ElainaA

I showed this thread to my husband - his response was "We need one." (To him, anything that resembles pasta is automatically good.) I am dithering between the paderno and the benriner. According to multiple reviews, the paderno is more stable, because of the suction cups but the benriner does a better job at holding the vegetables. Any advice would be appreciated. Elaina

My husband and I will be in Guadeloupe at the end of February. Does anyone have any restaurant suggestions? We will be staying in Deshaies - but the islands are small enough that we could get to pretty much any where. We were there about 30 years ago and remember the French-Caribbean blend very positively. I'm hoping it is still there. Elaina

He uses a plain focaccia dough. The berries are sweetened with a brown sugar topping. He uses fresh berries - blueberries and raspberries this time. I think i like the cherry ones even better. Frozen berries would be softer and probably give off more juice. I'm not sure that would be a bad thing - the places where juice soaked into the bread taste really good. if you try them, let me know how they come out. This is all second hand - I've never made them myself. I don't need to since we usually get some when Jim bakes. Elaina

Cyalexa - Jim is an amazing baker. The focaccia, like all his breads, is baked in his outside,wood fired oven (yes, even in January in upstate New York when it is well below freezing). The dough is portioned in about 6" rounds with a depression in the center filled with fruit and brown sugar. In this version it was blueberries and raspberries. It is really wonderful. Elaina

Like Anna, New Year's food keeps giving -this is just about the last of the leftovers from our New Year's Day brunch: ham and spinach strata, a slice of caramel bread pudding with a scoop of cream cheese/mascarpone mix (in place of the fromage blanc of which there were no leftovers) and cousin Jim's fruited focaccia. I don't think I'll want lunch today. Elaina

I keep a container of Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered almonds next to the computer..... Elaina

New Year's Day here involved brunch for about 25 people.(On Tuesday it was six - somehow it grew. That happens here a lot.) I made almost everything the day before - ham and spinach strata, caramelized bread pudding served with fromage blanc (first time making this - it was lovely. I worried about the caramel sticking to the baking dish but it came out beautifully.), green salad, winter fruit salad (dried apricots and figs, pear and apple marinated in a light sugar syrup with star anise, lemon peel and vanilla bean), LOTS of bacon, a very simple blacked peas with rice, pumpkin muffins, scones, plates of cookies for dessert along with a chocolate trifle which, unfortunately got left in the refrigerator until half the guests had left. No pictures - people showed up early (!)- I barely had the food out of the oven before it was on people's plates. A lovely time - and no one even mentioned football. And what I consider a perfect amount of leftovers - a lunch and a breakfast for the weekend. One pet peeve - Why do so many people insist on bringing a contribution of food when invited to a meal that the host has carefully planned out? Luckily yesterday it was mostly desserts so I sent everyone home with bags of cookies and slices of cake. But I had a difficult time talking one friend out of bringing a large (and largely redundant) breakfast casserole. Elaina

Kerry - The one from Lee Valley. I wanted the smaller size which would have been sufficient for what I do but he tends to go large and got me the big one. It is beautiful. I hear marmalade calling me. It will also be put to use as an ice bucket for prosecco at the New Year's Day brunch we are hosting tomorrow. (That started off with 6 people. At last count I think about 30 are coming. Guess what I'm doing today.) Elaina

A gift basket from Arthur Avenue's Little Italy in the Bronx. A pound each of prosciutto and mortadella, big blocks of asiago, provolone and manteche (provolone with a butter core - I'm not too sure about this one) plus some quite amazing kitchen towels with pasta recipes in Italian (these went to my daughter who speaks Italian, as opposed to my husband who simply lives it). And, from my husband, the maslin pan I wanted. Elaina

Darienne - I really have no excuse for making candy any other time of year and I love doing it. It is with great difficulty that i restrain myself from making twice as much. Of course the cost of materials is a restraining factor. Elaina

I finally finished my yearly candymania and am giving out my candy bags. I packed 38 bags - some to people important to our business, most to friends and family. The first picture (I hope - i am not good at these attachments) is of the contents of a typical bag. I am an absolute amateur and only make candy once a year so it is always another learning curve - but so much fun and everyone seems to enjoy receiving them. Not exactly FROM the kitchen but very much FOR the kitchen - for my daughter and nieces this year I also made aprons Elaina

I'm glad you liked the sauce. While the recipe said either tenderloin or chops, I have only done it with tenderloin - either grilling it or roasting it. I prefer grilling but that gets difficult when there are two feet of snow on top of the grill and it is about 10 degrees or less. Elaina

I keep a very small bottle of bourbon primarily for this recipe. I can taste the bourbon in the sauce made from the cooked down marinade. Calvados would be different - but, in my opinion, very good. Elaina

Not a brine but a marinade. I do not remember where I got this recipe (here?) but ir really is wonderful. For pork tenderloin or pork chops Combine: 2 cup apple cider 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup bourbon 3T dijon mustard 1T minced fresh ginger 1 t salt 1/2 t pepper Marinate the pork at least 6 hours. (I usually marinate it overnight). Pat dry. Grill or roast pork. Boil marinade down to 1 cup - use as sauce. I roasted 4 tenderloins with this marinade for a holiday party last year,sliced thin with the sauce as a dipping sauce- they disappeared amazingly fast. Elaina

I think Schlag! Schnell! is my new mantra. Elaina

Joe Blowe : Of course "schlag"! How can I manage to confuse what are about the only 2 words I know in German! Ouch!. Elaina

I use my Kitchen Aid immersion blender often. The blender attachment for soups - my favorite is Sweet Mama squash and apples - but various veg and bean soups too pr anything else you would do in a blender (the clean up is So much easier than using a standard blender) ; the mini processor attachment has taken the place of my (now dead) mini Cuisinart processor to chop up small amounts of garlic or veggies for vegetable cream cheese or other uses and the whisk attachment is perfect for small amounts of whipped cream. (The one phrase I learned from a lengthy visit to my daughter in Vienna is that everything is better "mit schnell" (with whipped cream in Viennese argot). Elaina

Not my story but my daughter's: She LOVES coffee. She NEEDED an espresso machine. She would use it daily! So we got her a very nice one for Christmas 3 or 4 years ago. This summer helping her move to a new job, the espresso machine was nowhere to be found. She thought it was probably in some corner of the cellar. Maybe if she dug around she could find it but really she didn't care. It took up a lot of counter space. There was a good coffee shop just down the street and that was so much easier. I've since seen a number of espresso machines in garage sales. Elaina

I am planning to try JimD's recipe using caramelized white chocolate (as described in the thread 'making blond chocolate' -sorry I'm not good at links) in place of the dulcey. Not for a couple of weeks, (it's on my holiday schedule) but I'm hoping it will work. Elaina

Is the 'stem ginger' in these recipes all candied? Stem ginger actually is young fresh ginger - the kind that is pink and white and very tender - but not candied. I use it for ginger jelly and in stir fries as well as ginger tea. I have recently been given some lovely fresh stem ginger and would like to try these cookies - but do I need to candy the ginger first? Elaina

I'm turning this over to my husband who is an HVAC contractor Elaina I hope you have an experienced engineer who actually knows how these products work. PastryGirl is right - you need to make sure you get a remote control panel so you can select discharge air temperature to meet kitchen conditions. I prefer the packaged systems from CaptiveAire or equal because their guys really know the work. It gets cold in Pittsburgh and you'll really want heated makeup air on a cold night. If you have cold air sweeping over the grille, nothing cooks right and your technique will be disrupted and everything will suck. And if you turn it off, your building HVAC system won't handle the infiltration and your diners will feel it and that sucks too. If it doesn't feel right, get a certified balancing contractor to make sure that your makeup air is 80% of exhaust. That 20% deficit should be blowing past you as you cook. If the code lets you have a 2 speed exhaust (most don't), be sure you can match the makeup. Just my 2 cents and good luck! Barney

I have been given a 25 lb bag of this flour - locally milled from locally grown wheat. I've baked bread for years but have never heard of this type of flour before. I would love some information from those of you who are much more experienced bakers than am I. How is this different from regular bread flour? Will it perform differently in recipes? Are there certain types of bread for which this is especially suited? Thanks in advance for any advice! Elaina

Earliest influences, cooking with my mother: Fannie Farmer - the 1933 edition that was my mother's text book as a Home Economics major at Cornell (I still have it complete with her notes. It is one of my most treasured possessions.) Also Betty Crocker - the loose leaf one with lots of pictures. One of my sisters won it in a teen version of the famous cook offs. Later, learning to cook for myself and friends - Julie Jordan's Wings of Life - Vegetarian Cooking - now held together with duct tape, with the best curried lentil soup recipe I've ever had. The New York Times Cookbook The Vegetarian Epicure (mushrooms Berkeley!) Still later: Julia Child's The Way to Cook Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone Elaina

No one in my immediate family likes turkey much. I usually do duck for Thanksgiving. My sister-in-law, who hosts Christmas, usually does roast beef. Elaina

Not for this year since you have your baskets but in the future you might think of using grocery totes instead of baskets. I just saw some nice canvas ones today at Trader Joe's - I think they were only $5 - 6. Barnes and Noble have them too - their canvas ones are heavier and more expensive but they have light weight ones with holiday prints that are very inexpensive. I have some of the lightweight ones that I have used for a couple of years and they are still in good shape. I also second Darienne - in my experience, home made is greatly appreciated and valued. Elaina