Bridie

With fresh food, you can sometimes give it to charities that provide people with prepared meals rather than foodbanks. Shelters, etc. that offer meals to the people they assist often take leftovers from events. If you did want to get rid of a load of produce, an organization like that might be more likely to take it than a foodbank.

What about candied nuts of some sort - either brittle, or just candied nuts? They would provide a contrasting texture to the rest of the contents.

I have to agree that I like the idea of being able to buy a decent banana at a convenience store. When I am travelling, especially on business trips, I often find it difficult to get fresh fruit, and I would definitely buy a banana at a convenience store. I could also see myself buying one of the bananas on days when I am out running errands and I want a snack. I often find myself in a Starbucks, or a convenience store looking for the least bad option (on the otherhand, the Walkers shortbread at Starbucks would still be likely to beat the banana). On a related note, I was recently on an airplane flying home from a business trip, and I was offered a package of apple slices. I wanted a piece of fruit, and I had recently read a NY Times article about how they preserve applie slices, so I decided to try them. The apple tasted fine, and looked fresh, the only strange thing about the appearance was that the flesh just next to the skin looked somewhat translucent. The other difference from a regular apple was that if you licked the slices, there was no flavour. It sounds bizarre, but I did lick a slice (subtly, so that everyone else on the plane wouldn't think I was crazy) because I had been reading about how they were coated with a flavourless substance to preserve them, and to prevent them from browning, and I wanted to see if I could taste the chemicals.

I have been reading about your preparations in this thread, and as wonderful as the dinner sounded before you made it, I have to say that it looked even better in your photos. What a fantastic party, I am rather envious of your guests.

A brief run down of a few restaurants in Ottawa: I have enjoyed a lovely meal at the Urban Pear (at Bank and Second) - the service was friendly, yet professional, the atmosphere was warm, and the food was good - with the exception of the chocolate tart, which was a disappointment. The vanilla creme brullee on the other hand, was wonderfully creamy. It was supposed to come with an orange flavoured ice cream, but I asked them to substitue a pear sorbet, which was fantastic. My dining companion enjoyed a steak, and I had perch, and my memory is failing me, so I can't tell you much more than that I enjoyed it. We had a lovely meal there, and I would definitely go back. I have also quite enjoyed a trip to allium, which is in the West end (Holland and Wellington), and which I haven't seen mentioned in the discussion here. The menu changes frequently, and again there is friendly service and a warm atmosphere. I remember having a goat cheese and beet bruschetta starter there a while ago, which I quite enjoyed, and I also had a vegetarian entree on a different occasion - I think it was a mushroom pie on a chickpea stew (it's been a while, so I might be a little off on the details) - either way, I thought it was a fantastic vegetarian entree - flavourful and satisfying. From outside, I think that the locations of both the Urban Pear and Allium look rather unpromising, both are cases of "don't judge a book by its cover". I was rather disappointed in eighteen, which I had heard good things about. I had a mixed green salad, which was alright. There were orange slices in the salad, and I felt as if the dressing needed a stronger hit of vinegar to spike the sweetness of the oranges. It did come with a goat cheese crostini, so the cheese provided a sharpness, but while it was nice, it did not quite come together for me. I enjoyed my main course, which was trout, but my dining companion had salmon, and it was overcooked. The service was very good - our server brought out a new piece of salmon, which was cooked well, and which my dining companion did enjoy. One of our party had the gnocchi, which she definitely did not enjoy, I can't really comment. As for the dessert, it sounded promising - a chocolate cake with espresso gelato and port-soaked fruit. The cake resembled nothing so much as lumpy playdough. I cannot recall ever not finishing a dessert, including the somewhat disappointing chocolate tart at the Urban Pear, mentioned above, which was not even my dessert, but I left behind most of this chocolate cake. In Gatineau I had a very nice meal at Les Fougeres. I had penne with a gorgonzola cream sauce and pistachios. For dessert I had another creme brullee, which came with a trio of little cookies, I remember that one was a ginger cookie, and one was chocolate chip, which I think had pistachios in it, which I found surprsing, but was delicious. The whole dessert was delightful, I absolutely did not need it after the pasta dish, but I couldn't bear to leave any behind. There is a gorgeous gift shop in the same building as the restaurant, which is definitely worth checking out. I would say the restaurant is about a half hour drive from downtown Ottawa. Obviously these restaurants would not all satisfy the requirements set out in the post above, but some of them might meet your needs, and I just decided to comment on all of them because I have relied on the comments of other people in this thread when choosing restaurants.

Thank-you, I went with the recipe as printed in the book before I saw your post. It wasn't great, but I think that was because I didn't knead it for long enough. I am going to move on to a loaf with a longer rising time, and take the advice someone posted upthread about baking a single recipe repeatedly until you get the feel of it.

Can I ask a question since you are all on the topic of novice bread bakers? I think my recipe may be wrong, but am not experienced enought to be sure. It only calls for one rise (it is a yeasted bread, but has no egg - I have been looking at other bread recipes and most of them seem to have an egg, so I don't know if that makes a difference). The recipe says to knead the dough, divide it into rolls, cover and let rise for 45 minutes, and then bake. Should I trust it? Thanks! (I hope I'm not breaching forum etiquette by jumping in with my own question)

Thanks, I was wondering whether it was the beans, or just me, I know other people have enjoyed the soup. I will have to try it again with different beans.

I am wondering if anyone can tell me where I went wrong - I made the Potato, Leek and White Bean Soup as posted in Recipe Gullet (I figured I would try it before buying the book). I could not find the right beans so I used flageolet beans. Anyhow, the soup is very starchy - to the extent that it has an unpleasant, almost gelatinous mouthfeel. The only thing I changed about the recipe was the type of bean. Is this the expected texture for the soup, and I just don't like it, or did something go wrong, perhaps because of the beans?

Hi snowangel, I think that there is an error in this pattern (there are no decreases). I would guess that it should be something like: Cast on 4 Knit one row K2, YO, K to end of row Repeat Row 3 until you have 48 stitches K1, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K to end of row Repeat until you have only 4 stitches remaining Bind off. I just wanted to mention it in case a new knitter attempted to make these and got stuck half way through the pattern.

I will never attempt to eliminate cooking smells by putting a pot of water on to simmer with some lemon in it, and then forgetting about it while I go out to run some errands. On the positive side, the stench of a burnt pot quickly eliminates any other odour in the house. That was a while ago, and I don't find that the boiling water and lemon actually helps with odours when you avoid burning the pot. Should I admit to further stupidity? I will never again place a 1 litre glass bottle of olive oil on a high shelf and later attempt to pull another large object off that shelf without making sure the olive oil is secure. The floor actually has a beautiful sheen once you are finished mopping it all up. A full 1 litre glass bottle of milk that falls out of the fridge because you left it at the very front of the top shelf, despite knowing that the fridge rocks, doesn't do anything to improve your floor, but it is rather fun trying to clean it out from under the partly detached linoleum tiles in your rather old apartment kitchen. I will never again begin trying to make Rassam (Indian lentil soup) by sauteing onion and black mustard seeds until the little suckers are popping away, and then pour a full cup of water into the piping hot pot on the stove. It did not occur to me to throw the lid on the pot as I ran for cover and mustard seeds covered not only ever surface in the kitchen (ceiling included) but sprayed out the doors at either end of my galley kitchen.