LizD518

I would look at the options of where to shop. Ethnic grocery stores often have much lower overhead so the prices are lower - especially on produce. I shop at a large local "Farmer's Market" which is really more of a Mexican and Asian grocery store with the emphasis on produce. The produce is not of true farmer's market quality, to be sure, but as long as I am careful about not over-buying and use what I buy, I get great deals. Plus I have both my regular produce and all the harder to find items all in one place. I also make all my own pasta sauce & pesto (both freeze great), buy larger packages of meat & cheaper cuts like chicken thighs & freeze those in indiv. portions. Mainly, I try and stay away from processed, pre-packaged foods.

I'd start with the food cost of the menu. Then, add labor and overhead and approximately 5-10% profit. Is this for a specific function, or are you looking at a formula for an ongoing business? The above formula is a simplified form of most operating budgets.

Everything about this blog makes me want to visit Prauge! The food is making me swoon and the setting is stunning. One thing I don't like about where I live is that there isn't a lot of pedestrian traffic. I live in an apartment and there is no place nearby to go sit outside and relax and just watch the world go by. I envy that about a lot of Eurpoean cities that seem to have that cafe culture.

Thanks for the input - Maybe Tria would be better for a night out with the girls!

These all look so good - I'll have to be making more trips to Philly. Someone at work also mentioned Tria, which may be where we end up...Any opinions?

This seems like the best thread to look in for recommendations for dinner with my brother this Saturday. We are meeting in Philly because he lives in North Jersey and I live in Wilmington. He likes steak and wine, I like ethnic foods and beer. We are both in our early 30s and will probably just want to hang around and drink and chat after dinner. If there is a baseball game going on that would be a plus (I won't dare hope for a Red Sox game! ) I'm going to look into the suggestions above, but I don't know anything about them. Any more details or other suggestions are welcome. Oh yeah, Center City is probably best so we don't get lost!

What do you guys think will be the result of using Splenda or Splenda for Baking on the texture? I know sugar helps depress the freezing point - do you think it would be too hard with the Splenda?

Pringle, whatever happened with the Splenda Marshmallows - or did I miss the follow-up?

Thanks all for the suggestions / info. I hope to get down to DC in the next month or so to look around. It looks like I won't be moving for at leat a year, although my brother will be relocating in July. Either way, having an idea where to start helps a lot!

For any of you familiar with TWOP (Television Without Pity), the founder, Sars, and one of the formaer recappers, Keckler (used to recap Top Chef) are conducting a Cheese Bracket in honor of March Madness... Tomato Nation NCheeseAA Homepage Fun for cheese lovers!

I love looking at all the pictures here - especially the things I would normally never make. It is like like going to a restaurant with friends and coveting what they order... except I never get a bite! Dinner tonight was smoked chicken thighs and a sweet and sour stirfy with napa cabbage, carrots, red onion and baby corn. I am proud of myself for not using a recipe on the veggies - one of my food resolutions for this year! Oh yeah, and I served it over basmati rice!

Bumping this up because It is starting to get a bit warmer here in DE - I am looking forward to Lemonade weather. I love this with green tea - I get it at Starbucks with no extra sweetener, even though the lemonade is "lemonade concentrate" and might be too tart on its own, I like a tart drink. I have to start experimenting so I can make my own for the summer...

Has anybody been here? www.crystalquail.com I actually grew up not three miles from here, and went to grade school with the daughters of this family. But that was back in the days before I knew anything about food. We had heard that the family ran a gourmet restaurant from their rustic farmhouse, but it certainly wasn't the type of place my family, or event just my parents would be going to eat at. Now that I am older, and horizens have expanded, I am thinking it might be a nice place to take my parents for dinner the next time I am home.

I got the book and I just made my second batch tonight. Last week I made the Chocolate Sorbet witch was lovely. My only problem was that I didn't blend the mix so it came out a bit grainy. It was just me though, so not biggie. Tonight I made the mango sorbet. Yum. I decided to add about a half cup of toasted shredded coconut at the last minute and it worked really well. I hadn't used my ice cream maker in about a year because I had thought it just didn't work well enough, but I agree with whoever it was above who said that it is just the recipes that weren't working. I have noticed the difference immedately. Other recipes have formed a large amount of frozen solids on the outside and soft ice cream in the center of the canister. They usually froze into a solid brick after an hour in the freezer. These are much more evenly frozen when I take them out of the canister and don't freeze as solid in the freezer. If this keeps up I will never buy ice cream again!

You may call it trashy, but I call it strangely compelling! I MUST make it! ← I warn you - You may never have another family gathering without one!! And Gfron1 - that cake looks like it came out amazing!

Okay, I have one that has been bugging me for a while now. Sous Vide - I hear it talked about all the time as being a very precise method of cooking (okay, mostly by Alton in Iron Chef commentary). But...how is it so precise? I assume that you set the water at the same temperature that you want the final product to be cooked to - but how is the internal temperature of the item measured so you know it is cooked through to that temp? If I drop a chicken breast in, the outside is going to start cooking first, albeit slower and gentler than other cooking methods, so how do I know when the inside is done? I think I am missing something here...

I have a totally trashy recipe that uses graham crackers - but I think you could substitute McV's. I think you would use the ones without the milk chocolate though. Ice Box Cake - this recipe is totally scalable to however much you want to make. First - make some milk chocolate flavored whipped cream. REAL whipped cream only. My family usually uses hershey's chocolate syrup, but I am sure there are other, better tasting products out there! Next, layer the graham crackers or McV's with the whipped cream, standing the cookies on edge like this: lllllllll. Then cover the entire outside with additional whipped cream. Refridgerate overnight. You need to be very generous with the whipped cream so that it will soak into the crackers or cookies and kind of merge into one densely layered torte. Trashy, but very good - it is a tradition at every holiday gathering in my family!

I have to add that I am not someone blessed with a super-nuanced palate. I often read posts here that describe the flavors of this or that and I am jelous because I don't normally have the ability to detect that depth of flavor. I think that is why I am attracted to very full-flavored cuisines such as Thai, Indian, and Mexican and rarely reach for the simpler preparations of traditional American food. I try to work at it by not over-salting, but by using salt wisely, and by trying to keep some preparations more simple. But I also wonder if the fact that I have always been susceptible to sinus infections and that I feel like I have very little sense of smell are also connected to the problem as well. If anyone comes up with a way to enhance a person's tastebuds, other than salt, I am all ears!

I just made the dough for the World Peace Cookies and it is in the fridge now, resting. I have read all the great reviews on this thread and have wanted to try them. But I have a question... I copied the recipe from my friend's copy of the book and didn't notice that it doesn't have eggs. Please tell me that I didn't miss them when I copied the recipe!! The dough was a bit crumbly, but seemed like it should hold together after some rest time. Please let me know if I made a mistake - and if I can still fix it!

That's so funny! I made the Saled Butter Caramel recipe from David's website this weekend because I was at Jeni's at the North Market when I was in Columbus last week and this is what I had! I had to see if I could make it as well. I loved the homemade version, but I did have a little trouble with it firming up, both when I churned it and in the freezer. The ice cream itself firmed up enough in the freezer, but it was loose enough that when the praline bits melted, it all leaked to the bottom of the container and made a gooey layer of caramel sauce on the bottom. Still tasted awesome though. Next time I might decrease the amount of sugar for the caramel by half a cup and see what happens After reading this entire thread I HAVE to buy this book soon!

I hope this isn't too off-topic. If so, please PM me with any responses... My brother and I are going to be relocating to DC in the next few months and are starting to search for homes in the area. I thought I would take a novel approach and ask about the neighborhoods by thier restaurant make-up. He will be working at the Pentagon and ideally wants a walking or Metro commute! Budget for a for a house / condo will probably by $250k to $300k. I am thinking Arlington, Alexandria and South West, near the new Nationals Stadium are the most likely places that we will look in for homes. To bring it back to food...some of things we will be looking for are local cheap but good ethnic eats (Indian, Mexican, Thai) for take-out as well as casual fun places to meet friends and bring family. Don't need to be near places with the trendiest restaurants and bars, just "local" places, if that makes sense. Even more important are grocery stores. I do a lot of shopping at my asian grocery while he shops at Whole Foods almost exclusively. A nice main grocery store (or Whole Foods / Wegmans, similar) as well as access to ethnic markets would be ideal. Any insights to good / bad areas would be greatly appreciated!

Quoting my own post, but oh well... I'm back from two weeks of living in a hotel and am eager to cook again. None of the fresh veggies survived, of course, so I've picked up a few things and I am ready to get started. First up: Chicken corn chowder with the frozen thigh meat and frozen corn Chicken & lentil stew with the green lentils and chicken thigh meat. Small batches of those should get me through the next week!

I'm back home finally. Columbus is pleasant and all, but it is good to be home. I think I sampled a wide variety of what Columbus had to offer, considering the time and my location. Here's my thoughts... Old Bag O' Nails Pub, Worthington: Nice atmosphere, definately see that this is a good local hang out. Fish fry dinner was very good, although I am not really a fan of steak fries and these didn't do anything to change that. But the fish was excellent, hot, crispy, flaky...yum. Banana Leaf Indian Restaurant: Tiny little place in a strip mall on Bethel Road, vegetarian. Offers a very good value on the buffet and the owners were very solicitous. The food had good flavor, although the vegetables in the curries were more cooked that I would prefer. The menu is more Southern Indian than the typical Indian Restaurant and they do a lot of the chaat that I haven't really seen in most Northern Indian restaurants. Pig Iron BBQ: Owned by the same people as Old Bag O' Nails. The baby back ribs were superb! They come with a Kansas City style sauce - on it's own it was a little sweet for me, but they don't use so much that it overpowers the meat, so it worked. The meat was tender, not mushy, and you could taste all the flavors: smoke, sauce and "porkiness". Unfortunately, the sides I had, southern-style green beans and mac & cheese, were no where near the quality of the meat. SushiKo: Off East Campus View Blvd, next to the Marcus Crosswoods UltraScreen Cinema. Small (50 seats?) local Japanese restaurant near my hotel. The owner was behind the sushi bar and both he and the two other sushi chefs were non-stop the entire time I was in there. Several regulars were there and seemed to know the owner well. Prices were Very reasonable: $34 + tip for two beers, ebi shumai dumplings, two pieces nigiri and two maki rolls. North Market: Excellent Bratwurst at the hot dog place and Jeni's ice cream was awesome. Betty's Fine Food and Drink, High Street, Short North: Breakfast Quesadilla for brunch on Sunday. Cute little place, friendly service and looks like it would be a fun place to hang out for cocktails as well. Quesadilla was very good, with eggs, chicken, avocado and salsa & sour cream. Bahn Thai, Henderson Road: Ok Thai food - needed more basil in the basil chicken. Jimmy Johns Sandwich Shop: Not a chain I was familiar with. Bread wasn't bad but the they need to visit a real Philly hoagie shop. Elevator Brewhaus, Downtown: Good IPA, Very good burger. Probably vey busy for happy hour, but it was fairly quiet when I got there around 7pm and the bar only got quieter. Seven Stars at the Worthington Inn: Very good. Wild Mushroom Risotto starter - delishious although the portion was almost entree sized. Lamb Chops with Cassoulet beans and glazed baby carrots - lamb was perfectly cooked, beans had too much thyme, carrots were very nice. Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream and Grilled Pineapple Sorbet. The Cake was a little dry, but the cream cheese frostig was the best I ever had - I thought that was the brown butter cream. In reflection the BB Cream was a little weird - it tasted like pumpkin! The Grilled Pineapple sorbet was amazing - I need to try and make some. Wow - this is a long post! I hope some visitors and Columbus locals find it all useful!

Love the Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos and Thin Mints the best. Must find some soon... I was a Girl Scount for eleven years, Mom was my troop leader and the town coordinator of all things Girl Scout... The money raised on cookie sales paid for my two weeks of overnight camp one year (I sold over 1000 boxes going door-to door and having Dad take the order form to work). In other years I didn't quite pay for the whole thing, but I got at least a good portion paid for. For the troop, we would raise money for camping trips and equipment. For the council-level stuff, the proceeds go towards keeping operating costs lower so that troops can basically support themselves and don't have to contribute much in fees towards the council. Plus, they help support programs like the camp and Wider Opportunities - specialized trips like three weeks of horseback riding I did in the Snake River area of Idaho.

I, like Helen, also use a small set of plastic drawers. I think I got them in the office section of a Target or Walmart. The set I have holds6-8 1/2 cup jars (spice islands, or other supermarket brands), One drawer holds about 16 1/4 jars from Penzey's and the final one has things I have bought by the bag from Penzeys or other places. There are still a few odds and ends floating around , but not enough to buy another set of drawers. Pretty much like this: Plastic Storage Drawers