Marlene

Robin Hood makes an instant blending flour that comes in a shaker can as well as by the bag. I think it is the equivalent of Wondra. It is usually in the same aisle as the other flours. ← That I have. I was actually trying to find it on their website last night, but they don't list it. I use that often for gravies and sauces.

With the Alton Brown recipe. Chill the dough for half an hour. At that point it has firmed up enough to scoop into balls., but it's not so firm as to be unworkable. Scoop the balls and chill again until ready to bake.

Thanks for clearing that part up. I'm not sure that I've seen Wondra here in Ontario though.

I'm very partial to Brie. For after dinner with port, a stilton is great. And I've been known to shave a good parmegiano reggiano wafer thin and eat it on crackers. Balderson's 7 aged 7 year cheddar is a nice tangy cheese that we really like as well. The Whole Foods that recently opened here is very dangerous for me. They have an amazing cheese section, including a cheese aging room.

I doubt if I'll find beef fat between tonight and tomorrow night's dinner. I will search around for it though. Ok, guys, I'll bite. What's an Orly-style batter? And what's Wondra?

Interestingly, some recipes call for cornstarch and some dont. What's the purpose of the cornstarch?

How about tips for raspberry pie filling? I picked up some gorgeous raspberries today, and I'd like to try my hand at a raspberry pie tomorrow.

That sounds about right. There's a great fat cap on it. I'll get a picture of it later and put it up so you can see what I'm talking about

I have two sets of the melamine mixing bowls and I use those the most often. I also have a set of the pyrex nesting bowls, though mine are light brown, and they are about 20 years old. I'd like a set of stainless mixing bowls as well, particularly a really big one for mixing potato salad etc in.

For the record, there were no eggs in the potato salad at the pig pickin. Not because I was adverse to putting them in, but we already had so many devilled eggs, that we didn't think we needed to add eggs to the salad too. I think it was a success.

Now why don't they have online butcher stores like that here in Canada? It's really not fair. I picked up a whole brisket today, except it sort of flat. Looking at snowangel's I don;t think it's supposed to be is it?

I picked up some lovely (at least they look lovely to me) halibut filets today. I will take pictures just as soon as my son arrives with his digital camera tomorrow, since my camera is currently in Honk Kong! The lady was very helpful. She trimmed them and took the skin off the back for me, so I should be all set.

I've got bay leaves, tarragon, parsley, (two kinds), oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage and chives. Can I freeze them all?

Oh yes. In regular and BBQ. I actually like the BBQ Pork Shake and bake for Chops and the Extra Crispy Original Shake and Bake for chicken.

This is all good. I mentioned to my son tonight at music lessons that I was planning on performing this experiment. I'm now under instructions to wait until he arrives on Sunday. So Sunday it shall be. I'll do my best to take pics. Regular corn oil for frying?

Yes but snowangel, you revel in power tools and stuff. I'm going to thirdly oppose halogen, even for under cabinet task lighting. The house I have now has halogen potlights and under cabinet halogen lighting. As Anna says, they generate a ton of heat. So much so, that I almost never turn on my under cabinet task lighting. (They tend to melt the butter if you leave it under them!) IKEA is a great idea for funky and affordable lighting. In fact , this funky lighting might have come from there.

I've used Mrs. Dash on occassion. Shake and Bake. Hershey's chocolate sauce for sundaes chocolate sprinkles for decorating Definately frozen peas and sometimes frozen corn in the winter. And Montreal Steak Spice works on just about everything

I don't eat a lot of fish (read almost never), but the one thing I do enjoy is battered halibut from my local fish and chip place. Being on my own this week, I'm inspired to try replicating this dish in my home, but I'm not quite sure where to start. The batter? What kind? Deep fryer or stovetop frying? And last but not least, my stupid question for the day. Is halibut boneless usually when you buy it? If not, how do I get the bones out and how can I tell whether the fish is fresh? Ok, ok, I'm a fish virgin.

I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do with it, so you should just send it to me to dispose of for you. Use it in braising, for sauteing the veggies etc. Use it definately for frying or roasting potatoes. Melt some in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle a little kosher salt over the potatoes and roast. You'll think you've died and gone to heaven. Definately for gravies.

What??!! Goodbye, written recipes?? Hello, experience ... ← Nevah will I give up my precious recipes. Nevah!

Correction. Dave made the casserole. I just followed instructions. It was good. I'm not a squash lover, but it was a great dish. I will try this for my own family. The potato salad was simplicity itself. A mustard mayonnaise, some green onions, some chopped celery, a little dash of celery seed, and voila. Probably the biggest thing for me this weekend was that I learned to do so much more by touch and taste than I've ever done before.

I can second the losing weight over the last 5 days. I was a little surprised as I expected to gain a couple of pounds! I'm going out for dinner, so I can keep up this other people cooking for me concept. Chinese sounds awful good for tomorrow night though!

They are whole, bone in shoulders. I've 3 racks of beef ribs as well. Since the shoulders cook longer, I guess I should start them first and then add the beef ribs later?

So here's a question. Should you smoke beef and pork together, or should they be done separately. Now that I'm going to be staying put at home finally, I might be able to try this new smoker we have. I've got a couple of pork shoulders and a mess of beef ribs that I'd like to try. I figured I could put the shoulders on top and the ribs on the bottom rack of the Smokey Mountain, but I thought I should check first.

Ditto, we picked up some steaks at Seabra's in Newark yesterday, straight from the airport. It was even better that I didn't have to prep it or cook it. Don made me dinner, while I put my feet up and regaled him with tales of the weekend.