SylviaLovegren

For pasta water, plain old cheap salt works fine. For seasoning food I really like Kalas sea salt. Whether it's better than other sea salts I don't know, but it definitely has a brighter more rounded flavor than standard supermarket salt. We really notice it if I don't use it. Kalas isn't particularly expensive, though.

I don't make frozen yoghurt, but I've been eating a lot of Astro full fat lately and my two favorite iterations are with grated lemon peel and lemon juice mixed in, with sugar, and with ripe Bartlett pears. I think both would make delicious frozen yoghurts. The pear, particularly, works really well with the tartness of the yoghurt.

Not pancakes, but the Joy of Cooking recipe for corn meal waffles with bacon baked in is really something. Especially with real maple syrup.

Yeah, their rotisserie chicken was a huge disappointment, as you say, dry and not tasty. I found the A&P version to be much better, by far.

NJ agricultural lands are probably closer to Manhattan than farms in the state of New York are. My experience with Whole Foods is that their ingredients are good but their cooking is generally not so good. The cooked food sections that I've tried have mostly offered dishes that don't taste very good.

I'll be right over. They look delish!

Gloves In A Bottle is one product that sort of works. Can you not wear actual gloves?

I love the Wine Cellar and First Street. This would be great on my very funky 80s rental fridge -- but how do you fit the handles in? Whatever, love the concept. Neat!

That's a delicious punch, but I'm not sure it's for light drinkers. Here's an Emeril recipe for champagne punch My link that sounds good. You can make it lighter still with ginger ale/champagne like this recipe http://cocktails.about.com/od/cocktailrecipes/r/champagne_pnch.htm

I agree, clean is what matters and different detergents are really different. Liquids don't work at all. In powders only Finish really does the job for me -- Cascade and supermarket brands just don't cut it. But water hardness really makes a difference in amounts used. In northern NJ, we had to use double the recommended amount to get the job done. In Toronto, we're down to the "normal amount". When in the Seattle area, we use about half the recommended amount.

Wow. Thanks for this. Good stuff.

Lots of southern recipes call for self-rising flour. It's just one of those things people got used to using and the recipe doesn't come out quite the same if you substitute the separate ingredients. So why not? Frozen green beans, limp and leathery and tasteless. And canned boiled potatoes (I was served these at a relative's house, along with homemade sausage, fresh off the vine tomatoes, and minute fresh corn on the cob. All this beautiful fresh delicious food with canned potatoes. No.) Also, scented "air fresheners" which smell horrible and induce an instant allergic headache.

I think it really depends on your neighborhood. If I'm a customer and your washroom is being used by street people who don't look very clean, I'm going to get skeeved out and prolly not use your washroom...and maybe think twice about coming to your place. A key behind the counter would be perfectly acceptable to me in that situation and make me feel much more comfy about using the facilities. If you don't have that kind of traffic, then I'd prefer not to have to ask at the counter for a key (or code, etc.).

Ah, OK, thanks. I completely missed the modifiers. It is interesting how divergent Brit/Yank slang is getting. You'd think with internet, TV, cable, etc., that it would be converging, but appears to be the opposite.

Milk, breadcrumbs, butter/olive oil very hot, quick fry, squeeze lemon, eat. Works with turkey or pork cutlets, too. That's my kind of fast food.

It is gimmicky no doubt. I think they want to appeal to the young, quick turnover, not so much dosh market,(which is red hot at the moment).With the kitchen table more to show off the chefs undoubted talent. Its a very clever business concept, and it should run and run. Totally off topic, but could you explain what "dosh market" means? Is it "high end, expensive"? Sorry to be slow.

It was just the two of us and I was developing a horrendous headache so instead of my fantasy meal we had: Pork chops braised in milk, burned. Frozen mixed veg, burned. But the mesclun salad (from a mix) with fresh lemon/garlic dressing was very good! I think maybe we'll have a re-do on Orthodox Easter next Sunday

Lovely! Are forsythia flowers edible?

Since we eat mostly lo-carb not being able to use grains doesn't seem like a huge problem. It seems like banging your head against the wall to try to invent pasta -- why not skip it and have potatoes or just another veg (like beets, or baked squash). Why not do a Mediterranean/North African take? A Spanish tortilla with eggs and potatoes. A tomato/eggplant/onion casserole (slow baked, so the veggies get sweet) Baked lamb with garlic Greek style baked potatoes with lemon, if you feel the need for starch Warm carrot salad Moroccan style, with lemon, parsley and Tabasco (or similar) Dessert of baked fruit with walnuts and honey. Who needs grains?

It all sounds fabulous. Did you make the chocolate cake in layers or roll? And how soon before serving did you add the whipped cream? I just wonder how long it holds before it starts to sog. I was thinking of a layer of raspberries or some such in there...

Topping everything with a slice of avocado is my idea of heaven. Unfortunately, living in Toronto I'd have to win the lottery first to be able to afford that. Oh well.

It does if you're Richard Olney!

So definitely not Kosher, then?

All it takes is one batch of dead yeast that you didn't bother to proof to make it a habit to go through that little extra step. I do it while I'm getting all the other ingredients, bowls, etc., together, so by the time I'm ready, it's ready. Then no nasty surprises with a big lump of dough sitting there like a...lump.

I've never seen a fresh passionfruit in the US, sadly. I make sure to eat my fill whenever I travel outside of the US. There was a passionfruit vine outside our apartment in Los Angeles which sometimes bore fruits, but it was on a busy road so we were always afraid to eat them, assuming they were filled with chemicals from the fumes.