ElsieD

Probably your pot retains more heat. Ever try taking the temperature of the water in each pan when you take the eggs out?

At this point I can only state with certainty that I will be arriving sometime on Friday. Since I don't know what time, please do not count on me for the Buffalo trip. This also means that I would not be attending the dinner in Buffalo. However, if dinner is on the Canadian side, I'm pretty sure I can make it and would be happy with Italian. I'll also happily partake of a roast beef dinner on Saturday. If you are looking at an alternate protein, fish is fine with me. I'm really looking forward to this...... Hope to learn lots!

I recently spotted a bottle of yuzu juice and on impulse, I bought it. Now I'm sitting here wondering what to do with it. It is a product of Japan and the label reads "All natural, not from concentrate, 100% pure juice". Elsewhere it says "Yakami Orchard 100% pure yuzu juice". Can I use it in place of other citrus juices in equal quantities in say, a custard? Salad dressings? Any help appreciated.

Thanks for the head's up. I'll have to check to see if my Costco has them. FWIW, I tried freezing whole lemons once - not a good idea. I should think the juice would freeze all right though - maybe in ice cube trays?

Here is one version - I'm sure there are others out there, but it will give you the general idea. FRIENDSHIP CAKE Day 1: In a gallon jar put 1 ½ cups starter, 2 cups sugar, 1 large tin of cubed peaches with juice. Stir daily for 10 days. Day 10: Add 2 cups sugar & a large tin of crushed or chunk pineapple with its juice. Stir daily for 10 days. Day 20 Add 2 cups sugar & 12 oz. Of maraschino cherries, halved and well drained. Do not add juice. Stir daily for 10 days. Per cake: 1 box yellow or white cake mix 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix 1 ½ cups drained fruit 1 cup chopped nuts or raisins 4 eggs Mix well and bake in greased & floured bundt pan in a 300 oven for about an hour. Note: The started is the liquid from the mixture after day 30.

Darienne, there is a Mexican store within walking distance of where I live. If there is anything i can pick up for you and bring with me, I'd be happy to do so.

Skor bits.

We too are fond of meatloaf and after a meatloaf/corn/spud meal the rest of the meatloaf is used up in sandwiches. We also make hamburgers using ground chuck. We buy chuck roasts at a Chinese grocery store and they grind them for us. Heaven on a plate, those burgs. We also like mac & cheese and baked beans. Not sure if that qualifies as diner food, though.

I was recently at a cooking demo and they cooked scallops on a salt block. The chef said he just scrapes the block clean and re-uses it, although after a while it does need to be replaced.

http://www.petfriendly.ca/rentals.php?id=5&page=&city=Niagara+on+the+Lake Darienne, try this link. I see there is a Best Western in Niagara Falls that is pet friendly. Hope this helps. Elsie

So here is a caution - I too suffer from GERD on occasion and have for years. I take omeprazole whenever I feel an attack coming on. A year and a half ago I felt that old, familiar feeling starting up. So, I took an omeprazole. And waited. And, nothing improved. Then I got nauseous. A bit later I felt pain in my throat on the right side and when it travelled to my jaw I knew I was in trouble. Long story short - I was having a heart attack. The paramedics (wonderful people) came and carted me off and I spent a week at our friendly heart institute being tested, monitored, etc. I am now extremely vigilant when my GERD sysmtoms act up again. Fortunately, it doesn't happen often.

I keep Cuisine at Home (I get the annual bound edition every year) and the CI Annuals. The mags we get are C@H, CI, Fine Cooking (I have the DVD Archives), Canadian Living and Bon Appetit. The magazines all get passed on.

Fascinating. http://www.seriouseats.com/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=30&limit=20&search=vadouvan&sa.x=33&sa.y=13 This is where I first read about it. So are you saying it's not worth trying? I mean, I use purchased curry pastes also but I recognize that someone who makes their curry paste from scratch will have a different end product than what I buy in a jar. However, that doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the dish. Thank you for your posts. I have read through them and your references and found them very interesting.

I have a bottle of curry ketchup in the fridge. The brand name is Hela and the label reads "Curry Kruiden Ketchup." This is a brand that Dutch grocery stores carry. Kruiden simply means spice. I use it as a condiment for sausage rolls. I also like it with mac & cheese. It tastes a lot like regular ketchup with curry in it.

Thank you for responding. I will check them out.

Yes!!! It is vadouvan. Now that I have the spelling, I was able to find the original article which includes info on where to buy this. I also intend to check out the references in your posts. They will, no doubt, enlighten me. Oddly, I went to an Indian grocery store back when I first read about this ingredient and they claimed never to have heard of it. Perhaps it is not used in India itself? Many, many thanks for your help.

I recently read an article about food trends for 2011. One item was a spice blend called (something like) vendaudam??? It is an Indian spice mix that has, as one of it's components, onion. Apparently, it is the next spice that chefs will be using a lot of this year. (Or so the article said.) I actually found a place that sells it but then........I lost the article. To make matters worse, I can't remember where I got the article or the exact name of the spice. I have spent a lot of internet time trying to track this down but have not have any luck. All I could find was vendhayam and vengayam and both referred to onion and nothing else. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I used to like Carnation Instant Breakfast, but only the chocolate one.

Eel. And that horrible Kraft "parmesan" cheese that comes in that green can. I worked in a place where the receptionist always seemed to microwave a frozen fish lunch. Then she would sprinkle that "cheese" on it and zap it some more. The gag factor was really high.

One of the things I would really like to learn is how to use coloured cocoa butter. I love the look of chocolates that have different colours. Can this be part of the course? i would likely not be going to Buffalo but would be joining folks in the evening.

As this will be my first conference, I'm not familiar with the usual itinerary. When we book our room, do we book for check-out on Sunday? Thanks.

Kerry, I agree with you but only on the out-of-town names. I have heard of some, but not all. I am, however, familiar with all of the Ottawa chefs and know some of them. I was talking to Chef Blackie and he was saying that this is the first time they have tried this and they plan on building on it to attract more "name' chefs in the future, as the event becomes (hopefully) more well known. In any event, I hope to pick up some pointers during the day and the eats in the evening look good. Foodietopo, Martin Picard was to have been the chef at a Winterlude event. As you probably know, he is well-known for his use of foie gras. That event, 450 tickets I believe, sold out very, very quickly. Then the foie gras protesters got wind of it and did what they do best - protested. The NCC, (a government body) who were planning the event, told him he couldn't use foie gras. So he said "sayonara". They are now bringing in Michael Smith but a number of people have requested, and received, refunds. We go to Marche Jean Talon several times a year so I will have to see if we can visit Mathieu Cloutier Kitchen Gallery. Thanks for the tip.

http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/whatson/event.cfm?ID=6533 Is anyone going to this event tomorrow?

I'm becoming more and more interested in cooking with grains. Right now I use chia, millet, buckwheat and quinoa but am interested in trying others. Does anyone know of a comprehensive book that goes into detail about the different grains available and also has some recipes to give me some idea as to how to cook them? Thank you.

I'm happy with anything except rabbit. I never did get over the Easter Bunny syndrome. Beef, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, lamb, it's all fine with me.