baroness

Both of these authors' books (Carol Field and Maria Bruscino Sanchez) are very good. The latter, a bakery owner, has several other titles on desserts and cake.

I'm a second-generation pizzelle maker, but currently 1200 miles away from my recipe. . . I'll try to post it on Wednesday.

I have a Sanyo micom/fuzzy rice cooker, and find that I prefer to do brown rices (Thai brown jasmine, short grain brown) on the "brown rice" - imagine that! - setting. I don't use the timer function to delay the cooking, and suspect that if I did the rice might be a bit overdone for my taste.

Korovas are great! Just tried the Alton Brown Chewy recipe -- they look picture perfect, but I find them light in the flavor department . . .maybe I just prefer MORE chocolate -- such as Korovas.

I like it sprinkled on green/tossed salads containing citrus fruit.

My local Filipino store has a variety of pandan-flavor items, including pandan extract (smells delicious--perhaps a blend of hazelnuts and almonds; don't detect hay...) and cookies. I use the extract in biscotti.

A tossed green salad is surprisingly good served with omelets or other egg dishes; so are salads based on oranges, onions, and olives.

Yes, I've been VERY happy with the Bosch. It's easy on the eyes, very solidly built, and has more features than I'll ever need. Take a look at their website... I already had an excellent ventilation hood. The manual doesn't mention any special ventilation requirements. I found the best combination of price and service @ Lucci (718.448.1515). They have an installer available, who is very good. Happy shopping!

I had to replace my range recently, and after a great deal of research and 'kicking of tires', I bought a Bosch Evolution 700 series gas range. It has a 16K burner, several simmer-capable burners, a warming drawer, and a BIG oven with convection option. List is about $2000 for mostly stainless (black trim), a little higher for all stainless.

You could boost the banana flavor by using bits of dried bananas in the cookie dough as well as very ripe bananas.

Plain frozen bananas have a sorbet-like texture and taste very good. Even though I strongly prefer dark chocolate, it may overpower the banana flavor--milk chocolate might be better in this case.

Mix some strawberries with the rhubarb and roast them together - delicious!

So, the baking soda makes my coconut breakfast cake (no cocoa or chocolate) turn dark brown? Interesting!

"We used to go to a Chinese restaurant that had fairly large diamond-shaped pieces of dough that were fried. The dough was sweet, but I don't remember if it was sprinkled with sugar. It may have been a specialy of that particular shop, but I don't know. The owners were Hong Kong Chinese, so it may have been a Hong Kong thing?" These sound like cousins to Norwegian fattigmann (egg-yolk rich dough, cut into diamonds, slit the center and pull one end through before frying and sugaring). Haven't had these since my Aunt made them years ago.

Both types are good; the woven plastic ones are better for damp items (or damp weather). . .

I use flavored teas in baking, instead of milk or fruit juices. A local Chinese restaurant makes 'Chicken in Spicy Tea Sauce'; would love to find that recipe!

One place that truly practices the 'Art of Packing' is the NYC Trader Joe's. No matter which cashier I am assigned, the items are compactly and sensibly arranged -- and they even out the weights of the bags, which is so helpful for us pedestrians! Currently, they are offering raffle tickets to those clients who bring their all their own bags (or buy the reasonably priced reusable TJ's bags).

Anna is correct; they do make good scrapers! I use closepins (including those 'cute' European wire ones) and office binder clips to secure bags; the latter are particularly good for snack food or other foil bags.

Is zaatar different than zatar/zahtar, which is usually a blend of sumac, thyme, sesame seeds, and salt?

National Public Radio covered the mango story this morning. Patel sold out of the first shipment, and is expecting another on Sunday.

the zojirushi is like the all-clad of rice cookers- a reliable, good brand but horribly overpriced. if you're too lazy to do any research, you can buy all-clad and zojirushi ricecookers and get a good product. but, with a modicum of research and effort, you could find a product that's even better or find a product that gives you the same quality but at a significant discount. everybody loves zojirushi, and raves about it. no doubt about it, its superior to the cheap $20 rice cookers. but, while it gives superior rice to the cheapie rice cookers, that doesn't mean it makes better rice than sanyo's. the owners of zojirushi haven't bought a sanyo, so they haven't been comparing it to the sanyo. sanyo doesn't state it in the name of the product, but it also uses fuzzy logic that everybody raves about with zojirushi. if you review amazon ratings, they get the same rating. and, the sanyo is more intuitive to use and therefore easier to read. with the zojirushi, you need to read their instruction booklet. i also find the sanyo to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than zojirushi. the sanyo will go on sale, and make it even more affordable to zojirushi. ← I purchased the Sanyo ECJ-F50S (from Amazon) several months ago and couldn't be happier. It has a 24-hour timer--think the zo is only 12(?), and it makes great steel-cut oats as well as rice-and-mixed-beans dishes for breakfast on its porridge setting. Its booklet is well written and has a great bread pudding recipe, though it's easily used without reading the instructions. I, too, prefer its looks to the zo design.

There's also the problem of sufficient ventilation....

I like the Air-Bake sheets as well for most things. I've never seen enamel sheets, though I remember seeing enamel baking pans when I was little. For loaf pans, I like Chicago Metallic. For fancy cakes/breads, Nordicware.

Home 'jelly roll' pans are usually 10 x 15 or so.

For Sicilian food and Italian pop music in 1904 decor, have lunch at Ferdinando's Focacceria, 151 Union Street in Brooklyn. I'm partial to the panelle special. There is great homestyle Italian food (some ingredients still grown on the premises, I think) at the Basilio Inn, 6 Galesville Court in the shadow of the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island. If you want some non-traditional but award-winning pizza, go to Goodfella's at 1718 Hylan Blvd, also on Staten Island.