NadyaDuke

To celebrate summer weather, we made simple Pimm's cups: 1 part Pimms, 2 parts Lemonade, on ice with a slice of orange. A friend was visiting who doesn't like boozy cocktails, and this was a hit and perfect for a summer afternoon.

We are hosting two barbecues this weekend, and I'm keeping them both simple. Friday we're having a family over and I'm thinking I'll serve: Chips & Guacamole (Because I'm craving this!) Jicama and Celery Margaritas Ribs Potato Salad Undecided vegetable salad- Cole Slaw? Broccoli Slaw? We really won't want dessert but I may make homemade ice cream sandwiches on the excuse that there will be children present. And by homemade I simply mean ice cream between good store-bought oatmeal cookies. For the 4th we're hosting a barbecue for the neighbors. We're providing hamburgers, hot dogs & fixings, and the guests are bringing the rest. We're getting the hot dogs at place we just learned about: Otto's Sausage Kitchen, which supposedly is one of the 10 best hot dogs in the country according to Epicurious. We haven't been there before so that will be fun and we'll see if buy three times more than I need like the year we went to Gartner's meats - another great butcher. Fortunately sausages freeze well!

Cookbooks from the 40's and 50's recommend that for freezing sandwiches you butter both sides of the bread, and don't use mayonnaise. Of course, butter instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches seems to have been the norm then anyway. Supposedly this keep the bread from absorbing the ingredients, and of course helps counterbalance the dryness. ETA: Er, not both SIDES of the bread, but both pieces of bread. On the inside. Right. More coffee now!

Congratulations, Katie!

Food from fiction that you'd like to sample: A midnight spread from any of number of girls books about boarding school. A fictional meal you would like to have attended: Lunch, with Lord Peter Wimsey, at the Savoy. A memorable work of fiction set in a restaurant or a café: Not the same, but there's a great Lord Peter story that completely revolves around which of three gentleman can properly identify a truly remarkable series of wine. But it takes place at a French chateau, not a restaurant or café. Food you've tried that didn't live up to the expectations raised by a fictional account: Turkish Delight, from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Had it on my first trip to England, at age 16, and was so underwhelmed. An unappetizing food description from fiction: The biscuits with weevils from the Hornblower series. Eeeek. A recipe you've tried or a meal you've recreated from fiction: Can't think of one, though I have several cookbooks based on fiction (Nero Wolfe, Nancy Drew, Lord Peter, ....) Food you associate with reading: When I was a kid, rereading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory REQUIRED chocolate Your favourite food-focussed book/writer: Probably Rex Stout, with Dorothy Sayers a close second.

Percyn - That burger looks scrumptious! We are eating our way through our first farmer's market hall of the year. Saturday & Sunday was grilled asparagus. Tonight was a fritatta, with farmer's market leeks, and using up leftover Easter ham and half 'n half. On the side, a salad with pickled beets and an Asian salad mix, both from the market and grated carrots from the store. I'm not sure what made the salad mix "Asian" but it was yummy. The pickled beets were great - not too sweet, and still firm, not mushy. I made up a dressing with a bit of OJ (also Easter leftover since I don't usually drink it), beet juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper.

Heidi - Here's what I ended up doing for the salad. I mixed blanched 1" pieces of asparagus with quartered strawberries. Tossed with barely enough bottled poppy seed dressing and topped with toasted walnuts. I was looking at the fridge for inspiration for the dressing, and saw I had the dressing - since it was similar to some of the recipes I was looking at I decided to keep it easy! It was a BIG hit with everyone having seconds or thirds. Snowangel - The ambiance sounds lovely! I used dinner plates from my great grand mothers china (purchased from Gump's: Epiag Powder Blue) for the grownups. The young children got pink Fiesta ware so that their parents wouldn't worry. I mean a three year old doesn't usually actually BREAK a plate in the course of eating, but people worry :-). I really wanted pink flowers on the table to echo the china, but couldn't find any decent looking ones on Saturday.

This salad interests me. I see both items separately as harbingers of spring but have not encountered them together. Can you describe the dish? ← I'm still making this up. I had the idea and did some googling to make sure I wasn't completely in an unknown country. I'm looking at these two recipes (yes, I know one doesn't have strawberries!) for inspiration: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Asparag...trawberry-Salad http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recip...agusorange.html So basically I'll blanch the asparagus, and make a dressing that's a little sweet, but perhaps with a touch of cider vinegar or mustard. No cheese. Any ideas?

I'm hosting an Easter Brunch - five adults and two small children. For pre-sit down munchies: Melon squares, baguette & assorted cheese (Manchego, Edam & Tumalo Rembrance) For the meal: Gartner Meats bone in smoked ham - probably with a thyme/honey glaze Rhubarb relish from my freezer Scrambled eggs Homemade cinnamon rolls (my first time - using the recipe from 150 Best American Recipes) Asparagus & Strawberry salad Everyone will get a chocolate animal from Moonstruck Chocolates as a favor.... Coffee, tea, orange juice, mimosas & screwdrivers available on request :-).

Clyde Common in Portland, OR has the biggest Rye list I've run into. Their web site menu only seems to list about 9, but in the bar they have a chalkboard with them all listed and I seem to remember more .... Sounds like I'll need to do some field research! http://www.clydecommon.com/drinks.pdf It was a bar tender there who first turned me on to Rye. We were asking about it, given their list, and he made us a small Manhattan with Bourbon, and a small one with Rye (Sazerac I believe). The Rye was a revelation and won hands down. I'd never liked Manhattans, but a 3: 1 Rye:Carpano Antica Manhattan with a dash or Regans orange bitters has won me over. I found the Rittenhouse bonded at one liquor store in Portland, but found we prefer the Sazerac.

I've found two that I really like and that people rave about. One is (I know!) a Rachael Ray recipe called Christmas Pasta. I do make a few modifications: I use all spicy sausage instead of spicy & mild, and I use 20% hamburger instead of veal. This makes a great "gravy" that we're considering trying in sloppy joes. http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/30-mi...ta/article.html The other I found in 150 Best American Recipes (which I have thanks to raves on eGullet). It's for Tuscan Rosemary Pine Nut bars. These aren't FROM Tuscany but are rather inspired by Tuscany. I served this with an ice wine for dessert one night - great pairing. I found the recipe reproduced in various articles, citing its original source (since 150 Best is an anthology). http://www.thefoodpaper.com/recipes/tuscanbars.html

In New Mexico enchiladas are also often served stacked - and with a fried egg on top of the red or green chile. I'm new to eGullet - how long does a cook-off last? I'm trying to figure out how if my work schedule is going to let me play along!

I'm hoping that rumaki makes a comeback. We already have a bacon frenzy, can't we just add some chicken livers & water chestnuts? Of course that would imply that liver makes a come back - which I would also love.

I have had the same problem - I'm very visual so if I don't see it, it doesn't exist. Several years ago I bought a magnetic whiteboard and kept it on fridge and wrote down what was in the freezer: corn, spaghetti sauce, hamburger, etc. This really helped when I was menu planning to remember to USE it. Now my problem is the still the occasional mystery container. I finally parked some painters tape in the kitchen so I can mark plastic ware before it goes in the freezer. I have something in there right now and I don't know if it's chicken soup or pheasant pie filling ....

This is my first post to this thread - so this may be cheating as we took a picture BEFORE cooking: This is the material for Garlic Crusted Steaks with Broccolini. My husband signed up for Weber's weekly recipe, and sends them to me when he likes the look of them. This turned out well, and the wine ('02 Archery Summit Red Hills Estate Pinot Noir) was fabulous.

I found this at the wrong time - just as we were recovering from a two week bout of Virus bleck. But I really appreciate this thread as it's reminding me to take a harder look at what I have. Yesterday instead of using frozen spinach in some pasta as I'd planned, I threw in leftover green beans and it turned out great. Now I don't have dead green beans and do have frozen spinach! Last year I was fortunate enough to spend two stints each of several weeks in a company apartment overseas. At the end of each stint I would be trying to use up all the fresh food, and the apartment had a very limited pantry. (Limited as in there was pepper but I had to buy salt.) I found I really enjoyed the creativity of putting together dishes with what I had on hand. Since I had only myself to please I didn't have to worry about an audience, but I left Norway a much more confident cook as a result. I hope others are finding this to be true as well! Nadya (I think this is my first eGullet post!)