Todd in Chicago

Rotuts.... Why do you think 144 made the chicken more juicy? I normally cook breasts at 140 myself. Also, I always wonder about "stuffed" things with cheese. I always just figured the cheese would completely liquify and disappear into "nothing". How did that work out? Thanks... Todd in Chicago

Doh! unning between my computer and watching the Ryder Cup on tv! Sorry, I have NO IDEA WHATSEVER why I used "eschew"! Yes, I almost always make things in bulk, usually end up freezing most, if not all, for a later time. I just love being able to come home from work, plop a few bags from the freezer into my rig, pour a glass of wine, and in about 30 mins or so finish up the items for serving. That is one of the coolest things (IMHO) about sousvide and freezing for later; the ability to re-heat and serve perfect food consistantly, in my household we eat mostly sousvide prepared items. I will have to try those stuff chicken breasts though - sound great! Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Anna... I cannot speak for others, but I've had my SVS (original, not the demi) for over 2 years and have never had a problem with it. How much do I use it? I would say enought that I'm wondering when it's going to "quit" on me. I tend to leave it on for 1-2 weeks at a streak; emptying water out and cleaning about the same. I would say there is rarely a time when it is not powered up and waiting at 130 F for more than 2-3 weeks at a time. I tend to cook things in bulk (bagged separately) and freeze them so we have plent of ready made food at the ready. Let's just say our family has become very accustomed to eating perfectly cooked sousvide food! Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Looks great....I never tried stuff chix in the SV, I'll have to give it a whirl. I do eschew your priciple of "making things in bulk". That's exactly my MO; I just love a fully stocked freezer of perfect meals ready-to-go! Todd in Chicago

I see that on Amazon they sell a 1.5 lb. bucket for $15 (us currency). Not sure if that helps at all. LOL....I need to get some myself for the same reason, but don't need a whole bucket! Todd in Chicago

Derek J..... We dined at Gordon Ramsay over the Labor day weekend and order the special "Limited Edition" tasting menu with wine pairing which included a souvenir menu and photograph of Chef neatly packaged into. We did have reservations and they were about 30-40 minutes late in seating us. Other than that, the service was good and the food was great. It was much better than I expected. I'll be posting the full set of photos later this week. Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Folks.... This may seem silly, but has anyone done au gratin potato sousvide? I don't know.......I have "visions" of frozen pouches of au gratin servings for two in which I simply pop 'em in my SVS for 30 mins to warm and spoon them into two ramekins and finsih under the broiler for 3 mins....is that nuts? I really didn't find any info on sousvide scalloped or au gratin potatoes. Interested in thoughts.... Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Also, I believed Nathan posted that they totally "amped" up the guesstimates (ooops...I mean "forecast") for the first run, so unless they are wildly successfull (still a $100 book), I think the first run should last 6 months or so. I base this on absoutley no facts whatsoever other than Nathans posting. ;-) Cheers... Todd in Chicago Hi Jason, MC At Home got a lot of additional attention before the first printing. I’m sure a few things slipped through the cracks, but I think you’ll be very happy with the content. Larry

I placed my pre-order the day it was announced without hesitation; and I'm the proud owner of one of the first 500 copies in the US of the original set... :-). Hmmmm....yes, I would expect to see a price drop. Based on what was posted about the "Book Depository", I may place my order there instead as $35 could almost buy a whole other "normal" cookbook! (I think I have a cookbook problem). I am totally not familiar with the Book Depository; is this legit and do they have a history? Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Holy Crapoly! No kidding.....the amount of drinks...and to be quite honest...food...after being upstairs...is staggering! Kudos to you for scoring the invite....and even more so for sharing with us! Todd in Chicago

ScottyBoy! I hope you enjoyed our fair city! Lot's of really fun places to see, eat, and drink. From high brow places like Alinea and L20 to dives like the Twisted Spoke (always close to my heart!). Hope you had fun! Cheers... Todd in Chicago

I'm seriously considering hitting up Gordon Ramsey Steak at Paris on my next trip to Vegas in November. Looking forward to seeing what they do with the gastro pub in the old Bradley Ogden space. I'm trying to go in the Fall, maybe October or November. Food and Wine has an event in October. I regularly read reviews on Gordon Ramsay Steak at Paris and since they've opened, the food has been consistently good. There appear to be some service glitches, but that's understandable for a new restaurant, especially one with this much focus on it. I have GOT to try the Beef Wellington.....on tv it looks sooooooooooo good!! Did you guys look at the menu? Looks pretty good to me. I see that Michael Mina has a tasting menu, which for some reason appears very reasonable to me......am I missing something? Todd in Chicago

C Simril, LOL...that sounds funny! When we dined there last, they in fact DID send us home with a complimentary citrusy pound cake wrapped fancily in purple cellophane. Even the pound cake was delicious! Todd in Chicago

David/Brown Hornet.... Thanks for your comments! I feel like we've made some decent picks and I'm sure they will serve us well. Pretty cool, I found out Robouchon offers complimentary limo pickup from your hotel (if not staying at the MGM), and drops you off at the private front entrance...cool! I'll post our experiences when we get back. Cheers, and thanks again for the comments. Todd in Chicago

Hey folks... That time of year is coming up for me for our trip to Vegas (Yeah!!). This year we'll be staying at the Encore (Wynn) again, and thus far have the following reservations lined up: Michael Mina Gordon Ramsay's Steak (we are fans of the show, so feel somewhat compelled (intrigued?) to go.... Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Joel Robouchon Comments or suggestions appreciated! These are almost all new this year for us with one return visit; Joel Robouchon, which quite frankly to us may have been the best meal we have ever had (certainly the most $$$)!. Cheers... Todd in Chicago

I do watch and enjoy, to a point, Hells Kitchen. We thought that in order for a contestant to quality they must do a complete #FAIL trying to cook scallops! ;-) Honestly I much prefer MasterChef. I'm not too fond of the auditions, but once it gets past that part, I pretty much enjoy it. Cheers... Todd in Chicago P.S. Plus judge Graham Elliot's restaurant is about 3 blocks away from where I live!

Wow! Jealous...that is beautiful. Well for my wife and I, we settled in for a long day of motorsports, "The Greatest Day in Racing". The Monaco Grand Prix formula 1 race started us out this morning (we watched on DVR - too early for us to get up!). For that event, I made King Crab Eggs Benedict with hollandaise (is that redundant?) and mimosas, with some fresh roasted coffee. Moving on through the day, we then watched the Indy 500. For that event, it was burgers done SousVide with Cabot creamery clothbound cheddar, and Finch's "Threadless" IPA to wash that down. Ah.....another great weekend. Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Folks.... I'll be attending a bread making class ($85) at Kendall College in Chicago this weekend. I'll report back on the class, so far I've taken 3 classes there and they have been FANTASTIC! Well worth the $$ in my opinion. I also see that Le Cordon Bleu is offering "MasterChef" classes based on the TV show. Those also sound intriguing but haven't seen any that pique my interest yet. Cheers... Todd in Chicago

Ummmm...Kerry....so how did it turn out? Would you do it again? Would you change anything? :-) Thanks... Todd in Chicago

Lady T..... You can find Morels around Chicago? For some reason (I know not what I talk about), I didn't even think of that as an option. That's really cool. Is there some secret "mushroom" club? ;-) Cheers.... Todd in Chicago

Hola amigo! ;-) We spent 10 days in PV in March and loved it (we go there every year; for about 10 years running now). Some of the places we visited this trip, and places I would go back: Daquiri Dicks We consider Daquiri Dicks a "must go"......keep in mind..for us...it is tradition! It is traditin that we go on Sunday for lunch (we always arrive on Sat). Their margaritas are soooooo good; two of their small ones tend to be just enough. The food is very good too. Try the fish taco's with "Kick Ass" yellow mole, or amazingly enough....the simple grilled fish sandwich (my favorite). The last time I was there I had the mahi mahi wrap which was very good. The nibbles (chips, pico) are delicious. They also have a cookbook you can buy (I think you can get it from Amazon as well ... "Sand in your Shoes" No Way Jose This is the first time we tried this place and it is a bit off the beaten path (that we are used to). The name is Soooo Corny! But the prices were more reasonable that most places and I'd defintiely go back. They tend to get good reviews - try the Chiles En Nogada - yum! Cafe Des Artistes I took my wife here for her birthday as this is a "big name" place. And it was very good, but a bit pricy. The food and prep was spot on. We ate in the garden and they brought a special birthday dessert creation. Casa Isabell This was a fun place in the hills and we met Isabell the owner there. A charming (British?) woman with TONS of stories. She was genuinely having a blast! Pretty good place, decent prices. Blue Shrimp I like this place. I know it is a bit of chain (across from Daquiri Dicks), but I LOVE shrimp and they serve it up well here. Their shtick is SHRIMP, and differnet preparatins, buy kilo ad specify the preparation. We both agreed good eats. River Cafe We usually go here once a trip, and the food is pretty good. The setting is pretty nice and it's right next to the river (duh...hence the name!). Si Senor This is a sister restaurant to the Blue Shrimp. During one of our afternoon strolls we ate on their beachfront. They specialize in tableside guacomole and their food was pretty good for lunch. La Palapa Although we did NOT go there this time, we have been there many times. We had an AWESOME meal on the beach there in 2011 and some of the best Mexican wine I've ever tasted. When we had the tuna tartar, it was the BOMB. "My Tony's" "La Familia" in Mismaloya - although we didn't go there this trip, normally we like to go there. This is a strange little place (but like 3 stories, with sand on the floor on the 2nd and 3rd floors) in Mismaloya. For fun, we usually take the bus there, get off at the Misamloya stop and walk the rest of the way. When we've gone, there is no menu, instead they come out with a platter of fish, chicken, and shellfish and describe the day's preparation for each. The ingredients change depending on the catch. What a fun place! Roosters crowing the crowded backyards of neighbors, what a blast! The owner came by more than once to offer shots of Racilla - this is basically "moonshine" made from the green (not blue) agave. Makes you see colors.... ;-) Beach food Marlin and shrimp on a stick - I tried both for the first time in 10 years against the advice of my in-laws. I survived! I thought the shrimp were a PITA and really not worth the effort. I mean, they were ok...but to peel shrimp on a stick...just not convenient enough for me (such a gringo!). On the other hand, the marlin was really good and I would highly recommend it. Now...what I did...was not to buy these from a guy walking around the beach for who knows how many hours carrying this stuff...but rather found the source charcol grill on the beach..and then waited until a fresh batch was on the grill and bought those. It was like $2 for 3 hunks of marlin...and very tasty. One of the guests that were staying with us was really, really big on the oysters, although we never got a chance to try them. He's a surfer dude and was raving about them. Anyway, these may not be hidden gems, but are places that we liked. Have a blast, we love PV!!! Todd P.S. I blew it this year, but I heard about a cooking class are Arte Culinario...they take you to the market and then do a cooking class. But I didn't book mine prior to the trip and missed out. Next year I'll go for sure.

Thanks Patrick, I'll have to give it a shot, looks YUM! Love it......package marked "Steak"...LOL. Todd In Chicago

Give it a try. I tried it several years ago and now my wife will not eat asparagus any other way. Todd in Chicago P.S. I also use a vegetable peeler and yes, you cannot but the pencil thin variety or you'll end up with nothing!

Patrick.... I'm not sure I've ever had "Heavenly Beef"; upon looking it up it indicates it is akin to beef jerky. Is that right? I've had something that *looks* like that Heavenly Beef at a Chinese restaurant in Chicago called "Ben Pao" (which is no longer open), and they called it 7 flavor beef. Just curious, as it looks pretty tasty. Thanks... Todd in Chicago

In Grace Youngs book "Breath of a Wok" there are a least a few photos of someone wok cooking over a pail filled with charcoal; I believe this is a typical "street" style of cooking. Cheers... Todd in Chicago P.S. Personally, I'd go for the "Big Kahuna" (look on Amazon) or something similar.