zoe b

my husband's Aunt Jane (who was Southern) made the most fabulous pies--and always used lard--I'd forgotten this until last night--I had some leftover pot roast and decided to make Cornish Pasties out of it--once i got the recipe it appeared that you use raw meat, but i had some juice from the sauce left and threw that on top to perhaps keep it moister. The dough recipe called for half butter half lard--the filling was kind of dry, but the crust was magnificent--crisp and flaky, not the least bit greasy, which I think sometimes happens with an all butter dough. I used lard from the pig we bought, so maybe the excellent quality of it was what made such a wonderful crust, but still, I'm converted--am making an apple tart today with an all lard crust to see how i like that. Zoe

yes, I'd like to try the beer bread, too! Scones are a good quick recipe for when you need something sweet at 10:30 PM--also muffins--depending on whether I'm feeling healthy or decadent that night I make a whole grain, oatmeal raisin & molasses recipe or one of Dorie Greenspan's rich and delicious muffins. Zoe

a beautiful cake--and vey American!! I love your account of the last minute tragedy--it is exactly how things are in my kitchen--trying to do too many things with not enough time--and those mixer mishaps--all too frequent. the transport of the cake across town on a bike sounds so romantic--I would love to live somewhere that i don't have to get in a car to go absolutely anywhere....

any other suggestions for food near Yankee Stadium?--last year someone at Chowhound recommended a place to get Cuban sandwiches in the nabe, but we couldn't find it. I can always bring hoagies from home, but it would be more fun to get something nearby. oops--just found another post about this with lots of info--sorry---Zoe

thanks for the recs--will try them all.....and i just noticed that i said sub instead of hoagie--I've been living in NJ too long I guess. Zoe

I just learned my cousin's band is going to be playing at the Festival--a perfect excuse to attend--so what should I eat there? We'll be there on Sunday. I'm actually already trying to figure out how to eat two cheesesteaks and a sub along with everything else....

I've never tried Viva--will have to do so. I love Bounty--and Bounty paper napkins--as much as i adore the Brawny Guy--Bounty is the better paper towel. BUT, unfortunately I read awhile ago that Marcal is the only brand made of recycled paper so i am forced by my conscience to buy only Marcal. I hope you all appreciate my sacrifice .....Zoe

. If cooked rice is left too long at room temperature or in a too warm fridge, the bacteria can multiply. Dang--I just leave the pot of rice on the stove over night--then scoop out rice and heat it up for lunch the next day--it's going to be hard to give up this bad habit. Zoe

snakeater said "Provence isn't on Minetta. It's on MacDougal. Are you sure you're not thinking of Bellavitae -- which has the substantial advantage of being right next door to the theater? " I'm definitely thinking of Provence, just got foggy about location i guess--how's Bellavitae? Z

Provence is right on Minetta--it might get overlooked because it's been around forever, but it's pretty--has a wood burning oven for little pizzas and lots of small dishes ideal for pre theater nosh-- also they are kind and friendly there --I once brought my sister for dinner --she only drank wine coolers at the time--I was inwardly cringing when she ordered one because I was afraid the server would snoot her and i'd get into a fight, but no, like a darling he said they didn't have them but got the bartender to whip up a facsimile--somewhere between a spritzer and a shirley temple. So ever since, i pimp for Provence whenever i get a chance. Z

I wonder if they'll show it again--I was flipping last night and saw Emeril's head looking flushed and slightly desperate at the podium and I kept going.

maybe some kind of a crunchy salad using the Japanese restaurant dressing recipe from Mark Bittman. Do a google search for it--I don't want to post a link as it was originally in the New York Times, but it's everywhere on the net now. It has a boatload of ginger which your posse probably wouldn't care for, but you could sub.

my recipe is similar to Abra's--delish for chicken pot pie style, or beef stew or even a Mexican style something on the bottom. I believe you can use any biscuit recipe and just add more milk so you san drop instead of roll out.

ooh, the last meal not only sounds good, but is photogenic, CP--congrats. "I think complaining was my grandmother's second nature, and if she wasn't complaining there was something wrong with her. " lcpn's comment is very true--I have a 97 year old MIL and a 79 year old mother--an awful lot of their conversation is complaints--it can be hurtful and also irritating, but I've come to the conclusion that it isn't meant--a lot of the time they are just talking to talk---more having a conversation than actually voicing a complaint--it might be the only thing they can think of to say at that moment and they just want to be heard--so try and think of it that way. As for the seasoning, another issue for older people is too many flavors--I've been cooking for my mom this past week and i think she doesn't like all the things i generally put into a dish--her favorite meal so far was the simplest one i made --baked tilapia, brown rice and a kind of cucumber tomato salsa that I put on top of both. I'm making her soup out of a chicken carcass and she vetoed 1/2 the things i wanted to put in--simpler is better for her. keep on trucking, though--it's an inspirational task for your readers. Zoe

this has just been shown to be a fail proof recipe--I am at my mother's so was using her Corning casserole dish--heated for 1/2 hour-- had just popped the bread into the oven when my sister arrived --she needed me immediately to help--she's packing up her house--so I took the bread out and just left it on top of the stove . My Mom couldn't lift it as she is recovering from surgery, so it just sat all day until I returned, heated up the oven and threw the bread back in. It had an ugly thick hard skin over the dough--looked like what you get if you defrost bread dough too long in the mike and it starts to cook. But I figured what the heck--I'll probably have to throw it out, but it is worth a try. Well, the bread was decent--didn't rise all that much, maybe 1/2 as much as usual, but had an ok crust, even--i thought it would be thick and rubbery or possibly just thick and rock hard, but it was the same crackly crust as usual, and not any thicker. So do your worst to this bread, it can take it. Zoe

I would go with a good commercial syrup if you have to--but baklava would seem to be one dessert that it wouldn't do to go sugar free with--the crunch, sugar and butter have to be perfectly balanced--not easy to get right with the traditional ingredients.

yes, mascarpone is awfully expensive--and what you get in the supermarket isn't too wonderful--I've tried subbing different combos of heavy cream, sour cream and cream cheese without really liking any of them. Has anyone tried making it? I found a few different recipes for making it here http://www.heavenlytiramisu.com/mascarpo.htm

just wanted to strongly agree with andiesenji about infusing in water--not really a good idea--water grows all kinds of undesirable things--even heating it every few days won't make it safe.

just thought I'd mention that if you sell on Amazon the Julie/Julia book is a good one to list--sold in 15 minutes! I had read about her project, although I never went to the blog--but i enjoyed the book--she's a good writer-- i didn't care so much for the fictional Julia sections--otherwise very entertaining. Zoe

Sorry, I don't know, Josh--and I haven't read about this, but I'm curious. I'm a soapmaker and I also make lotions and creams, and I work with fragrance and essential oils every day. as far as I know, there's no such thing as an apple essential oil (meaning extracted from actual apples). I would think that this apple essence or oil is an apple flavor oil--synthetic--if you search for flavor oil you should have better luck. Zoe

yes, we have that dubious honor--next weekend we are having a Chinese New Year progressive dinner--and if it's anything like the last one we had--by the time everyone gets to our house they will be bloated and quite bibulous. so we haven't decided what to serve--either a dessert plate with five or six little tiny servings of delicious desserts--green tea ice cream, and tiny cakes and some sort of fruit something and little cookies--or a truly delicious bite of something crispy and rejuvenating--some kind of fried shrimp. maybe--it would have to be intense to rouse people from the fog of too much food--or possibly a cold noodle dish---but i think people would refuse to eat noodles at that point--the thought of more fill in the stomach would be unthinkable. we are serving champagne with litchee nuts for our drink--each house does a different drink, so there's more than food warring in the gut that night! So, any thoughts on dishes? Zoe

NO WAY!!!! and what other cherished belief is next? That there are fairies at the bottom of the garden? I can't wait to try this--thanks for bringing it up again. Zoe

It might have been by Jane & Michael Stern--they've written a few cookbooks about the 50s and about diner food and I forget what all--search them at Amazon and see if you recognise the book. Zoe

I actually haven't tried any of the esoteric methods you all have mentioned except steaming--but to combine two of Karen's thoughts--I've always wanted to do a chicken covered in a salt crust--hitting anything with a hammer before eating it seems like fun. And it'w weird how when you think of something it pops up everywhere--just picked up The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook at a thrift store and there's some mussel baking with pine needles happening in it. The authors saw a segment about doing this on Canadian TV.

just some advice from a non chef--in my experience, with a home stove it was difficult to get a good sear on the foie--too much melting occurred. I read here about freezing the slices before searing--and i intend to try this the next time. Zoe