SylviaLovegren

Saveur had a few http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Eat-With-Your-Eyes-Food-Museums Slow Food: http://www.slowfoodutah.org/topics/view/22637/ has some as well (two of the same as Saveur's but an additional one in Switzerland) The Slow Food France website might have some interesting things. And there is an Escoffier Museum in Provence. Couldn't find a website for the museum but this article describes it: http://petanqueandpastis.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/muse_escoffier_.html

Sylvia, Could you please track down/post this recipe? Well, my memory's going. It was actually from the October 1984 Cuisine magazine, a recipe by Marie Simmons. No idea where the original is anymore, but I had an adaptation in my book, as follows: Polenta cooked (I like it with parmesan and jack stirred in) 2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes 1-1/2 lbs sweet Italian sausage 1/2 cup boiling water EVOO 1 pound button mushrooms or similar, sliced 1/4 cup dry red wine 2 T finely chopped flat leaf parsley 1 garlic clove, minced 1/2 t lemon zest, minced. Drain the dried mushrooms, chop them, strain the soaking liquid and set aside. Prick the sausages and put them in a large skillet with the boiling water. Cover and simmer about 8 minutes, then uncover and cook until sausages are browned. Remove from pan and keep warm. Pour off most fat, add some olive oil, add the two mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are cooked through. Stir in the wine and a few tablespoons of the mushroom soaking liquid and reduce until syrupy. Slice the sausages into bite size piece, add them to the mushrooms and stir to blend and heat through. Make the gremolata by mincing together the parsley, garlic and lemon. Stir the gremolata into the sausage/mushroom mixture and saute for a minutes until fragrant. Taste for seasoning and correct. Serve with warm and creamy polenta. You can make it without the dried mushrooms if you don't have them, change up the mushrooms to your taste, change the sausage, etc. But it's basically a very simple dish and really delicious.

Roasted red pepper strips with chopped garlic and olive oil -- delicious served on crackers or grilled bread. Homemade salted toasted almonds -- you can also spice them up with chili powders, etc.

Wow! Congratulations! That is just fantastic. Ya done good!

Wow, that is a fascinating website. Down to the droppin of all "g" endins.

Call me a local, but if you're looking for a fish fry in upstate NY, you'd be better off going to Rudy's in Oswego than to any of the Doug's locations. MelissaH Interesting. Next time if we make it NE enough we'll try Rudy's. The Skaneatales Doug's has such a great location and ambience, and the beer and ice cream is good, we really enjoy it. It's a natural stop for us and we just love the town and the lake.

That is BEAUTIFUL. Yum.

Roasted with oil or butter and salt and pepper. Roast a bunch of them, eat the first batch plain. Use the others in salads with vinaigrette, especially with goat cheese. Or marinate with vinegar, sugar and clove to make sweet and sour beets.

It has now arrived. I lent it to the chef at our local providore/restaurant. He is Sardinian and started his training in a Michelin-starred restaurant on the island. His preference is to cook more traditional Sardinian fare and he serves a lot of this in his restaurant. His opinion is that it is the best Sardinian cookbook that he has seen and that the author is very true to the cuisine. What's more, he is getting his own copy. Given this recommendation, I'd totally recommend it to anyone who wants to explore this interesting regional cuisine. That sounds very exciting. Will go look for this book! Thanks!

Upstate NY is very much fun. I can recommend Doug's Fish Fry in Skaneatales. And for a crazy old-fashioned NY Italian place, Delmonicos in Syracuse -- the waitresses dress like mobsters with black fishnet stockings and the servings are enormous -- they're known for steaks, which are good, but the local specialty "Chicken Rigis" (rigatoni with chicken in a cream sauce with artichokes and peppers) is excellent. Also, I always enjoy ordering "rigis".

Are you going via Kingston or Ottawa? Kingston is a pretty place and the old fort there is worth a stop. Also some really good Vietnamese and Laotian food in town, although it's been a while so I don't know particular spots.

You may have had savory bread pudding before under the names "dressing" or "stuffing", the later often coming out of a turkey at Thanksgiving. Most dressings/stuffings are a bit looser than bread pudding, but not all. I think the only place I've seen a dressing or stuffing solid enough to be described a pudding was on Food Network, and the recipe in question was sufficiently bizzaro world that I'm not likely to replicate it. The Capirodata, however, sounds absolutely fabulous. I'll do another custard with mixed ingredients, but I swear that you get a better texture mixing the two beforehand. It also helps to evenly dissolve the sugar. Can anyone suggest a binder for a vegan bread pudding? I've had egg-less concoctions, and found them somewhat lacking. Maybe xanthan gum? Also, gratuitous food porn: Uploaded with ImageShack.us Oh my. Look what happens to hot dog buns when they get reincarnated!

I still love old-fashioned chicken salad with mayo, celery, a bit of green onion, served in a tomato shell. Must have glass of home made iced tea in a tall glass with lotsa ice cubes to go with. This always reminds me of going to department store tea shops in the summer with my grandmother and feeling like a proper lady Sigh.

The ones I've had/made have usually been called "stratas" but they are really just bread pudding made savoury. Here's a bacon, egg and cheese version http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-egg-and-cheese-strata/ which is really typical.

I've taken stuff back or just the receipt if it's too yucky to keep around. Never had a problem. Particularly if you're a regular the store does not want to a) lose your custom nor b) get the reputation for selling rotten food.

Substitute brown sugar and add some rum or bourbon, with pecans and raisins. Substitute some orange juice for the milk and add orange zest, candied orange peel, maybe some Curacao or similar (probably something not blue!). Or make savory instead, omit sugar and vanilla, add cheese, green onion, crumbled bacon, sausage, cooked vegetables, etc. Coconut milk and rum with cinnamon and vanilla for a "coquito" bread pudding. Coconut milk, rum and pineapple for a pina colada pudding. This is fun!

I usually head over to St. Lawrence Market on Saturday mornings (or Friday evenings if I don't feel like being crowded shoulder to shoulder). They have three or four different cheesmongers there and I've never had a problem finding anything that I was looking for, plus it only takes me about 20min to walk there. Go Saturday morning to the farmer's market across the street from St. L and visit the Monforte Dairy cheese stand. They have wonderful stuff, and an occasional blue (they're experimenting with them) and are very generous with samples. And ask if they have "Bliss" -- not a blue but a soft brie-style triple cream. Aptly named. I've loved blue cheese since first taste of Marie's Salad Dressing when I was in elementary school and can't even imagine not liking it. But persevere! I've been trying to like oysters for 30 years and I'm sure one of these days it will happen

Then how do you make Banana Puddin' if you don't have Vanilla Wafers?

Maybe the man had Parkinsons or other shakiness? I know a couple of folks who have pretty good tremors and they use straws to help them drink without spilling all over.

Smiling in delight! Have you ever tried just plain whipped jello? You let it get semi-jelled, then whip it with a mixer for a l o n g time, maybe 5 minutes. It becomes a delightfully artificially flavored mousse. Almost but not quite Jello 1-2-3. No! I must try! Yes, you must! It was a big thing to do in the 60s, to make a wonderful fluffy mousse thing. If you fold some whipped cream into it when it's done it's kind of an instant bavarian cream, fluffy style.

I'll second that. A wonderful book. I heard her speak about it in New York -- sadly, right after the invasion by the US -- and she seemed like a lovely person. Definitely a book worth tracking down.

Really, you can't get good deli/bagels in southern Florida? Miami used to have Wolfie's which was wonderful, but closed now I understand. Still, with all those retired Manhattanites? There's gotta be someplace!

Greek food, oddly enough, uses dill. Delicious in tzatziki, a nice touch in spanakopita, and Greek meatballs often are flavored with a warm spice (cinnamon) and a cool green herb -- either mint or dill. I think Persian food uses dill as a "sour" touch, as well. Poached salmon is lovely with a dill sour cream sauce, and salmon patties (made from leftover salmon or even canned) is perked up with a touch of dill.

I used to stuff whole salmon with sliced peaches and onions before baking. Still would if an unknown rich uncle dies and leaves me a fortune to buy a whole salmon.

My niece's friend has started a blog called The Kitchen Less Traveled. She's literally a completely novice cook -- never cooked ground meat before, has no idea what how to open or deal with a clove of garlic. I found it amusing and also really interesting, since I can't imagine being that bewildered by food. See what you think: http://thekitchenlesstraveled.blogspot.ca/?spref=fb