Marlene

What about Michel Richard's restaurant in Caesar's Palace, Central. Is it any good?

Yes that's a bit of a drawback.

We also added baking powder to the Twenty recipe. I am not a huge fan of Keller's recipe and I always left out the onion and used a little bit of garlic salt. There are lots of recipes I love in Ad Hoc, but the fried chicken isn't one of them.

How big is your roast? When I do this, I roast at 200 convection. I do not sear it first. An 8-9 lb roast should take about 4.5 hours. Smaller roast, say 5 lbs, should take a little over 3 and a half. But do use a meat thermometer and roast to temp. I take mine out when the thermometer hits 135 (for rare) and let it sit for 25 minutes or so while I do the yorkies.

I Like all of Reinhart's books, but my favourite is Artisan breads everyday, then Bread Baker's Apprentice and then Crust and Crumb.

I didn't say it wasn't worth it, (in fact, I bought it) and I do know something about what goes into an electronic version, but I was still surprised at the price. The article does say it is the most expensive app in the store. I used to lug my hard copy to the cottage with me, and now I won't have to!

It might be the most expensive app I've ever seen!

Lovely, Anna and Kerry! The one thing we've really started to enjoy out here is Indian food. Don's always been a fan, but me not so much till we moved here. It's now in our regular take out rotation and I've done a couple of Indian dishes myself. Love, love, love onion bhaji!

I actually prefer Bouchon for breakfast/lunch over dinner.

yeah it will be insane. We've got our restaurants booked through the 31st and then we'll see about the Monday Tuesday. It will be a lot quieter on those two days. They do shut down the strip to cars on NYE, but i can't remember what time and I believe the hotels lock their doors at 11:30 and don't open them again until 12:30 so if you want to be in your hotel, make sure you do so before 11:30. I'd forgotten about the law regarding hailing cabs. As often as we've been to Vegas, we've never done NYE so it should be interesting. I'm thinking champagne in our room at midnight watching the fireworks is going to work well for me.

Hey! We are arriving the 28th and heading back the 3rd. We must meet up for a cocktail. We'll be staying at the Encore at Wynn.

In terms of the Venetian, you cannot go wrong with Delmonicos for a nice dinner for two. Bouchon is there as well, I think. Wynn Las Vegas has the best buffet in town. I don't think I can help with the rest of it. We are just in the middle of planning our restaurants for Vegas, when we'll be there for 6 days over New Year's Eve.

I have a Viking dual fuel here and before that I had a dacor range and wall oven. At the cottage I have a double oven kitchenaid range. I use the self clean feature on each of them, on a regular basis. It can get smokey depending on how much gunk is in the oven itself, but I turn on the overhead fan and open a window. Never had a problem with any of them.

My parents had ice cube trays like that. I don't think I kept them though, or I would send them to you.

I have loved my non stick foil for quite a while now.

I bought a Breville hand mixer a couple of months ago and love it. Up to 18 speeds, plenty of torc, and nice and gentle on the low end. It's not cheap though.

I'm in the minority because I hate cold pizza. What about a pizza bun, like the type you see in bakeries?

I've been using mine a lot since we moved. It functions very well as a second oven for hors d'oeuvres, and other things. I love how that a quarter sheet pan fits in it too. I have been following this discussion with interest. I currently have the Cuisinart Brick Oven and I can get 1/4 sheet pans in it too. When it finally bites the dust, I will be looking at the Breville as a replacement. Being able to use 1/4 sheet pans has now become something I am not prepared to sacrifice! You will love it. I am the same way now about being able to use 1/4 sheet pans. I have the brick oven at the cottage and yes it does too. I do like the Breville much better though

I've been using mine a lot since we moved. It functions very well as a second oven for hors d'oeuvres, and other things. I love how that a quarter sheet pan fits in it too.

..... Kerry and I agreed that we would not attempt to review the restaurants where we lunch but this time I have to say that this was the worst meal and the worst dining experience so far. The name of the place I swore I would never forget but the mind is a funny thing and it's already been obliterated from my gray matter. Any flavour that any of the meats might have started out with was cooked out of existence - perhaps a few days ago! Ah well - we laughed anyway. If you want to try new places you had better be prepared to occasionally leave very hungry. Edited to fix formatting and to add: We dined alone! And it was the lunch hour! How I miss you guys and the ability to lunch with you. Lunch might have been a bust, but you scored a pressure cooker. Something I'm still scared of! Let me know how you make out with it~

I love potatoes cooked in duck fat. But.....I tried them with goose fat once, and goose fat won, hands down.

Roasted shallots are awesome

I noticed the downward trend in service in Toronto before I left, even at places we frequented often. However, I would like to say, we've experienced the exact opposite in Calgary. Every restaurant we've been to so far, the service has been outstanding. Friendly, knowledgable, efficient, yet not over the top. It may be that it is part of what we have experienced in terms of Calgary being one of the friendliest cities we've ever been too, or it may be that in most cases, when we've spoken to wait staff, we're getting an overwhelming chorus of how management involves the whole team in the process of putting together the menus, discussing service etc. I don't know. But I do know that so far in Calgary, service has exceeded my expectations, even when the food has not.

Steven, you are a shadow of your former self, and I can testify that Dave the Cook actually cooks and cooks well. (aka two pig pickin experiences). Wish I could be there with y'all, but that's not going to happen any year soon. Keep the updates coming!

I was able to buy one without the sales pitch, thanks to a good friend. But I haven't tried it yet. I hauled it across the country to the cottage and have yet to fire it up. I've read the manual but it's confusing to me. I should get it out this week and try something.