JAZ

Karen, the votive glasses would be great. Thanks. Dave and I can bring about 32 cocktail glasses if that would be helpful.

In my (admittedly limited) experience, they're flavorless and mushy. They could be free and I'd still pay $2 for a small Haas rather than use them.

Steven, I think this post is the updated full schedule -- except that the Sunday meal is at AMP, and the Friday activities are discussed here.

Just to clarify, we're planning to serve the soup as a shot, not as a full course.

Dave and I will do a soup course -- roasted red pepper with an aged gouda crouton -- and will also be available for prep and clean up duty.

I have Demeyere Sirocco at home, and use the Atlantis line on the Miele induction range where I teach and find them both excellent (dishwasher safe, too). I don't notice a problem with responsiveness on the induction range. Incidentally, both those lines have a thick copper layer in the straight sided pieces -- much thicker than what's in the All Clad Copper Core line.

If people are interested in cocktails, I can bring some homemade lime cordial and make gimlets. I'm still figuring out what else to make, if anything.

I haven't made it, but this recipe for Mexican corn salad sounds good. And here are a few recipes I wrote about last summer.

Tell me more. It's gin, Lillet blanc, crème de cacao and lemon juice. You can either go 1 1/2 for the gin and 3/4 for everything else (2:1:1:1), or 2 for the gin and 1/2 for everything else (4:1:1:1), or 2 for the gin, 3/4 for the lemon and lillet, and 1/2 for the crème de cacao. Samuel - how would you describe the taste of this? Sounds like an odd combination. That's the beauty of it! You think to yourself, "gin, Lillet, lemon and . . . chocolate?" And that's pretty much the experience you have when drinking it. When it's balanced right, the chocolate kind of sneaks up on you during the finish. I have to say I'm just not a fan. I really tried to like this, but lemon and chocolate doesn't appeal to me at all. I know I'm in the minority, but I like Rose's in the right application, of which a Gimlet is one. Gin, simple and lime is a fine drink, but it's not a Gimlet.

On behalf of the 30 million American adults who live alone, I'd like to say that most of the time, it's either drink alone, or don't drink. So, yes. And, whatever I feel like making.

I've had a couple of versions of something called a Summer Negroni -- equal parts gin, Aperol, and Lillet (or go slightly heavier on the gin, if you like). They're very refreshing; I might like them better than regular Negronis.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but I have had these Dubost steak knives for years and have been quite happy with them (you can get various handle materials and colors). I should say that I don't use them often, but for me they've been great.

I've used the True Blues before. On the plus side, they are very durable and very heat proof -- when I used to have to do all my dishes by hand, I liked the fact that I could use really hot water with them. On the minus side, they were so heavy that my hands used to sweat a lot, which was uncomfortable. Also, because they're so heavy, it's impossible to turn them inside out to dry if they do get wet, so they always stay kind of damp inside. Finally, after a while, they tended to get very rigid when they dried. When wet, they'd get a bit more flexible, but never regained the original flexibility.

Drew Vogel (member vogelap) earned the Certified Chef de Cuisine designation through the American Culinary Federation in April of this year. Congratulations, Drew! For a look at his menu or more about the process, check his website.

It's been a couple of years, but we had dinner at Rioja and were favorably impressed. We got a tasting menu that seemed to consist of pretty much everything on the menu -- some real standouts, everything very solid.

I've been reading quite a bit about dietary habits lately, and the question of snacking always seems to come up. In no particular order: one book I read mentioned that overall, the French seem to snack much less than Americans. Some "diet" programs recommend planned snacking and some recommend no snacking at all. Americans tend to think of daily eating as three meals, but I don't think that's anywhere near universal, so maybe that's why Americans tend to snack more. In any case, for myself, I've been following the Weight Watchers program, and while most of the members seem to eat a lot of snacks, I find that three meals with no snacks works best for me. Plus, I've found that if I eat three pretty substantial meals, I don't really want to snack. It was when I used to not eat breakfast or skip lunch that I found myself eating half a bag of Cheetos as a "snack." But I'm curious about snacking habits. Do you snack? Is it a planned thing, like one or more smaller meals? Or do you have a snack when you're hungry and it happens to be in between meals? Is there a particular time of day you snack? Inquiring minds want to know.

A few years ago at Momofuku I had a salad of radishes and sugar snap peas with a sour cream-horseradish dressing. It was a great combination, so I made up my own version. Blanch the peas for a couple of minutes (they should be crunchy but not raw), mix with about equal parts sliced radishes, and dress with 1 part prepared horseradish to 4 parts sour cream, with a little grated lemon zest. Thin if necessary and toss with the vegetables. Garnish with chives.

If you haven't yet checked out the WikiGullet Project, take a look and add to it. It's easy! And remember, it's not just a list of ingredients and cooking terms; it also includes restaurants, books, chefs and authors. If you work at a restaurant, add an entry. You've written a book? Start a page.

I'm thinking of buying a countertop oven (aka "toaster oven") -- not for toasting but as an alternative to heating up my full-size oven when all I'm cooking is one potato or a portion of roasted vegetables, which I do a lot. I'd like something that heats fast and evenly, does a decent job broiling, and can get up to 450-500 degrees. If it makes acceptable toast, that's a plus, but it's not necessary since I already have a great toaster. I have a store credit at a place that sells a couple of Cuisinart models and the Breville "Smart Oven." I've heard that the Cuisinarts are not very good, so I'm considering the Breville. It seems really expensive, but if it's worth the extra money, I'll pay it. Does anyone have experience with it? More information here.

But they aren't scaled down. I would love a pastry recipe for one serving, but what she gives is a big recipe (2 cups of flour and 14 tablespoons of butter) and then tells you to freeze the extra. She doesn't even give a yield -- even something like "divide the dough into x portions" would have been helpful.

A few weeks ago I taught a "point-friendly" cocktail party class. I made jerk pork tenderloin skewers with pineapple salsa, cherry tomatoes stuffed with shrimp in a remoulade sauce, cucumber canapes with herb yogurt cheese, pizza bites, and masa cups filled with red chile chicken. Also a couple of cocktails, not that you can do much to make alcohol point-friendly. It was fun, but challenging. I think the students appreciated the fact that I didn't use any "diet" foods in the recipes. I'm going to see if I can teach some more WW-inspired classes next quarter.

I got this when it came out and was completely disappointed in it. Most of the recipes didn't appeal to me (on the whole, they're pretty old-fashioned), and the ones that did were the sort of thing I already knew how to make. Second, the whole idea of cooking a big piece of protein and then using it as leftovers is a handy technique to keep in mind, but most of her "second" and "third" rounds sounded awful to me. Third, there were some questionable recipes/techniques in the book. I mean -- chicken stock made from a carcass and some vegetables, with an undisclosed amount of water and cooked for an hour. Really? She thinks you'll have stock after an hour?

Least favorite: Jane and Michael Stern. Whenever they're on The Splendid Table I have to turn it off -- they're probably very nice people, but they sound so smug and smarmy and full of themselves I can't stand to listen to them speak.

Because I don't go through bread very fast, I try to slice a whole loaf and freeze it so I can take out pieces as I want them. Because I want bread in different sizes, I try to slice some for bruschetta or crostini (fairly thin), some for toast (thicker), and some chunks that I can split for garlic bread or sandwiches.

Linda, I know that acid keeps red cabbage from turning that blue/purple/gray color; maybe it would help with the lettuce as well.