Pierogi

Going to friends' house for pot luck BBQ........the hosts are providing burgers & dogs. The other offerings look pretty run-of-the-mill, potato salad, chips & dips, you get the drift. I'm bringing my Fiesta Pasta Salad (dressing is mayo & s. cream with some lime juice and cilantro, mix-ins are scallions, zucchini, jalapenos, bell pepper and tomato...yum) and crostini with sun-dried tomato jam, topped with goat cheese. It's a Giada DiiLaurentis recipe, and it's great. One of the hosts particularly loves it, so I'm bringing it as a treat for her (and me). At least I know I'll have 2 things to eat, plus the hottie dogs, that I'll like !

No risk of heresy charges from me, I say you takes 'em where you can find 'em ! And then take some more !!

What he said. For ring molds, Fantes has not-horrible prices. Plus the exposure is SO minimal, what, 30 seconds or a minute at max, and you're not doing it everyday. Seems to me that there are a lot more pressing things to worry about. I do agree about BPA in water bottles or food storage containers, but this seems to me to be apples and oranges...

Nope, they're on hiatus this week to give Bravo a chance to showcase their replacement for "Project Runway". TCM is back next week with Mark Peel, John Besh, Anita Lo and Douglas Rodriguez as the cheftestants. They did do a re-run today of all 3 previously aired episodes of TCM, but its way over, even on the Left Coast.

I've noticed that trend too, although I think its a good one. Makes the cans stack better in the pantry. The slope of the bottom fits nicely into the ring on the top of the "under" can. So, to make up for disagreeing with you, I have a good alternative for ring molds for you....lengths of PVC plumbing pipe. It comes in different diameters, you can have it cut to whatever length (height) you want, its light, readily available, and best of all, CHEAP. Saw that on some cooking show where some big fancy pants chef was using it. I thought it was a great idea.

Ohhhhhhhh Lord......... Even in sunny Southern California, the supposed fruit and vegetable basket of the world, it is damn near impossible to find a peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, strawberry or tomato that tastes like what it claims to be. Over the weekend I was seduced by the fragrance of stone fruit in one of the local chain groceries.......even though I knew in my gut it was too early for them, I stopped and looked anyway. Each one, you could've played Major League Baseball with. Not softball, not T-ball, not slo-pitch. I'm talkin' the Dodgers and the Red Sox could've used these bad boys for batting practice. I have to assume they were spraying in the bottled fragrance in the area to entice unsuspecting saps to buy these fruit-resembling rocks. I don't know where the good fruit goes. It's something I've wondered about for years. SOMEONE must be getting it, SOMEWHERE. I can't even find it at the local Farmers' Markets. It's the same rot as in the grocery stores........cottony strawberries, hard flavorless peaches, mealy tomatoes, I don't get it. Well actually I kinda do. Yes, all that's being sold apparently, even in those "oh-so-politically-correct-and-locally-sourced-and-foodie-blessed" stores and Farmers' Markets are the cultivars which have been bred for sturdiness in transport, not for taste. It sucks. Tomatoes and strawberries I probably could grow myself. But I don't have the room for a stone fruit orchard, nor the energy or strength to tend it. I dont' think its too much to ask to be able to buy them without too much effort, OR too much expense. And don't get me started about how the grocery clerks man-handle the specimens you DO happen to find at the Mega Mart which could possible suffice. Nectarines don't do so well with a box of laundry detergent sitting on them......

Jacques Pepin has a method for preserving Bing cherries in alcohol in his new TV show (and book) "More Fast Food My Way". The recipe for the cherries is on line, here is the link: Jacques' Cherries Clickie N.B. I have not yet tried this, although I intend to. But I have great faith in Jacques, everything else I've tried of his has turned out beautifully, so I've no doubt this would work as well.

Oh, oh, oh ! I have a couple I did this weekend for a special anniversary dinner for some friends. Bobby Flay's Red Wine Marinated Flank Steak Stuffed with Prosciutto, Fontina and Basil........ OMG. This was amazing. You butterfly a flank steak, and then marinate it overnight in Cabernet, olive oil and shallots. Then you season w/ S&P, layer thin prosciutto slices, thin slices of Fontina cheese and basil leaves over the cut side, roll it up like a bracciole and tie it. Rub the outside with EVOO and S&P and sear it on a hot grill. Move it to the cool side and cook to your liking. Served with a reduction of more Cabernet, shallots and peppercorns, sweetened with honey. One of the honorees really doesn't care for beef, but she scarfed this up ! You can find the full recipe on the Food Network website. Served with........... Homemade crusty French bread, shaped into a boule, from the February 2009 "Cuisine At Home" article called "Bread 101". The best bread I've made yet. Really good crust, REALLY good crumb, pretty easy to do. I was a rock star with this meal.

On behalf of the U.S., I'd like to apologize for exporting "Big Daddy's House" and "Guy's Big Bite" to your shores. At least we haven't inflicted "Down Home with the Neeley's" on you. Yet.... Lots to choose from but very few that I look for. Truer words, as they say......

Daily when I was growing up, placemats, on the breakfast bar. Holiday dinners were the only time we used the *dining room table* and then it was a tablecloth. Same for me now, placemats on the bar when I'm alone, placemats on the bar when its casual entertaining, table with tablecloth for *occasions*. Never bare surfaces, then or now.

That would be the breakfast bar cut into the wall between the living room area and the kitchen. Let's see A small TV and corresponding satellite box The remote for above A very cool, space ship-looking hurricane with a suspended candle inside A bottle of hand lotion The cookbooks I'm using this week My kitchen journal with cut out or printed recipes I'm using this week A ceramic angel A notepad, pad of stickie notes and a pen Way more prescription drugs than just one person should have A brass angel candle snuffer Usually the two daily papers (or how ever many day's I'm behind) but I've read them today

Don't be afraid of oranges and onions. But use *SWEET* onions, like Vidalias or Walla Wallas. Even red onions, if they're mild are fine. Add some shaved fennel bulbs, a nice vinagrette, and then top with the minced fennel fronds....divine. A lot of Mexican salads add oranges or other citrus. It works really, really well. Along the lines of the clementine cake, I made a clementine clafoutis last year that was wonderful. The clafoutis batter was pretty standard, and you just used the segments of the clementines as the base. I'm sure you could do the same with the orange segments.

Toasted. Sandwich bread. Absolutely toasted in case you get lucky enough to get the runny yolk goodness. The toast will stand up to it, and soften everso wonderfully with it. Plus you get the added benefit of well, toast. No butter for me, that would clash (shudder) with the ketchup.

Absolutely ! That was my logic to a T. I thought I was the only person in the world who thought that they were a useless, pretentious POS.

I wasn't real familiar with Bowles before this. Actually, I don't think I'd really heard of him, if I had, it didn't stick. I sure HAD heard of Durfrense, Faulkner and of course Tracht. He blew me away. While I was very surprised Tracht won, I was even more surprised by his work. It was pretty damn stunning. He has a new fan with me. As I said before, I would have very very happily eaten any of these dishes, and any of the ones from the first episode. They all looked spectacular, and I'm sure tasted that way as well.

ROFLMAO.........Right. On. I was wondering who he was channeling, and Manzarek is totally it !

Tried this one tonight......don't know where I found the recipe, but I *sure* don't recommend it. Green Tomato Martini 1 small green tomato, quartered 1 lemon wedge 1 Tablespoon sugar (shoulda known it would go south right here......) 4 oz. gin Muddle tomato, lemon and sugar. Add gin, shake with ice. Strain and, wellllll....... HORK............ Not good. Didn't taste of gin. Didn't taste of the green tomato. Didn't even really taste of lemon. Just. Bad.

I was VERY pleased with the outcome, albeit, VERY surprised too ! I love Suzanne Tracht, she's local, she's a woman in a predominantly man's field, she's SUCCESSFUL in that field, and she's just plain cool. I also had my birthday dinner last year at her resteraunt in Long Beach, called, obviously enough, Tracht's. And it was spectacular, one of the best meals I've had, and certainly close to the best I've had locally. But I never, ever, EVER expected her to win her round. She's so low-key and really I think under the national radar. I'd bet most viewers had never heard of her. Especially up against Wylie Dufresne and Elizabeth Faulkner, both of whom I totally respect and have national reputations. Wow. GO SUZANNE ! But again, it was very cool to see the personalities and the camaraderie between the cheftestants and how they really worked together, helping and advising each other. Again, as with last week, I'd have eaten any of their dishes, quite happily. But I was really surprised to see how Wylie crashed under pressure. Good analysis gfron1, I think I totally agree. I've known a TON of brilliant Ph.D.s in my life that need help crossing the street. And Human Bean, I think that disclaimer is standard even for the normal Top Chef.........

There's also a Salty Chihuahua, replacing the gin in a Salty Dog with Tequila. And serious congrats on the new family member. He is an absolute doll. LOVE the ears !

I am but it's been pretty bland and boring so far. Most of the contestants are pretty mainstream. No one is outrageous, even the requisite gay guy is entertainingly cliche. And this batch seems to have better cooking ability. Gotta agree with gfron1, very disappointed that they kept the woman who screwed up her team leadership role and then lied about it. Very not cool, and the selection committee keeps saying how wonderful this woman is....NOT. The oldest competitor is a very charming, cool cucumber who can actually cook. Think he's got a decent chance of making the final if not winning the thing. So far it's been kind of a snore. ← As I recall, she told several lies including trying to shift the blame to her team for their "dessert" choice for the 16th anniversary of Food Network dinner. It was her suggestion to use store-bought angel food cake (shades of Semi-Homemade/Sandra Lee ), cut it into squares, dot it with jam, and sprinkle some mint leaves over it. It was hideous. Not until she was cornered did she admit it was her idea. She also managed to "forget" to purchase key ingredients for her other teammates dishes which I found suspect. Might be fun to watch and see what she'll try to get away with next. ← Well, she's certainly not my favorite, and I doubt I'd watch one of her shows, but at least the judging panel had the great good sense to launch that over-aged-frat-boy-Guy-Fieri-wannabe-Neanderthal Brett this week. He got on my last nerve before the cooking even started with his line about "why don't you girls (emphasis mine......errrrrrrrr ) finish unpacking and talk about lipstick or something" in the first 5 minutes of the first episode. WHAT A FRIGGING TOOL. He didn't win any more points with his behavior this week, and if they hadn't launched his sorry butt this week, I would've sworn off FN (even Ina !) forever. At this point I really like the older guy and Jamieka (who's name I'm sure I just horribly mis-spelled.....sorry). I would absolutely watch a show that either of them were in. And I agree with Reignking, they have MUCH better presence (Guy Fieri Jr. excepted.......) coming in.

Toasted rye bread, thin THIN sliced onion, ketchup and loads of salt and pepper. Broken yolk, absolutely, but a little bit of runny goodness is well, runny goodness. Never, ever cheese, or meat. Those came into my life later, along with the glory that is a breakfast burrito, but the fried egg sandwich of my dreams (and youth) is one as described here. Sour rye is even better.

Yes, Tri2Cook, I agree about the personal responsibility. It just amazes me that the public has to be reminded not to use the blow dryer in the bathtub, or while sleeping. But I digress..... The issue here is not personal responsibility and protecting the unwashed masses from "potentially harmful ingredients" but the traceability of what is in your (and my) food. I work, and have worked all my professional life, in the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing industry. We are FDA-regulated, as are the food producers. If an organization in my industry, even for a nanosecond, said, well.....you know...we don't really know where our raw materials come from, and we don't really take any responsibility for assuring they're of good quality, but here, take this drug anyway, *trust us*.....we'd be shut down in a heartbeat, and the resulting bad press would probably bankrupt the company in question. Now I'm NOT talking about the safety issues of "please Mr./Ms. Consumer, don't eat the entire bottle of drugs at one time", but simply the inherant safety of the finished product. You, as a consumer, have a right to expect not to be poisoned by your medications when you take them as instructed. I expect the same from my food. I don't need the government protecting me from trans fats, and excess sodium and all that, but I do sorta expect producers to ensure I'm not eating salmonella or e. coli when I have that salad. Or that ice cream, or melamine in my baby formula (or dog food) or whatever. It's not that hard to know where your raw materials are coming from and who is producing them. It *does* cost money, I'll grant you that, but it's not hard. And its a cop out for the food industry to say they can't trace sources of contamination episodes. They just don't want to, because it would eat into their profit margin (or they'd just raise prices to compensate). It is also an issue of the convoluted supply chain for bulk food ingredients, and the globalization/centralization of the food supply. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles. In the major grocery chains here, I simply cannot remember the last time I saw a real-honest-to-God butcher cutting down a primal to put in the meat case. Everything is cryovac-ed and comes from a central supply depot who-knows how many time zones away, that supplies probably all of the grocery chains in all of those time zones. One sick cow has the potential to be distributed over much of the country. One of the local grocery chains here just started advertising that "only we can guarantee all of our beef is U.S. grown".....WTF? I've resigned myself to produce from all over the globe (and choose not to buy it), but when you don't know, because the manufacturers either don't know, or choose not to disclose the origin, its an issue. The contaminated pet food from a couple of years back should have been a wake-up call, and unfortunately wasn't. The scope of the peanut recall this year was a shocker, even for someone as familiar with these issues as I am. As a consumer I can, and do, make educated choices, when I have the information to do so. And if I choose to undercook my chicken, or eat raw eggs, or use my blow dryer in the shower, I will deal with the consequences. But when I am not given the information with which to make an educated choice, that is NOT my failure. It is the failure of the people who sold me that bill of goods, and that needs to change. OK.......off my soapbox now. Carry on

Oh Lord, just kill me now.......preferably with this in my mouth. God, Rob, if that isn't food porn, I do NOT know what is. Lovely...just freakin' lovely.

WORD. Especially in concert with La Diva Julia. But even alone, WORD.

OK, I'm sold ! I routinely make some sort of breakfast pastry over the weekend for use during the week, and these look like just the ticket to get me out of my muffin/scone rut. Brilliant ! But one quick question, you don't mention docking the dough in the original post, but here you say it was a problem. When do you dock, I'm assuming its before filling and topping....? But I'm a relative noob at baking, so if you could confirm that (or straighten me out) I'd much appreciate it ! Yummmmm Rob Tarts !