Marlene

See that's the advantage to having Canadian Thanksgiving. Anything christmasy is fair game after Oct 10th, although my rule is right after Halloween. From mid October to January first, we average one dinner party at home per weekend and one event outside that we have to attend. It's not unusual for us to attend a formal night on Friday and host a dinner on Saturday. Or attend a formal event on Sat and host dinner on Sunday. By the time December comes, that also includes at least one dinner out during the week with guests. After the first of January, things start to slow down as it's full audit season and I become an audit widow. Most of our dinner parties are small usually from 4-8 people with the exception of our upcoming seasonal celebration, which gets catered, and Christmas Eve and New Year's eve, both of which are usually an open house here for neighbours and friends and I usually make the nibbles for those myself. Some of our dinner parties are for close friends and others for various clients and/or partners at Don's firm. Oh and I'm going to throw in a cocktail party for my School council members this year as well. I have been chair or vice chair of this council for almost 10 years and this is my last year, (well, as long as Ryan passes it will be. ) so I'll be looking for nibbles to do for that as well. That will be in the first week of December. We do get a one week break this year as we are cruising at the end of Nov to celebrate both Don and Ryan's birthday, which fall on the same day and both are milestone birthdays this year.

It's been rather unseasonably warm here the past little while. I must admit though to turning to more and more braises as the days pass. Right now, I've got baked beans going in the oven, and a pork shoulder marinating for a braise tomorrow. French Onion soup starts to make a regular appearance in my cooking repetoire this time of year as well. I tend to do roasts all year, the only difference being that I'll start doing them in the oven instead of outdoors on the spit.

My cats would eat your dogs for lunch I have to have the decorations up in time for the party and since we have company this weekend, we had to get it done yesterday. I promise not to turn them on though until the night of the party. I know Don really liked those short ribs and the ribs I got from Whole Foods are spectacular. So maybe: French Onion soup (I'm going to start an onion confit tonight or tomorrow) Braised Short ribs with what? Rice Pilaf maybe? Tossed salad Are the ribs and the soup too much? Maybe just a salad and a rice Pilaf? I'm open for suggestions for dessert. I'd like something light but tasty. I always serve a cheese course after the meal as well. I'll list proposed nibbles in a bit.

Jake, your selflessness is duly noted. Given the fact that this was a banquet type setting and there were several hundred people there, the food was actually pretty decent. No, (with all due modesty) I wouldn't say the prime rib was quite as good as mine but it wasn't overdone. We didn't get to partake of too many of the nibbles being passed around as we were involved in a bunch of official duties, but there were cocktail meatballs, breaded shrimps, smoked salmon, mushrooms in puff pastry, and a few other things. Generally, I'd say they were pretty ordinary. Tasty, but nothing that would blow you away. I can sometimes get ideas for my events from attending these things, but mostly I rely on my cookbooks and of course suggestions and tips from eG. One of the neat things about last night was the martini bar. You could get just about any kind of variation on the "tini" and when they poured it, they put the glass at the bottom of an ice sculpture and poured the contents of the shaker through the sculpture and into the glass. I've got a dinner party for 8 to do this coming weekend. Since I aquired Martha's Hors d'Oeuvres handbook, there are several nibble type things I'd like to try out for the cocktail portion of the evening. And I'm tempted to deviate from my usual prime rib and try the short rib recipe I made a couple of weeks ago, adapted from Bon Appetit Short ribs with port and honey. The following weekend is our big party, (yes, we've chosen caterer #2). I guess I shouldn't mention that as of yesterday, my house is now fully decorated for Christmas?

I can get scars even when I'm not exactly cooking. I recently aquired a brand new scar on my thumb. No, I wasn't chopping or slicing or anything at the time. However, my very sharp hollow edge knife was on the counter and I reached past it to grab something, and my thumb caught the blade. 2 boxes of bandages later, I have lovely barely healed gash that should scar quite nicely.

Not the Thermapen, but this one reads in 8 seconds or less, and is only $23.50 Canadian. ← Now that's interesting. I'll just go check that out. Thanks! The garlic slicer is just the kind of gadget I love. I hate slicing garlic and I've cut myself more times than I can count doing so. I have the exact same strainer and it is a pretty fine mesh. If I need anything finer, I usually line it with some fine cheesecloth as Andisenji suggests and it's golden. I bought one very similar by ChefMate at Target. It has a much finer mesh than my other strainers. I have used it to strain stock, sauces and chili pepper puree and it works great. I think it was about $10 for the big one. You can use the back side of a ladle or I use this little jewel as a "pusher." Sorry . . . Anco doesn't make them anymore. You might find one at a surplus place like TJMaxx or Marshall's. It is called a Garlic Smash. You turn it upside down to use as a pusher through the mesh. If you find some, let us know. ← I want one of those! I use my pestle for smashing garlic at the moment!

Part of my season of food, (as I like to think of it), involves attending a number of events as well as hosting them. We kicked off the season last night by attending a charity ball for our local hospital. This is an event we must attend as Don sits on the board for the hospital. The event begins with cocktails and nibbles, followed by dinner and dancing and both a silent and a live auction. I did not take pictures last night but the menu was as follows: Starter: Tiger shrimps and sea scallops on a bed of Thai noodles topped with a light curry cream sauce Salad: Baby spinach salad with lemon vinagrette dressing and garnished with crisp fresh apple slices and Asiago cheese Dinner: Prime Rib with baby red potatoes accompanied by grilled red and yellow peppers, zucchini and squash. Dessert: White chocolate mousse drizzled with mango and raspberry coulis. Wines served included a Sauvignon Blanc "Triomphe" 2004, Southbrook Winery (Niagara, ON and a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2002, Mount Oakden, Clare Valley, Australia. The bidding continues on the silent auction and as dessert is served, the live auction begins. One of the notable items up for bid in the live auction was a doctor-hosted Roving Dinner. The dinner is hosted by three separate doctors and their wives. The lucky winner and 5 friends are chauffered from house to house in a stretch limo. Included in the dinner are a variety of vintage wines from the doctor's cellars. Winning bid? $14,000. (no, it wasn't me) We were successful however in a few of the silent auction items. Food related included this very cute LCBO Christmas tree.: Tied to the branches are various mini bottles of booze, stockings, (each holding an LCBO gift card) and shooter glasses, swizzle sticks and more. The tree even has miniature lights. And this really nice Martini basket set: Included in this lovely basket are 2 martini glasses, olives, Grey Goose Vodka, crackers, brie, camembert, red pepper jelly, coasters, antipasta and 2 solid silver olive picks. All set out in a walnut serving tray. We haven't decided whether we are going to keep these for ourselves or give them as gifts this year.

There is most certainly an Amazon.ca. Unfortunately, all it sells are books, magazines and DVD's. Go figure.

I have a quick question. I've been reducing pork stock today and it's not quite done. I have to go get ready for a formal event and I can't see myself standing in the kitchen in my ballgown spooning stock into ice cube trays. Can I stop the reduction now, cool it, put it back in the fridge and finish it tomorrow?

um, Andie, when you are looking for a place to get rid of some of your stuff............. I'm looking for a place to get the thermapen in Canada since I'm not sure if they'll ship sharp pointy objects over the border.

Marlene, We are going to On the Twenty with the help of Jeebus from this forum. ← Excellent. Please report on how it was. It's been over a year since I've been!

Thanks to Anna N, I now know I can get ground ancho chili powder at the St. Lawrence Market. Brisket. Now that's something that's hard to find here in Oakville. I can get flats at Whole foods, but I'd like the point. I know now the butcher at Whole Foods will custom cut short ribs for me. Otherwise, all I ever see is flanken style or really horrible looking english style at Sobeys. On the other hand, I found fresh pig tails at Sobeys the other day and used them to make pork stock. There are some pretty good restaurant supply stores in Toronto, but again, not much out this way.

There aren't too many places in Niagara Falls proper that are outstanding. Especially since the 21 restaurant in the old casino has been replaced with a steakhouse of much lesser quality. If you are willing to drive then On the Twenty, Hildebrand Winery or any of the Vintage Inns restaurants in Niagara on the Lake are worth looking into.

I think Daniel's right. We've been hustled. Very nicely done Kathleen!

I don't think this was me.

Amen. I've been wanting a thermapen forever!

the little breadbox things look way too cute. I like the sweet peppered bacon bites and the molasses glazed cocktail ribs. And the icebox crackers. but what the heck is harissa?

We do however have the most amazing bakery in town. Monastary bakery. You can't even get in there on a Sat or especially Sunday after church. I get all my fresh bread there and dinner rolls, when I can't be bothered using my bread machine. As an added bonus, they make some of the best fried chicken I've ever had. Go figure.

Isn't that weird. We have Brunos here and they don't carry it.

Ok, ok. I couldn't wait for Christmas. I ordered Martha's book and it arrived today. Why has this book been off my radar screen?! The pictures are amazing and in just briefly glanceing through it, I see a dozen recipes I want to try. This is going to be perfect for my entertaining season. Thx maggie!

I really really want tomato paste in a tube. I've never seen it at even the "upscale" stores here in Toronto. It just make so much sense to me.

Great idea Jake. Maybe we could expand the discussion to inlcude the GTA? I seldom make my way into the city anymore, but would love suggestions for good Asian markets, butchers etc in or near Oakville.

Good grief. This all sounds very complicated. I'd rather have a chimney!

You could always tell the kiddie that you're afraid of breaking it and would rather display it or keep it safe. Tell her you almost dropped it and at that point you realized you'd be heartbroken if something happened to it because she gave it to you. Tell her the teapot you replace it with won't be nearly as good, but then, you won't care about breaking it either. Then display it in a nice place for a while until she forgets about it.

Your AC s/s saucier, deep saute, and fry pans are all a great bargain right now at Cookware & More. Might share the link with dear hubby. Their cookware pieces are all "seconds" -- but you'd need a microscope to find any flaw. I've bought all my AC at this site and highly recommend it. ← Steven, thanks for the link. I'll definately share it although i'll have to find out if they ship to Canada. Between the exchange rate and shipping costs, it might not be such a deal after all.