it's still ready for more. I didn't use any wine, which would certainly make a difference in taste, but would that also make a difference in how much other liquid the rice will take? (I mean because of the alcohol effecting absorbancy, not because of amounts of liquids used.) I'll have to try it again. Does anyone have any idea if the Rissoteria uses vegetable stock or meat stock? I think learning to make it properly might be just a tad easier than learning to pronounce it properly!

Uh oh. You sound like a thin person. Are you a thin person? Chronic overweight and eating when not hungry go together like, well, soup and sandwich, shall we say? Not being hungry has never stopped me from eating -- unless I put my mind to it and *decide* not to eat because I don't need it. But the mere absence of hunger is hardly a factor.

This is what the mathematicians call trivially true. True but of little interest. The real question is why people eat more than they need. . Actually, I don't believe that is the real question for people who want to lose weight. The real question for them is "What can I reasonably do to lose weight?". This can become a back-and-forth with no convincing done on either side, but I agree that the real question is why do people overeat? I've had a lifelong weight problem, and I know I'm not alone on that one. And for most overweight people, the relationship between the intake/expenditure of calories and its resultant influence on body weight is no revelation. Most of us know damned well that eating too much and doing too little will result in a weight gain, that's not rocket science, yet we continue to eat too much and do too little. So the real question is, why? (And yes, if we all did that funky chicken dance every day we'd all be nice and svelte. ) (For years I thought "svelte" was a Yiddish word. Doesn't it sound like it should be a Yiddish word?)

Taschlich is traditionally done on Rosh Hashana, but you have until the end of Sukkot to do it. (If you are so inclined.) Shana tova to all.

Boy. And I thought it was a musical variation of "badabum."

Another illusion shot to hell! Curses! What are the benefits of using a rice cooker over a plain old pot with a lid?