Marlene

Iuse a combination of montery jack and sharp cheddar which seems to help with the gooeyness. The crust is usually a mix of breadcrumbs butter and parmesan. I use extra butter to make it moister so it sticks together really well. If you want a really crisp crust, try using panko crumbs. And I usually bake mine for about 30 minutes.

it's a free download. Once you've downloaded all your pictures and are ready to export them, you can select the size you want. After that, it will automatically resize every picture you export unless you tell it differently. I have saved countless hours using Picasa. No breakfast yet, as I'm currently still cleaning up my kitchen. I really want to get my pantry reorganized today (who knew I had so many different types of crackers) and I do need to shop. Again. I've taken chicken wings out to thaw for tomorrow's dinner because I'm craving them after hearing everyone talk about making them this weekend.

Your reasoning is logical, Dave, but it's possible that lots of smokers and ex-smokers are attracted to this thread in particular. I'm not yet convinced that the proportion of smokers who are members here is actually greater than the proportion among the general population, though you may very well be right. ← That's what I'm thinking Pan. I remarked to my husband that I never knew eG harboured so many closet smokers! My blue cheese dip recipe--which produces a huge amount of smooth, not chunky, dip, not sauce--is as follows: 1 pint sour cream 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened 1/2 pound blue cheese, room temperature, crumbled Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pulse with immersion blender to further break down blue cheese chunks. After blue cheese has been reduced to fine particles, run blender steadily in a series of 1-2 minute bursts to thoroughly mix ingredients. If you find the consistency too thick, you may thin it with 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk, added slowly until desired thickness is reached. Optional add-ins include onion powder (up to 2 teaspoons) or garlic powder (up to 1 teaspoon). Killing a few other birds: --Dave: I usually do bacon on a rack in an oven roasting pan as well--it's the best way to produce a large quantity of crisp bacon. As I often make biscuits at the same time, I usually cook my bacon at 400F for 10 to 15 minutes, turning once. --I usually bake my buffalo wings rather than fry them, so they're a little less crunchy, but I find that if you cook them at 375F for about 45 minutes, drain the fat and juices, then turn them over and cook for 15 minutes more, you get acceptably crispy wings. The wings I made tonight were coated with Old Bay prior to baking, then tossed in wing sauce. --Marlene: You should try the Gates' Barbecue Sauce recipe that was featured on "From Martha's Kitchen" a couple of years ago. I don't know if this recipe is still up on the Food Network web site. As it's Ollie Gates', not mine, I don't feel comfortable posting it to ImageGullet, but if you all can convince me I'm being overly fastidious about this, I may add it. ← I'll look around and see if I can find it. The one I'm using is from Wolfgang Puck. Susan, do whatever you have to do. If you take time off, we'll still be here when you come back. It's often been said that it's harder to quit cigarettes than heroin, yet many people quit every year, so give yourself a break when you struggle, but remember that it's been done many times before, so it really can be done. (I have no idea how that came across, but I hope it helped.) ← Thanks, Pan, for the kind words. I think one of my big mistakes was not going public in advance with friends and family. I figured it would be easier without them "bugging" me, not realizing that they would be a terrific support for me. Actually, you will hear from me tomorrow. I am meeting a friend at a very nice place for lunch and treating myself! But, be warned, you just might see leftovers on my table tomorrow night! ← I'm finding the opposite. By telling everyone and anyone, I (maybe in my own mind) put myself under a lot of pressure. My mind does this perverse, stubborn thing sometimes. My friend, "waddayamean you had a cigarette. Aren't you supposed to be quitting?. Me. Shut up. . Russell, didn't she say the temp was 10F outside? And Don actually loves to cook. Quite often we prep together in the kitchen. This time of year though he doesn't have that much time, so it was a treat for him to take a break yesterday and take up the cooking utensils.

Not only is Don a tireless gopher for me,, having a teenage son has certain advantages as well, one of them being go to the store for mom. I constantly forget things depsite yards of lists when I shop. I even forget things when I send Don out to get things I've forgotten and have been known to call him on his cell phone while he's standing in the checkout line, with "oh honey, just one more thing".

I've got the patch. It takes the edge off but it isn' dealing with the mind part. I got a recommendation from a doctor for a hypnotist who I will call today. I figure at this point it can't hurt. It's a school morning and it's really cold. Ryan makes his own breakfast and packs his own lunch on school days so all I have to do is sit here and drink coffee. Leftovers will be on my table tonight as well, (yes Susan, you read that right) as I have a Council meeting tonight. More after breakfast. Chin up partner. It's incredibly hard to do this. Especially in front of a rather large audience. As for your pics, aren't you usintg Picasa? It cuts out several steps in the cropping and resizing area.

While I'm waiting for my partners to get back on line, how about Matt, Brooks and Maggie checking in? Isn't this supposed to be easier by now?

Like Dave, I find myself taking pictures of every step in the process. The least you folks can do is suffer along with us. The long awaited dinner finally got underway. Various ingredients: garlic, onion, red and yellow peppers Sesame oil, ginger and soy sauce Bean Sprouts! plus the sirloin tips, some orange peppers and snow peas. And we're ready to cook. Don gets the wok started with the sesame oil and does the garlic and onion first: Then adds the beef and soy sauce Then the various peppers: and the snow peas. When that is all ready, he removes it from the wok and does the bean sprouts separately (by the way, Ive had that pepper mill for almost 30 years. My father gave it to me when I got my very first apartment during college. It's also really scary when you actually have memories from 30 years ago.) Served with rice this is oh so very very good. (and Susan, one of my very favourite snacks is shaved parmesan on triscuts. I'll try the prosciutto next time)

We are now the proud owners of some organic bean sprouts so dinner can finally proceed. Whew.

I'm liking those racks from Dean and Deluca. I curently use the Tupperware spice containers which are stackable.

Shows how often I buy bean sprouts. Don is still hunting. I know Whole Foods has them so he's gone off to try there.

Um, has anyone heard of a salmonella outbreak with bean sprouts? The bean sprouts I bought a couple of days ago for our stir fry didn't make it. So Don is currently out hunting for sprouts. If he can't find any, it could be an interesting stir fry. But, the guy at Sobey's told him there'd been a recent outbreak involving bean sprouts and they haven't brought them back into the store yet.

We are using sirloin tips tonight for our stir fry. Fajitas also work well.

If it ever get down to visit you, I'll bring some spicy clamato mix. You'll love it. In the meantime, you could mix a little horseradish in the bloody mary mix. Dinner prep soon. I jus woke up from my now seemingly obligitory afternoon nap. Time for cocktails which since it is a "school night" will likely be CC and coke for me and white wine for Don. My son, who has developed an unexplained urge to watch the Super bowl, wants "game snacks". I knew I should have taken out chicken wings.

Thanks Eliot. Since we are staying at the Venetian, a dinner is most possible!

I usually take a turkey breast to 160. 170 will certainly be well done.

I seriously want wings now. Maybe that can be tomorrow's dinner. I don't recall any garlic in blue cheese dipping sauce, but why not? How about this one?

Well I could do the Caribbean pork in Molly's braising book, but I was looking for something a bit different this time. A mojito definately. I'll skip the fried plantains thanks.

This just made my list for breakfast when we go to Vegas in April. Do we need reservations for breakfast?

Nicely done Susan! We totally forgot about our mimosas with breakfast. Better late than never though, and it makes a nice Sunday afternoon drink as well.

No folks. The lack of nicotine has not addled Dave's brain so much that he feels the need to drive to Florida for steak. (at least I don't think it has). He's going for work and this is where the cuban portion of our blog will come in. Now that I think of it, a few suggestions for cuban dishes would be most welcome.

Sure it did. Shows how addled my brain has become.

I've taken to making my own BBQ sauce. I use a recipe from the Food tv network website and we really like it. My brother loves it too, so now I always make some for him at the same time. The only saucy wings I like are the Asian ones from the Frog Commissary cookbook. But then, once they are baked, they aren't really gooey saucy if you know what I mean. The other thing I don't get is breaded wings. I adore large hunks of beef. I do my bacon in the skillet on top of the stove, and then we usually fry our eggs in the bacon grease. I always save my bacon grease as well.

Is this a Marlene-blog first? ← Probably. Like green vegetables. You will note that I've had three green vegetables so far. And snow peas will be in the stir fry tonight. I'm thinking we'll be doing hot roast beef sandwhiches today or tomorrow for lunch. Or Maybe dinner tomorrow. And I love left over prime rib for munching on.

Because I've fallen off the wagon a few times, I'm not sure my taste buds have had a chance to adjust. Certainly though, my sense of smell is sharper. (I can smell a smoker 100 paces away ) I've always liked salty things but these last few days, my taste for them has really increased. I don't think I'm eating anymore, but that's a concious decision on my part. Now if only I had the energy to go to the gym. But, I'd rather sleep.

Apparently, it's going to be Don's day to cook. He came home from the gym and made up bacon and eggs for all of us. I like my eggs over easy, Don likes his sunny side up and Ryan likes his over easy in a sandwhich. This is President's Choice bacon which is actually pretty good. We all like our bacon crisp. Don is going to favour his with his marvellous stir fry tonight, so I'm off to the market to get a few things.