JAZ

I'll echo Maggie and say that the Sidecar is an excellent way to introduce newcomers to cocktails. It's what I usually suggest.

Much of it will probably be Le Creuset, Chris -- I have pieces I've only used once or twice, or never even used (like a tagine still in the box). I love Le Creuset, but I find myself using only three or four pieces regularly. Yet I've been moving the rest of it from kitchen to kitchen -- why? Or the marble board and rolling pin that seemed like such a good idea when I got it ten years ago and have yet to use. There's some All-Clad and Chantal in there too. I'm not sure about any of the copper. I think I'd regret selling that.

Just the one week made some changes in my cooking -- I'm much less likely to throw anything away. Not that I waste a lot of food, but it always seems like I have the last little bit of lettuce or cabbage go slimy before I get to it, or I find some cooked rice growing mold in the back of the fridge. Last week, for instance, I had half a cucumber that was in pretty bad shape, but I managed to cut the bad spots off and had enough to make a drink that calls for cucumber and basil -- and I used up more of the basil too. Before this, I probably would have thrown both away.

I used to work at a Sur La Table store, and for a while the Mauviel we got in stock was stamped with the SLT mark, not Mauviel. Then I think they switched back later on. So yes, it's real Mauviel.

Something that I found in my freezer was a bag of "flaked oats" that was a gift from my CSA. I hate cooked oatmeal as a breakfast cereal, which is the only thing this package has directions for. Can I just use these in oatmeal cookies or something? A topping for a fruit crisp?

I must be alone in this, but I was not terribly impressed with his mushroom soup.

The "one thing" was my Borner V-slicer, to make onion rings. I have a ceramic slicer that I use all the time for thin sliced potatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables. If I don't need really thin, uniform slices I generally just use a knife, but onion ring slices are always tough to get right. Hence the V-slicer. If I make onion rings once a month, or even just four or five times a year, the V-slicer is worth keeping, but that doesn't mean it has to take up kitchen drawer space. It can live elsewhere.

Very true about the freezer leftovers -- even though I wasn't wildly crazy about the short ribs and lentils I made, having three or four servings in the freezer will still come in handy. IF I remember to use them.

I've been a long time in following up to this, partly because life's been intruding, but also because I wanted to take some time to rethink my kitchen strategy. With all the talk of pot racks and hanging bars, I did consider putting one up over my counter, when when it came down to it, two thoughts occurred to me: First, I really don't like the look of pot racks for my kitchen. I like a cleaner look, and it's just not possible with all my cookware hanging out on hooks. Second, I don't need more room; I need less stuff. In the month or six weeks since I cleaned out the drawers, I've needed one thing, which I took out exactly once. Doesn't mean I won't need some of it later -- I do use some things only occasionally, like candy-making accessories. But that stuff doesn't have to be in the kitchen. On the other hand, there have been some very helpful suggestions here that I woudn't have thought of on my own. One thing that Anna suggested was hooks for frequently used utensils. I don't have room on the walls or the fridge as she uses, but I do have the inside of cabinets. Thus, in the cabinet where I keep strainers, colanders (stuff with holes, if you recall), I put up three hooks and hung all the strainers there. Not only are the strainers easier to get to, but getting them out of the colanders, where I used to stack them, means that the colanders are much easier to get to as well. Coupled with removing a few things that I never or rarely use (set of tamis, anyone?), it means I've gone from this: to this: Something else helpful that I believe I already mentioned was getting a small storage cabinet, which I've put out on the deck (only a few steps from the kitchen). Here I can keep cookware that I use, but not often --a stockpot, kettle, the 8-qt. Demeyere dutch oven (missing in this photo, because I was using it), extra Le Creuset. Finally, I got a pull-out cookware drawer for one of the cabinets. I'm still working on exactly what needs to go where in this, but it's already helped enormously. Yes, pots and pans are still stacked (although not as much as these photos make it seem -- I've done more rearranging since I took these photos), but they're much easier to get to because the drawers pull out. And although the drawer isn't the entire width of the cabinet, that's turned out to be a good thing, because I now store my cutting boards here -- where I use them, instead of across the kitchen with the sheet pans. Here, by way of comparison, is the before picture: The kitchen is still a work in progress, but it's already so much more functional I'm tempted to stop. I don't need any more drawers or shelves or cabinets, at least. I think it's just a matter of figuring out what I use most and getting those things where they're most accessible. Now that I've cleaned out my cabinets, I have a closet of cookware (some of which I haven't even photographed) that I need to get rid of. I think it's time for a virtual garage sale over on the eG Shopping Block.

I've been remiss in posting here. I'm not really able to continue for another week, but it was a great exercise. I figure I probably saved $60 by not shopping for a week. More, if you count the items I used that probably would have spoiled or been tossed. A couple of dinners that I made during the week: This was spaghetti carbonara with the rest of the pancetta I'd discovered in the fridge. Since I had the tomato-based sauce earlier over polenta (aka grits), I was able to save the pasta for this night. I used one of my remaining eggs, and some parm. I used short ribs and lentils for this dish, inspired by Fat Guy. I discovered two things when I made this: first, lentils expand a lot; second, I don't really like them all that much. Too bad, because I have a lot of leftovers, now in the freezer. Most nights, I had a salad like this, made from arugula and romaine. Not really exciting, but it was greenery. You'll notice that most of these meals were pretty heavy, which was only a problem because I had so many of them in a row. I found myself wishing I had the ingredients for snapper Veracruz or Greek salad. The last two nights I had a steak I'd gotten from a local farm that raises grass-fed beef. It was supposed to have been a ribeye, but I've never seen a ribeye like this before. Anyway, it was huge, and I still have some left. The first dinner was the rest of the mushrooms (still viable, sort of) and one of the last onions sauteed with strips of the steak in a sort of Stroganoff, except that I used heavy cream instead of sour cream. To make up for the acid, I found a bag of frozen cubes of red wine in the freezer, so I used that in the sauce. It was pretty good, but again, really heavy. My (late) contribution to the pot luck was part of the rest of the steak, marinated in a red chile sauce, the recipe for which I got from a Rick Bayliss cookbook. I had a bag of dried anchos or New Mexican chiles; I started the sauce with those. I had rice left over from earlier in the week, and mixed in some of the strained tomatoes still in the fridge, along with carrot, onion and some dried jalapenos that I think came from Tales of the Cocktail a couple of years ago. (Who knew I'd ever have occasion to use them?). I cooked pinto beans in the pressure and turned them into refritos with the last of the onion and some pork belly. If I'd been able to go shopping, I'd have gotten the ingredients for pico de gallo, and some beer to have with dinner. As it is, I went salsa-less and had a Margarita with the last lime of the week.

LizD, Does this recipe look like what you want? It's from Fine Cooking magazine, and there's some discussion of them here. I made a small batch of them yesterday, and my only problem was getting the seeds to stay on the crackers. Today I made another batch with toasted sesame seeds mixed into the dough and I'm much happier with them.

Last night I used up some lentils I've had in the pantry forever. I braised them along with a small package of short ribs that I bought a while back. A carrot and onion went in as well, leaving me only two onions (but a bunch of carrots). I'd made beef stock recently, so that was the liquid for braising. I now have a lot of lentils and a couple of short ribs left; I froze half and have half in the fridge. To go with the lentils, I made sweet and sour cabbage with some shredded coleslaw mix I had in the fridge. It was a little old for coleslaw, but it worked fine cooked. For lunch today, I thawed some roasted red pepper soup and used one of the pieces of bread I found in the freezer to make an open faced grilled cheese sandwich. Luckily, I had a three-pound can of cheese from the dairy at Washington State University that I opened not too long ago, so I'm okay on cheese. Tonight's dinner was pasta carbonara with the rest of the pancetta and spaghetti, and one of my remaining eggs. I used about half of the romaine I have left in a salad, and drank the last glass of wine I had left.

I made white corn and leek soup a couple of weeks ago, and had some of it with Cajun-spiced shrimp, bacon and green onions. This soup is nice because it can be garnished up in a number of ways, so it's not like I'm eating the same soup for days in a row. It also freezes really well.

One thing that makes this week easier for me than for many others is that I'm only cooking for myself. If I end up with Triscuits and peanut butter with a side of tater tots on the last day of the week, I don't have to worry about endangering children or disappointing a spouse. So, Day 1 for lunch, I had leftover mashed potatoes with some cheese stirred in. No big deal. Night 1 for dinner, I had leftover grits (aka polenta) topped with some tomato sauce I had in the freezer. I added some mushrooms and pancetta and topped it with Parmigiano. A salad of romaine and arugula finished the meal. I would have made croutons for the salad, but I feared I was running low on bread. Although actually I've found a few slices in the freezer -- they're probably only good for toast or croutons, but that works for me. Day 2 for brunch, I scrambled one of my four eggs, mixed it with some jalapeno pepper cheese and had it in a flour tortilla. For dinner, I went over to a friend's. In the way that any dieter will recognize, my main problem so far has just been wanting whatever I can't have -- for instance, ordinarily, I can easily go a week without fish, but since I don't have any on hand, that's all I can think about.

The only time when I willingly ate medium-cooked eggs was my first year of college at the dining hall. If you wanted real eggs (i.e., not powdered scrambled), your ostensible choices were hard or soft cooked. But of course since the eggs sat around on a warming tray until claimed by students, the soft cooked, if they ever were soft, turned to medium cooked. Still, they were better than the hard, and as Maggie so eloquently puts it, butter helped. Plus, there was the appeal of actually getting a soft boiled egg, when serendipity took over and you picked one that had just come out of the water. All in all, not a bad way to start the day.

I've had opened bottles (in my fridge) that have certainly lasted longer than two years. Go for it.

So, it's my first day of not going to the grocery store when I "need" something. I've realized that I have no tomatoes and the half a cucumber in the fridge is spoiled -- not the end of the world, but there goes the idea for Greek salad. On the other hand, I discovered a hunk of pancetta in the back of the freezer and a container of strained tomatoes in the fridge. So I'll make tomato sauce and it'll be pasta for dinner tonight. I've discovered that right now I have a lot of beef and pork in the freezer but no fish or chicken. I don't even have a can of tuna -- I donated the two cans I had to a food drive in my apartment building. But instead of listing what I have in my cupboards and freezer, I think I'm going to keep track of the things I would have bought this week, and see what I save. Thus, so far, I've not bought cherry tomatoes and a cucumber, but I probably also would have gotten some bread (I'm low) and potatoes (I'm out). I love to shop for food. I really miss going to the grocery store, and it's only the first day. Sigh.

I don't do a weekly shopping expedition. I live next to a grocery store, so I shop as needed. But I can certainly stop shopping for a week, and I can probably do pretty well with what I have on hand (thank god I stocked up on cat food). I know I have a lot of stuff in the pantry and in the freezer, so I think this will work for me. I'll probably have to break into the emergency stash of shelf-stable milk for my coffee, but, hey! that's why it's there.

I live in Atlanta, hardly a small town, and I could buy everything on the list IF -- and this is a big if -- I was willing to drive all over the city. Personally, I'd be willing to drive for ingredients, but if you're asking what you can get at the usual grocery stores, then, this is my experience: Of your list, I could get smoked paprika (probably not Spanish) and Mexican crema at my main grocery store. I know I can get duck and sherry vinegar at Whole Foods. The other items? I know I can find them, but as I said, it might take a drive to a lot of markets that are out of the ordinary.

I've done this with pistachios, and it worked fine.

What we always tell our students is to look through the book and make sure the edition includes the illustration of how to skin a squirrel. Then you're safe. And yes, a spiral bound edition does make it easy to use. Mine is paperback, and it's kind of a pain -- never wants to stay open. What you really want to avoid is that revised "new" edition, as emilyr mentioned above.

I'm going to disagree here -- I think a typical North American Thanksgiving dinner is completely unbalanced in this sense. Everything from the stuffing to the gravy to the sweet potatoes is heavy, creamy and sweet. No crunch at all, and nothing acidic. For typical American food, a BLT is much better balanced. Crunchy lettuce, acidity and sweetness from the tomatoes, salty crisp bacon, creaminess from mayonnaise. I have a question: Does bitterness not enter into the Japanese taste spectrum?

Just to further complicate matters, keep in mind that some small producers -- especially those who raise grass-fed beef -- prefer not to have their beef graded at all (it's optional) because they don't have the kind of marbling that will get them a prime or choice grade. It doesn't mean the beef isn't good; it's just different.

I made potato-leek soup recently as well, but I use butter and chicken stock; I like the flavor and body they add to the soup. And I finish with a drizzle of cream. Strictly speaking, by the way, the potatoes don't absorb salt, but you're right that this soup does need quite a bit, especially when you start with water instead of stock. I also add a pinch of ground mustard and some nutmeg. More recently I made the coconut seafood soup from Kasma Loha-Unchit's It Rains Fishes. Really easy if you have the aromatics on hand, but it does require lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal (I used ginger) and fish sauce. I used all shrimp instead of the combination she calls for, but it was great.

On his blog, talking about making a smaller quantity, Ruhlman says: I don't know if he's ever actually tried to fit three pounds of bones in a 2-qt. pt, but I rather doubt it. I'm sure he's never ended up with a quart of stock that way. It seems clear that he's just not very precise in his descriptions of stock making. Which is odd, given his insistence on how it will improve one's cooking. I'd have thought that the book would have been edited to catch something like that, though.