SylviaLovegren

Coffee cakes, unless they are of the Danish pastry type, seem to be quick breads (or cakes ) that are not as heavy on the butter and eggs as desert cakes. And as others have said, often spiced or with nuts, or sometimes fruits. My MIL makes a wonderful coffee cake with peaches in the summer. And if it gets a thick frosting put on it, it becomes a desert cake and not a coffee cake. I'm curious why you're asking.

What does he use to turn a piece of chicken under the broiler? Hands? A fork? I use tongs. And will continue to do so. Very odd.

Wow. That artichoke stew looks and sounds fabulous. I want to try it, along with the crispy rice. Isn't that rice crust also popular in China? Looks like the cucumber is an actual cucumber. Many of the "Persian cucumbers" are actually snake melons and not botanically cucumbers, so I was curious.

With fresh french press and your heuvos rancheros, I'm ready to come help! It sounds great. Best of luck -- keep us posted on progress. Photos as you go!

Oh, God. I nearly lost my breakfast. Aaack.

The soft blue and soft cedar combo sounds fresh and nice. Maybe some curtains in blue/white stripes or polka dots? Coppery soft oranges are a nice compliment to the blue and works well with the warm wood tones. The menu sounds great. Are there any specialties that you'll offer that other places don't? And you are offering fresh brewed coffee, aren't you?

I figured as much. But...I grew up eating fish in all sorts of permutations, too (in the Northwest with a Swedish father who was a fisherman, smoked his own catch) and, except for a just caught trout or salmon, I got to barely tolerate fish. Maybe there's a secret loather in the bunch! Probably not. Chopped liver?

Is the za'tar on the croissants rolled up with the dough or simply sprinkled on top? Is there much thyme in it? The za'tar that I've seen is very green. Am loving this. (Except for the fool -- my husband lived in Egypt for many years and fool is a breakfast of choice there, too. He loves fool but I've never been able to develop a tolerance for the smell/taste of dried favas. ) Do you think you could get a picture of one of the cucumbers unsliced? I'm very curious as to which cucurbit it is.

Some protein for people who don't like fish? Also, you could invite me. That would make everything perfect in my view Seriously, it all sounds wonderful.

Are you planning on keeping the retro dinner look -- and most of what's there -- or are you gutting? I always love black and white floors in diners (you have them in the kitchen but not the dining room?) and eggy/breakfasty places look clean and snazzy with black and white, shiny chrome, and a sunny bright yellow with red and white and black accents.

I did the real thing once -- with the steamer and tossing the grains with my fingers, the whole nine yards. Then I tried the instant variety and, to me, it tasted the same if not better. Maybe someone from the Magreb will come here and say I don't know what I'm talking about, but that was my experience. New York probably has lots of different types of couscous available -- I know some of the Arab markets in Brooklyn do. Nouri's in Paterson NJ carries about 10 different kinds of instant couscous, all fun to try.

The chicken with poblanos and cream sounds delicious and am going to try it. The corn tortilla make me cry (we're pretty much a lo-carb household these days and also in Ontario so fresh masa is not only verboten but hard to find). Gorgeous food!

Gorgeous! And how fun!

Yes, Hero is generally pretty good. Still haven't found a quince jam, though, that isn't achingly sweet and tastes of nothing but sugar.

Being able to buy chicharrone lard seems unbelievably exotic to me. Looking forward to seeing what you cook up!

I second the Trappist Preserves. You can order them online if your local stores don't carry them http://www.monasterygreetings.com/product/Trappist_Preserves-Single_Flavor_Cases/Trappist_Preserves_Single_Flavor_Cases Their apricot and peach I especially liked. Also, Trader Joe's Cherry Preserves. Fantastic. Although I tended to have it on ice cream more than on toast. Or just straight out of the bottle.

No doubt! I can never find anything I want to eat at the restaurant itself, but I love the salt water taffy. Really? I love their "beef roast", which is a pot roast with natural gravy, served with wonderful mashed potatoes. Get a side of green beans which are full of pork fat and boiled to death in a delicious Southern way. Also, their biscuits are good.

Where where where? Will you tell? We're new to Ontario and have driven up to Orillia and Georgian Bay so far, but haven't yet found any of the blueberry pie stops, only Tim's, et al.

I like it with the thick "Japanese" dressing, the one that tastes of ginger and sesame and is orangey. Don't know what it's called. It's also good used as a crunch element with other lettuces. For a winter salad, I like it with creamy avocado and segments of fresh orange or grapefruit. It has enough crunch against the avocado and the fruit and yet is bland so you focus on the other elements.

Key Lime pies usually have the condensed milk, which contains a lot of sugar, so not much is added. I don't know about margarita pies, but sounds like a key lime with booze and a salty crust. How bad could it be?

Yes, exactly. Starbucks always has overroasted their coffees but in the early days (I used to live very near the first ever SBs) the quality was pretty good. Then the quality went and the overroasting stayed. Pike roast (named for Pike St in Seattle, not Pike's Peak BTW) is absolute swill. So, I was hoping the "blonde" roast would be normal coffee -- and if it were Arabica coffee beans, freshly roasted, how bad could it be? I'm here to tell you it's really dull with weird off flavors. The kids who work at our local SBs sneer at it... Oh well, indeed.

Yum! And yay!

The reason to use homemade bp rather than bought is that most of the retail baking powders have aluminum in them and I absolutely hate the taste. There are a few commercial bps that don't have it and they pass the taste test for me. But that underlying metallic flavor in aluminum containing baking powder is just horrid.

Oh, my! You take me back to Girl Scout camp where we dropped dollops of Dromedary gingerbread mix (prepared by instructions on the back of the package) into simmering applesauce. Can't remember what we called it, but I'm sure there was some camper name. Gingerbread dumplings in hot applesauce? Wow! Sign me up!

Fantastic blog. Please do it again soon! And (by now) belated happy bd to Mrs. Sheepish. A very splendid apron!