Marlene

I almost always use the wine I am drinking. Of course it depends on what I'm making. A stew or beef bourgoinne calls for a hearty burgundy, whereas a beef stroganoff or a spagetti sauce can get away with a Cabernet usually.

And how many do you have to own before you are defined as a "kitchen geek? It occured to me today to ask, when my friend who was visiting me said, "how many measuring spoon sets do you have anyway? ",as she watched me pull set after set out of the drawer. At last count I had: Liquid measuring cups 4 - 1 cup measures 3 -2 cup measures 2 -4 cup measures 3 -8 cup measures Dry measures 4 sets of regular measures 3 sets of irregular measures ( 3/4 cup, 2 cup etc) Measuring spoons 10 regular sets 3 set's irregular measures And I use every single one of them.

Oh yes. Dave is our own personal hero. Notice he still hasn't posted his pictures yet? Perhaps we should start a chant: We want pics. We want pics Everyone feel free to join in here.

In the end, it all worked. It just took me a while to get there To answer, I do have pics, I just have to re-size them etc. I also have pics of the Gala event last so I'll get to those too. I didn't have a proper meat slicer, so hollowing out the roast was a challenge. You'll see in the pictures that it's a little uneven, and a little high. I'd be almost tempted to use my sharpening steel next time, although I suppose that's not a good idea. I knew the reduction wasn't done when I ended up with the same amount of liquid I started with I haven't done a lot of reductions, so I had trouble gauging the results. Oh and our rotisserie. We have a really expensive bbq that came with a really cheap rotisserie. Sometimes the damn thing stops turning, and we don't realize it till we go check the roast and it's crisping up nicely on one side but not any of the others. So in a way, I'm glad my guests cancelled, because I wouldn't have been happy with the presentation, although it tasted amazing. Pics will follow. Really.

Omelettes, Waldorf Salad, Fritattas, soups and salads, or French onion soup, sandwiches on wonderful crusty breads or baquettes. Chicken Ceasar Salad.

while everyone is waiting with baited breath for my photos, and while I'm out in my formal gear tonight, I'd be very interested in hearing about others entertaining and how you plan your menu etc.

My new favorite eGulletteerer. ← Are you single? Oh, wait. I just remembered that I'm not. Well, anyway, we could just have dates for the purpose of gustatory pleasure. I'm cooking tater tots tomorrow night. Be there or be a parallelogram. (how's that for nerdy?) ← Having just wrestled with the whole parallelogram thing with Grade 7 math, I'd be just as happy as to never hear the word again . Now, tater tots are a must for breakfast in our house. Anything that crunchy can't be bad.

The dinner party was cancelled due to the fact that one of our guests was ill. Since we had all this food, we decided to prepare it anyway . I'll post pics later, probably tomorrow, but I have to tell you that the Blue Cheese Stuffing was a spectacular success. The flavours worked very well together and with the port wine reduction sauce it was just about perfect. I need to do a better job of hollowing out the roast next time, and the first time around I didn't reduce the sauce enough, and we had a couple of issues with our rotisserie, but it really was spectacular.

That's it! Well I did say they were expensive

I buy a lot of stuff at Williams Sonoma, but they're pretty expensive. And you can order on line and they deliver, but it's a convoluted process. I also believe there's a restaurant supply store on Queen Street in Toronto, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name

Dave a quick question. I normally brush my tenderloin with a butter, wine garlic sauce while it's spit roasting. Should I still do that or will it interfere with the other flavours?

Mashed potatoes. Always.

Fine, I'll do your experiment for you except of course getting creme fraiche made today could be interesting.

Must be an American thing

you're my hero Dave. This is it. This is definately it. thanks!

you made it up? Garlic Peppercorn Cheesecake Grease 2 - 4 1/2 inch springform pans Preheat the oven to 350 1 egg 6 oz grated Monterrey Jack cheese 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 8 oz cream cheese 1 tsp cracked black peppercorn 1 jar of garlic jelly or red pepper jelly In the bowl of an electric mixer, comine half the jelly with the rest of the ingredients using the paddle attachment. Combine until smooth. Pour into the springform pans and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan. Spread the rest of the jelly on top of the cheesecake and serve with crackers, flat breads, or crostini.

A blue Cheese glaze sound intriguing. I adore anything with Bleu Cheese. Can you elaborate on how I would do that? The Garlic Peppercorn Recipe was in eGRA, but I'll post it here a bit later.

I think this is what makes us more than just "foodies" . While we appreciate good food both at home and in dining out, we also appreciate and embrace all the nuances of food and the subtleties of how it makes us whole as people.

I received word from my husband last night that he thought a lovely Beef Tenderloin would be just the thing on Friday. Argh. Guess what? I'm making beef tenderloin. A full tenderloin roast, spit roasted on the Q, accompanied by a Bernaise sauce, with a ceasar salad and the yummy looking cappucino/caramel bread pudding that is calling to me "pick me, pick me" Appetizers will be kept simple with a Garlic Peppercorn Cheesecake with crostini, some fresh shrimp, and perhaps one other thing I have't thought of yet. Dessert will be my Strawberries in Grand Marnier Cream or Chocolate Mousse, depending on how much good chocolate I have left.

I really think this statement sums up how I feel about cooking and how it gets me through just about everything. Cooking is very therapudic, - for example there is nothing more satisfying than to pound on some veal when I'm upset,- but it is also one of the deepest and most honest expressions of who I am. And often, when we cook, we are saying things that we might not otherwise be able to put into words: A dish made to cheer someone up says " I am here for you" A dish made to celebrate an occassion says "share this important occassion with me" A dish made to comfort oneself says "I did this. I can be successful." A dish made for your family says "I will always take care of you" A dish made for someone special says "I love you. Be with me."

Anybody noticed that Don's a little um weird?

Ladies, someday you'll all be free. I promise. Although I still get cravings for fried chicken.

Um I do that. Or at least shortly thereafter. Why? Because I have a mold/fungi allergy and I'm not fond of not being able to breathe. So I don't take chances.

I've lived with three men in my life. The first was blind, but that didn't stop him from cooking, although it was pretty scary sometimes. My ex husband does not cook. At least I can't remember him ever cooking. My (now) husband does cook, but really prefers it when I do the cooking. I spend a lot of time cleaning up after him when he cooks. He's incredibly messy.

Waking up is a pretty good reason for me too . It is off topic so I will not post what it was about, but suffice it to say we won a 4 year court battle today. The Pol it is!