scordelia

Rose Petal Ice Cream Serves 6 as Dessert. I love things flavored with rose and am lucky to have a large rosa rogosa in my backyard, so I decided to try a rose petal ice cream. 2 c whole milk 1 c heavy whipping cream 1 c sugar 2 T rose syrup* 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp grated lemon zest 2 old fashioned roses 1. Combine the milk, cream, salt, sugar and rose syrup (*available at Indian grocery stores) in a saucepan and bring to a low simmer, making sure all the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool for 20 min. 2. Add vanilla and transfer to a container and chill overnight. 3. Pour ice cream base into your maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. 4. About 5 min before ice cream is finished freezing, add the lemon zest and the petals from 2-3 old fashioned roses and allow to thoroughly combine for 5 min. 5. Transfer soft ice cream to a freezer safe container, cover surface with plastic wrap and freeze until hardened (at least 3 hours). Makes about 1 quart. Very elegant served in a tuile with crystallised rose petals or fresh rose petals or fresh pansies for a garnish. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Ice Cream, Ice Cream Maker ( RG1380 )

Sadly La Fonda closed a few years ago. It was a reliable spot of catalonian cooking in Madrid. ← OH NO! They had such good food! It's been 3 1/2 years since I was last in Madrid, but we always made sure to go there whenever we were in Madrid. It was recommended to us on our first trip by the desk clerk at our hotel, and we have been back 4 more times. Last time I was there must have been shortly before they closed. How sad!

I had excellent cargols a la llauna at La Fonda in Madrid. Then I had wonderful snails in a sauce I can only describe as being like a mole (it had chocolate in it) at Casa Pablete in Aranjuez. It's a little tapas place on Stuart, and we were waited on by the owner who said his best dish was the snails.

Do you think they would like potato chip cookies? They are not as weird as they sound. It's like a short bread with crushed potato chips in it which gives it a salty je ne sais quoi crunch. Let me know if you want me to post the recipe.

No Name is good (or at least it was the last time I was there). Also, if you have a Legal's nearby, they are very good. My lunch fave at Legal's is the lunch special of simply grilled bluefish for $9.

Here are a couple of Cape reviews for fried clams: PJ's in Wellfleet (Route 6) A bit disappointing. Price was okay at $11.95, but there were a lot strips in my supposedly whole bellied clams. They were battered rather than breaded (a plus for me), but the batter was a little bland. I also had to ask for lemon. Their fried oysters are better (very good actually). Mac's Harbor Grill in Wellfleet (on the town pier) Awesome! Almost as good as the Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor (anyone following this thread knows that from me, this is the highest compliment). Huge plate of juicy whole clams for $11.95 served with lots of lemon! Also battered, great crispy, perfectly seasoned batter! Also had the fried scallops which were heavenly too! They were not the little scallops, but nice big ones (and a lot of them) and perfectly cooked. They also have delicious fresh lemonade (you can watch the girl squeeze the lemons). No liquor liscence, but do permit you to bring your own if you prefer suds to wash down your clams.

Just returned from a week in Wellfleet on the Cape, and here is my local lobstah roll rec: The Methodist Church in Wellfleet (no kidding!). Last Friday of the month in summer, they sell lobster rolls for lunch. They are $9 each, generously filled with big chunks of lobster and not too much mayo. So if you are in Wellfleet on the last Friday of the month, go there for lunch. They sell from 11-1, but try to get there early.

I waitressed at the Art Institute in grad school, and one day, I had a lovely French couple from Strasbourg in my section and they said they wanted a really American experience. So I sent them to great Mexican dive (no longer exists) near Wrigley Field and told them to tell their server that they never had Mexican before and to bring out a taste of everything and to try marguaritas, but no more than 2 because they were really strong. They came back the next day killer hangovers (they ignored my only 2 advice), but they loved it and wanted a good guacamole recipe and a good margarita recipe so they could make them for their friends back in France.

The Joy of Cooking has a recipe for Chinese Ginger Thins (I do not think they are really Chinese), but they are nice thin, crisp cookies. Also, the recipe makes a ton, so plenty to share!

True, but on that trip, my husband and took a whole week to drive from Chicago to DC (this is normally about a 14-15 hour trip), and we drove all over Kentucky and West Virginia. We had a bad meal in Paris, KY, but otherwise the food was great! We did stick to southern cooking and sought out little places like churches that had a little lunch counter, the woman with a diner in her trailer (she had two--lived in one and served in the other), the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg KY (been in the family for 4 generations), etc.

One of the best meals I have ever had was in Walkersville, WV at the Stone Farm. Stone Farm B&B My husband and I were driving across country and had decided to stay at this place and what a treat! The farm (it is a working farm) is at the bottom of a hollow with a little stream running through it. In the evening, we put the leftovers at the bottom of the mountain and watched a family of foxes come out. Deer were everywhere. And Lionel and Sandy could not be nicer (no booz though, but I did not mind as I was 7 months pregnant). Dinner was grilled wild turkey, crappie (it's some kind of fish) and fresh garden salad. Sandy made a wild apple pie for dessert. Breakfast was homemade biscuits, grits, venison ham (smoked in his own smoker), red eye gravy, fresh eggs (I fetched the eggs from the hen house), and homemade grape jelly (made from the grapes in their arbor). They even gave us some jelly, pickles and things to take home. And it does get much more rural than Walkersville, so there is good food in rural America.

Hathor - now you tell me. I don't supose you have a photo of the birds, so that the species can be identified? Hummingbirds are regularly sighted in the UK, but to date these have turned out to be Hawkmoths, which make a similar sounds and don't look disimilar. ← Yes, post pictures! I had always heard that Europe had no native hummingbirds and that this was part of the success of John Gould's The Family of Hummingbirds. Although Chicago has no native parrots, but a bunch of green Amazons escaped about 50 years ago and now Hyde Park has a thriving population of them. FYI, John Gould was an English ornithologist who did many folios including Birds of England, Birds of Europe (in which no hummingbirds appear) and The Family of Toucans. His hummingbird portfolio used gold and silver leaf that was handpainted over to duplicate the luminosity of hummingbird plummage and was the most expensive folio produced for its time (published 1862 for $5000 a copy, Audubon's Birds of America was $1000), but despite the price, it was successful because it was so exotic and beautifully done. Also, Edward Lear (of Nonesense Omnibus fame) was one Gould's illustrators, although he did not contribute to hummingbird folio. Here is a link to an ornithological print dealer with some Gould hummingbirds in inventory if you want to see them: Gould's Family of Hummingbirds

That would be the better way in Chicago. Levy special taxes on places that want to allow smoking, make it part of the cost of doing business. Then I think a lot of places would opt to be smoke free, but some places, in spite of the added cost, would opt to allow smoking which would indicate that lost clientele would be more detrimental than the extra HR costs. It's better to give people an economic incentive to change behavior. Where I used to live in Maine, almost 100% of the population recycled their trash. It was not mandatory, and this was not a village full of tree-huggers doing it to save the earth. Instead, you had to buy stickers and put them on your trash bags in order to have your garbage taken away ($1 a bag), but recyclables, if properly sorted, were hauled for free. Well, almost everyone did everything possible to reduce their trash--recycled, composted, cloth diapers, etc. It was less expensive to do the "right thing."

The operative word is voluntary. As I stated in the first post, there are regulations in Chicago that work and are quite strict, and whether an establishment in Chicago is smoke-free or not should be left up to the owners.

But the Sweete Shoppe has too many kids and no beer. Has anyone been to The Depot in Arlington Heights, speaking of places with trains? Actually, I went to college in Lake Forest and waitressed at The Lantern for a couple of years, and my brother was the grillman during his tenure at LFC, so I have had a lot of Lantern burgers.

Are there? Those are some dedicated smokers. ← Yeah, I was in New York on business and my clients found out about one and wanted to go. It was like the movies. We had to go down an alley to a service entrance, know a password, go through the basement to a sub-basement until we reached a real 20's speakeasy. Supposedly, this place was left untouched and just sat there until the smoking ban when it was reopened. I've heard that there are quite a few in NYC.

From reading this thread, it is obvious that none of you have been to The Lantern in Lake Forest. That is the best burger in Chicagoland!

Chicago already requires that restaurants must have separate smoking sections with independent ventiliation systems. If this is not possible to install due to the size and configuration of the space, then the restaurant must be smoke-free. Most restaurants that allow smoking have separate rooms or a separate bar, so it is pretty civil. Currently, bars are unregulated, and I do not think it would be draconian to require bars to comply with the same measures that restaurants do. Bans do not solve problems. Take a look at New York. New York is now full of illegal smoking bars, many in abandoned speakeasys from Prohibition days. They are operating without liquor liscences or health, code and fire inspections.

I also have the Cuisinart, also got it on sale with a second bowl thrown in, and I love it. It makes great ice cream and it is compact. Recently, a friend of mine (who died) left me his fancy-dancy $1000 Italian ice cream maker with a built-in freezing unit, and I like my Cuisinart better. Thay both make equally good ice cream, but the Cuisinart is easier to clean and store. I am going to sell the other one on eBay or something.

Chicago Alderman Ed Smith has proposed to ban smoking from all restaurants and bars. Chicago Smoking Ban Personally, I feel that this issue should be left to the individual bar and restaurant owners. Charlie Trotter's and North Pond have never allowed smkoing, but Iron Mike's not only allows smoking but sells cigars in the bar. Owners have choices and so do patrons. But here is the list of Chicago aldermen. If you are from Chicago, please e-mail them and let them know how you stand on this issue. I would rather have this be settled "by the people" than a bunch of do-gooder pols looking for PR. ward01@cityofchicago.org, mhaithcock@cityofchicago.org, dtillman@cityofchicago.org, tpreckwinkle@cityofchicago.org, LHairston@cityofchicago.org, Ward06@cityofchicago.org, wbeavers@cityofchicago.org, Ward08@cityofchicago.org, abeale@cityofchicago.org, ward10@cityofchicago.org, jbalcer@cityofchicago.org, ward12@cityofchicago.org, folivo@cityofchicago.org, eburke@cityofchicago.org, ttthomas@cityofchicago.org, sacoleman@cityofchicago.org, ward17@cityofchicago.org, tmurphy@cityofchicago.org, vrugai@cityofchicago.org, atroutman@cityofchicago.org, ward21@cityofchicago.org, rmunoz@cityofchicago.org, mzalewski@cityofchicago.org, mchandler@cityofchicago.org, dsolis@cityofchicago.org, bocasio@cityofchicago.org, wburnett@cityofchicago.org, ehsmith@cityofchicago.org, ward30@cityofchicago.org, ward29@cityofchicago.org, rsuarez@cityofchicago.org, tmatlak@cityofchicago.org, rmell@cityofchicago.org, caustin34@cityofchicago.org, ward35@cityofchicago.org, wbanks@cityofchicago.org, emitts@cityofchicago.org, tallen@cityofchicago.org, ward39@cityofchicago.org, ward40@cityofchicago.org, bdoherty@cityofchicago.org, bnatarus@cityofchicago.org, vdaley@cityofchicago.org, ward44@cityofchicago.org, ward45@cityofchicago.org, ward46@cityofchicago.org, ward47@cityofchicago.org, maryann@masmith48.org, jmoore@cityofchicago.org, bstone@cityofchicago.org

Part of the problem with funeral food is that you are inundated at the funeral, but then the weeks go by and everyone forgets about you. I find that it is most appreciated not at the funeral or during that week, but perhaps a couple of weeks or even a month later. The surviving family knows that they are still in your thoughts.

There is a really awesome sushi place in downtown Westmont near the train station. I do not remeber the name, but Westmont has a small downtown.

Well, I like my french fries with mayo. Mayo is good on a cheeseburger too. And one should always put a little butter into your peanutbutter and jelly and bacon sandwich.

Ah, another variation from Taco Bell Labs. My husband swears that Taco Bell's test kitchen is just a pile of their usual ingredients and a group of guys coming up with infinite ways of recombining them. Could one actually write an equation that would predict the number of possible dishes Taco Bell could serve with their existing ingredients?

After trying treacle sponge at Simpson's, it is now officially my son's favorite dessert. He wants me to make it for him. Thanks.