mgaretz

Thanks all so far - some comments: Oops, we do have the KA ice cream maker attachment - I forgot because we seldom use it - instead we use the Blendtec to make "soft serve". Ditto the multi-chopper - it came as one of the wedding gifts - I like it but it's getting exchanged because the slicing blade sticks to the pusher. Don't drink much beer any more - and wouldn't be Heineken if I did. Got the 4 qt sauté/simmer pan with other gift certs last weekend - it is fantastic! Have the non-sticks too (the older non-D5 but they work great).

I thought I'd ask fellow EGers for help: We have about $250 worth of Williams-Sonoma gift certificates from our wedding. We got a lot of cool cookware from there as well, and we already had a pretty well-stocked kitechen, so I am looking for suggestions as to what we should use the $250 on. Pretty well stocked on pots and pans, have stand mixer with pasta roller and meat grinder accessories, the new Cuisinart Elite 16 cup food processor, All-Clad slow cooker, blender, coffee maker, knives and a rice cooker. So what should we consider?

Steve, While I could certainly make this in my Cuisinart (and now I have two, since I got the new fancy one from Williams-Sonoma - I've watched the DVD but have yet to unbox it), has this same recipe not worked well in the stand mixer?

Tonight I made Tandoori Chicken and Basamati Rice with Peas in a yellow curry and coconut broth.

We just got one of the D5 stainless 4 qt sauté/simmer pans as a wedding present. I used it for the first time last night to make a big batch of my chunky red sauce. I love this pan! I'm not sure if the "D5" layers work any better than the standard tri-ply All-Clad, but they work at least as well - and this is a great pan design.

Just thought I'd report back in and let you all know where we ended up and how the food was: First night Ellen felt like German so we went to Brummis. The food was plentiful and while the beer selection was small it was good. I had Sauerbraten and Ellen had Krustenbraten. Mine was OK, but Ellen's was better. Both came with a dumpling (Klosse), spatzle and red cabbage. The dumpling was large but tasteless and gluey, the spatzle was decent and the cabbage was very good. Ellen had a Franziskaner Weisse (which she likes but I don't) and I had a Spaten on draft that I was told was an Oktoberfest beer - it wasn't - it was a nice Pils which is really what I wanted anyway. The service was excellent with the exception of not knowing what the beer was. Overall the experience was fair but not exciting. The next night we went to Lucky's for steak. We were pretty wiped out from a day of wine tasting followed by a nap, but we felt like we had to eat. We both had the petite filet and a side of snap peas. The filets were decent but not outstanding - I've certainly had much better. The snap peas were the best part of the meal. Ellen also had a mushroom sauce with her steak that she enjoyed. The last night we decided to walk State Street and see what struck our fancy. We eventually decided on Bouchon, but there was an event around the corner and we couldn't get seated in a reasonable amount of time, so we ended up at Cafe Buenos Aires. I had a mixed grill whcih was all good (especially the gilled veggies) except the sausage which was pretty bad. Ellen had a seafood dish that she said was exceptional. After dinner we went to Spoons for dessert. Ellen had gelato and I had a chocolate sorbet. Yummy! Spoons was the highlight of our Santa Barbara dining! (We went on to Disneyland where we had the two best meals of the trip and probably the two best meals I've had out in some time. The Napa Rose in the Grand Californian and Steakhouse 55 in the Disneyland Hotel were both outstanding! Blew everything in SB away.)

I occasionally use Yelp at home, but on our recent honeymoon we used the iPhone Yelp app and it was great - it uses the GPS to tell you what's near your current location.

I've seen a demo of the Krups - its "claim to fame" is that it has a fan that forces its exhaust steam (and fried food smell) through a carbon filter. In the store I could still smell the fried food, so I assume it will be stronger in a average kitchen. Worth it? Not in my opinion! I'll stick with the Tfal that drains, filters and stores the oil conveniently for one third the money!

A challenge last night - our wedding is Sunday and my fiancée's father and step mom are in town. We hosted dinner last night and I made Carbonade a la Flamande (Belgian Beef Stew). My fiancée's step mom is Belgian so I was actually more nervous about getting this dish right than the wedding. I basically used the CI recipe with some touches of my own of course. I used Kriek for the beer and boneless short ribs for the meat. It was great and everybody loved it! I served it with oven roasted Sierra Gold potatoes with fresh rosemary and a simple salad with my homemade raspberry vinaigrette.

Seems to me that the main thing about the rectifier's license is that rectifier cannot be a primary producer of the spirits - they have to have already been produced and taxed - so presumably no other tax is due. Not sure where they came up with the term and we could argue the semantics of it all day, but it's their term and they define what it means, so that's what it means in this context. It's not clear if a bar could get such a license and sell the product to themselves so it could be sold to patrons - "rectifiers" cannot sell to directly to patrons. The permits are only $100. It also seems clear that a "rectifier" would have to also get a BATF license - and a quick look shows that there is no equivalent, but rectification is covered under a general distiller's plant license. That could be the real sticking point here.

Authority? They play by the golden rule - which is "them what has the gold makes the rules" - in this case it's the liquor licenses and permits that are the gold. (Their beer definitions are completely arcane and inaccurate.)

I'm sure the ABC law pre-dates Schwarzenegger by a long time. That's not to say there isn't protectionism involved here - the liquor lobby (everywhere, not just in California) is huge and well funded. And they get listened to. Why? Tax money. I don't know the California statistic, but for the US, revenue from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) accounts for a full one third of the income of the US Government. There's a reason the BATF agents used to be called "revenuers". But the odds of this having to do with the Governator knowing DeVito are slim. And for those worried that this means all mixed drinks are also illegal, their memo issued in 2008 to clarify the law, clearly states that this does not apply to mixed drinks prepared for immediate consumption.

Our synagogue is celebrating Purim tomorrow (Friday) so I made my hamantashen tonight (see recipe a few posts back): Using a 3" round cookie cutter the yield was 55 hamantashen.

Cold and rainy today - perfect for my Sweet and Sour Cabbage Borscht (even though it's called borscht there are no beets in it).

Would you mind sharing the recipe? That sounds great! Here's the recipe (also on my blog): Dough: 1 stick of unsalted butter (1/2 cup) 1 cup of sugar 3 1/2 cups of all purpose unbleached flour 1 tbs baking powder 1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt 3 eggs Filling: 16 ozs of prunes (aka Dried Plums) Zest and juice from 1 medium orange 1/4 cup of dry-roasted almonds To make the dough: Cut the stick of butter into 4-6 slices and put into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in the sugar and run on a low speed with the standard mixing paddle until the butter and sugar are combined. Add in the three eggs and continue beating until well mixed. Now add in the flour, salt and baking powder and mix at medium speed until well combined. The dough should just come together – if it’s sticky, add some more flour. Chill well. To make the filling: Put the nuts in your food processor (chopping blade) and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the prunes to bowl along with the zest and juice from the orange. (You want the zest from the entire orange.) Run the processor until the prunes are well chopped and mixed with the nuts and orange – about 15-20 seconds. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the racks at 1/3 and 2/3. On well floured surface, roll out about 1/3 of the dough to somewhere between 1/16 and 1/8″ thick. Cut circles with a 3″ round cookie cutter. Stack the circles on a plate. Gather up the scraps and repeat (adding fresh dough as necessary) until all the dough is rolled and cut. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Take a dough circle and lay it flat on your work surface. Put a dollop (about 1/2 tbs) of filling into the center of the circle. Fold two edges of the circle to make the first point of the triangle. Pinch the dough together. Now fold up the remaining side of the dough and pinch the corners. It’s not necessary to close up the whole triangle – the filling can peek out the top a little. Transfer to the cookie sheet. Repeat until you’ve used up all the dough and filling. Put one cookie sheet on each rack and bake for 12 minutes, switching the position of the top and lower sheets at 6 minutes. After 12 minutes, check to see if the dough is all firm – check some of the thicker ones. If they need a bit more time – turn off the oven heat and leave them in the oven for another minute or two. You don’t want to over bake them. When they are done, remove from the oven and allow to cool on the sheets for about 5-6 minutes and then transfer the hamantaschen to cooling racks. Enjoy! Notes: You can use salted butter instead of unsalted – if you do, leave the salt out of the dough. I like the prune filling but you can fill these with almost any kind of preserves (apricot is popular) or a poppy seed filling from a can. I have also made them with some chocolate and peanut butter.

Thanks all for the recommendations - the date is just a little over two weeks away. Any further thoughts from anyone?

Tonight's dinner was good old beef stew made in the slow cooker - chuck, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes and barley.

Finally took a picture of my Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao).

Those gummy candies with the sour crystalline coating - yep, the coating is citric acid.

My fiancée and daughter wanted my Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) for Valentine's Day dinner.

I used to be a detractor of high end cookware but I have become a convert to All-Clad. Three reasons: 1) It cooks more evenly - for the first time I was able to sauté onions and not have them half burnt/half uncooked. 2) I like their look and feel and therefore I enjoy using them more. 3) Easier to clean than aluminum (anodized or not). If I get more enjoyment and less frustration when I'm cooking, the extra expense (especially when spread across the years I'll own them) is worth it!

Thanks Bruce - I almost always do this with salmon these days, though I'll usually use whatever red wine is open and a little extra sugar in place of the port. This time no red wine was open so I used the port (which is almost always open). The recipe was designed with Zinfandel originally.

Lior and Dougal, Try shops that sell home winemaking (and/or beermaking) supplies.

I have done peanut butter and dark chocolate (together and separate), but this Purim I'm planning on just doing my grandmothers standard prune-orange-almond filling.

The secret ingredient in sweet and sour recipes when you don't want a citrus or vinegar note. I use it in my Sweet and Sour Cabbage Borscht recipe.