pax

I did slightly better but only because once I missed the first few, I needed to realign my thoughts to what the Victorians ate. A lavish love for PG Wodehouse helped me out here quite a bit and I ended up getting 14 of 20.

Ooooh, Maggie! I have never liked rye bread but based on EG's "I Melt with You", I recently tried a patty melt for the first time in a long time and I am completely hooked. And now this....ok, ok, you've twisted my arm. I've put pounds on since discovering eG!

I love my Bialettis. If it's been in storage, it's possible your ring looks intact but is dry rotted. Check that. Make sure it's tight so all the good steam doesn't escape before it coffees up. Try to position it so the handle doesn't melt. Don't wash them in the dishwasher. In fact, I rinse the whole thing out by hand and don't soap it up like all, I tend to treat them like cast iron.

Something goes seriously wrong with my taste buds when it's PMS time. I crave the worst kinds of salt and sugar and processed rubbish. Two days ago it was Hamburger Helper Lasagne, the kind my Mom used to make. I craved it so badly I actually went out and bought the Annie's version with some organic ground beef. And then I HID the mess from my family and have been eating it for two solid days, with a squirt of ketchup to keep things nice and tangy. Chewy sour dough bread sliced thin and smeared with warm brie and champagne-peach jam.

I think eating changed when everything else did, with the advent of easy transportation and jobs off the homestead. You can't eat like that and not work it off in some manner. Most people can't find enough hours in the day to work off a real meal. I cook for the guys who work for me on the farm and trust me, they are putting it away. They eat enough to make any food lover happy. But they work, and despite the fact I can go through two dozen eggs in a week, we're all *knock on wood* pretty healthy.

I wonder if you could make "coffee sugar" in the same way you'd make vanilla sugar. It would be really good on the top of a creme brulee, wouldn't it?

Whatever it is, it has my mouth watering! Please share, pennylane!

Yeah, that.

<thread jack> Even my husband the cultural black hole said, "You can't buy anything at Whole Foods for $10." Maybe maybe I can see the whole wheat pasta, some sparsely spread chicken, and whatever veg was on sale....yeah. But add in one hunk of good parmesan and you've tipped the scale. Literally. Whole Foods is my organics of last resort. I do the Giant/Martin organic house brands before I throw money at Whole Foods, if I can't get it from the local farmer's market/CSA. I seriously hope you're reading this, you Whole Foods people. I am an upper middle class home maker who loves to cook and going into your store doesn't make me feel virtuous about feeding my family good food, it makes me wonder whether or not I need my head examined. I think I have re-sourced almost everything I used to get there. It was all I could do not to run out of there weeping about false virtue when there are children living in poverty in this country. Sorry for the thread 'jack. </off> I wondered if Richard actually tasted the cake before he said that very gentlemanly thing he said about it. I wonder if he meant he liked the taste, or whether it meant hey, it was impressive and it served it's purpose. I am so impressed with his demeanor. It's obvious it's coming down to him vs Dale and I think Richard's professionalism is really a pleasure. I have not heard one negative word pass out of that man's mouth. Good on ya, man.

I don't know if you remember but a few months back I posted to ask for restaurant recomendations, because I was going up to house hunt. I ended up at Moosewood for old time's sake. I wish every restaurant had a wall of cookbooks to browse while you were waiting for your table/meal. We've made an offer (hope to hear today) on a place ten minutes north of town. I am so excited I can't stand it. I had fun this time when I was there. The Ithaca Coffee Company over by the icky icky Ramada has a serious barista in the guy who was there the morning I went in. My breve latte was a work of art and you know what a pain half and half is to work with. The Smart Monkey (moved to the Hampton, much cleaner) has good coffee, too, but they don't really seem to have the system down pat, there's a lot of kind of floundering around behind the counter. I'd have been more patient if I'd ordered a cup of the stuff out of the thermos for the wait. The western omelette I had was wonderful, the veggies still had some crisp to them it was just delicious. We hit a pizza place in Groton that will forever go down in my memory books because it was the first NY style pizza I've had in a long, long long time and I'd forgotten how good it can be, foldable, crispy, gooey, with extra grease. Oh baby. We went into the Green Star (?) co-op to the sandwich counter and they were really really good, too. When I go back in there I need to ask what kind of peanut butter they use, because my 6 yo ordered pb & honey and it was the best peanut butter I ever tasted. I'd love to make a list of cheep and cheerful favourites for every day, and some nice things for special occasions.. best bagels, pizza, Mexican...I didn't see any Indian. Just to amuse my kid, I took her to the A&W Drive-through in Cortland. A blast from the past, they served my root beer in a glass mug. It is maybe a little sad that I love food so much I enjoy almost everything. I am not a good critic. ETA: The Ithaca Coffee Company has a balsamic vinegar on offer on an end cap, there are "tester" bread slices and some olive oil, it is aged and so sweet that after I tasted it I didn't want to drink my coffee, I wanted to linger on the vinegar. Go try it!

You know, I thought it was pretty awful on Nikki's part, too, but I watched it again when it re-ran again right away, and there are at least three or four times where she makes a point of refusing to make decisions for the others on her team. It's all in the editing, you know...the school marm shot with the glasses certainly implies she took over, she looks authoritative, but she's my age...she's probably squinting at her grocery store list. Anyway, I'm not disagreeing with the decision, but I think she maybe didn't deserve as much of a bum rap for that challenge as she got. And lest you all think I am a total Top Chef addict, let me just say my sickie kid was on my chest and I couldn't reach the remote.

I distinctly remember my mother bringing home our first microwave oven. She was thrilled, because it meant the Mickey D's she brought home almost every single night could be nuked and served to us hot, which of course meant it was better. The one thing my mother taught me, for which I am grateful, was the joy of fresh, lovingly prepared food. She did it by absentia, but hey, she did it!

I've had fabulous rave reviews for the Cranberry Grand Marnier Trifle I found in The Gourmet Cook Book. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/104434 I make it from scratch per the recipe when I make it for holidays. I've faked it for other things with bottled cranberry orange jelly and pound cake. My Brit ex-husband lives for when I amke it at holidays. He says the secret to trifle is alcohol, alcohol, and more alcohol.

My 15 yo has just requested a "chocolate mousse cake" for her birthday tomorrow. I've never done one and would like to have a recipe someone has had some success with. I have all kinds of chocolate and cocoa and nuts in the house. I can improvise a water bath, but I also have bundt pans and some little tiny indvidual cake molds, if you have other super gooey chocolate cake ideas. I'm baaaaaad at decorating. I have all day tomorrow to play with this. Thank you for any suggestions.

I have to say I have some sympathy with this. In high school my Mum made me "tacos", you know, the boxed grocery store "dinner", and I got sick as a dog from something in it. It took me YEARS to be able to look at Mexican food again with any kind of longing. Blowing meat out one's nose is traumatic.

Ah, Dougal, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me. I really had no idea what the point was off this floating "sponge", and I am fascinated by the historical information. Really, thank you, thank you, that's exactly the kind of thing I was wondering about. I cook with bottled water, so I had ignored the boil and cool instructions on the water, figuring it was an antimicrobial effort I probably didn't need to make in my 2008 kitchen. And I never even considered a parsimonoius effort in terms of yeast. I go through so much yeast I don't even bother to proof it anymore. Fascinating.

gfron, thank you, that made for interesting reading. I appreciate the link, I had no idea what it was called. I have a loaf of very finely crumbed, almost cake-y bread with an extraordinarily crackly crust. It's quite good. I think I will try this recipe without the levain (if that is indeed what I had, since I too used cultivated yeast) and see what differences show up. tino, I'm sorry, the water was boiled and then cooled for both the "sponge" and the dough.

I have use of my husband's grandmother's and mother's cookbooks, antiques all, and I found a recipe for "Pain Ordinaire" in a book from 1948 that had me make a "sponge" of yeast, boiled water and flour kneaded into a ball, which was then scored and placed in more boiled water until the ball floated, upon which you mix in the rest of the ingredients and its then handled exactly like any bread recipe. I'd like to understand this better, I have never seen this before but I'm not a real chef, I am just an amateur eater. The crackle when I cut this loaf was like a gunshot, and I just baked it in my Joe Homeowner JennAire.

I made a starter and I finally have a cake of Grandma's Amish Friendship Bread in the oven. I hope. Keep your fingers crossed this starter is the one, I've been tinkering for ages.

Technically, peanuts and bacon are protein, so you're all good.

Do they keep pairing up Richard and Dale so as to avoid having to eliminate either of them? It'll be those two at the end. I hope it's Richard. (Hi, Richard! ) Indulging in the back and forth with Jennifer was so silly of Dale.

I just sat here and ate half a box of Fourth of July's Mini PB crackers with a glass of milk. *burp* I think some of that Vosge's Fire Bar is next. Who am I kidding, some... ETA: I have just realized that my PMS posts are all about convenience foods. I guess the treat is the time I spend being selfish sitting here reading this thread and gorging my eyes and tummy. Also adding, as an aside, I find it a funny little joke that to find this thread every month, I search the site for "boyz". Not "pms" because I get all kinds of stuff about private messages.

Popcorn, Indiana's Summertime Bar-be-que Popcorn. The whole bag.

I'm sorry I didn't answer you, I didn't see your question. I served it exactly as it came out of the pan. I didn't do anything to it. It did look a little odd but seriously, do yourself a big favour and make it. Also, I served it over mashed potatoes so it just kind of soaked right in. The second time I made it I did stir it up to see if it would be more visually appealing but it just looked like cream gone bad, so I HAD at that point to mix in a roux. It wasn't anywhere near as good. It's such a hit my 6 yo put a bunch of Easter Candy in the crockpot and poured milk on top of it. She told me she was braising her candy in milk just like me. Good thing she can't turn the slow cooker on.

Eh, don't misunderstand, I still think it's totally nuts, but I can see it if you were dripping with money.