hjshorter

I make the Cranberry-Dried Cherry compote published in Bon Appetit several years ago. Dried cherries, whole fresh cranberries, ground cloves, cherry cider, and my addition of a squeeze of lemon juice and some grated lemon peel. It sets up well and tastes delicious. My mom always made some variant of Cranberry Orange Relish. I like the canned stuff, but only sliced onto turkey sandwiches.

Brussels sprouts? Asparagus? I've added a pear and frisee salad to my menu. There just wasn't enough green stuff as it was.

Kris, ow! I've done the eggshell thing myself.

I dunno. Ours is currently brining in a cooler in the garage. I'm counting on the oil to kill anything lurking.

Wow, Seth, that looks great. How many people? We'll only be eight this year, which sort of limits the number of things I'm putting on the table.

Nice pizza. Our stone resides in the bottom oven unless there's some compelling reason to remove it. Getting the pizza off the stone and onto the peel takes practice (like flipping stuff in a saute pan) and a well floured peel. Still, nine times out of ten the pizza slides off the back end of the stone and has to be rescued.

Good luck Matthew! Scott is deep frying our turkey. I am still on the fence about sides, but here's what I've come up with so far: Roasted brussels sprouts Creamed pearl onions. They will be caramelized before being immersed in cream sauce - really yummy. Cranberry-dried cherry compote with cloves Giblet apple stuffing with sage. This is a family recipe and I dare not change it. Mashed potatoes. Some kind of pie. My sister-in-law is bringing an appetizer and an apple cake. Does it need another dish? Some other green thing?

What do you cook using Crottin? We usually devour it all by its yummy moldy self, but if you have recipes I'd like to hear them.

Yikes. Please PM me your addresses and I will send you my share.

So, it's agreed that we're all slackers? I'm headed for the fish market after I pick up Emma from school.

Oh no! Yes, please tell us what we need to do.

Did we come up short?

It would be her parent's discretional funds, wouldn't it? And I can't think of any reason why they should be discounted. I'm all for sidewalk cafes.

It was a Chassagne-Montrachet, wasn't it? and it was lovely. What a beautiful meal. Thanks so much for posting the photos, Rochelle. That foie gras was so so good, second only to those incredible scallops as my favorite dish of the night. What a wonderful meal, pretty room, and good company.

We looked at a house today that has two complete kitchens, one upstairs and one downstairs. If we buy it we will have two full size refrigerators and a stand freezer.

It is good, isn't it? Glad you liked it. I was going to make it tonight, but will probably make it on Monday when I have time to shop for ingredients.

::sniff:: I wanna move to Chicago.

Nope, I haven't seen it either, but I assume I'd be stranded somewhere remote. I'd bring either a dutch oven or my wok.

A big, big thank you to Chef Jonathan Krinn for our lovely meal last night! It was great seeing everyone again.

I thought it was at 6? I was planning to get there at 5:30 and have a drink just to be sure I got there on time.

I have tons of useless gadgets, given to me by well-meaning relatives who know that we love to cook. By far the most useless item given to me are the little shaped bread tube things from Pampered Chef - you put packaged bread dough in them, and slice the baked loaves for canapes. I never even cracked open the box they came in.

you've never lost track of your glass when there are 3 or 4 on a table? i have, and i use those things whenever i think of it. the problem is, i always forget which freakin charm i am. Why not use those giant red plastic cups and write names on them with a Sharpie? Worked in college.

Seth, you can make this soup very successfully with only fish. I've done it and it still tastes great - and no shells to scrub. Although I understand about the company and holiday plans; it is creeping up on us, isn't it?

What a great idea, G. I have instant dashi, but it never occurred to me to use it for the soup. How about cinnamon bread?

See, I would buy a house with an aroma of simmering fish bits, but I'm dubious that the average person would. What should we bake right before our open house on Sunday? Cookies? Bread? Yesterday we looked at a house in our town that had previously been divided. It has a full kitchen upstairs, and another one downstairs. I can't decide whether I like that or not. My grocery had some beautiful fennel and mussels yesterday. Looking forward to the soup!