Kris

I just got a Kopykake airmaster compressor and airbrush and I'm looking forward to playing around with it too.

P.S. - I see that you've followed up on your original thread and said that she brings wines that are decent (if bland).

I would have reacted very similarly. As a matter of fact, I would be loathe to invite her to any more of my dinners. Be careful about telling this woman to bring wine though. She might bring Wild Vines.

I'm 35 years old and I got married nearly 5 years ago We (hubby and I) registered for all sorts of things including "good" china, crystal, flatware, everyday dishes, a cuisinart food processor, tea kettle, blender, cappuccino machine and things I can't even remember. We got quite a bit of stuff off the registry but not everything. Since I like to entertain, I filled in the china & crystal pieces little by little. I have very simple tastes so I registered for Lenox Eternal china which is an ivory plate with a gold band. Can't get more classic than that! Unfortunately, my flatware and crystal patterns were both discontinued. So they're both expensive to add pieces to now. Luckily I can still find them at all on www.replacements.com I have full service for 8, but I'd like to eventually have service for 12. A beautifully set table always impresses your company. I recently hosted a small baby shower brunch for 7 ladies. I set my table with the china, crystal and my nice crystal hostess serving pieces. They were expecting the usual "baby shower themed" paper plates and napkins. They were all impressed at how beautiful everything looked. It just made the event so much more elegant and festive. Needless to say I'm a fan of registries. I think it's nice to get gifts that you really want especially nice things like china, crystal and a few "frivolous" things that you'd never buy for yourself. :lol:

Thanks justcake. I'll keep my eyes and ears posted for the rescheduled date.

I just tried a recipe that I saw Giada DiLaurentiis make a few weeks back... You put about a small dollop of Nutella in the middle of a wonton skin. Fold it over and fry until each side is lightly browned. Drain them on paper towels and sprinkle with powdered sugar...YUMMY!

I just filled some wonton skins with Nutella, folded the skin over to make a little "ravioli" and fried them just until lightly browned on each side. I drained them on paper towels and sprinkled them with powdered sugar. YUMMY! I saw Giada DiLaurentiis make this recipe a few weeks back.

Nutella filled wonton wrappers that I fried until light golden brown on each side. Then I sprinkled them with powdered sugar. DELISH! Some weeks back I saw Giada DiLaurentiis make these and I finally tried the recipe today.

Is there going to be a Cakewalk event this year? I would love to attend again...Vedika have you heard anything?

Count me in as another fan of disposables. I like Kee-Seal and Hygo. Both have worked very well for me and I've never had a problem with bulging or bursting seams.

Without question - cake. But preferably a well made homemade cake. Cakes from places like Costco or BJ's blow (in my humble opinion). And I've been turning up my nose at most supermarket and bakery style cakes too...those fluffy, airy concotions with no substance or density with icings full of chemicals just don't do it for me. So most of the time, I stick to the cakes I make. A well made scratch cake trumps those other cakes every time. And I bake the types of cakes described earlier in this post - pineapple upside down, german chocolate, carrot - YUM! I must admit though that when I get a hankering for cake, 9 times out of 10 it's for a scratch butter cake with chocolate buttercream icing.

Thanks everyone for all of the advice. Now I feel like a chicken stock expert. I doubt I'll ever use the canned stuff again. Last night I portioned the stock out into 1 cup and 2 cup containers for my freezer and I nearly swooned. It just smelled heavenly. You never get that rich aroma from canned broths. It was still mainly liquid but had a slightly gelled consistency to it. I guess as it chilled down more, it firmed up ever so slightly. Even the fat that accumulated on top smelled delightful. I skimmed it off and put it into a ziploc bag into the freezer. I don't know what I can use it for though. lol I know it's not technically schmaltz rendered in the usual way. But surely I can use it for something?

What exactly is rendering and why do you need to do that to animal fats?

So you can use the carcass of an already cooked chicken to make stock? I thought it had to be raw bones and meat.

I used a little over 4 pounds of backs (then I removed the skin) to 2 1/2 quarts of water. Do you think I need more bones than this? Now that I think about it, the very first time I made stock, I had a mixture of chicken backs and necks. Do the necks have more collagen than the backs? At any rate, does it really matter if it's gelled or not? It still tastes 100 times better to me than chicken broth from the can.

Thanks for the info. I'm interested in all sorts of dining options in the state of DE since I'll be moving there some time soon.

I've found that since I started doing this - no more blow outs. I just assemble with filling, crumb coat and let sit overnight. So even if there are a few bulges or bubbles, I can prick them with a pin and smooth out the crumb coated icing without any problems.

Thanks for posting Megan - this is the recipe I use, except I use challah bread instead of a baguette. The baby shower brunch I hosted turned out very well. Everyone loved the menu. I didn't make the fruit kebobs though - too much work. So I just had a fruit salad.

Hi everyone! I tried my hand at making some chicken stock yesterday using chicken backs (skin removed), water, carrots, onion, celery and spices. Once it came to a full simmer, I let it simmer for 5 hours. The first time I made chicken stock, it became gelatinous upon cooling. This time it did not. It remained liquid, even though it's fully chilled. In the future, how do I get the stock to fully gel? Overall though, does it really matter?

I agree with this entire post. I liked Andy the best too - low key personality with some cooking skills. But I think he was too low key for the judges taste. I guess they're all about the "entertainment" factor. Does every chef on FN have to be hyper, manic and "kicked up a notch?"

I think Reggie is an over-the-top caricature and I'm surprised that he made it to the final two. But he's not going to win. I find that whole sassy-divalicious-effeminate-twosnapsup schitck to be extremely annoying. How he is deemed entertaining is beyond me. And I find him a bit repulsive as well...I would never eat his cooking. Guy is a little manic, but he seems to have some actual food knowledge and knife skills. I think he goes a little over-the-top with his "Cooking Off-the-Hook" idea, but he's better suited to having his own food show, I think. When he wins, they'll work with him to polish things up. I never saw the show with the first season's winners...was it any good? Or were they stereotypical "campy" like Reggie?

I'm not a CEO, but I think that observing someone and how they treat wait staff is very telling about their personality. I had a co-worker who was condescending and abrupt in her dealings with waiters and waitresses. A small group of us would sometimes go out for lunch or for dinner and her behavior got to be quite cringeworthy. She would talk to the staff in a rude way, be overly demanding about her "needs" and gesture to them as if they were dogs being called over for some doggie chow. After a while, it was too much for me and I stopped going out to eat with her and the group. And I began to put a distance between us at work (we'd had a fairly friendly rapport). I began to see that she really wasn't that nice of a person after all.

This woman would never get an invite to my house for dinner or for one of my parties. I mean, damn...I know some people have allergies, but 38 items???? Are you sure she's not a hypochondriac?

I've been watching, but I must have missed the episode with Sandra Lee (thank God). At any rate, I don't really see any standouts...If I were a judge, I would have voted off Nathan long ago. I find him pretentious and I don't think he would connect with the general audience for that very reason. I laughed aloud when he made that dish with the kaffir leaves and he was in way over his head. I also would have voted off Reggie. Does he have any real cooking skills beside throwing a sweet potato and some other ingredients into a food processor and calling it a soup? I think they keep him around for his "entertainment value." He's quite fey and campy and adds some humor to this competition. But he won't be the Next Food Network Star. He's not going to appeal to the American public at large. I was sorry that they voted off Andy though...even though he's low key, he seemed like he had some promise. Not everyone has to have a hyper and shrill personality to get their point across. And I knew that Jess (the Asian woman) & Beth would be voted off early on. I sized them up in the first episode and I could clearly see that they didn't have "it" to be a Food Network personality. "It" being charisma, the right "face" or enough of a spark or interest that would compel most of the viewing public to watch their show.

This has been a very interesting and enlightening thread. I live in NYC and I guess I don't frequent the hip and trendy places because I've never "greased" a MD or host/ess. It just never occurred to me that it's something I needed to do.