pax

They seem to be readily available at Whole Foods, for what that's worth...they have all the "healthy" labeling. I went and bought the whole case at Super Fresh. They realy do taste like my potato pancakes, except saltier.

Thank you all, I appreciate your thoughts very much. I don't often use meat as a centerpiece of a meal so I'm very unaccustomed to cooking it like this. I am right over the river from you, in Virginia near Point O' Rocks.. Howdy, neigbour!

Latke Crisps Found them in my local icky Super Fresh. EVEN better than Munchos, and I understand that these 'ud be fightin' words, if I wasn't 100% right.

I brined a chicken last night with a cup of salt, 1/2 c sugar, and water to cover, plus. It was frozen, I defrosted it in the fridge yesterday and put it in the brine last night. My intention was to roast it tonight, but I just got word of something that takes precedence over my chicken, which is still sitting in the fridge in it's brine. If I leave it, and roast it tomorrow, will it be ok? Should I take it out of the brine, and if I do, how best to store until tomorrow? Or, do I heave the thing because now it's been unfrozen for 48 hours? (That seems excessive, given that it was defrosted in the fridge in it's store packagings and then stored in the fridge in the brine.)

A couple of weeks ago I handed my 5 yo a heap of cookbooks and we went through them so she could pick out a birthday cake. She went through a couple of nice cook books without so much as a glance. She was excited by a bunch of the pictures, though, and she spelled through quite a lot of ingredients trying to make the right choices. C-O-C-O-N-U-T spells "ICK, Mom!" This is what she finally brought me. Look familiar? It is the chocolate banded ice cream torte on page 289. So not only have you inspired all of us with this book, you are also inspiring budding artistes!

I am currently enjoying a spicy chocolate kick, thanks to a lucky shopping day at World Market... I bought a basketful of Vosges' Red Fire Bar (55% cocoa, ancho and chipolte peppers, and Ceylon cinnamon) and Chuao's Spicy Maya (60% cocoa, pasilla chile and and cayenne pepper). I was actually contemplating just chopping up the chocolate I have to make brownies, but that seems like such a waste when I have good bittersweet Valhrona and good fresh cinnamon and all kinds of pepper powders. Any ideas about what kinds of proportions to start with? And what would you do about the sugar? Keep it the same as normal? I normally use the Gourmet version of Katherine Hepburn's brownies, I like them gooey.

I do oatmeal in my crockpot overnight, and in the morning I can toss the interior under the broiler for a minute and have "Oatmeal Brulee". My kids chum it down. And Marcella Hazan's Bolognese suace, started in a saute pan but finished slowly for hours on warm in the crock pot...the house smells unbelieably homey and good. If those are not two good reasons for a crock pot I don't know what are.

My 14 yo just redefined PMS for me. It now means, "Please Make Sticky Buns". (Dorie Greenspan's Pecan Sticky Buns, that is.)

Ok people, relax! I was just fooling around in the kitchen, not conducting grand experiments. I was just thrilled the dang things didn't explode in there so my husband could say, "Darling, you really ARE a nut." There are lots of better ways to do it, I know that. My kids stopped screaming for pizza, which was a good enough result to be going on with.

So I am here to report! Sadly, I could not arrange my tiles in such a way that I could cook the pizza directly on them. Instead, I used two, and put them on the bottom rack, and two more, and put them on the top rack, and then in addition I preheated my cheap metal pizza pan, right on the marble on the bottom rack. I pre-heated for an hour. The only difference I noted was that the middle of my crust didn't get as done as the edges, which was a flaw. The oven did not seem to recover temp any more quickly than normal. I won't bother with this again, but, the good news is, the marble, which is 1/2 inch thick, did not crack after an hour + in a 500 F oven. I am, however, encouraged to go out and get something that fits the oven correctly, and try again.

No, I won't be devasted. They've been sitting on the bottom of my pantry for a year taking up valuable real estate. I think I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Thanks for that link, it was interesting reading. Patrick never did report in his results so I guess I'll have to do so. Cheers.

I don't have a pizza stone, I have been meaning to pick up some of the unglazed Mexican tiles to use instead, on the oven floor. I haven't done that yet, of course, and here it is Sunday afternoon, and my kids are requesting pizza. I can do it the way I've always done it, on a pierced metal sheet, which has been ok thus far... But...in my pantry, I have 8 12"x12" black marble square tiles. They match my countertops. What happens if you put marble in the oven? It's a Jenn Air convection oven, just in case that makes a difference. My husband thinks I'm a nut.

I thought I would add this: When I made the dough for the Brioche, I had a series of distractions. First, just as I added the eggs, my kids came racing in to tell me my sheep were in the pond. I turnt off the mixer and ran outside to lifeguard my sheep. I was gone at LEAST half an hour. When I came in I switched the mixer back on and continued. Then, I misread the directions, and after the initial rise, I did not put it in the fridge. I let it rise another hour on the counter, slapping it down as instructed...but duh! After I realized I was wrong, I put in in the fridge. I thought for sure this was going to be a flat failure, but I struggled onwards anyway... I am glad I did. The brioche AND the sticky buns were fabulous, despite my boneheadedness. So the brioche is very forgiving, don't be afraid to try!

Oh. my. Pecan sticky buns.

I made Dorie Greenspan's Golden Brioche last night, and this morning I used half the dough for her Pecan Sticky Buns. My husband, he's so funny, they are sitting on the counter and he keeps going by and saying, "Oh, just a half." There are three left.

I used to make all kinds of pancakes until the day I made these ricotta pancakes, my family likes these so much they are stuck on them. Sift together 1/2 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 pinch of salt In a seperate bowl, mix together until combined 8 oz ricotta cheese 2/3 cup milk 3 egg yolks Combine contents of both bowls and mix well. Beat 3 egg whites stiff, then fold into batter gently. Cook and garnish like normal pancakes. I often make waffles but haven't found a recipe I really like, if anybody wanted to share those. If you are really pressed for time, homemade waffles can easily be frozen and tossed in the microwave. My kids like them spread with peanut butter and honey, they eat them rolled up on the go sometimes.

I made the Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie Cake yesterday. It was yummy, I served it with homemade cinnamon ice cream. And of course, me being disorganized me, I didn't have any raisins that weren't yoghurt covered. My kids loves those. Anyway, I subbed dried cherries, which I'd steeped in hot water with a little vanilla. The directions called for 65-80 mins, I checked it at 50 and I am glad I did because I pulled it right away and it was still a bit overdone. I think I will pull out the manual and recalibrate the cooker. They ate it for dessert with ice cream, came looking for more this morning for breakfast, and my husband cut off a big chunk to take to work. I was a little put off originally by the fact it was two pages long but after I read it through, it was dead easy.

I went vegetarian for a long time. I just never felt GOOD. My ex, on the other hand, absolutely thrived. My cholesterol went so low Kaiser actually flagged my blood tests so they could figure out what was wrong. When I added a LITTLE meat protein back into my diet, I felt worlds better. I really think it's an individual thing. Listen to your body.

Oh, hey, that was a fun surprise when the sous chefs came out.

I go to the one in Rockville, does that count? I just went today to stock up on some fall baking kinds of things...nutmeg, mace, fresh cinnamon, they had some really nice candied ginger, in tiny pieces suitable for cookies or muffins. I like a few of the spice mixes, for things I wouldn't keep on hand in the house normally, the stuff for things like herbs de provence...my kids like the Sunny Parisienne (sp?) in their eggs, but in general I stay away from mixes because I usually have the "raw" things on hand. I like being able to buy in the little bottles, too, I think things stay fresher that way. For things I use a lot of, the bulk plastic bags work well. I still rarely walk out of there without dropping at least $40, though. Since I tend to cook seasonally, and replace or need new accordingly, if I spend that four times a year it's a bargain. (Cause you have to figure there's the entertainment value, too.

The Windlass is right in Mt Arlington, on Lake Hopatcong. It has patio tables on the lake. It's morningside so the sunsets are gorgeous if you time your dinner right. If you chose to eat inside, it feels a little like a comfortable old sofa. The owner has a huge crystals collection, tonnes of Lake Hopatcong memoribilia, even a cigar store Indian. It was kitsch before it was fashionable. Sunday brunch is good, on a beautiful day. You can watch the customers arrive and depart by boat, the slips are adjacent to the patio. They've been there about eight million years, are independently and family owned, and serve up some good chow. It's not haute cuisine but it's fun, comfortable, reasonable, with good solid food. In Mt. Arlington, which is indeed a culinary waste land. My Dad is the meat buyer for a national high end restaurant supply house based in NY. He lives on the lake. He orders the steaks there, occasionally. I guess that's saying something. The Windlass More editing: I don't know much about their wine list other than that they have one. I'm sorry, I am diabetic and alcohol makes me whacky. I wonder if Holly Eats has rated the hot dog stand right at the exit off 80 W? I think it's called Dave's Dogs, but it's impossible to miss, it looks like a little Swiss Chalet, right there next to the exit ramp. I love their dogs, especially the red onion sauce stuff. Sabrett dogs, they'll cook them any way you want them too but default is dirty water dogs. They are good for a quickie. Sorry, I can't find a web site. Edited for spelling.

Marcella Hazan's Butter and Onion Sauce. Could not be simpler or more delicious. It's like my guilty secret, it's so yummy and just could NOT be easier. If I'm feeling we've fallen short of protein, I might add some sliced Aidell's sausages. Usually not, the sauce is so good by itself. Takes about 5 minutes to get started and then is done by the time I've changed, let the dogs out, and gotten the table set.

I have a couple of reports on my attempts! I made the Citrus-Currant Sunshine Bars, but I had to make some changes. I used chopped strawberries instead of currants. I macerated the strawberries in a little confectioner's sugar. When they were room temp I drained them over a measuring cup and lo and behold, I had a cup of strawberry juice, which I used in place of the oj. They were fabulous. Thank you for providing the "Playing Around" sections. It's really nice to know what sort of substitutions can work. I stand there imagining all kinds of stuff. Then, I made the Corniest Corm Muffins. I didn't have butter milk, I had the powdered kind you keep in the fridge, so I added 4 TBL of that to the dry stuff and the cup of water required for reconstitution in the liquids. My husband raved. We've been married for a few years, he loves corn bread, and I have NEVER made a corn bread he really likes, and I've tried. This was a HUGE hit, and he thanks you. Toasted and buttered the next morning, they were yummy. If I KNEW I was eating them the next day, I might leave the corn kernals out. Sweet and juicy the day I baked, they got a bit raisin like over night. I can see some blueberries, maybe... Tonight it's raining so my kids and I made the Chunky Peanut Butter And Oatmeal Chipsters. Fabulous. My changes: 6 oz of chocolate instead of as written, half milk, half bittersweet of that good chocolate that starts with V. Smooth, not chunky, because that's what I had on hand. The cinnamon was a bit strong but I was using some brand new Penzey's...I might cut back a 1/4 tsp and see how that goes..this is the first oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookie I've ever had that doesn't completely squash the peanut butter. It's got a slightly creaminess with the crunch that is so, so good.

Yes, I do, often. When I moved last fall the label on my jars of dried grains all fell off. Some I could identify easily, some were complete mysteries. Anyway, I just treated them all the same and got some very nice breakfasts out of it.