Pierogi

You two are both amazing, and have provided me (and I know others) with countless hours of entertainment reading your exploits both at home in relative civilization, and in the wild. Bravo to Kerry and Anna for coming up with the concept of these lovely sagas, and for the fortitude to share them with the rest of us.

Je t'aime le superb Jacques ! He is totally the real deal.

Mine's a probably a 15-year old (at least) GE gas range: gas both in the oven and the stove-top burners. *AT THE TIME I BOUGHT IT* (note caveat), it was not anywhere near top of the market, but it was pretty expensive, and a pretty decently rated model. I have no extra insulation around/behind it. I probably run the self-clean at least 3 or 4 times a year. ONLY in the cooler months, no a/c in the little house/kitchen. I don't want that much heat blasting out into my kitchen/house when it's not noticeably chilly. Which, in SoCal, significantly limits the self-clean time frame. That said....I have never worried about it burning down the house/kitchen. I have never worried about smells/fumes. I would *guess-timate* it gets up around 800°F when it cleans. It certainly turns even the gunk on my baking stone to ash/carbon after a cycle. When the oven is particularly scrungy, I leave the exhaust hood running to vent any smoke outside (yes, I do have a true exhaust hood). But I only do that when I notice heavy smoke coming out of the vents. Honestly, I've tripped the smoke detector way more often using the stove-top grill pan than running the self clean cycle. Having spent my childhood helping my mother clean the oven with the spray crap, and defrosting the freezer by running the cannister vacuum on exhaust, I swore 2 things when I got old enough to afford my own appliances. 1---Frost free only, baby. 2---Self-clean only, baby. As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

I wanted to like it. I really wanted to like it. I soo, so very much wanted to like it. I mean, I *heart* Mario. I *REALLY* heart Carla Hall. I love Michael Symon. And I actually also really like Clinton Kelly on "What Not To Wear". Daphne, on the other hand, is as annoying as her father. Whom I find extremely annoying. Like needles in the eyeballs annoying. Even so, I thought, 4 out of 5 of the "hosts" are home run hitters. It could work. It didn't. I'm hoping it was a combination of first show nervousness, the awkwardness of Mario's remote segment and having the entire middle 30 minutes hijacked by Dr. Oz-hole, but the premiere episode really sucked the big moose. I'll give it another try in a week or two (if its still around) to see if it improves. But that first episode was a total train wreck.

Heidi, congrats on some stellar work with that beautiful piece of fish ! They all looked wonderful, and I bet tasted the same. You done good, and certainly honored that yellowfin.

It's the digital 9-speed. Mine is the "chrome", which is actually metallic-colored plastic, but still very spiffy and shiny looking. And the cool, glowing blue speed readout is pretty sweet too. I would say the red is sexier, but I'm not going to look a gift $100 kitchen toy in the mouth ! For *most* people, the weight of the unit probably would not be an issue. Heck, when I was a young whippersnapper, I used to use my Mom's old Kenmore stand mixer, which would detach from the base, as a hand mixer ! (*THAT* was a feature, go figure.....) And that sucker weighed about 20 pounds ! However, now that I'm old and decrepit, it's an issue. FWIW, I have severe rheumatoid arthritis, and my shoulders, elbows, wrists and finger joints are shot and painful. I also have a blown tendon in my left arm, so my hand/arm strength is non-existant. Somedays I have a hard time with a full 5-pound bag of flour. That's really the only reason the Viking is an issue for me. Other than that, if I didn't have the strength issues, I'd give it a 5-plus star rating. As I said, it's a beast in terms of power, and I really would put it up against my KA for creaming butter. The only thing I think it couldn't do is knead bread, but that's because it doesn't come with dough hooks. I don't think you'd be disappointed in the machine. And I would spend the extra $$$ and get the 9-speed. I think it has more guts, and the price really isn't significantly higher.

Fresh, ripe figs are probably my single, most favorite foodstuff. They are just....sublime. That's the only word to describe them.

Darienne, I had a Braun Multi-Mix for many, many years, that I just loved. It had a body like a hand mixer, and beaters/whisks you inserted into the body, but was light enough that it wasn't a PITA to use. It also "morphed" into a stick blender and a mini-food processor. I LOVED THAT THING !!!! Just adored it. Sadly, after about 20 years of use, it went to appliance Heaven. Even more sadly, the Braun Multi-Mix is no longer sold in the States. I was DEVASTATED. I even thought about buying it overseas and bringing it into the States, but the electrical configuration wouldn't work. So I was "hand mixer-less" for about 4 or 5 years, and didn't think I missed one. About a year ago, I was *gifted* (through a contest win on "another website" [Food 52]) a lovely top-of-the-line Viking hand mixer. I didn't think I needed a hand mixer, I have my sacred KA, after all. But the Viking sort of won me over. It's a beast of a machine, way powerful, and really, in terms of creaming butter could put my KA to shame. Great for whipping cream, beating egg whites, light batters, all the things you'd pull out a hand mixer for. It's also sexy, ohhhhh, so sexy to look at. And I have used it a lot more than I thought I would. But.... Downside, it weighs a TON. I know you have hand/arm weakness issues like I do, and after a few minutes, this thing makes me want to plotz. My hands just can't take it. I end up trying to control the bowl I'm mixing in with my stomach, and using both hands to support the mixer. That's really something to take into consideration. I'd recommend both machines, the Braun Multi-Mix hands down over anything else, if you can get it. Sadly, Braun appears to have blown off the North American market. The Viking is a good unit, but heavy. Caveat emptor.

HEADS UP ! for all the Hatch-heads in Southern California. Was in my local Bristol Farms today, and they have.... Fresh Hatch chiles (both hot and mild) for less than $2.00 a pound. Roasted Hatch chiles (both hot and mild) in vaccum-sealed, freezer ready bags for $6.99 a pound (I got one of each....) Roasted Hatch chiles in small (6-8 oz.) deli containers for $7.99 a pound. You can also place orders for a case of roasted chiles to be delivered to you local Bristol Farms for pick-up. I believe the weight was 23 or so pounds for around $35.00. Don't know if all the local Bristols have this, or how long it will last, but they had a good supply of the packaged, pre-roasted ones, as well as the fresh, at mine, and still had the order slips out for the case. Here's a link. Apparently the on-site roasting is over, but they're still available in-store, or for pick-up.

Exactly right, the cheese is for seasoning and good pesto is all about freshness (and please no butter) If you have to use a processor use it minimally as it generates alot of heat and pre cooks the basil, pestle and mortar is really best as it's relatively gentle and you get better extraction of flavour from leaves by abrasion rather than chopping, you can use a little course salt to help you along. Authentic Genovese pesto is just that...fresh basil, garlic, good evoo, pine nuts (untoasted) and parmesian for seasoning. I have no idea why you want to blanch basil, seems counter intuitive. An article in the current (Aug/Sept 2011) "Saveur" magazine explains that in Genoa, they pick only baby basil for the classic Pesto Genovese. The American basil we have access to is much more mature, more bitter, and the leaves are tougher. Even the Genovese suggest blanching American basil for pesto, to mimic the more tender baby basil used in Genoa. Not for long, 30 seconds max, and then into an ice bath, but they say it sets the color and as I said, tenderizes and sweetens the more mature leaves. I'm going to try it on my next batch.

Have to chime in. I agree with the others, NOOOOOOOOO coffee grounds in the disposer ! Nope, never. They catch on the residual grease & goo lining your pipes, and eventually (as you found out) make a nice, solid plug. Maybe the maintenance crew were looking for work, or have a kick-back arrangement with the plumbers. Every plumber I've ever talked to has told me coffee grounds are the absolute, positive, Number 1 with a bullet no-no in disposers. Even more than celery. Regarding coffee cleaning stainless, for I dunno, 10-15 years of my working life, I carried a small, totally stainless vacuum bottle (no glass liner) to work with me that held maybe 2 or so cups of coffee. I drank it black, and it was a strong brew. I used French or Italian roasts....really dark, and I brewed it strong. It was close to espresso, I guess. All's I know is I had to de-scale that bottle at least once every couple of months with baking soda and boiling water. It would get completely encrusted with coffee residue, which would come off in large flakes with the soda/water treatment. AND I'd rinse it out at work with scalding hot tap water when I'd emptied it, and again when I got home. It still got totally gross regularly. It may have been a fluke with your sink, or a reaction with whatever else you'd put down the drain that night with the grounds, but coffee as a cleaner for stainless, meh, not so much in my book.

Heidi, LOVE those bowls, and 'though mine are from a different manufacturer, I have a set of about 8 solid blue, and 3 cream and blue, bowls with the same blue as yours that also came from Roseville, Ohio. I'm guessing that must've been a pottery nerve center in the early 20th century. You might remember mine, you commented on one of them when I did my eG foodblog back in March. That same, lovely, chalky cobalt blue. Such a gorgeous, unique color....Clearly that color was a hallmark of Roseville pottery.

Cool, thanks Percyn ! I'll give it a shot. I do know that draining those little (or big....) beauties is critical !

Percy, I would love a recipe/further description of the tomato pie. I have a windfall glut of azmazing tomatoes, and made a pie a couple of weeks ago that sadly, sucked to be even semi-polite. Your's looks wonderful. Other than the loverly 'maters, what was in the filling? Thanks !

I've seen these around for the last probably 5 or so years in the LA area. As a single, I love them. I like ice cream, but don't *adore* it, and I used to toss a whole lot of leftover half pints because they'd gotten nasty after being forgotten in the freezer for 6 months (or a year, or two). But sometimes I just want a little tiny bit of icey creamy numminess. These have the advantage of not getting ice crystals, like the pints do after they've been opened (even though I'm vigilant about pressing plastic wrap down onto the surface after I've opened and scooped, they still are not the same as a virgin container). I usually have a couple or 3 in the freezer for when the ice cream urge hits.

No "commercial" honey for me either. And like most things, I read the label before it goes into my shopping cart (its a real PITA to keep my reading glasses out while I'm shopping, but hey....). The last honey I got was truly local, it came from my CSA, who'd sourced it through a SoCal producer harvesting sage blossom honey from about a 50-mile radius from me. The flavor is staggeringly good.

As others have said, Mario/Lidia have advocated this for years. I also see in other "ethnic" cookbooks (Indian, Mexican, etc.) "blooming" your powdered spices (or whole seeds) in hot oil before you add the rest of your sauce ingredients. I think all of my Indian books (by Madhur Jaffry and Julie Sahni) instruct you to bloom the dried herbs/spices/seeds. I always do it. It always smells amazing, and I think adds tremendous depth to the dish.

That is truly a bummer Heidi. As I said, back in the day when I was working in that area, that was a regular haunt of mine....I am feeling your pain for sure ! So sad that we can't keep these wonderful "little" direct sources of produce around. I'm quite sure the family will get far more from the sale of that land than they could've made in another 100 years of farming it....

"F-" me harder....*THAT* is a burger. I can't think of much I wouldn't sacrifce for that. I'd even offer up The Grrrlz.

I seem to have read somewhere, fairly recently, like within the last couple of days, an "expert" of some ilk (i.e., a "name" chef) suggest that when using store-bought puff pastry two things will help you out tremendously. First, thaw overnight in the fridge. Second, DON'T unfold. Put it, cold from the fridge, on your counter, and roll it to size in the folded state. Gives you more layers, and ensures that everything stays smooth and even. Makes a great deal of sense to me. Wish I could give you a source to add to the 'cred, but, as I said, to me it makes sense.

Thanks all ! I think I will be trying to do some of the "cook it down until it melts" suggestions, heavily seasoned with some new Middle Eastern spices I just got (za'tar, Ras al hanout or vadouvan). I can see any of them working well with eggplant (with a heavy hand, to, in fact, COVER UP the taste of the eggplant). mssurgeon81, using it as a pasta topper also sounds like a plan. Enough tomatoes and cheesecan cover up all sorts of nasties. Darienne and baroness, I did manage to unload the biggest of the critters onto a friend who will pass it on to her parents. No one else I know has any eggplant love, either, unfortunately.... Pastrygirl, I did love the suggestion of using them as decoration, they are so beautiful and the color is simply stunning. Too bad they taste like they do... I really do want to give them the old college try, I'm more than willing to admit I could've messed up my preps the other (few) times I've tried to cook them. However, if this round still confirms my gut reaction, I will have no problem walking away from them in the future ! But the CSA taught me to like winter squashes, that I also previously thought I hated, so, ya know, hope springs. kayb and djyee100, as a matter of fact, the CSA *just* set up a swap box last week (I go to their farm for the pick-up). If this round of experimentation doesn't get me into the eggplant ecstasy zone, I will have absolutely no reluctance to toss all those nasty little globes right in there next time I get them! Thanks again, guys. Looking at the amount left after I off-loaded the Big Kahuna, I feel much less afraid of my refrigerator.

OK, I know its OT, but you have *GOT* to explain the Phantom of the Opera mask....

I last worked for a company that bought bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for use in manufacturing human drugs. We brokered...bought in bulk, broke down and repacked/relabeled and sold at a higher price of course. Mostly to compounding pharmacies and large hospital purchasing groups. We got the majority of our bulk APIs from China. The price was right. Our suppliers were *supposed* to be FDA-registered/inspected and comply with pharmaceutical GMPs. As recently as late 2009 and 2010, we were involved in an industry-wide recall of bulk heparin because the bulk material had been intentionally adulterated with "over-sulfated" chondroitin sulfate. Chondroitin sulfate is a, known, natural contaminant in low quantites in some heparin preparations, but does not exist as a naturally occuring molecule in its hyper-sulfated form. It can only be identified as present in heparain with very costly additional QC testing done by NMR, and will not show up in the usual, Pharmacopial-recognized quality assays. None of the recognized national pharmacopeias or formularies required NMR analysis at the time (they do now). However, when it is spiked into a production batch of heparin, it boosts the results of the assay used to determine the amount of actual heparin in the drug. The spiked material makes you think you have more heparin in the product than you do. In the recalled material, it was found in amounts varying from 2% to 60% of the total amount of the product. In addition to not getting the proper dose of heparin (which is a very dose-dependant drug), people had pretty horrific reactions to the overdose of the hyper-sulfated chondroitin sulfate. Nearly 100 people died from the adulterated product. Many of them were premature infants. Sorry....our food inspection system may not be nearly what it should be, but no US manufacturer of drugs would ever get away with, nor even THINK about, this type of criminal fraud. So no, I don't trust food or drug products from China. Other products may be fine, but nothing that I, or anyone, human or animal, I care about will ingest.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, you have GOT to love "Go Chicken Go" ! Especially the logo...the chicken with the Road Runner-esque dust clouds spewing up from his feets. THAT is classic ! And, *my* first car was a '73 Plymouth Duster.... *It* didn't have a stereo....you must've been uptown !

After sadly losing one of my two tomato plants to some sort of sucky aphidy/gnatty buggy things, I am now clean up to my snout (and I'm 6-foot 3-inches, so you KNOW my snout is up there !) in tomatoes. The one plant I had that survived, a "Beefmaster" is still flowering and setting fruit, although they are much smaller than the first round I harvested from it. I had one that weighed one pound, 1&3/4 ounces ! It was as large as my hand, and it was damn tasty ! Most of it went into an uncooked pasta sauce with basil, garlic, olive oil, S&P and fresh mozzarella, that sat and "percolated" for a bit. Over penne, and then Parmesan sprinkled over that. Some of that monster got eaten with coarse salt sprinkled over it, out of hand, leaning over the kitchen sink. It was sublime.....in both applications. I've been having loads of tomato sandwiches, on good bread, and with homemade mayonnaise, a hint of pepper and lots of coarse salt. Also sublime. The totally green guys I salvaged from my plant that croaked that didn't get used for fried green tomatoes have ripened just sitting in the kitchen. Not as good as vine ripened, but they'll do in a pinch. I was just thinking today I'll have to snag another one or two from the Beefmaster to make more fried greenies. And my CSA is inundating me with beefsteaks, medium-sized ones and cherry tomatoes. *NOT* that I'm complaining... Tomatoes taste like summer.