blue_dolphin

Last year, I made a few bottles of lime cordial to use up the last of my limes. It's not something I used before, but I've found it very handy to have on hand. I want to make some lime marmalade this year. I want to make one batch from the green limes and another after they ripen fully and turn yellow so I can compare them. I was planning to use the recipe for fine shred lime marmalade from "Saving the Season." I also make salt preserved limes. I follow a recipe for preserved lemons and use them the same way. I usually do this with the limes that have turned yellow, haven't tried it with the younger green ones. And of course, popsicles!

LAX McD's are gone. ORD is still a haven for the golden arches, though I'll always go for a Bayless torta if I've got the time to wait for it.

I've got an early AM flight tomorrow and am bemoaning the disappearance of the golden arches from several airports. I don't go to McDonalds much but I used to look forward to an Egg McMuffin when an early flight dragged me to the airport in the wee hours. It seems that more and more airports are replacing the fast food outlets with other sorts of eateries. Now, I like my Vino Volo or a nice spot for dinner when my flight's delayed but those crack-o-dawn Egg McMuffins were so easy to order and so restorative. When they closed the terminal 7 McD's at LAX, I just allowed a little extra time for the walkway to terminal 6 and the secret tunnel to terminal 5. Now, that one is gone too. Worse, I get off that dreaded no-sleep red-eye in Newark with a brain that thinks it's 2 AM and puzzle over a Bahn Mi menu?? I cannot. Whining over. Maybe I'll leave the house early enough to get my fix in some dodgy neighborhood on the way to the airport…...

Maybe the ultrasonic bath would work to get the goo off That's what I had for dessert last night - limoncello over vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm!

This isn't so much a recipe as a memory of one of my mother's most frequently made desserts - with a last name towards the end of the alphabet, she was often assigned that course for church suppers, funerals, neighbors in need of meal assistance. This is her fruit torte: Mom received this pan (though I think her pan was 12 inches rather than 11) along with the instructions for an obsttorte, a German fruit tart with a sponge cake base as a wedding gift from a SIL. She gradually adapted it to certain convenience foods (Jiffy cake mix and Jello instant pudding) so she was able to whip one up at the first hint of the need for a dessert donation. The varieties were endless - chocolate cake and pudding with cherries; spice cake, vanilla pudding and apple pie filling but the best were always in the summer with fresh berries and whipped cream. It was always very well received. There weren't any artisan bakeries around so it looked plenty fancy among the plates of brownies and oatmeal cookies that were more the norm. I may need to hunt down that pan and make one next time I'm asked to supply a dessert!

Here are some thoughts for sharing those great handwritten recipes with the family: Scan or photograph them and have them printed on fabric that can be stitched into kitchen towels - I intended to do this years ago when I first read it and haven't gotten around to it yet. Since my mom passed away this year, I think it's a must-do for family Christmas gifts this year. Incorporate them into a family photo cookbook. This can be a significant effort but the software and services available today offer amazing flexibility and can produce a lovely product. I have a friend with a large family who put together one of these and it's part cookbook, part family photo album and part memory collection - the focus was recipes from their childhood that this family of 8 continue to make for their own families. The organizer had to do a lot of prodding to get everyone to submit their photos and recipes but the result was spectacular, including recipes, photos of the families cooking together and admiring and eating those dishes - I would BUY that cookbook! If a whole cookbook is too daunting, consider a calendar - only 12 pages! Again, the photo software and services have great options. I made one a couple of years ago. All the family birthdays and anniversaries with little photos on the appropriate days of the calendar grid and one recipe per month. In some cases, I was able to use a photo or scan of the old card to provide the recipe. In other cases I used the old handwritten recipe as a background and overlaid it with the printed recipe and photos.

I just "invested" in a first bottle of yellow chartreuse as well. I've been annoyed that the green version is stocked locally in both 750 and 375 ml sizes but the yellow is only available in the full size so I had to pony up the big bucks . I look forward to hearing what you do with it.

I adore fresh figs and gorgonzola! I could eat that for breakfast, lunch or dinner…..with a nice red wine…..or for dessert with a glass of port….. mmmmmmmm!

cyalexa & ElsieD, I'm with you on coveting these things. Okanagancook is making it ever harder to resist with that great spreadsheet and more great examples of its use. I haunt this thread in hopes of learning about a good deal or price cut. Someday……my deal will come !

pastryani, I'm not sure where in the world you are located or whether you need full bottles or can get away with the little airline-sized samplers but here's a brandy/cognac recommendation if you are in the US. Paul Masson Brandy Grande Amber VSOP is an oak aged blend of California brandy and French cognac that I find nice. It sells for $10.99/750 ml bottle in my area. It's tasty enough to use even in applications where it won't get cooked to death as in the caramel.

I'm on the fence about this one. I love the Food Lab pieces and it would have been a no brainer to pre-order sight unseen if I actually had a job these days but I don't and am trying to economize. This review of the book from the NY Times, In ‘The Food Lab,’ the Science of Home Cooking, pointed out that the book obviously lacks Kenji's interaction with readers via the the online comments that are one of my favorite parts of his Food Lab posts. I think it would be worth having this information collected in a book but will hold out until I can get my hands on a copy to leaf through.

I find it best to keep my gear packed in its own traveling case and ready to go….. I wear it whenever reading this thread. (I'm sure this post should be deleted for silliness but I couldn't resist

Agreed. I thought it was well done and watchable. The tone was light but not silly. He may have raised an eyebrow or wrinkled his nose on occasion but he wasn't playing a putz and did a nice job of using local food/dining as a window into some aspects of the culture. I'll watch again. It appears that the full Tokyo episode that aired on Monday is available to stream from the PBS site in case anyone wants to take a look: <http://video.pbs.org/video/2365538968/> Edited to add: just scroll down below the series preview window to access the full episode.

This sounds like it will be a fabulous cook's kitchen! I can't quite get my bearings in the photos. At some point, could you provide some orientation to the photos vs the "before" photos in the kitchen photos thread? A sketch of a before and after floor plan would be great but I don't want to make work for you. A photo from the same vantage point would do the trick as well. Thank you for taking us through this process.

I'm looking forward to hitting the road with Smithy, too - where ever we go, there is sure to be something good to eat!

Form Is Content may be on to something WRT to the website having trouble, though local access may play a role, too. I followed your link and was unable to get the content to stream. No error messages, just no go. I noticed (upper left above the video window) the site identified me with KOCE, which will air the first episode tonight. I clicked on "change station" and switched to KLCS (not airing this program at all) and the video played fine. I figured local access must be the ruling factor. Then I went back through your link, changed my station back to KOCE and was able to stream the second episode with no problem, so it would seem my initial conclusion may be incorrect. This is all on an iMac w/Safari. Haven't tried another browser to see if resetting the local station is important. Edited to add that I was able to view the 2 current episodes on my iPad via your link to the PBS website and via the KQED site so perhaps the initial trouble was just a glitch.

PBS is rolling out a 6 part food/travel series called "I'll have what Phil's having," with TV producer and restaurant investor Phil Rosenthal. In an LA Times blurb penned by food writer Russ Parsons, Rosenthal says, ""I'm not an adventurer, but I do like to travel and eat. I hope people will watch me and say, 'If that putz can go out and try something new, maybe I can too." Rosenthal goes into more detail about his idea for the show in this interview in the LA Weekly: "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND CREATOR DISHES ON HIS NEW FOOD SHOW" The idea of a guy with that much food and travel experience playing a "putz" sounds like silly TV but after reading the LA Weekly interview, I'll give it a look. It starts tonight in my area.

Agreed on the downhill slide of the Girl Scout Thin Mints. Two possible factors: The scouts use two bakeries and the products are somewhat different. This LA Times piece has a graphic that compares the products and a map that shows who gets which cookies. That piece also includes a video of a taste test between the two versions and I really, really wanted to give the tasters a nice cold glass of milk! Second factor: Both bakeries recently changed their Thin Mints to be vegan. Maybe they should be served with a cold glass of almond milk now????? This comment may be more appropriate to the Girl Scout cookies thread, but I figured this discussion was current. Feel free to move it.

I have been looking for the key lime Oreos that caroled mentioned upthread but no luck so far. Ditto on the red velvet Oreos - I know they were out over the summer and I suspect they are long gone. As far as limited-time flavors, I spotted caramel apple, pumpkin spice (vanilla cookie with flavored filling), brownie batter and the Halloween variety with filling that's orange but not flavored differently. I think I tried these last year, but went for a bag of the caramel apple: There's a little caramel flavor in the brown icing, a little "artificial green apple/Jolly Rancher" flavor in the green icing. The cookie part seemed a bit stale. Two was enough. Have to figure out how to get rid of the rest of the bag now that I can't just leave them in the break room at work!

Cherry lime pops: Nothing terribly novel here. I used a cup and a half of tart cherry juice leftover from the Manhattan pops above, 2/3 cup fresh lime juice, 2 oz homemade limecello and a bit of simple syrup to sweeten. They are tart, sweet and refreshing. And a pretty pink!

My favorites have all been mentioned by others but I'll cast my vote for them, too: Biscoff/Trader Joe's SpeculoosTrader Joe's Triple Ginger SnapsWalker's Shortbread

After watching the first 2 episodes of season 4 of The Mind of a Chef, featuring Gabrielle Hamilton, I put her memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef on my ebook hold list at the library. I'm looking forward to reading it when it lands in my inbox.

Yes, the Ravenswood I got at my TJs is exactly the same bottle as yours. The Charles Shaw stuff is now up to $2.49 here. The Ravenswood is $8.99 at my local Total Wine and the same at BevMo (with a ClubBev card, otherwise $12.99). Edited to add that I had to look up the Charles Shaw price on the website. I do not partake of it myself. I have said this before here: I do not think there is anything "bad" about the Charles Shaw products. They fit the definition of wine. I have not found off tastes or flavors but I find them completely uninteresting. There is no charm, nothing that makes me want to buy another bottle or try it with another meal.

Interesting. I just bought a bottle of the Ravenswood and one of Cline (their regular zin, not the "Ancient Vines" label). Both were $7.99.

That's exactly where I was going with my peach and jalapeño jam, although since I live in So Cal, I had to serve a little pot of jam with some goat cheese instead!