Lisa Shock

In terms of the pale yellow color vs brown, I have seen commercial brown chips. Some of the small companies like Kettle Chips sell a very brown product. I decided to research how potato variety affects chips and found an interesting page from OSU Potato Variety Development Program. Looks like the big commercial chip producers tend to use round white varieties of potatoes. Some small producers use Russets, and this might explain the color differences. I have never seen the varieties they list as giving good chip color for sale in a store. When I lived in Santa Fe, we used to get a variety of red potato from Colorado that had a thick ugly skin and very white flesh. Those made very delicious chips. -And were really good for other things like potato salad...

I make powder-fine salt (like commercial popcorn salt) by putting a good flavorful salt (so many to choose from!) in the blender and letting it go for a few minutes. I find it gives more even coverage, and a more professional appearance. I occasionally add dry herbs/spices to the salt in the blender.

I'm 47 and grew up eating brown rice in the US. I like it as much as white rice, and prefer it for use in fried rice because it won't stick to the pan much. My current favorite type is red cargo rice, but I am also very fond of brown jasmine rice as well. I like using the sticky black type as a color contrast with white rice in sushi, and serving it with other Japanese meals, even though I know it is not traditional. For regular brown rice, my mother-in-law doesn't like the flavor of the 'exotic' types, I am particularly fond of a type that the LeeLee Market gets from Japan that has incredibly regular shape and identical size to the grains. (Sorry, I don't know the brand name, as I place it in a big jar as soon as I buy it. Phoenix has some very aggressive kitchen insects.) As for history, I'd like to point out that Macrobiotics came to the US from Japan in the late 1950s, so, there must have been brown rice available in Japan at about that time.

How about salads and quiche and a nice sorbet for dessert? If the vegetarian eats eggs it can be a tasty and inexpensive meal.

Corona beer and lime is a good ice cream.

How about Waldorf Salad? And, I second the ice.

You could also look into getting lemon wedge covers, something I recall from seafood restaurants in my childhood. They are like tiny hairnets for lemon wedges. HERE is a link to a commercial supplier.

It may not be the best tool for the task, but I get acceptable results, for sandwiches and sauces at home, with my immersion blender. I got a stainless cup from an industrial milkshake machine and I just toss nuts in the cup and go at them with the blender.

He can, it seems, eat quite a few vegetables. How about a curry or a korma?

I hope they return to Phoenix, I really enjoyed the events we hosted in the past!

That would probably taste ok, but I am guessing that it would separate and look weird. Only one way to know for sure....

The liqueur made with chocolate is far superior to the on made with cocoa. I just mixed the cocoa infusion with syrup, after letting it infuse a few more days than the chocolate. The cocoa infused liqueur has quick one-tone flavor of chocolate followed by a blast of alcohol then sweetness. It was chocolate flavored, and that was about it. The chocolate liqueur has a fuller, longer more complex set of chocolate flavors that carry though the alcohol and sweet sensations in the mouth. It was a full rich experience, very close to that of eating actual chocolate. I strongly recommend working with chocolate for this project, the cocoa product was a very pale imitation.

I'd try banana peppers, or New Mexico Green chiles.

I've had good results from putting items in the washer with powdered oxygenating cleaner, allowing the washer to fill and agitate for a minute then turn the machine off and allow everything to soak for a half hour before turning it back on again. I've also used White Brite on whites, with mixed results. Some set-in stains come out really well with this, but it can also pull color out of trim, embroidery, etc. It definitely gets rid of the yellowing that plagues chef coats over time. I would use it on all-white towels only.

My husband uses a nut chopper that has a hand-crank and deposits everything into a glass jar underneath, all very clean. I use a pie dough cutter inside of a sturdy bowl. Either way, we have the nuts in a container that we can then dole them out from.

Depends on what you're going to use it for in the end. I usually just toss peeled and seeded fresh fruit into the blender. But, fruit like pears and apples has a type of fiber in it that has a texture like straw if the fresh puree is frozen. For making sorbets and ices from apples, pears, etc, some recipes deal with this by calling for cooking the fruit before pureeing, others have you juice the fresh fruit with an electric juicer so there's almost no fiber whatsoever in the juice. I have made really great apple sorbet using fresh juice, and preserving the color with vitamin C crystals. (the juicer really opens up the iron in the fruit and it discolors very quickly) For use in mousse or mirror-tops, etc, lightly cooking the fruit then tossing in the blender works just fine. Because a generic puree is never the same from batch to batch or fruit to fruit, you may need to adjust your brix levels, depending on the final recipe's intent. For example, fresh strawberries have a lot more water, less pulp & less sugar as a puree than a papaya puree. I took a class in ices at the World Pastry Forum '06, taught by the French Pastry School (Chicago), where we got charts showing approximate fiber and sugar levels in various fruits, and formulae for adjusting recipes accordingly. Hope this helps!

Wow, so ungrateful.... I suggest that you get evidence of what the meats cost nowadays, and give a presentation on your budget constraints. Or, you could be a bit passive-aggressive and ask the supervisor where s/he regularly purchases meats for the amount allotted. If they are going to micro-manage you, you could also try giving in, and calling the supervisor every time you run into a bind. So, in the recent example, you's phone up and say 'The only beef is $7 a pound, the butcher has offered me cod at $2. Do we serve cod, or is it a vegan meal tonight?' I hope this works out for you, I don't know that I'd be able to keep my cool!

Well, I noticed this morning that the cocoa infusion has the same sort of feathery clouds in it as the chocolate-bar infusion had. I am using SACO cocoa. The ingredients are listed as: Blend of natural cocoa and Dutched cocoa (processed with alkali). The flavor is starting to transfer to the alcohol, and so far seems decent.

There's a Grocery Outlet about 5 miles from my house. Their stock is random, but, whatever they have is cheap. I've gotten some excellent wines there for under $5 a bottle, in addition to food. We've got Sprouts markets all over town. They get loads of good produce, and occasionally it will be dirt cheap because it has an issue. Last year, a large number of artichokes got frostbite that only affected the appearance of the outer leaves. At 6 large ones for a dollar, we enjoyed the trimmed hearts in many dishes. Also, 99 Cents Only carries some foods, including produce. Recent scores include 10lb bags of Yukon Gold potatoes, 5lb bags of red onions, and whole watermelons -all at 99 cents.

I had that same idea while looking at the weird clouds of lecithin. My guess is that it would taste good, as long as you use a cocoa you enjoy. (My husband hates one national brand.) The fact that it's already a powder means the flavor will easily transfer to the liquid. -Just went out and got more cocoa, and started a batch. Updates in a few days.

If you're going to buy food to prepare, try visiting one of the LeeLee markets. They are huge Asian markets with tons of fresh everything (frog legs, eels, live crab, durian, longans, trumpet mushrooms), and good representations of food from all over, including the middle-east and India. They are at 75th Ave & Cactus, and, Dobson & Warner. My favorite place to eat, and they can accommodate large groups, is Tapino on Shea near Scottsdale road. It's a tapas place and a winebar, with a huge wine & sherry BTG menu. If you make reservations, the chef/owner can accommodate special diets. My vegan friends love it, so do my carnivore friends. My husband who does not drink lives it. They have indoor and patio seating.

I have shopped Fresh & Easy in Phoenix. There is no Marketside near me, and I am not really wanting to give them any financial support, but, if I see one, I'll go look around. Fresh & Easy is designed to be a quick-stop type market. They are not deep in selection, but they aren't meant to be. They are also heavy on their house brand items. In some categories, like detergent or ketchup, you may find one national brand plus the house brand and that's it. I like the fact that they don't carry foods with transfats, and they carry a large assortment of organic items. It's the only place I buy tortillas now, since the only place in Phoenix that made non-transfat tortillas closed a couple of years ago. It's the only place to get transfat-free cake/cookies, made with real butter, aside from a bakery that's 8 miles away. They aren't phenomenal, and I usually make my own, but when the hubby is weak, it's at least decent real food not a trans-fat chemistry lab. Yes, checkout is all u-scan, but associates are there to help. They have a hybrid self-scan cashier lane or two for checking out large quantities, and they will man those stations continuously if it's busy. They have a sampling station that seems to be open all the time. It's a fully outfitted kitchen and employees really make the food you try. It also has handwashing facilities, so I trust them a bit more than other sampling situations. The prices have been cheaper than other local markets. Plus, you can get a weekly coupon for $5 off every $20 you spend there (excluding alcohol.) They also mark down items to half price if they are close to expiring, so you can sweep through and get some real bargains if you're willing to consume the food soon. Pluses: Bakery goods, while not great, are better than supermarket chain stuff. Carries commodity type groceries at cheap prices. Has a good, although small, selection of world foods basics. Has flat pretzels (current favorite snack) cheaper than anyplace else. Has a pretty good selection of inexpensive wines. (low end of Bevmo's selection) Has organic basil year-round in big bags for a very cheap price. The downsides are: Produce is pre-packed, so you have to buy a bag of lemons instead of just one. Produce selection is limited, so you won't find more high-end specialty items. Bakery and deli items are made at a central commissary and brought to the store. Overall, I like the store. But it's also really close to my house. I don't know that I'd stop in so often if it were further away. It does not replace my weekly trips to Sprouts (farmer's co-op-owned grocery with better produce) but, it has almost completely replaced my trips to conventional supermarkets.

My dad (in his 80s) enjoys grilling, and will fire up the grill anytime, even if there's 3 feet of snow around it. Other than that, he has dabbled in a few things, but relies on my mother to really cook. I remember him being seriously very sad, and complaining, when Mom went off to work full time while I was in college because he was either getting slow cooker meals or sandwiches. He really expects the women to cook, even though being very verbally supportive of women's lib. His dabbling essentially results a regular Sunday breakfast, and a few meals a year. His special dishes are: *shirred eggs with a side of red flannel hash made on Sunday mornings, fed to mom in bed (romance!) *navy bean soup/dried lima bean soup *beer bread *a weird white-sauced curry dish *rumtopf He can also make scrambled eggs, but likes to eat eggs over-easy, which he cannot make. I can recall several times as a child when my mother was sick in bed, and Dad had me cooking all the family meals for a week or so. The first time it happened, I had just turned 4. The last time, I was 11, and wound up not just making meals but also cooking/hostessing a big cocktail party for his business associates. Thank goodness for good cookbooks! -IIRC, most of the cocktail party menu came from a book by Countess Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec. I had started making salads and soups, and helping with dishes, while standing on a chair at age 3. I graduated to main dishes and desserts around age 7, and really started making pastries like laminated doughs and petit fours at age 10. I am just now realizing that his encouragement of my kitchen interests was probably more about him getting more food (Mom hates to cook!) and better food, than about encouraging my development.

I use Everclear as the alcohol because, years ago, when I started making perfumes, I discovered that some herbs/flowers did not fully give off their oils in vodka. I often ran into weird situations with small beads of oil in the bottom of the vodka jar instead of everything infused throughout. I have always had good results with Everclear, it seems to really pull the flavor out of whatever item I am making extract from. (try to use the best ingredients you can find!) Sure, it lacks additional flavors, and it has a bit of a harsh mouthfeel, but I tend to use my extracts as ingredients where it does not matter. If one were to add simple syrup (or gum syrup) in equal amount to the extract, one would have a liqueur. -And the vanilla version tastes like what you always wanted the vanilla bottle to taste like when you were a kid.

I have not made peach extract before, but I have made a variety of floral ones, black raspberry, quince, apple, yuzu, chocolate, and vanilla. Let us know how it all works out! Honestly, your previous work sounds delicious, but if you are able to improve upon it....