NadyaDuke

Well in Oregon and Southern Washington we have Burgerville, which not only has a drive-thru lanes, it has bike-thru lanes. But that won't help you, Chris, in Oklahoma :-(. Which is a shame because their sweet potato fries and blackberry milkshakes (both seasonal items) are fabulous.

I like Log Cabin syrup better than maple syrup. I finally gave up and just buy it for the few times a year we use it. We noticed the latest bottling has no HFCS, but not even a smidge of maple syrup, unlike past versions.

I also like Trader Joe's single serving soups in a little bag, that have Indian seasoning.

Correction to the Pacific Wonderland - a friend pointed out an error. That's supposed to be Medyoff Vodka. It's made by House Spirits in Portland. I can't seem to edit the post - I guess it's been too long.

Oregon started issuing a special run of Pacific Wonderland plates today and my husband came home with two pairs. We've always loved this old plate style and were excited they are being reissued. Here's a pic: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/images/plates/pacific_wonderland.jpg To celebrate I invented a Pacific Wonderland cocktail. I was shooting for all Oregon products, but had to fudge as I needed sugar, and a twist of lemon. I started playing with the idea of a Vesper variation, but the Old Tom Gin is so herbacious that in this it worked better as an accent than as a main ingredient. This might be improved by a bit of lemon juice - it's good but we think it could be better. For two moderately sized cocktails: 2 ounces Medeyoff Gin 3/4 ounce Clear Creek Distillery Pear Brandy 1/4 ounce Ransom Old Tom Gin 1/4 ounce simple syrup Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glasses. Twist a generous lemon peel over, and drop in. Celebrate Pacific Wonderland! Edited to fix word choice

I haven't seen the chicken meatballs, but the turkey meatballs have been a staple in our house for years. As long as I have a bag of those in the freezer, a jar of spaghetti sauce and some spaghetti I know I can throw together a quick meal!

Gotcha. Glad it's going well!

Thanks for the details - I'd never thought of selling through Amazon! Did you happen to compare it to selling books to Powells? I'm local so I take my books in, but you can also get a price quote on line at http://www.powells.com/sellonline. If you like it, you ship them the books. No affiliation,don't know anyone who has used it, just a frequent customer.

Rachael Ray and Alton Brown are great ideas - fun, approachable and a good track record.

The bread looks great! At least 8 year old level. And I have to say - following this thread made me crazy caesar salad so I had one yesterday and will have another for lunch. Though with my husband out of town I'm indulging in anchovies, which he won't touch. So my version will be full of yummy iodine. Sorry!

Glad to help. I use lemon juice a lot because it's more wine friendly, and you know, sometimes I like a glass of wine with dinner and am not serving in courses!

You can make salad dressing with lemon as well - it looks like citrus is permitted. And when your bread goes stale you can make croutons :-).

P.S. The issue with baking and weighing is that most American recipes call for ingredients by measure, as has been discussed elsewhere around here. I started baking cookies out of the Joy of Cooking almost 40 years ago, and have done all my baking my measure since with good results. I would suggest that we're trying to get this person to cook - so let him see that for the most part it is easy to get good results. Then if he wants to learn more and get more particular, awesome. Meanwhile, he's getting some tasty, cheaper, healthier food!

For a cookbook I'd recommend Pam Anderson's How To Cook Without a Book. Ironically, it's a book that lives permanently in my kitchen. She teaches you how to make easy, tasty weeknight dinners and then shows you how youc an take the basic formulas and expand on them. She's got a foolproof way to make tasty vegetables, pork tenderloin filets, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and my favorite, an easy orzo that tastes like risotto. I love Joy of Cooking but if I were starting it might be overwhelming.

In my experience people will disproportionately choose chicken over pork - so I'd cheat that up those proportions say 25% to cover that.

I finally made simple syrup for the first time last month - I'd never bought it, just avoided recipes that called for it! I think the main thing holding me back was having a proper container to store it in. Then I found I had an extra squeeze bottle and that pushed me over the edge. A year or two ago I started making my own croutons - I was tired of throwing out good bread that went stale before the two of us could eat it. So I cube it, throw it in the freezer and can make croutons in the time it takes for everything else to come together for dinner. Yummy and I can limit the amount of fat I use according to my current whims. Edited to fix typo

We're not rum drinkers, which apparently simplifies things! If I had to start over from scratch with 10 bottles, it would look like this: Aviation Gin Decent Vodka of some sort - Stoli perhaps, or Ketel One Sazerac Rye Sipping Bourbon: anything from Bulleit on up to Basil Hayden Black Bush Irish Whiskey Single Malt - rotating, probably starting with something big and peaty since there will be other whiskeys in the house. Lagavullin or Talisker Dry Vermouth - Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth - Carpano Antica Luxardo Maraschino Green Chartreuse If I was starting this up in the summer I'd swap out the Maraschino and Chartreuse for Tequila and Cointreau. It's causing me pain not to have Lillet Blanc or Campari, but this mix gives me good sipping options plus our normal house drinks of Martinis, Rye Manhattans, and my new favorite, a Last Word. I have friends who like Vodka "Martinis" (iced vodka served up), and who like Vodka and something drinks. (Like others, I'm not counting bitters!)

To send to my folks: Cornmeal Cranberry Cookies with Orange Zest, Cardamon cookies, Tuscan Rosemary/Pine Nut Bars and Spiced Pecans.

Gotta add liver.

I remember my Dad telling me that adding sour cream to anything was like cheating, because it made everything good. Not everyone agrees, but I do!

I think of this in two parts. First, the cookbooks that made me love cookbooks and reading about food. There are three: As a child: My mother's set of Women's Day Encyclopedia of Food, circa 1974. It was full of essays about particular types of food (Petits fours), or regional cooking. Gorgeous pictures, too. at 19 when I got my first apartment: The Art of Eating by MFK Fisher - a present from a friend who knew me better than I knew myself. I literally wore the covers off this book and had to buy another copy. at 22: I was in an antique shop and ran across two books from the 40's: The Women's Home Companion Household Book and Cookbook. They were $10 each, an large sum for this college student in the 80's. But I went home and obsessed and ate more beans and they were mine. That was the start of my vintage cookbook collection. The cookbooks that made me the COOK I am are a bit different. It might depend on the day but here's what I think today: The Joy of Cooking, 70's edition. The bible of my house growing up, we depended on Joy to know how long to cook a potato or roast a chicken. At age 8 I made my first batch of ginger snaps from it. It taught me that you can cook if you can read. (Which is, coincidentally, the name of one of the vintage cookboks I own!) The Frugal Gourmet. I got rid of all of his books after the scandal broke, but when I was first dating my husband we loved his show, and the first Christmas present my future In Laws ever got me was one of his cookbooks. He made me more adventurous, more willing to play and take risks with cooking. One of the only great failures of my culinary career was his peanut butter soup! Growing up on the Chocolate Diary by Lora Brody - this is the cookbook that made me try more elaborate baking techniques, and gave me results that made me very popular! Nadya

I'm torn between my first Joy of Cooking (70's era) because it has my gingersnaps recipe in it, and The Gourmet cookbook because it's a good modern basic cookbook that has yet to disappoint me. Gingersnaps were the first thing I learned to cook and so they have a special place in my heart!

I didn't really LIKE Manhattans until I discovered Rye. A bartender at El Gaucho in Seattle three or four years ago recommended substituting about 1/4 of the vermouth with Dubonnet. I liked it at the time but haven't tried it since I discovered Rye. Hmmm.....

My first thought was a soup with a smoked ham hock - you can a lot of flavor and it hearkens back to the soup kitchens of the Great Depression. And I'd price out yeast and think about making some bread - it's special for most people, but also old-fashioned in some ways. Depending on the soup it could be a starter or the main.... Sounds like fun whatever you do!

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.