scordelia

Potato chips are pretty international, but they seem to exist on a more artisanal level in some countries. In any event, I've not seen anyone claim them for Spain and though Saratoga Springs claims to have invented the potato chip (story here, or here) they haven't managed to successfully attach their name the way the French have to the Belgian fried potato. ← What I meant was that Spain seems to have whole heartedly adopted the chip, and they do have their own spin on it with all those little factories. Spanish potato chips are unique, and the best, among chips. One of your articles (thanks) said that Herman Lay founded the first national brand. Now Chicagoans claim that Japp's (now Jay's, changed the name after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor) was the first.

That reminds me of a friend of mine who was having a big fancy wedding in Cincinnati (country club, the works), but she wanted her wedding cake to come from Kroeger's, because all her birthday cakes growing up were bought at Kroeger's. It was a sentimental thing. Actually, it was a pretty cake (especially when considering the source), and it tasted like birthday cake and we had vanilla ice cream.

The most difficult ingredient for me to get is the suet and the candied peel before fall. Unless I run into them, I might just have to make them in the fall and do 2 batches (one for this year and one for next). Do you know what temp is your storage place? How cool is cool? Is a fridge too cold? I do not overheat my house in the winter and my basement is fairly cool, but summers are very hot in Chicago (85 F+), and it becomes impossible and too expensive to keep the house really cool. Thanks

Yes, Chinatown. At least in Chicago. Lobsters at fancy seafood shops are over $20 a pound, but in Chinatown it is at least half that. And you can freeze them if you buy them a few days before you plan on cooking them. When you thaw them out, they are happy and alive.

It's called a stand mixer. I have a couple of cake recipes that I love (one is a French sponge that requires the eggs to be beaten for 20 min) that I would rarely make becuase I had better things to than stand over the bowl for 25+ min holding a hand mixer. But my husband gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer. It has set me free! I make all these impossible recipes that need to be whipped and beaten for hours and hours, and simply turn on the machine and....walk away. Do some laundry, or weed my garden, play with the kids. It's a whole new world. If I was not already married to the sweetest man that ever lived, I would marry my stand mixer!

Last November, we went to London and I brought my father a Christmas Pudding from Marks & Spencer's. Huge hit! We loved it. So, I said I would make a Christmas pudding this year. I have recipes with suet and without. Which is better? How long should they age? The one from M&S was made in Dec '03. Can I get away with a month or two since the majority of the ingredients aren't available until the fall? They say to age them in cool, dry place. How cool is cool? Thanks!

Oh man! I am drooling!

My favorite method is the rule of thirteen which gives you a yolk that is not completely hard. Bring water to boil Add eggs and boil for 2 min Turn off heat and cover for 11 min Run under cold water to stop cooking I also find with this method that they always peel perfectly.

There are a lot of Pakistani butchers in my neighborhood. They are the ones with the goat legs. It's really cold and nasty in Chicago this weekend (it is supposed to snow!), so I am feeling like a nice stew. I'll report if I give the goat a go.

I do layer cakes from scratch, but I use a mix for for this eggnog bundt cake with sherry that is my mother's recipe.

Has anyone tried Watkins? How are their extracts? I found them on-line, and was hoping for a review before I bought. I checked out the peach paste (thank you for the suggestion), which sounds good, but I do not need a 1-kilo tub. This is just home use.

One suggestion would the restaurant North Pond in Chicago. They raise a lot of their own heirloom veggies for the restaurant and try to encourage their patrons to do so as well by giving seed packets of heirloom lettuce with the check. North Pond

Harold's has them too, and fried gizzards in hot sauce (I have to admit a weakness for these). McDonald's tried a sit-down concept with waiter service about ten years ago. It was not a success.

Or the potato chip? Saratoga Springs claims to have invented it, but the Spanish have made it their own with all those little potato chip factories that supply the bars (I love those chips!).

I have not been there yet, but sister-in-law and brother-in-law live in Western Springs and rave about Vie!

Even better is Bag Balm with the cotton socks. It is used for chapped cow udders, so if it can make a cow teet soft, think of what it can do for your hands. Pure lavender oil is also good for cuts, burns and around cuticles. Lavender oil is truly amazing. It has antiseptic and anesthestic properties, and it is a naturally drying oil, so no residue.

No it's not! Peanut butter, bacon and red pepper jelly is one of my absolute favorites! ← This month's Martha Stewart Living features--you guessed it--a peanut butter and bacon club sandwich!

For lobster rolls, I have to go with Puddles on Little Cranberry--nice toasted roll (and it has to be those weird bread folded in half things that are unique to New England) with a little butter, lots of lobster and just enough mayo to hold it together. The Puddles roll is loaded--it comes flat and a knife and fork are required. Now for the crab roll--Mike's in Ellsworth ME on State St. Mike's is a little grocery store that only makes crab rolls in the summah! It's up the hill from the courthouse. Lots of crab, just enough mayo, perfectly seasoned and only $5! Get that and a bag of Humpty Dumpty Clam & Sour Cream potato chips and you have yourself a lunch! There is no where to sit at Mike's, but take stroll down to library and there is a pretty park on the Union River.

It's a mystery to me as well. It strikes me that he really is not much of an innovator. He was one of the first Nouvelle chefs on the scene in Chicago, but finer practitioners have come and gone while Charlie stays and stays.

Well, why didn't you just say all this in the first place instead of tossing around some snippy quips? Now I have the explanation I was looking for! Thank you.

HungryChris brought up lobster rolls in the fried clam thread and kindly supplied us with a photo of a yummy looking lobster roll from The Village Retsaurant. So who has the best one? What makes the perfect lobster roll? (I think we can talk about crab rolls too)

So was saffron more prevalent in the south, and is now becoming more widespread?

This interview story I am about to tell was not at a restaurant, but it applies: I was interviewing for a development position at a very small, very liberal, very granola college. Everyone on campus wore sandals, jeans, dreds, etc. (even the the professors). I showed up in dress slacks, a smart white shirt, nice flats and tasteful jewelry. I got the job! Later, I was told that I was the only person who came "dressed up" for the interview which told them that I took it seriously.

It's too bad. The Trib used to have a great food section and excellent reviewers. It was never as good as The New York Times, but the Trib ran a close second. There are still a couple of good writers, and they still have a couple of good home grown food columns, but the majority of the section has become celebrity chef syndicated columns. There no longer appears to be an active test kitchen. The food section seems to lack an active staff too. More and more, articles are being written by writers whose primary job is something else (like reviewing movies). Who knows? Maybe they have recently lost a bunch of people and others are subbing until new writers are hired. I hope this is the case.

I do not like Mark Caro's writing. This is one of his better food articles though. Caro is indicative of the declining quality of the Chicago Tribune which no longer has a very good food writing staff, as well as declining quality throughout the paper. The Trib still beats the Sun-Times, but not by much.