Lisa Shock

Will this menu be available for people to take home, or is it just available onsite when a server hands it to you? IMO, it's annoying to see things you cannot have when you are there and ready to order. You say you want to update the website menu daily, which is fine, but, if I am onsite right now, I want an accurate list of what's available for me to eat. I don't want to have to go to your website after I've been seated. Do you have a menu board on the wall that also changes daily? When you talk about enticing people with what you could serve them, what do you mean? What events would have to transpire for you to serve these things that you cannot serve now & how is your customer supposed to be involved in those events? (I mean most chefs can make almost anything, it's choosing what they will serve that defines a restaurant's character.) As a customer, I check a restaurant's website a few days in advance to see if they have anything that I want to eat. Daily specials are ok, but a core menu is very important. Also, unless you do a lot of carryout business and are handing out printed menus all of the time, I don't see a menu driving people to a website -I mean, I'm there talking to a server, I'm not going to start searching for online info on my phone when I could just ask the server. And, if the menu's a mess, like half of it's unavailable when I am there, I doubt that I'd be checking online for specials on future days because I probably would not return.

My favorite potato is Sangre, a red variety that is very flavorful. I used to get organic starters for it from Irish Eyes, but they no longer carry them. A quick search finds them being sold by several organic sources. If your soil is poor or tends to be hard, you can grow potatoes in straw. Some people even grow them in raised wire mesh circles for easy harvesting and prettier skins. I also like cinnamon basil a lot, it's best served cold, like in a salad. It becomes more ordinary basil-flavored when cooked.

IMO choosing an olive for a salad depends on which dressing I am making. I keep several types of olive in the fridge plus a couple more in the cupboard cans, and generally choose based on how the dressing turned out, which also means that sometimes olives are not on my salad because the flavor would not be complementary.

I make my own extracts and can see a lot of potential.

If you ever get a chance, try black apricots (an apricot-plum hybrid, as opposed to plum-apricot of a pluot) I like using them when I can in apricot confections. They show up seasonally here in PHX at Trader Joe's.

Some of us might help you test a few things. I know that after I left Santa Fe, some of my recipes never came out right again, even with very calculated adjustments.

I'm still on my first cartridge, so, I don't know. It's big, though. It takes up most of the back post of the machine. The machine requires that you screw a bottle onto the underside of the top to work. The proprietary bottles have a rather wide mouth, I have not seen anything similar. Generally, I just pour everything into the manufacturer's bottles and go from there.

Yes, that's it. Works great for me. IIRC I paid a little less, but, would still buy it again. Actually, a quick look at eBay shows several sellers with units well below that price. If anyone is interested, get some of the extra bottles while you can, the bottles from the other soda machines will NOT fit this machine. BTW, the bottles are 500ml or 1l. I use the 500ml which is perfect for one or two people and fits nicely in the fridge. The cartridges for it are called 'Sparklers' and are refillable at sporting goods stores like Dicks for about $3. Amazon no longer sells them, but eBay has a few. I got one in addition to the one that comes with the unit, just in case.

Parchment will not protect against grease. IMO, you should run tests baked on sheet pans, just to make sure you don't mess up the stones. What I do with breads where there's an add-in which I don't want exposed to the air, like lentils that get rock-hard, is I make two batches of dough. One batch has the add-in, the other is only about 25% the weight of the first, without the add-in. I scale out portions then roll out the plain dough and place the main dough (already bench shaped) in the center and wrap it up, bench rest, and then do final shaping -gently. For cheese, I grate it on a large holed grater and toss with my final flour addition so it doesn't clump when mixed in. I personally do not like the big holes that happen with larger chunks of cheese.

I just carbonated some cheap rum. I gave it four shots of carbonation, which is a lot for a Primo. It came out with a few very tiny bubbles. The first taste was good, it seemed to have added a sharp edge to the flavor. A few minutes later, and the carbonation was gone. I am guessing that the rum didn't have much to nucleate on in it. Tomorrow I'll try something with sugar content, like Sailor Jerry's or maybe some Amaretto di Sarono.

I have no idea then. Honestly, I'd toss it just to be safe.

How cold was your room?

I got a Primo really cheap last year at Lowe's because they were discontinued. Aside from the really cheap price for the unit and accessories (I got two extra bottles and an extra cartridge) the main reason for getting it was the fact that it uses the same cartridges as paintball guns and they can be refilled at the sports store really cheaply. I like it, I make all sorts of drinks, but mostly Italian sodas with Torani or Monin syrup (Homes Goods & TJ Maxx usually have a few flavors at a discounted price) and my homemade tonic water. I've been meaning to get some soda fountain ingredients to make phosphates and such, I just haven't gotten around to it.

I've never done this with kids, but, I think they'd enjoy it in the winter -if you know what types of cheese they like, you could try fondue. I think they'd have fun choosing veggies or bread chunks and dipping. And, if you did the chocolate fondue (maybe force them to wear rain ponchos while they eat? -j/k) you'd definitely be their favorite relative. Chocolate fondue dippers: strawberries, banana chunks, marshmallows, caramels, chunks of pound cake, etc.

My parents used to make open-faced cheese sandwiches toasted under the broiler: bread with a little mustard, a slice of tomato, topped with swiss cheese. We had garden fresh tomatoes as far back as I can recall, so, BLTs were always featured this time of year. Cucumber sticks are an easy side dish or snack, with out without a dip. (In my day we ate carrot sticks straight up, no dip needed!) Cherry tomatoes are fun, too. We'd also get bell pepper strips. Assorted fruits to eat out of hand are good choices, look for cheaper, smaller sized apples, pears, peaches, etc. When the weather turns colder, maybe make baked ziti or macaroni and cheese. Actually, they are old enough to begin learning to cook for themselves. I'd get them a cookbook, 0764526340/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0764526340&linkCode=as2&tag=egulletcom-20">like this classic from my childhood, and have them start making their own food from it. This will ease up the strain on your hands, and teach them to love cooking. Edited (at member's request) to add: Upon closer reading of the description, the facsimile version linked above has been edited and some buyers say the binding is flimsy and falls apart. You can still buy a used copy of the 1965 edition, which is almost the original, through Amazon, here: http://www.amazon.co...ty crocker boys

I'd cut them in halves and make a stir fry where I crisp them in oil then add a sauce of: hoisin sauce, chili paste, rice wine and garlic. -Just a light glaze of sauce.

Normally, since cookies tend to be dry but fatty, the preservatives used are more along the lines of BHT/BHA to prevent rancidity. Although, good packaging may eliminate the need for a preservative. The sauce answer is maybe, you have to run tests on the final sauce.

Congratulations! Please keep us updated on your new ventures.

I've never made an angel food cake with a separate filling item. If I were going to do so, berry juice would not be my #1 choice. The recipe has you crushing the berries and using the resulting juice. Problem is, that juice could have wildly differing %s of water and acid, etc. It's also thin and runny, there's no way it would ever wind up looking like that photo. I'm going to agree with Mjx and call this out as an untested recipe. And, furthermore, I think the photo is a picture of a cake made with small, flat dabs of seedless jam/jelly, probably professional grade bakery jam. I only trust a few websites for recipes (hope I can recall them all, forgive me if I miss a couple, other members will undoubtedly chime in with a few more): Cook's Illustrated -behind a paywall, but everything is tested Epicurious - has the stockpile of Gourmet Magazine's recipes Food & Wine Ideas In Food Raymond Blanc's blog Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum Bread Hitz Welcome to eG, hope your future baking projects work out better than this one!

You can add water to sugar after it's boiled, as long as it's a small quantity and the sugar is still hot -that's how you color hard candy.

Actually, the cadmium (and arsenic, and lead, and mercury) in the rice story from 2013 was interesting because of its significant scope and effect. With 44% of tested samples from guandong being contaminated, and rice being a major export, looks like a lot of people are slowly being poisoned both in and outside of China.

Can you try starting with plain water, and using reduced/strong infused water after pulling off the heat? That way you're sure nothing in the infusion is burning. Also, you might try an alcohol infusion, once again adding after.

Watch out about sleeping in the car. In some areas, you could get a DUI just for being in the car with the keys in the ignition -say you're running the AC, or the radio. I know someone who was thusly ticketed, and he was in the back seat. I use taxis a lot. The price is usually pretty reasonable compared to the potential dangers otherwise, that said, I have not visited some of these remote restaurants and cannot vouch for the price or availability of cabs.

How big of a batch are you making, and is your room cold? With big batches sometimes you get different temperature zones in the pot. Kind of like trying to make a huge vat of rice and the bottom burns before the top is cooked. (thus the reason why we use steam jacketed kettles) Also, look at your sugar, if you still have the bag. Does it say 'sugar' or 'cane sugar'? Oftentimes beet sugar is in the generically marked bags and it can give odd results.

The food scandals keep happening in China, and I continue to boycott. From cadmium in rice, to unsanitary poultry markets, to use of expired meats in fast food it's clear that they need to make changes.