Marlene

I think I played along without realizing it. I came down with a flu/cold last Saturday and hadn't ventured out of the house until the other day. So we ate whatever I had on hand, no shopping. The first night was roast ham, mashed potatoes and frozen peas. The next night, I did penne a la vodka and garlic bread. Then it was beef stroganoff over rice. Then pork chops with cream sauce, roasted asparagus and pate au choux gnocchi. Then I started feeling better and made Keller's quiche. Tonight we did order in, fish and chips and now I'm feeling well enough to go out so tomorrow we dine out. I could still probably go another week without buying anything more than eggs and bread though and maybe one fresh veg.

Hmm. I'm out because I don't have a regular weekly shopping day. I have enough meat in my freezers to feed most of eG, and always have dairy on hand, so the things I shop mostly for are fresh produce usually every other day or so.

I fell in love with USC when I was in New York for classes a couple of years ago. I had a 3 hour break between my daytime and evening class and rather than go back to my hotel room, I wandered in to USC. In the middle of lunch. In the middle of Restaurant Week, which I had no clue was going on. With no reservation. I waited maybe 5 minutes, and they sat me at the bar. The bartender, despite being incredibly overwhelmed with staff and customers, took a great deal of time to go over the menu with me, and get me drinks. I was in no hurry, so I took out my text book to read while waiting. It happened to be a culinary textbook. Danny Meyer wandered by. Ok, Danny doesn't actually wander, but you get the idea. By this time I was head over heels in love with the red wine risotto I'd ordered at the bartender's recommendation. I'd never had risotto before. Danny, stopped, and saw the textbook and asked several questions about how I liked the school, what course was I taking, and just cooking in general. When I gushed about the risotto I was eating, and how I'd like to be able to make it, he thanked me. I figured that was it. 20 minutes later, he returned with a signed copy of Second Helpings, with the recipe flagged. No charge. Two years later I attended the Gourmet weekend in NY at which Danny Meyers was a speaker. I attended his seminar, and was sitting second row back. He looked directly at me, and spoke into the microphone. "Did you ever make the risotto?" I go to USC every chance I get when I'm in New York.

I think Cooking is so good, I have two copies, one for the house and one for the cottage so I don't have to lug it back and forth.

I want that! That looks amazing.

I think maybe what Randi meant was that, after 5 credit cards being denied, she wouldn't have made the food at all without a deposit. Interesting that he didn't give you the credit card number on the phone when you spoke with him, but chose to email it, generally a less secure option.

I only tasted the yorkshire pudding because the label said they left out the beef fat. Honestly, I'm not sure what they're supposed to taste like because I've never had one( I dont eat red meat). That being said, it was good. Everyone really liked them. ← You can make yorkies without beef fat. I do it all the time. I've had the President's choice ones, and well, they just don't quite get there. But then I make them a lot. I imagine for this group, they were just fine.

I put some in my egg salad mixture today. I always use it in creamy coleslaw.

Where do you get them Kerry?

Bingo!

I am as well, although where I differ is in tipping for rude or surly service. In that case, they aren't getting anything from me. Why would I give someone anything extra to be rude to me? If such people continue to make tips for such lack of service, what incentive do they have to change? Katie, I'm very sorry that the industry is the way it is, however, I don't think I as a customer am required to make up your wages. If tipping is voluntary, then it is voluntary. There are those who will tip and those who won't. You do the job because you love it, that's great. But VOLUNTARY is the key word here. If the industry continues to not want to pay a decent wage to their staff then maybe there needs to be an organized effort to get it to do so. If the industry wants the customer to make up the difference, then start adding service charge of 15-20% to the bill and make that known on the menu. Then people will not have to tip, it's included up front, and the industry doesn't have to pay you anymore money. And call it what it is, a service charge. And then no one should complain when people don't give extra over that required amount. Until that time, what I tip is my business, and if anyone ever confronted me over it, that would be the last time I set foot in the establishment and I'd damn well make sure everyone knew why. I am off to the Bahamas in a few weeks and every restaurant menu I've looked at online for places I want to book, indicate a 15% gratutity is added to the bill. So that's what they will get from me, because they've decided that is the right amount to tip.

I've taken several classes with ICE and was on site during one of the pulled sugar show piece workshops. I wasn't taking that class, but we all got to go down and admire the work. I have some pics of those pieces on my site. It was amazing. Every chance I get I try to spend a couple of weeks in NY taking back to back classes. I'll be doing so again, this April.

It's sort of common here. A few years ago, a Jewish friend of mine passed away and their synagogue asked for volunteers to make meals for the family and set up a schedule for those who volunteered. I made one of those meals. Conversely, when my brother and mother passed, I don't recall a single casserole making its way to my house. Maybe it also depends on whether the funeral attendees are coming back to the bereaved's house?

I have one installed at the cottage over the range, and my old house had one as well. I think Cali is correct, and it must be vented to the outside. They don't stick out anymore, especially with cabinets on either side, and they do come in handy for venting smoke out etc.

To be honest, when ever times are tough, I'd rather give up other things than quality ingredients or meat. Those are what sustain us. I can live without a cruise, or a latte in the morning, or other things.

Fried rice. With leftover rice in the fridge, less than 5 minutes to make. It's also what's on the menu tonight along with teriyaki pork chops.

Western sour cream is the best thing to come along for a long time. I will go out of my way to find a store that sells it. I finally convinced the manager at Sobeys to stock it. They were stocking other Western products so I knew they could get it.

I don't get the problem with buying butter in sticks in Ontario. I don't exactly live in the Culinary Capital, but I never have any trouble buy salted or unsalted butter in sticks in any grocery store I've been in.

I imagine it would, although I use onion confit for my french onion soup which is pretty flavourful itself!

That's a fair amount of time to be in the oven, giving the bread lots of time to soak up liquid. I make a lot of french onion soup, and mine are probably under the broiler for 3 minutes or so, then served immediately.

My guess is the microwave is causing this, softening the bread, as the cheese probably takes longer to melt than under a broiler. I use homemade croutons as well, and while some of them get soggy, some of them crisp up a bit under the broiler and the bowls aren't under the broiler very long. You could use a kitchen torch to melt the cheese maybe.

I'm an ex waitress from a way back, so I still stack plates on my arms and carry them in that way, even when using my good china. I've never dropped one yet. Drinks are a different matter, and I use a tray with a cork base inside to keep them from slipping around. I will also use a tray to carry all the utensils, salt and pepper, napkins and things to the table for setting, especially if we are eating outside.

The broiler on my main oven is an infrared gas broiler, so the convection mode doesn't apply, but on the other one there is a convection broil mode. Like Dave, I haven't figured out why yet. Broil is pretty much broil for the couple of minutes I have it in there. The only place I've found convection broil works well is in my convection microwave. Again, I have no idea why. I've also found that if you use convection on brined poultry, the skin on the fan side browns far more quickly than it should. I've mostly stopped using convection for roasting poultry now. I use pure convection (or roast convection) for beef and pork roasts exclusively, and for baked potatoes and roasted potatoes. I also use convection for baking breads and pizza. I don't ever use convection for yorkshire pudding.

We got a GE Profile french door/bottom mount and I HATE IT. After numerous repairs, it was replaced by the company free of charge( during the first year). I still hate the bottom freezer though. I find it holds a lot less and its just a general PITA to find something as you have to remove everything to see whats on the bottom. ← Exactly. The drawers are a pain to pull out fully loaded as well.

I had a KitchenAid side by side with ice in the door in my old house. When we moved here, I had a Frigidaire, no ice. It broke within months of moving in and I replaced it with the same Kitchenaid. I like the removable ice bucket on the KA. I've had the bottom freezer drawer model, and I found I hated it. Just a personal preference. At the cottage, we have a Whirlpool top freezer mount, and on the porch, a Kenmore 25 inch side by side, no ice.