DanM

I made a wonderful smoothie this morning using the peanut flour. I used a mix of (by weight) 6oz of frozen berries, 4 oz soy milk, 4 oz OJ, 4 oz yogurt, 3tbsp of peanut flour, and 1 wheatabix biscuit. It have the smoothie a wonderful PB&J flavor. I need to experiment with blending it longer as it is a bit grainy. I was also thinking about profiteroles with chocolate filling and a dusting of peanut flour. Dan

I found Peanut Flour at Trader Joes today. This is a totally new and inspiring product for me. It packs a great nutritional punch. Per 1/4c, it has 16g of protein, 25% Niacin, 65% Folate, 60% Phosphorus, and 80% Magnesium RDA, but only 4g of fat. Now the big question... what to do with it! The package states that it is good for pastries, thickener for soups, breading for meats, and for teaching your kids algebra (just kidding on that last one). I was thinking about making PB&J smoothies or milkshakes and add it to peanut butter cookies. Any thoughts on what I can use it in? Dan

I am not an electrician, but my family owned a hardware store for 83 years... here is what I learned from my time there. Is this light flush with the ceiling, or is it mounted to it? A flush mounted light may be a bit of work due to the drywall work needed to fill the hole. A modern three prong outlet has a grounding post to help prevent you from getting shocked in case of a fault in the appliance or if you accidently spill liquid over it. Three pronged outlets also have a larger slot on the left for appliances with a polarized plug. Ideally, you will want to replace these outlets with GFCI outlets for the most protection. Most municipalities require them. Replacing an outlet is not rocket science, but it is best to have someone who has done it before help you out. Here is more detail on this. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question110.htm Regarding your friend's comments on Facebook. Given that your house was built in the mid 50's on the East coast, I will bet a beer or two that your electrical is based on flexible metal conduit with rubber coated, cloth covered wires. The outlet grounds to the conduit via the standard metal electrical box. The conduit then grounds back to the circuit panel, and then to ground or the water pipe coming into your house.

I have recently recreated my shopping and menu routine for the summer and fall. First, I created a basic daily theme based on some easy recipe books we own. Sunday: Best of the Market Monday: Pasta, Salad, or Soup (Mostly taken from Molto Gusto) Tuesday: Barbeque or southern (Lee Bros Simple Fresh Southern) Wednesday: Mexican (Rick Bayles night, mostly Mexican Everyday) Thurs: Leftovers or flex day Friday: Nice Shabbos meal night Sat: Pantry raid/leftovers Second part of this system involves the farmer's market and pick your own farms. I have two markets I visit, on Sunday as a family outing and Wednesday downtown New Haven. I buy produce for the week and base my menu choices around them. Sunday night I hold the right to make a nice meal based on the best finds from the market. Part three involves trips to the grocery store on Sunday afternoons and Thursday mornings to buy other ingredients. There are smaller farmers market on Thursday in West Haven on the way home from the grocers and one near Middlefield near the farm where I take my daughter to pick blueberries and peaches. I might hit these markets if the downtown market does not work out or if I'm searching for something. In the past 6 weeks that I have been working this menu routine, I have cut my food runs in half, cut our food budget by 10-15%, and I have lost around 10 lbs (focusing on healthier meals). Dan

The first three do not fall into the additive category for me. Baking soda and baking powder are necessary for some pastries as a levener. Gelatin is needed in some recipes, like panna cottas and mousses as a thickener and stabilizer. Artificial colours and flavors are a different story. They are not needed in any recipe. Nothing disgusts me more at a bakery than neon coloured cookies and pastries. It just screams hack work.

Yale promotes a Birkenstock and crunchy granola culture here in New Haven. We get a lot of this spucatum tauri from local restaurants. I mentioned this in another thread, but it is worth repeating. There is a new local, sustainable, blah, blah, blah, restaurant that offers a "½ Pound Burger* from Authentic, Artisan, Sustainable Cattle Topped with Sustainable Bacon, local Abby Cheese, local Arugula. Authentic, Artisan, Sustainable cattle? Are you frakin kidding me? At the other end of the spectrum, we have Miya's sushi which prides itself on only offering certified sustainable fish products and is very adamant about educating its customers on the subject. Dan

I could not live without my Lamson Pizza Rocker Knife. It is essentially an oversize single blade mezzaluna, and I use it as such. Regular wheel pizza cutters get gunked up quickly and drag toppings as it goes through the cooked pie. This one is wide enough to cut through it in one slice. It also does a great job doing a rough chop on veg and herbs. 12" with Plastic Handles 14" with Wood Handles I also like my Cuisinart Mini Prep. It does a great job making vinaigrettes, mincing 6+ cloves of garlic, baby food, amongst other simple jobs. Mini Prep Dan

Its hard to find good fish here in New Haven, CT. Whole Foods has improved the situation, but do sell the Big Five as their main products. My personal favorites are wild Alaskan salmon (MSC certified, if possible), mahi mahi, rainbow trout, striped bass, and sardines (canned or fresh). I am surprised to see Whole Foods sell Atlantic Cod given how insanely over fished it is. The company tries to give an image of social responsibility, but this says otherwise. Dan

Regarding the Termador ovens... How deep is the cabinet itself? If the cabinet is 24" deep, you should be able to fit a standard oven in there. 29" high is a standard height for a wall oven... The killer is the 44" width, which I will assume are for both? Most consumer ovens are 30" max. You could get a good cabinetmaker to fill in the sides to match and make a 30" oven work. I love that black chair. My grandparents had one. I wish I could have kept it. Dan PS. I will PM you with another bit of info that I think you will appreciate.

I am going to try ice cube trays soon. I just need to buy some. What types of thickeners would you recommend? Dan

A medium McDonald's Frappe has 470 calories, 17g of fat and 66g of sugar... and thats before you add whip cream and chocolate syrup drizzle! All together it has 560, 26g and 70g, respectively. Yuck! Anyhow... I have been trying to make blended iced coffees at home with our new Vitamix. I am using a blend of 3/4c of coffee, 1c of soymilk, 2c of ice, and 3 tbsp of chocolate syrup. I have not been able to get good consistency. I tend to get a liquid topped with shaved ice on top. I start with the blender on low, move it up to 10, and then to high for 30 seconds. Any advice on process would be appreciated. Dan

I am making turkey thigh escabeche and salmon ceviche for dinner from Rick Bayless's Mexico One Dish at a Time book. The ceviche recipe calls for 2 sepremed oranges. I was tired and not in the mood for the delicate work... in goes 1 can of mandarin oranges.... Lazy lazy.

I also use the broiler method... toast the bread, top with tuna salad and sliced cheese, place under the broiler to melt the cheese, and enjoy. One of the more bizarre things I have made is a tuna salad pizza on the barbeque. It was a standard pizza crust with a very light covering of garlic scape pesto, tuna salad, and then a cheese blend. With work, it might be worth enjoying. Dan

Edit: Thanks for the inspiration! I am making turkey thigh escabeche for dinner. Thanks to this thread, I am parcooking the thighs on the grill right now with some eggplants for tomorrow. The barbecue is set up for indirect heat with the turkey thighs directly over the hot coals. Once they have a nice sear (these have a light sear due to par cooking) I moved them into the middle, skin side up until done.

I use a charcoal grill with lump hardwood charcoal. My method is to setup the grill with indirect heat. My bird of choice is cut up into 8 pieces. I place the chicken skin side down directly over the charcoal to crisp the skin, usually 10 minutes. Then I flip them over and move them to the middle of the grill to cook them indirectly. I would add dry wood chips at this point if I want to smoke the meat. Barbecue sauce or any type of sauce or glaze is mopped on during the last 10-15 minutes of the cooking.

Sorry for digging up this old thread, but I have a good one to share from The Kitchen Table here in New Haven. The whole menu is laden with grandiose language, but this one takes the cake. ½ Pound Burger* from Authentic, Artisan, Sustainable Cattle Topped with Sustainable Bacon, local Abby Cheese, local Arugula Authentic, Artisan, Sustainable Cattle?? Authenic, as in not grown in a lab?? Artisan? Will I find the cow's paintings in the Met? For a restaurant trying to play the local, sustainable game, their draft beer selection has the usual macro beer selections, Bud, Bud Select, Henie, Guiness, New Castle, and Sam Adams. Wow. http://thekitchentablenewhaven.com./dinner.cfm Dan

I make my pancakes for lunch, not breakfast. This way I can use the berries I just picked at the local farm. From field to fork in less than 1 hour, how can you beat that? My 5 month old girl and I picked a couple of quarts this morning. These will go towards this years jam production. I typically use the whole wheat pancake recipes from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Companion cookbook, but with buttermilk. The holy grail though, is a blueberry buckwheat pancake. I am still trying to perfect the recipe. I second the technique of sprinkling the berries into the just poured batter rather than mixing them into the batter. Mixing them into the batter runs the risk of overdeveloping the gluten. During the lean winter months, I might slather blueberry jam on my pancakes instead of syrup. Dan

Yep. Dagmar's is the place. Thanks for the help! Dan

Two Buck Chuck at Trader Joes? Dan

My parents looked at the menus of several restaurants recommended here and chose Sturehof. My mother is looking forward to the herring. Thanks for the help! Dan

5 new books for me Mexican Every Day - Rick Bayless Molto Gusto - Mario Batali River Cottage Preserve Book Another jam book Simple Fresh Southern by the Lee Brothers

I was at the doctor's office a few months back and was reading Connecticut Magazine's top 10 bakeries in CT. Being the dunce that I am, I cannot find the list of bakeries I wrote down. One of the bakeries listed is on the eastern shoreline, I think Old Saybrook area, that is operated by a a person from Germany. Does anyone know of the bakery I am speaking of? Thanks!! Dan

I was wondering if the fine folks here would mind sharing a recipe for chung, or rice dumplings. The picture below is of one from a kind lady who runs a food cart near Yale New Haven Hospital and medical school. It is in a lotus leaf that she carefully removes before serving. It is filled with vegetarian meat and mushrooms. The rice appears to be glutinous brown rice and peanuts. Any advice would be appreciated. The rest of the food here is a basil tofu, pak choy, cabbage, and some vegetable pickles. Dan

We have not found a Rick Bayless book we did not like. Does he offer variations and vegetarian option on the recipes like he did in his previous books? Regardless, I am sure my wife is going to insist that I get this book soon. She is a huge fan of Mexican food. Dan

My parents will be visiting Stockholm in about 2 weeks. I was wondering if there are any large farmers/producers markets in the city where they can pack a picnic lunch. Thanks Dan