Pierogi

Canned tuna, both in oil and water. The former for pasta sauces and such, the latter for tuna salads/tuna melts. Anchovies, of course. Salmon, because sometimes I just have to have the salmon patties my Mom made when I was a kid, and they use canned salmon. Those are the regular staples which I always have. I just bought a can of Trader Joe's canned baby shrimp, thinking it would be good for salad-y type applications, maybe stuffed in an avocado. Haven't used it yet. Very occasionally a can of pasturized crab meat (refrigerated) for crab cakes. Even more occasionally a can of minced clams for linquine and clam sauce. Oh, and bottles of clam juice to sub for fish stock when I'm in a hurry and need it for gumbos or jambalayas. Those are a staple as well.

Lovely string of narrative pictures in the bakery ! I especially loved the one of PJ and his finished product. Such a great expression of shy pride.

As I was reorganizing, for the 57th time this month, my pasta/bean cupboard this afternoon, a couple of other possible outlets popped into my mind. Fresh 'N' Easy seems to have a very good selection of dried beans. I can't say I've specifically found, nor looked for, pinquitos there, but I did just score a bag of dried cranberry beans I have not seen anywhere else locally. And although you've said you checked at Ralphs, and Food 4 Less is a Kroger operation, Food 4 Less seems to cater to a more Hispanic audience than some of the other chains. They might have them as well, and possibly in the bulk produce section too. Good luck on the hunt !

I'd argue that it is in fact the most professional behavior possible. She didn't throw a tantrum. She didn't even decide she didn't care and just make awful food. She looked at the situation and said "This sucks much worse than I thought it was going to. Not only is it destroying something I loved doing, but I just watched another contestant completely lose it to the point they had to call an ambulance. I don't want that to be me, this is not what I thought it would be, I'm outta here." As a pastry chef, if your client asks you to do something you think is dumb, I think you are well within your rights to tell the client to find another pastry chef. You don't have to compromise your craft just because you agreed to work with them back when it wasn't clear exactly what it was they wanted. I understand the cultural resistance we all have to "quitting," but sometimes cutting your losses is the right call. She was also seriously missing her two young sons. IIRCC, she'd recently gone through a divorce as well. I read it as being a combination of all these things that finally pushed her decision to leave. Not just "I don't want to play anymore".

I've seen them at one of the local SoCal chains for sure, routinely. It may have been Albertson's, but I'm thinking maybe it was Vons/Pavilions. Or possibly Stater Bros. They're not that rare, at least in my neck of SoCal. Couldn't hurt to check all the ones local to you.

Kinda everything, and I lick cooking spoons too(no, I do NOT put them back in)--but the sweetened condensed milk for me, too, is drunk right out of the can. Childhood habit. OK, well, that's a different animal. If we're talking guzzling straight from the container, I have only one to 'fess up to. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup in the squeeze bottle, or...even better...Trader Joe's Midnight Moo in the squeeze bottle. No other delivery implement required. Open nozzle, insert into mouth, and squeeze. Luckily, its a single person household, so no one else need worry about the fact I've been slobbering all over the chocolate syrup bottle....

Another vote for mayo (Best Foods/Hellman's only please), sour cream, mustard and peanut butter. And the first vote for dulce de leche or Mrs. Richardson's caramel sauce. These 2 products are simply not safe in my home.

Having gone through the "Eat Your Books" upload process, I finally have a count.... 147 for me. This does NOT include massive number of those little check-out line books, primarily published by Betty Crocker and Pilsbury. I was seriously addicted to those at one point. I really must purge those soon, it would certainly give me a lot more room for REAL cookbooks !

Again, I can TOTALLY confirm this. The afore-mentioned Cuisinart immersion blender with attachments replaced a Braun Multi-mix that I had and ADORED for about 20 years ! Mine had a base that you could turn into a hand-mixer, an immersion blender, a powered whisk and the mini processor. I LOVED IT, and would love to have another one. Unfortunately, Braun has decided, for whatever reason, to stop selling these products in the U.S. *grumble*. It was a snap to put together, had enough power for fairly good sized loads, and did a great job. Until it died, I rarely used my big Cuisinart, it was that good. If you can get a Braun, go for it. It's just what you're looking for in terms of dicing, and apparently now, shredding.

I can certainly confirm that. Both the flat lid, and the shredder/grater top for my Cuisinart give me fits some day when my arthritis is particularly bad in my hands. All those pesty little interlocking safety catches take a great deal of fine control. Sometimes even getting the work bowl off the base is a struggle. In that same vein, somedays I've had to resort to taking my meat mallet and giving the KA bowl handle a good thwack to get it to unscrew from the base when I've made a bread dough. I've taking to using a thin film of mineral oil around the bottom of the bowl, where it locks into the base, to help it release more readily. Perhaps one of the electric mini-choppers/processers would be less finicky than the big Cuisinarts. I had one that was pretty easy to use that was an attachment to my Cuisinart immersion blender. Unfortunately the gears in it stripped after about a year's worth of use, so I can't recommend that model. I'm looking at a Black & Decker as a replacement. Amazon has a ton of them to look at.

Absolutely. To me, Taco Bell never recovered from their e.coli issue a few years back. They claimed initially that the e. coli was from scallions, later that was disproved. But, in response, they pulled scallions from all their dishes, made a huge publicity campaign about it, and have never put them back. To the great, GREAT detriment of the taste of their stuff as far as I'm concerned. I used to really like an occasional "run for the border", even as an adult. I think I've been back twice since they pulled the scallions, and don't have plans to return. Plus, they stopped offering the "super-hot" sauce packets....they were the best.

GACK ! Well....now there's an interesting quandry. I have the remains of a very small bag I bought at Albertson's for $5.99 in the fridge, and the new one from TJs, nearly twice as big as the other, that was $7.99. Do I use the unknown TJs, or throw 8 bucks in the trash...? BTW, I did just check and the source of the TJs nuts is "Russia or Korea". Based on the info from McGee, they should be OK. I hope.

My local TJs (LA Basin) had them back in stock like 2 weeks ago, and I snagged a bag. Didn't check the last time I was there, but they had a good-sized display when I saw them, so I assume they fixed their supply problem.

When I was still working, I had many more sandwiches than I do now. Maybe once or twice every couple of weeks for lunch. Usually I had leftover dinner to reheat for lunch, but sometimes that well would run dry, and I'd either make or buy a sandwich (not counting 'burgers here....for some reason, in my little mind, they don't count as a "sandwich"). It was odd, because everytime I'd have one *I'D* made, I'd think "damn....this is really GOOD....I should make sandwiches more often". Never said that about bought sandwiches, usually. Now that I'm not working, and not eating much for lunch, I haven't had a sandwich, other than the requisite summer tomato sandwiches for a long time. A couple here and there, but nothing regular. For whatever reason, a sandwich to me (other than the aforementioned 'burger) just is not dinner. Weird, as I said, because I do enjoy a good one, especially one I've made.

Good to hear all the positives about the pasta roller attachment. I've been toying with the idea of buying one for some time now. I love making homemade pierogies at Christmas, and have been finding it harder and harder to roll the dough out lately, due to some physical issues. I've been thinking the pasta roller attachment would do the trick, since pierogi dough is essentially just an egg pasta dough, but have hesitated, well, just because. So it's nice to hear to many people say it works. That said, I have the ice cream maker attachment, and LOVE IT. LOVE IT. LOVE IT. I use it constantly. And even my wimpy 5 quart model is a bread-making beast.

Ditto that. Like the best of the traditional, classic (Jen) against the best of the "new breed" renegades (Richard). Sorry, Marcel & Stephan aren't in the same league as Richard.

Absolutely hooked after the 1st ep.!! My maternal grandfather, a Polish immigrant in the late 1890's ran a speak-easy (and later a legitimate bar after The Repeal) in South Chicago during Prohibition. The family, 3 kids, and Grampa & Gramma, lived upstairs, above the family business (aka that speak-easy), as was common in those days in large cities. In Chicago, being Chicago, the cops & the local civic officials turned a blind eye to activities that may have been on the "fringes" of the law, if not blatently illegal. In Chicago, being Chicago in the '20's, the cops & the local civic officals were probably the best customers of Grampa Stanley's Club Encore ! Anyway, my mother used to tell the story of how she was sent up to the landing between the speak-easy and the flat, where there was a trap door under the linoleum. She must've been 10 or 12 at the time. Under the trap door, they stored 5 gallon bottles of pure alcohol (thank GOD there was never a fire, oy !!!). They'd bring down a 5 gallon bottle, distribute it into empty whiskey bottles, cut it with the proper amount of water, and color it with burnt sugar. Well, one time little Stella (later Frieda, she hated Stella) was up on the landing, and had the linoleum rolled back, and the trap door open, and the stash exposed, and who should come a' callin' but The Feds. Yeppers, the G-Men. Maybe even Eliot Ness himself (doubtful, but hey, who can verify...?). They tried to haul little Stella into the paddy wagon, but Grampa Stanley and Gramma Mary put up a rather vociferous protest, and little Stella was spared. This being the 20's and all, there was some level of compassion, even from the G-Men, for women and children. Grampa Stanley, however, was summarily cuffed and hauled off in the back of the paddy wagon. And immediately released upon his arrival at the local hoosegaw, where no doubt the local constabulary recognized Grampa Stanley as the fine purveyor of many a delightful beverage they, themselves had consumed more than once ! No wonder I loves me my cocktails ! It's genetic !!!

He could be the single most annoying reality show contestant, EVER. Not just cooking "reality" shows, ANY reality show !

I am *not* happy about this. Although BA isn't Gourmet, and Fairchild isn't Reichl, I always liked BA better than Food & Wine. I've only just returned to F&W because without Gourmet, I need another voice. But I gots me a baaaaaad feelin' in my bones about this, I really do.

Ditto what Holly said. Decor don't mean nuthin' if the food sucks. Even the fries are lousy these days, and I used to be a staunch defender of Mickey D's fries. They could line the counters with 24K gold, and offer me a free massage with every Big Mac, and if they served the food they offer now, I wouldn't go for it if they paid ME to eat it.

Kim, you MUST make that fig cake. I did last week, and it is absolutely sublime. Good to the point I'm thinking of making it again tomorrow, and I just finished the other one yesterday ! If you like figs, this is heaven.

Soft fish tacos in fresh corn tortillas are always a hit with me, although I prefer them with battered, fried fish which is problematic for a crowd. However, I *have* had perfectly acceptable ones made with grilled, firm white fish like snapper or halibut. Make a cabbage/cilantro slaw with a lime juice/oil dressing, some red or sweet onions, extra cilantro, some thinly sliced radishes and a drizzle of crema, all of which go on top, and it's pretty much taco nirvana. Put some appropriate herbs/chile powder on the fish before you grill and so much the better.

Bolding added by me... LOL, I e-mailed a friend last night about it (she hasn't seen it yet) and said "apparently pastry chefs are beeee-YATCHES, *especially* the MEN." But overall, I did enjoy it a lot. Maybe the newness, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. Pastry is a foreign and scary world to me, so maybe that's the appeal too. edit to close quotes !

Used it in a pasta dish the other day, with preserved lemons. Dice the rind of a preserved lemon and add some Parmesan cheese to it in a serving bowl. Sautee some shallots in EVOO until soft, add garlic & red pepper flakes. Sautee a bit and pour in about 1C white wine and half as much chicken stock, and reduce by 1/3rd. Add some cream and simmer until thick. Season with black pepper. Blanch the broccoli florets for the last 2 minutes the pasta cooks (the recipe said angel hair, but I ended up with a big cheese goober, as I always do with this sort of technique, so next time I'd use a shorter, sturdier pasta, easier to toss, IMO....). Drain the pasta/broccoli, don't rinse. Dump into the serving bowl on top of the lemon & cheese. Pour on the sauce and toss. Serve with additional Parmesan. It was really tasty, even with the problem of the cheese goober. I will absolutely make it again, but with the shorter pasta. Don't skimp on the black pepper....

I've never been a breakfast eater, even when I was a kid in school. Usually only a piece of toast or cold cereal then, because my mother made me, and then through college and work, usually only coffee. Food just doesn't appeal to me straight out of bed, and as an adult, dealing with LA traffic, the thought of getting up an hour earlier to deal with breakfast and the clean-up there of was even MORE not appealing. My one clean freak trait is hating having dirty dishes in the sink, so clean-up would be mandatory. The last few years I was working, I did get in the habit of making some kind of bakery item (scones, muffins, coffee cake) on Sundays and having that before I left the house, but I did that only because I take a bunch of medication first thing in the a.m., and it was chewing up my stomach if I didn't eat something with them. Now....breakfast foods for dinner, or for a "brunch" type affair, around 10 a.m., that's a different story. But first thing in the morning, usually I'll pass.