BekkiM

And it's always worth calling the same day to see if they've had any cancellations--we got in on a Saturday evening with a party of five that way.

While I'm waiting for my vanilla, I taste-tested my vanilla sugar yesterday on a bowl of strawberries. Yum! The sugar is a little clumpy, I assume from the moisture in the beans, but it's got a great aroma and flavor. Can't wait to see how the same beans perform in my rum.

I usually make some sort of honey mustard (b/c I can't for the life of me remember what they actually use), varying the vinegar between cider and sherry and the oil between olive and hazelnut, depending on my mood. The croutons are just cornbread (I've bought frozen, made from a mix, and made from scratch--depending on how long I think I can defer my craving) that is cubed at about 1" or so and baked w/a little olive oil and salt. Usually I pour a healthy dollop of olive oil on a sheet pan, lay the cubes of cornbread into it, and turn them gently (one-by-one--cornbread croutons don't "toss" well) to coat all sides. By that time, they've soaked up most of the oil and I bake them, turning them at least once to get brown, crusty sides... Mmmmm... That sizzling sound you hear is me drooling into my keyboard... I might have to make some tonight. Enjoy!

I tried olives religiously every six months for years and years on the same theory--and I've finally reached the point where I really do like them and will actually seek them out. But not those nasty black, sliced things in the can... Yuck.

How do you kick off that short cylce? I've (of course) lost the manual and no button I push seems to make the stupid thing run any faster. (And while I'm at it, I'll confess that I've never actually timed it--so maybe it is only 2 hours--just seems like forever!)

The Cherry Creek Grill here in Denver, a generally overly-trendy chicken and ribs place, makes the most fabulous salad they call the Macho Salad (I think). Anyway, it's baby greens, roasted corn, tomatoes, dates, chicken, goat cheese, almonds, and cornbread croutons. I've been recreating that one at home at least every other week since I first tried it and I love it. I recently went back there for drinks with a friend and they had a lovely grilled artichoke--nice smoky flavor, well-seasoned throughout that I attempted to recreate last night. Don't know if I captured theirs, per se, but they were damned good none-the-less, especially served with aioli made according to Thomas Keller's recipe in Bouchon. I'm making them again tonight! I've often tried to copy the spirit, if not the exact dish, of meals I've eaten in upscale restaraunts, but I've never gone as far as copying the plating--and usually I have a hard time sourcing the ingredients they used. But I'd give anything to recreate the pork belly from Rioja... Hmmm... Wonder if Chef Jen would share her secret...

I don't think you should down-play the length of the cycles b/c it can be a HUGE pain in the neck when you're trying to cook for a dinner party. Our Miele is amazingly quiet (I mean--AMAZINGLY--I can never tell if it's running and the little red light just under the counter edge is very difficult to see unless you bend over to look at it head on), but it takes FOREVER to run a load--like 3 hours or more. Yes, I love the cutlery rack, the adjustable height of the top rack, and the quiet, but I wouldn't get one again because it just takes too damned long to run a load of dishes, especially when I'm trying to power through loads to get ready for 12 dinner guests (and the dishes they'll generate). You can, however, run the dishwasher with the middle rack completely removed (don't know if it's recommended in the owner's guide or not) which allows me to wash tall pots and pans if I'm feeling really lazy. We also have a F/P drawer in the bar in the basement which I'm relatively happy with. It too is very quiet (not as quiet as the Miele, but better than the GE Profile we had before) and seems to do a good job, but we don't really use it enough to give it a good run for its money. The GE Profile was a disaster. Did a terrible job of cleaning and after 5 years of normal use, the seals all dissolved and started leaking black/green gunk all over the dishes and the floor. Replaced it with the Miele, but I'm having serious envy of the commercial style described above.

Holy cow! I'm in awe... I'd like to add a plug for La Sandia in Northfield (which is sort of Stapleton on steroids--Outdoor World scares me ). Went there on Saturday afternoon for drinks and appetizers and it was wonderful. The queso is too die for--served with a mildy spicy, smoky, tangy sauce of pureed dried peppers (of a variety I've never heard of) and tomatillos--it was just wonderful. The guac, like the guac at Tamayo, is prepared tableside and looked yummy. Unlike Tamayo, though, La Sandia much mroe laid back and the service is significantly more friendly. Granted, it was the middle of the afternoon and everyone was probably bored, so my friends and I were a much-needed diversion, but I've been to Tamayo in off hours too and it was awful.

Why is "everyone" fed up with the salad spinner? I'm quite fond of mine (and not a huge fan of using an electric gadget for something I can easily do with old-fashioned elbow grease).

We've got a Marvel (pictured here) in our basement bar that we've been reasonably happy with. I like the glass shelves, although when the fridge is full of beverages, the interior light is useless as it is entirely blocked by the cans. But the middle shelves are exactly the right height for soda/beer cans, the lower wine racks hold a decent number of bottles, and the top shelf will hold at least a 12-pack of bottles (or tall cans, such as Guiness or Bodingtons). Also, the flip-up shelf on the top allows you to store open bottles of wine if you need it. Temperature control seems good, but since we're mostly storing beer and soda (we're not big white wine drinkers), I have to admit that we haven't made a careful study. But nothing's ever frozen, even in the back, so that's one sign...

It is meant to kill bacteria and destroy enzymes in the milk that might have an effect on the recipe. With pasteurized milk it is not necessary. One thing that it will still do is help in the extraction of flavors; a vanilla bean is just one example. ← Don't you also sometimes scald the milk (or cream) so that you can temper the eggs when making a custard?

After spending 3 days along on the coast of Maine with no food except a book on foraging (my father hoped that Outward Bound would cure my 16-year-old angst) and cracking open sea urchins on a rock when I was starving, I'm with you! That stuff is FOUL. And maybe you're not supposed to find these thing "delicious" (merely ubiquitous), but I find hamburgers, hotdogs, peanut butter, and all things McDonalds revolting. Oh, and anything mint flavored...

Good for you, Varmint! There are not many more painful things to witness than a parent repeatedly warning/pleading with an obnoxious child and not following through on a single one. "If you don't stop RIGHT NOW I'm going to take your GameBoy away for a week... I mean it... Please stop touching your sister..." Those are parents that are not ever going to self-police or have the self/child-awareness to realize that little Veruca is no angel and way out of her depth. They're not going to do it at home, they're not going to do it at the mall, and they're not going to do it at restaraunts. But the sad thing is, they're not doing their children any favors by not teaching them limits. We had a proud moment last night at Rioja here in Denver. Took hubbie and Nick (aged 9) to dinner for hubbie's 40th. The hostess looked a little skeptically at us when we arrived for our (early) reservation, but we'd brought our own books and paper. Nick was definitely the only child in the place. Not only did Nick sit quietly through all 2 1/2 hours of our leisurely dinner, he spoke clearly and politely to our waitress, asked questions about the menu, and ended up discussing the various uses of creme fraiche and how they use pigs to locate truffles with our lovely waitress. He tried a little of everything that we ordered (pronounced the chorizo lovely, insisted on trying the pink salt on his bread, adored the black-truffle and potato amuse bouche, and thought the Vermont blue cheese was nasty--but then, so did hubbie) and was generally a fabulous dinner companion. Know your kids, know their limitations (and yours), and teach your children how to behave by modeling good behavior. It's not rocket science.

We've been taking our son (now 9) to restaraunts of varying levels his whole life--with pretty good success. Admittedly, we didn't do a lot of fine dining after he passed the "sleep through everything in his car seat" phase until he reached the "able to read his comic book quietly through dinner" phase, but still... Somewhere upthread (it's a looong thread), someone (probably many someones) wrote about training your children in proper public behavior, and I think that's the key. Nick's been trained from a very young age that there are certain activities (singing and wandering about spring immediately to mind) that are not allowed in a restaraunt. I think we only had to resort to carrying him out once or twice, but then we were a bit choosy about our venues. One memorable success story about how a restaraunt chose to handle children as patrons was (unfortunately--they've since closed) Roy's here in Denver. For one thing, they had one of those dentist-office treasure chests behind the hostess stand for children who behaved well. For another, as soon as you were seated, before you'd even placed your order, the waiter would arrive with a plate of quesadilla and apple slices for the child, preventing one of the most common causes of disturbing meltdowns, waiting for someone to take and fill your order. We returned many times (although apparently not enough to keep them in business). But we appreciated the thought they had clearly put into this problem so much that I rave about them to this day. People with children are, literally, a fact of life--Roy's chose to deal with it proactively, rather than hope they would just go away. Horror stories abound, of course. There was the time we tried to get a table for three at Little Ollies, a popular Chinese-American (semi-upscale) place in Denver and they told us 20 minutes, made us wait 60 minutes, then sat us at a table barely big enough for two (no room for crayons or Legos). We've never gone back and hiss any time someone mentions their name. There was the time that my 7-year-old son told me he felt sick in the middle of the restaraunt. I managed to get him out the dining area before he blew, but not out of the bar. For anyone who was there (at the Hilton in the Maldives), I am SOOOOOO sorry. And to the woman who grabbed a stack of napkins from the bar and handed them to me so I could at least mop off my dripping child, bless you! The kindness of strangers indeed. My worst meal, though, was with someone else's child--and we weren't even in that great a place, just a strip mall Mexican joint in Tuscon. My friend brought her 2-year-old and a portable DVD player to keep him occupied, which seemed like a good idea, but... He wasn't interested in Winne the Pooh--he wanted (and was allowed to) wander at will throughout the busy restaraunt, greatly endangering servers rushing around with loaded trays, yelling back and forth with his mother, and poking his fingers into all of our plates. To top it off, she left the DVD player running the whole time, at high volume, until I finally reached across her plate and pointedly turned it off. It was an awful meal and I was so stressed out at the end of it. EDITED to correct some of my worst grammatical mistakes

How does one use vanilla paste? I've hidden the jars (three of them--what the heck was I thinking?) of vanilla extract-in-the-making in the basement behind the wine b/c I'm embarrassed to tell my husband that I'm making 1.75 liters of vanilla. How am I going to explain the vanilla paste experiment? Maybe my *other* project to make my own sauercraut will win him over... And I agree, I love eGullet.

Now that they're selling box wine in grown-up juice boxes (that is, single serving size), it's an even better option b/c I can open just the sized container that I need. And I could, in a pinch, choke down those wines if required to do so at gun point. If only they'd do the same thing with sherry and marsala, neither of which I drink, but I love the flavor of in cooking. Can I freeze those in zip locks too?

Lovely! Maybe I'm sleep-deprived this evening (no, make that definitely), but am I correct that the BlueStar is a gas oven, not a dual fuel range? I've heard "things" about issues with gas ovens for baking, so have been leaning towards the Wolf. And now that I've seen (and fondled ) the 60", I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to live with less--which BlueStar does offer. There isn't that much of a price differential, from what I've been able to learn on Froogle. What would reccomend the BlueStar over the Wolf? Other than the 190 different colors, of course?

My husband, son, and I are going to be in Vancouver in a couple weeks for a single day (Sunday) and I have been tasked with finding us a great brunch location. Buffet is fine (I'm not usually a fan of buffets--if I'm paying good money for a meal, why would I want to wait on myself?--but for brunch it's okay), sit-down works too. What's the best place to go and do I need to make a reservation? Thanks!

Yay! My vanilla arrived and half the beans are now perfuming a jar of sugar and a jar of rum (I like the flavor of rum in baked goods, so I though I'd use it for my vanilla experiment). As soon as I find two more jars (maybe a little smaller than my first one--that's a LOT of vanilla ), I'll get the Tahitian and Madagascar batches going too. I'm so excited! On a side note, I ordered from two different ebay suppliers. The first, spicefever, was a little cheaper (4.94 including shipping for 13 beans), but took a little longer to ship. The second, Vanilla Products USA, seemed a little more expensive ($15.49 for 30 beans), but arrived a little bit quicker. All the beans look (and smell!) great. Next stop, vanilla salt.

I like it--especially since the seating will be moved to the "open" end of the island. I like the look of the long, clean, tall wall of cabinets with the fridge (looks from the drawing like it's integrated--true?) and the fact that you're getting an additional window. Have you considered putting double wall ovens in that same long wall and just having a cooktop in the island? What about venting for the cooktop? The only issue I can see with your plan is the visual mass of having a vent hood hanging over the island, interfering with the line of sight as you're standing at the bottom of your drawing looking towards the new window. Maybe it won't interfere if you're sitting, eating, and watching that new flatscreen (aren't kitchens a great excuse for new gadgets?), but it may make the space seem more crowded. Keep posting ideas (and pictures)--those of us in the same boat (and those of us living vicariously through your kitchen) are verrrry interested in how other people make these decisions. And, yes, kitchen remodels cost the absolute bomb! -Bekki

My favorite has got to be the small batches that my parents make in their tiny sugar house (if only to keep myself on both the distribution and inheritance lists), which I can never get enough of. Baggage handlers run in fear when I'm returning from Vermont after the spring sap run! But the two you linked to sound wonderful--I wonder if I can entice my parents to try some experiments with theirs... On a side note, the Mikuni site lists two applications for the "make your own vanilla thread" as well!

I, too, am trying to make this choice (although I've got a little longer than 24 hours to decide). We pilgramaged to the Wolf/SubZero distributor this weekend, fully expecting to simply price the 48" rangetop/double wall oven vs. 48" range/single wall oven combos and ended up completely enamored of the 60" range. For one thing, there's the full sized double ovens which will free up wall space for more pantry cabinets (I was hyperventilating a bit, worrying about how to store my 11 different varieties of salt, countless vinegars, not to mention Costco-sized Fruit Loops for my son). Then there's the double griddle. And, petty as it sounds, I think the range ovens just look better than the Wolf wall ovens (yes, we *could* go with different wall ovens, but I like the Wolf). So I'm ressurecting this topic and wondering if FFB would care to weigh in now that her range has been in place for a while--or anyone else for that matter. I don't teach cooking classes, so the "space for multiple cooks" isn't as much of an issue, but I do have the space for the 60" range--if I can justify it. The price for the 60" is more than either of the combos we are/were considering, but not so much that it rules it out for us. Thanks!

Me too! I just ordered the 30 bean sampler pack (10 each of Tahitian Gourmet, Madigascar Extract Grade, and Madigascar Gourmet) and I'm planning on whipping up 3 separate batches to compare. I'll spend some time this weekend combing garage sales for mason jars and thinking about what alcohol to use. It seems like I won't save much money if I go super-premium on the booze, but I don't want the roughness of bad vodka, either. Guess I'll go see what Applejack has on sale. Shucks... I *have* to visit the wine store.

Once I make the vanilla extract, how long do I have to use it? What's the shelf life? Given the cost of vanilla and the rate at which I go through it, I'm intrigued by the idea of making my own, but I'm already cringing at the thought of pouring any of it down the drain. And, while we're on the subject, is there any down side to just leaving the beans in the concoction indefinitely? I'm pretty sure that the double-strength extract I buy from Penzeys comes with a bean in the bottle--so they're obviously leaving the bean in place.

So, last night was Duo in the Highlands... Very, very good. The food wasn't quite up to the level of Rioja, but for $50pp (including 4 glasses and 1 bottle of wine) for the four of us, really, really lovely. I started out with the green olive tapenade with grilled bread, which was quite tasty (why, oh why, do I always forget about grilling bread, which gives it that lovely, salty char? Dumb, dumb, dumb!), followed by the braised pork on celery root puree. Again, very good--nice and tender, lots of flavor, yummy, yummy, yummy. One dinner companion had the salmon on green lentils, which I got to taste, and I think it was better than the pork. Best of all were the gnocchi with mushroom ragu (and white truffle oil)--much as I liked my pork, I wish I'd ordered that pillowy, earthy goodness. I had the best dessert of the three on offer, though--frozen pistachio nougat. Lovely texture with the creamy frozen "nougat" and chewy, slightly salty, chunks of pistachio (and possibly caramel?) throughout. Nice presentation too--with a crispy tulle wrapped around it (obviously at the last minute, since it was still crispy). I must say, though, that that creme fraiche ice cream that accompanied the chocoloate dessert was exceptional--I'll take a gallon to go, please. The best part of the night, though, was the service. They had lost our reservation (not a good thing in the middle of a very busy restaraunt week) and weren't sure they were going to be able to seat us, but as we were driving there, the manager called us to say that, indeed, they had found a table and that he'd beaten off at least 10 other parties to keep it for us. We were seated prompty and graciously (and the restaraunt was definitely busy). Our server was friendly and, best of all, knowledgable--when we were ordering wine, she prompty pointed out the top 5 reds (running the spectrum of pricing) they offered, then just as promptly picked one of them when we told her our preferences. Not earthshattering stuff, maybe, but all too often, when there is no somalier, the waitstaff can be painfully unhelfpul with the wine list. Even though the restaraunt was busy, we were never unattended and our water and wine glasses were refilled with pleasant continuity (by which I mean, they weren't rushing us through, but made us feel like they really wanted us to enjoy ourselves). The pace of the courses wasn't rushed (always a danger when you order the full meal at once) and we were allowed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. All in all, a great experience and I will happily go back once restaraunt week is over.