Tri2Cook

Very nice Kerry! Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

Nice breakfast!

I'd third tamales but I can't get masa or corn husks where I live. Every place I've found them online that will ship is in the U.S. and charges 2 - 3x what I'm paying for the product for shipping to Canada. So tamales are no longer something I do. Same problem with banana leaves... so I'll be faking it a bit if I do tha kalua pork.

I'm leaning towards tiki bar grub. Thinking kalua pork sliders, maybe chieftan chicken and crab rangoon or coconut shrimp. Non-fussy, eat-with-the-fingers stuff and most of the work can be done ahead. And beer... I don't plan to play bartender during the game.

I haven't ordered from l'epicerie recently, did they greatly increase their shipping rates in the past year or so? I've ordered from them many times in the past, large orders and small, and never thought the shipping bad. I know they used to show an estimated shipping cost on the shopping cart page as you add items but the actual shipping cost was never anything remotely resembling that number.

Hopefully. I'm not sure what the criteria is for a drink that sucks in a general sense. If a drink that would never be seen on the menu in a craft cocktail bar is loved my millions of people, does it suck? Or does it just suck to a select group of people? If a drink is loved by the crowd at the craft bar but anybody outside that crowd thinks it's horrible, does it suck? There are lots of drinks that have remained popular for the long term that I'm pretty sure would be placed in the "sucks" category by most here if we made a list, so I'm not sure time can be the criteria. To me, a drink doesn't suck if I like it... no matter what the guy down the bar from me thinks.

I ordered mine from l'epicerie in the U.S, I didn't think the shipping was bad at all but they have a $25/order minimum. Their smaller package (1 lb) of sorbitol is $4.75 and the 5 lb is $20.50 so unfortunately it's not going to be an option unless you see something else you want or need an even larger amount than 5 lbs.

Agreed. A drink doesn't suck because it's new, it sucks because it sucks. If I try an original in a quality bar and happen to get a turd, I still want them to keep creating.

Breakfast was usually oatmeal, rice or cream of wheat when I was growing up. Not because we weren't allowed to have sweetened cereal, because we were a family of 7 with not a lot of money and that stuff went much further for the money than boxes of cereal. On rare occassions when we got some cap'n crunch or something like that, even the milk that remained after the cereal was gone was a treat. I don't think about it fondly and I wouldn't buy a bottle of cereal milk but I understand what she's tapping into with it. For every person looking down their nose at it, there are probably as many or more that love it. The same with cakes, what we think is best and what people want to taste may at times be two different things. Cooking at home, we can be as high-horse as we want. In a business, sometimes your customer base makes you decide between sticking to your guns and making money.

Is "a few complaints" about this particular cake in relation to a whole bunch of customers who are happy with it? That would point to personal preference and there's not much you can do about it beyond sampling pre-order. Returning their money or giving store credit are options but not obligations if they "just didn't like it". Not liking something doesn't mean there's something wrong with it. I don't like liver, millions of people do. Specific reasons why there was something wrong with it are what you need to listen for. "I don't like liver" and "the liver was burnt on the bottom" are two different things. If the complaints are fairly high in relation to total sales or contain a lot of specifics, you need to look beyond your personal feelings about the product. Even if 100 friends, co-workers and experts agree it's good, if a high percentage of your customers think otherwise, it's not worth the potential problems.

Things not already listed that I've used in experiments and, in some cases, actual desserts - peas, soybeans, miso, soy sauce, chile peppers, carrots, mustard. Not all of the things I did with them were particularly good in my opinion, but I had fun with them all.

Of course, you don't HAVE to tip. There's not a tip police or a big bruiser at the door that will shake you down for the cash when you try to leave.

Kim, is there even the slightest chance that I can convince you next year that I actually am a long lost family member and that it's vitally important that I attend the Christmas meals and reconnect with the family?

Where I work, the waitstaff tip-out 10% of their tips at the end of their shift. At the end of each month, that collective 10% is divided among the kitchen staff. The waitstaff still come out way ahead overall and the kitchen staff appreciate it. I've never heard anyone complain on either end of the deal. Given the choice, I'd let them keep it all rather than have to do their job so I'm not much help in a fight for tip equality.

Unless your friends are the really adventurous sort, don't go too over the top with the ingredients. Making them think, giving them a bit of challenge, expanding their ideas of what can be dessert is a good thing. When it gets down to Sweet Genius-esque "well that's horrible in general as a dessert but it's the best of the bunch considering it has dried squid and pickled onions in it", I think it kinda misses the point. (I wanted to like that show, I was hoping it would be the Chopped of the pastry world. It isn't.) I consider myself very adventurous as far as what can be used in desserts but it still needs to be dessert in the end. We can convince ourselves that the dried squid and pickled onion upside-down cake isn't bad and maybe even actually think so in the context of experimenting or amongst a small group of like-minded people but I try to think about what I might hear if I walked down the street giving bites to random people. Merstar gave some nice suggestions other than (in my personal opinion) the garlic. Items not commonly used in desserts where you live (but very common in another culture or area, the unfamiliar makes for a good challenge) are good choices. Pairing commonly used ingredients that aren't normally seen used together can provide a nice challenge. Sometimes a common ingredient can be a challenge. Then you have to think outside of what everybody else might be thinking in order to stand out.

Unless McDonalds was actively and intentionally hiding the use of meat products, the lawsuits and those initiating them should be/should have been told to take a flying leap. Punishing them because they weren't actively advertising it is/was ridiculous. If you have special requirements for the food you eat, you take the trouble to find out if something does or does not fit within your parameters. If the information isn't available or the company refuses to provide it, then maybe you have a right to complain... though I'd be more inclined to say you have the right to not give them your money.

Yeah, I'll agree with that one. I've got books I've never used that've sat around so long I'll have to wait for what's in them to come back into style again before I can use them. Actually, what would be awesome is if eGullet had a page where we could buy/sell/trade books amongst ourselves. We have this topic for distributing/sharing cookbooks for free I know about that one and it's a good topic but I was thinking more along the lines of a books classifieds type thing. I realize it's probably not a good option for the forums because of the potential headaches involved but they have similar pages on the cycling and kayaking forums I visit and it's kinda nice. They basically have the classifieds disclaimered with "this is between users and we don't care and don't want to hear about it if you're not happy with your transactions" but I've never had a problem buying or selling on them. Anyway, it was more wishful thinking than anything I actually expected. Maybe I'll resolve to go through my books and see what I can find to put on the free cookbooks topic in case anybody can use them. Thanks!

Yeah, I'll agree with that one. I've got books I've never used that've sat around so long I'll have to wait for what's in them to come back into style again before I can use them. Actually, what would be awesome is if eGullet had a page where we could buy/sell/trade books amongst ourselves.

Definitely adding that to my "try this one" list.

The past couple years have been filled with cooking at work 6 days/week and that's pretty much it. I rarely cook at home, I never experiment and explore anymore. I'm in a work situation that doesn't allow for creativity and isn't particularly challenging but jobs, especially jobs that'll keep the bills paid, in the cooking industry aren't in great supply where I live so I do what I have to do. I want to try to get the fun back... I hope I do it.

I think one of my new favorite winter warmers is the Tabonga & Jerry I mentioned in another thread. A tiki twist on the Tom & Jerry that I read about on the Tiki Central forums. It's tasty... 1/2 cup Tom & Jerry batter 1 oz Cruzan Black Strap rum 1 oz brandy 1/2 oz falernum 1/2 oz lime juice In a tall mug, top with hot water, garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

Very nice Jeff. Looks tasty. Is "too much cajeta" even possible?

That's how I understood it. Now I'm just trying to decide if I did anything in 2012 that I'm that proud of or excited about. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I feel like I spent 2012 on autopilot and was a bit negligent on the creativity end of things. I'm hoping to put that behind me this year. Critics and pundants, in their infinite wisdom, dealt a crushing blow to the excitement, fun, creativity and will to push beyond the familiar that was going on in so many kitchens (professional and home). It's like everybody had to take a small step back to avoid bad reviews or negative comments that were based on perception of ingredients or techniques instead of what was on the plate. Maybe that wasn't actually the case but that was my perception of what I've seen going on over the past couple years or so. Kinda took the wind out of my sails for a bit... but I think I'm ready to jump back in the ring with a new outlook. In the meantime, I'll see if anything I did comes to mind that is worthy of this discussion.

I don't think it's a contest. I understood this to be a sharing of what we did that we're particularly proud of. Maybe creative or complicated is one persons idea of "best". Maybe something simple with a loved ingredient is another persons idea. It's all good.

I have Notter's The Textbook of Sugar Pulling and Sugar Blowing. It's a nice book on the subject. I bought it several years ago, looked through it once or twice and since then it's been tucked away in a box with a few other books I had to have but never use. I bought it during a phase when I was trying to force myself to want to do showpieces and things like that. It didn't work, I still have no interest in that area of pastry work.