Thanks for the Crepes

GlorifiedRice, What were the ingredients of TJ's maple water and how much did it cost; where did you find it in the store? It sounds pathetic and expensive if your aim is to make maple syrup, but for someone like me who has very fond memories of stealing ice-cold and very lightly sweet maple sap out of buckets under the taps, this might be a good product.

mm84321, I also would love more info on your chicken roasted in hay. It looks beautiful, as all your photos do, of course, but what is the purpose of the hay?

I'm pretty much an eat anything person, but have my limits. Recently I have been making chili cheese hot dogs, in fact we had them for dinner tonight with some sliced strawberries. I've been buying Hebrew National brand kosher beef hot dogs, and good quality rolls. I couldn't eat hot dogs or bologna for many years because they were used too much to feed me while I was a kid to keep the food budget down. They were not made from the top quality and more expensive ingredients I now use. I don't enjoy them a whole lot, but my husband loves chili cheese dogs, and I do enjoy being able to please him without cooking two separate meals, so I eat them anyway. I add chopped raw onion and jalapeno pepper with the seeds to mine, and I'm okay with it, if not over the moon like he is, but it brings me pleasure to see his own. One of the worst scenarios in developing eating disorders or intolerance and control issues with children IMO is to force them to eat things they do not want to put in their bodies. That seems to be a definite control issue. I remember being forced to eat hot tamales. We were in San Diego at the time, so they were very hot. Now, I love spicy foods, and mourn the fact that after sixteen years of trying to educate my husband's palate his heat tolerance is only a little higher than it was when I first started cooking for him. I also got into battles about whole wheat bread as a kid. I love it now, but this kind of traumatic experience will stick with people to the grave. Parents, please don't force feed your kids. It's just a very bad idea. It's just no fun to cook for people who are too critical or picky. Try to get creative, and you get shot down every time. I'm lucky that I usually cook for my husband, who's not picky at all except for heat (capsaicin) level. He also was initially resistant to a vegetarian meal, but is getting more tolerant over the years. I love to please people I cook for and when my niece and nephew come to eat I have asked them to make lists of what they'd like to see on the menu. I still keep these lists to draw from every time they come. My nephew once said after eating a clam pizza modeled after Pepe's in New Haven CT, "Anyone who can pull off a clam pizza must be a really good cook."

I just thought of another appetizer I've made. You can get cans of artichoke "bottoms" which are the heart with the stems cut off, already trimmed and choke removed. The brand I use is Reese and it's distributed by World Finer Foods out of Bloomfield, NJ. It's a product of Spain. Ingredients are only artichoke bottoms, water, salt and citric acid. They seem expensive, maybe at first, but considering you get about six pieces in a 14 oz. can, if you compare the price to cleaning your own artichokes from raw it turns out to be a lot more cost effective. That's even before you consider the labor savings of cleaning enough artichokes down to cups for stuffed appetizers for as many people as you want to serve. These also offer the advantage of being gluten free, vegetarian and they can stand up to moister fillings that might make a wheat or other bread style cup soggy.

I too recently got a couple limes that were small, mealy and so dry I couldn't get but a few drops of juice out of the first one I tried. After I cut the second in half and found it in the same condition, I threw it out and used the last lime from the bottom of the produce drawer that was so old it had turned yellow on the outside, but it had plenty of juice for my Coronas. This drought in our major agricultural areas could potentially have a horrible impact on all of us who eat. It won't be just a few almond and cattle farmers going bankrupt or forgoing limes in your cocktail. I really, really hope we get some rain out there soon.

David, Hi, and welcome to eGullet! Yes, I know about getting so spoiled with your own good cooking that restaurants can be a disappointment. It's hard to get freshly cooked food, hot plates, so on and so on. Fortunately, I have one restaurant in my area that lives up to even my standards very consistently, and HUGE bonus, it's not even expensive! I very much look forward to hearing about your life and cooking and shopping for food ingredients in Sweden. This is, to my knowledge, the best place in existence to hone your cooking skills.

gsevelle, I can get small fluted phyllo cups premade at my grocery in the freezer case that are not that expensive, about $1.99 for 12 of them. They're sold right next to the packages of sheeted phyllo. You want to use a drier filling, like squeezed garlic spinach with feta and dill, and cook the shells about 3 minutes before filling. They are free-standing on a baking sheet before even before the first cook. I have also used duxelles to fill these shells. Just make sure the filling is not so wet that it will make your shells soggy. You could, of course make these cheaper using the sheets of phyllo, but if you are like me, the air will turn blue before you are finished with enough cups to feed 50-100 people. I also don't think they would be as pretty even if you have small fluted pans.

Eighty percent? That was the surprise to me. I had no idea it would be that high, and I do pay attention. I guess I'm sort of isolated in my small social circle, but this information is providing a lot of insight into why it remains so small.

Smithy, The estate sale home sounds just lovely to me. That was a heartwarming story about your brief encounter with the granddaughter. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Goodness, it is a surprise to me! Apparently, I have overestimated the average intelligence of Americans. To find this article in the Washington Post (one of my favorite crossword sites) and a venerated publication, instead of a tabloid, really erodes my faith in humanity further than it already was. It looks like we'll never get GMO labeling now, which many of us, including me, want. The agribusiness lobbies are already so powerful, and this is all the fuel they need to demonstrate how stupid we voters are.

liuzhou, Thanks for sharing your pizza from China. I'm always fascinated by your posts about a place, that at this point in my life, I'll probably not visit in person. Anything can happen, I know. I love sweet corn and adore pizza, but not together! God speed on getting your home together again. Moving house is right up there with death of a loved one on the psychological stress scale. I sympathize. I would eat a "pizza" made of a crispy flour tortilla with chili, onions, corn, avocado and cilantro topped with queso fresco. I put a pork butt into the crock pot for dinner tonight with some NC vinegar-based BBQ sauce so we can have it for dinner tomorrow. I used the recipe for the sauce I always use, from the Mason's fund-raisers.

JoNorvelleWalker, Whenever our homegrown corn came in that's what we had for dinner, with nothing else but butter and salt, several ears apiece. I looked forward to the harvest, and have fond memories of these dinners that to some would be a deprivation, but to us were a celebratory feast. Thanks for bringing them back.

In my research on this dish, I found a now closed restaurant in (of all places) Glendale, AZ, that used to have it on the menu. There's still discussion of the dish in English and photos of it being flambeed along with the array of sauces and wild rice that were served with it there. I have no idea if this is representative of how it's traditionally served in France. http://www.yelp.com/biz/le-chalet-glendale-2 You'll need to use your browser's "find" function to cut to the chase on the discussion of "la potence" in the 198 reviews. I don't know of any shortcuts to go to directly to the photos of it in 149 of them. Most of the photos are of crepes, but there are lots of the spectacular La Potense they used to serve, and IMO photos of crepes aren't bad at all. I think the name derives from the meat being presented hung suspended from a hook before being flambeed tableside. This is a very interesting dish I had never heard of either; it sounds delicious; and I sincerely hope the OP can find it to share with his girlfriend. There are very few English-speaking sites with much to say on it, but it was very interesting finding out about this French specialty. As others have said, it's a rarity in the English world. Here's another link to Google images of "la potence flambee" (thanks djyee100) because googling for just "la potence" only brought up a lot of creepy images of actual gallows with only a few images of this dish in the focus of this topic. https://www.google.com/search?q=la+potence+flambee+images&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-79hVcrIGcOayASFsYHgBA&ved=0CCAQsAQ

Nice breakfast Anna N. Nobody could accuse you of getting into a rut with your breakfast foods, for sure. Is that aspic cubes on top?

Hey there, DeliGirl, Thank you so much for coming back to this site to update your experiences. I'm sorry you went through such an ordeal with the talech vendor, but your documentation of it will help the next people who Google for POS advice. I'm so glad you found a system, that while not ideal, fulfills your needs and keeps your business cranking. Much success and best regards!

ElainaA and Anna N, My mom used the same exact quote as your mother and grandmother, respectively, and my mom was a Registered Nurse, but also a Virginia farm girl. Still, anything that helps keep a clean kitchen work area including a very handy vacuum, is A-OK in my book. I accidentally spilled some cornmeal on the thick area rug in front of my sink and main food prep area the other day, and had to drag out the heavy vacuum while trying to bread fish to go into hot oil. Anything that could have expedited that task would have been welcome. I was contending with keeping the oil hot enough to fry without causing a flash fire during this cleanup detail.

Hassouni, I have a bag of rice in the fridge I've cooked a couple of times. The only English on the bag (thus all I can decipher) is "Thai Sweet Rice" plus nutrition label and "Product of Thailand." It's distributed by the Korean company Rhee Bros. I cook it by soaking first according to instructions I found online, then use the pasta method in a lot of water with salt, then drain. It comes out non-sticky, nutty, chewy with a texture and flavor similar to wild rice, but a rich deep purple color. I highly recommend it for savory applications which are the only ones I've tried it in. It may cook up a lot stickier with another cooking method, but I have no experience with that. It does have substantial bran, so I expect it could never be as cohesive as say white sushi rice. It looks like the second image (in the round white bowl) in this Google link for "Forbidden Rice" before cooking: https://www.google.com/search?q=forbidden+rice&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=thJcVdqPFMmlyASL5oPICQ&ved=0CI0BEIke&dpr=1.75 It looks like Naftal may well have found a product that has the characteristics you desire. PS Just noticed that there's an image of sushi that appears on the link in the first row of images before you get to the second row that actually pertain to Forbidden Rice per se. It may cook up sticky enough for that application with a method aimed at it. That sushi looks a bit spiky to me, though. Apparently this rice is used for it though.

Anna N, That spinach and scrambled egg breakfast looks good! I used to eat poke salad fixed like that in the traditional Louisiana way before discovering that poke salad can be poisonous if the leaves are allowed to mature too much. Who knows how much is too much? The berries always are poisonous. Since that time, it's been spinach all the way, but I still call it poke salad when served. I usually add either sauteed garlic or onion and mix it up on the cheeses. It's a delicious, economical and very nutritious dish that I've loved for a long time, and eat at any time of the day.

Dejah, All of the food looks particularly good for your birthday spread. Congratulations on being able to afford to feed your family and grandson and granddaughter wild Alaskan king crab legs. They are unparalleled when they fit the budget, no question. Not only are they delicious beyond comprehension, but did you ever check out the incredible nutrition on them? It makes them even easier to justify in the food outlay. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4160/2 I have a question about your beautiful avocado rolls? How do you achieve that dark green and light green affect on the wrap? You rarely see that even in the best sushi bars here. It's really attractive. PS: The neighbor brought me a piece of ice cream cake tonight (not homemade). I scarfed it down anyway, but the layers did not taste like they were supposed to. The white ice cream had NO vanilla. The brown ice cream layer tasted only faintly of chocolate. The brown cookie-textured layer between them tasted of no chocolate at all. I ate it anyway because I've been dieting, and was starved for a sweet "treat". Sure wish I'd spent the calories on something better. But I would have happily scarfed up a piece of your rhubarb pie with no regrets at all!

Thanks for sharing this with us, LukyJess. I'm absolutely sure I'm not the only one fascinated by your reports and photography of your travels. The link to the Oatmeal site didn't work for me, and since I'd been there before, (possibly led there by one of huiray's posts here on eating in China) I wanted to put a working one so folks who are interested could find out more about these intriguing and apparently delicious animals: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp It led me to find a bunch of different sites on mantis shrimp, because some of the claims were quite incredible, but I found out everything said in the comic is true. I also eventually found a site where someone had videoed the deployment of the mantis shrimp's armament.

Josh71, This is how I do it: Boil the 1-1/2 pound lobsters I can usually get for six minutes, meanwhile they will cook more. Grab them with BBQ tongs out of the seasoned boiling liquid, and let them cool off a bit, but not too much. Grab them again with paper towels and do the surgery with the other hand. Clean out the thorax with a spoon, and I have always saved the tomalley and the roe from females for stuffing, although weedy's recent post about lobster liver has taken me back a bit and making me wonder about even the best roe I have ever had? But anyway, you scoop and clean out the thorax, the section between the head and the tail, and fill it with your already prepared stuffing, stirring in roe or tomalley or not as we learn about recent health hazards. Take your knife, and split your lobters' tails down the center. Paint everything with butter, or the garlic butter you mentioned. Then pop them under the broiler which has been heated to screaming hot, as hot as you can get it. Watch it closely, as with anything under the broiler. I think you can have good results with this technique. You won't need a torch.

Mmmkay jrshaul, For one thing, the very, very high sugar content of the recipe will make it more likely to burn, but for goodness sakes, would make it cloying even before frosting or icing or glaze. I'm sorry to say this, and don't mean to be disrespectful in any way at all, especially since you said it's from your, I'm sure revered mom. but that recipe is bound to fail. Just sayin'. Again, any good cake recipe will work with a whisk or, an electric hand mixer.

Josh71, Lobsters have no "hard bones", just an external carapace that can be quite daunting with bare hands, but it cannot stand up to any decent sharp knife. I still stand by my advice to use the broiler to get your desired Maillard reaction. But good luck to you!

Mercy, huiray, You are slaying me with your excellent renditions of clam pasta!

jrshaul, I used to make cakes with nothing but a whisk when I was younger, and before I was birthday gifted with a hand-held Sunbeam mixer in the late 80's that I still use to this day. I got this because I made a lot of the family's BD cakes, and happened to mention I didn't have an electric mixer. It's absolutely possible to make great cakes without any electrical equipment at all, after all they were made many, many centuries before lots of us had electricity, but if you have a hand-held, it's even very easy. You don't need a special recipe, just a whisk and some effort, or a hand mixer (much cheaper than a stand) works just fine.