JLam

Yes, Russell, I know how to get there. I actually live out in the middle of nowhere as well...this place is only a short drive from my house. I've never had sweetbreads before, so I'm going to give them a shot. I guess what I meant to say is that I've never eaten at an authentic French restaurant at all, either traditional or cutting edge, so I'm very excited. Dinner is tomorrow, so I'll report back.

I've never eaten at a fancy high end French place. Here's the menu: http://www.lechene.com/main15.htm What would you eat? I also noticed the first item is sweetbreads. I've never had them. Anyone have any experience eating them?

I had a good laugh while reading the following recipe. I did a search and it seems this hasn't been posted before. http://www.nanbelegorn.com/sandwich/ Basically, this young kid decided he was going to make the mother of all sandwiches. It is...well, just read it. What delighted me about it was the kid's unbridled enthusiasm, and his sense of fun. I was smiling the whole way. Enjoy!

I just ran across this blog posting about a company called LesserEvil popcorn. The blog author ripped into the company pretty good, and I wonder if it's justified. What are your thoughts? Here's the blog entry (btw, the rest of the website is pretty funny and well written). http://www.stupiditytracker.com/2007/02/16...l-foods-stupid/

I've got a pork loin roast I want to eat tonight. I've done this dish to death. Can anyone gimee some suggestions as to what to do with it that won't make my wife and I bored.

Update: I broke up the mint leaves and sprinkled them over some monkfish ceviche. Verdict: Yummy!

Good question. I have no idea. It was vegetable oil in a shallow fry pan. I didn't have a thermometer, I just kinda eyeballed it. My guess would be about 350-360, based on past experience with hot oils.

I just had the bright idea to throw some mint leaves into some hot oil and see what happened. I was pleasantly surprised. I found, after a bit of experimentation, that a mint leaf cooked in hot oil for about 5-10 seconds becomes delicately crispy, almost flaky, and loses the "punch" of mint flavor, leaving behind a nice, mellow, minty, earthy flavor. I'm going to use them to garnish some ceviche. We'll see how that turns out.

cornstarch works as a thickener under certain very specific situations. if you're going to be thickening it at the very end and serving it immediately, cornstarch will be fine. but if it stands or if it is re-heated, it goes gluey in a hurry. also, since cornstarch is purer starch than wheat flour, cornstarch-thickened sauces tend to be (what seems to me to be) weirdly translucent, even transparent. then again, maybe i've just eaten too much bad chinese food. ← Thanks for clearing that up, Russ.

I can't remember the last time I bought salad dressing. I also have never once in my entire life bought canned spaghetti sauce (it was the first thing my dad taught me to cook as a kid.)

Sounds like cornstarch would work, no? If not, why not?

I was wondering about citrus flavored marshmallows, like lemon or lime. Do you think it would be OK to add lime or lemon juice to the water and gelatin at the beginning of the recipe (in place of the vanilla)? Or would the acid screw things up?

Just thought I'd chime in to say that I made nightscotsman's vanilla marshmallows and they were great! They're even better dipped in chocolate! Yum.

Mrs.JLam and I ate at a place called Man-Chu Wok in the Miami airport this past June when we were on our way back from our honeymoon. We were STARVING and desperate to eat anything. I don't remember what we ate, but I do remember that I was so hungry that I didn't realize until I was halfway done eating it that I was ingesting some of the worst food ever to be put on a plate. Mushy, bland, watery, and slimy are all words that could be used to describe the dreck we were shoveling down our pie-holes. About half way through, we both kind of looked at each other in a moment of shared realization. I said "This is horrible!" Wifey agreed, and we got out of there. Thinking about that meal still makes me a little bit queasy.

You know how sometimes you experiment in the kitchen and you stumble upon something wonderful? Yeah, those times are great. Then there are those times when you experiment and you can only laugh at your stupidity after the fact? I did the latter just now. I had made some Pumpkin Brulee (recipe here) and it came out great. I had a few ramekins left that hadn't had the burnt sugar treatment yet, so I decided to experiment. I really like sour stuff, and I wondered if mixing a tiny bit of citric acid (sour salt) into the sugar would give the brulee a little tangy kick. So I mixed a 1/2 tsp. citric acid into 1 tbsp. sugar and did the torch thing. I should have taken a picture. The citric acid turned black, made these horrible bubbles, and actually caught fire for a second. It crisped up nicely with the sugar, and besides the big black bubbles, it seemed OK. Then I tasted it. The only way I can describe the flavor is "Burnt Sour". Disgusting. It's been 15 minutes, I only took 2 bites, and I still can't get the taste out of the back of my mouth. Don't ever try this. Just don't.