Darienne

Done in by all the talk of black pepper. Had same for supper on my popcorn with olive accompanied by my own version of Orange Julep.

Just saw all the amazing photos. I do salute you, sir. You have a brilliant future in the showpiece part of the chocolate world if you choose. I am truly awed of the entire process and for a first try, you were amazing. Thanks again.

It all sounds incredible! Alas, apparently I don't have permission to look at your photos and so that was the end of that. For the time being only, I hope. I am eager to see what you and your classmates managed to do. I would be terrified to attend such a class. Just the thought of going to NOTL makes me nervous. ps. And I am disappointed that you won't be there.

Tuaca. Learn something new every day. Can't get it in Ontario, at least not in Peterpatch or Toronto. But I see we can get it in Moab. Next fall, with luck.

I tend to cook my own unsophisticated version of Mexican for a group, using the pulled meat & poblano strips for enchiladas for the meatarians and said poblano strips & vegetables for the others. We've also done Chinese, but that was with two cooking. And that's quite a lot of extra stuff. We would be staying in a condo for at least a month or more to do that. And then I would bring stuff from home in the van. And Impossible pies work well for a group. I bring chocolate. Always. Ditto for breakfast custards, French toasts & pancake things which cover a whole sheet (no standing there for 3/4 hour dishing out stuff), etc. There are so many 'prepare the night ahead, store in the fridge and bake for 35 mins in the am' recipes.

Question: do you mean to say that for almost an entire week you cook and serve no meat? Surely the quasi-vegetarians would allow for two separate meals to be served on at least one occasion. It hit me because as soon as I see the word 'crockpot', I think pulled pork or pulled beef and all the things you can do with it.

Popcorn with olive oil and black pepper is one. Pepper ice cream is another. Both wonderful!

Thank you, Fat Sir. Propane will go into the bin marked 'things that are never going to happen in my lifetime'.

Just what lengths does one go to to put in propane?

What I hate about electric stoves is that it seems that in such a little time, the heat in the coils is so uneven. Perhaps I should be replacing my burners more often? Last week I was deep frying something and with my insta-read thermometer realized with dismay that the temperature of one side of my pan really was much hotter than the other side. Picked up the saute pan...looked at the coils...arrgghhh....

Thanks Pierogi. The problem is that I have not seen any Trudeau items of that kind in my locale. I was going to buy a pair from Amazon.ca (Canada). I love Trudeau's 9" spatulas and a woman can never have enough spatulas. I know I can find the Oxo tongs in a city about 50 miles from here, if not in the nearby city. We have here only a Stokes (not very interesting at all) and a Hendrix (caters to restaurants and high end equipment.) Was just hoping that someone would tell me of some pair of tongs which 'I just had to have'.

Andie: You are correct about not lifting anything from hot oil with tongs. Since then I have bought one of those Chinese lifting ladles and that should end those problems. Your basket is a good idea too. Judiu: I have a pair of tongs which are almost like that. I am still not confident of my ability to hang on. The fingers have no dexterity or strength. I guess the hand is better. Rats to it all. Which still brings me back to the Trudeau silicone tongs and has anyone tried them?

My friend from NJ brought me, the novice Mexican cook, a care package last summer, full of things I had never heard of. I know some of them now...but others are a bit of a mystery. We do have a thread, "Making Mexican at home", but it might be useful to have a topic devoted to just the spices and herbs that are used. For instance, today I opened a jar of Corrado's Adobo con Pimienta. Found some information on Google, but need some first hand ideas. I used it on Rajas con Crema that I 'threw' together at the last second for lunch today. It was good. List of ingredients: salt, garlic, oregano, MSG, mustard. (Yeah, so much for my MSG problem. ) Thoughts?

Tongs: I have very poor hand control and have dropped a number of things from my two sets of old-fashioned tongs...the kind that Mother used. This included a poblano just lifted from a pan of very hot oil and I dropped it back into the pan splashing the oil my hands. Yikes. Yes, I was careful...it simply doesn't matter sometimes. What is the best kind of tongs for folks like me? What about these? Trudeau silicone tongs

Don't have the book but am looking forward to another tour de force from Chef Hennes.

Holly is so right. Three years ago, DH and I were in Moab and a friend and I put on a Chinese feast at her BF's house. She and I split the dishes, with my Ed cooking the rice. Dessert was Kumquat ice cream and almond cookies. Everything was home made. The BF had even bought a second set of new dishes for the event. All red and crystal on a black background. Yes the food was excellent, but the company was even better. We invited our Moab friends and a wonderful time was had by all. There were dogs everywhere. The afternoon stretched on and it was a magical time. I would give a lot to be able to duplicate that wonderful time.

Smoked salmon. I tried a couple of kins off the shelf in Costco...terrible.

Not that I am an 'expert' in Mexican cooking, but the regular Mexican restaurants are not what I like. The one restaurant, almost a hole in the wall, which caters to the Mexican and Latino laborers at lunch, has authentic food from a number of different Mexican states, no doubt reflecting the origins of the men who line up to take out lunch every day. (Maybe dinner too...I was never there at dinner time.) I fear that when the bridge is rebuilt and the widened highway finished, the restaurant will be gone with the laborers.

You're only about 14 hours by car. We could come for supper. Looks beautiful!!!

Lost my long and extremely witty reply to your post. Rats. We do NOT live in a suburb of Toronto. Driving distance is 1 1/2 hours on a good day of which there are mostly none and it usually takes 2 1/2 hours to get there. Nuff said.

Janeer, thank you! The sauce had tomatillos and tomatoes, but the tomatoes were in chunks so they were easier to see. The tomatillos were roasted and blended into a salsa with chipotle chiles and roasted garlic. Well, it looks very delicious and I do have the Bayless book. Thanks, Sapidus.

I can do beef tallow and annatto and lime. I'll get some of the Mexican Caldo and go from there. Thanks so much for the offer. I do have friends in Utah and could go that route. Also we are there long enough at a time for me to order stuff if I get right at it. But thanks again.

Unfortunately their shipping rates to Canada are much higher than Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca) and their time line is much longer. They do have a Canadian arm, and I might try further again. Thanks for the suggestion. Might use them the next time we are in Utah for a while.

Back to Caldo de Pollo, please. ElseD informed me that this is available in her Mexican market, and the Tajin also. I forgot to ask her about the contents of the Caldo de Pollo. How does it differ from Knorr's plain old powdered chicken stock? I have lots of frozen chicken stock(alas, Morgan is in trouble again. Should I just add something to it?

I don't know the story on the marmalade, but I do know that Bailey's has a different formula for export to the USA. Perhaps many products do. Looking for a bakery pound cake or an angel food cake a couple of years ago in a pinch, we discovered that both were so much sweeter than in Canada. Canadians like more salt: Americans more sugar. Or so it seems to me.