Marlene

Judith, I am delighted to see you making your way around the forum. I know next to nothing about this cusine, and I am looking forward to learning more from you and the other knowledgeable people here

What, no KFC out there? Here, there used to be a chain called Mary Brown's that made some of the best fried chicken I've had. Sadly, most of them are gone now.

If it's not done in a couple of hours, I might take it out of the oven and reduce it on the stove slowly. note to Al's ol' lady (now there's a term I haven't heard in years) buy Al a crockpot for Christmas so he can make perfect confit every time.

I missed that post about that cookbook. I've just ordered it!

Do you have it covered? You may want her to take the lid off. I know mine takes at least 18 hours in a crock pot.

So Al. How did it go?

I have seen the most ill-mannered behavior of using cellphones to interrupt worship services, symphony concerts, and even a funeral. How is it possible that we as a society have found a new form to announce to the immediate world, "hey, I am so very essential and vital that I must be in touch 24/7." I understood this if one was a physician but now it seems it is everyone, everywhere, all the time ... I always saw cellphones as something of a pretension, and the use of them in a social context, in this case dining out, as yet another form of rudeness. History buffs of restaurant behavior: How did people manage to show their inconsiderate behavior BC (before cellphones) in a restaurant setting? Surely they didn't become rude overnight ... ← Sure there's an element of that. While I do take my cell phone to restaurants, I don't make a habit of having conversations while I'm dining. It is however, on vibrate at all times. This is because (a) when my son was younger, the babysitter might need to reach me (b) now that he's older and stays home by himself, I want to make sure he can reach me at all times.

hey, marlene i thought i was sending you two...unless you are regifting(a process i wholeheartedly approve of as an environmentalist). plus i have a little freebie in the package, too. ←

One more from tonight's purchases, Canadian Living Cooks.

oops. Add one for me from Suzielightning and 1 for Vancouver Cooks.

I don't know Rachel. My KitchenAid oven has a convection broil setting.

I'd be interested in buying this beef.

Good luck Al! You're going to love this stuff.

So did I.

Susan, I envy you, while being happy for you at the same time. You deserve this so much! I don't so much go away with the girls. Besides, almost none of my friends cook (well) and they don't get to dine out as much as I, so that is a treat for them. What I do treasure is when Don travels. Although I adore my husband, I also like the times I have the house to myself, and I can make all the things no one else will eat. Like green beans, and spinach, and spareribs and saurkraut. Don has in the past gone to a fishing camp with the boys in Northern Saskatchewan. They have to be flown in and out of this place and once you're there, you're there. I think they eat a lot of fish those few days (I kind of shudder to think about it). In fact, I'd probably rather not know what they're eating. I also used a have a girl's night "in" at my house. I'd cook for all of them, and send my guys to a movie or something. We'd natter and gossip and drink more wine than was good for us. But it's nice to have your own things with you to cook with. That's one of the reasons we bought the RV, so that I could cook stuff becuase I get tired of restaurants all the time. More and more of my cooking things, (good knives, good pots, blender, etc) all make their way to the RV in the summer. Who says you can't eat well when you camp? Enjoy, Susan.

I have the deluxe Richard, it's awesome. between it and my blender, i almost never use my food processor anymore.

Bamix

Welcome to the world of confit Al. I warn you, life will never be the same again see here for the oven oven method.

.this is a line from one of the only movies I've ever seen, Young Frankenstein, in which the hunchback(Marty Feldman) asks Dr. Frankenstein ( Gene Wilder)to "walk this way" and Wilder imitates Feldman's strange gait as they walk along. Given the fact that this writer opened with a line from comedian Rodney Dangerfield, I suspect he was trying to be funny. In my opinion, the rules change depending on whether you're a frequent guest at the restaurant (a regular) or a first time diner. When you frequent a restaurant, the staff get to know you, and it's natural to become more friendly and "familiar" with their regular customers, depending on how you react to such informality. As a server, part of the art is to judge your customers and understand how your customers like to be treated. A good server will always follow a customer's lead. If a server tests the waters by greeting a table, with "Hi guys, how are we this evening" and receives "We are not guys, and I am fine thank you", any server with a clue, is going to back off the friendly laid back approach and revert to a more formal mode. If, on the other hand, the customer's response is a smile and a "hey we're great thanks", it's usually an indication the server can proceed in a more informal manner. Whether to offer pepper at the beginning or wait until the dish has been tasted is a matter of long standing debate. It's a ritual and nothing more. Usually, unless you specifically ask, all you're going to get is a few twists of the mill, not nearly enough to make a difference to the taste of your meal.

Bruno's here in Oakville used to sell the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, but they seem to have stopped. We have a new Supercentre here. I'll have to check that out. Having an arthritic shoulder impedes rolling out ability. I'd love to have stuff to work with that was already rolled out!

ceasar salad dressing. Mine has an attachment so I can mince garlic and onions, and nuts. Milkshakes. I adore my immersion blender

I see Pearl has made it to the top of your list!

Best cut for a pot roast? This is on my list of things to make possibly this week. Slow cooker or dutch oven method?

Fries are one of the few things I put salt on. I put pepper on everything so that doesn't count And yes Brooks, gravy. But in a side dish so I can dip.

Ok, we're a little tired, but the party was a smashing success! The caterers arrived at 5 to begin the set up. We had nothing to do but hang out and watch Our staircase is decorated up and down. This is the most time consuming part of our decorations for this party and for the season. Valerie, our bartender for the evening sets up. Setting up the Carving station and the dining room buffet The Hor's D'ouevres Beef Roulade Asiago-Parmesan Sticks Mozzarella puff purses and jalapeno chicken stuffed corn muffins The main buffet Tomato -Provalone salad Broccoli ginger salad & manadarin orange salad Breads Tortellini, Basmati Rice, Green Bean Almondine Our Chef, Colleen at the carving table. THe only picture we didn't get for some reason, was a picture of the Prime Rib. I can't figure why we don't have one, but we don't. But it was awesome! Deserts included a Melon Ball fruit tree Cheese Tray and Crepes. It was great. I may not have to cook at all this week, since we've got leftovers for days. And kudos to my husband who managed to get through the party in one piece although he's been sick with a chest cold for well over a week! We're done entertaining for about two weeks now as, starting on Saturday, we'll be in Las Vegas for a week. When we come back, we still have three dinner parties to go before Christmas. The caterers, Keith's Gourmet Caterers, did an amazing job of setting up, serving and cleaning up afterwards. We have very little to do today in terms of clean up. Thank god. The caterers also took most of the pictures through out the evening, so there are a few I wish I had, but don't. Nor are some of them as up close and sharp as I'd like either. But you get the idea. All in all, I'm a happy girl with the way things went.