Marlene

Thanks Tommy. I note that William Sonoma has the pans as well. Thoughts on non-stick versus stainless? I'm want the roast and potatoes to brown and I obviously want to be able to de-glaze the pan or make gravy. How well does non stick work for this? Is stainless better?

My new kitchenaid oven does this.

Neither of those things appeal to me. I looked on the All Clad site, but I didn't find a roaster. Braising pan yes, but no roaster. I'll just keep searching....

I'm sorry, but that is disgusting. LBNoble, to answer your question, maybe a nice lazagna, some fresh shrimp, definately cheese, cookies? Things that are easy to pop in the oven without too much energy. She's just had a baby, and she's going to have company, she'll be exhausted

Doing some searching reveals a calphalon hard anodized french roaster. They appear to have two sizes, 16 in and 14 inch. I can find the 16 in on Amazon.com, but I'm having trouble finding the 14 in pan. Any suggestions on (a) where to find the 14 in, and (b) experience with these pans?

Our Chinese food place still uses cartons for most things. Really gooey things like honey garlic ribs are in round plastic containers. We plate it and use chopsticks except for my son, who at least attempts the chopsticks before giving up in frustration and asks for a fork.

Now I need new pots and pans. Some of my pans don't fit flush to the surface of my cooktop so I'm replacing them. One of the things I need is a really really good roasting pan. My old one is pretty light, and didn't sit on the cooktop properly on the weekend for making gravy. Need one with shallow sides, a bit of weight to it, and one that is good for making gravy in. Any suggestions!

My very favourite chip was the Lay's Hot Spicy BBQ chips. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed I couldn't find them in any store I went to. I wrote to Lays and they wrote back to tell me that this flavour has been discontinued. . This is the story of my life I think. Just when I find a brand or a product I really like, the makers discontinue it. I can't be the only one who likes this stuff. Anyone have similar peeves?

Well yes...

Probably not, but you may be the only one who admits it. Nope, I do too. Especially when I'm in a hurry.

You can buy it here. I however picked it up at my local Fred Meyer here in Seattle. Cool. Now I just have to find it in Canada. Or on my next trip to Seattle

Only sometimes, it depends on how much I've been drinking! Really, if I'm mincing more than 5 or 6 cloves, I'll go to my small food processor: It's quick, easy and most importantly it's easy to clean. But personally, I really love to mince garlice. Something romantic about it I suppose, as dorky as that sounds. That and I REALLY like wielding my chef's knife. I want one of these! Where do I find one?

Then it should just be against the law, instead of picking and choosing where they will ban it, yet be delighted to rake in the taxes on it.

That's true. And it's chattier too!

We have the Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide. I've had this for 20+ years and was actually one of my textbooks in my Food and Bev course in college.

Butter Tart Filling Serves 24 as Dessert. These are even better the second day. For a smaller dessert, or perhaps buffet table, use tartlet pans. In that case this will make around 40 tartlets or 24 tarts. 1-1/2 c raisins 4 T butter 2 eggs 2 c brown sugar a few tsp rum or rum flavouring 1/2 c chopped nuts Pie Pastry for 24 tarts Soak raisins in boiling water for a few minutes until they are plump. Beat butter till creamy. Add eggs and brown sugar and beat until foamy. Add rum or rum flavouring, chopped nuts and raisins. Pour into uncooked tart shells. (use a rich pastry, rolled thin). Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15- 20 minutes or until brown. Cool slightly before removing from pan to wire rack. Serve with whipped cream. Keywords: Dessert, Intermediate, Snack ( RG209 )

I have my good crystal (DaVinci) for formal dining, but we have Reidel glasses that we use on an everyday basis. We have the Reidel Vinum Extreme series, and I have two Reisling, 2 Burgandy, 2 Pinot Noir, 2 Chardonnay, and 2 port glasses. I put them in the dishwasher all the time.

A sister thread to maggie's PMS thread. For the ladies, what did you crave the most during your pregnancy? For the boyz: what's the weirdest thing your lady sent you out to get for her at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, that she just couldnt' sleep until she had tasted? For me as posted in the PMS thread it was soy sauce. I ate tons and tons of rice during my pregnancy. I'd of had soy sauce on my cereal in the morning, if I thought I wouldn't have sent then hubby screaming from the house....

No, I never got PMS either. And I started going through menopause at 41 so it's definately no longer a worry. I did notice a slight increase in my desire for salt during that time though. Although I've always been in favour of salty stuff so maybe it had nothing to do with that time of the month pregnancy? Soy sauce - on everything!

Your library lets you check out 43 books at a time?! The 43 is cookbooks. I also have 6 mysteries, 2 non-fiction, 3 fiction, and Peter has 23 books checked out. Oh, and I think Diana has 8 checked out. Minneapolis Public Library rocks. You can check out unlimited (I think), they have a great selection of current DVD's and videos, and an awesome selection of cookbooks. And on-line reserving (they e-mail you when book is in) and renewing. Plus our branch is 4 blocks away. Oh man. I want to live next to your library!

Your library lets you check out 43 books at a time?!

There are days!

576 with 2 on order

I keep most of my very favourite recipes on my computer using the DVO cooking software. I have shelves of three ring binders with recipes in plastic sleeves. Each binder is dedicated to one area. I have one for appetizers, one for beef, one for pork, one for desserts. Are you getting the idea of how many recipes I have?! These binders are of course, in addition to my 5 shelves of cookbooks.

Reif continues to impress my husband with it's reislings and vidals. Reif is better at whites than reds. I agree Stoney Ridge is selective. I've had some great and not so great wines from there. Stoney Ridge's strength seems to be in their reds, rather than their whites. I'm on their advance reserve list so I get notifications of new wines coming out and offerings of older wines. In fact, last night I opened a 1991 Stoney Ridge Merlot Reserve wine that was outstanding. The ice wines from this region are incredible and have won several golds in international competition. We usually do a "wine run" to this region twice a year, and have also been impressed with Cave Springs, again, their strength is whites, and Hildebrand which does both red and white equally well.