Darienne

Question: what about non-hotel conference folk? We have two dogs with our family and will have to find a dog-friendly motel somewhere nearby. Is there special dispensation for us?

Oh my! Never heard of Arancello before. Will have to make some. Do you have a favorite recipe? Too bad, we can't buy Everclear in Canada.

Blood oranges for me, although we do use Navel oranges too. Navel Oranges for zest; peels for Orange Beef, peels for candied orange peels subsequently dipped in chocolate, oranges for smoothies, Orange Juleps (Montreal 1940s style). Blood oranges for joy and color and taste. Mostly for joy!

I'm with Chris. What is there in pesto not to like? Oil? Cheese? Nuts? Garlic? Basil? Or the many varieties which exist? Is it the texture? The taste? Have you had it homemade? Store-bought? Fresh pasta tossed with only pesto? Heaven on earth!

So many good and useful replies. Trust you, Andie, to have such a novel method to roast peppers. Alas, Janeer, your link led me to a source for cheap web hosting. Could you either put the recipe into the post or PM it to me? Thanks.

As for colored dishes...I would use this set if I could ever find any of them...assuming I could afford the price. This is all I have left of the everyday set my Mother used when I was growing up. Bad photo. Color way off. No time to fix...

You know what they say about using your good dishes. What are you saving them for?

Andie, you just touched my heart deeply. We used to have Blue Onion dishes. I think I actually have one or two left. Love blue and white together.

DH and I were vegetarians for about 30 years so I wouldn't know exactly where to start in. I was raised by vegetarians also. One of my favorite cookbooks is Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa. Habeeb Salloum. And just about any Indian cookbook will give you such a wealth of recipes. We are now what Mark Bittman calls Lessmeatarians.

Good dishes inherited from Mother are plain white. Everyday dishes are new and plain white. Had blue glass Arcopal for years. (Have a thing about blue glass.) Silly mid-winter to perk up your spirits acrylic set is wild pseudo-Mexican pattern and colors.

Take a look at this video on the joys of eating at chain restaurants. Posted on the New York Times daily blog. Pretty much says everything you need to know...

I have a food mill and it is great. Don't use it a lot, but when you need one...you need one. Truth is, I don't have anything dumb in my kitchen. No room. Even the dumb Magic Bullet is not in the kitchen but in the garage. So sad. Maybe my too small kitchen is the dumbest thing in my kitchen because I asked for it to be that way. That was 15 years ago when I could have had it made larger but I was still in my long term hating to cook mode with no idea that a whole new life lay ahead of me in my late 60s. BTW, the food mill is in the breezeway.

Just to give you an idea of how old I am...although why I would want to do that I don't know...I had Pez candy when it wasn't available in North America. My aunt, who was secretary to the Director of the ILO (International Labor Office) was stationed in Switzerland during WWII and after, and sent them to me from Europe in the 40s. What if I had kept the containers????

Oddly enough, we were just mentioning Ikea this morning as we contemplated our next move...

Hello Mitch, Just found this thread and am delighted. Reason #1 is the set of photos of your kitchen...which is the same shape as my kitchen, only much better filled and organized obviously. Later today, DH and I will sit and review all your photos and see if we can replicate some of your space solutions in our own house. (Size and shape of the kitchen are my 'fault'. Fifteen years ago when the kitchen was carved out of space, I did not like cooking and it was sufficient. Now, alas, it is not, and my kitchen is in the kitchen, breezeway, garage, studio, and living room. Oops. Forgot, in the cellar too.) Thanks again.

You are a good grandson.

Oh for a gas stove. We live far outside the gas lines here. Strange, you are the only person I have heard from who uses the oil method. I guess everyone else is cooking with gas.

Sounds like a fine basic recipe except that I would probably mix the pork with beef. And use either fresh or canned tomatoes. And I just made it using pulled pork and pulled beef chopped up after being frozen in great honking packages. (Pulled meat being good for all kinds of emergencies Our basic problem is that we eat 'dinner' at noon and that leaves all sorts of weekdays in chaos at the last minute with my having run out of time to get anything made. And so on. ) The one thing I don't get is the hard taco thingy. Don't they just break while you are eating them and then the stuff falls all over the place??? Oh, I also add a dollop of cocoa usually. I have really no idea why. And I do love Picadillo de la Costa with all the fruit in it. DH likes it better without fruit, although I refuse to leave out the raisins.

We have a propane barbecue but don't use it all that much. We did at first...but then... It's really a summer thing for us. And not often. It has a side burner but I've not had much practice in using it. Right now I wouldn't cook outside for anything. I'll try it again.

Is each rolatini just one piece of eggplant? Was it enormous? Sliced how? Looks wonderful. I am crazy for eggplant.

It's way past the middle of January and it's 12 below Fahrenheit (-25 C) where we live so it's obviously time to get back to making ice cream. DL's Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream with Butter Pecans. (Made with Half&Half and cornstarch.) Delicious. And then to gild the lily, topped with homemade Magic Shell. It's for kids, but I love it. ps. Has anyone ever tried making ice cream with DL's inclusion of Dark Chocolate Truffles? I have some incredibly delicious Raspberry ganache in the fridge (made with more booze than I ever imagined could go into a ganache) and will incorporate some into the Butterscotch ice cream in one small section to see how it might work.

Hmmm...why not put it in your electric grinder and then just add it to your regular salt stash?

Try it on the top of chocolate bark, or chocolate-dipped toffee.

Check out Canadian Tire in Peterborough - they carry an amazing amount of kitchen/cleaning stuff. Find the largest CT - I can't remember what street it is on but there's a Sobey's next door or very near if I remember correctly. CTC is on Lansdowne and I'll try it next time. Sobey's didn't have one or the Superstore or HH or the local kitchenware store. Should have looked at CTC first.

Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I did find 'roasting' the peppers in oil worked better than the under-the-electric-oven's-broiler method.