velveeta

1) Plymouth gin for a proper martini 2) Noilly Pratt dry vermouth, smallest bottle possible as just a few molecules enter the martini 3) Burnetts gin (cheaper but still good stuff for gin and tonics) 4) Woodford Reserve bourbon 5) Gallo sweet vermouth 6) Glenfiddich 10 year scotch 7) A twelve pack of assorted beers including Guiness, Paulaner wheat beer, a light beer, and an amber lager. 8) Townshend T3 Red Table Wine (Washington State) 9) Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand) 10)Absolute vodka for friends in training Accessories: one shaker, one shotglass, interesting cocktail napkins, little clear plastic swords for fruit, good wineglasses, good double old fashioned glasses, small tall glasses, stemmed martini glasses. Nonalcoholic mixers: regular and diet tonic, good storebought ice, Pellegrino, ginger ale, coke and diet coke. Fruit: oranges, lemons, maraschino cherries, green olives with pimento.

I would want to ask her what she CAN eat and likes, and go from there. You are getting paid a bunch to do this, right?!

How about that elegant layered shrimp appetizer: cream cheese spread on a plate, then a layer of cocktail sauce, then those tiny shrimp out of the can. Served with Ritz crackers or maybe Sociables.

I heard on a PBS show once that soy sauce was helpful for burns. Has anyone found this to be true?

Jmal, your lovely lamb stew is really complimented by your serve ware. Nice choice. And thanks for the recipe MiFi. I love tarragon and would not think to pair it with yams. We have had much better luck with yam quality than squash quality this year, so they are really to go-to orange vegetable here now.

Ditto what Richard said. My kitchen has some LC (lots actually) and a couple of cheap imitations. The LC is lifetime+ cookware, the other is not as vibrant as it once was. Cinco, the weight issue is not insignificant. Fully loaded, the LC pots can be difficult. Why not try a fully clad All Clad pot from the outlet? The prices are way better than retail, and I've never heard of anyone with an objectionable flaw on them. Most the time people can't even tell what the flaw is.

Gosh I was just about to feel sorry for you and your power outage Richard, then I read that you had to spend the morning at Central Market. Actually I forwent the tea this morning for a Silk Soy Nog Latte.

Don't forget classic open faced avocado toast. Good toasted bread, beautifully arranged thin slices, black pepper, big salt, and a twist of orange. How about having an avocado party?

I do egg noodles with no gear at all - just a mixing bowl and rolling pin. The noodles are rustic and get thick when cooked, some might call them more of a dumpling. We just had them last night in turkey soup. They also keep dried in the cooler for a long time. ps. what a beautiful pictoral on those rice noodles Chris.

That's easy. The Flavor Bible.

It has some specialized herbs for (supposedly) the liver and is in an herbal base with licorice and ginger. I threw out the box so I don't have specifics as the paper wrappings for the bags do not contain the complete ingredient list. The fresh lemon helps brighten it up and adds to a placebo effect for me. The same company made a peach version and it is very good, but I am having a hard time finding it now here.

I know this is not a poultry product, but have you given some thought to a beautiful bone in ham? The kind that is smoked by a locally owned butcher shop, not a bargain grocery store product. Not only a wonderful dinner but so much opportunity for that big bone and leftover meat!

My eye opener was an Oolong. Now I have EveryDay Detox going by Traditional Medicinals. I'm adding a little fresh lemon to it. It is not overly delicious, but it just seems like the thing to drink this afternoon and I am enjoying it.

MiFi, any chance of sharing the recipe source for the maple roasted yams? I'm new here and not too familiar with how any recipes are shared (or not?) Kim, that gravy with the pieces of meat in it is so delicious looking. I'll have to try that. Yum yum.

What an interesting thread - must reread it all with a notepad. Richard that silverish clay teapot is beautiful. Are you going to post the Matcha adventures here?

Apple Cider Cocktail Pellegrino Salmon canapes Belgian endive leaves with parm and white beans Turkey Traditional herb dressing Gravy Sweet potatoes Roasted beets with pearl onions and sage Spinach salad with orange and citrus vinagrette Cranberry sauce Pumpkin pie Dates with cream cheese Amaretti

Congrats to Garces! We were surprised at the ribs ingredient. It is hard to even imagine that they are dealing with ribs in an hour. I'd still like more info on that clam salad that Mehta made last time.

I assumed it was a green tea too, but after brewing it was so dark so I looked at the raw tea more closely, it looked like a black. Now that I am done with it now the leaves at the bottom of the pot I just emptied look more like a green tea. ?? The jasmine flavor and aroma were very prominent and along with the stronger tea leaf taste aspect it's a winner. I'll be using this as a morning tea until it's used up.

It seems seasonal to me, after daylight savings darkness I want gravy gravy gravy. Summer heat and light brings the appeal of delicate and sheer saucing or none at all with big interesting salt sprinkled liberally.

You did rinse it thouroughly after brining, right? Was the pork already injected and treated with saline before you brined it? One last idea, you can use part salt and part sugar in brines for pork and poultry.

My late morning tea is from an Asian grocery, it's called Butterfly Brand China Jasmine Tea. It is nice and full tasting and dark colored. Looks like a black tea. The label from China says it's made from the China National Produce and Animal By-Products I/E Corporation. Mmmmmm. I am dipping an Amaretti into it, just out of the oven.

Is anyone else having a problem with the name of this drink? Monkey Gland The gin gods are shuddering at the thought of sacred Plymouth going into a drink named as such.

How about canned Vienna Sausages, canned spinach, and a paper cup of Franzia White Zinfandel. (maybe that could be in the dollar dinner party section as well?)

Regarding the chrome pots WMC, they are lovely but won't they possibly get rusty? I had a Chantal and the top was difficult, it got mineral deposits on it and it would stick making it hard to open and clean. My everyday tea water maker is now an electric stainless steel.

Tea greetings, just realized this was still alive and moved. Pitiful and pedestrian: I mostly mean teabag tea as compared to the more exotic teas that are discussed so interestingly here. I have over 30 types of bagged tea on hand, and only about 10 types of smaller batch loose teas, mostly from tea specialty shops purchased while traveling. I find that the water makes a big difference. Bad water = bad tea. I am enjoying reading and trying the multiple infusions with my loose teas. Also trying to take the water temp, but mostly scorching myself, how is that best done? Another discovery is the aroma, I am finding after reading here that this is more important than I realized. My cheapie teas have about zero aroma. It seems that this is one of the big differentiators. Bottom line, does anyone here want to hear about grocery store teas or is this just a big snore?