Marlene

After last night's extravaganza, I simply pan seared some rib eyes and finished them in the oven, and served them with baked potatoes and homemade bacon bits. No veg, no salad, just meat and potatoes,baby!

It also has a "food setting" and I tend to switch between it and the auto intelligent setting for food pictures, depending on the light, and how close up I want to get. The food setting, for example works really well in low light such as restaurants, without having to resort to a flash. It also has a telescopic lens, so I was able to shoot pics of the deer at our cottage, down by the lake, from our deck and get a clear, non fuzzy shot. No changing of lenses, a food setting and a really good macro setting. Plus it has a built in "shake proof" feature, so that I don't need a tripod to set the camera on, and I'm coming away with a lot fewer blurry shots.

It was a work in progress, shall I say. Is it in the top ranks of steakhouses in Toronto, never mind NY or other places? Not yet. Lugers and Wolfgangs can both dance circles around this place, as can the top steakhouse in Toronto, Barberians. Having said that, I think it's got a lot of potential, and possibly not a fair comparison, since at both Wolfgang's and Lugers I've had the porterhouse, but not at Jacobs. Service was definitely professional, knowledgable and friendly. We were a bit rushed as we were attending the theatre, and I"m trying to remember what everyone had. I had the ceasar salad to start, which is made tableside, but I thought had a bit too much lemon in it. Hubby had the waygu carpaccio, which was pretty rich, and really needed some toast points or something to help balance it out. Because we don't do restaurant reviews on CK, I didn't take notes, and I'm having trouble remembering what our guests had, so I'll have to go back and look at the menu, but they both certainly enjoyed themselves. We both had the rib eye, which was very nicely done, but I don't believe it was "to die for" or any more outstanding than any other steak offered in the city right now. All in all it was good, very pricey, and still needs to evolve if it wants to be considered the "best". Neither of us left thinking, "wow, we need to come back here!"

I used the last of the unsalted yesterday, but this is the salted one. I believe the unsalted package is silver. I'll double check as I need to get to the Superstore today sometime. I also like the PC plum sauce.

And they have Normandy style butter. Something I can't get anywhere else. I like their Tuscan Olive oil too.

I swear by their all butter puff pastry, and their chocolate for baking isn't to be sneezed at either.

The dinner party is over, and I need sleep. Pre dinner prep details are posted elsewhere, but here are the final results We began with a couple of nibbles. Hoisin beef in wonton cups And cheeses with jalepenos and scallions in wonton wrappers The rack of pork before it went in the oven. I have no picture of it right after it came out, but here it is cut Flatbreads from this issue of Fine Cooking Balsamic glazed carrots Duchess potatoes Apple fennel stuffing/dressing from this issue of Fine Cooking Plated. Not shown are a Bourbon cider sauce and a traditional gravy Individual fruit tarts. Specialty coffee

I just bought a couple of these as well. I'd remove the skin, if there's a nice fat cap underneath so the fat has a chance to crisp. Like this Oven 325 to an internal heat of 140. Most recipes say oven should be at 350. I find that tends to dry them out. Should take a couple of hours. A glaze is always nice at the end, but you don't have to. Oh, and lining the bottom of your roasting pan with tin foil is always a good idea when doing ham.

No. If you click on the link, it's a Panasonic DMC-FZ18 Lumix.

If it's Canadian approved, there should be a CSA approved mark on it somewhere. Although, KitchenAid is so good with issues, that I doubt you'd have any problems.

Not quite: From the CBSA website: They made the change in the 48 hours or more allowance last summer, I think. ← I got a little confused by this on my last trip to NY when I was away for three days. The website certainly says $400.00 for 48 hours, but the Customs cards you have to fill out when coming in by air, still say $200.00. For some reason, the customs officer didn't seem to be up to date either on which was correct.

Right. It may be duty free, but very few things are GST exempt. This article explains.

They aren't subject to tax, but you should be aware that Canada has different electrical requirements than the US and even small appliances can be different. For example, the Waring Pro deep fryer in the States is 1800 watts, while the one manufactured for Canada was at first 1500 watts. I think it's come up to 1800 watts now, but when I researched them at the time, the answer I got from Golda's as to why theirs was 1500 while the one on the WS site was 1800, the answer I got was the different electrical standards. The problem with the electrical issues is part of the reason many online US retailers don't won't kitchen appliances to Canada.

I use the 2 3/4 size all the time. For baked beans, smaller stews and soups Smaller braised pork shoulders and pot roasts. It's a great size if you're cooking for 1-3 people.

Certain ones like demos in Cooks Illustrated or Fine Cooking I keep. I always buy the Fine Cooking yearly volume and then I'll pitch that year's magazines. Others, like Bon Appetite or Gourmet, I usually save to read on planes, etc, and mark recipes I want to try. Those magazines tend to pile up around the house, until I have a huge stack, at which point, I have to go through each magazine, decide if I still want to try the recipes, or review ones I have tried. Those get transfered to my recipe software, then the magazine gets pitched. Of course, it takes 6-8 months before I get around to this though, so cooking magazines end up everywhere in my house.

Jamie, you get points for at least trying. I'm healthy, and after reading all the posts here, I'm not at all sure I would have tried it!

The New and Improved Ove Glove. They've added a silicone texture/pattern to decrease the chance of slippage when handling pots, etc. ← Now that is a brilliant idea.

We were taught at ICE also, not to hold it too long, no longer than an hour, and over barely warm water in a stainless steel bowl. This is why I use a blender to make Hollandaise. It takes 15 seconds, never breaks, and I can do it very last minute after everything else is done.

I recently acquired this camera for taking food pictures. I had the Canon A630 and I found it had trouble in low light settings. This one is somewhat bulkier than a pocket point and shoot, but you don't have to switch lenses and cart a bunch of stuff around with it. I've been really happy with it.

Who knew indeed? Thanks for doing the research, Anna! Now that sounds seriously good.

I don't think I've ever had my KA walk across the counter, either of them. I have the bigger 600 Pro at home which I use for bread doughs and all kinds of things. The KA artisan which I moved to the cottage doesn't handle some bread doughs very well, but for everything is fine. When I was in NY recently for the Gourmet Institute weekend, Cuisinart was one of the sponsors, and the new mixer was everywhere, including all the chef demos. I got too see several of them upfront and in action, and I wasn't all that impressed with them. I don't think most of the chefs were terribly impressed either, judging by the faces they were making.

I'm having a dinner party this weekend, and so far, my lists look like these, although since it's only Monday, they are subject to change. Menu and planning Shopping

Most crown roasts I've seen/cooked have been around 15-16 ribs. That's still a bit much for a small dinner party, but leftovers are marvelous. Maybe because I'm specifying berkshire pork, there's a difference in the size of the racks? I have no clue. I can do a lovely rack of pork, still do the stuffing on the side, with glazed carrots and duchess potatoes I think.

Hmm. Never made pot stickers before. And apparently I'll have to revise my plans for a crown roast of pork since my butcher tells me it would be 22 ribs. A little big for a party of 6! Maybe a rack of pork instead.

Most of our entertaining this season will be done outside the home as we are getting ready for a basement renovation, plus we are travelling over Christmas and New Year's this year. I do however, have a dinner party coming up this week. The mains will be Crown Roast of Pork with mustard glaze, apple fennel stuffing, (done outside the roast), glazed bourbon and balsamic carrots and potatoes of some sort. Not quite sure what yet. Dessert will either be a fruit tart or a chocolate rolled souffle cake. I could use a little help with the nibbles. I've got some wonton wrappers that I'd like to use. I have one recipe that calls for a 4 cheese stuffing, which sounds like fun. What else can I do with them?