Porthos

Here is the link to the Oxo strainer at Target: http://www.target.com/p/oxo-strainer-8/-/A-13567296#prodSlot=medium_2_28&term=oxo

Edge Pro Acme. I sharpened 2 knife-rolls worth of knives a week ago Sunday. These knives are used in the Renaissance faire kitchen I volunteer in as the leader of the team. These knives get sharpened every spring for the SoCal faire I do and every (almost) fall for the NorCal faire I do. 15 knives took me probably 2 1/2 hours. At home I more or less sharpen our kitchen knives once a year, but that is really hard to nail down because it really is a matter of "suddenly" noticing that a given knife needs a new edge. I highly recommend Chad Ward's book if you have not already got it. It was searching for info on knife sharpening that brought me to eGullet.

For whatever reason the all-metal strainers have never lasted for the long haul (35 years of marriage). We finally bought a 6" Oxo bowl strainer at Target and it has lasted.

If he doesn't want to learn there isn't much you can do. But if he does want to learn then there is hope. I think eggs are a great place to start. And since they are inexpensive if something gets burnt or whatever, you toss the mess and try again. Years ago we had a family member and his wife move back into the area with nothing and we gave them enough kitchen and dining stuff to be able to get started. Little did we know that neither one had the slightest desire to cook for themselves. That is why you are facing a difficult to impossible challenge if he really doesn't want to learn. Best of luck to you.

I make my living in the electronics engineering area. I have physical limitations that would prevent me from working the line even if I wanted to change careers. But I LOVE to cook and have been cooking for 47 years. On a volunteer basis each spring and fall on the weekends my DW and I lead a team of volunteers doing what I consider to be essentially a catering gig: we feed about 70 renaissance re-enactors a feast (on-stage in view of the visitors) at lunchtime every Saturday and Sunday that the 2 faires we do are open. I have a garage full of cooking equipment from an 8-burner grill down to Cambro 6-pans and enough gadgets to outfit 2 or 3 kitchens. My Christmas wish list generally has new pans or whatever on it. I could no more give up this intense hobby level of cooking that I think David could give up being a professional. What drives me is knowing that the food we put out more that just sustains people - it pleases them. That is why I get far too little sleep and in the fall drive late into the Friday nights to arrive at the faire site - to get the personal satisfaction of seeing people enjoy the food. If this post doesn't belong here the moderators are free to remove it but I wanted to share why I chose the non-professional cooking life.

You have picked a topic that interests me. Since I am currently unemployed finding drinkable table wines at TJs for a modest sum sounds wonderful. I am going to cheat a little bit for the wines I will start giving a try and posting about here. My FIL is a long-time member of the Orange County Wine Society and has leased a 120 case wine locker for decades and is a TJs fan so I will ask him for recommendations for me to try. I have long since given up on my own olfactory memory to detect "hints of hummingbird" so this will fit my wine drinking well. Thanks,rotuts, for starting this. edited to add: I should add that 2-buck chuck Shiraz has been a go-to for a basic table wine for a while. That won't appear here.

Wow. Just Wow...

It is still made. I know Lowes carries it because I bought some there a few months ago.

RubberMaid Dust pan with handle (Lowes, Home Depot) Quickie Lobby Broom I spent a year and a half using such items at Disney California Adventure as a daytime custodian (the guys in the whites) 10 years ago and I'll never go back to a long broom and "bend down to use it" dustpan again.

Happy camper here. I found this RWP Wilton oval platter that I will use in my renaissance re-enactment stuff for $3.59.

I have a happy memory of discovering empanadas while on a business trip to Venezuela in 1987. Exploded or not - what a great lunch item.

My lunch: Either a smallish leftover piece of meat or cheeses and deli meats, plus fresh cut-up veggies or a salad. I keep a small digital scale in my desk so that when I have salad I can measure a precise amount of dressing onto it to control the calories. I do poorly about getting fruit into my diet. Here in southern California there are some reasonably healthy meals available drive-through but I still mostly brown-bag it simply to make my money go farther. Because of my commute I choose to only take a 1/2 hour lunch break which pretty much kills going somewhere for a sit-down lunch.

I have salted and peppered my food at the table for decades. My wife is sensitive to saltiness, but my taste buds and metabolism are just fine with it. When I go to restaurants that don't have salt and pepper on the table I ask for them. I have experienced food poisoning. I know what it feels like. In both cases of food poisoning I knew, after it occurred, what the source was. I have yet to have such a reaction to pepper.

Why have I never connected have a mortar and pestle with smashing up garlic. Thank you.

Shop to a list. Don't be absolutely slavish to it but make sure anything you pick up that is not on the list is not just an impulse but is something truly of value for how you eat. We start our shopping at Costco, then go to WinCo, and then on to other supermarkets if they have items WE USE on a good sale. We have the benefit of living in Southern California which means there are lots of stores to choose from. Again I say: Shop to a list.

In an attempt to not burn my hands, I tried peeling then boiling once. The potatoes were definitely waterlogged.I do believe that you can peel then steam the potatoes. Another thread on potato salad brought my potato-boiling days to an end. Now I only steam whole potatoes. I do, however, still steam then peel.

I went into the Air Force directly out of high school. Once I got to my first duty station I noticed other GIs complaining about the chow-hall food. Much of it was, for institutional food, quite well prepared. I went on to a small private college (300 students) and for my first semester there enjoyed the food in the dining hall (we got a different cook after that who was capable of burning water). The first cook really worked hard to prepare tasty meals. I listened to some other students faulting the flavors of his food. Then I noticed that it was mostly freshman doing the complaining. I realized then that the complaints were, in my opinion, based on the food not tasting like that which they had grown up with. 40 years later I stand by that conclusion.

Chef on Fire by Joseph Carey. Doesn't cover everything you are asking for but was very useful to me.

Eating out is all over the map. Cooking: For dinner: more rustic than anything else. An animal protein seasoned and either sauteed or BBQed, brown rice, noodles, beans, barley or occasionally couscous for a starch (I avoid potatoes even though I love them), and either a steamed veggie or canned fruit. I lean toward western European and Mediterranean-inspired seasonings. Breakfast is eggs and toast made from a good grainy bread. Right now I'm on a French omelet kick. I enjoyed cooking from Julia Child's books for a very long time but as I have aged I have found I appreciate more simply prepared foods than in my youth.

This water had a very light nose and a wet finish. And the waiter did not let me look at the cap first.

No expert but: The cherry tomatoes I've always purchased are basically round and generally have a diameter of over an inch and a more traditional red. The grape tomatoes I buy are generally much smaller than that and often look like miniature pears and are more red-yellow (but not orange).

Calphalon has a line called Unison which, IIRC, are touted as being dishwasher safe. Is Teflon still used in all nonstick cookware? Is it correct that some nonstick cookware don't use Teflon and use other materials instead? Does anyone know for sure what materials are used for All Clad and Calphalon, or other brands? Vollrath Pro-HG uses a titanium and ceramic non-stick system. If you remove the heat-guards from the handles they go into the oven quite nicely. Although they tout their 25 year guarantee I will be lucky to get 12-15 years out of the saute' pans. Of course, I do run them through my dishwasher. We bought the Pro-HG cookware because 1) it is NSF registered, and 2) it tolerates high-temperature cooking better than teflon and I am a high-heat kind of guy. I do own and use SS cookware as well, I just mostly prefer my non-stick for everyday cooking. edited to add 3rd paragraph.

I'm probably a bit of a Cretan but I would never even think of ordering to go from a fine dining restaurant. For part of the pleasure of fine dining food is the atmosphere and being waiting upon.

I can't imagine tipping for take-out food. I wouldn't tip at the will-call desk of any other other business. Take out food is will-call food.

One point of clarification: I have only tasted Indian curries, I didn't know there were curries in other cuisines. Some of the exchanges within this thread remind me of my FIL, whom I dearly love. When it comes to Bourbon and single malt scotches he strongly believes that if you don't drink them the way he thinks they should be consumed you are just wrong. I like Bourbon neat some days, other days with a sweet and flavored mixer. It's my palate, not his, that I seek to please. It took me many years to realize this was ok. Will I ever try the curries of other cuisines? Probably not. The risk outweighs the opportunity. Is there a chance this will mean I miss out on a flavor I might enjoy? Yes. Can I happily live with this missing out? Yes. Living in southern California I have access to some small family-run Mexican restaurants that put out what I perceive, partly based upon their base clientle, authentic regional Mexican cuisine, and can readily tell the difference between the food there and the bigger "Mexican" restaurants which serve very Americanized style food. Do I think that some people who "don't like mexican food" might enjoy the small places? Yes. Do I feel they have to go there and find out for sure? No. I allow them the choice of their palate.