The J

Recently, I've been making chana masala a lot, or chicken and potato vindaloo.

The edX classes are free and online. There's a registration link if you click on the link in the first post.

For me it's situational. The time when it really gets to me is lunch on a weekday. There are a few restaurants I'll go to with coworkers where it takes a while to get the check. It's not really understandable either, considering these places are in the middle of a business district and it's pretty clear we're in the middle of the work day. While sometimes we take slightly longer lunches, once we get to the check phase of the meal, it should be done quickly. I also agree with gfweb -- once we ask for the check, that's all we want. It bugs me when I spot the waiter, make the whole "bring the check" gesture, and then a couple minutes later the waiter shows up, without the check, asking if we want anything else.

Another vote for the OXO straight peeler. I peel toward myself and don't peel in massive quantities (except for holidays). I have not tried a Y peeler, but I don't have any discomfort from the straight one.

I have the IRK (which is $59 open box, though mine came with a probe). I like it, and find have the ability to attach a probe makes it incredibly versatile.

I pretty much have one of those jars in my fridge at all times, right next to the Costco jar of marinated artichoke hearts. They're great for a quick pasta dinner -- cook the tomatoes on low heat to get the oil liquid (since it will congeal in the fridge), then add garlic, onions, black olives and red pepper. Toss with pasta, finish with some fresh basil and grated parm. I second the sun-dried tomato pesto -- it's great for potato salad too. Chop them up and add them to sausage and peppers, or roasted chicken and potatoes. Add to risotto. I will also take a few, heat them just enough to render the oil off, and use the oil in bread or pizza dough. In order to ensure the tomatoes don't go to waste, I put them on a piece of crusty bread with a little goat cheese and snack away.

Tonight's dinner: Jicama and Tofu Chili. I topped it with some avocado and had a chunk of sourdough to wipe up the sauce.

Those Bailey's ones look AMAZING. How do you get them so shiny?

Food does come with warning labels. It's called "nutritional information". The fact that some people apparently can't read and comprehend the warning label is not the fault of the company. I'm sure there are people who smoke who are illiterate. That doesn't mean that cigarette manufacturers should be required to put up display stands with auditory warnings for those people.

How much sodium, sugar and fat are in a typical ham and cheese sandwich?

I mixed plain yogurt with garam masala, turmeric, ground ginger, cumin, garlic powder, salt and a little bit of lemon juice. I cubed the tofu (extra firm) and mixed it in the yogurt, and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. I cooked it in a non-stick pan for ~15 minutes on medium high, with a little canola oil and the extra yogurt.

Yogurt marinated tofu over jasmine rice, served with a warm tomato and chickpea salad over spinach with garlic chili sauce.

With BBQing, you want the smoke to cook the food. With grilling, flame can touch the meat.

And then Tom sits there and tells them that they should cook what they know, and by what they know, he means whatever he thinks their grandmother cooked as opposed to whatever they've been doing for their careers.

Jason -- can I move in with your manager? That spread looks amazing!

No pictures, but overall a success. The hummus and muhammara basically vanished, and a good chunk of the baba ghanoush went as well. The white bean dip (which interestingly enough was my favorite of the 4) seemed to be the least popular. Of course, that leaves plenty of leftover white bean dip for me, which is a bonus. I ended up toasting all the flatbread -- I was making a larger than usual batch and let it get over-kneaded in the stand mixer, so it was a little too tough/chewy to serve soft*. Crisped up in the oven, it had a good snap and the toughness went away. * I'm assuming the longer kneading period is why it was a little tough, since that seems to be the only difference from all the other times I've made it.

If I had to choose one or the other, it would be coffee, hands down. Not sure I could survive without it! Really, I drink coffee just about every day, whereas tea is only an occasional thing for me.

For the party I'm going to, I'm making a middle eastern dip platter: hummus (which I made with a little smoked paprika), white bean dip (seasoned with turmeric and chili powder), baba ghanoush and muhammara. I'm also going to make flatbread on Sunday morning -- some I will toast, some I will leave soft.

Pasta with roasted eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, garlic, chicken sausage and tomato. I had roasted the vegetables the other day, and sauteed them today with the sausage. Finished with some fresh tomato and basil.

I repeatedly pull pans out of the oven with an oven mitt, put them on the stove, and then promptly forget that they had been in the oven, leading to colorful descriptions of what that pan can go do to itself after I grab a super-hot handle. I now have a little handle cover that I slip on when I take the pan out, so I know better. Of course, this means that, if I don't see the cover on the handle, it must be cool to the touch, right?..... About a week ago, I was chopping scallions and just caught the tip of my forefinger. Took off a small chunk. I managed to get to the bathroom just as it was starting to bleed, wrapped it in gauze and a bandaid. Later that night, I noticed blood all down the leg of my jeans. It had bled so much, it soaked through the gauze and the bandaid and started dripping all over. Since then, I found blood on my sweatshirt, my laptop, my end table and my couch. Another time (probably a year or so ago), I was making a roast, which was on the middle rack in the oven. I had a pan on the rack just underneath it, which I went to take out with what turned out to be a threadbare oven mitt. When I grabbed the edge of the pan, my fingertip got burned immediately, which cause me to flinch, smacking the back of my hands and my wrists on the middle rack, burning them, causing me to flinch and yank my hands out, hitting my forearms on the not-quite-open-all-the-way oven door.

Dinner tonight was a salad with romaine hearts (kept in the back of the fridge so it stays extra crispy), carrots, celery, onion, grape tomatoes, avocado, white cheddar, black olives, hot sauce and blue cheese dressing. (photo posted on the salad thread: http://egullet.org/p1907438 )

Dinner tonight was a salad with romaine hearts (kept in the back of the fridge so it stays extra crispy), carrots, celery, onion, grape tomatoes, avocado, white cheddar, black olives, hot sauce and blue cheese dressing.

Assuming a person doesn't use flash and doesn't stand on their chair or something, if you actually notice a person at another table taking a picture of their food or licking their knife, then you're the one breaking "decorum" by actually watching diners at other tables. You should exercise appropriate "decorum" by focusing on your own meal and your own companions. I don't take pictures of restaurant food that often. That being said, there are times I like to do so. I would have a problem with a restaurant that forbids it. Of course, there are times I eat at restaurants alone as well, and I like to sit at a table and read (and if someone, god forbid, calls me, I might even answer the phone!), which I'm sure is not "appropriate" behavior in many places. Of course, I think the aversion to photography is partially this idea that technology is "rude". I've had people in situations tell me that I was being rude because I was talking on my cell phone in a public place (indeed, this even happened to me on the train once). Generally those same people are standing/sitting next to someone else, carrying on a conversation just as loudly as I was speaking, if not louder. But because the person I was speaking to is in a different location, and I had to use technology to speak to them, I was being rude. Usually I ask those people if they think I was being rude because they could only listen in on one side of my conversation instead of the whole thing If a chef wants to prohibit photography, then I think they should provide (even by email, if they want) photographs of the meals for people.

Calzone filled with ricotta, eggplant (it kind of disappeared into the ricotta), zucchini and broccoli, with garlic bread.

Isn't that the point then? If you can't tell the difference, then you can't supervise a grill cook, and therefore you can't be sous-chef. Uh-huh......AFTER you've (falsely) instructed subordinates to cook "Rare" as medium and "medium" as well done.......... Huh? This doesn't even make sense. The test is basically saying that to be a sous-chef, you have to be able to do A, B and C. You seem to agree with the premise that a sous-chef needs to be able to temp a steak correctly. But you seem to think that the test should then automatically assume that the person knows how to and therefore shouldn't test it. Or you assume that because the test does test for it that the person doesn't know how. A test is supposed to ensure that a person knows the material that is required for the subject being tested. If a sous-chef is supposed to know how to temp a steak, then the sous-chef certification exam should test temping a steak.