teapot

From your description of the event, I'm thinking finger food would be good. Consider chicken wings -- tandoori or something similar. Kefta kebabs. Prawns with mint/coriander chutney. Samosas. Tons of simple things you can do and many of them can be made in advance and frozen.

I see chefs on TV dripping copious amount of sweat into their food (in the pot and on the plate). Creeps me out.

So I hope you'll report on your Seattle dining tour. You sure got the great weather for it!

I'm not seeing anything Asian in your line-up (Marination Mobile doesn't count). You should take a turn through the International District. Grab a fantastic pork bun at Gourmet Noodle Bowl or some dim sum at Jade Garden (go early or go late but don't go at noon) or go to Tamarind Tree for the Vietnamese spring roll...the tamarind roll -- best spring roll ever and while there, have a kumquat crush martini.

Just prior to baking? Do a gentle poke and look at how quickly it springs back. If it springs back right away, then you have a more proofing to go. If it springs back slowly, it's ready to go. If it doesn't spring back, it's over-proofed. By the way, if you're interested in getting a more controlled kitchen temperature you might play around with light bulbs. I have an old double oven and I've found that running a cord with a simple light bulb (you can vary the wattage to get the temp you want) if a really simple way to create a proofing box. If an oven isn't an option, you could try a microwave, cooler or other well insulated container. Happy baking!

My husband and I went through a bunch of rums, and did a number of side by side taste test. We landed on the affordable Mount Gay as the best all around (good for sipping and mixed drinks. I also like Appleton's Estate but it tastes more like whiskey than other rums. Every so often our liquor store sells Trader Vicks Gold Rum and it's surprisingly cheap and good for mixed drinks. Whenever we go to Canada we bring back Havana Club rum (a Cuban rum). No one has yet mentioned Cuba Libres - rum and coke with lime (I'm not a big Coke fan but if you add a good deal of lime it's pretty darn good). Try rum and grapefruit with a dash of bitters. Dark and stormy - lime, rum and ginger beer. Delicious (often made with Gosling's dark rum). Enjoy!

Timely and interesting article. I've spent most of my cooking years using either a woodstove or an electric 1958 GE Hotpoint. Both stoves I understood and could fix/adjust when needed. Now we're about to remodel the kitchen and it's time to bid my hotpoint farewell. I've cooked only a few times with gas but have become completely enamoured of the Capital Culinarian with its open burner (23,000 BTUs each) design and lack of electronics. Maybe induction is a smarter way to go...but where's the love? There's a relationship that develops between cook and stove and I've had a hard imagining a bond developing with most other stoves (gas or electric) I've seen. I guess it is about magnetism after all

Toasted cheese rocks but it's got to be on a thick slice of excellent sourdough (toasted first on the side that won't have the cheese) with sharp cheddar and smoked paprika sprinkled on top. (I grew up on toasted cheese but it never occurred to me to have it for b'fast - great idea!). The best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had was made with Huntsmen Cheese (cheddar/stilton) and a slice of pickled green tomato (nice to have something to break up the richness).

I love the Lundburg organic short grain brown rice at Costco. I believe they still stock it. If they don't leave a comment in the comment box requesting it (they really do pay attention). You folks have me to thank for Costco stocking marcona almonds

Speaking of Bovril -- back in the 60s my mom would give us kids the task of making bovril toasts for the cocktail parties. Mix a little bovril into butter, shmear on some baguette slices, grate some parm over the top and bake until crisped. These were addictively good - the perfect salty counterpoint to a dry martini. (If you make them, make lots, they keep very well).

I made a fresh banana gelato last week - it had a lovely texture and was wonderful in profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce drizzled over. I'd made the profiteroles a few days earlier and froze them, recrisping them in the oven just before filling and serving. There were no complaints!

Avocado. Eggs.

How about dimly lit restaurants with unreadable menus? What is the rationale for using a size 8 cursive font? I can't count how many times we've had to pass the votive around so we could see what the hell was being offered. (Thank heavens for the flashlight app on my new Iphone!).

"You guys" as in, "What can I get you guys?" 1) I'm not a guy. 2) I'm not eating at McDonalds. Also bugged when servers, after taking the table's order, singles out a child and asks "Would you like a soda?" Might as well offer a kitten. Grrr . . .

Lizz, I've used just about every trick in the book to achieve steam (including the cloche or other tenting technique). The steaming towel approach has worked best for me. I like the crust better, it's easy, and I can bake three 20 inch baguettes at the same time - hard to do with tenting. I might add that my oven is a 50 year old electric - nothing fancy! I have a stone on the bottom shelf - on the UPPER rack, I place two large aluminum bread pans that I fill halfway up with lava rocks (I suppose the rocks are optional but since I have them from previous steaming approaches, it certainly it can't hurt - they add thermal mass)- one pan is to the left the other to the right of the stove. This all gets preheated a 45 minutes or so. Just before I slash the bread I saturate two dish towels into boiling water and then quickly place them on top of the two bread pans and close the door. Then I slash the bread and quickly load it in the oven and splash a little of the boiling water onto the towel/rock). Set the timer for 12 minutes and then remove the steaming pans. You'll see that they are still generating a lot of steam when you take them out. I would have thought that it'd be problematic to have the steam source on the top rather underneath the bread, but it works great. Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you.

I often wondered why two or three loaves from the same batch, proofed the same amt of time and slashed in the same manner would behave so differently from one to another in terms of grigne (otherwise referred to as "ears" but hey, "lips" works too). I thought it must be because of uneven temperature. However, I'm happy to say I've been able to achieve consistent results by changing my steaming method. Now I can load three baguettes into the oven and all will develop a good grigne. So Lizz, I think your bread looks properly proofed and scored, so you might want to play with your steaming technique (am happy to share mine if you're interested).

Tantalizing topic! Some ah ha food moments for me: [*]Eating a sun-warmed perfectly ripe peach picked from the tree next to my bedroom window. [*]My first oyster - an Olympia, small and briny [*]Truffles - I remarked that it tasted like sex (turns out I was right) [*]First taste of tuna sashimi eaten with a little shredded daikon and chiso [*]oil and herb cured olive [*]Larabaru SF sourdough bread And, in honor of Santo Santamaria who died recently, his "chef's suprise" at Raco des Con Fabes. What looked like a large truffle but when you cut into it was black truffle layered over foie gras. Spread on toast. Best. Toast. Ever.

I completely agree with the post about missing those tableside caesar salad - with one notable exception. When I was a kid I had the unfortunate experience of ordering a caesar as my entree. When the server asked me mid-preparation if I wanted garlic in my salad I said sure. She then dumped an entire BOWLFUL OF GARLIC POWDER into the salad. It was so garlicky it was hot. I had garlic coming out of my pores for days. People would do a doubletake and swiftly move away from me. Here's another thing I miss about the 70s, being able to order, and be served, a rare hamburger.

I used to cook on a woodstove too and still miss it. I had a chance to do it again recently and loved the level of interaction with the stove... feeding the fire...sliding pots around too hot or cooler spots.

When a friend installed his DCS gas range, he called me on the phone to crow. I, with my 1958 GE Hotpoint electric stove challenged him to a boil off. We filled our All-Clad sauciera with 4 cups of water and I turned on my burner at the same moment he lit his. I beat him by a couple of minutes easy - not proof of anything other than direct heat is going to heat faster - but it was a fun little race. I bake a lot of breads and pizzas - and I have a hunch the performance I get in my old electric oven is better than I'd have with gas. But I'd be interested in comments about gas v. electric ovens.