blue_dolphin

I'll throw in with the last 2 posters but also guess that it's the special warm flavor imparted by toasted cumin, rather than just the raw seeds.

I know you said you'd rather char the corn yourself so this is not what you want but I echo heidih's endorsement of the TJ's frozen, charred kernels that you mentioned. I've never served them on their own, but try to keep them on hand to use in my black bean salad and other dishes.

Ditto. I was impressed by range of source material they linked to. Thanks!

Look for a shop that offers tastings so you can sample and choose something that suits your palate and the uses you plan for the product. I have a couple of bottles I brought back from Modena and consider the traditional product to be a one of a kind taste, well worth seeking out. I drizzle a few drops on cheese, strawberries or vanilla ice cream but would never cook with it. I confess to a exhibiting a touch of Allgoneophobia with my last bottle of Extra Vecchio (25 yr) as it brings back memories of that trip - I can still recall the sharp, heady fragrance in the balsamic aging barn we visited. I was in my local We Olive shop last weekend and when the sales person overheard me describing the flavor of the traditional product to a friend, he offered us a tasting that included the traditional, consortium-labeled 12 yr product ($125/100ml) and a few of the "condimento" balsamic vinegars that you describe. Several of them were nice. All were lacking in some way when compared with the traditional balsamic and lacked the complexity of that product. My pick of the condimento versions was in the middle of the price range that we sampled. The most expensive condimento seemed overly thick to me but my friend liked that one so I'd recommend that you seek out a shop that offers the opportunity to taste some options.

I saw "100 Foot Journey" yesterday and enjoyed it. The apparent meteoric career of the main character was implausable as were a number of other aspects of the story and the reverence paid to the fragrance from a box of aging spices was almost absurd, though I accept the later as metaphor for the past the the power of scents to elicit memory. I read the reviews that say, "too sweet, too pretty," and yes, it's that but sometimes that's not a bad thing. I enjoy challenging, thought provoking films but don't mind an hour or two of enjoyable eye candy from time to time. After watching, I was very hungry but couldn't decide whether to go to an Indian restaurant or to have some pâté and lovely champagne. Ended up taking the later route so I'm still wanting some good Indian food!

I've heard good things about Copperleaf restaurant at the Cedarbrook Lodge hotel. I have not been there myself but would be interested in giving it a try. It's quite close to the airport.

Thanks for bringing this up. I bought a pressure cooker, mostly for beans, and gave it one try before concluding that I liked them better my usual way: unsoaked, bring to a boil on the stove, add salt, a garlic cloves, bay leaves and dried chiles, and into the oven @ 250 or so until done. Great beans and it makes for a lovely warm kitchen, not exactly what I want at this time of year! I'll give it another go and hope that finishing them on the stove will make them more like my slow oven method without as much extra heat in the kitchen.

I do this when I bring an ear of corn to work for lunch but just microwave it for 60-90 sec, depending on the size of the ear. I trim off the end at home in the AM and it still works fine.

I use my old Mouli for grating most things but love the Microplane for zesting citrus, especially when I want a lot for limoncello or the like. I also have and like the Microplane nutmeg grater.

When I was a kid, I opened up Oreos, added a layer of potato chip crumbs and reassembled them - mini potato chip sandwiches!

Loved Soba's tutorial! I sometimes make that into a pasta dish by adding the cooked pasta to the partially cooked greens, adding a ladle of pasta-cooking water and letting everything finish cooking together. Yum! I didn't watch the video to see if it's similar but the cafeteria at my workplace has a cook-to-order pasta station where they do what the OP described. Here's what I've observed: The vegetables are cut very, very thin and some do look like they've been blanched in advanceThey don't actually put very much veg into each serving, at least compared to what I would serveIt's just a single serving in the pan - cooking a family-sized portion would take a lot more time and/or heatThey start with the oil and aromatics and then add the veg and let them saute a bit. Then they usually add a bit of sauce, broth or water (depending on the recipe) and cover the pan with another pan to let things steam-cook for a minute or so before adding the cooked pasta and letting things warm through. If I'm making pasta with veggies, I like a lot of veg and I pre-cook them each separately (or sometimes sequentially, adding the firmer ones to the pan first) before tossing everything together.

I like the Bruschetta With Swiss Chard and Smoked Trout from the NYT. I posted a picture a while back on the appetizer thread. The recipe calls for chard but I've used any greens I have handy.

The arugula in this last box did indeed have leaves that were much larger, broader and slightly lighter (though perhaps not as light as it appears in my photo) than anything I've seen in the grocery stores or what I usually get in the box. Not sure if that was due to the unusually hot weather we had recently or if it's a different variety. The flavor was peppery, as usual. Tarentella is the name that this company puts on its fancy tuna belly meat. I thought it might be a common usage, but apparently not. Google books turned up a reference in a book called Cooking in Europe, 1250-1650 to tarantella as "a salted tuna belly, much like prosciutto in texture and even flavor." The product I used isn't that but is a lovely bit of canned tuna.

Thank you, both Soba and Jaymes (and to Orik as well) - I enjoyed this for dinner this evening. I had red potatos and a sweet onion from my CSA box, everything else was in the pantry. I used more than the recipe's teaspoon of capers and just a portion of that huge onion. And I minced the onion, rather than slice it. I was going to add parsley but decided to serve it on some CSA arugula instead. I left the tuna on the side since I wanted to taste the salad by itself. And, honestly, that tarantella is so lovely, I wanted to taste it on its own, too! But it will get mixed into the leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. I'll be curious to see how it tastes after the sitting together overnight. It was at room temp when I ate it and it was delicious with a crisp Sauv Blanc. Thank you!

Yes, these are wonderful books. The step-by-step photos are so helpful when trying something unfamiliar. I often look to them even when I'm using a recipe from another source. I started buying them by subscription but needed to cancel after just a few as it was too expensive for my starving student budget. I've since picked up a few here and there. Here's what I have of the series. Thanks for prompting me to snap this shot - I'll keep it on my phone for used book store trips! The collection is generally very well guarded:

Just this weekend, I tried the recipe that Kenji wrote up in April on Serious Eats. I steamed mine for 12 minutes and they were perfect. Edited to add: See also this The Food Lab: The Hard Truth About Boiled Eggs where he says that a "hot start" is key to easy peeling.

I'm still looking for the Barefoot Malbec. My usual wine stops are TJ's and Total Wine and neither had it. I also checked BevMo and no luck there either. I go down to the Wine House in West LA to look for more unusual/interesting bottles but I don't think Barefoot is their thing. However, I'm continuing my Mabec exploration, prompted by the first round here. I didn't care for the Alamos. To my taste, it didn't have enough body to balance the astringency of the tannins. Obviously this is a young wine but it doesn't encourage me to set aside a few bottles to see how it would age. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the 2010 Cruz Alta Grand Reserve Malbec. I served it with pasta with cranberry beans and greens from Deborah Madison's Savory Way cookbook. It's an earthy dish and the wine had enough body to stand up to the tannins and complement the flavors of the earthy beans, slightly bitter greens and tangy romano cheese. I also tried a Maipe Malbec Rose and enjoyed it with crostini, tapenade and the Spanish Cinco Lanzas "cheese with rosemary" from TJ's (mentioned over here). Lots of fruit but crisp and dry. Very refreshing for a summer afternoon. Obviously not in the same category as a red wine, but hey, I'm exploring the grape ! I've still got two more Argentine Malbecs to try and I want to pick up a French Malbec to compare. I'd like to try one or more of them with the lamb meatballs with spiced tomato sauce from Suzanne Goin's A.O.C Cookbook. I haven't tried that dish before so I'm not sure if it will be a good match or not, but I'll give it a go. Maybe I'll have found a bottle of the Barefoot Malbec by then.

In the oven, on a rack that fits into a baking sheet. Usually at 350°F. Edited to add: More answers in this thread on best ways to cook bacon.

The Alamos Malbec is $8.99 at my local (So Cal) TJ's and about a buck cheaper, $7.97, at Total Wine. Coincidentally, Total Wine's weekend coupons included a few other wines from Argentina. Since I'm unfamiliar with them, I picked up two others in addition to the Alamos. The 2011 Maipe Reserve Malbec was $14.99 (with the $5 off coupon) and the 2010 Flichman Tupungato Malbec blend was also $14.99 ($3 off coupon). I also found a 2010 Cruz Alta Grand Reserve Malbec (not pictured) in my wine rack. I have no recollection of purchasing that one, but I've clearly got some tasting to do ! I will wait until it's cooler to plan a meal around one or two of these but I did try the Alamos last night. Similar to what rotuts said about tasting at warmer temps, I found the tanins and alcohol a sharp contrast to the bright, fruity nose. It was probably around 80 degrees in the house at that point and I suspect it would be much more balanced when served at a more appropriate temp.

Like Lisa said above, a big tannic red really brings out the sweetness of a dark, bitter chocolate. It's a pairing I've enjoyed. When visiting Theo Chocolates in Seattle, I picked up a few of these wine and chocolate pairing kits. The kit includes 4 dark chocolate bars (Classic 85% Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond, Bread & Chocolate and Fig, Fennel & Almond) and mentions Merlot, Syrah, Tempranillo, Cab Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon as varietals to try. I gave the kits as gifts so I can't say how it worked out but I've tried their chocolates and enjoyed them all.

I'll play. The Alamos Torrontés has been in my "house white" rotation for a bit but I haven't tried the Malbec. I stopped by TJ's this evening and they only had the 2013 Malbec, not the 2012. I picked up a bottle to try and will keep an eye out for the 2012 or another 2012 Malbec from Argentina. I probably won't actually cook anything to go with until it cools down a bit - too dang hot at the moment!

Not exactly mimosas, but a variety of prosecco cocktails used to be on the brunch menu at Estate restaurant in Sonoma. When hosting brunch, I like to put out the champagne flutes, a few fruit juices, liqueurs, prosecco, sparkling water and fresh fruit garnishes and let folks mix their own. It allows people to choose as much or little alcohol as they wish. Sometimes, I've printed out a "menu" of recipes and put it on the buffet table.

I agree. For a quick dinner last night, I thawed some cooked, frozen shrimp and warmed them in this sauce, then used it to lightly dress some TJ's lemon pepper pappardelle tossed with steamed broccoli and orange bell pepper strips. Ready in the time it took to cook the pasta, pretty and fresh tasting. I thought it would be lovely on a piece of fish and will try that next.

That's a really impressive kitchen! I'm sure you enjoy fresh local ingredients along the way but I'm also curious about your pantry ingredients. I know you don't have a ton of space but are there pantry items - spices, etc. that you look foward to picking up in specific places on your travels?

I've been playing with grilled cheese lately. Today's breakfast was grilled brie with red bell pepper and ancho chili jam on whole wheat. Just the lightest smear of dijon underneath the jam. A nice bite before heading to the airport this AM.