Deus Mortus

Personally I would be more put off if a company has no reviews then if they have a couple of bad reviews, always seems fishy to me.

I just tried the rembrandt, living in Holland I already had the bottle of jenever on standby for visitors (not a big fan of the stuff myself, at least not straight), I have to say it's pretty interesting, I quickly infused the raisin and Drambuie with a quick vacuum hack (a one way valve, a bit of gum and my vacuum) and I have to say, it's pretty cool. Not sure whether I would add it to my list of regular drinks, but it was very nice none the less. Seeing the virgin slut is making me seriously want to buy some maraschino, though I have no clue what kind is any good.

I am rather surprised by the amount of people saying they love dining on their own and no one who shares my unease, am I really that unique in this?

I have only once seen a communal table like that, though that indeed sounds like fun. The strange thing is, I'm really just fine eating or doing anything on my own, I am a pretty solitary person by nature, but something about going to a restaurant alone, the thought alone depresses me.

Every once in a while I'm really not in the mood to cook, or to eat the crap from the takeout, I usually think about grabbing a quick bite at an inexpensive restaurant before deciding against it, because is there anything less lonely then that? Do you go to restaurants on your own, or do you always take people with you?

Might I inquire why the fascination with cabinet height?

My kitchen wall c... what? I think something went wrong there, do you mean ceiling? IN that case 157cm or 61.8 inches, or do you mean from the floor? In that case 90cm or 35.4 inches, or do you mean the depth of the counter? In which case it's 60cm or 23.6 inches. I see you edited that >_< In that case it's, 60cm or 23.6 inches.

I love a good thick slice, when I eat baguettes I tend to slice on a bias, otherwise not.

Aaaaaaaand, back to the normal peeling method for me <_<

Works perfectly for me, you have to blow a bit harder then the video makes it out, but I'm 10 year long smoker and I managed it, so it should be pretty doable for anyone.

The only surefire way I know is to use older eggs, and when they're done, pour out the hot water, add some ice, and give the pot a vigorous shake to crack the shells all over. Then peel under running water. The eggs should stay fairly warm through all this, if you're quick. That's for suckers! I just learned about this way two weeks ago and I have been peeling all my hardboiled eggs like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dut1b--AgLM Really awesome. Also I do use an egg slicer, I use it for a lot of things actually, anytime I want a lot discs out of anything really, love the things!

Hmmm, Worcestershire, never though of that, might be nice. My go to is mayonaisse, it's something I learned from my father, a hardboiled egg in a bun with mayonaisse, it's one of those guilty pleasures that I refuse to feel guilty for.

I have had somewhat of the same experience, I always prefer smaller meals (steaks, spareribs and mussels being the only rare exception), but I am a rather, well let's not beat about the bush, fat man, so I always get the big heaping of food. I have however found a way to counteract this, when I see the waiter is going to give me the wrong food, I just give him a nice long intimidating stare, they usually remember after that.

Nothing wrong with a softboiled egg, the way the yolk oozes out like a thick rich sauce, it's great, but sadly, tends to make a bit of a mess.

Same here, though I make sure I eat warm ones every sunday morning for breakfast. It's really quite lazy, you can boil an egg in about 12 minutes, including time for bringing the water to boil, but convenience is like that, it never sounds hard, until you have to do it.

Same here, though I am slowly coming around to boiling in a flavored liquid and boiling it down with some sugar until the veggies are glazed and I have a lovely sauce, I know there is a french word for that method, but I really can't remember what it was.

It isn't really the Netherlands, it's my upbringing in specific, in the liquor stores here you are starting to find good canned beers, but a lot is being bottled in ceramic bottles, though that really isn't new.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Both my parents came from quite poor families, but through hard work they managed to have an upper middle class income, they cooked like their parents, meaning food was fuel, nothing more. Yet we would often go to restaurants (especially during summer vacations in France) and they did enjoy good food, they just didn't have the skills or knowledge to make good food themselves, although my mother still heartily disagrees with me on that. Was meal time important? Dinner, we always had dinner at the dinner table and talked about our day. The only exception was the rare occasion where we ordered pizza, usually at the end of a very long day. Was cooking important? Not really. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? None, though my mother would get irritated if I read at the table, something I often did. Who cooked in the family? Usually my mother, but every once in a while my father, even though he only knew 3 recipe's, pancakes, potato and cauliflower mash and potato and kale mash. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions? We would go to restaurants on a regular basis, but it always felt special to my parents and me because of the better food, though my little brother would usually balk, because he didn't like many foods when he was younger. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? No, the few occasions this did happen at other people, I was heavily offended. When did you get that first sip of wine? Sip of beer actually, I was 5 or 6 and I kept asking for some, my father figured if I tasted it I would find it rancid, he was sorely mistaken and since then made the same mistake with coffee and whiskey. Only to find out I actually liked them, however I was 15 before I was really allowed to drink and then only on very special occasions, like my birthday, usually a small glass of whiskey and they slowly pulled back on how much control they kept over this until I was about 18 and allowed to drink whenever. This however really didn't stop me from doing this behind their backs and I drank and smoked (tobacco and pot) quite heavily between the ages 14 and 18 (I am now 22 years old). Was there a pre-meal prayer? Only when my grandmother came to visit. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? No.

It continues bothering me buying beer in a can, I do because it tastes better, but my mother is an addiction therapist and I grew up being told only alcoholics buy beer in cans because it's cheap. I know it's better beer, but I still feel like people will think I'm an alcoholic.

Well if you can keep them warm or reheat them sausage rolls are always a big hit! Just take puff pastry, wrap it around a sausage with thick sauce all over it (god that sounds bad <_<) and shove it in the oven until done.

I googled those little $25 "fry daddy" electric things. I only have one outside electrical outlet by the front door- but extension cords are cheap. That would eliminate any spatter and smell issues and seems like it would facilitate spontaneous frying. Do you filter the oil before storage? I noticed that the smallest call for 4 cups of oil. Store in a cool room temperature spot? What type of oil do you generally use? Only thing you need to look for is that you can take it all apart, so you can clean everything, I run the oil through a fine steel mesh sieve if there is anything in the oil after frying. and then I just store the oil in the fryer itself, I don't need to move it and it has a lid, so that works out fine. For oil I just buy the large cheap jugs of frying oil in the store, mine asks for about 2.5L so filling it up with olive oil (even cheap ones) could become quite expensive. Though I have heard of people frying in duck fat, which sounds great, but again, expensive. I have something like this model, I personally like the shape of these, they fit in any nook or cranny you can find.

I just have a fryer in the shed, cheap thing, let's me fry anything I want whenever I want and I just leave the oil in until it's to dirty to reuse, about 10 batches of whatever I'm frying. Though I suppose you could also use a pan and just strain out the oil in a container and reuse that.

Very good point! I built up a Jeep Wrangler for offroading...wow was that a money pit improving that thing This won't be nearly that bad! It is interesting researching this stuff...efficiency of heating elements and using insulation, power management, accuracy, etc.... Have you built one? Well homemade lab equipment is one of many obsessions and while I have never made one with the idea of cooking with it, I have made several for home chemistry and even melting various materials for casting. Building a heated one is ridiculously easy, I believe there is a rather good how to on instructables, though personally if I would use it for cooking, I wouldn't use an acrylic water tank, but simply repurpose a cooler, to save on energy. The only way waterbaths get harder to make, is when you want them able to also cool, though even that is rather easy with a peltier cooler kit. If you have the tool skills to build a jeep, either version is a breeze!

Well considering you don't get much more atheist then me without having to add militant in front of it, I don't say grace, but I have always appreciated the secondary function of prayer, small silent moments to contemplate the day or in the case of grace the meal. I wouldn't thank any deity or supernatural force for my food, but I quite honestly like the idea of contemplating the work that went into a meal, not only that of the chef, but of the farmers, butchers and other artisans and the sacrifice of life needed for a piece of meat or fish. Then again, the thought that other people belief I am religious in any way affronts me, so usually I do this contemplation while cooking if I am on my own. Oh, and to be clear on the matter, I respect anyone's belief's no matter how stupid I think they are, so no disrespect to the various religions people of this forum might have. Because the same basic human rights that allow me to choose not to refute and refuse belief, give others the right to belief and there are few things I respect more than that.

I have pretty much the cheapest toaster I could find, only spending a 3 extra euro's for a crumble tray and after I used it a bit and got used to which setting did what, I have been making pretty good toast, what do the more expensive models offer in ways of improvements?