Panaderia Canadiense

When buying a springform pan, look for a couple of things - make sure that the base snugs firmly into the sides, rather than being loose enough to spin or move, and look for a latch that snaps snugly into place. Also make sure that the base and the rings are of the same weight of metal. Apart from that, material and whatnot are up to you. I use a wide range of springforms, but the ones that have served me best are black steel with a coating on them of some sort, and have silver latches. You should be able to sub goat cheese directly into the recipe provided it's been properly drained. Maybe make the smallest possible increment of the recipe and try it in tarts first, just to see how it sets up.

You could also pickle them - cut them into fingers and brine them for at least 24 hours in a saturated saltwater solution, then pack into jars with cuminseed and fresh herbs of your choice and pour vinegar overtop, then hot-seal for 20 minutes. Aubergine pickles are ready in about a month after jarring. They're delicious that way, and they lose a lot of the "eggplanty" character that you sound like you're objecting to. You can also try slicing them fairly thin, salting the living snot out of them, and pressing them under heavy weight with paper towels to absorb the moisture. Eggplants have a fairly high nicotinic alkaloid content (which is what makes them icky when raw) and if you treat them in this manner, all of that bitterness just goes out of them - the salt draws it off with the excess moisture in the tissue, which is then absorbed by the paper towels. Then, absolutely, go with Scoop's suggestion - eggplant parm as lasagne noodles.

Best restaurant experience thus far was in 2007 at a little, nameless grass shack restaurant on the beach in a tiny little fishing town (whose name I have forgotten, although I can find it whenever I'm close to it) in the province of Santa Elena on Ecuador's sunshine coast. I was the only customer there, and ordered their Arroz de Mariscos (mixed seafood rice.) The owner came out of the kitchen, sat down next to me, and asked me if I minded a bit of a wait; I said sure, and she called up her son. He was sent into the water with a spear, and I got to chat with the owner and chef while her son literally caught the octopus, urchins, small fish, and whatnots that went into my dinner, which was actually a quite amazing cream risotto topped with heaps and heaps and heaps of seafood; the only thing missing in the gamut was a lobster (which are not found at that area of the sunshine coast). I have never had fresher or better food, and I also remember the conversation with the owner as being very interesting.

OK, I'll weigh in here from the tropics. Granted, it's winter in my province right now, so we're only going into the 80's, but our summers are in the 120's-130's. (At least it's a dry heat). However, what I'm about to say held true even when I lived in the upper Amazon basin (110-130 daily with 85-90% humidity; 100% humidity at the same heat level when it rains.) I never lose interest in eating food, although I do lose interest in cooking hot food somewhere in the mid-90s. I also find that I get hungry at different times. When it's chilly, I want a hot breakfast, almost no lunch, and a big hot dinner. When it's hot, though, I want a great heap of fruit for brekkie, a huge 3-course hot lunch, and cold fruit-based drinks or helado de paila for dinner. I can also speak to the fried things in the tropics question, because it's certainly done in Ecuador. Fried things don't put as much heat into your house or restaurant, or into the area around your food cart; they're fast, tasty, and in most cases here at least, the can be served lukewarm which puts less heat into your body. There is really nothing like a cold fried chicken snack on a very hot day - it satisfies the protein craving but doesn't unduly roast you.

The husks will go from soft to crinkly in texture and begin to split open near the bottom of the fruits.

Peach, Mango, Cocoa Nib with Cinnamon.

Kim - inside the bagels (and hence invisible) was gouda and parmesan. On top is a local type called Sanduche, which is similar to mild Colby.

I'd go with sweet empanadas. If you use a bit of panela, ripe plantains and plantain flour as the base for the dough, it will hold together marvellously on the grill and you can, of course, choose any filling you like to go in it. Dark chocolate is quite nice.

Peter, Saskatchewan comes from the Cree for "swift flowing river" - which is fairly evocative, given the North and South Saskatchewan rivers do flow through it, and that both are pretty fast at that point. Incidentally "Saskatoon" translated literally simply means "sweet berries."

Charcoal-grilled ripe plantain stuffed with super-salty fresh cheese curd and cilantro. Bliss!

Again, I've been lax in downloading the camera... Asparagus is back! Asparagus is back! This, of course, means there's really no excuse not to eat it at almost every meal. This is oven-roasted turkey with (of course) asparagus, and a chilled Melloco-Potato salad under avocado dressing. Melloco are Oxalis tubers, one of the trinity of Andean non-potato tubers; the ones in this region are red (they come in a wide range of interesting tones, though). After 3 weeks without seeing the sun, it's very cold at this altitude and soup is a regular feature of the menu. Mixed stocks soup (chicken and turkey) with fresh veggies, and fresh quinua-herb-cheese bagels. It's technically too cold here right now to be thinking about hamburgers, but dang it! I had a craving. So, here's one of our family's takes on them - smothered in colby-type cheese with mushrooms sauteed in King of 5 Spices sauce with a dash of garlic, on the leftover quinua-herb-cheese bagels from soup night, and accompanied by home fries and a nice pickled salad. Kim - you'll note that down here we do fries right - with mayonnaise! edit- a good spellar is me! Also, how could I forget the turkey and Melloco salad?

I've never had an issue with soft serve, and certainly down here it's made with abundant cream, not too much sugar, and no chemicals, which is even better. Nobody here would buy oversweetened chemical gook. I think the whole "holier than thou" attitude when it comes to soft ice cream is just food snobbery showing its ugly head - like all foods, it can be done well and it can be done horribly, but the only reason to hate it is because you actually really don't enjoy eating it.

I use Cachaca 51, which is probably completely unavailable up north. I've also substituted the local original cane aguardiente Zhumir Paute (very much not available outside of Ecuador) when 51 is not on the shelves at my liquor store, and they're comparable. (Aguardiente being neat, slightly aged sugarcane alcohol - the precursor to the types of rum you're familiar with. Cachaca is much the same thing but slightly longer aged - properly done, both liquors should have a complex, almost floral nose and a kick like a burro.) I just checked the LCBO and I can't believe the prices they're asking for it! 51 is high-end original Cachaca and it's about $7.00 a bottle here. It also looks like they've only got the Colombian Aguardientes, which you should stay away from as they'r all highly flavoured with anise. Yugh. -- Redirecting to Latin American sweets, I'll be trying to make the local honey-walnut nougat fairly soon, and I'll let y'all know how it goes. Certainly when we enter Colada Morada season (Darienne, I'm surprised you found it - did you find my recipe for it as well?) I'll post about that.

Ok, I'm officially drooling. Peter, I'm super-envious! Those of you who are American and wondering about Saskatoons - you call them Serviceberries south of the border. They're hands down better than blueberries in pies and sweet pierogies, and they make the best jam ever. Not to mention the wonders of eating them fresh off the bushes. BTW - the city of Saskatoon is named for the berries. I wasn't aware that there were large enough plantations out east for them to appear at market, though!

Eek! Sorry - Naranjilla (in Ecuador) or Lulo (in Colombia) are the fruit of Solanum quitoense. They're about the size of a golf ball, rarely larger, with orange skins and green-orange flesh, and zillions of teensly little seeds. The Ecuadorian name translates literally as "little orange" although they're not even remotely related; Naranjilla are cousins of tomatoes. The flavour is very tart and slightly astringent with hints of citrus and a flavour that can only be described as Naranjilla. They're incredibly refreshing when it's hot out. Ecuadorians use them fresh in juices, as part of the epic Colada Morada, in jams, and they candy the fleshy parts. Colombians make wine with them. I have indeed made Chocotejas; I don't do it often simply because filled chocolates of this type are a lot of work. I'll produce them by special order, though. My favourite combination is a Cachaca truffle with cashew nuts and guava pate-de-fruit, although champagne truffle with macadamia and candied orange peels is also excellent, as is black rum truffle with coconut and candied pineapple. -- On the Candies note, just the guava pate-de-fruit on its own is quite fantastic, if you like guava.

Those you might have to have custom formed. Or, alternately, you could use edible flowers and just cover them in chocolate....

Chocotejas are very popular here, as well. The Ecuadorian version are basically filled chocolates; the best ones I've had were with candied naranjilla and chunks of macadamia.

For what? If you're wanting silicone-type realistic flower molds, then Silikomart isn't a bad place to start...

Margarine is not less "real food" than butter. It's just infinitely more disgusting.

I like the Tramontina wood-handled small steak knives, but I'm not sure if they're available up North....

Hazel's Country Cafe is in Independence, Missouri.....

Darienne, I cringe to say this, but have you checked Wal Mart?

Coconut oil has a strong, distinctive flavour .... so does margarine, at least to my palate. Presumably it would affect the end product, but since what the OP is talking about is a basting sauce for on-the-grill wings (in fact, a pretty common one in Latin America and the Caribbean), it won't be too big a difference to switch from adulterated fat to pure fat.

What about coconut oil / coconut butter? Fabulous shelf-stable fat, widely available in the Caribbean, and a waaaay better flavour, hands-down, than margarine.

Here, the "kid's menu" is just a smaller portion from the adult one. I have yet to meet a picky Ecuadorian child.