SylviaLovegren

I have a friend and a mother-in-law who could not time their way out of a paper bag. We know to eat well before going over and bring snacks because food that should have been ready at 7 is not even started until 9. The MIL is a really good cook on some things -- her Greek stifados, spanakopita, avgolemono, etc. are truly delicious. But after 40 years of cooking for a family she will still start cooking the broccoli before she even peels the potatoes. Then she'll realize that the main course is a leg of lamb roast that takes 2 hours and oops she meant to marinate it first.... My friend once invited me to come over for lunch which was just going to be simple sandwiches and some fruit. She started working on it at 12:30 and didn't manage to get the tuna sandwiches on the table until about 4. While preparing the sandwiches she had managed to rearrange her cabinets, clean out her fridge, get her son's school project in order and do some weeding. She didn't mean to do all those other things while "making lunch", she just did. Now when I go to her house for a meal I eat first... Some people just aren't good at timing things or prioritizing and "punishing" them for it isn't going to help. They won't "learn." You just have to roll with the punches and deal with it, one way or another.

I found condensed milk! It was in the Thai food section of the grocery store and I had to pay $4 for a small can, but at this point... The supermarket did have about 8 different kinds of evaporated milk in cans -- nonfat, 2%, house brand, Carnation, etc. -- and priced reasonably at about $2 a can, but condensed was exotic apparently. Another thing that surprised me about Toronto was turkey. In the states, turkey parts and ground turkey have become ubiquitous and I'd developed quite a few recipes based on cheap ground turkey. The supermarkets in the downtown area here very occasionally have it -- very occasionally -- but it's an arm and a leg, price-wise. On the other hand, every market, even the questionable corner ones, have 3-6 year old cheddar that is just outstanding and very reasonably priced.

I'll have to find a Loblaws. I've tried the Freshco (which is Sobeys) and the NoFrills. Never heard of Overrwaitea. Where are they? There must be condensed milk here, Eagle Brand or otherwise, because all those Vietnamese and Thais can't be making their iced coffee/tea without it. I just have to find it! ETA: What Matthew said.

Yes! I use it to reheat spanikopita. Keep flipping those babies until the top and bottom layers of filo are crispy and by then, the interior is warm and succulent. (This is only when one of the aunts gifts me with some homemade ones.)

I don't bake much anymore being mostly lo-carb but we're going to a potluck Saturday and I have been asked to bring cookies. Since I'm out of practice making my old standbys I thought a simple bar cookie would be safest and picked "Magic Bars" as virtually foolproof and always popular. Ingredients: coconut, graham crackers, choocolate chips, nuts, condensed milk. Sounds amazingly easy, right? In Toronto? No problem, right? Had to go to 3 stores before I found graham crackers (the first supermarket in my neighborhood the clerks had never HEARD of them) and I still haven't found any place that has condensed milk. By the time I assemble all these "exotic" ingredients I would have been able to do 6 dozen hand decorated fancy pants cookies including the burned and misshapen rejects. The strange thing about moving from the States to Canada (and probably vice versa) is that things look very much alike...but they're not.

I guess for diabetics it makes some sense but otherwise the idea of making a cake with PORK RINDS and fake sugar just seems...bizarre. Gluten free and diabetic! ETA: Also, what kind of brain would look at a bag of PORK RINDS (!!!!) and think, "hmmm, I could grind these up and make flour out of 'em and then bake a cake..." Who would think that?

Survey says: wrong! Then you couldn't have the singing ad, "Bring out the Best Foods and bring out the best". My east coast hubby sings it as "Bring out the Hellmans and bring out the best" but when I point out that version doesn't have the same echo effect and pleasing symmetry it falls on deaf ears. I just don't understand people who can be good and decent yet so in error...

Made broiled chicken with za'atar last night. Delicious. I can't believe people who don't do broiled chicken -- it is one of the easiest and tastiest ways of cooking chicken known to man. Even plain chicken with just a bit of salt and pepper comes out full of flavor. Seriously -- try it!

That's what my mom always used for making gravies and cream sauces. The best way to get flour lumps out of anything. I still have hers and pick them up when I find them at garage sales. Haven't ever seen one in a store.

Chicken, absolutely. Also tuna melts. Lamb chops. Charring pepper skins. "Toasting" multiple English muffins at one time. I think the broiler makes more flavorful steaks than my stove-top grill pan but I'm not as good at timing it. We don't have an outdoor grill, so the broiler substitutes for quite a bit.

"Small" ale or "small" beer is low-alcohol, made at home, the normal beverage is the home and suitable for small children when water was is suspect. ETA: And I see towerpine beat me to the small beer!

OK, I haven't made this but I had to share. A 1930s Canadian charity cookbook has a sandwich filling recipe that is: 2 bananas mashed, 3 strips cooked bacon, crumbled, 3 hardboiled egg yolks mashed, mayo to moisten, paprika. My husband wants to try it. The thought of it just makes me gag. What say you?

Would this be similar to the Greek stew recipe you mentioned? http://sweetalmondtr...-polita-la.html Thanks, Kay Yes, very similar! Constantinople Artichokes. My recipe is from Vilma Chantiles "The Foods of Greece" and is a little simpler. No celery, plain water rather than chicken stock, no peas, but otherwise pretty much the same. I'd be curious to do a side-by-side to see which I liked better. The chicken stock one might be richer but Chantiles' recipe has an intense purity of flavor that I love. Incidentally, peas and artichokes stewed together is a very Greek thing to do. ETA: And, I missed it, the Cantiles' recipe has potatoes. They come up deliciously, infused with lemon and artichoke flavor. Yum.

What you said. We had some in the market here (first time I've seen them in a year of living here) and I did exactly what you said except I put a bay leaf and some peppercorns in instead of your herbs. Delicious. There's also a Greek stew recipe that I love that cooks the artichoke hearts with small potatoes, carrots and onions in a garlic/lemon broth. Sensational. You can do it with frozen artichoke hearts (the TJ ones work especially well), but otherwise just reduce regular artichokes to their tender inner leaves and scoop out the furry bits in the middle and toss 'em in. Artichokes may be the most delicious vegetable in the world. Or avocados. One or the other.

That sounds really good. PB -- natural style with salt -- is a "depends on the mood" food. Some days on hearty whole wheat toast all by itself, or sometimes with raisins on top. As a snack on Triscuits. On crusty bread thickly spread with butter, then top with pb, especially if it's chunky style. For PBJ a soft sandwich style bread, untoasted, with both sides spread with pb, then thick layer of Welch's grape jelly in the middle. Since the jelly can't soak into the bread with the layers of pb, it's a very slippery eat, almost guaranteed to result in glops of purple jelly somewhere on the person. I used to like pb and honey mixed on toast, but now I don't. There used to be a peanut butter restaurant in the Village in NYC -- don't know if it's still there. Their butter grilled pb and banana sandwich was real good.

I always thought that Miracle Whip was a commercial version of old-fashioned "Boiled Dressing" -- which was a way of making a mayonnaise type dressing by cooks who didn't have access to oil. It's basically a thick flour based sauce with butter and cream -- and plenty of sugar and vinegar. My mid-western and northwestern great-aunts all used it when I was a kid and it was a must for coleslaw. Mayonnaise was exotic for them since olive oil was rare as hen's teeth on farms in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Here's a recipe: http://southernfood.about.com/cs/saladdressings/a/boileddressing.htm

Nanaimo Bars with cake crumbs in the bottom layer. Any excuse to make Nanaimo Bars is a good one... Your customers may not be familiar with N.B.s but there's always room for new fans!

See, there's your problem right there -- no such thing as a good umeboshi plum.

Lebovitz's blog has a whole page of recommendations for Paris dining, with prices and reviews. A great place to start.

It couldn't be BAD. At worst you'd have a sort of delicious panna cotta instead of an amazingly delicious one. I'm picturing it with a puddle of meyer lemon sauce.

My experience with southern cooks is that they also put chopped sweet pickle (one Georgia woman I know called them "salad chunks") in mayo-based salads, so God knows what they use for mayo.

Don't have personal restaurant experience but a friend bought a space that had an existing restaurant, hoping to pretty much use what they had. Turned out the Health Dept rules had changed completely since the previous restaurant got certified and she had to do all new venting systems and refrigeration systems, adding a huge unexpected bulge to her budget. Check out all bureaucratic details before embarking!

Ice cream? Or a nice old-fashioned Bavarian cream?

Our local liquor store was featuring Cupcake Vodka, Vanilla Vodka, and some other "cake-flavored" vodkas the other day. When I made some comment about gag-inducing, the clerk said "oh no, they're fabulous, lots of fun at parties and they really do taste like cake!" Oy.

Been reading and reading and enjoying and enjoying. Also totally envious. Except for the sweet omelet -- my mom would make them occasionally and while they looked yummy, there was something about the puffiness that made my head ache. Sounds stupid, but it's true. What I did love that she made that was similar but didn't have the headache making puffiness was the Dutch Baby, which is kind of an eggy popover, also baked in the skillet, and served with powdered sugar and lemon juice. Or jam. So glad you're going to be extended!