Rhea_S

I'm more of an udon person in general, but I also like zaru soba. The first time I ever had some was on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Osaka. The caterer actually did a decent job and I craved zaru soba for months afterwards.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo or my thrown together version of shrimp and pasta in a spicy tomato sauce. I added a bit of cream at the end because my hand slipped while adding the red pepper flakes and the tomatoes were too acidic for my taste.

We have a Maid-Rite here in Springfield and they claim that people ask them to Fedex sandwiches. I've never been because those loose meat sandwiches don't appeal to me. The Hotdog show also had Springfield's Cozy Dog Drive-In. I've been there and they're far from the best corn dogs I've ever had. The hotdog part was blah and the outer part was too greasy. I happen to like corndogs and was very disappointed with the Cozy Dog.

That's odd when some of the best peaches around are grown in Calhoun County, Illinois. I missed peach season last summer because I was driving across the country, but the 2001 Calhoun peaches were terrific - perfectly juicy and sweet. The kind you have to eat while leaning over the kitchen sink.

In an effort to pad my savings account and make up for my excessive Christmas spending, I'm not buying groceries aside from dairy and fresh vegetables until my freezer and cupboards are nearly empty. Last night's dinner was pizza made with a ball of homemade pizza dough and chicken breast from the freezer, canned artichokes, asiago cheese and a tomato sauce made from canned roma tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil (I've got a couple of pots). I also had a simple green salad on the side.

My parents brought dried abalone with them during their Christmas visit. My mom soaked it then simmered in a light chicken broth. She added some pea shoots and blanched asparagus near the end of the cooking time. It was an excellent soup for Christmas Eve.

Some kind of whole wheat bread to go with some homemade soup. Then, I'd make some triple ginger gingersnaps or snickerdoodles.

Lots of round items such as the deep-fried sesame mochi balls filled with red bean paste. I seem to think this had something to do with wealth. Cantonese friends always had fatty roast pork or a whole suckling pig.

There was a small blurb about Coyopa in this month's Food and Wine. It said something about how Coyopa is destined to be a classic (in a good way) or some such comment.

My parents have eaten tilapia at least once a week for as long as I can remember. I always tried a little bit in an effort to understand the appeal, but I'm very sensitive to the muddy taste. The only way I could eat it when I was younger was to fry it until it was practically burnt and all fish flavour was gone. I find that most tilapia these days don't have much of the muddy flavour and I can eat more. I even ate half of a perfectly cooked, Chinese steamed version. Little tilapia trivia (source: my mother): Tilapia is also known as St. Peter's fish and is supposedly the fish in the Jesus fish and loaves story.

Aside from cherries, my favourite is lansones(Tagalog)/langsat(Thai). I can eat several pounds of cherries or lansones in one go. I also love pineapples and mangos.

Pomelo is now grown in a few places in the US. I've had some US grown pomelos that have been excellent -- found in the Melissa's section of a local grocery store. I also buy them at the local Asian market. Pomelos that are comparatively heavier for their size tend to be juicier and seem to have a thinner pith. I usually judge the sweetness by smell. Having said all that, I still end up with a dud every now and then. You may also see some labeled 'Melogold' or something like that. These are almost always good. I think they're a hybrid between a pomelo and a grapefruit: sweet, low acid of pomelo, thinner skin of grapefruit. As for history of the pomelo, it's much more likely that the "Old World" pomelo came before the "New world" grapefruit.

I'm in for trying something new if I can get access to my own kitchen. My mother has taken over and I haven't been able to do much more than make tea or coffee the last week and a half. I did make a Chestnut Mousse Cake for Christmas Eve that tasted exactly how I wanted but looked rather dismal. My mother had put away the clean dishes, utensils and cutlery in all the wrong places and I couldn't find anything.

I much prefer a "city" honey ham over a Smithfield ham. It's still a bit salty on it's own for my taste. It's great mixed in dishes or eaten with lots of rice or fresh biscuits, but I can't eat it alone. There's half a leg left that I'm going to bone, cut into smaller pieces and toss in the freezer.

I had an older KitchenAid K5SS, but I left it with my mom when I moved to the midwest. My mom uses it regularly and I use it whenever I go back to visit. We've never had problems although it does a complain a little with stiffer bread doughs. I now own a Kenwood and I like it better than my old KA. It's more powerful and has been especially helpful because my right arm doesn't let me knead by hand anymore. I haven't bought any attachments for the Kenwood, but I have heard good things about them. However, Kenwood was recently bought by DeLonghi, so the quality of the mixers may have changed.

I make my hummus with regular tahini; however, I've been to a little restaurant in Oak Park, IL that makes fabulously addictive "hummus" that doesn't taste like it has tahini. It definitely tastes more like roasted almonds and the plate was decorated with almond slivers. It's on my long list of things I want to duplicate at home. It's been almost a year since I last tried this restaurant's hummus, but I still remember the wonderful flavour.

A friend gave me lychee honey and a Thai wildflower honey last year. The labels are in Thai, so I'm not sure about the wildflower honey. The lychee honey was mild in taste and smelled wonderful. I used that up very quickly. The wildflower honey also smells great but it has too strong of a floral flavour. I still have half a jar left. Other honeys I currently have in my cupboard are orange blossom (my favourite) and local alfalfa and clover honeys.

I only use waxed paper in the kitchen for wrapping cooked items or to place peels and other odd bits while I'm chopping. However, my mom did use to line pans with waxed paper and I saw someone do this on a cooking program last week. I can't remember who it was at the moment, but that person said that you can use the wax paper as long as it is completely covered with batter. I have silpat and I get parchment quite cheap from the local restaurant supply store, so I don't think I'll be experimenting.

I just bought this book about a month ago. It's available from amazon.com (follow the e-gullet link) for under $20 plus shipping. My favourite Christmas sweets to eat are zimsterne, lebkuchen, panforte and torrones. My most requested cookies are fudgy double chocolate cookies with dried cherries and toffee bits and plain sugar cookies. I haven't decided on this year's cookie selection.

I do this often because I rarely have time for a trial run and I have lots of recipes I want to try. The only thing on this year's Thanksgiving menu that I've made before is the Roasted Beets, Baby Greens and Goat Cheese Salad and that doesn't require a recipe. I've never brined a turkey, made a corn bread dressing or baked either of my chosen desserts, Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust and Cranberry Chiffon Cake. I'm still looking for something exciting to do with broccoli. A mistake to add to the list: not doing an inventory of the fridge, freezer and cupboards before grocery shopping. I end up with far too much of some things and not enough of others. Or forgetting the shopping list at home. I've been grocery shopping since Friday night and I found out last night that I'm completely out of sugar.

Lamb and Quince Tagine (from Chez Panisse Fruits). Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to eat any of it except a bite since cooking it Sunday night. I've been too busy preparing for Thanksgiving. I have the turkey in an apple cider brine and I made the cornbread for the cornbread dressing.

You baked a cake in the morning?! You had the time?!? Mucho impressive! Not really. I usually wake up between 5:30 and 6 to walk the dogs. We finish at 6:30 to 6:45 and I don't start work until sometime between 8:30 and 9AM. Can you tell I don't have a watch? 2 hours is usually plenty to bake, cook lunch or both depending on how many dishes I have to wash before I can do either. It's my form of morning meditation. Edit: I only have a 5 minute commute and it only takes me 20 minutes at most to get ready for work.

nightscotsman, Go find a job where your co-workers appreciate your desserts. Cooking school sounds like a great idea. I'm guessing that you're leaning towards pastry chef? Or where you just going to take cooking classes to fill up your days? I could also lose my job depending on what happens when the governor-elect of Illinois takes office in January. There's rumblings in my small agency. Oh well, if it happens, I'm moving back to the westcoast.

I usually bring lunch, either leftovers or freshly-cooked/made before going to work. I ate at a friend's house last night and didn't want those leftovers. I baked a cake this morning and didn't have time to make lunch. I didn't feel like going out for lunch, so I bought a frozen dinner (Healthy Choice - Vegetarian Stuffed Shells) on the way to work. Not a good day and I'm still hungry.

Once something is in the refrigerator, co-workers are less likely to eat it no matter how delicious. This could be attributed to a) laziness, b) out of sight-out of mind, c) feeling like you're eating "reserved" food, d) aversion to leftovers, or e) all of the above.