KateW

Last night I thought it would be a good idea to open a half bottle of champagne 5 minutes before midnight and drink it all in about 20 minutes. (My fiance doesn't drink unless he wants to get drunk.) Well, it wasn't going to be any good the next day...but neither was I. I woke up feeling ok but felt progressively worse through the day. Had a couple little raisin bagels for breakfast. For lunch I had some leftover beef and potato stew which did not sit well. Then I had a Reed's extra-ginger beer and a club soda later on and some chicken chili just now. I feel ok now. At least I didn't have to sleep all day like last time. I just mentioned to my fiance that I am posting in the Hangover thread, and he said, "Oh, you're hung over today? You don't seem any crankier than usual."

We had hamburgers a couple nights ago. Last night I made beef and potato stew, but I haven't had any yet except a bite to taste it. My fiance did though. I plan on having some for lunch. And on Christmas, my mom's family served roast beef. It was great! So no, I guess we're not afraid of it.

What I really hate is the telemarketers who call and there is either nobody there when you answer, or it's a machine..."It's important that we talk to you. Please call 1-800..." If it's that important, a live person should be there to talk to me. The phone number is under my fiance's name, which is delightfully hard to pronounce. So if someone calls and stumbles over the name, I know right away it's not someone we know. Another thing that pisses me off but is also good for telemarketers is the fact that I apparently have a young sounding voice. I often get "May I speak to your mother please?" How do I answer this? There are so many ways I'd love to try. 1) Well, I haven't lived with my mother in over 6 years. 2) Yes, but you'll have to dial her number, not mine... Or, I can say I cannot make decisions regarding the phone/cable company/whatever, which is also mostly true because everything is under my fiance's name. I have a lot of pet peeves that have to do with the phone...like my mom's obsession with phones that I can't hear her on. She got rid of the headset phone I hated, only to get one that was just as bad, but I don't have the heart to tell her. I also can't stand it when someone calls and says "Hi!" like I should know who it is. I have a hard time placing a voice without the face. Am I the only one?

I always answer the phone, because mealtime is rather informal at our place, as I mentioned in the other thread about dining room tables or lack thereof. Phone calls you're expecting are great, but usually the ones you aren't expecting turn out to be the most important ones.

Growing up, my parents and I almost always sat at the dining room table all together, all for the same amount of time. Not rushed, with a good amount of conversation. In my later teenage years after my parents got divorced, mom and I would eat in front of the news or a movie more often. When I ate at my dad's though, it was still always at a dining room table. Now that I live with my fiance, we always eat at the couch in front of the tv because we have never had a dining room or room for a table in any of the places we've lived. We keep wanting to get TV tables but haven't yet. It's sort of a pain. When we get a house I really hope to start eating at the table again, at least when we have kids, if not before.

My goodness, where do I start? A toaster oven from my fiance's parents A gift card to Kitchen Etc. from my teenage cousin Jacques Pepin Celebrates from my other teenage cousin (he had no idea what to get me but came up with this. Someone taught him well!) A Return to Cooking from my aunt (drool. I don't even remember asking her for this) Stainless steel pans, a couple cooking magazines, a heat resistant spatula, dish towels, weights and measures magnets, maple syrup and pancake mix, from my mom. Also some figs and anchovy paste as stocking stuffers. Good gravy, now I have to go find room for it all Oh, and candy from my fiance--I mean, Santa. After all, that's what it said on the label Even our cats got foodie treats. They got kitty treats and one of those water bowls that circulates the water. They seem a little apprehensive, but they're intrigued. I had a leftover unopened smoked salmon package from last night but left it out all night in our exhaustion, so I ditched it

my guess is much fewer than those who want to teach the world about that hidden r. oh, and martha stewart pronounces that r. In 3rd grade or so, I was chosen to do the morning announcements on the PA system. (I don't remember how I got this dubious honor.) Anyway, I got on there and said "Good morning. Today is Feb-ru-ary...." Everyone laughed at me for pronouncing it that way, but at least *I* knew I was right.

It's a few days early for some holidays, but I am just curious what you all gave and received in relation to food and cooking this year. I celebrated Christmas last weekend at my dad's house. I got some really pretty Japanese bowls, 5 of them, each with a different pattern. I got a cookbook called La Bella Vita by the creator of Bella Cucina foods, Alisa Berry. And the grand finale was a 7-cup capacity Cuisinart that I was totally not expecting, because when I asked for a food processor, Dad kind of hemmed and hawwed about already having everything he planned on getting me. I am giving my mom some heat-resistant cooking utensils that she asked for and I'm giving my aunt and uncle a little hand-held thing you can look wine up on and it will give you a brief review and some information.

And then pouring all that nice oil down the sink. The pasta doesn't stick until you dump it out, so that would be the appropriate time to add oil.

Wait a minute. This is a myth? Why?

Thanks hillvalley. Actually one of my professors cancelled class Monday because she was sick. That's a problem because they cram so much stuff into three months that we don't have much time to cover what was missed. I had a feeling that was Maurice Sendak.

Sunday I felt awful. I couldn't stand up for more than a couple seconds before feeling dizzy. Thank goodness I had made chicken soup with rice (don't know the song but I think there is a poem, chicken soup with rice is nice) a couple days before, so I finished that off and had lots of grape juice which was less acidic on my sore throat than my usual cranberry juice. Monday, I wasn't as dizzy anymore but it had progressed into a cold. Nothing tasted good. I just kind of grazed until I left for school. I was still in the mood for soup so I had some canned stuff. More grape juice. I was still a little dizzy so I had to force myself to eat a power bar in the car (and more grape juice) so I would make it to school. At school I had some split pea soup. It was really good. Tuesday and Wednesday I just had a nagging feeling from the stuffy nose, and the sore throat, which was a little better, but still tickled, causing me to cough a lot. Last night I went to see LOTR:ROTK and had to nurse a large drink to fight the coughing fits. Last night as I was falling asleep I felt really congested but didn't feel like getting up to take anything. I'm paying for that today. Oh, Theraflu rocks. Especially the drowsy type. In conclusion, I have no fancy cures or methods. I'm just glad I'm well enough to go to school.

*whips out every plastic bowl in the house* Hold on two minutes... You guys are making me waste a lot of Press n Seal. But it's for a good cause, right? My press nseal works on every single kind of plastic bowl I have. Thick rim, thin rim, ziploc blue bowls, clear deli plastic bowls, white plastic...I even filled the bowls with water before covering and tried the flip test. It worked. What kind of plastic bowls do you all have? However, regular saran wrap does not stick to plastic, usually, especially the ziploc bowls because of the texture of the bowl, I guess. But press n seal does.

Maybe you were using the wrong side? I just went and tried it on my clear plastic measuring cup with a spout and it worked but when I flipped the wrap over and tried the other side it didn't stick. I too am a fan of this stuff.

I refrigerate most things (except flour, sugar, salt, herbs and spices) but mainly because it's easier for me to find things that way. I'm only 5 feet tall and most of my cupboard space is way above my head. Of course things like rice and pasta and canned food don't get refrigerated.

Do you have access to color sheets at school? A couple groups made those and cut out shapes and placed them on the tray before pouring the chaud froid. I have pictures in an e mail if you would like them. (No idea how to post them here, or if they'd be too big or whatever.)

Any sour candy, a nice cold lipton iced tea, peach if they have it, which they usually don't. A food magazine. Never bought a tabloid.

I wonder, if each of us opened a restaurant in a country whose language was not our own, and had to name the restaurant in that language, what would we name it, and how badly would it be made fun of there?

I always thought New Mother India in Waltham Mass was really good but I haven't been there for a few years and I was just a teenager, so what did I know?

Sid Wainer and Son is located in southeast Massachusetts but I believe they will ship around the world. Their e mail address is sales@sidwainer.com if you would like to e mail them and ask them. They have lots of good stuff. I have not personally dealt with shipping because they are in my town but like they say, they are known world-wide. Good luck.

Oh?? Sounds good to me. Any details available?? I don't know anything more about it but I can try to find out. It tasted very fresh, and unstrained, maybe pureed cranberries sweeted with sugar, and flavored with fresh rosemary which was then removed. Just a guess but I will try to find out. Edit: Ohh, I just read the culantro thread and realized I forgot to mention the hors d'oeuvre which was scallops marinated in sesame oil and soy sauce and then sauteed I guess and served atop a cucumber slice and a sprig of cilantro. I hate cilantro, but I keep trying it whenever I see it because I keep hearing of people developing a taste for it later in life. As of Thanksgiving, I still hate it.

For some reason my mom's friend hadn't planned to make gravy or something because we got down to the last minute and she suddenly exclaimed, "Who knows how to make gravy???" Either that or it was a coy plan to get me to make it, even though I know my mom must know how. She didn't say anything, so I shyly raised my hand. I had never really made gravy before but of course had a good grasp on how to do it, and had lots of juices from the turkey, fresh out of the oven. It came out pretty well. We had stuffing which was cooked inside the turkey, but I've eaten more dangerous things, so I wasn't too worried. My dip went over well, mom had made liverwurst pate, also very good, someone brought skewered sausage, cheese and home made bread-and-butter pickles (interesting), and there was an interesting fresh cranberry-rosemary drink spiked with vodka and garnished with a rosemary sprig. The main meal was the turkey, which I think was the best I'd ever had, mashed potatoes, also really good, spiced tiny pears home made by the same person who made the pickles, green beans with almonds, and pillsbury rolls. It was all really good. Oh, and a cranberry relish that just seemed to be made with finely diced cranberries. It was good though. Dessert was a pecan pie my mom made (excellent) and a interesting pumpkin ice cream. I'm not sure if I liked that or not. A bit off topic, but the next night we went to Il Capriccio in Waltham Mass and had one of the best meals ever. (drool)

I joked about using my mortar and pestle to puree a bit of yogurt and bleu cheese together. Maybe I'll make a batch with the sour cream I bought and try that I keep checking the dip to see if it's "okay". It's a little garlicky maybe but not bad.

I had an inkling of knowledge about the stop and scrape thing, having watched my mom for years with her Cuisinart. It didn't help me in this case. I didn't add any water, because what Fat Guy said might happen was happening. The yogurt was turning watery. I didn't want it too thin, but it might have been ok once I added it to the rest of the yogurt. Oh well. Tips for next time. Those dips sound good, Kenk. I used yogurt to make mine. I strained it for about 5 hours first.

I got anxious and made the spread. It came out like, well, bleu cheese dressing, but thicker. I think it's pretty good though. My blender must suck though, because it certainly didn't puree the cheese and yogurt. I tried mashing it, which didn't really help, so I didn't get that nice base. I dumped a whole lot of cheese in it though so I think it will be flavorful enough. I put in a couple cloves of finely minced garlic. I hope my garlic sensor isn't too low. Hmm..I wonder if my mortar and pestle would have worked?