dcarch

Do not worry about food! You can get good French food everywhere. You can only sight-see Paris in Paris. dcarch

Lousy dinner party. Bad food. That's why I decided not to go. dcarch (Hahaa! two thumbs up!)

cookalong – Beautiful photos. Sapidus – The Keema with greens looks like a very delicious and healthy dish Panaderia Canadiense – Your roast spring lamb is also giving me a craving. Robirdstx – Two recent dinners, two decent dinners. Franci – I have noticed your mastery of using eggplants. Ann_t – Chicken is so ordinary, except if it comes out from your kitchen. David Ross – Very artistic pea soup. Ashen – that smoked ribs can win any competition. ------------------------- Got hold of some pandan leaves. Made filet of sole in pandan sauce. Cherries are in season, and shrimps are on sale. I made shrimps with cherries and cherry sauce, on deep fried puffed rice shells. dcarch

It's a myth perpetrated by cork makers. You can't reuse octopus flavored cork for wine. :-) If it works on octopus, why not on beef? dcarch

If a cork has chemical in it that can tenderize octopus, imagine what that can do to wine. dcarch

In a test by the American Test Kitchen, it made no difference. dcarch

I think the word shinny is a misleading term. In fact the reflectivity of the base material, aluminum is just as shinny even the finish is matt, and not mirror like. I cannot use the term coherent light because that means a different light wave behavior. The light reflected by a mirror-like surface is more organized directionally, while a matt surface reflects light in many directions, but the quantity of reflected light remains the same. For instance, if you take a mirror and break that into many small pieces, with each piece aiming at a slightly different direction, you will no longer see a "shinny" reflection, but the reflected light is still the same quantity. dcarch

"----then perhaps the added reflectivity of the shiny side would better on the outside. ---" Reflectivity will be the same, shiny or matt will make no difference in energy reflected. The difference is in the pattern of reflected energy. One is directional the other is more random. dcarch

Inside. Nothing flying around like using a pop corn popper. dcarch

I have a convection rotisserie roaster oven, so I use two inexpensive sieves and make myself a very nice green bean roaster. Can roast up to a pound. dcarch

Steve Irby – The salmon looks great. Regarding my okra, they were grilled with bacon fat. Jmahl – figs and goat cheese pizza, I like that combination. Scottyboy – That is a fine looking bacon cheese burger. Ann_t - totally gorgeous Roasted whole turkey breast. Mm84321 - Very artistic, as usual. Franci – The stuffed eggplant looks yummy, but I am more impressed by the French fries. Basquecook – You can’t be serious! That was an amazing meal! Sapidus - the Tequila shrimp and pasta looks very tempting. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - Sous vide Porter House steak, 128F. Seared each side at 570F on CI pan. I didn't want to cook (residual heat) on one side more than the other if I lay the steak on the plate, so I plated the steak vertically. Shrimps with Lobster sauce on bacon ( I know, but I had to use up the bacon ) dcarch

All blenders use very soft steel for the blades. If you are a frequent smoothie maker, it may be a good idea to get an extra jar and use that exclusively for making smoothies. The first time you use the blender to chop hard food like nuts, ice cubes, the blades would be dulled. dcarch

Ann_t – Amazing shepherds pie. robirdstx - Sichuan Boneless Chicken is my favorite too. Franci – I always look forward to your diversity in recipes. Scottyboy – We miss your wonderful cooking. Glad you are back. Jayt90 – great looking beef ribs Patrickamory – Very nice plating. Ashen – a 3 minute pizza? Not bad at all! Nickrey – very nice duck dish for Bastille Day. basquecook – Monumental porchetta! Baselerd – gorgeous salmon. Rico – delicious spaghetti! Rod rock – Another yummy spaghetti dish! Sapidus – Very nice photo of the Lamb pilaf . Kim – I am always happy to see your demonstrations of delicious food without complicated recipes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - A whole bunch of stuff to stuff a few friends last July 4th Holiday. Smoke/grilled wings in two flavors, sous vide porter house steaks and sir loin steaks. dcarch

There are very few ways to keep noise down. 1. Tell everyone to shut the F up - You can give this a try. :-) 2. Distance between noise source and receiver - real estate, real estate, real estate ------- 3. Barrier of noise sources - get yourself a private room. In addition: hard reflective surfaces are good for maintenance. The louder the noise, the louder people talk. dcarch .

In addition to a large paella with a matching large fire, you will notice on the above video, it may be a very good idea to have a wind screen for the fire. dcarch

For a 100 people you will need a good (huge) size paella (pan). You can go to any sheet metal fabricator and have them bend a sheet of thick gauge aluminum into a shallow rectangular pan of sufficient size. dcarch

The fact that the indentations are on both sides requires the blade metal to be thicker for some knives. I like thin blade knives better. I have also tried Teflon coated knives. No difference either. dcarch

Can you show a picture? Sometimes a properly plated dish is half the task. dcarch

I use a stove heating element. It is a 240V 2,000 watt element running at 120V, which makes it about 500 watts. It is impossible for it to burn out, with or without water. dcarch

If you do a search on YouTube on "knife skills", you will get a ton of skillful cutting, chopping, slicing, dicing -------- videos, all done without Granton edge knives, that include sushi preparation, Marin Yan's lightning fast chops. I do have one, I don't think the dimples on the blade make any difference whatsoever. Possibly making it more difficult on some types of food, because the design is the same as suction cups. dcarch

For those of you who are suffering with corner-phobia: http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00GjJQypYParog/Double-Bowl-Stainless-Steel-Kitchen-Sink-SD-903A.jpg dcarch

I have had female lobsters with roe inside many times, bought from regular supermarkets. Perhaps there should be some regulations that egg bearing lobsters are allowed to be sold if they are from a certified lobster farm. Lobsters lay several thousand eggs at a time. All they need is a few female lobsters with eggs in a tank with no predators. dcarch

Eat your heart out. I just passed by the big Korean store (Hmart) here in NY, got a package for $1.29 (1/4 lb) dcarch

Unless you can buy shares of traded stocks in their corporations, they are not public companies and they do not have to disclose their finances. I suspect Martha Steward makes more than many of them. dcarch

All these personalities are private individuals and not public corporations. They do not disclose their earnings to anyone. I would like to know where the information came from. dcarch