Lisa Shock

They give you a jacket to wear to class, so, you'll look like pretty much everyone else. Just remember that the banquet at the end is a fancy dress occasion, where people do wear tuxedos and ball gowns. Hmmm, I will do some taqueria research. I tend to avoid many places because my husband and I are vegetarians, and it's traditional to put lard in the beans. This means that at many places we can eat the salsa, guacamole and chips, and that's about it. We do have a small local chain called Macayo's that is ok. as in better than most places found in the mid-west. But, it's not a heart & soul cooking-like-mamacita-did place. I used to live in Santa Fe and got really spoiled with all sorts of good food served in really humble settings. There is also the -berto's phenomenon. If I weren't a vegetarian, I'd try a few of these places -they always seem to be busy. But, I'll look into better places. I need to get out of a rut, too many of my regular places have closed in the past year!

Just a note to inform people that Tapino is closed. I drove by last week and saw a 'for lease' banner on top of the main sign.

Yeah, I discovered that sandwich bags are permeable when my vet asked me to bring a litterbox sample in with my cat for her exam. I wore gloves while using a clean scooper then washed very well after double-bagging the sample in name-brand zippered sandwich bags. And, my car was filled with litterbox odor anyway. I later asked someone about it, and they said it was a matter of cost, but it also ensured that people didn't accidentally create botulism-friendly environments in their fridge or kids' lunchboxes.

The type of plastic used in regular sandwich bags, cling film, and trash bags is permeable to most gasses. They add multiple layers for the freezer bags, but gasses still travel through it. http://www.keepsafe.ca/barriers.htm

I tried making drinks with gari for the ginger contest in another thread. Muddled gari with gin was perhaps the worst combination.

I don't deep fry in cast iron because I tend to use canola as my primary all-purpose kitchen oil. Unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats have open bonds that iron oxide can attach to and cause them to become 'rancid' when heated. Rancid fats may not have any off taste, so you cannot detect them with your senses. But, they are known carcinogens. (basic Durk & Sandy stuff) Deep frying in a saturated fat should be fine. But, we're vegetarians in my household, both of us, so no lard, and we avoid transfat, so no shortening. I just whip out the stainless lined copper rondeau for deep frying. We are still looking at getting the 7qt round Le Creuset casserole, but, we simply don't deep fry that often. For small batches of fried foods, like falafel for 2, I use the stainless-lined copper frying pan.

I'm kind of amazed that no one complained about there not being any potatoes in the meal! It looks good, and it is pretty amazing that they liked a meal of real food instead of boxed mixes...

I have an old cast-iron one that is the perfect pot for making baked beans. I have also, on occasion, baked bread in it. I tend to use my 6 quart copper pot for soups and large quantities of sauce.

It's not just a matter of a rule or a fine. In most places nowadays, health department reports are available to anyone online, meaning that diners for years to come would be reading about the place having a sanitation violation. And, believe me, that online report wouldn't have any mention of customer service issues in it. Not to mention the fact that in some areas, a health inspector can simply close a place down for a day, a week or until they are available to have a second inspection added to their calendar. There's nothing like having 'closed by County Health Department until further notice' signs on your front door to scare off business for years to come.

My family moved to Maryland when I was ten, and I lived there off and on through college. I was taught by locals to use Old Bay Seasoning in hush puppies.

Evening seminars were free, and, although the rooms got super-packed with people, they allowed non-paying guests (spouses, parents, etc.) to attend. Maybe we could have an eG gathering one evening? Maybe just a trip to a local eatery, nothing fancy -if there's a night with no extra events.

I live about 3 miles away, so I just stayed at my house. There were some evening activities, don't know how they will work out this year. Every night, in 2006, they showed a free movie in the competition area, on a big screen at 8pm. They even provided free popcorn. Only a dozen people showed up. Films included: Eat Drink Man Woman, and Mostly Martha. There were 4 evening seminars that I attended, generally running from 6-8. As mentioned previously, they were: a master class in sorbet, a master class on savory quick breads, a seminar on handling customers and running a pastry shop, and a class in chocolate. There were a couple of cocktail parties where everyone, students (attendees), instructors and competitors got to mingle. I had a really great time at these; at one I sat at a table and Nicolas Lodge and his partner joined me and we had a lot of fun, at another I hung out with the Japanese team and learned a lot about practicing for competition. You do get lunch every day as part of the package, plus a fancy dinner at the end. (Bring a ball gown or tuxedo!!! I am not joking!) Dinner for the other 6 nights is up to you. There are food options at varying price points in the hotel, and some fast food just down the street. (including an In-N-Out Burger, if you're into that) I recall several nights where people went in groups to local eateries. I recall giving Keegan Gerhardt and a group of a dozen people some recommendations on places to eat. Ok, after all of that, my reply is that I think you could do ok staying at another, cheaper hotel. Just count on getting back to the room around 8-10pm and perhaps buying dinner out. Also, this resort is kind of on the edge of town, so there isn't anyplace really nearby -so you won't be able to walk from one hotel to another. You'll need a car, or have to count on taxis. If you're flying in, I'd add the cost of a rental car to the overall price when you compare rates. Also, be warned that Phoenix is a really huge city in terms of acreage. Maps may be deceptive to you. I personally would not stay anyplace further south than Lincoln Drive (aka Glendale to the west of HWy 51, but, the west especially the lower west, is pretty ghetto) and even that is a fairly hefty drive. I know that there are several hotels around Scottsdale Road and Bell that are reasonably priced and the neighborhood is safe and near a decent shopping open-air center with restaurants & a Trader Joe's. (Sleep Inn comes to mind, but, I don't have any basis for recommendations.) Hope this helps!

I haven't taken any of their hands-on classes, so I don't really know, I was hoping someone else would reply..... Well, we're two weeks away, and I am pretty excited!

We just have a tiny round, glass topped table that can seat 2 comfortably. It has seated 4 on occasion, but they can't eat from large plates so it's a rare occasion like the in-laws insisting... I feel so tidy! We have 2 black placemats (to help prevent scratching the table), a salt cellar, a Halloween skeleton cup filled with Japanese candy, and a metal Halloween haunted house. Occasionally, a bowl of produce will be placed there if we don't have enough room in the fridge -or it needs to ripen. I have a Halloween theme in the kitchen year-round. My towels have a woven spider-web pattern, my hot pads have pirate skeletons on them, and I have some skull shaped baking pans of various sizes on the walls.

There are some good resources here, both in the forums and in the eG Culinary Institute section. Have fun baking!

A sushi cake is sushi ingredients pressed into a cake pan in an attractive manner. It's usually seen in Japanese home cooking. I have forgotten the correct term for the category it falls into. There's a picture of one on the cover of 'Sushi Making At Home' by Yasuko Kamimura. That photo shows shrimp on top, but it could be anything -even furikake or the tiny nori strips that look like confetti. It's a lot like sushi made in a wooden mold. You lay down layers in an attractive manner (thinly sliced, or grated, easy to cut things) inside a cake pan or springform pan, then place a plate on top and weight it down for an hour or so, or more, under refrigeration. (spraying the mold with non-stick spray may help, it's not always needed, but if I were under pressure to get it right, I'd use it) You then unmold, present to oohs & ahs, then slice it like a cake. It usually has three layers of rice, often colored by the addition of grated veggies (raw carrot is very colorful & tasty) or tiny beads of lightly sugared scrambled eggs. The cake in that photo had the cucumber sides added after it was unmolded. The cucumbers were sliced with a peeler. The tie is a pickle of kanpyou gourd. You can find it both dried and pickled at a Japanese market.

Remember that mayo actually inhibits bacterial growth and dishes made with it stay safe to eat longer than those without it. Meats that have not been handled safely are more dangerous than commercial mayo: http://www.dressings-sauces.org/Mayonnaise_Dressings.html That said, you could also make: tabouli, cous-cous salad, stuffed grape leaves, vegetable sushi cake, curried rice salad, fruit salad, Bengali Rasgulla, and well, tons of dessert items.

Potato starch adds a soft gelatinous texture to bread, and helps to prevent staling. Dry potato flakes are easy to store, measure and use. They also tend to be free of Bacillus Mesentericus, aka 'Rope' an infection of bread which leaves you with loaves with runny centers and a weird cantaloupe smell. Rope spores are not killed by normal cooking temperatures, so they can survive very well in products like home-cooked potatoes. There are old recipes that call for cooked potatoes, but they are less exact because of moisture content variations. The cooked potatoes may contain the Rope bacilli and ruin your loaves and potentially infect the whole kitchen so that nothing bakes well for you. Powdered milk is easy to store and measure, and is generally non-fat. (If it has fat the % is regulated.) So, it's a more consistent ingredient. Whey protein can interfere with gluten development, scalding and most processing to powder deactivates the whey. So, powdered milk eliminates the need for scalding, saving the baker time. Milk adds flavor, improves crumb texture, prevents wild fermentation, adds crust & crumb color (the lactose is not digested by yeast, so it survives into the oven where it browns nicely)

Pirate's Gingerbread 1/4 tsp blackstrap molasses 1 teaspoon Ginger Preserves 2 dashes Angostura Bitters 2 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum 6 oz Thomas Kemper Ginger Ale (or other good ginger ale made w/sugar) Ice Muddle the Molasses, Ginger Preserves and Bitters, taking care to get the ginger into very fine bits. Add the Rum and stir very well. Add the Ginger Ale and stir lightly. Add the Ice and serve. Optional garnish: Gingersnap cookie or small gingerbread man with a hole carefully carved out of the center -on a sword pick. Note: Other spiced rums may be substituted, but Captain Morgan most closely replicates the spice mix in a gingerbread cookie.

If you are making the puree yourself, from scratch, remember that some fruits will discolor, so you may wish to add lemon/lime juice or vitamin C powder to retain color. You may wish to add simple syrup to compensate for the lemon/lime's additional tartness or to boost the flavor of less than sweet store-bought fruit. Some fruit has fiber that becomes hard and very undesirable when frozen. Apples and pears are the main offenders here. If you toss a cored apple or pear in the blender with lemon juice and a bit of simple syrup, the resulting puree will freeze and look ok, but you'll wind up with a mouth full of what feels like straw. Commercial purees of these fruits are lightly cooked to break down the fiber. Using a juicer for apples/pears is a good solution, just remember that they discolor a lot. I like to use ascorbic acid powder for these juices. Purees with more pulp freeze into softer, easier to eat bars, while juice makes a harder more popsicle-like bar. And, a quick reminder about sanitation. You're probably not cooking any of the ingredients for this product, so handle everything with care. (if you were in a restaurant, you'd be wearing gloves and sanitizing containers, etc.) Make certain to wash the fruit carefully. E. Coli outbreaks (and other foodborne illness) have been caused by unwashed fruit like watermelon and strawberry.

Salt in the oil is how they used to make it at the movie theatre chain I worked at in the early 1980's. Because my husband is on an extreme-low fat diet, we tend to use our Presto PowerPop Microwave Multi-Popper -without oil. We get just a few unpopped kernels, as long as the corn is fairly fresh. He has a spice mix he likes to sprinkle on, while I like good old butter. The Presto PowerPop does require use of a removable insert, but, you really can get 24 poppings out of it before it becomes too weak to work. It's still far cheaper than store-bought bagged microwave popcorn and has the amount and type of fat that you choose. I live in Phoenix, and everything dries out really quickly, so I tend to vacuum seal my unpopped corn in canning jars just to try and keep some moisture in it. (we also do the teaspoon of water trick, too) Once in a while, I make an old-fashioned batch on the stove with oil (usually olive oil) and I use my wok. The shape is a natural for popcorn because as kernels pop they move away from the small heat source in the center of the bottom. I do not shake or stir.

I like to put it on potatoes before oven-roasting them. I've also used it on occasion when making vinaigrette salad dressing. I like to change my herb/spice mix so we don't feel like it's the same dressing all the time.

You are probably best off making something you are comfortable with, rather than risking something new and untested.

Did you close the lid? I'd also go sparingly on toppings. I've done this a lot, it's killing me that I don't have a working grill right now!

You could always use toasted shelled pepitas, although they are dark green, not black. They could be dipped in dark chocolate.