Dana

It's been a while, but I've used that recipe with great success. Chef Paul is the best.

We never go to New Orleans without going to K-Paul's.

We are strickly a clothespin household, but only wooden pins. Those plastic ones are useless for anything. I don't like the 'chip clips' because they don't seem to clamp tight enough, and stuff gets stale. Here is the humid south, stuff goes stale very quickly.

As I was reading Blue Bird's menu, I thought, "I'm having the Summit Street Benedict", then, the next photo is it!!! It looks divine, and the French Toast doesn't look bad either. What a terrific place.

Your pictures of KC remind me of great trips there with my daughter while she was a law student at KU. I just love the badmitton birdies!!! This is a really nice blog - thanks so much for your time. Kansas/Missouri are wonderful places to grow up or raise a family. Or both. (I grew up in El Dorado, KS.)

My house (built in 1963) has a very good sized pantry that I've managed to fill to the bursting point. With me- it's a case of 'I'll fill up whatever space I have no matter how big or small'. Every house I've been in here has a pantry space, whether is a walk-in as mine is, or just a closet with shelves. Mine is tucked under the stairs. The biggest gripe I have with it is that the some of the shelves are very widely-spaced. I've had to buy additional shelves and put in to help eliminate wasted space. Not that it's a crisis or anything, just irritating. There is no reason to have that wide a space between shelves.

YOu can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar???

1) Boursin Potatoes I made for Christmas yearly - red potatoes baked in a combination of cream and boursin cheese 2) Pan fried with onions 3) Mashed potatoes at K-Pauls' in New Orleans. Has anyone mentioned tater tots???

Sonic Drive- In's have a Super Sonic breakfast Burrito that I adore. Sausage, egg, cheese, jalapeno, onion and tomato with tater tots in a tortilla. Decadent.

Pardon me for butting in, but I think that's exactly what Chufi's done, Abra. Aren't they beautiful???!!! I think they'd be an excellent first course filled with seafood in a light sauce, or dessert with berries and cream. What a great idea, that I will steal at the first opportunity.

Not sure if this is where you want to go with this thread, but here goes. Our favorite little Italian 'joint' here is owned and operated by immigrant Italians. In order to appease Americans, they serve about twice, maybe 3 times the amount of meat sauce on spaghetti than you'd find in Italy. It's a great sauce, full flavored and just delicious, but there's way too much of it for the amount of pasta. My husband usually pushes some of the sauce to one side, takes it home, makes more pasta, and combines it with the the leftover sauce for another meal. We even talked to the owner about why they served it like that. He told us 'that's what Americans want.' By the way, the place is usually packed.

I've been buying groceries in Texas for 24 years and I've never seen such a critter. Sound like the store is taking liberties......

I think the standard is double the water: 1 cup rice, 2 cups water. That's what I've always used and it's always been fine. The short grain rice will be sticker and gummier than long grain - the nature of the beast. You can also cook long grain like pasta in boiling water. I don't know if other varieties work this way or not, but the long does.

Hey, dividend, how about the general recipe for the leek pasta. Sounds great!

We love soft pecorino romano. It's creamy and tangy, and our absolute favorite. Rather hard to find, though. I have to go to Houston to get it.

I use a wooden clothespin for most anything that needs to be closed up tight. That, along with how to cut up a whole chicken, are the most valuable kitchen tips my mom taught me.

I used to make these when the kids were little, and recently dug the recipe out to make again. Place 2t. butter and 2t. brown sugar and 3 pecan halves in each of 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle cinnamon in each and heat in 450 degree oven until the butter melts. Mix 2 cups Bisquick, 1/3 cup applesauce and 1/3 cup milk until dough forms, then beat 20 strokes. Spoon into the muffin cups and bake 10 minutes. Invert onto cookie tray. Delicious.

I second the Taylor's Fladgate. I went to a wine paring last fall where it was served with a flourless chocolate cake. It was incredibly good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It is about $45 at my discount wine store.

That looks great!!!! How was your first tour? Where were they from? How many did you take on the tour? details, girl, details!!! This sounds like a dream job for you. Does this company give you any indication as to how often you'll get a 'booking'?

If this was a tomato based sauce, I'd say go for it as well, but it's not. It's roux based with 1/2 and 1/2, which can't be whisked after heating. I still wouldn't do it, but maybe I'm just over-cautious.

I got hooked on Viva as a young, broke, nursing mother who needed a pad to keep milk from spraying everywhere when feeding the baby. The pads sold for that purpose were way too expensive, so I found that I could fold up Viva's into a square for a whole lot less money. They served me well through 2 kids, and I've used them ever since. They are the softest and most absorbant, and I love them.

I wouldn't. You could make the filling and stuff the cooked shells the day before, then just put the sauce together and bake the day of. I've not had good luck with freezing dairy.

We are not big coffee fans, so I dip ladyfingers in a coffee/ammaretto mixture instead of the coffee liquer. I'll try to dig out my recipe. We got it in Tuscany several years ago from the lady who was the housekeeper at the place we stayed.

How did you like the Blackstick Blue? I got some of it for our Christmas Plate, and we liked it a lot. I saw something else from Butler's Blacksick in my market last week, but I was already getting 5 other cheeses, so I passed. I can't remember what it was. I'll look for it this week.

RE: Gumbo - Gumbo in bowl first, then a scoop of rice, then some parsley sprinkled on top. It looks so pretty that way. Why would anyone think the rice went in first?????