s'kat

May I recommend the healing powers of triple antibiotic healing ointment?

I was almost permanently scarred by a bad run-in with the old-school, blue box Mac n'Cheese during my childhood, and have never touched the stuff since. When I saw this thread, I instantly thought of how much my husband would appreciate a big, heaping bowl of the homemade stuff, especially after a long day spent working hard in the chilly Autumnal air. I used little miss foodie's suggestion of Martha Stewart's recipe. So easy. So, so good! I especially loved the little crispy bits of browned breadcrumbs on top... next time, I may add a little crumbled bacon to that top layer. Excellent thread.

Rinds from hard cheeses are sealed, and kept in the freezer for flavouring soups.

You waffle people are forgetting one very important thing: each square should be graced with a crumble of bacon, then doused with syrup. ~heavenly~ A sandwich must be sliced diagonally, not cut in half. Totally throws off the proportion of filling to bread. A pizza must be made with careful precision. Each topping is laid out in careful balance, so that a bite from one side of the pizza would taste the same as a bite from any other part of the pizza. It drives my husband crazy to watch me build a pie. I hate drinking cold water. When I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, it must sit out until it has reached room temperature. Oddly enough, I don't like bottles of water that are already room temperature. It must be refrigerated, then allowed to warm up. Even I don't get that one. And yes, curlywurlyfi, I always cut my carrots into matchsticks, and am very upset if my husband tries to take the shortcut 'coin' method.

My all-time favourites would be the classic chocolate ship (slightly crisp on the edges, soft in the middle), and chocolate crinkles. The two cookies can take me instantly back to the carefree days of my childhood, and both get made in quantity during the holiday season. Two newer favourites are a crystallised ginger cookie, and a cranberry-lemon iced drop. Are there really any terrible cookies out there?

Susan and Russ, it has been a great week... and so nice to see what goes on 'behind' the dinner thread!

I made the Ina Garten coconut cupcakes for a friend's birthday weekend, and was utterly impessed. Perfectly moist, deliriously rich... I was surprised that the recipe instructed you to just put the coconut on top, so I toasted mine. ::drool:: Sinclair, you seriously make a regular-sized cake from this? Talk about too much of a good thing!!

Add another one to the 'not paying attention while chopping hurriedly with a freshly-sharpened knife' crowd. It's really quite disgusting to fish one's fingertip from a pile of diced onions.

I finally had dinner at the Blue Talon last night, and it was as good as lunch led me to believe it would be. I was with my entire family, and I was only able to photograph mine and my husband's plates. We started with French onion soup for him (which he dug into before I could photograph, but I'm sure you can imagine how it looked), and a goat cheese, bacon and leek tart for me: The soup was as consistently good as last time. The tart was explosively good, the perfect balance of puff pastry, crispy pork, and creamy cheese. There were also mussels and calamari being passed around. The mussels were forgettable; the calamari was breaded a bit thickly for my taste, but everyone else seemed to quite enjoy it. Each day of the week hosts a different special entree, and Thursday's happened to be coq au vin. My aunt ordered that; I got the roasted chicken with herbs, and a simple green salad. My husband went for the pork bellies. The pork bellies came out steaming in a small, cast-iron pot, and definately had a stew-like quality. They sat on a moist bed of lentils, carrots and potatoes: My roasted chicken and pommes frites. Note the little cup full of fatty goodness on the plate: My husband didn't seem to be enjoying his meal, and my sample bite confirmed why; it was infused with a gentle, dusky shot of cumin, one of his least-favourite spices. My chicken was perfectly roasted, and moist; the frites were scads better than our last visit, too. We switched plates, and were very happy. No picture of my Aunt's coq au vin, but she said it was some of the best she's ever had. Considering she has been touring through France, I imagine it must have been quite good. We were stuffed, but still feeling celebratory, so we ordered dessert. Unfortunately, our service began to slow down just as we were finishing dinner, and we waited quite some time before the waiter came back to clear plates and get our orders. It was the only mis-step in a night of otherwise impeccable service. I went with the classic tart tatin, a very nice rendition. The apples rested upon a pillowy mound of pastry, perfectly etched with caramel: My grandparents got a sorbet plate. I didn't hear what kind they were, and neither did they, as they're a bit hard of hearing, and the noise level was a bit much. Still, they scraped every last icy bit off the plate: My husband got the best dessert on the table, the giner peach crumble with saigon cinammon ice cream. It was good on so many levels. Also making the rounds across the table were a tiny little pear galette, and the ice cream specia of the evening, banana-chocolate-cashew. It was a very enjoyable experience, and I felt that the most of the offerings were quite reasonably priced. It's also nice to go out someplace and eat food that isn't artfully towered up; give me half a chicken any day! Can't wait to return!

Or sweettea, for that matter.

Nice one, lonnj.

Not too out there, but I always enjoyed potato chip sandwiches, with a thin layer of jam. Doritos or Lays, and wonderbread, of course. In the colder months, it was a real treat to toast them.

Way to go on breakin' that bad boy in! It's the perfect time of year for smoking.

Hmmm... I'd love to go on a month-long food tour of Europe with my husband.

Rachel, I've enjoyed your posts, and your kitchenly quests for some time now, so it's a bonus to discover that you are doing the new food blog! And have no shame in your lopsided pieces of bread, it's such little quirks that are the great equalizer in the kitchen.

My husband and I used to love eating the greens at a particular restuarant. We finally asked how they did them, and the waitress told us that they used Glory brand. Since then, there are always a can or two up in our cupboard. I also keep Goya black beans and garbanzos stocked. Recently, I've become infatuated with Mrs. Renfro's Salsas, and there are always copious amounts of Trappey's jalapenos.

My husband and I stopped by the Blue Talon for their first lunch shift yesterday. It was quite a limited lunch menu (to be expanded by month's end), with a French-bistro slant. I peeked at the normal dinner menu, and it has all the typical goodies: French Onion Soup, charcuterie, pot-au-feu, etc. Our service was acceptable, dealing quite well with the throngs of touritsts visiting the Art show just out the front door. The wine list is modest, and well-in-tune with the menu selections. Our food was out to the table surprisingly quickly. I ordered the French onion soup, and my husband got the platter of charcuterie. We split some frites. The French onion soup was absolutely incredible! I gave my husband a taste, and he flagged down the waiter to order his own bowl. The charcuterie plate was much, much smaller than anticipated, but everything on it was peak. The frites, well, they were forgettable, but that was really of no consequence. As it is, I can't wait to return for dinner... some time very soon.

What a wonderful assortment of ideas! I really wish that my husband liked the heat as much as I do. Looks like I'll have to throw a pepper party.

Here is an internet mail-order source for some very authentic-tasting stroopwaffels.

Bejam and ludja, I'm a proper Southern lady, with no fewer than 5 jars of varying-degrees-of-hot pepper jellies in my cupboard. Good stuff! NulloModo, I love fiery foods, but I don't know that I could 'breeze through' this many- you have my respect! Msk, I also made hot sauce and chili paste with my last batch, too. Wolvie, I didn't know that you could freeze them! That's most likely where most of this batch will end up. Thanks!

My husband came home last night with about 50 peppers, mostly jalapeno, some banana, some green. I've already pickled four large jars worth, using the previous bags he'd brought home from this friend's house. Any other ideas on what I can use these in? I feel like I have peppers coming out of my ears!!

It's funny... I so often here people say this, and it would certainly seem that Pierce's is a local institution. It's charming to hear about how it grew from just a tiny storefront, where patrons ate in the parking lot, to the full-sized restaurant that sits next to 64 today. I ate there once, shortly after moving to the area, and wasn't that impressed. I keep meaning to try it again, in case it was just an 'off' day. It just didn't strike me as the sort of place that local legends spring up 'round. JMO.

I've not personally been there, but have heard good things about it from my server at the Fat Canary the other night.

Welcome back, Lucy!

I live in BF, SE-Virginia, where even the Hispanic soccer teams have no taco trucks flanking them. In May, I went out to California wine country, and discovered a taco truck one early afternoon. My little carnitas taco was only a buck, and it was really one of the best things I ate on that trip. There is absolutely no good Hispanic food where I live, so I did unabashedly jump up and down when I saw the truck.