rebecca

Really, sandwiches are a perfect simple dish: good fresh bread and fillings. Personal favorites include: -avocado and sardine (s&p, evoo) -avocado, arugula, good tomatoes, good cheese -roasted eggplant, pesto (to be simple i guess you'd have to buy that one), goat cheese -pb and banana, or pb and apple , or pb and *insert yummy fruit* -good old fashioned pb&j -grilled cheese, butter to fry, served w/ tomato soup is customary-ish Books have been written on the subject, and I am no author, but you could do way worse than a good and simple sandwich

tahini, honey sesame bars, honey sesame chicken Those sound awesome! I had never thought to make my own tahini! I guess that means it is time for a recipe finding mission... Thanks!

I am not sure about the science of it all, but all of my lactose intolerant friends have a much easier time digesting goats milk products than cows milk products. I thought it had something to do with the enzymes present in the milk, but am not sure. As for cooking, I have never had an issue with replacing goats for cows milk (textures, cooking times, major taste changes). However, if you are concerned, most chowders I have made are pretty darn tasty stews without the milk added. You could set some aside before you add the goats milk as a back-up.

Two favorite salads, but i warn you- i prefer them very simple: Dressing of either goat cheese or yogurt mixed with a little mustard, olive oil, cider vinegar and s&p, on lettuce and arugula with good (preferably home-made) croutons. Simple olive oil, red wine vinegar and s&p on lettuce and good tomatoes with my mothers four magic herbs: parsley, mint, basil and tarragon. The parsley and mint make the salad taste so refreshing that it is like an iced beverage on the warmest of summer days Of course i am also a fan of any salad that has both avocado and walnuts. That is a lovely pair!

That is quite possibly one of the strangest things I have ever seen. And I think it is candy, yes? But I really wanted it to actually be trying to taste like sushi!

I am always a sucker for the purple cow: blueberries, blackberries, sugar and buttermilk.

Has anyone done this yet? How early is early enough to actually get inside?

Wow! I am impressed by the number of freezers you guys have! I just have the one standard with various breads, stocks, a chocolate salami from new years and a random huge bag of sesame seeds. Any recomendations for that one?

Subway can handle much smaller stores than McD's can. McD's needs the frier, the grill/griddle/whatever, the ice cream machine, and the serving counter. Subway just needs the fixin's counter, a toaster and the shelf of bread. Less space required means they can be less picky about location, means, absolutely, lower cost of entry.

I think there is a general consensus that I agree with. There is something amazing and unique about a proper fresh bagel. There is a taste thing and a texture thing and a smell... *dreamy face* To toast such a thing is a travesty against nature. However, there are situations when I need to walk into a place and get food into my belly. And if I get a bagel, it is going to be toasted because those proper bagels come from very special places, and I can't always find them when I am hungry.

i know there are store bought ice creams that are made to be soft and scoopable right out of the freezer, but that probably involves a lot of unsavory chemicals. And yet, I am sure that it is possible to do in a professional kitchen. surely there is a molecular gastronimist out there who has perfected room-temperature ice creams?

If we are ever able to create everything artificially and easily, we will do just that. We will replicate all the flavors and textures that we use today, and will start creating new ones. The problem there arises from choice. If you can combine all textures with all flavors, the number of options becomes astronomical, and choosing Thursday lunch becomes either very hard or very easy. People will start falling into ruts of eating only what they know, or following the food trends of those still trying to create real new food. However the food trends will spread much more quickly, making haute cuisine either non-existent, or very time-sensitive. However, I agree completely with chris hennes: there will always be someone who will pay more for “all natural food cooked the old-fashioned way,” if only to be trendy and retro, or if natural food becomes the exotic curio. On the other hand, we may create the technology to make everything, but if it isn’t easy to use, or it isn’t cheap, then artificial becomes the exotic cuisine, and cutting edge chefs will come (more often at least) from labs and things, similar to what is happening already. Again, with truly artificial creation, and food parameters easily transferable as data, the trends will still move quickly, but they will remain within the subset of people who can afford those delicacies. What I think would be really cool, though, is some kind of machine that could do the star trek scanner thing, that evaluates your genetic preferences, your mood, hormone levels or whatever, to create a dish tailored to be perfectly satisfying to you at that precise moment in time. I wonder how often it would give me just good bread and cheese?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Okay, fine. The elimination was warranted. But I am still very sad about it. Also, what is going on with Blais? All stressed up and nowhere to go? He made a comment, something like "I hate everything I cook." I am starting to be worried. Not that it is at all helpable, but he has too many big things going on in his life right now... probably isn't in the best mindset.

not sure how i feel about the potato chip clusters. could be weird, but could also be ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. i guess it depends in part on the quality of the 'tato chips...

One guess is that if you let something cool before it goes into the freezer it will loose some of its moisture to evaporation. If there is a very delicate balance of ingredients/liquids/solids/whatever, that short time could throw it off? (let me warn you that I am not actually a professional, and this is pure speculation

If I still lived in Berkeley, I would TRY to be a regular there too. Looks wonderful. come back to visit sometime, and i'll join you! any excuse will do to get me through the door

I guess that all makes sense. (thanks oakapple!) I'd be curious to know when were the more lenient challenges, when they were in the season, etc. Also... Could anyone tell me when were the other two times? Or even challenges where most of the contestants did very well, even if someone did get sent home. I can't remember them.

The thing is, there was something fishy about this challenge. Usually challenges have that wacky twist, short time frame, surprise puppets or a blindfold. In this episode, not including the quick fire oc, nobody was crazy behind before their dish went out, everyone knew what they wanted to cook... They were given the time to plan and make perfect whatever went on the plate. I often wonder if all the dishes in other challenges would be this good if people didn't have the stress, the time factor or whatever. And many do have conceptual issues, but for the ones where execution is the main flaw? These are talented trained professionals. They should be able to do this kind of fabulous thing all the time. Maybe. On the one hand, I realize that I am vaguely and not at all clearly proposing a tripple-secret-agent type conspiracy, which (concept wise) i wouldn't necessarily put past some TV producers. But I cannot think of another episode where so much food went so right. On the other hand, statistically speaking, this day was bound to come. On the other hand, everything was good? On my fourth hand, I realize that really, I am just bitter because I wanted to be at that table. They need to invent a TV with sensory output.

hey! me too! loving the TJs. especially since it has the live cultures, which not all commercial yogurts do. it is fabulous with homemade granola, mixed with peanut butter and some chopped banana, or you know what? just making my own flavors of yogurt. i have even used it to make froyo! (maple syrup and/or black berries) my mom advocates the the whole fat voskos, which is delicious, but occasionally too rich for my "casual" snacking habits.

Does it count if i am intending to be a regular? Once a week a friend of mine and I get together at Crixa Cakes for gossip, coffee, and a little slice of heaven. it is a recent tradition (since the new year) but they have started to recognize us and one even knows our names!! but i don't think I will ever have a regular order at this place... the assortment of hungarian and russian pastries and pleasures is always enough to suit any mood, but never too many to make choosing difficult. i have yet to eat anything less than amazing (rugelach, ginger cake, pear pie with rosewater cream, almond florio... believe me I could list every one!!) i am hoping for the day when i walk in and they can say "now HERE is something you haven't tried yet!"

for me it was bread. more specifically fresh rustic baguette from acme bread co. it was better than a head full of sugarplums anyday. after the first time, (when a second loaf had to be purchased since the first one became entirely my own) acme became a weekly tradition, and i would always run into the little hole in the wall and proclaim that someone should make a perfume, ode du bakery. (as a child I thought it was clever every time and now as a functioning adult, the joy has spread to naan, laffa, moms whole wheat, chinese pancakes, and anything else that has those same three ingredients...

maybe not up to the current standard, but as a teenager, when once making a cake, i cracked an egg into the bowl which turned out not to be an egg but a fully formed baby chicken carcass in shell . i think the unexpectedness was worse than the grossness inherent in the situation...

i do like that you have three options per ingredient: yes, no, and unspecified... it is a feature i wish was more commonly available other places (amazon!!). but really, if i want to make something without a certain ingredient, or with other specifications, i'd rather find a recipe from somewhere i trust and modify it to my purposes, rather than finding a random recipe that happens to have the ingredients I want to use.

like everything else in life, it is a spectrum. the 5 second rule is true for some very clean surfaces and, like vloglady said, non-porous material. my favorite statistic that i have heard is that there is even a window of time in which you could pick food off a port-o-potty floor without accumulating any bacteria. however, the speed necessary to get your hand down there in time are so extreme that it would burn you like any object falling to earth from outerspace... very VERY fast

shakshuka: tomato sauce of chopped tinned or fresh tomato, onion, peppers, paprika, with eggs either cooked in the sauce or steamed soft in the shell ~5.5 mins. mmm... (i seem to be talking about this dish a lot recently! ... oops couldn't figure out how to link to the post without a long url making this one uglier.) of course it can be done with more ingredients, but it can also be done with less.