SylviaLovegren

If I recall correctly, black pepper originated in the old-world tropics (India, I think), while chilis are new-world tropics things.... I can't think of any of the countries where it grows natively that it's been fully replaced by chilis - they augment the heat, but they're not the only source. Meanwhile, in the original homes of the chili, it continues to reign supreme as the hot spice. Yes, pepper is Old World and chili is New. I just always wonder where the heat would have come from in Indian, Thai, Laotian cooking, etc., before chili.

It seems very popular as part of the cuisine in cold climates, but in the places where it started it seems to have been replaced with chilis. Or am I making that up?

What she said.

Perhaps mint tea with lemon and honey would be better for your throat? Although the anesthetizing effect of a milkshake could be very welcome, as well. Hope you feel better soon! And I just realized this threat has been revived from the dead...a good milkshake will do that.

That's my recipe, too. You can add malt powder, if you like malt which I mostly don't. You can vary the flavors by adding fruit, chocolate syrup, using different ice cream, etc. But a good milkshake is mostly ice cream.

Yes. If we buy them, they'll be et, and quickly. No control whatsoever.

Bake more cakes. Or make Greek kourambiedes. They are amazing if you beat the butter for 20 minutes or longer, like my husband's yiayia used to do (she did it without a mixer, of course).

I'm old fashioned and keep a box of powdered milk in the pantry for emergencies. Lived in a part of NJ for a while that had lots of power outages so the box got a fair workout. Why didn't I go for the boxed milk? Never thought of it.

Thanks. The asparagus salad is my recipe-can't give Robuchon credit for it. It's shaved asaparagus that is blanched for about a minute in boiling water to soften it. (I learned to "shave" asparagus with a carrot peeler from Chef Alex Stratta, of Las Vegas). I use a Japanese julienne slicer for the carrot. The dressing was just one part apple cider vinegar to two parts hazelnut oil, and the garnish is toasted hazelnuts. I thought the sweet/sour notes in the salad would balance out the richness of the Robuchon Asaparagus Veloute, and I wanted some sort of asparagus garnish that said "that's what's in the sauce-asparagus." Thanks! Very creative and sounds delish. Will give it a try. Picked up some beautiful local asparagus from the farmer's market yesterday so I'm ready to go!

I want the recipe for that asparagus salad.

Raw? Really? I never thought to try a raw beet. Picked some up at the farmer's market this morning, so a new adventure awaits!

Wow, that looks good. Yum!

(I dunno what happened there...) McD's hamburgers are crap. There's nothing wrong with a good hamburger made with good ingredients, and real fries made with good ingredients. They're not the sort of thing you should eat every day, unless you work physically hard, but still good food. The problem with McD's is that it has corrupted people's sense of taste. A friend of ours was doing some work at our house and asked for a burger, so I got him a delicious handmade burger with good beef, homegrown tomatoes and lettuce, a quality bun, etc., and he couldn't eat it because it didn't taste like McDs. He had literally never had a real hamburger before and he didn't like it. He wanted the crap. Education in the schools would be a start.

Since you're not familiar with Indian cooking, I wouldn't try to do it. You could have naan instead of pita, perhaps, but otherwise, show off your own cooking style. There are lots of vegetarian middle eastern dishes and the tastes won't be so exotic that your guests would be uncomfortable.

As many donuts and potato chips 'n' dip as I want. Plus guacamole with beans and rice, a huge bowl of raspberries, and then as much ice cream as I could eat. Then if someone could make my mom's lemon meringue pie and wild blackberry pie, and Aunt Lana's rhubarb pie... Somewhere I've gotta slip in the pate and wine. And an assortment of cheeses. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Home grown maters with salt and pepper. Real grilled juicy hamburger with blue cheese. And a huge pile of fresh boiled artichokes. Some cold cracked dungeness crab, and some baby steamed clams with melted butter and some cool white wine... Think I'd be too bottom heavy to float up into the air.

Find a local shop and a local baker and you'll be fine. What we did to save money was eat lunch out and have "sandwich" in our room for dinner, except for a few special times. The "sandwich" fixins are easy to find. Have a great time (need a nanny to take along?)!

It does help make the juice flow more easily. So does rolling them on a firm surface with a bit of pressure. The microwave trick works best for me on lemons that have been hanging around a bit too long and the skin's got hard.

Adding cream or milk to the eggs gives them a dairy taste, which I don't like as well. If I want soft/tender eggs, I mix in a bowl with a splash of water to loosen them and then cook slowly in butter. But my favorite way is weird and I'm the only one who likes eggs this way, but I REALLY like it. Heat skillet with plenty of good olive oil. Break two or three eggs into pan and stir just a bit, add salt. Turn them quickly, then take off the heat as soon as eggs are set. They won't be curds, more smooth and a bit leathery. Must be eaten hot with the olive oil still fragrant.

Cooked one today. Put onions and green peppers and garlic on the bottom of a large roasting pan, some red pepper and some thyme. Put the meat on top, poured some bbq sauce mixed with a bit of tabasco over the top, some salt, covered and roasted at 300 for about 4 hours, turned the meat half way through. Shredded the meat, mixed with some pan juices and some additional bbq sauce and enjoyed it very much. Without the pan juices and salt, too dry, but with, a very pleasant if not earth shattering dinner. Had a bunch of young men who'd been helping us move and they were very enthusiastic, although it was probably helped by beer and chips.

I would make sure not to put nuts in, just in case of allergies. Otherwise, seems like whatever you enjoy making would be just dandy.

Modern dishwashers are built to use the grease and gunk on the dishes to help boost the detergent, so they work better when the dishes are not clean (huge chunks and certain things that can bake on should be removed first). My sister's Miehle has instructions NOT to rinse the dishes first, for optimal cleaning. In my old clunker dishwasher, anything not cleaned off before going in would get ground up and sprayed all over the "clean" dishes.

I like it with the sage leaves whole, as well, and slightly crispy. Like mini potato chips with a nutty, buttery, sage flavor.

Did not know that! We always went morel hunting in the woods in the northwest when I was a kid (my dad knew all the favorite spots) -- I actually didn't know there were other kinds of mushrooms until I was older. Wonderful memories of the big black iron skillet filled with morels stewed in butter.

Don't know if Muir Glen is up here in Canukistan. Used to get them at Whole Foods in the States. But will look. In the meantime, imma try some of those roasted tomatoes.

Stopped in a new (to me) restaurant today for coffee and ordered a piperade with eggs poached on top -- the piperade was made with fire-roasted tomatoes and was unbelievably delicious. Will try some of these ideas for making the tomatoes and see if I can recreate that piperade.