[When nut butters separate]

Once it's blended store it in the fridge to help keep the emulsion. Or move to the Pac NW where's its always cool enough to leave out.

[Trout Poached in Vermouth]

I looked in DeGuoy's The Gold Book (inspired by an earlier post about this good old book) -- he doesn't give a recipe using vermouth, but there are numerous recipes for trout or sole poached in various wines, including sauternes, dry white wine, and red wine. All of these he mixes 50-50 with either fish stock or court bouillon. I don't see why vermouth wouldn't work, as well, but I'd get a dry vermouth not a sweet one.

Google also yields s a number of recipes, including Saveur's sole poached with vermouth http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Poached-Sole-with-Vermouth.

[The State of Upstate New York State 2011]

Beautiful area. We go through a lot but usually go low end. Skaneateles is a favorite stop and a gorgeous, charming town -- Doug's Fish Fry is a super popular casual fish 'n' chips joint with good local beer and delish ice cream. There are a couple of "good" restaurants in town, but we've never tried them.

For real local color in the bigger towns, there's the local chain of steak restaurants -- Delmonicos http://www.delmonicositaliansteakhouse.com/. They have a specialty known as "chicken riggies" (chicken with rigatoni, artichoke hearts, peppers and a cream sauce) that is known only in that part of upstate, which pleases the culinary historian in me. Tastes good, too, and the steaks are impeccable and huge. Very old-fashioned place, hostesses wear "Eye-talian Moll" outfits and there's Frank Sinatra music, red vinyl booths and big servings -- no sous vide there!

Friends have said that some of the newer wineries in the Finger Lakes are really worth touring, but we've never done that.

If you can find a place that sells the local aged cheddar, get it -- really good. 3 and 4 years old.

If you go to Niagara, try to get to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada (but be sure to make reservations). Absolutely gorgeous place and we have toured some of the wineries there with happy results. There's a farm market on the main road in to town that has fantastic local produce, salumi, cheese, etc. There are two, actually, but the one on the west side of the road that's close to town is a tourist trap with not-so-great stuff and high prices, whereas the one on the east side of the road that's a bit farther out of town is the real deal. Niagara-on-the-Lake has lots of VERY high end restaurants... that we have never been to .

Have fun. Truly one of the prettiest areas in North America. A shame most New Yorkers don't bother to go there anymore.

[Homemade Granola or Nutrition Bars]

Allrecipes has quite a few different bars -- this one has a lot of positive reviews:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chewy-granola-bars/detail.aspx

(why I couldn't get the "link" thingy to work, I don't know)

[Where to go with bananas foster]

You can also use orange peel and Cointreau or Grand Marnier instead of the bourbon, for a nice variation. Or lemon peel and dark rum, with brown sugar.

[July 4 food traditions?]

Either one of y'all (or both!) can invite me for those dinners and I wouldn't say no.

[Seafood Salads]

Are the baby octopus tender? I'm offput by the chewy texture of octopus, usually, unless it's prepared by the Greek method of bashing the meat before cooking. But your salad looks beautiful.

One of my favorite seafood salads is still the old-fashioned but delicious Crab Louis -- if prepared with fresh and beautiful Dungeness crab.

[Toasting bagels]

A good fresh bagel should not be toasted. Toasting destroys the delicate wheaty flavor and the interplay of textures between the dense crumb and the chewy crust. However, a good bagel that is a few hours past its prime may be toasted, particularly if toasted under the grill with butter on it so that the butter bubbles and browns. That is good.

But a primo virgin bagel? No toasting. I speak as someone who lived in Hoboken, NJ, for many years and spent most Sunday mornings at Hoboken Bagels, a very good bagel shop.

I love "Go to hell, that's what you are!"

So far, the bagels I've tried in Toronto have been bread baked in a circle. Haven't tried bagels in Montreal yet but will next time we're there -- we have been converted to smoked meat big time!

[From Joy of Cooking to Modernist Cuisine]

Butter tart squares?!! Oh my! Do you think I could sneak those past my no-carb husband?

["The Pleasures of Cooking for One" by Judith Jones]

Third, there were some questionable recipes/techniques in the book. I mean -- chicken stock made from a carcass and some vegetables, with an undisclosed amount of water and cooked for an hour. Really? She thinks you'll have stock after an hour?

If she called it "stock" then she was technically incorrect, but it certainly is "broth" and a thrifty home cook trick. I do it all the time. If there's time to let it cook longer, I will, and if I have the budget and the luxury of having some fresh chicken to add the pot, I will, but otherwise for everyday home cooking, Judith's method is it.

[What do you put on your pancakes?]

A little butter and real maple syrup. B grade, not Fancy A. I prefer the dark, almost toasted, taste. In a pinch, strawberry preserves. I've found myself ordering or making pancakes just because I wanted maple syrup, not to mention bacon (belly or Canadian) in the syrup. Unfortunately I find restaurant pancakes too fluffy. I like them a little dense with crisp edges. Next time I might just get an order of bacon and ask for some maple syrup. And I have been known to smuggle in a little bottle of syrup if I know we're going to a place that only serves the fake stuff.

Yes. Exactly. Yes yes yes.

[Best sauces for home made pasta]

The original 1914 Alfredo recipe sauce is incredibly good and simple. The key is good Parmesean grated very fine, like a powder.

I think the Time-Life Foods of the World Italy book had that version of Alfredo -- one of the best things I ever ate. Parmesan frosting!

[What do you put on your pancakes?]

No butter, real maple syrup. Or sliced fruit AND maple syrup. My mom, depression-era housewife that she was, used to make brown sugar syrup with butter and vanilla that was real good, as I recall, but I haven't had it in a thousand years. Would try it but low-carb diets and pancakes and syrup don't go together very often.

My dad was a big proponent of sugaring pancakes, but my favorite way of his was to spread with butter then top with a thick blanket of brown sugar. Very crunchy and sweet. Yum.

[Smelling your food before you eat it]

I can almost always recognize by the smell when something is cooked. Even with baked goods (and I don't bake a lot) my nose is usually a better indicator than my timer when it's time to pull a cake or cookies out of the oven.

Agree, although it would be hard to explain the difference in smell. I've also discovered that I can often tell by smell whether something has been salted enough. Again, no way to describe. But, so far as as I know, I don't sniff food before I eat unless there's something odd going on (unusual spicing, "is this off?", etc.).

[Pig roast]

How big is that rotisserie? Must have the motor of champions.

[Scrubbing Your Fruits and Veggies (MERGED TOPIC)]

Melons grow on the ground and if there is animal manure used as fertilizer, they can easily pick up germs, hence the washing. The "embroidered" melons (what we North Americans call cantaloupes) with their rough skins are particularly prone to picking up bacteria. There have been a number of outbreaks of e.coli poisoning in the US from melons.

[Scrubbing Your Fruits and Veggies (MERGED TOPIC)]

I wash the melons as soon as they're home with soap and hot water. Other fruits I rinse with cold water just before eating. Perhaps I should be more vigilant.

[The ABT Topic (Atomic Buffalo Turds)]

Wow, never heard of these badboys. They sound fantastic. Aren't jalapenos small to stuff? Or am I just a wimp?

[Acceptable uses of home grown tomatoes]

Oh, but a sauce made with good tomatoes tastes SO much better than one made with dull supermarket maters. Ditto salsa. It's really not worth making salsa with produce out of the supermarket, at least once you've tasted the homegrown stuff.

But I agree about lack of respect for the chocolates -- that's a totally different thing.

[Savory & Non-Chocolate Bake Sale Items]

Sounds good! What are "who's on first" meringues? I'm intrigued.

"Who's on First" meringues are a tribute to the legendary comedy team of Abbott and Costello, and their most famous routine. I incorporated ballpark flavors - pretzels, peanuts, caramel (no, no hot dogs or mustard ). The cookies have received rave reviews, so when the weather dries out a bit I will be tinkering with the recipe.

Salty, sweet, crunchy? Yum!

[What would you call this cookie?]

We always called them snaps.

[Savory & Non-Chocolate Bake Sale Items]

Here's a quick post-sale report: there was lots of everything in the chocolate line that I had predicted, plus dark chocolate covered pretzels, caramel brownies, and brownie-like cookies topped with caramel and almonds. Quick breads and muffins, oatmeal cookies, lemon and 'Jewish' apple cakes were there as well. One of the organizers brought a variety of decorative melamine trays and rolls of cellophane to make pre-wrapped assortments.

My Lemon Coolers (recipe here) and Cheese Straws (used a recipe with 1 pound of cheese to 4 ounces butter - yum!) were sold out in a trice. The Black Pepper Biscuits and my experimental "Who's on First" Meringues did well, too. The more classic meringues (cocoa-almond and vanilla-mint) were the least popular of my items. I look forward to hearing the final amount raised for Alabama tornado relief.

Thanks to everyone here for their ideas!

Sounds good! What are "who's on first" meringues? I'm intrigued.

[Swizzle Sticks From The Past]

Particularly love the translucent amber one with the martini glass. Neat collection!

[Cleaning a wood kitchen floor]

Swiffer to keep dirt and dust at bay between cleanings. There are various cleaning products for wood floors that I've tried, all seem to work. Use with a microfiber mop (then throw the mop head in the wash). I did it this morning, it definitely gets dirt the swiffer leaves behind.

Now you're making me feel like a complete slob.

[Cooking with Louis P. De Gouy]

You made me pull out my copy of The Gold Cook Book (a reprint) which I got at a garage sale a while back and hadn't gotten around to really looking at yet. It's loads of fun, all kinds of amusing little stories woven into the recipe headers, which I didn't expect. It's very much a French-American mid-20th century sensibility, but there are massive numbers of recipes -- something like 30 for poached egg dishes alone, some of which look very much worth trying. Also eyeing the lime ladyfingers and the almond fritters, lo-carb be darned.