therippa

I've made these a couple of times and I didn't find gloves to be necessary...maybe I have tough fingers. On the Carol Cooks Keller blog she makes it seem like you're sticking your fingers in boiling water, so the first time I made them I was prepared to sacrifice my fingers for the good of the dinner party. They're hot, but not hot enough to burn you. As for getting them to wrap properly and keep shape, I found that keeping an eye on the oven and pulling them out as soon as the they start really rippling gave the best results...too soon, they tore apart, too late (after the rippling stopped), and they weren't as pliable and tended to crack. Once they are done cooking I use a chopstick to grab them off the pan...just stick it into the empty end of the cornet. Here's a video of Keller doing it - http://www.jewishtvnetwork.com/?bcpid=900874161&bclid=885029092&bctid=403534577

Try Sushi Zone on Market St...very small place, very good sushi.

Here's another vote for Clover-Stornetta...it's widely available in California markets and I also feel it's one of the best you can get. As for cheeses, luckily you're moving to California. Take a map, draw a 100-mile radius, and you'll be sure to find a local artisnal cheese maker that knows what they're doing and has their products carried in your local upscale-ish market/farmer's market.

For the chicken...I don't know if cold fried chicken could stay crispy due to the retrogradation of the starch molecules in the flour once you stick it in the fridge. For the sorbet...I googled "cheese sorbet recipe" and found this - http://tinyurl.com/287rd5m

Have you looked into Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile soap? http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/BAB.htm I keep this stuff around to wash my face, it's 100% natural, organic, and fragrance free. You can use it to wash just about anything.

I have a vita-mix 5200, and one of the first things we did was put about 2 cups of water in it and let it run on high, monitoring it with an infrared thermometer. It quickly climbed to about 180 (in a matter of minutes), then took another couple minutes to get around the boiling point.

Is "hosers" what they call hipsters up in Canada? I watched two episodes of that show, like the concept but those guys are pretty dull.

They make a 32oz carafe for the vita-mix, but I can't quite justify spending $140 on it...yet

I'm surprised your vita-mix broke. I've had mine for half a year doing at least a smoothie a day and it's running rock solid...then again, I make my smoothie the night before so it's thawed out a little in the morning. While researching them I read the cook's illustrated review, they favored the vita-mix for it's superior ice crushing abilities (or turning it into snow, rather). The pre-programmed cycles in the blendtec piqued my interested, but after using the vita-mix I've learned that no two smoothies are the same, so I probably wouldn't use those anyway. Anyway, just after a week of using the vita-mix I felt the price was justified. I make all sorts of things in it now, and whenever cooking something always ask myself "how can the vita-mix make this job easier?"

I will never bbq anything in socks again...just a couple of weeks ago I had my new charcoal grill going, and had just dumped the coals from the chimney starter into it. I do this on the sidewalk in front of my house, so I had socks on as I ran inside and out to grab various things. I was attending the grill and felt something go from really warm to very hot on the bottom of my foot, an ember had stuck to my sock and burnt a whole the size of a quarter. I will never deep-fry chicken barefoot. I was standing at the stove when I picked up a piece of chicken with tongs, only to watch it slip out and fall back into the grease. It splattered all over the floor, luckily missing my bare feet, but melted the kitchen rug in all sorts of places where the grease hit.

I used to say that i would never mess with traditional thanksgiving. This year was the first year I caved, mostly because there was no way I was going to get a full bird into my tiny oven. Did the breasts sous-vide, and made a roulade with the legs and thighs. Made things prep heavy the day before but made the day of a little less stressful and allowed more control of meat temperatures, which resulted in a more correctly cooked bird. I missed the glory of the whole roasted turkey...but I got over it. This was the first year I prepared the entire thanksgiving dinner. I was able to make almost everything beforehand...cranberry sauce 2 weeks before and frozen, gravy 1 week before frozen, 2 pies the day before, assembled the dressing the day before and popped it in the oven while turkey was resting. My reward was accolades from others saying it was better than their mother/grandmother ever made and having a stiff drink while everyone else did the dishes. The only problem I really have in the kitchen is the lack of a dishwasher

I'm with you on that. I rolled them out using a wooden dowel, and the palm of my hand was sore for almost a week.

When I made Bourdain's version of the dish I felt it was terribly bland. I had cassoulet at Chapeau! (I know you know where that is ) last week and I could definitely taste the smokiness in the dish...it came from the toulouse and another emulsified smoked sausage they had put in that wasn't mentioned on the menu. In the absence of toulouse in her prep, I think a smoked hock would fill in the gaps. Also, I feel hocks is one of those pieces of meat that needs a little something added (smoked, brined, confited, braised in a flavorful liquid) to it to make it edible...that was one of my problems with the pork belly bourdain has in his recipe. In the end, I had cassoulet with pork belly that was boiled in bean water. Yuck.

1. Yes, a Le Creuset will work just fine 2. No clue 3. This is a matter of regional pride. Personally I would go with smoked, it would round out the blandness of the beans 4. I actually managed to find toulouse locally when I made mine. If you can't find it, substitute any raw pork sausage, but make it garlicky if you can

Smoothies - I make one for myself every morning, comes out to about $1.25, compared to the ~$4 I would pay at some place like Jamba Juice Stocks. I save chicken carcasses, so it's the price of the aromatics. And surprisngly enough, the 4 quarts of veal stock using The French Laundry recipe was one of the cheapest (and most time consuming) things I've ever made ($17 worth of materials gave a lot of stock, meanwhile a 10oz jar of veal demiglace sells at williams sonoma for $30) Simple syrup...I use it instead of sugar when making sangria for parties. 12oz of simple syrup is $5.79 at BevMo, I can make the same amount at home for about 50 cents

His DIY solutions might not always be the most practical, but it certainly encourages people to think outside the box when cooking.

You shouldn't have a problem finding it in any of the more upscale markets around Napa/Sonoma

The tenderloin isn't that bad when people are still out and about, and your hotel is in a safe neighborhood. The mission isn't really within walking distance (unless you enjoy a good 45 minute/1 hour walk), but you are close to public transportation and you could always take a taxi there for about $10 including tip.

I have a #8 Griswold skillet that we found in the attic of a house we once owned, but I don't know how old it is. I do use it all the time, and sometimes I wish I had a larger one. My Sunbeam W-2 waffle iron probably dates to about 1950 or so, but it's hard to be certain. We also have a handheld Sunbeam Mixmaster that still works pretty well. This link can help you identify it

I *wish* I had a 10" Griswold cast-iron skillet, cast in 1920-1940 when the good iron was still around. They were made in my hometown, Erie PA. They fetch almost $300 on ebay. My grandma worked at the factory in the fifties, and had a full set (like a dozen pieces, sells for a couple grand on ebay), and when she died I think the were donated to the salvation army! I would have paid for shipping to California!

I was shocked to find out the cutco chef's knife my mom bought from the college kid selling them across the street cost almost as much as my wusthof. She said it's worth it because the knives have a lifetime warranty, if they get dull you send them back to be re-sharpened. If you didn't have a chef's knife with a serrated edge that wouldn't be a problem, you would use a honing steel and every couple years take it to wherever your butcher gets his knives sharpened

That's not correct. Shearing it into butter works just fine. You need to decarboxylate the THC acids, otherwise it's not nearly as potent and you're wasting quite a bit. http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2794.html (this thread makes me feel like a stoner)

Thats a neat trick indeed, and one that I've never heard of. I think cooking the nug into a compound butter is a reliable way to go, if you don't want to taste it in the product. If, however, you are using some quality nug and do want to taste it, I would avoid cooking it, like any other herb. Melt your butter, cool it until its just still liquid, and then puree with the nug in a blender, until smooth. Pass through a chinoise and proceed as normal. You have to heat the thc for your body to be able to absorb it and have the desired effect

Can't you just use muffin tins instead? They don't cost as much, and certainly aren't unitaskers.

I agree with what Florida said and disagree with what Nathan said. I've been using Yelp for a couple years now, and I take it with a grain of salt. I look for extreme counts of reviews in both directions...in my book a 4 star place that has 10 reviews is equal to one that has 300 reviews, but in between I'm more careful. I don't like that people on yelp will say things like "I would have given them 5 stars, but I expected X to be on the menu so I'm reducing it to three". Yelp is great for finding rare gems and sorting out established places. However, like I find for most movie reviews, professional reviewers really only work for me if the reviewer has similar tastes and opinions...but at the same time a lack of bias. For instance, it's clear to everyone that the michelin people have a penchant and bias for french cuisine (not complaining, it's my favorite too, but let's mix it up a little bit)