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claire797

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Posts posted by claire797

  1. Chocolate Chip Cookies With Pudding

    Serves 36 as Dessert.

    This is one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes I've found. The secret is the instant pudding mix. Stick with vanilla pudding mix or get creative and use butterscotch pudding mix and butterscotch chips.

    • 2-1/4 c flour
    • 1 tsp baking soda
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • 1 c butter (softened)
    • 3/4 c brown sugar
    • 1/4 c white sugar
    • 3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding mix
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 12 oz bag Nestle Tollhouse Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

    Preheat oven to 375.

    Mix flour, salt, soda and set aside.

    Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, pudding mix and vanilla. Beat well.

    Slowly stir in dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

    Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.

    Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

    Keywords: Easy, Chocolate, American, Snack, Cookie

    ( RG242 )

  2. David,

    Have you made it to Lambert's yet? I've been several times in the past few months and each time the food has been terrific.

    We finally stayed for dessert this past weekend and I have to report that the Lambert's Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake is out of this world. I am now on a quest to make one of my own. Boy. That was some good cake.

  3. What about 63rd Street Steakhouse near Lincoln Center? We've eaten there twice and the steak has been very good. Nice atmosphere too.

    Spark's was great. Clubby atmosphere didn't bother me at all.

    S&W was just okay. Nothing to write home about

    Palm is good for Prime Rib, but haven't had their steaks.

    Still haven't tried Peter Luger's and probably won't.

  4. Just wondering what your opinion was on Texas wines. Have you had the opportunity to taste any?

    I realize a lot of states produce wine, but in the past 5 years it seems wines from The Lone Star State have made leaps and bounds.

    Also, I'd like to make one recommendation -- Becker Vineyards Viognier. This wine blew me away. I have no affiliation with the vineyard (too bad, huh!) but I am proud to live near a vineyard that can make magic with this grape.

    I guess this leads me to my second question. Do you think Viognier is an up and comer?

  5. Buttermilk is a great tenderizer for chicken and beef. When I'm roasting a tougher cut of meat like Eye of Round, I like to marinate it in buttermilk for a day before seasoning it and putting it in the oven.

    Buttermilk marinade is a must for fried chicken too. Whether you intend to oven fry, deep fry or pan fry, throw your chicken in a Ziplock bag full of buttermilk and let it soak for a day. When you're ready to fry,shake off the excess buttermilk, dredge if flour (breadcrumbs, whatever) and cook.

  6. Havent had one in who know hows long, but Ive had a few beers and am ready to try them again....

    This one has white frosting...are you suppossed to but butter on these things before or after you put them in the toaster?

    Share your Pop Tarts story or advice...

    Advice from Fire Marshall Bill: Do not butter said 'Tarts before placing them in the toaster. :shock: The ensuing grease fire will toast more than your tasty pastry!

    Maybe you shouldn't drink beer before toasting them either.

  7. Errmm dude, I don't think you're supposed to put butter on Pop Tarts.  Unless you're Anna Nicole Smith, of course.

    LOL. Agreed.

    Butter does not belong on frosted Pop-Tarts. Unfrosted, perhaps. Not frosted.

  8. The Wine For Idiots book is a good reference, however, a more fun read is Great Wines Made Simple by Andrea Immer. Immer loves Rieslings and Pinot Gris from Alsace -- two types of wine I think you'd really enjoy. Riesling (look for the word "kabinett") is somewhat sweet and is a much more complex wine than, oh, Pink Zin -- which is sweet but boring.

    Here are my recommendations:

    Hogue Johannisburg Riesling

    Columbia Crest Gewurtzraminer (a bit sweet and spicy -- try after you've tried Riesling)

    Snoqualmie Vineyards Chenin Blanc -- inexpensive white with a not so subtle honey taste. It has a lot going on for a Chenin Blanc.

    The above are all slightly sweet whites.

    If you'd like to branch out to fruitier, I suggest La Crema Pinot Noir. It will be much dryer than YOU are used to since you're just getting into wine, but it's smooth and will not leave that tannic glaze on your tongue.

  9. Claire797,

    I wrote the Journal News article. Although I didn't have room to list all the restaurants he was involved in, the owner, Prasad Chirnomula, was for a time a partner in Bombay Grill, too.

    Liz

    Ah! That explains it. I loved Bombay Grill and it was a step-up from many of the NYC Indian restaurants.

    If you ever find yourself in Austin, TX -- (The Mothership of all Indian Food.....HA HA HA)-- you should check out Clay Pit. A group of us had dinner there a few months ago and it is on par with what Chirnomula is doing.

  10. Wow. That's great news. We're going to see the in-laws in New Canaan in July so I'll have to put this place on our list.

    Until now, I thought the best Indian food in CT was at Bombay Grill in Westport. Haven't been there in about 4 years, but I remember Bombay as being "gourmet" Indian.

  11. I love what Gabrielle Hamilton is doing at PRUNE.  Very fine cook, smart, cool menu (including an exact reproduction of Fergus Henderson's bone marrow app--my single favorite dish in the world) substantial flavor, human-size portions, great crew . It's always a pleasure to go there.  And Gabrielle can indeed write--and well. ( Note to editors/publishers)  Every day she DOESN'T write the chick version of Kitchen Confidential she's missing out on a nice-sized score.  One of my favorite chefs in NYC.

    That woman can write.

    When I read her essays I think of all the writing that is NOT being done because she is in the kitchen. Then again, if I were to eat at Prune I would probably worry that her writing was taking away from her cooking.

  12. I thought the coffee was mediocre.

    As for the free coffee maker, it mysteriously broke down the day I cancelled my membership. That is, it lasted less than a year.

    I'm still paying for my foray into Gevalia by having to dodge their telemarketers and sift through the junk mail they keep sending. They have a very persistant direct marketing campaign.

  13. One book I use quite often is Good Housekeeping's Book of Baking. Below is a link to info and reviews, but first, I'll tell you why I like it.

    Every single recipe I've tried from that book has been a success. From the basic chocolate layer cake to the spanakopita (this book includes both sweets and savories) I've been very satisfied with the finished product -- and I certainly can't say that about some of my other baking books. In terms of technique, equipment explanations, and ingredient dictionaries. This book gives you just the info you need which leaves room for more pictures and recipes.

    Also, you *might* consider Nick Malgieri's How To Bake. A lot of people love this book. Personally, I'd like to recommend this but don't. The book lacks pictures and tends to overcomplicate simple processes. For the more experienced baker, this book is an interesting and informative read. However, I didn't start to really read this book until I already knew a thing or two about baking. I'm also suspicious of some of Nick's recipes. For instance, he includes a chocolate chip cookie recipe that does not contain any vanilla extract (yuck!) and he recommends baking a loaf of sourdough bread at 450 for 45 minutes. The cookies I didn't bother with. The bread, I burnt.

    If you're interested in mostly cakes, The Cake Bible is good, but it does not contain savory pies, pizzas and casseroles.

    And Chris Kimball? I love the test kitchen books and like Chris's style of trial and error. Sadly, the end result (after all the dilly-dallying about) has never been that great. I have not read his baking book, but if the recipes are as disappointing as the other Cook's Illustrated recipes I've made, then why bother?

    Again, I highly recommend the Good Housekeeping book. It's basic but does not cut corners, has brief explanations and diagrams and it's packed with recipes. I own this book and use it like crazy.

    Another book I recommend is Greg Patent's Baking in America. While I don't own this book, I've made a few recipes from it and like Patent's simple, direct writing style. The Patent book is on my wish list.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846

  14. While I wouldn't subscribe, I think it's important to remember that there's a whole section of home cooks who are intimidated by the more high-powered, glossy food and lifestyle mags. And where plenty of women who work "pink collar" jobs would like to get back to cooking like mom, they don't get much support from the media that shoves fast food with one hand and "gourmet" cooking with the other.

    True. But I still find their content patronizing and banal.

  15. I subscribed to Taste of Home for a year and have saved each issue. Occasionally, when I'm looking for a real "homey" type recipe or something I can throw together with ingredients I have on hand, I'll thumb through and pick something. Every recipe I've tried from TOH has been a success.

    Why did I cancel my subscription to Taste of Home? Because reading it made me feel like a buffoon. The content is incredibly hokey and the tone is somewhat patronizing. Ick, ick, ick.

    If I need a really good recipe, I can usually find it on the web. Part of the fun of reading magazines is reading the articles, looking at ads (some) and reading about the recipes.

    What I especially hate about Taste of Home is how they glorify men in the kitchen. So what!

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