jsmeeker

I like their stuff, too. Many of their best products are things that are a little "unique". Like their Italian sodas. Great stuff there.

I've never heard of this pre-soak method before, and McGee doesn't say anything more about it. Does anyone do this? Results? ← Interesting.. I assume that when it comes to actually cooking the soaked pasta, it would be done in a lot of boiling water, just like normal past cooking? For varieties that are allready fairly quick quicking, it seems you are only shaving off a 2 or 3 minutes. How long do you soak it for? hours? over night? But easy to test, as dried pasta is pretty inexpensive.

Living in Texas, I'm pretty used to nachos. I much prefer the real cheese, grated and then topped on chips which are placed in a hot oven or under a broiler. If you want to for the suacy kind, I would suggest making a good cheese dip (usually called "Queso" on restaurant menus) and just dip chips into it. For the former type, you have the right idea on going easy with the toppings. Don't over load. (really, it's like making a good pizza) Home made [re]fried beans are really easy with canned beans. Get some bacon fat in a pan, heat it up, and a little garlic, then dump in the beans. Mash 'em up and cook them down. For cheese, I jsut use simple grocery store brand cheddar. usually a medium shard cheddar. Sometimes, I also mix in monterrey jack. For a variation on the meat, get fresh Mexican chorizio. Brown it like you would brown ground beef. It's allready spiced and seasoned, making prep simple.

the top 100 doesn't seem to be limited to main dishes or any thing like that. I know Mac and Cheese is really popular. It's probably the most popular dish that I just don't ever eat. Never had it growing up. Don't eat it now. I guess that in a way, it's good to see something that a lot of people would normally make from a box ranked so high. I suppose it means people really are doing real cooking.

yeah.. It is. And really, this is sorta kinda the thing I like to cook at home, too. (well, not mac and cheese, and not casseroles) fancy, fussy stuff is for restaurants.

I'll go ahead and reveal here is the page http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/rc_top2007 Number one is Creamy Macaroni and Cheese. (from Paula Deen) #2 is baked macaroni and cheese (from Alton Brown). K8Memphis' guesses were pretty good. Turkey, meatloaf and stuffing were all in the top 10. It's a pretty interesting list of food items. I guess this is what a lot of people are eating.

It's all moving very fast. But as of December 31, 2007, the only absinthes approved for sale in the US are Lucid, Kübler, and St. George. Expect that to change soon! On a slightly different tangent, fans of European absinthe might be interested in skimming this recent Wormwood Society thread... Your Top Ten Commercial Absinthes ...in which members chime in on their favorite commercial absinthes in 2007. For anyone new to absinthe who's interested in sampling the best of the commercial crop, this thread can help you make solid, informed choices. ← Thanks.. At least now I have additional brands to look for. I see your avatar has a special glass and the special spoon. Where can I get those? I saw that the Lucid site has spoons for sale, but not glasses. Of course, I am pretty much out of glasses at this point, so I would probably have to use a normal glass and figure out the proportions of absinthe to water.

I'll give a hint and say it is indeed a savory item.

The end of the year always brings lists that details the best (and worst) of the year. FoodTV's website is no exception. They have their list of the top 100 recipes for 2007. So, what do you think is number one? I've already seen the list, so I know. I'll provide the link in a little bit, in an attempt to encourage guessing and without spoiling the answer for people who want to play along. (I don't see where they state how it was measured, but I'll assume it was based on the number of requests/downloads of the course of the year.)

Flay would stand on the cutting board on top of the counter. ← I remember that. Wasn't that in Japan, after some horrible problem on the show? ...vs Morimoto? He has calmed since. :-) ← Yeah.. that was a special Iron Chef "America" that was on UPN or some such. Hosted by William Shatner. I recall Chef Flay caught a lot of heat for that act. I guess it disrepcted the cutting board or something like that. And yes, he is much more calm now .

Flay would stand on the cutting board on top of the counter.

I always like Bailey's Irish Creme

I was in my local liquor store yesterday, and saw that they had Lucid absinthe in stock. About $55 or so a bottle. Ouch!! I didn't pick it up, but at least I know it's available. Couldn't tell for sure if other bottles in that same section were true absinthes or not, as I'm not really familiar with the various brands of the real deal and the various substitutes that have always been there.

I'll have to try this out, too.. I have a three quart, straight sided stainless saute pan. I could also use my 12" Lodge cast iron skillet.

my liquid measures do both metric and standard. So does my scale. So does one of my thermometers. Sure, my dry measuring cups are only standard, but a recipe written in metric will simple state grams for something that would be measured with a "cup". And I can handle that with a scale. Really, I think I can get by just fine if presented with a metric recipe with the equipment I have.. The only time I would have to do extra math would be for oven temps.

La Duni is "nicer" than Mia's. It's also more expensive, but still in your price range. If they really like desserts, though (especially cake), La Duni is sure to please. And if coffee is more their game, they can get that there as well. Of course, as with Mia's, I would double check to make sure they will be open on New Years Day.

Just cranked out my first batch of marshmallows. I wanted to make mini-marshmallows to use in hot chocolate, so I piped it out into long strips. Of course, mym piping skills are much to be desired, and the bag I have is not very big and I overfilled it, creating a bit of a mess. But it cleaned up pretty easily with plenty of hot water. I'll take some pics later and post them. I was about to toss the excess marshmallow fluff, but decided to quicky prep a quarter sheet pan and pour out what was left into it and spread it out. It's not very even, but I found that if I worked SLOWLY, it was actually easier than working fast. It had been sitting around for several minutes while I fooled around with piping the minis, so I think it would have worked even better if it hadn't started to set up in the mixer bowl. FWIW, I used the recent Alton Brown recipe. Gave the wet fluffy marshmallow stuff a quick taste and what do you know. It tastes like marshmallows!!

Hmm... If Mia's is open, I'd send him there for Brisket Tacos.

I had this dish just before Thanksgiving. So, he sold at least one. ← It was good. I have a picture of it some place. I need to dig it out and get it up to image gullet. The egg part was very rich and creamy. TOO rich for a starter? I dunno. Possibly. My main course was scallops that night. I know it was soft scrambled duck egg and pork belly. It probably had truffle in it. Not sure about the rest of the components, so it may have not been the IDENTICAL dish Tre names in the interview, but it wasn't it was very, very similar

DFW or Love Field? (Neither Plano nor Ft. Worth are between the Cotton Bowl and either airport)

I had this dish just before Thanksgiving. So, he sold at least one.

I found that people seem to enjoy a nice Sidecar, especially when it's made with a brandy that's not really dry. Makes it a bit more approachable to people who are used to really sweet cocktails. Also, a properly made margarita. The Marg is a crazy popular cocktail, but I bet most of your freinds haven't had a truly GOOD one.

I used the wine cork that comes with the Vacuvins as an "adapter" of sorts. It works OK, though for only $10 the Reynolds gizmo is worth every cent. I just put the wine cork on the bag valve, held it there by lightly pressing down on the bottom section of the vacuvin, while pumping the vacuvin with my other hand. Takes a bit of finesse... ← Thanks, Chris. I think maybe I'll just pick up the starter pack with the vacuum tool.

the act of putting something very spicy on food (and lots of it) isn't limited to sushi. It seem that there may be another element at play here. Machismo. With the wasabi on sushi, have you noticed that it's mosty guys doing it? There seems to be more a good thing is better and a whole lot of it is the best thing going on. I mean, I like spicy foods, but I'll see people load up an already spicy item with even more spicy stuff (more wasabi, more hot sauce, etc), then eat it. They wince in pain, but get through it and declare it "Awesome!", But what's there? It's almost all heat. Really, it seems like a contest to many people. Who can tolerate the most heat.

Two weeks ago, I dined at DB with a large group of friends. It was good, but I don't think it was as good as my trip to Bouchon back in July. For my latest visit, I only got to Bouchon for breakfast. Food was good, but as usual, service was off. It was a lot more crowded than I had seen the place for breakfast before,. Still, not an excuse.