Porthos

I absolutely refuse to eat their burgers. I vastly prefer flame-broiled burgers but do eat some that are cooked on a grill. But the lack of flavor in a Wendy's burger is too much for me. When the family wants to go there I eat a chicken sandwich or a salad or (hangs head in shame) have their chili.

Yup.

In my guild at the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire I'm known as The Meat Cook.

What store?

If the stalks are thick enough to require peeling then I leave them at the store - regardless of the price. The taste of the pencil thin is what I think of when I think of asparagus. We normally simmer them until they are just going limp and then serve them with home-made mayonnaise. Yum and then yum. I'm going to have to start watching the ads.

I think the flavor comes through more so than the thicker stalks.

I'm with Shamanjoe. My DW and I vastly prefer thin asparagas - but it does need to be fresh.

I went to Toxic Hell for lunch today specifically to try the Cantina Carnitas tacos. I had two. I had the first one without the lime and found it to taste more of the corn tortillas than of the meat. I used the lime on the second one and it brightened up the flavor quite a bit. Still not as good as some local mom and pop places my wife has taken me but ok for a fast food place. I won't being making any special trips to have them again.

I'll look for them when I'm out running errands tomorrow.

I rarely visit Toxic Hell (I prefer Del Taco whose's presence I don't think is much beyond the west coast) but my DW and I had dinner there about a week ago and we did not see anything about Cantina Tacos. Are they being sold in Southern California yet? Since Taco Bell is headquartered roughly 50 miles from where I live I'd expect to see them here.

I buy pre-cut 1/2 sheet-size parchment on the internet. After the first purchase I knew I would never mess with rolls again.

Assorted dishers. We have several sizes from our local restaurant supply house that get used to produce cookies of uniform size.

I also use the Lawry's Sesame Ginger. I have problems with sticking but I always figured it was the sugars in the marinade that was causing it.

How about shrimp going bad in the refrigerator.

Thanks for that bit of info on marketing rights.

Do you remember the Egg-Stracter egg shell remover. The most wasted money I ever spent for a kitchen gadget was buying one of those.

Can sliced potatoes be roasted, refrigerated, then reheated and still be crunchy? We talking enough potatoes for 300 servings.

My major chain supermarket has "locally grown" signs in the produce department but I don't believe any of the produce is actually sourced directly farm-to-store. Since I already know of other deceptive things they do (not enough to make me go to another store) I don't put any stock in the "locally grown" signs.

I'm found of their Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad.

I only use my paring knife once every month or 2. My 10" and 8" chef's knives are my go-to knives. edited to fix a typo.

My wife got an email from a friend of ours who is re-marrying this year. He has asked my wife and I to cater his wedding. The guest list will run between 250 and 300. They want finger food only - nothing that needs utensils. I personally think it is way beyond what two home cooks (my wife and myself) could pull off. We don't have refrigerator space for that amount of food and I seriously doubt we could pull it off with the coolers we own. Am I being prudent or cowardly in wanting to turn down the request for such a large endeavor? Personally it scares the heck out of me just to think about it. I really need some feedback on this.

Devilled eggs.

For me the "bother" is the cost. I'm buying 4lbs of butter at Costco and they only sell salted, at least in my area. Unsalted in my market is at least double the cost. Since virtually all the recipes I use butter in call for adding salt I just use salted butter.

Same here.

We tried it Monday. Tasty as Sabra hummus goes - couldn't really taste the artichoke or spinach.