annabelle

Well, I just looked and there are no identifying marks on them, but I think they are mostly Echo or however it's spelled. Like Hungry C, I bought them everywhere: WalMart, Target, CostPlus, the Dollar Store and the tiny pans are from Wilton and I think I bought them on Amazon. As far as keeping bread from sticking, I usually grease the pans with shortening. For cake, I'll use parchment. Parchment is pretty expensive, so I save it for cake or really delicate cookies.

I have never seen these Gold Pans. I have many metal baking pans of different sizes from 'regular' loaf size to tiny six-pack type loaf pans for baking nut breads and other rich holiday breads. I've purchased them over the course of many years. I also have glass loaf pans that I use for meatloaf and banana bread. So, in my opinion $20 is too much for a baking pan.

I love furikake, but have only eaten it on rice. I had a small container of it in my lunch box (a Mrs. Bento) one day when I was unpacking it to wash it and my husband grabbed it. "What's THIS!?" he demanded. I about laughed myself silly after he told me he thought it was weed.

It's a British cruise line! Brits drink coffee, too. I would think if it were a Captain's Table type of meal, there would be demitasse if not regular coffee service either with or after the dessert course.

It's bad enough that servers are practically doing a version of interpretive dance while reciting the menu (which I am quite capable of reading, thank you) and the special and the sommelier faffing over the wine choices, I don't need to have the chef now "telling me a story" through the food. I'm going out to eat a meal and perhaps go to the theatre, not both in one place.

That's a good question, Michaela. I never order them for that very reason. On baked goods, thank goodness the cupcake craze is dying. I'm not five, thank you. I can handle a slice of cake.

Personally, I was quite glad to see the demise of tall food. If you have to knock it over to eat it, it destroys the whole effect of the dish. And for Pete's sake! I like powdered sugar on dessert soufflés. So STFU about the Meyer lemons and the free-range eggs and the solar-powered bake ovens (okay, I made that one up) and just bring me a soufflé with powdered sugar on it and mutter "Philistine" on your way back to the kitchen.

I'm tragically unhip when it comes to tasting menus. While I am willing to dedicate 2-3 hours to dine at a Spanish or French restaurant, that's my limit before I have to get out of there. It is not necessarily a reflection of the chef, it is that I can't stand sitting in one place for that long before my mind starts wondering to the other things I could be doing.

LuckyGirl, you could be a "super-taster". I am one myself, and many things often taste metallic to me that don't to others. I'm probably not your best sounding board on the egg question since I practically never eat them. I do notice a difference in the taste of the organic eggs I can get at the market versus the battery eggs I usually buy for baking. As suggested above, perhaps the eggs were stored improperly or are from a different vender than usual. Sometimes mint (in your herb sauce) has an unusual taste that is somewhat metallic to me. Frankly, I'm stumped. I'd make the sauce again with free range eggs just for comparisons sake.

I've always made hollandaise with store bought eggs and never experienced this problem. Did you serve the sauce from a different vessel than usual? Or use a ladle or spoon that is new? What was the sauce served with? Sometimes vegetables, especially asparagus, can pick up a metallic taste if they are cooked in a metal pan that isn't stainless. Also, did you use a different butter or lemon juice that wasn't freshly squeezed? There are many variables to your question.

My reading tells me the wormers used in horses are the same as those used in pigs raised for slaughter. Clearly, we aren't meant to chug any veterinary grade wormers wholesale from the bottle. However, the wormer has been ingested by the animal and passed through the gut with the dead worms long before slaughter. Any vestigial wormer in the flesh is harmless.

I think a comparison would be the permeation of sex in popular culture. It's so in your face all the time that there is no subtlety, no nuance anymore. The same is true of many food fads and trends. Rather than making food or sex sound more interesting and desirable, it has succeeding in making them both sound tedious and dull. If one needs a fancy bag of tricks to prepare a meal or to share an intimate moment, the very thought can be intimidating and off-putting. Who'd have thought we'd ever see that day?

My mom would do the same thing, Toliver. She ends up taking half her food home from just about everywhere, so this may actually be a bonanza of sorts.

One of the chain pasta/Italian-ish restaurants is featuring a promotion where the patron may order a second helping of their pasta main for nothing, I don't know about all of you, but pasta is pretty darned filling and starchy. I can't imagine eating two whole entrees. I bet they get a lot of requests for take-away boxes.

I can't stand runny eggs. GlorifiedRice, that is an interesting article. Thank you for sharing it. Andie, while that is a truly ignorant statement for the politician to make, I doubt that stupidity is cloistered only on the right side of the aisle. Barbara Boxer, anyone?

Andie, that sounds more like a case of the bees themselves being crossed with a non-native bee. I remember the killer bees back in the 70s-80s. They were from Mexico, I believe. Texas is in its third-fourth straight year of terrible draught and I believe that is affecting the growth of grasses and other shrubs as well as fruit and nut crops. We have had a similar problem here in Oklahoma, but not as severe. Again, I am not minimizing the effects of GMO crops. It is an argument that is akin to the one about DDT which kills malaria carrying mosquitoes and could save the lives of many children in Africa and Asia, as well as in other parts of the world that hosts them (Texas, Florida and Alaska for a few) but is not used as a pesticide due to the propaganda campaign put forth by Rachel Carson in her book "Silent Spring." The science says otherwise, but Ms. Carson's hypothesis is received wisdom to many. In short, do the benefits outweigh the risks? I'm not an authority on the subject and would have to do more research. It's a great big country and what is happening here, isn't of course exactly what is happening there. We are seeing cases of West Nile Virus in Florida and some of the Gulf States. This hasn't happened before. Sadly, it will take unnecessary deaths before we take any action regarding spraying the mosquitoes.

Soybeans and corn are grown in my state, although we are primarily range-fed cattle and horse country. Many people also have pecan orchards and berry farms as well as apiaries. Honey production isn't down and hasn't decreased in quality, either. There is a lot of truth mixed with more hyperbole about GMOs out there. Like gfweb, I am of two minds about it. I don't think it is nearly as terribly as its foes proclaim, nor do I think it harmless. I grew up around huge commercial corn and cotton crops in California that were crop dusted to kill the boll weevils and can remember having large fields of clover growing in our yard directly across the street. Clover that was swarming with honey bees. "Sustainable" is my banned word and "Farm to table" my banned phrase.

I've never understood the overstuffed sandwiches in kosher delis. I always have to remove at least half to two thirds of the meat to eat it and after spending time reconfiguring the sandwich, I'm usually not all that interested in eating it any longer. I have several friends who are from the UK and they are always making a big deal out of the portion size in the US. I agree that the portions are much too large, but I have also seen them tuck into their meals and not leave a scrap while I have a hard time eating half of an entrée in most places.

Oh, I agree about the stupid lawsuits. I like the idea of disease resistant food crops, though. But, as always, there is more work to be done.

I second the garlic powder.

I'm in the minority here, but GMO foods keep third worlders from starving. Golden rice, for example, has the potential to save the eyesight of many children who rely on a rice heavy diet. On topic? Molecular gastronomy and people saying it's "amazing". Amazing has to be the most over-worked word in the English language.

I know it is very sweet. Could you make granita with it? I think it would be refreshing in the summer.

Heh. No worries.

The bill passed the state house today and horse processing for food is now legal in Oklahoma.

That's a great point Jerry. I also do not drink alcohol and am interested in having something a bit different than coffee/tea/soda drinks, as well.