Mjx

I'd definitely communicate with the restaurant: As others have pointed out, there are plenty of things that might have caused the food poisoning, but if they restaurant has had other previous issues of this sort, it would give them a chance to have a word with their suppliers.

Greaseproof paper has a different coating than baking paper, and isn't intended to be non-stick under baking conditions, so I don't think any brand is going to give satisfactory results (I found this out the hard way, when I mistook a roll of greaseproof paper for the roll of baking paper next to it, at a friend's home).

I recently bought a packet of citrus- and licorice-flavoured wine gums, which seemed like a fine idea, but they were so sweet and plasticky tasting that I actually binned them... I soldiered through about a third of the bag, trying to appreciate them, but it was a no go. Wait: you make that sound like a bad thing. I actually like those! I had a terrible cold recently, and went through a packet of them like they were Smarties. They took the taste of the above-mentioned wine gums out of my mouth, too. Those were truly disgusting! I am not usually a licorice fan but I bought some of those on a whim and gah! Oh, the ones I meant weren't licorice, they were fake fruit flavours! They came out with a licorice version too?

I'm planning on making chicken or seafood empanadas in the next few days. I always bake them: As you pointed out, empanada-ish things are ubiquitous, and in plenty of places baking seems to be the traditional cooking method. I find the fried ones just a little heavy, unless they're really tiny. My calling what I make 'empanadas' is fairly arbitrary; they could just as easily be called 'pasties' (although they're not usually so large). Anyone know (or have a pretty good idea) of how the dough for the softer exterior found on say, Reuben's Empanadas is composed? I love empanadas, and make them fairly often, but that softish dough (which I love) eludes me.

Boning pretty much anything with a scalpel. Ggod, I do love the precision...

I think it's pretty easy to tell from someone's facial expression whether they're sniffing for something wrong, or enhancing their appreciation. The idea of sniffing food before eating seems normal, although I'm mildly surprised that it would be noticeable. I definitely sniff some foods (good strawberries come to mind, since the smell is so fantastic), but I doubt it is at all noticeable (I was trained to be very, erm... discreet about pretty much everything I do at table).

I'm right in there with the detergent and water crowd; I've always thought about hygiene and food, and a couple of bouts of severe food poisoning have made me very cautious. I'm fairly cautious about pretty much everything, to be honest, it's an across-the-board sort of thing (since the outside is cooked, I don't categorize rare beef as risky, and I also like sushi, but am very fussy about where I get it).

I dine out alone very often. I love it, never feels lonely to me at all. Not usually communal tables, either.

White-stained beech (?), uncoated. Since we're trying to sell our place, this means down on my hands and knees with a scrubbing brush, like the slavey out of a scene from Upstairs, Downstairs. Usually, this is completely neglected until the estate agent phones to say someone wants to see the place, which is when I panic and start scrabbling at the bottom of the kitchen closet for the scrubbing brush. My boyfriend is happy to do this, but misses spots, and leaves very odd swirls of soap behind, so I'm sort of stuck with it.

Noise, absurd levels of crowding, and seats that are way too low. I mean, great, my feet touch the floor, but so what, the table top is at about armpit level... I'd rather have to climb onto my seat (it's interesting that the low seats seem to accommodate no one; why them do they make them at this height?).

I can taste the can. I don't love beer, but am able to enjoy some kinds, with certain foods/under specific circumstances... unless it has that metallic tang, which is a deal breaker, as far as I'm concerned. I'd only drink canned beer if there was absolutely no other way to avoid offending someone (and that hasn't happened, yet).

Toasting powdered milk adds a great flavour (I've done it when jury-rigging a replacement for condensed milk, when I'm in places whre it's unavailable), but it seems to make it less soluble (you see small, distinct tan flecks in the milk mixture); this may be because I've used powdered whole milk, and perhaps the toasting polymerizes the fat in it. I keep meaning to try this with skim milk powder, but haven't gotten around to it. If you try this, let me know how it goes.

The gender cliches associated with red meat/fish/vegetarian dishes/salad or 'light'/rich desserts I kind of get, although I think they're absurd, but the coffee/dairy product thing bewilders. It is also the single most common mix-up I encounter: Is milky or creamy coffee generally considered girlier than coffee without? Most of the people I know prefer their coffee with dairy, regardless of gender (although I can't think of anything more revolting... I could sooner handle salt in my coffee).

I've been agnostic since I was about seven, so I don't really feel I have the option of communing with a diety, but I often consider the the life and effort that went into the creation of my meal, and feel appreciative... which reads pretty tepid, but it doesn't feel that way. I admit to feeling at least vaguely uncomfortable when someone says grace over a meal, because I feel like I'm intruding on something extremely intimate. But I certainly don't think it's something people shouldn't do (I just tend to feel uncomfortable witnessing people's emotional lives).

Recently had a dish at Malling & Schmidt that had been prepared using flax hay; don't know how widely available that it, but it was very good.

I think simple is best: I really like lemon and sugar, with a tiny pinch of salt, or just balsamic vinegar. The fruit shines through if it's good, and is sort of enhanced, if it is less than stellar.

Congratulations... and yeah, the BMI isn't incredibly reliable: When my brother was still active in body-building competitions, he had some ridiculously low level of body fat, but his BMI indicated that he was way obese. All the BMI is really good for is determining is whether or not you weigh close to the average for your height and gender (the reason for any significant deviation is going to be pretty easy to tell). The waist-hip ratio does seem to be somewhat helpful: I've found that at or below that ratio, I feel fine, but above it, something feels 'not quite right' (and not just because my waistband is cutting me in half, either).

Ya mean toothpicks? Sort of, but not exactly: I think of 'toothpicks' as having a round cross-section and a very tapered point that snaps off easily. The ones I use are flat, more robust (a single one will usually last me an entire kitchen cleaning), and come in flats that you snap the individual pieces from. You could call them toothpicks, but they're much more useful than the ones I've seen in restaurants.

I keep an extra box of flat, wooden interdental cleaners in the kitchen for testing cake done-ness, scraping crud out of small narrow crevices in equipment, and sketching out patterns or text on cake icing. Also, not exactly from the cosmetics department/pharmacy, but I inevitably use scalpels when I'm prepping meat in a way that is fairly close to a standard dissection (e.g. leg of lamb).

This was my first thought when I read the OP, but if this encourages people to cook more frequently, maybe it's not such bad advice. I haven't found it to be a good solution for me, but maybe it helps people who aren't as used to cooking (probably Ray's target audience) to plan meals and budget time to cook during the week. I feel the same way about buying pre-chopped veg (esp at a premium price). I should have mentioned that in our household, we're cooking for just two, which means that washing produce for any given meal takes so little time, it really makes no sense to get a lot of produce and pre-wash it. I can see that this might be a great solution for someone who's cooking for several people. I prefer boiling water; I scrub down the sink using dish soap, and sluice it with a lot of boiling water, paying particular attention to the drain. Sometimes I used some stuff called Rodalon.

This looks just great... I think I'd take filled pasta in broth over pretty much any other dish on the planet, almost anytime. I don't think it's ugly, either, although the colour of the meat certainly is eye-catching.

I've found that washing produce in advance and storing it in the fridge seems to hasten its deterioration, so I don't do it; I wash things as I need them, usually individually, or in a large bowl if it's greens or something like peas. The sink just seems awkward and clumsy. But I do clean the kitchen sink with a disinfectant and boiling water after splashing anything about it that is unlikely to be taken care of by ordinary hot tap water and dish soap, which does leave the sink clean enough to wash vegetables in (and takes very little time or effort). I do this because I believe that the presence or absence of microorganism, rather than providence and optimism, determine whether or not you come down with revolting infectious diseases

Root vegetables were the first things to spring to mind, but Hokkaido squash, roasted mushrooms, and kale with beans make great winter vegetable dishes.

Well, I'm not going to beat this to death, but just eyeballing both the dish (length and breadth), and the block of butter they show sitting on it (on the Amazon page), that thing has got to be at least two inches tall; the manufacturer's (Norpro) website doesn't say, either, but I'm sure an email or phone call would yield some information.

Fair point. How about $9.19?