Marlene

Our plated dinner from our Christmas meal yesterday. I'll try to get the rest of the pics up later, but they're all up on my website.

David, those pears look wonderful! Bruce, your food always looks so good! Not much cooking here tonight, except in preparation for our Christmas dinner tomorrow. Yes, there will be beef. Yes, there will be gravy.

As a woman "at that time of life", I always wear short sleeved shirts, even in the dead of winter. Sleeveless, if I'm in the kitchen with both ovens going!

The crumb. I don't actually know if this is what it is supposed to look like, but we really liked the bread!

I pour the oil into an old container with a lid, (often the container the oil came in) then throw the container out usually. I have the same issues with deep fat frying. I don't do enough of it to justify all that oil wasted.

Yes, I steamed the oven. I'm using a steammaker, and I think perhaps I didn't leave the lid on long enough this time or give it quite enough steam. Still, it's fun practicing, although I won't be doing any more bread baking for about 3 weeks now, but after that, try try again!

I will eat pretty much what I feel like. I will make duck confit for the first time I will find time to cook with my son I will learn to really make bread I will teach anyone who wants to learn, the absolute joy of cooking for friends and family I will read the backlog of all my food magazines.

Tried a couple more loaves of French Bread today using the steam maker. I was a lot more cautious with the slits this time, and I think I went too far the other way, and maybe not deep enough or long enough. I think I'll need to invest in a razor. I shaped and left them in the torpedo shape, rather than the longer baquette shape. I also bked them on the stone, but left them in the perforated shaped pan. One one loaf the slids did open somewhat, but on the other they didn't really. I'll post a pic of the crumb after we've sliced into them.

The students at my son's high school do two food drives per year. Halloween for Hunger and in May, during their 30 hour famine to raise money for world hunger awareness. They usually ask for food items such as dried pasta, canned spaghetti sauce, canned vegetables, just about canned anything really. Peanut butter, baby food, canned soups etc. They always have a need for diapers and wet naps and other baby supplies as well.

I agree! I've heard that some supermarkets are selling bundled herbs in small packets, for different applications that go together, like a bit of parsley, thyme and bay for stews for example, but I haven't seen them here. I also find that I end up throw a lot of fresh herbs out because try as I might, I just can't use all that parsley before it goes bad!

glad it worked. It also works like a charm on the copper band on my copper core.

All my pans are All Clad copper core. It doesn't scratch them at all.

I've had those spots ocassionally and I don't know what causes them either, but I've been able to make them go away with barkeepers friend.

Never mind racheld, I'd like to dive into that cheese! Lucy, so lovely to see you again. I have to admit, I'm with Chufi and the whole tripe thing, but I'm more than willing to watch you ladies eat it.

I finally got an opportunity to try the steam maker bread baker today, ably assisted by two other eGulleters. We were perhaps a little aggressive with our slashes, but the crust was amazing. I love this thing. We made the french bread from BBA, and one eG'er brought a foie pate that she made from Happy in the Kitchen and the other one brought an olive tapenade. A great lunch and a wonderful time with these two ladies!

Mine do. except for the scratches of course. But then I work at keeping them clean because I'm sort of anal that way.

Um, sorry. Every now and then I try to do something just a little different. Mr. B and I talked it over. He had missed Thanksgiving, and was a little upset about that, but I could not find a fresh turkey and I wasn't going to buy a butterball! I couldn't do Prime Rib because that's what we are having next Sunday for our early Christmas Dinner. This seemed like a good compromise as Mr B had heard about my beef and wanted to try some. He did get a sauce out of it!

Mr. B rested up after his arduous travels across the border and was ready for dinner tonight. We ensured he was suitably attired, And he enjoyed a dinner of beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, glazed carrots and Bernaise sauce. Mr. B. has exquisite taste in wine, and after surveying our wine cellar, thought this would be an excellent choice to go with the beef. And so it was. We all enjoyed a dessert of rolled chocolate souffle cake, which was interesting to make to say the least. Mr. B. was a delightful dining companion, and regaled us with tales of his travels thus far. Apparently he was delayed getting into Canada by perplexed Canadian immigration authorities who weren't quite sure what to do with him, as he was travelling without a passport. He thought initially that it would be fun to come on our cruise with us, but he was most excited when he discovered where he'd be traveling to next. We have since remedied his documentation needs and he will have them when we send him on his way to.......

Looking forward to this one, and it will be nice to see Lucy again too! You go, ladies!

It's rare that you'll see Canada prime anywhere in Ontario, including Cumbraes. Once in a while, you'll see that Bruno's has some Canada prime strip steaks, but most of our prime goes to Japan. But to get back to Robyn's question, I'd still go with the Lobels for all the reasons I outlined.

The costco meats here are Kirkland lake signature. I don't know who they come from. I've always been pretty happy with Costco meats but I don't buy prime rib from them anymore since they started packing upside down and we can't order meat from them online in Ontario.

Sure, but even at not too far away, that fresh roast is going to sit in her fridge for several days. I'd rather go with frozen in a case like this and thaw. That Niman roast is going to have to come from one of their warehouses. I eat a lot of beef, and this would be my preference in a case like this. Your milage may vary.

Last night was tonkatsu, sticky rice and green beans, tonight I made pizza with bacon, ham and pepperoni.

I really hate the way Costco has started packaging their prime ribs. Upside down, you can't see what kind of fat cap the roast has, which is pretty important, in my view. IF you have to mail order, I'd go with Lobels, frozen, and then let it thaw in your fridge. There's nothing wrong with the picture of the prime rib that Lobel's is showing. Dry aged is nice for Prime Rib as well as steaks. And I'd go with the prime rather than choice, definitely. While I know how to bone and tie a prime rib, I'd much rather someone do it for me.

I usually use tenderloin or sirloin for fondue. The strips are thin and flash cook so the meat needs to be a relatively tender cut to begin with. I don't usually marinade. It could make for an interesting meeting when the marinaded meat hits the hot oil, depending on what you use in the marinated. Just lots of different dipping sauces.