Pierogi

Oh Lord. That reminded me of something else I cannot stomach. Marzipan. Bleech. I mean really, treacly sweet bleech. With a weird texture to boot.

Add another into the "I have Srirachi" column !

DON'T buy sets of cookware or knives. Buy open stock and get what you want and will use. Sets always include duds that take up valuable space and are not what you need. Even though sets may look cheaper, trust me, open stock is the way to go.

THANK YOU ALL !! You all really have confirmed what I was thinking......especially the latter posters. Thinking about it, I have made plenty of crockpot dishes where I took the crock straight out of the fridge, with ingredients in it, and set it on low, to come up to temp very slowly. And I'm still here, and healthy. What I was *planning* on doing, and didn't post initially because I was brain dead, was to make the gumbo, chill it down quick (get it OUT of that Le Cruset ASAP....) and then reheat it in the morning before I leave. Warm the crock, dump the gumbo in, wrap it, and plug that baby in as soon as I get to the office. I think I should be OK, I don't think it'll be in the danger zone long at all, and it will all be cooked at that point. And since I'm not using anything really dicey like seafood, it should be fine. However. If y'all hear of a mass gastroinestinal distress outbreak in or around south-central LA............ IT WASN'T ME ! ETA: And BTW, Snowangel, there is not enough money IN THE WORLD to get me to touch, let alone clean, those microwaves. Unless I was in Level 1 biohazard gear, and they were going straight to de-con.

*THE* most vicarious fun I've ever had in my life ! Thank you both (actually all 3) so very much for the week. It was absolutely spectacular. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and good eating to all of you and yours ! Thank you again. *SMOOOCH*

Ok, here goes..........(doing the Girl Scout pledge to swear honesty.......) I will eat something I've never eaten before, no matter what my initial, knee-jerk reaction to it might be. I will, when I go to the farmer's market, try a new vegatable every time I go. I will make a confit of some sort, ideally duck. But a confit for sure. I will find more reasons to share my food with those I care about. Or I will find a real, fresh, honest-to-God truffle and use it with abandon. Or both. I will learn, finally, to make decent bread. Currently a work in progress..... I will teach myself to be more frugal, use my leftovers (and *not* by feeding them to the dogs...... ) and waste less food. I will read the classics I have heard about, but not experienced; Beard on Food, Brillat-Savarin, MFK Fischer and Calvin Trillin.

My group at work is having a potluck/secret Santa deal next Friday (the 21st). It will be at lunch time, and since it's a typical office environment, the options for heating/reheating the food are limited to gross (very. gross.) and under-powered microwaves. 2 of them for a company with 175 employees, so you know the access to them is limited, to say the least. I'm planning on making a chicken/andouille gumbo. I'll make the gumbo the night before, and take it in for the potluck, along with the rice. I would *love* to avoid the whole microwave scene (did I mention they're really disgusting?) for reheating the gumbo. What I'd like to do is this: make the gumbo as usual, on Thursday, and cool it down. Stash it in my fridge overnight, in the crock insert to my crockpot. Take the whole deal into the office on Friday morning, plug it in on low when I get there and have hot gumbo by lunch. We could reheat the rice if needed in the microwaves. My question (and fear) is that by reheating the gumbo in the crockpot, I'll be cookin' up a mess 'o' gastrointestinal distress for my office-mates. Will the food be safe if I do this, or should I just keep it chilled, dish up the individual servings, and let people do the nuke routine to reheat? Thanks in advance.........

Eggplant. Any variety, any ilk, any preparation. Moussaka, parmigana, grilled, in a gratin, baba ganoush, you name it. I've tried it, and tried it, and tried it and just, well, don't like it. Not at all. I can sort of handle the long, skinny Japanese variety, in small (very small) doses. For me its both a textural and taste thing with it. Its probably one of the most beautiful foodstuffs around, that color is spectacular, and the French word.......aubergine......is so delightful, pity it applies to eggplant. And Jell-o, or anything obviously "gelatin-y". THAT is totally textural. Instant gag reflex.

That was an amazing, eloquent tribute. Thank your for sharing that and touching my soul.

Hi Utenya and welcome ! I find the more "fragile" or tender the herb is, the later it should be added in the cooking process. Sturdy herbs like bay leaves, rosemary, even thyme and sage stand up well to high heat or prolonged cooking. Thin, leafy herbs like basil, mint, parsley and cilantro do not, and their flavors will be lost if you put them in too early. I usually add them not more than 5 minutes before the dish is done, and save back some to add right before service. The hardier, woody herbs like rosemary actually need the heat and time to mellow out and do their magic. Put them in too late, and they're way too assertive and take over the dish.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I actually had wondered tonight when I broke open my latest bottle why the label had changed. Now I guess I know. Unfortunately the old bottle is at the bottom of the recycling bin, so I can't dig it out to compare the ingredient lists. Edit---all together now---recycling has TWO "c"s......r-e-c-y-l-i-n-g doesn't really spell anything much.

Four magic little words: Chocolate. Coated. Peanut. Brittle. Bought a tub last night on the way home from work. Will be buying several more tubs tomorrow.

Oh Lord, they've had those for years out here in LaLaLand. Guess the *in* crowd can't be bothered to hard-cook their own eggs. Ours are individually packaged though, and in the shells, so they at least sorta resemble eggs. Never thought to include them here because they're just too ludicrous to even consider as a food product.

I scored one last week at the local super-mega-mart grocery store (Albertsons to be exact). It was under 10 bucks. Currently have 3/4 of an onion in the produce drawer, 1 garlic sausage in the meat drawer (both in the fridge) and some frozen egg rolls in the freezer as my "field trials" of how the thing works. I'm especially interested in the stuff in the fridge........if it can extend the life of produce and cheese I'm sold. One other tip I found to pull the vacuum quicker is not to push down too hard on the pump tip. When you place it very lightly over the seal spot, it works much more quickly. So far, I'm impressed for the price. To be continued...........

My dear, departed, and much missed (by me at least, not necessarily by her fur-sister) miniature poodle Ella was *SUCH* a food thief, its hard to believe that at her heaviest she only weighed about 11 pounds, soaking wet and with a stuffed belly! I couldn't leave anything in the kitchen trash unless I was there to guard it. Empty cream containers, butter wrappers, the most innocuous stuff, she'd think there was enough there to feast on, and I'd find it shredded in bed, or all over the house, licked spotless. Napkins or paper towels, even, if they'd touched food, they were fair game for the garbage disposal poodle. One night, I'd grilled some chicken breasts for dinner, and was expecting someone to come over to give me an estimate on some handy-man work around the house. Of course, he showed up just as I'd sat down to eat. SILLY MOMMY DOG left the food sitting on the plate on the breakfast bar while I went out to deal with the issues at hand. I came back into the kitchen to find Queen Ella sitting in MY chair, eating MY chicken. For literally years after that, I'd come home from work and find itty-bitty poodle paw prints on the breakfast bar, where Ms. Ella had meandered around, checking to see if Mommydog had had another brain fart and left something nummy for her. Then there was the time she opened a Tupperware of Christmas cookies and and had a not-so-little nosh on them............. And the time she snaked a dead piece of a meatloaf from the trash and stashed it in the couch for later snacking......

In Paul Prudhomme's classic book "Louisianna Kitchen", for all his recipes that use a roux, he pours hot stock into it. The roux is atomically hot if you use his technique.....he gets to dark brown, almost black roux in about 15 minutes, so you know its done over jet-exhaust level heat. Gumbos, etoufees, jambalyas, sauce picantes, all of them use the same basic method, just varied by the color of the roux. I've probably cooked 50% of the recipes in that book and always use his technique, and have never had a problem, or a lump.

Oh. My. God. I tried it tonight. This *REALLY* works ! Tonight I made a garlic/lemon/shrimp stir fry that was, erm, aromatic. To say the least. Not in a bad way, but I knew by about 3 a.m., it was going to be really stale, and really gross. And since we've hit our "pseudo-winter" here in SoCal, the windows were closed and the heat running. I took the trash to the curb, and came back in and was hit with a WALL of high-heat cooked garlic & shrimp smells. I grabbed the water spritzer and went to town in the kitchen and adjacent rooms. Literally instantly, no cooking smells. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Bupkis. I LOVE YOU HUMMINGBIRD KISS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you from the bottom of my now fresh-smelling heart !

Absolutely Go Bruins ! And Go Long Beach ! Tracht's has gotten excellent reviews (I've not been there either, but its on the short list of "places to go"). Also in Long Beach are Lasher's (which is also American food, but very well done) and Christy's, which is Italian. Both I can recommend. Food well above average, service very good and attentive. I am assuming that the sporting event is downtown, Tracht's would be most convenient to that. Christy's and Lasher's would be close, and would also be good if the event were at Cal State Long Beach. In Torrance, there's a place called The Depot thats a rennovated Pacific Electric trolley station I believe. It's very cute and again has above average food and service. Torrance is about half-way between LB and Westwood. Santa Monica is thisclose to Westwood, and there's a TON of choices there. Border Grill comes to mind for the fame factor (the 2 Hot Tamales of Food Network fame own it). "Fusion Mexican" cusine is how I'd describe it. Joe's Restaurant is another excellent suggestion. Also in Venice and very very good is Hal's Bar & Grill, and on Sunday nights they have live jazz. Sorry, don't know how to do the link thing, but I did check and all of these places have web-sites. And yes, make reservations. Enjoy the 'hood !!!

Chicken Delight was a Southern California thing too. I think they got taken over in the late 60's/early 70's by Pizza Man (He Delivers ! was their slogan), and then it all went defunct. But I sure do remember them from when I was a kid. Don't know if the chicken was any good, the fam never ordered from them for some reason.

I have pretty severe rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and wrists, so I am definately sensitive to these issues. And, I'm single. And my "housemates" both have paws...... I *LOVE* the JarPop type gizzies. Breaking that vacuum is usually enough for me. I have (had........) one of the Oxo jar openers, and used it for a while. Then it fell into the black hole behind my range (where it doesn't snug up to the wall, oy) and I haven't missed it enough to retrieve it. I found the angle of the handle put more pressure on my wrist than was worth it. After I'd broken the vacuum it was easier, and less painful, for me to just twist the cap. Even on the small bottles. I just couldn't get the right leverage it seemed with the Oxo. It always felt awkward. But that may be just me and my particular weaknesses. It could also be related to the fact I'm much taller than the average female cook, and the counter therefore is much lower than for most. That would throw the leverage factor off. Some very very recalcitrant lids I do need to work over with hot water and/or by smacking them with the handle of my knife steel to loosen the seal further, but mostly I can deal pretty well once the vacuum is gone. I *do* have several of those rubbery gripper thingies (usually round or square, sorta like the material they make those garlic peeler tubes from) and they help as well. Like you, the automatic openers just seem to me to be overkill, and I don't have the counter or cabinet space to dedicate to them. That's not to say next week they won't be looking like an excellent option...

Agree with all of the above suggestions, especially the roasting and the combining with pancetta. Prosciutto also has a wonderful affinity for Brussels sprouts, use it in a similar fashion as the pancetta. Cut it into ribbons (since the slices are usually pretty thin to start with) crisp it up, pull it from the pan, brown the halved or quarted sprouts in the fat with some garlic, S&P and add back the prosciutto. Heaven. Chestnuts also work wonderfully with the sprouts. Especially good this time of year, throw them (after you've shelled them) onto the sheet pan when you're roasting the sprouts. Can even use frozen chestnuts (I find these at Trader Joe's). Heaven again. After they're roasted, drizzle with some balsamic, or white balsamic, vinegar. Close to heaven. Edit because its harder than I thought to type with 15 pounds of poodle in your lap.

POLISH FOOD ..... *REAL* kielbasa ..... Zupa and smoked fish and rye bread and fresh bacon OH MY !!! Thank you Nina, I had NO idea there was such a strong Polish enclave in Brooklyn. I only knew from South Chicago. One more reason to love New York....

More to the point- FN pimped him out, he whored himself out. I hope the door didn't hit him too hard on the way out. ← I think its probably somewhere in between. I can't really say I blame him for taking advantage of the situation, you know that old cliche about striking while the iron's hot. But he did go way over the top, and spent way too much time playing to the audience. No doubt, in large part, because that was the way his producers & FN staff wanted the show to go. Nevertheless, I can count on one hand the number of time I've watched "Live". But deep down, I do believe he's a decent chef, inventive, talented and willing to push the envelope. Unfortunately, in his live shows he became a parody of himself. But you watch the earlier shows, and even the recent "Essence" programs where there's no audience, and even I really enjoyed him. And regardless of anything else, he was a foundation of that network. He, and a few others, built it. He DID bring people into cooking and using fresh foods, and that's a positive thing. Its sad that even in a limited manner they can't see fit to keep him in their stable. Speaks volumes about where FN's priorities are. ETA, was being written while the above post about "Essence" still being produced hit.

That. Was. An. Abomination. And I would be frantically pulling every picture of myself off the walls, and every reference to me out of the files and shredding them as fast as I could, so that no one ever again could associate me with *that*. FN CANNOT sink any lower. It didn't even have one-glass-too-many-of-wine-let's-watch-a-trainwreck-for laughs value.

Nope, I've seen 'em in other catalogs as well, maybe even Williams-Sonoma. And for sure Linen's 'N' Things has them. While they certainly *are* a joke, they are being marketed quite seriously. I dunno. One of the many joys of my perfectly made martinis is the sound of the ice hitting the sides of the shaker, and that veil of coldness that develops along the sides. But then, I like to chop things with knives too, and not in a food processor. I guess I'm just weird that way.