birder53

Manhattans last night. First round with Makers Mark, second with Blantons. Both wonderful, but Makers Mark is still our favorite. Tonight will be something with green chartreuse - Last Words maybe?

In fact, my Fee Bros Orange bitters came from DiBruno's. I do not think they stock Peychaud's however. I may ask her if she has a source however. ← DeLaurenti in Seattle carries Peychaud's. Here is their website De Laurenti They will send it to you.

Thanks Barb! I have the Thai Thai menu at home, so I can check it against Thai House to see if there are any of our favorites missing. A good Thai place at Dewey Meadows would be great. The last I heard of new restaurants up there was the addition of a steak/seafood grill next to the pizza place run by the owners of Figaro in Warren. This would also be run by the Figaro folks. There is definitely room for more restaurants in that complex. It's even closer to us than Stirling. Good news! Thanks for the information. Kathy

We ran into this about four years ago in Santa Fe, NM. We asked for our burgers rare and were told the best they could do was medium - its the law! These were't frozen patties but they ended up being too dry for our tastes. We cook our burgers at home now. The chef will always cook them exactly as you like them.

Curlz - The name is Thai House at 14 Mt. Bethel Road. It's a shopping center with Kings as the anchor and a Starbucks at the other end. I just checked out the website on their takeout menu - Thai House. They have another restaurant in Scotch Plains opposite Bowcraft amusement park on Rt. 22 East. Phone # is 908-548-0124. I've been cooking up a storm at home, so I don't think we'll be heading over for dinner this weekend, but I promise to report back as soon as we do. Kathy

Barb, Have you been there for dinner? What is your opinion of this place? I don't want to judge them by lunch as the menu was limited and missing a lot of my favorite dishes. No duck dishes at lunch! The duck salad at Thai Thai was one of our favorites. Kathy

We haven't been back yet. We tried a local Thai place in Warren last month for lunch and depending on how they handle dinner, that might be a replacement. I'm reluctant to head up to Thai Thai now. We still make the trip up there for the excellent liquor store in the same shopping strip. I'll definitely post if we and when we go back for dinner.

Marinades and salad dressings. Most other products mentioned require more time then I have for cooking. I also haven't found recipes that taste better than some commercially prepared items just yet. I'm still working on that!

I know of two groups of women who regularly get together for a good time. One group enjoys dining at very upscale NYC restaurants where they become very noisy. This group used to work together and were noisy in the cafeteria, meetings or any other place that brought them together. They do not need liquor to get going, they feed off each other. I've heard some of the tales of these dinners and can only thank my lucky stars that I was not a witness. They are all outspoken and loud and enjoy each others company immensely. They have a great time together and I'm sure some of the other diners are entertained by the show. At the same time, I feel sorry for those who might have planned on a more formal meal without the sideshow. The second group are all related to each other and take an annual weekend trip to some resort. It sounds like summer camp! There is lots of drinking and dancing and pranks. They have a great time but I'm sure there are others staying at the resort who have asked to have their rooms changed.

This is has been an interesting read. I'm not a baker. I grew up with DH mixes used at home and really liked the ones where you added a 1/4 pound of butter. The pudding mixes were good because they were moist. When I go to a bakery I want a nice looking cake that tastes great. I'm happy not to bake it myself and I don't really care how you make it. That said, I wouldn't want to find Costco style goods in my local bakery. I want it to look special and made with love. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that any baker uses a mix that works for them. If that's how they make wonderful cakes and goodies, they're really smart cookies.

I have one from an outlet in Flemington, NJ. It is the 13 qt round in dark blue. It was also considered a "2nd" due to some barely perceptible imperfections on the finish. It was a great buy due to the outlet price, "2nds" discount and a coupon I had for the outlet shops. It is very heavy empty, so I must stay strong and healthy if I want to keep filling it up! Even though I usually cook for two, I never do without making at least double or triple the recipe for leftovers. This is especially true for soups and stews. It's a great pot to have when cooking for a crowd.

We finished up some leftover hummus, tabouli and babaganoush for lunch. We're getting ready to heat up turkey, stuffing, carrots, sweet potatoes and gravy for dinner. I haven't really seen how much turkey was left - hubby took care of that. I know we have a lot of sides left. I ran out of mashed potatoes, never got to cook the string beans and made too much of the other stuff. Tradition!

Question: How does one dispose of the used cooking oil after the cooking is done? ← Once the oil cools, put it back in the container it came in and throw it out. Unless you want to filter it through cheese cloth to clean it and store it for another turkey fry, ditch it. We did three turkeys this year. One for the main course, another for lots of leftovers for guests to take home and then one of our overnight guests brought a turkey along which they fried this morning to take home. Peanut oil was much more expensive and harder to find when we first started doing this. It would cost around $80 for five gallons. We paid around $25 for 5 gallons this year and consider it a bargain.

I just finished making the "dressing" - bread, celery, onion, sausage and apple. We're deep frying two turkeys this year, so stuffing the bird is out of the question.

Here is my bid for the Martinsville/Bridgewater/Warren area. The Gaston Avenue Bakery in Somerville was pretty good but I haven't been there in quite a while. There's lots of money to spend up here in the hills of Somerset county. Something closer than Somerville or Wegman's would be a nice addition to the shops up this way.

Though I'd move this just to get your attention Can I partially roast the potatoes today and finish tomorrow to save time? ← Don't roast them, in that case; blanch them. Heavily salted water at rolling boil, cube potatoes, throw 'em in, cook for 10-15 minutes (or until just tender), remove, shock in ice water, and refrigerate. That way, roasting time on the day will be minimal. ← Thanks! That will work nicely.

Though I'd move this just to get your attention Can I partially roast the potatoes today and finish tomorrow to save time?

Can I roast my sweet potatoes the day before and just reheat them for dinner? I'm short on oven space/time. I wouldn't put the honey and orange juice glaze on until I was heating them to serve.

Well, if Curlz didn't hear it on Sunday and I didn't on Saturday I'd say that isn't a good sign at all. Try to remember the last time you were there and you didn't hear the birthday song at least once. I think the record for us was three times within an hour and 15 minutes. It could have been four, but hubby didn't want to let on that he was celebrating too. Curlz, when your friends heard the birthday song, was Tony still there? I have a feeling this is a very recent change. We were just there two weeks ago!

Maybe I should have taken advantage of the opportunity to speak with Tony and tell him how things have changed for the worse. Even though there are plenty of Thai restaurants in my area, we've enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere at Thai Thai the best. We did snag a table for two pretty quickly without a reservation, but if we have to put up with a long wait or a unwelcoming hostess, we might not continue to make the trip up there anymore. It's not "just" about the food. Too bad Old Bridge is further than I want to drive for a quick meal.

In my area, you can sometimes get it for $14.99. Some people like to drink it. I don't care for it but then I don't really drink cognac. If you decide you don't want to drink it there are lots of things you can do with it. (I put up some of my sour cherries in it this year.) ← I agree with Tess. My local liquor store recemmended Chalfonte, but I have been disappointed with it in cocktails. I now use it for cooking and it is just fine for that. Hennessy VSOP works best in cocktails for us. Sidecars, anyone?

The menu change took place in July of this year. Tony has been there until this weekend. We usually get there at least once a month, and we have never seen this new hostess before. Tony's wife would sometimes be at the front if he weren't there. One thing that was weird was our server offered to call Tony and let us talk to him. We declined, but there was a gentleman on the phone with him as we left. I don't know if he still has any connection to the place, there are some language difficulties when speaking with some of the staff about anything not directly related to the menu. The good news is that the food was still very good.

When I called Thai Thai yesterday to make a reservation for that evening, the woman who answered said they no longer take reservations for parties of two on Friday and Saturday nights. She said it was a change that Tony (the owner) had been wanting to make for while. I said I was disappointed to hear of the change and if I arrived and found I had to wait a long time I would probably not be dining there very often. She assured me that there wouldn't be much of a wait, that the tables turn quickly. Now, we've been very happily dining at Thai Thai for at least six years and were grateful that we could always seem to get a reservation for two at 6:00 on a Saturday, even by calling at 2:00 that same day. It's a very popular place and empty tables are hard to find even at that early hour. We decided to go anyway since we wanted to stop in at Liquor World next door (great prices on Plymouth Gin and Makers Mark bourbon!) So, we arrive at 6:00 and see our usual table by the window is taken. As we enter, I see most of the two tops are filled. The owner is nowhere to be seen. An unsmiling woman is at the front as hostess along with one of the servers we know. Our normally cheerful server takes us to the table that old stone face has decided we shall have. It is on the end of a busy intersection with heavy traffic to and from the kitchen. We decline and say we will wait, as we see another two top getting ready to leave. We follow her back to the front and she tells the hostess we did not want the table. She sends us to another table which was fine and was empty when we first arrived. I kept watching the hostess for any hint of a smile. Not even a glimmer! I tell hubby that this is very wrong and Tony must have sold the place. When our server comes with menus, we ask about Tony. He has sold Thai Thai and opened a new place on Rt. 18 in Old Bridge. She assures us that the same chef is in the kitchen here. The food was good, as usual. The big difference was the dour attitude of the staff. Everyone was usually very bright and cheerful here, notably so. Smiles were hard to find last night. The one server who had been with the previous owner the longest indicates that she had to stay there. Transition agreement?? But she is not happy. It's disturbing to see how things have changed here. The hostess looks mean, like she'd really like to hit someone. It's hard to believe she is the first and last one you see here now. I wonder how long it will take before changes in the food start to show up.

I remember my grandmother taking me and my younger sister to lunch in NYC at Schraft's on Fifth Avenue. Even the ladies sitting at the counter were decked out and lunching with gloves on. Gran had decked us out as well, patten leather shoes, dresses, hats and gloves! She treated us like two little dolls. There was a separate "Grill Room" which Gran explained was for men only. The servers all seemed to be from Ireland and wore fancy uniforms of black and white with some sort of headpiece. The closest I've seen in NJ is what I call "museum ladies". The seem to go to NYC or possibly a museum in Montclair and then go dining with their little museum shop bags. The conversation is very "museum like" with some of them being docents or some other sort of volunteers. They are dressed and coiffed in a way those of us going to work can not match. They appear to have shopped, primped and dressed just for these particular outings and their follow-up lunches or even dinners. They are not as old as I seem to remember the ladies at Schraft's, but maybe thats because it's over 40 years later and my perception of age has vastly changed. One thing that hasn't changed is the amount of face makeup and powder they seem to wear.

In the end, it has to be about enjoying the company of others and allowing them to enjoy their food and drink as they like it best. Otherwise, we might as well sit at home alone with our favorite food and wine. Enjoy your very good friend's company - don't worry about what's in her glass if she wants to drink it that way. As long as she isn't pouring the water into your glass, just drink up and chalk it up to the cost of friendship. It's worth it!