gulfporter

I am lazy. I buy Dorot brand crushed frozen garlic at Trader Joe's. It is sold in little ice cube trays; grown on a kibbutz in Israel and thaws so quickly. I make fresh salad dressing every few days and it is the perfect texture and taste. My freezer always has several packs of this stuff.

Marinating beef is more common. While not a true brine, I personally use marinade recipes with lots of soy sauce, which is quite salty.

I use it to fry eggs. It complements the egg better than bacon fat. Not just good for breakfast eggs, but especially nice to have a duck fat fried egg atop fresh asparagus. When I can get quail eggs, I also fry in duck fat and serve over slices of baguettes with a bit of serrano ham.

Yo no se (I don't know). I googled some recipes and based on the taste profile as I recall it, Rick Bayless' recipe seems to be the closest. FYI, there's a typo/omission in his recipe; the 2nd item leaves out the important words, Ancho Chilies. Here's the link: http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/grilled-fish-with-ancho-tamarind-sauce-and-eggplant/

Una margarita tamarindo, por favor! Very popular all over Mexico and very enjoyable. Tamarind is also commonly used as a base for a sauce that is served with fish, shrimp and chicken. I do not recall tamarind served in a hot beverage when we lived in Mexico (though the temperature there rarely called for a hot beverage).

This is one of those silly recipes that people always seem to like; when I serve it (It's my MIL's recipe), it's fun to have people guess the ingredients. 3 egg whites1 c sugar1 tsp vanilla14 Ritz crackers3/4 c walnuts1 c cream, whipped to stiff Beat egg whites with sugar and vanilla till stiff and glossy. Spray pie pan with PAM. Make crust by crushing Ritz crackers; lay them in pie pan. Cover with walnut pieces. Top with meringue, leaving a slight 'well' in the center. Bake 325 for 30 min. Cool, then top with whipped cream and serve.

Thx for the advice; we will have it at 7PM as the more we thought about having it in the afternoon, the more we feared it would be viewed as a kiddie party. And, as a non-parent but an aunt who entertained umpteen nieces and nephews, including them in 'adult' party situations is a good way for them to enhance their social skills and good manners. Of course this is assuming the adults are setting a good example

I moved earlier this year. Our new neighborhood is a mixed-bag of singles, young families, retirees. We have been invited to 3 parties since our arrival. Two were mid-afternoon weekend BBQ's, one was a 7PM wiener roast. All invitations were done via notes left on car and doorstep; this seems to be the MO here. We don't even know people's last names or phone numbers. This Valentine's Day is a Saturday and we'd like to host a Just Desserts Party. We've hosted these before in our old home and started at 7PM; there were no kiddies, all neighbors were retired or semi-retired and we knew most of them ate dinner around 6PM. But with kids in our new neighborhood, aged 5 to 14, plus mostly younger singles and couples, I'm not sure of the best start time. We never had kids, so we aren't sure of their eating times, bedtimes, etc. We don't want to exclude the kids. Opinions welcome re: would it be better to have a mid-afternoon dessert party or best to keep it an after dinner party? We like the after dinner party, personally, but Is it better to have kids all sugared-up earlier in the day vs. close to bedtime? When we've hosted after-dinner Valentine's dessert parties before, we always had a case of champagne and not certain that would be an appropriate mid-afternoon offering, though it is a holiday and people are welcome to BYOB (other parties in the neighborhood were BYOB). Don't want to walk around and 'poll' neighbors on what would work for them ... fearing a different answer from each home, plus many have odd work schedules and we rarely even see them.

Our NYE dinner is grilled rack of lamb served with a cherry chipotle sauce. The lamb is already slathered in marinade in the fridge as I type. Side of grilled radicchio with a reduced balsamic dressing. We're in FL this year in our new home and taking advantage of the warm evenings for outside cooking. Our NYD meal will be pork belly tacos with fresh cabbage slaw and salsa verde. Side of Texas caviar. No desserts nor heavy starches as we face the reality of the post-holiday bathroom scale.

I married young and knew little about cooking. My in-laws gave me a few cookbooks, good ones, by James Beard, Julia Child and Craig Claiborne. I looked at them, but all we could afford at the time were cheap hamburger (sold in those 5 pound rolls) and pancake mix. Like I said, we were young (19 and 20) and food was not a big deal to us. As we aged and as our careers/business flourished, we started paying more attention to food (we could finally afford to go to restaurants where you didn't order at the counter). Sometime in the 80's, my in-laws gave me subscriptions to both Gourmet and Bon Appetit (my FIL at age 91 still renews my BA). It was these magazines that brought out my interest in cooking. Maybe it was the slick presentations (as I recall the cookbooks were mostly line drawings of food). I made a point to make one recipe a week from one of the current magazine issues. I did this up until we retired in 2003. I still enjoy BA and probably make a recipe from their current issue once or twice a month.

re: Hominy for New Years: Posole was traditional for the Holidays where we lived in Mexico; there it was always red. I prefer the green posole which you see a lot of in New Mexico.

You will enjoy Oaxaca Al Gusto...I have a copy in the original Spanish, signed by Diana. I was lucky to meet her at a small luncheon in Central Mexico where we were living when the book came out. Have visited Oaxaca several times and the chapulines are fabulous, especially at the open air markets, where they are grilled to almost a char and served crunchy and hot...the way grasshoppers are meant to be cooked!

Yes, black-eyed peas are a must in the south. I'm also not fond of the traditional Hoppin' John so I usually make a version of Texas 'caviar' with them; it is a cold salad and quite good. When we moved to rural Virginia, imagine my shock at the local Safeway before New Years when the meat counter was full of pig faces. Local tradition. I was young then and grossed out; now I wish I had tried them.

Even if evap is 1/2 the calories of the real deal, it's not much of a caloric saving. I'd rather use 1/2 the amount of the real stuff. After struggling with my weight since childhood, fifteen years ago I lost 42 pounds and have kept 40 of them off. After years of diet failures that used low-cal low-fat low-sugar substitutes, I found portion control of 'regular' foods worked best for me. A little dab or dollop of butter, whipped cream, dessert, etc. will satisfy my hunger far better than any amount of low-cal alternatives. YMMV.

A vegetarian Wellington. I have not made, but there are several recipes out there (including Jamie Oliver's) and they do indeed look impressive for the Holidays.

Would I have better luck with either clams or mussels on the grill, as far as opening all the way on the grill? I'm looking for some sort of hard shell seafood to add to a cookout party, that I can throw on the grill then serve without a lot of intervention on my part, other than having either a dipping sauce or adding a splash of sauce/seasoning to the opened shell.

Love it!!!

Fry Daddy Deep Fryer Bread Machine Ice Cream Maker All given away after we gained too much weight!!

Thanks all for the advice! I will experiment soon.

I have a medical condition in both hands that makes shucking oysters too painful. I would like to serve them at an upcoming cookout from my gas grill. Anyone have experience in grilling unshucked oysters...will they magically open all the way once heated this way? Approx. how long will they take to open? I would like to add something to them after they open (garlic/herb sauce or ???).....will they oysters open enough to allow for me to drop something onto the bottom shell? Or are they just going to slightly open and need to be removed from the grill and the top shell taken off by hand? Appreciate any advice; have not worked with oysters, other then those purchased already shucked.

Medjool Dates are beautiful and easy to come by this time of year. You can stuff them with just about anything and get very creative. I often use cream cheese with grated orange peel, sweetened ever-so-slightly with some XXX sugar. I split the larger dates in two, fill with the cheese, then roll in toasted pecan pieces. I dip some half-way in melted dark chocolate (with or without nuts). For savory, I use goat cheese mixed with fresh mint...a quick zest of lemon on top works well with the savory ones. I keep the ingredients on hand for the entire season; you can whip up a batch in a few minutes when you get some holiday drop-ins.

Mil gracias!

Shel, please post the Meyer lemon panna cotta recipe (I have a tree full of Meyers). I'm leaning towards this tart recipe that has sliced Meyer lemons on top. Have not worked with Meyers before but have read they are thinner skinned than regular lemons and hopefully their skin is tender enough to use this way. http://www.marthastewart.com/857659/rustic-meyer-lemon-tart

We moved to a home in FL this year, and the Meyer lemon trees in the yard are ripe. I've googled recipes but have never used Meyers before. Anyone have a recipe they've used before and liked?

I have not seen the updated version "Essentials.." so cannot compare. The original version is a good read. I had the pleasure of having lunch with Ms. Kennedy a few years ago in connection with a small gathering for a book-signing in a private home (I was living in Mexico at the time and writing a recipe column in an expat publication). Her (then) new book was Oaxaca Al Gusto. I have the Spanish language version and it is delightful, especially since we traveled to Oaxaca on 3 occasions and find that Mexican cuisine to be the most interesting. It is available in English, of course.