pax

So, the beautiful jewel red cranberry orange sauce out in the freezer wasn't. It was ligonberry. So now we're having Ligonberry Grand Marnier Trifle. Not quite the Native American theme we were shooting for...but hey...

I cook my oatmeal from groats in a crock pot over night in nothing but water, and add the butter before serving. It's nice when it melts gradually, yummy yummy yummy. No white clumps here. Please don't think I am making fun of you when I say this, because it happened to me, so I'm really not...but is it possible you mixed up your grain jars and got rice in with your groats or oats or whatever? We had a whole weekful of mystery cereal in the morning.

This is an easy time of year for me to live out of my larder, I've spent all summer putting stuff in it. The only things I buy regularly are laundry detergents, diary, eggs and olive oil. The real challenge for me would be living out of the larder come May. And I NEED to buy Grand Marnier to make my yummy Cranberry Grand Marnier Trifle, which is a must for Thanksgiving Day. I need to join y'all in spring. Right now it's fat pickins.

What a mess...complain while it's happening, and get your food dropped on the floor or spat into...complain when it's over, and have to pay up anyway, leave during, and have the whole party get up and have to go find someplace else...fustercluck. I think I will be proactive next time and tell the manager up front I will pay 20% or more if the service is good but otherwise, zippo, and let them decide whether or not to take my reservation. That said, the only place I ever go with my family en masse is Dad's favorite Italian place and we've never, ever, been treated less than fabulously. I wish the food was as good as the service. The guy remembers my kids names and I only get there once or twice a year.... I've waited tables. It can really stink. I never, ever, leave a wait person in a lurch unless the service is in-my-face terrible and we can't get up and go someplace else. And I tell the manager on my way out, not the wait person. Let the manager deal with them, that's their job. I've also lived in Europe, where tipping is optional. The service is usually not what I am used to. As for Europeans coming here and not tipping "because we don't have to" or "it's not enforced"..well. When in Rome, do as the Romans, people. We have livings to make and it's not our fault you are not with the program and cheap to boot.

My mother-in-law was convinced I'd never be able to cook properly for her son without every Delia Smith book ever printed. Never used them.

I went to Volt when it first opened, when I still lived down there, and was thrilled. I hope it turns into another Inn at Little Washington, a fantastic destination spot DC-ers are willing to drive to. I've admired Bryan since that first meal, and my admiration has grown in leaps and bounds after his comment about helping other chefs out, last night. His skills and talent are amazing. And I admire Kevin's dedication and passion. I think they are both fabulous. I wish they both could win.

I know it's not a breakfast cereal so I hope you don't mind this addition, but Cheez-Its make a great extender in meatballs/meatloaf, etc.

Coffee comes from far far away, as does citrus and bananas. The coffee is fair trade and locally roasted, though. Veggies and non-citrus fruit I pick all summer long and freeze whole or cold store. Organic dairy and eggs come from three doors down. Although I buy organic grains and flours from a local family owned mill I am not sure where they buy their whole grains. Beef, pork, chicken, all local. Wines, local, except for the occasional Shiraz. I love the Greg Normans from Oz. Whites are easy here, though. I found a Gertwhizwhattheheckever I LOVE. Even my eating chocolate is local (Art Bars) but I still buy the good cooking stuff from far away. Spices that aren't local I buy. My feeling is if I can buy it locally I should. If there is a product that is a specialty of one place, I don't mind buying that, that's their livelihood and my benefit. Yea USPS! But I wouldn't order pig from California when The Piggery in Trumansburg does it superlatively.

Alexia...good oven fries. I keep a bag of them around for emergency dinners.

Toyota

Well, if you don't mind diverting from the PMS theme for just a moment, when I was pregnant with my first I had really awful, lose 25 pounds morning sickness. The day I felt well enough to eat a piece of toast, my ex-husband tried to nick a piece and I smacked his hand without thought. And despite my healthy sustainable soap box, with my second it was onion rings dipped in chocolate shake. EVERY DAY.

I think it was test run for Fabio doing his own show. C'mon, fan favourite? Cute, accent, safely married but charming? Who complains abot bunky beds and loves his Mama? It wasn't fun Top Chef but it was better than nothing. At least I could knit while being mildly entertained and watching nice food being made.

I have found a resource for organic raw milk. I'm buying it in half gallon mason jars. It comes cream topped. I want to figure out what proportions of milk I need to create half-n-half for coffee and something approximating 2% for the rest of the milk. It doesn't have to be exact, I'm just wondering about how to go about it. Put all the cream in another jar and then use milk from the bottom of the jar so it's even weight? Or even measurement? They do butter in a machine so I'm buying the butter ready made. Before anyone gets all worried about our health, this farmer is certified organic, and has a permit to sell raw milk, and has been in business a long time. I've done the research and I'm not worried.

You guys have given me homesickness with all these UK candies. I'm going to Wegman's today and buy a few choice ones...I know they have Violet bars, and Jaffa cakes, and the honeycomb crumbley ones I got in Oz when I lived there for a while, whose name I can't remember. Viva Wegman's International aisles!

Holy cow Peter! That is a gorgeous picture and an equally gorgeous sandwich.

"Nov. 3 is the anniversary of John Montagu's birthday. It's believed that this 18th-century English noble, better known as the fourth Earl of Sandwich, wanted to eat with one hand during a 24-hour gambling bender. So, he instructed his servants to serve him his lunch meat between two pieces of bread. To celebrate the occasion, Nov. 3 is officially "National Sandwich Day." From Info Week Toasted cheese with fried onions and bacon on English muffin bread. Oh my. What's yours?

Did y'all get on the health food wagon or what? I've been craving latkes and I finally made them last night. Ate until I felt sick and then got up this morning and ate the cold ones. I'm going to make more.

I am befuddled. I take care of my knives, and I have never used one on my husband.

My youngest went from eating everything she could put in her teeny little mouth and begging for more, hotter, spicier; to a picky kid with texture and "mess" issues. These days if I want to get anything into her it needs to be raw veggies and cleanly prepared meat..no sauces, no fancy prep, no marinades, no jus, no herbs, no foolink around. My non-meat proteins are totally shot, no beans, no eggs, no nuffink. If it's mushy, fageddaboutit. Would this be an ok place to admit that my mother got her hooked on day-glo orange Krap Macaroni and Cheese over the summer and I unhooked her by adulterating every pot which I cooked for her under duress until she finally cried "uncle" and started eating my homemade again?

Wait, wait...I keep seeing this phrase "clean the oven". Vas ist das?

I guess I need to join the ranks of third rate steak places, I guess. I leave enough wall to support the filling, I crisp them separately after brushing them with olive oil and flicking some coarse cut salt over them, put the mixings in the oven to keep them warm with the crisping skins, and fill right before I plate. I used to deep fry them, it took about 30 seconds, but my husband's got this weird thing about deep frying not being healthy. Edited 'cause I pushed the button too quickly.. using an apple corer on a potato and stuffing them with sausages is an old camp fire trick in my family. Does that count?

I have no bad habits in the kitchen, I am an angel. On the other hand, my husband, born of Depression-era parents, puts every single teeny tiny leftover in it's own special little container and packs my fridge with them. Makes me crazy. ITS OK TO THROW OUT THE TWO REMAINING PEAS.

I'm there to eat, not fix my fellow diners poor bathroom habits. It's the restaurant's job to keep it clean and if it isn't clean I don't eat there. As far as I'm concerned public toilets are just disease waiting to happen, so the less I have to touch the better. Magically operated water, paper towels that roll themselves out, zig zaggy entrance ways rather than doors with handles, I'm all for it. If I could redesign my house, kitchen and bath, I'd make those suckers so I could spray everything down with bleach and then hose them down a drain built into the floor.

Ugh, these beautiful beans are making me crazy! My 7 yo, who will eat beans mashed beyond all recognition ala mashed potatos, refuses to eat a bean that actually looks like a bean, and all those Rancho Gordo beans are so gorgeous. I cry when I puree them. Kids are just so dang weird.

I'll tell you what, I'd rather have her cooking for me than that backstabbing forked tongue Mike I. I wonder if he's going to find it difficult post-show to find anyone willing to trust his smarmy self.