Marlene

Rarely. I make them ocassionally at home, and we seldom eat at fast food places so I don't get them there. Hubby however prefers fries to anything else, and will often ask for them in a restaurant instead of a baked potato.

Hmmm. I can't imagine that I need a case of this! Maybe I can get it when I'm in NY next month.

Excellent. I actually have to go to Sherway Gardens likely this weekend, so I'll try that LCBO. thanks!

I've been on a hunt for Marachino liqueur for some time now. I've visited various LCBO stores and I've never seen it. Does the LCBO actually stock this stuff?

Which recipe in the Silver Palette. I just looked a both my SP cookbooks and didn't actually see a brisket recipe. Having said that, as GG says, brisket's got to be cooked low and slow for a fairly long time. Based on your post in the Seattle forum, I can't tell if you're looking for brisket or flank steak, which while they come from the same area, are different cuts and need to be treated differently In addition, all cows are not really created equal, so you may be getting the ocassional piece of meat from a cow that is less than stellar.

I have yet to find too many recipes in this book that I don't like. The Zinfindel pot roast is one of my favourites. I have not yet done the Pork braised in Milk yet, although from the raves on this thread I should. For some reason, braising in milk just doesn't connect in my mind.

I've done both boneless prime rib and pork roasts in my convection toaster oven. I also do baked brie in puff pastry in it often. Roasted garlic comes to mind as a perfect use for toaster ovens without having to heat up your big oven and your entire kitchen.

Peanut Butter Burgers For these I always use ground sirloin and grill. I also make a burger with cognac and djion and for those I use a combination of lean and regular ground beef. I alway get my buns from the bakery around the corner, where they make kaisers daily. There's not too much bread and lightly toasted, they are perfect with burgers. I prefer cheese and bacon on my burgers and although I've experiemented with real cheddar, sometimes plastic cheese is just the right way to go on burgers.

I have a well stocked bar, too, and sure I could make most just about any drink a guest could choose. However, I find most don't know what to ask for, when confronted with that question. So, lately, I've been printing up cocktail menus with descriptions of a few "featured" drinks. So far this has gone well. Also guarantees I can have the ingredients on hand in appropriate quantities for at least those drinks. I've never been a bartender, so I do like to know I can make a drink well before a guest asks for it. If I have a menu, I can practise those drinks before the guests arrive. Entertaining this summer, the most popular have been Sazeracs, Floridita Daiquiris, and Rathbone Sours (note read next post down, as recipe should have lemon). ← Ok, I could get behind this idea, and the concept of wanting to test drive the making of the drinks is sound. It's been a long long time since I was a bartender!

Do you let them choose what you will feed them? Why is this any different? ← Because cooking is different. (although I've been known to ask what my guests might like to eat.)Often, I start to cook hours, somedays days before guests arrive. Cocktails are a la minute and therefore can and should be made to order.

Call me old fashioned, but I just make whatever my guests ask for. I would never presume to decide ahead on cocktails and assume they should drink them. Of course, I have a fairly well stocked bar and a bartender background, (plus several mixology books to help me out in a pinch!).

gravy. Preferaby real beef gravy. French fries and gravy were a staple of my teen years and I still order them whenever I can.

Yeah, ok. I missed that! I have 4 of the most incredible butts. Jake and I lugged over 50 lbs of meat into my house on Thursday. Now, however, the wake has been postponed until next Sunday, which is just as well since I am going to need two days to smoke these. They are so large, that I can only fit one on each rack, not two as I had orginally planned. But god, are they gorgeous!

USA, huh? I would have bet MONEY that it was Marlene. Hmmmm...lessee...gotta think on this one. ← No, no no. I'm a Princess, not a Queen. And after six blogs, I've reached my limit I think. Although I can't think at the moment who this might be. Abra?

I have both the PepperMill supreme and the Unicron magnum. By far my favourite is the Magnum and the regular size comes with a "dust" catcher so no residue gets on my counters.

And what's a caramel ruler or pastry frame?

I do have one set of these in fact. I just don't have enough to transport as many deviled eggs as I would need. Tupperware also used to have a deviled egg tray that fit inside the cake taker, but I don't see it anymore.

So in turns out, that I will be responsible for most of the mains plus a couple of nibbles. My sister in law will take care of the rest. This is what I'm thinking: smoked pork on a bun. I'll smoke the pork shoulders on Friday and pull them Baked beans which I can also make on Friday Coleslaw, to be made the day of cheddar cheese thumb print cookies candied pecans min pitas stuff with chicken salad. Fried chicken which we will purchase My sister in law will make her wonderful garlic potato salad and desserts and a couple of other nibbles. I'm open to other ideas for other sides! I'd make deviled eggs, but I really don't have a good way of transporting them all the way across the city, not to mention as well that all my fridges will be stuffed with this other food!

Now that my butt's been secured, a final smoking question. In smoking 4 butts at one time, will the ones on the bottom rack be done quicker than the ones on top? Should I rotate my butts occassionally?

Any online recipes I have I save to my gmail account and label them accordingly "beef, apps, desserts" etc. Gmail's labeling is similar to folders. If my hard drive crashes, I can still sign onto my gmail account from any other computer and retrieve my recipes.

I think with four full butts plus all the sides plus whatever nibbles we come up with and some fried chicken we should have enough. If not, we can always order pizza! What a girl! You know you've got a friend when they're willing to go on a butt search for you!

Butts are not all that easy to find in Oakville Ontario. I usually get them from Whole foods and I don't think they take orders. I'll find some somewhere.

I loved my brother dearly, but I am not, repeat not, renting a smoker! 4 will have to do!

If I smoke six, that's two days of smoking. I'm not sure I'll have that much time. I figure first of all, not everyone will stay and not everyone will eat pork. We will get a mess of fried chicken in, and I'll have baked beans, potato salad and slaw. I'm sure I'll have other foods as well. 4 is going to have to do it. That is assuming I can get my hands on three more butts, since I have one in the freezer already!

It is a big party. Approximate 125 people. I'm assuming that 4 butts, once pulled will feed that many! Will it take longer to cook 4 at once or should I expect around the same amount of time it takes me to do one?