NeroW

That's not long enough! Have fun anyway!

"Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Market" by Eric Schlosser, the Fast Food Nation dude. It's exactly the kind of incendiary polemic I love! And have a biography of Julia Child next, by Noel Fitch, who also wrote a book about Anais Nin.

And don't forget The Bad Egg

Am I mistaken, or are there numerous "Book" threads? EDIT to say: I meant, are there numerous "what are we reading?" threads? I know there are Cookbook threads innumerable.

Yes. Score each duck breast through to the skin several times with a very sharp, thin (i.e. boning) knife. You can then either sear in a very hot pan and finish in the oven, or sear and finish on the stovetop. If the duck skin is scored correctly, the fat will render out, and you will be left with nicely-cooked meat and crisp duck skin (and a little bit of duck fat in your pan for potatoes, to boot). Yum!

That's awesome. I always wondered if that had ever happened to anyone.

Jason, that's a damn fine looking plate. Tonight, during chores, odds-and-ends from cupboards: Extremely chunky spaghetti sauce (made with the last bits of stock, the several lbs. of ground beef that was hiding out in the freezer, some veg, etc.) with cavatappi noodles and toasted baguette/roasted garlic. A crappy Cotes du Rhone. A brownie for dessert.

Their "policy" seems a little ridiculous to me. Try placing an ad on this website: www.expatriates.com.

I love my fucking butane torch, excuse me, my butane torch. Nothing makes me feel more manly than using that thing in the kitchen, nothing.

Char well over open flame (blowtorch gets old after about 2 peppers, I find, and it doesn't impart much roasty flavor), slip in toghtly-closed paper bag or in bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, let steam 10-15 minutes. Don't bother yourself about the inner membrane. I don't think it's necessary. Unless it's going to be one of those things where you're sitting there eating it, with your guests, and your inner voice is saying: "that damned inner membrane! I should have taken it off! Everyone knows! Everyone knows!" If you roast and peel the peppers properly--which I'm sure you will--and make sure to wipe away all the seeds--which I'm sure you will--your sauce will be nice and smooth. If you feel you must, scrape away the softened inner ribs with a paring knife. Is it a cream sauce? Me love roasted-pepper cream sauce!

We made something like this in my Garde Manger class. They were damn good.

What I wonder is if anyone ever invites him.

I do the same thing. Since I learned to use a knife, the food processor is pretty much useless.

I had this happen to me but I am positive that it was one because I took a good look. I bit down onto it while enjoying a delicious fruit tart at a favorite NYC café. You are a better person than me. I would have demanded to know from whence it came. Come to think of it, how would a tooth get in someone's food? Don't adults stop losing their teeth at some point?

OK, my mom's friend bought me 2 notable useless kitchen gadgets this weekend. I couldn't find the regular thread after several search attempts, so maybe someone with more computer savvy than I have can merge me. One is something called a Pot Stirrer, made by an outfit called Stir Chef. It is an actual robot that stirs your pot--so you don't have to! It consists of a plastic body with another plastic insert that has the "stirring" part on it. The plastic body has clamps that extend to fit many different size pots. The stirring part has 3 blades that are supposedly heatproof. They seem rather flimsy and I don't see how they could push through a risotto or even a heavy sauce. I plan to try this out soon, to see if it really can stir a risotto. If it can . . . The thing weighs about 10 pounds. Preview it here: http://www.seefred.com/cgi-local/shop.pl/page=potstirrer.htm The second gadget is actually pretty damned cool. It's a small ceramic sculpture of a man's head, with a big nose who is peeling one of his nostrils back so that it is wide open. His name--"Boogernose Boris." At first, when I opened the box, I thought: "hey, cool, they got me a new bong!" It's actually an egg separator. You crack the egg into Boris's head, and then tilt his head forward. The white part of the egg comes running out of his nose in a most disgusting manner, and the yolk part stays safely inside his head. I could see using Boris as a pencil jar in the near future. Preview him here: http://www.stupid.com/stat/BORS.html EDIT: to say that the robotic Pot Stirrer goes quite well with my Dustbot, which is a cute little vintage robot that holds a little tiny broom and has a lint trap on his bottom--he dusts your floors, etc., so you don't have to! Also, the woman who bought me these gadgets is the same woman who bought me the ever-popular Chef Wizard a few months ago: http://www.amerimark.com/cgi-bin/am1live/c...005454A&days=14

fifi, you just solved a problem that's been nagging me for years: how to get my hands on 50 cases of free beer. All I have to do is say I found a bug in my Bud. Come to think of it--has anyone ever done that kind of thing? Lied, I mean, to get free product? Some friends of mine in high school said they found a twig in their Skittles. They got 5 free cases of Skittles. I wonder how widespread that is? And how companies make sure you're not trying to score free product?

In the Sanitation classes here at school, they are referred to as the "physical hazards." They are: staples in ice cream, hair in hamburgers, Band-aids in salads. Anything stand out for you in particular? In the grade school cafeteria, my sister found a dirty penny at the bottom of her chocolate milk carton. Also in this same cafeteria, I found what looked like a human molar in my pizza. I once found what looked like a pill-bug in my take-out beef and broccoli, and I've found human hairs in take-out pizzas more times that I can count. What about you? Anything disgusting?

Sunday morning for me was grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Friday for 2: Potato-leek soup (sort of a chowder-y soup) Half a baguette Roasted garlic/oil A sliver of Brie and a few bites of apple Lindeman's Framboise Saturday for 10: Mushrooms stuffed with tapenade Snails with garlic butter Spiced shrimps on tomato bread with a dab of guac. Lobster bisque Leg of lamb with a fennel butter "jus" (a very nice little sauce with the lamb drippings, some Cab. Sav, a little stock, and a quickie fennel butter whisked in) Herb and garlic-crusted beef tenderloin Brown butter risotto Roasted winter veg strudel Belgian endive with apple, walnut, and Maytag Chocolate-coffee pots de creme Some various Chard, Pinot, etc., nothing remarkable, wished for a sherry with the soup but alas! There was none. Friday night's is how I prefer to eat.

Braise a lamb shank in class on top of the stove. Braise anything in class on top of the stove. Some kid cranked my burner to INFERNO and thought he was cranking his burner to saute something. Well, he forgot to turn my burner back down. All my braising liquid evaporated while I was doing something else and I had no idea it was going on. The lamb shank turned into a huge charred lump in the pan, the mirepoix as well, and it took me 15 minutes to scrub the pot.

A long time ago I was making macaroni from scratch and I scorched the bechamel sauce. Not knowing it was scorched (I was new then), I continued on with the recipe. It was so bad I couldn't eat it. So I brought it over to a friend's house--this dude is a huge stoner--and told him it was special "smoked" macaroni. He ate it and loved it. Of course, I've also seen him eat dog kibble.

But I love Kool Whip and Slim Jims! Mmm . . . Slim Jims. 2 things that aren't really "culinary," but that I hate: Cheeto-S (they smell like barf!) Sun Chips (they also smell like barf!)

I wish I could drink gin. Unfortunately, I learned while living in the dorms during my undergrad that it makes me do things like rip the antennaes off of cop cars.

Beer Can Chicken.