Terila

I'm kind of a book freak. If I know I am cooking a recipe I'll merely photocopy it and only take the copies to the kitchen. When I cook from the book, it stays in the dining room covered with a layer of Saran. I would never write in a book under any circumstances although I do have post it notes in some books. My cookbook collection is here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/terila ..

Of the two, Rory has the most formal culinary experience. Rory attended and graduated from the CIA and additionally went to the culinary university Johnson and Wales. She worked in her father's Italian restaurant from age 15 and was added to the cooking staff at 18. At 22 she bought and ran a three storey restaurant in NJ with 3 bars. She is building a restaurant now in TX. Amy said she went to an obscure French cooking school. One of the fellows at Ruhlman's said he hires chefs for years and has never heard of it. Other than that Amy herself says she is a "freelance caterer". OK, Rory may be a ditz but her credentials are stellar compared to Amy's. And Amy flubbed until the last two episodes. Frankly, I'm shocked that the FN couldn't find people who are more qualified anyway. ...

Everyone has a different POV. I hated snobby Amy and her greasy hair! She was a wreck emotionally and before the cameras. I don't know why JAG made it this far considering his poor temper. I'll be voting for Rory but it's doubtful I will be watching the winner whoever she is. ...

Very funny!!! I love how the sushi chef wipes the cutting board with the towel, uses the same towel to completely wipe down his sweaty face, then uses the same towel to wipe the knife he is using. "Gari" ... nobody knows what it is. Subtle humor.

OK, you're not going to believe me but I used to order this several times a week on my way to work over 20 years ago. It was a triple decker toasted BLT with egg. And the place that made it was a stand in the car wash!!! Great minds ...

Without quoting, those who have not read Anothiny Bourdain's latest review of TNFNS on Ruhlman's blog should do so [he likes it] ... and, if it is to be believed, someone calling herself Rory says to watch on Sunday as there is something really shocking coming up. So shocking she said she herself was surprised. I'm guessing either a major on-screen meltdown by Amy or Jag ... maybe even involving his military service. Maybe they swap Paul back in although that would be a bit much. Bourdain is cheering for Amy.

I used to eat sushi with my brother a lot and not only was he a big man, but also almost totally blind. I told him it was perfectly acceptable to eat sushi with his hands as he had big problems with chopsticks. He did get looks but, frankly, I feel that the people who don't know it's acceptable are the ones who are displaying their ignorance and there is no reason to feel self conscious.

And I noticed this thread came up on TasteSpotting tonight. Post #2649. http://www.tastespotting.com/ TS is fast moving ... ...

You might also be interested in the mosaic "Broken Glass Jello" from Hawaii: http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/ono_kine_...n_glass_je.html ...

I wish I knew as there is an extensive series of DVDs on Indian cooking. I have yet to try them. You might enjoy Indian home cooking with Manjula Jain. She has 29 short YouTube videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Manjulaskitchen ...

Oh yes, the hand cut lamb sandwich at Phillipe's, the hand cut pastrami sandwich at the legenday Langer's in McArthur Park, the red tomato & escarole sandwiches I make on a crusty hazelnut sage baguette, the long departed Ship-Shape hamburgers on sourdough dread [RIP], and my all time favorite ... Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, fresh ripe tomatoes, escarole, homemade mayo on Buona Fortuna bread. Yes, the BLT is my fav!!! I think sandwiches are divine. Having said that I don't get to go out for lunch so sometimes I buy from the guy who brings around fresh made salads and sandwiches. My favorite is the "Antipasto Sandwich". Made on ciabiatta bread it is filled with classic antipasto items, salami, coppicola, peperoncini, archichoke hearts, olives, mayo and romaine. Another one I like that he brings around is the "Chicken Caesar Sandwich". The baguette is split in half and grilled until it is compltely toasted and charred a bit, it is filled with moist sliced chicken breast, a brush with an anchovy flavored mayo, parmesan shavings and a couple of whole romaine leaves. Yum! The key is high quality bread & good fillings not piled too high. And Subway ranks near the bottom ... sugary bread that is squishy with NO crumb, lowest quality meats and EVERY sandwhich slathered with the most hideous ballpark yellow mustard ... even tuna salad! Bad.

My favorite is Boar's Head in the natural casing. The runner up is the just released Nathan's in the natural casing however they are hard to find ... even in L.A.

Hmm ... if I had to guess the last two would be Rory and Paul. We already know Amy has had an emotional breakdown and came within a pinch of asking to be booted off so she could return to her family. Does the FN really need a "star" who is that flighty? JAG was outed has having lied about his military service. While it doesn't say anything about his cooking ability it does say something about his character. Does the FN need someone who has boasted falsely about their military background? And boasted falsely about graduating from a culinary school? I'm surprised Paul is still around since he goes through manic episodes. Maybe he's got them under control. Not sure. Rory's smile is ... Rory's smile. Frankly, some of the others would be hard to look at week after week too. The FN is a let down given the fact that they broadcast almost 20 hours a day. I'd like more ethnic food shows ... not European ethnic. I understand they will have a Latin food show coming up next week but it looks like another Giada clone!!! With all the fabulous chefs out there I can't believe they can't come up with something better unless they are trying to pinch pennies by getting an unknown. One pet peeve is the Ace of Cakes. Not only is that guy annoying but all the cakes with that awful fondant means I've never seen one thing on that show that I would like to eat. Grumble ...

They are very much like jujube candies. Remember them?

A couple of dozen podcasts on various aspects of Singaporean street food: http://www.makansutra.com/foodcast.html ...

I'm a huge fan of Belvedere Polish vodka. Much preferred over the vaunted Grey Goose.

It's big out here in Los Angeles but it's been big for a long, long time. I first remember seeing it and trying it in Los Angeles's Southeast Asian cafes in fruit drinks that came with long [several inches long] grated immature [gelatinous] coconut shavings in the drink. The drink comes with a fat straw to suck up the colored tapioca pearls at the bottom of the glass ... and a long teaspoon. Now all sorts of bubble tea, volcano tea, & Boba are sold in stores that specialize in these drinks. In fact, I noticed even my local Oaxacan restaurant advertises Boba!!! Also, Boba or tapioca pearls sold on eBay. BTW, this puts me in mind of an article about how Snapple flopped in Japan becasue the Japanese don't like cloudy drinks. But for me, a diet Peach Snapple hits the spot!

Interesting, I was just looking over one of your previous posts and I suspect we have a lot in common although I am older than you. I am an institutional equities trader and have been in trading for over 30 years. Are you in finance? Your kitchen remodel sounds fabulous. The frustrations you are going through are normal. Just count yourself lucky if you don't have lingering problems. Once it's over, you'll breathe a sign of relief!

Do you want to hear my sob story? I began my renovation over a year ago and from the beginning things began to go horribly wrong. I won't go into the problems with the cabinets as my biggest problem was with the countertops. I insisted on concrete having been convinced that historical problems with the material had been solved. But from the first day I had the classic edge chipping issues. After much angst about this I held off putting the backsplash. After some months I decided I did not want to sue the concrete counter top company but I also knew there was no way I could live with the countertop anymore. It was coming out! I am now in the process of remodeling most of the kitchen AGAIN ... that includes the electrical work which became completely non-functional recently. I have learned some big lessons about remodeling as I also had problems in flooring installation and many, many problems with contracting crews and laborers. I almost feel like writing a book about how to avoid the pitfalls of remodeling. It has been a very painful experience for me. As for living through a remodel, it can be daunting. I went through a rough spot where all of the sinks in the kitchen and baths had been removed and the only running water in the house was in the bath tub. It was like going on a camping trip without leaving the house!!! Believe me, I feel for you. But you'll no doubt be hearing more from me as Remodel Part II is about to begin ... SLG

I will be watching this thread. I did my remodel over a year ago and I insisted upon concrete. BOY was I wrong!!! Immediately I had problems ... mainly that the edges chip off. I also had concrete put in the powder room which is okay but the kitchen has too much going on to sustain a concrete counter. Sooo ... this week I am having it torn out ... and the price of concrete exceeded that of granite. This has been a big learning experience for me. I am leaning toward Silestone but am hopping over to that thread now. SLG

Are you a Wall Street Journal subscriber? They had a blender test a few weeks ago. The Kitchen-Aid $129.00 won. There were also links to other grading sites. Let me know if you need them. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1182473309...ON=wsjie/6month Mine is a Waring vintage-look model with just an on-off switch. They gave it an "okay" rating. I'd agree .... okay, but nothing more. terila

Wow, thanks for letting us see the way that you save your recipes. I liked MastercookMac mostly for the search functions. I did not care about scaling, shopping lists or nutritional information which they also had. But being able to do to the pantry and decide I wanted to use up an inghredient I could go to Mastercook and put that ingredient in ... it would tell me all the recipes that used that ingredient even if the name was not in the title. I liked YummySoup for the simple interface but I personally did not see that it imported MastercookMac files. I'll have to check again. Other contenders were MacGourmet and A Cook's Books, both of which do import. Mark ... do you have lots of recipes in this format? I have thousands and, now that I have no formal recipe manager I just cut and paste the recipe into a simple text file ... no special formating which you have!!! I do have Appleworks database and there is one very simple [too simple] database for recipes ... I do not know about Filemaker templates.

If you like Nathan's Famous they get points from me in selling packs of eight dogs. They now have dogs in natural casings.

I used to make egg salad myself. But somewhere along the line I lost the ability to hardboil eggs! I have no qualms about tackling a recipe that takes days to prepare ... but hard boiled eggs!!! I wish I could gain the knack again.

I'm with you that it should not be at a hard-cold chill. I'm partial to Gelson's Tarragon Egg Salad. I love the rectangular cut, the right amount of creaminess and the great tarragon flavor. I love it in sandwiches, on Wasa, on bagels or stuffed into stalks cut from the celery heart. Yum!