Marlene

That's really how we felt about it on our last trip to Vegas at the beginning of Dec. Next time we're going to try the Bellagio buffet.

Are there still cigar bars and the like? I mean after all, it's damn cold in NY in February I hate smoking on the sidewalk. Ladies don't, after all.

I now own a madeleine pan. These will be perfect with the Crown Roast of Pork I'm thinking of for tomorrow's dinner. Can I make the molds ahead and refridgerate then bake?

In researching hotels for my upcoming trip to New York, it appears that the HotelWales offers an English Afternoon Tea. Haven't come across any others yet.

Somebody told me it had to do with roasting the bones first. Pork bone question: I'm going to do a crown roast of pork this weekend. should I use the bones from that for a pork stock or are they not the right kind of bones? Or should they be uncooked/unroasted bones?

I agree with this when hosting a dinner party. When we are out to dinner with friends and collegues, we usually sit side by side. When out to dinner with clients and spouses, we space ourselves so we are not together but have a client/spouse on either side of us.

Very nice. Remember, roasts are your friend! with not a lot of work, they'll produce a wonderful meal for you every time. What will you choose for your next roast adventure?

Now that's interesting. I'm just the opposite. While I'm not interested in groping my love in public, or being groped for that matter, to me, holding hands in public is a kinda like saying "I'm proud of the guy/woman I'm with and I want everyone to know we're together. Otherwise, I'd be thinking, "what, he's ashamed of me?" Holding hands across a table during a romantic dinner is the best for me. And the gunfighter seat is always mine.

Face to face most definately. I want to be able to look at my companion when dining and talking. In addition, since I'm left handed and the majority of my dining companions are right handed, my companion runs the risk of connecting with elbow if he chooses to sit beside me.

To finish up my chicken stock making project. As reported earlier, I used wings, legs and thighs to make this stock and I roasted them. I took the skins off before putting them into the pot (although I finally gave up on trying to get the skins off the wings! )and I used onions only, no carrots or celery. Because I chose to simmer this overnight, plus the roasting, this ends up being a "brown stock" as Fat Guy indicates in his lesson, but as he says, the number of times I need a white stock is so minimal, that I was ok with this. I didn't take pictures of the roasting and de skinning process This is the stock after simmering all night. I did find I had almost no skimming do to during the simmering process. I cooled the stock outside then put it in the fridge. It was two days before I could get back to it to start reducing: Once I de fatted it, I had two pots of stock ready to reduce. This one looks a little cloudy, but as it heated up, it cleared up somewhat. Again, because I was reducing this to ice cube trays, I didn't worry too much about cloudiness: I started out using 9 lbs of bones. After reduction, I ended up with 4 ice cube trays and 1 container that went into the fridge to gel. I checked on it this morning, and it has gelled quite nicely. So, two stock making projects successfully completed. I'm off to talk to my butcher today or tomorrow to discuss appropriate pork pieces for my pork stock making project.

maggie, I have all this chicken and beef stock now. I can make soup!

Even if you positively hate mushrooms, make them anyway - they are not in the basic recipe but are cooked separately and added at the end along with the glazed pearl onions - so your guests can enjoy the full Monty and you can indulge without ever having a mushroom - just take your serving out first! I have also served it as a three-parter, the stew itself and side dishes of the mushrooms and onions - then everyone is happy! ← It's not that I hate them. I'm allergic. Mushrooms = death for me. There will be no mushrooms

This dish sounds like it could be in my fairly immediate future. I will however, not use mushrooms I'm almost afraid to ask what a lardon is.

If anyone is interested in helping out with the digests, please pm me. thanks!

Sometimes, I'll grate leftover baked potatoes after they've been refrigerated, mix that with onion, shape into a patty and return to the fridge. Then I fry the patty in shallow oil straight from the refrigerator. For whatever reason, I find chilling the patty first helps hold it together for turning. Maximum crispyness is a good thing.

Thank you. I have shallots so I shall test this! I never really understood why some recipes called for shallots, now I know!

All right. What's the difference between a shallot and an onion? Beside the fact that one is smaller than the other.

That would concern me, because as winesonoma says, in a quality cabinet, there will be a significant attempt to match or at least harmonize the grains.

If it's a light colour, the difference in grain may not be very noticable. I just took a look at my kitchen cabinet doors which are solid wood, cherry in colour. While there are some discrepancies, they only serve to give the whole kitchen character. When working with wood, no two grains will be the same and that's part of the beauty of wood. Plywood and veneer look like well, plywood and veneer. I'd rather have a solid door with a few character grains. edited to add: it will also depend on the style of your cabinet door. If the style is broken up (mine for example is kinda like vertical slats), the difference in grain will hardly be noticable. In a wide expanse, I'd expect to see more of it.

Marlene, it's time to add another relationship to your circle....you need a butcher who will order you anything your heart desires. Yes, a Girl needs diamonds, but she also needs a butcher. How do you find one? Yellow pages and footwork...you have to interview them, basically, and once you've picked a butcher shop, always work with the same person. He'll get to know you, and will be better able to meet your needs... Also, once you've found this gem, take good care of him.... pamper him, bring him coffee those wild mornings before Thanksgiving or Christmas when you go pick up the turkey you ordered from him... ← I actually have two butchers here that I switch back and forth with. One is better than the other and he and I are starting to develop a good working relationship. I'll drop in to see him this week and ask about pigs feet etc.

thanks. Pork stock will be my next project! In the meantime, the chicken stock is in the fridge chilling. It was cold enough here today to be able to put it outside to cool it down and then into the fridge. I've got two pots of it and tomorrow or Tuesday I'll start reducing it. I'll post all the pics when it's done. In the meantime, I have a question about the ice cube stock. My beef stock has been in ice cube trays for three days now. I went to take them out of the trays and put them into ziplock bags so I could use my trays for the chicken stock. I found they were still a little "gooey" and were very dificult to release from the tray. In fact, I have permanent dents in my hands from getting them all out. Is there a secret to releasing these little cubes of goodness? Do they take longer to freeze than I think?

I love these. I confess to having a pantry full of tupperware. But I love how these have the markings on them. Square would work better for me in terms of stacking ability. How are the seals on these? I wonder if you can get them in Canada?

Baked Brie in puff pastry or phyllo. Roasted Prime Rib strawberries in Grand Marnier creme

All right. I'll be happy to continue posting.. I'm having a lot of fun learning to make stock. I've got a chicken stock simmering now, and I didn't take pics of the intitial process, but I'll start tomorrow. I did things a little differently that Fat Guy suggested in making a white stock. I started with about 9 lbs. of legs, thighs and wings and roasted them first, slowly for about an hour. However, I did not baste them with tomato paste. then I took them out, and deglazed the pan with a little white wine. I removed the skin (well except for the wings. I just gave up trying to remove that skin) from the chicken parts before putting them in the stock pot with onions and just a touch, hardly any of salt. I'm going to simmer it overnight and do the straining tomorrow. Pork stock is going to be mid week and I'll make sure I take pictures of the whole process.

I'm with you on the young guy Varmint. Go with your gut. I've been doing that with Facilities projects for more than twenty years and it's never let me down yet. And he's hungrier. He'll want you to help him build his business by referring people to him so he's probably going to do his best for you. Congrats!