helenas

Andy, thanks for inspiration: i'm stealing your dinner idea. I planned to have butternut squash crepes pie with chiles coulis, but it can wait. And for dessert is will be roasted plums with thyme-honey mascarpone.

Just can't help quoting the following from the http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/15/garden/15LIDI.html "... While other women choose yoga or meditation to relax, Ms. Bastianich cooks. The prospect of throwing up her hands and ordering in is foreign to her. "Maybe I felt that way once or twice," she said. Once or twice what? A month? A year? "No, once or twice that I can remember," she answered, smiling. "Cooking is good therapy for me..." How many times, coming from work annoyed and exhausted, i dragged myself into the kitchen and in two minutes i was a new person. Although, i must admit, it became this way only when my daughter left for college. So now every night i'm not feeding the family, i'm cooking a romantic dinner for me and my husband. But in worst case, if i fail, take-out will do.

Steve. please, can you recommend me some french books on this subject? And while we're on this french subject, what is the best french food magazine? I buy "cuisine et vins de france" occasionally

Once again, i'm so grateful to find eGullet. By your recommendation, yesterday i drove to Cluck-U( Eatontown) to get take-out. It was a mistake to have my dog and wings in the same car: the dog got insane. The other mistake was to warm the wings in microwave: when my husband finally came from work, they were cold, so i put them in micro, and they got soggy. I should put them in the oven, or maybe under the broiler. Or even better, Cluck-U offers delivery, so i'll order it tonight.

What's your favorite wine store in NJ, preferably central? Here in Monmouth it seems that we have only Spirits Unlimited. This Saturday i finally went to WineLibrary in Springfield, bought a dozen of different zins and shirazes, but the store's too far from my house.

What are you info sources on matching flavours? I mean, besides experience and intuition. So far, the sources i found are two following books: "Culinary Artistry" by Dornenburg and Page, which i literally use every day and also a new book "In the sweet kitchen" Any other sources?

So if i don't go with Trattorina because of the ravioli attachment, are there still advantages of having pasta machine instead of pasta attachment. I make lasagna almost twice a week, and somehow all the stores in vicinity stop to carry frech lasagna sheets one by one. ( i'm in the central NJ, in Wegmans, Delicuios Orchards, Dearborn Farn triangle)

I had the idea to buy pasta machine for a long time; and this thread convinced me, so i did a research and here are the options: - Kitchenaid mixer with pasta attachment or - Trattorina pasta machine. Both are recommended by Wolf's "New Cooks' Catalogue" Kitchenaid looks like a better option (although i don't have one, and i have a bread maker for kneading), but Tratttorina has a ravioli attachment, that is also recommended to the book. Any recommendations?