Kouign Aman

It sounds good, andie, but wouldnt suit for us. French toast takes 15 min from start to serving, 25 if I want it all cooked for 5 people first. To make a bread pudding, bake it, then fry it would be a several hour process. Sounds like a great fun for a special brunch, with the crusty top. Why not just carmelize the sugar on the pudding directly, without the slice & fry ?

Guacamole has to be made to order, or covered carefully, or destroyed with lemon juice, to keep it from going grey. There's a price associated with that. Avocados have a short shelf life. There's a price associated with that. There's a base price associated with getting a plate dirty, regardless if its with lobster tail or cheerios. It has to be plated and brought to you.It has to be bused and washed. Still, I am intrigued at the cost of the 'wedge' salad. Iceberg has a long shelf life, and bleu cheese even longer. I wonder how much of it is balancing low margin items, and how much is marketing (if it costs more it must be better) and how much is overhead, and how much is something I havent guessed at.

Whoever said you are feeding the family also, YES! Especially if the lady having surgery is the primary cook in the family, enough food for a couple meals (dinner and leftovers for lunch for example) would be a HUGE help to her and her family, even is she herself doesnt feel like eating much. After she's recovered a bit, and the house/family has a bit of routine back (just a couple days really), the icecream party sounds good. We were gifted with one this year when my husband was bedridden after 10 days in hospital, and it was good to have some silliness and light heartedness. Plus, icecream is good food - dairy, w a reasonable balance of protein , fat and carbs. Add some fruit (banana splits?) and its a meal.

I miss Green Goddess.

I'll see your morning-after fridge pizza and raise you a few morning-after kitchen table "it should still be fine" pizzas. How about some 'have it delivered to the desk on Monday evening, store it on the top shelf and have it for dinner Monday - Thursday" pizza? Where "some" = ~ 20 weeks thereof. Pizza is apparently indestructable, and my workplace is somewhat chilly.

50/50 egg, milk. A grating of orange peel & 1-2 T orange juice, and possibly some vanilla. This is the Emeril for Kids and the Cooking for Dummies approach Or - simpler, and better, a 'glug' of Grand Marnier. my approach. My mom uses brandy instead. Soak bread. I use some cheap costco brand of whole wheat, but it works with any kind of bread. Its like cooking steak, you can adapt by learning how the bread feels when you poke it. If there's a fountain, its going to be custardy when its done. That's how we like it. If you dont, then reduce soaking time. Experiment. You can try a bunch of different soak/cook times in one breakfast, since each piece cooked can be cut into strips for serving, allowing the chef to sample. Move soaked bread to warm pan with melted butter in it. Cook slowly ("med" to "med low" on my stove), til brown, flip & cook til done. Keep warm in pile on warm plate in low oven, ala pancakes. Best to use more than one pan and get it done fast, once you have a method you like, because it doesnt hold all the well, especially if you like the bread a bit dry in the middle.

Awesome, thanks! I see consistencies here: butter, dredging the chicken with flour. These were not part of last night's dish, which used olive oil, and chicken breasts made very thin, but not floured. This gives me hope and I shall try again. Thank you! Do you suppose it would be a crime to add some browned garlic? Or would I have to rename the dish then? And Thanks for the other recipe too, Jaymes, because that sounds lovely. Rodi, what a lovely thing for your wife to say!

The meat was still frozen, you say? and the temps were below freezing? Keep it. It would have been fine in teh fridge for 4 days at 35F.

First round, why not try something that doesnt have the challenges of flavor extraction as well (the mozzarella). What about beef stew? Beef, carrot, potato, ?tomato? layers.

I tried making a version of this last night with a recipe that called for 1 c chicken stock, 1/2 c wine (used sauvignon blanc, worried it was too sweet, but turned out not a problem) 2 T lemon juice 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms. 2 chicken breasts garnished w capers and tiny bits of preserved lemon While I liked it ok, it was all about sour. There was no subtlety, and no other flavors. Even the salty bits of caper and preserved lemon couldnt push thru the sour. The mushrooms? Sour sponges. I like the idea of chicken (or veal) piccata, but obviously need a better recipe. most of those I looked at werent different enough to expect markedly different results. In fact, I chose this one because I thought the mushrooms would provide something extra. What's in a good piccata recipe? Proportions? Suggestions? (Garlic? Onions?)

And then there's the opposite - things which sound worse in the original language, like the steamed puddings "drowned baby" and "spotted dick". Makes Grandma's fluttering bones sound positively delightful!

Of course, for a perfectly runny yolk, where no white is desired, one could simply separate a raw egg and use the yolk (much as its used in the asparagus pic a couple posts up.). Guaranteed not to be overcooked.

We didnt go. I am still hoping to get there in the next couple of months, while the water is reasonably warm. I am absolutely taking the recommendations with me, because of the "Suddenly Im not realy hungry after all" bad meals I've eaten in restaurants during my life, a disporportionate number of them were on Catalina.

It just occurred to me that rhubarb is technically a vegetable. Maybe it can be the 'gateway' ganache, as you train people to more uncommon flavors.

Whew, for a moment there I thought someone on eGullet was touting the wonders of 'boil in a bag', and giving it a grand new title.

Probably not. Cant see into the kitchen to tell. I'll ask next time I go, if I remember. I want to see the giant bin of black-ripe plantains they must have back there. Nearly every dinner comes with maduros in abundance.

Seriously, the sous vide chicken was detectably better than poached chicken breast?

grilled, with chili/hot pepper (one of the fruity ones) and salt?

Hmmm - I'm going to have to freeze some parmesan and test that 'loss of pungency' theory, because on the face of it, it doesnt make sense. However, bumblebees dont make sense either, as someone (judiu?) pointed out elsewhere, so its worth my taking time to check. thanks for the reply.

I've only been tempted to walk out once, and I would have paid for the beverages if we had. The 4 glasses of iced water wouldnt have set me back much. Our party of 4 was seated, and placed a substantial order, including sashimi and sushi. We noticed parties of two being seated, and served, while we'd gotten nothing. After about 25 min, we flagged our waitress, who asked the kitchen, and we were told it was their policy to assign a table (order) to a chef. So, small parties got fed fast, and big parties waited til the chef had something for everybody. We suggested they consider re-working that policy. The nice lady lawyer aka pitbull in our group also suggested they have something on our table within 5 min or we would in fact walk. They managed. The food was good. I would not go back with a party larger than 2.

Why leave out the cheese before freezing? In most cases, freezing cheese messes with the texture which in some situations is a bad thing. Why would it be w pesto?

"If life hands you melons, you are probably dyslexic."

Icecream cake is da bombe.

Lovely report. Now I'm hungry again.

Was that cost expended entirely on the two little pizzas, or are there leftover ingredients for next time? I remember the first time I made a curry from the Time-Life books - I spent a fortune on spices. The next curry was nearly free tho.