sandra

Frozen peas, right out of the bag And ditto on the buttercream, bloviatrix

black pepper ground onto food, i.e. restaurants - fine if it's in the cooking, not fine if it's hovering over my food - it's like a game of dodge ball trying to keep waitrons away form my plate...

The UK version of Maggi: Wheat gluten sauce 65%, salt 10%, disodium5-inosinate and disodium 5-guanylate - no MSG and preservative added. Looks like it's made in Switzerland, the UK label is covering that info I put it into soups and stews as they are cooking or sprinkle it on steaks before cooking - they even have Maggi cubes over here - In Mexico it's used all over, even put it into guacamole sometimes... I'm with the "really like it" camp!

jess, here is my version of menudo - sorry it took so long... Menudo for 10 2.5 lb tripe 1/2 calf's foot 1/3 cup vinegar cold water 2 garlic cloves 1/2 small onion 3 quarts water 1.5 cups hominy (can) red chile puree (see below) green onions, finely chopped cilantro, chopped lemon wedges corn tortillas Cut tripe into 1" squares - place tripe and calf's foot in large bowl and add vinegar and cold water to cover. Let stand 3 hours. Drain and rinse tripe and foot then place in a large pot. Add garlic and onion-pour in water to cover ingredients plus 1-2 inches (about 3 quarts) Add salt to taste. Boil and reduce heat, cover and simmer about 6 hours until tripe is tender - after about 1 hour, and as needed after, skim the foam. Add more water if liquid evaporates. Prepare the red chile puree. During the last hour of cooking, add the puree and the hominy - serve in large bowls with the green onions, cilantro, lime wedges and tortillas. Red Chile Puree 8 california chiles 2/3 cup water remove stems from chiles, break open and rinse out seeds - place in saucepan with water to cover and boil until chiles are soft, about 5 mins. Drain and discard water. Puree the chile, adding enough water to make a thick sauce - pass through sieve - you should have about 1 cup. Does this sound like what you had at the picnic??

OOOhhhhh sounds like you may have been eating a variant of Menudo - tripe stew, great for hangovers! It is most definitely red and gelatinous! What are chitlins? I will post a rec for menudo a bit later...a Salvadoran recipe would be a bit different from a Mexican, but you could get the basics and work your way back to her ingredients maybe, my rec includes 2.5 pounds of tripe and 1/2 a calf's foot, vinegar, onion, garlic, hominy and red chiles puree... sound familiar?

Oh Jaymes, now you're really making me homesick, my two countries in one little post!!! How did you make your stews in Panama?

This lady that made the carne guisada, was she Mexican? Because any country in Latin and South America will have a different version of their beef stew, just as a British stew will differ from an American stew... If it was a green tomatillo and pork concoction made by a Mexican, here is my recipe for Chile Verde: 2 tablespoons lard 3 pounds lean, fresh boneless pork butt, cut into 1 1/2" cubes 2 medium white onions, thinly sliced lengthwise 3 cloves garlic, pressed 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground cumin 3/4 teaspoons ground oregano 8 small tomatillos, husked and finely chopped or 1 cup canned 4 fresh Anaheim chiles, seeded, deveined and finely chopped 1 large tomato, peeled and coarsely chopped 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves 3/4 cup chicken stock 2 teaspoons lime juice Heat the lard in a 6 quart dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add about 1/3 of the pork in a single layer. Cook, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, remove to a plate. Repeat until all the pork has been browned. Remove and discard all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings from the pan. Add onions and garlic and saute over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in salt, cumin and oregano. Add the tomatillos, chiles, tomato and cilantro leaves to the pan and stir in the stock. Heat over high heat and bring to boiling. Return the pork to the pan and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until pork is tender 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Uncover pan, increase heat to medium. Cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, 20-30 minutes longer. Stir in lime juice. To serve, spoon pork over rice and sprinkle with sliced almonds, cilantro leaves, radishes and lime slices. Serves 6

Is your friend sure he bought lamb???? Oh yes - it was at his parent's house in Ireland and every sunday is leg of lamb day - no mistakes, every one else recognized it as lamb - which is odd, b/c I'm usually the first one to recognize even faint herbs and flavourings... I was duped...

Here is a link to another Cardiff string - we liked Da Venditto: Cardiff Chat

At a friend's house we were served what I was sure was a pork roast, I even ate seconds - turned out to be leg of lamb - and I HATE lamb...

Once you get the hang of the cold/shaped polenta, try it for breakfast - slice off a few pieces, or cut a few pieces, heat butter in a fry pan and put in the pieces until crispy - then eat it with plenty of maple syrup all over it - yum

Fried eggs on top and very thick fries on the side

At Vassar we had students from the CIA cooking in the kitchens, and it wasn't great - the first time I saw a shovel of salt going into vat of soup.... There was always some type of strata, some kind of meat in sauce and some starch - never really good. We had a broccoli endowment from a very former student (ex-girl's school, iron in broccoli, get it?) so there was broccoli at every meal, fried, boiled, soup, anything but steamed and crunchy! We also always had a chest of ice cream that was full of these little bricks of ice cream that never melted fully, even after an hour in the sun, there was always a little bit left solid.... odd Oh, and cereal, lots of cereal also - definitely crunchberries! When they added the salad bar in my senior year it was great, it wasn't the best stuff, but at least it had not been cooked to death! For breakfast they did have kaiser rolls with scrambled eggs, cheese and ham - not too bad We also had to take the mealplan and eat our meals at the All Campus Dining Center (AC/DC) - we were not allowed to have fridges, hotplates or even kettles in our rooms, but I always had a fridge that I kept hidden amongst shoes in a closet - There I kept a tube of mayo, cold meats and cheeses, sometimes a little jar of caviar and Carrs crackers... There was also a little fast food place in the Student Center where you could get grilled cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs,e tc... but that you had to pay for, no credits from your meal card... And of course, there was the Acropolis diner off campus - b/c sometimes we drank a few too many long island iced teas and had to get a gyro at 3am...

In the UK eggs are sold at room temp, on shelves, never refrigerated, and most people I know keep them that way at home, and at school always kept in the pantry. I put them in fridge out of habit and b/c they are more safe from me knocking them over.

Blanch, refresh, frittata

Sure, here you go: 3 corns 1 liter milk (cow) 3 eggs (chicken) 1 ounce cornflour 2 ounces sugar 1/2 ounce cinnamon sticks 2 tabs vanilla Heat the milk and cinnamon to boiling twice (?) on low heat. Cook the corns in water and scrape off the kernels. Grind the kernels, but not too finely. Whisk the eggs until ribbons form Mix the milk with the kernels, cornflour, vanilla and sugar Add the eggs mixing well until completely incoporated. Bring the mix to a boil, stirring constantly, cool and place in freezer. Serves 6 This is their instructions as written, they don't mention and ice cream machine, but it seems logical, no? Let me know how it turns out, I will try and dig up a recipe also

I never made it, but used to eat loads of it as kid in Mexico... La Danesa, the ice cream chain, used to have the best.. ummmmm helado de elote.....

I have just finished the Grande Diplome program at Le Cordon Bleu in London - I can highly recommend it. I know that in Paris the Basic and Intermediate level demonstartions are presented in French with an English translator, and the Superior level is all in French... loufood can fill you in more... If you do a search for Cordon Bleu on this site, you will find several strings where this type of school is discussed and you can get a better idea of what some of the opinions are, both pro and con...

Well, we were taught that almost anything sets with enough gelatine, sometimes you have to cook it first, like pineapple, papaya, whatever - Kiwi mousse, I piped it into stemmed glasses with chopped strawberries halfway up and then again on top - you can macerate the strawberries if you like - You could line a ring mold with a strip of sponge cake and then fill to the top with the mousse and then put a kiwi jelly on top - more fancy... you could also just cut a slice of pound cake and drop a dollop on top. You could also sweeten the kiwi puree and serve it as a sauce withice cream...

Also, from Waitrose Food Illustrated I just got: Kiwi Ice Cream let me know if you want the recipe...

Here's a recipe I have made and it sets fine... kiwi mousse I can translate if you need it... I don't know about jam, that I have never made, but I have seen it in jars...

pavlova kiwi mousse kiwi jam?

Serve it with fresh figs instead of tomatoes, drizzle with evoo and salt (no pepper)... Serve it with prosciutto... Also in little cubes with olives... Pasta with tomato sauce, aubergines and mozzarella... Pasta al telefono - tomato sauce and loads of mozzarella - add it in while pasta and sauce a very hot, so that it melts and gets stringy like a telephone wire...

Well, as far as I am concerned, in this country, with this humidity, you need a/c all year long - besides, I have been hearing this argument for 8 years we have lived here, and every year there is at least 2 months of heat if not stiffling heat, not a short period!! But I will leave this rant here... will start new thread ASAP, good idea... The restos were only busy on the outside tables, mind you, inside they were like mausoleums, very hot and stuffy mausoleums! I knew what you meant about Pizza Exp - but at that point it was either that or dinner at the Holiday Inn (eurg) - On our walk home we passed by La Lupa, and despite your comments, it probably would have been better than PizzExp. Oh well, never mind, there is always the Boat Show in September....

Ouch ouch and triple ouch... we did not manage to have a single good meal the whole weekend... Friday night, we headed off to Oxford Street, lots of nice little places but it was so unbearably hot, sitting outside was a requirement, not an option, and all restos were full except for Pizza Express, so in we go, nice table outside, 2 matching Ferraris parked on the street, with occupants in tables next to us... Possibly the worst Pizza Express in the UK... sour sauce, very little cheese...whatever, no details needed. The next day at Cowes I had a quick sandwich at a pub with a terrace overlooking the Solent while husband sailed, and then I spent a good hour looking for a place for dinner - you know nice terrace, some seafood,, some wine... Nothing doing... all I could find were grotty pubs and tiny little restos without a water view and not even a hint of outside or even breezy space... Again, it was impossible to eat inside due to the heat, so back on the ferry to Southampton... That morning we had seen Margarita's on our way to the ferry, they had a table outside, facing the charming parking lot, but hey, it was outside!! Mediocre Italian food, not horrible, not fabulous... at this point we were hungry, tired, and possibly sun-stroked.... OH, and the rooms at the Holiday Inn, no air conditioning... 2 hellish nights without sleep... What is it about this country and A/C?!?!?!? Any of the little places on Oxford Street and even Cowes would have been acceptable had there been a/c! And even when a place does have a/c, like the lobby of the Holiday Inn, the doors are kept open, allowing all the cool air to refresh the gardens, presumably?? Why, why, why???? Anyway... you all were right... next time, we're going to that Poussin (or in winter!)