Marlene

They are both in the appetizer section. The cheese dip is listed as "Marlene's Warm Cheese Dip" and the shrimp mold is "Momma's Shrimp Mold"! ← Tis nice to get credit. It's also on my website. It was originally a Martha Stewart recipe until I meddled with it.

Interesting that you say that Marlene as I had read numerous reviews (after the fact) on consumer websites that complain about the problem of poor temperature maintenance and assumed it was an underpowered design. Perhaps its my model, although it looks like yours. I've had the thing long enough now that it is out of any kind of warranty. (The problem with picking up equipment on sale for future use!) By the time I started using it it was too late to return it. ← The next time I drag it out for fried chicken, I'll time the recovery time and report back. Maybe I just got lucky. I've had mine for I think 3 years. Of course, it is small, so you have to do small batches, but then, we're a family of two or three depending on the week, so I'm not trying to feed an army, although many would say I cook that way anyway.

I love mine. Hopefully it's better than the Waring Pro I made the mistake of buying. It barely reaches it's proper temperature before plunging 30 degrees or more once you drop in your food and takes forever to make it back up (if at all, as the sensor seems to shut off prematurely due to poor placement). Not even adequate for donuts let alone heavy hitters like fried chicken. I've since switched to the tried and true pot on the stove and have never looked back. What I love is that they boldly label it Waring "Pro" and then on the back the usual legalese "about only good for home use". Sort of like the word "artisan" overused and under delivered. ← I'd contact Waring Pro. I have the same model as Chris just bought and one of the things I love about it is it's quick recovery time. I've done fried chicken, battered fish, french fries and all manner of things in it and never had a problem.

Bruce C?

I have a Le Creuset ridged pan and I don't have any problem getting it clean.

And I'd bet I can't get it here in Canada, as usual!

No that wasn't me. I was asking about it. I don't know what a mojito mix is either, but I want to!

I want this! Can you tell me more about the Mojito mix?

(my emphasis) 2-3 hours a day, how many times a week? I'm curious - do you have kids? That's a lot of time.I try to walk everywhere, and watch my portions, but to a great extent my weight is what it is since I don't have a metabolism anymore (complete thyroidectomy and I-131 treatment 2 years ago). We eat lots of fruit and veg, and fish. I have found that a good way for me to not overeat at restaurants is to avoid tasting menus. ← There's no doubt that a gym committment takes up serious time. I couldn't do it when my son was younger, but it's a lot easier now to spend two hours at the gym and yes that's what it takes by the time you factor your 30 -40 minutes of cardio and then an hour session with the weights. I went on WW when my son was 3. At least his dad could watch him while I did a 30-40 minute walk outside every evening after dinner, but that was the best I could do and it was a struggle. At this stage in my life, my hormones have disappeared which puts a serious kink into losing weight, it's more of a struggle, I think your approach is just fine. I don't believe in the word diet and never have. Portion control, some sort of excerise, and walking is among the best for losing weight and healthy choices were we can are the key.

Kim, I am particularly fond of that blue cheese dressing. And the ground round, which was my father's recipe, is deceptively simple, but incredibly rich! We love it here. Suzi, I've never made the crispy potatoes with purple ones, but why not?! Those potatoes are a favourite of ours, particularly since they can be made partially ahead, then just baked off at the end. Great for when you are having company. David, I'm going to try that onion ring recipe soon! Thanks.

You can drop the temp by 25 degrees, but you shouldn't need to for that length of time. I rarely adjust the temp for convection when I use my countertop convection, unless I'm doing something over an hour, like a roast.

I fry boneless, skinless chicken quite often. Lightly pound, then I soak them for about an hour in buttermilk with tabasco, then coat it in a spiced flour and shallow fry until done, turning once. Works just fine! Chicken tenders are technically the little flap of chicken on the backs of chicken breasts, but have come to mean chicken breasts cut into strips for "chicken fingers". I use either peanut oil or vegetable oil, depending on what I have handy.

I'm not much of a fan of cabbage either, but that braised cabbage is really quite good! Good luck, and most importantly, have fun with everything.

I'm a rare meat kind of girl, but braised meat is just a whole different world. The sauce makes it, and it's meltingly tender. I know other who say to store the meat and sauce separately, but I don't. When the braise is done, I strain and defat it, then pour the sauce back over the meat and refrigerate it. Then I bring the sauce and meat back up to eating temp by placing in a covered pot (actually I store mine in the pot it was made in), usually at 200 - 225 for two hours or so. Then take the meat out and reduce the sauce.

Port is essential to this one. A decent tawny port as Anna says shouldn't be all that expensive. And besides, once you make this, you'll want to make it again and you'll have port already on hand!

Sticky buns from BBA. Does it count that it took me three tries to get it right? These are just out of the oven and flipped, so that glaze will harden up a bit more yet. I'd skip the raisins next time and just use straight pecan pieces for the topping.

It depends. If I'm cooking for friends, probably, especially since I know how adventurous or not they will be. On the other hand, we entertain clients frequently, and there, I never experiment with dishes I'm not familiar with.

Thanks Kerry and Cali! I was really really happy with this one. Cali, I don't have it yet, but I think now that I'm getting comfortable with breads, I will get it. I'm also signed up for a week long breadmaking course at ICE in NY at the end of March.

Cinnamon buns from a few days ago. Made the Vienna bread again yesterday. I really really like this bread.

Depending on the cruise line, you may or may not be able to bring your own wine. ON Royal Caribbean, you can't bring any alcohol on board at all. On others, you can. The food on Royal Caribbean has been slipping dreadfully lately. We're about to take our last two cruises with them before we move to another line. We'll probably try Celebrity to start with. I understand they have a sushi bar, and in their specialty restaurant, they actually have seared foie gras for an appetizer. Most of the mainstream lines, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival have lousy food. HAL does good food, as does Celebrity, and then you are into the really upscale ships.

Made the cinnamon rolls again today, a favourite here. No pics here until tomorrow, but up on my own place.

I think it will become one of my favourites as well. It was amazing. We both raved over it.

Today I made the Vienna bread. Now, this happens to be the best tasting bread I've ever made, but I think something's not quite right. In the book, the pic shows a tighter crumb than this. I seem to have gotten more of a french bread type of crumb. It was fabulous mind you. I made it without the dutch crunch topping as I didn't have any rice flour on hand. I got great oven spring and a nice bloom on this one.

The Vienna bread is actually next on my list.

Today I tried the Pugliese bread from BBA. It's a fairly labour intensive bread, and I wasn't thrilled with the results. I did not get the big airy crumb the picture shows.