TrishCT

I've never taken classes at The Silo, so I wouldn't know how they are. Hands on classes are better in my opinion as well. When I teach I always do them that way. More fun for my students and we can make more good eats.

As I stated in the thread on 2 Buck Chuck, my fave inexpensive wine right now is Yellow Tail Shiraz. I keep several bottles on hand and I have given it, unabashedly, as a hostess gift on several occasions. It's drinkable on its own and goes well with food. YT seems to have tapped into a good strategy--decent product, priced reasonably.

Save the Schramsberg Demi for dessert during the Superbowl. The Eagles victory will be quite sweet as well... GO EAGLES! From Philly, Katie Sorry, Katie... Better luck next year.... As for the Pats, don't know how we'll do in warm weather... But looks like I get to open up some more sparklers in 2 weeks!

Hello. Welcome. May I make a humble suggestion... You won't get a better burger deal pricewise in the city than at Peter Luger's ($5.95 last I knew unless the price went up) so order the burgers....However why not order one "Steak for 2" for the whole table to share? (I don't know the current price--I think around $60? Someone help!) If you divvy the price by everyone in your party it won't be so bad and you won't be deprived of an orgiastic porterhouse experience.

The Lemon Coolers are quite good! Just ate a few. For those that care, they have 130 calories for 5 cookies and no cholesterol. Mild lemon flavor, nice crunchy little things. I still think Samoas rule...but I have to behave...

Joe Franklin is like Walter Brennan, even when he wasn't old, he was old.

My order just arrived this week- Samoas (kids), Thin Mints (husband curmudgeon) and the new Lemon Cooler ones (me, trying to behave)... Will report back on the lemon ones.

This is the Chocolate Eclair Cake I mentioned previously.

My saintly curmudgeon is letting me unleash the sparklers! Last night we enjoyed the Pinon Vouvray Spark Petilla Sec, 1996. This one was recommended by Mike Gibson at Chelsea Wine Vault. It was playful and had a smooth finish. It also had some nice fruitiness which I enjoy. A few days ago we opened up a bottle of Furst von Metternich Riesling Sekt, which we received from a german friend as a Christmas present. This was fairly dry and acidic and went well with a chicken dinner. I have two of the orginial seven left: Champagne Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose' Schramsberg Cremant Demi Sec, Vintage 2000 I would love to open the Billecart at halftime during the Super Bowl on Feb 1st, fingers crossed for the Patriots...

Alacarte, this one looks good also: White & Dark Chocolate Icebox Cake

O.K. I'll get the ball rolling on the challenge. I checked out some of NobodyDoesLike Sandra Lee's recipes from the Food Network site and I am going to make one tomorrow-- the Candied Walnut Butter Salad. I chose it because I only have to buy some prebottled Asian dressing. I have the rest of the ingredients in stock: sugar, orange-tangerine juice, walnuts, cinnamon, lettuce, canned mandarin orange segments and red onion. Before you accuse me of flying under the radar, let me say that this salad was not my first choice. I was going to make something else. My only requirements were that my family would eat it (I don't like wasting food), and that I wouldn't be too tempted to doctor it up, that I would make it exactly as Sandra wrote it. Unfortunately these 2 simple rules eliminated the following: Frosty Lemon Chiffon Pie...Me love lemons, me buy lemons year round, would move to Florida just to lovingly tend to my own lemon tree... Let's see the ingredients...jarred lemon curd/instant lemon pudding/cool whip .. NO fresh lemons... Sorry I would be too tempted to scrape some fresh rind into this.... Pan Fried Dumplings... Mmmmm we love dumplings in this household!! Let's see... the main ingredient is a 14 ounce can of chow mein vegetables, rinsed and drained...BLECCH! Beefy Stew... So cold out... A nice hot stew sounds wonderful! Drum Roll please... The main ingredients are 1 1/2 lbs of CUBE steak and a 24 ounce jar of country vegetable soup.... Them is NOT eats!! Wonton Napoleons... Love wontons, love cooking with them, so lesseeee... Fry the wontons...Yep, yep can do that! And layer them with.... COOL WHIP! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! So its the salad for me... for those braver amongst us...godspeed!

Haven't tried 2 Buck Chuck yet, but the publicity is piquing my curiosity... Currently my fave low priced wine is Yellow Tail Shiraz ($3.99 a bottle on sale, $4.99 regular priced). Ever since that report about the expert wine testing where white wine with food coloring beat out distinguished red wines...I don't judge a wine by price or prestige... Subjective good taste, drinkability AND lack of headache is what counts to me.

Pretty sad when "cheating" means using fresh, natural, non-processed, non-preserved food.

Money is a bribe, a trip to Paris is a bribe, a few morsels of your wares...is just down right neighborly.

Bring samples.

I can think of 2 simple ice box desserts, though I hesitate to call them cakes per se: There's a confection known as Chocolate Eclair Cake... graham crakers, vanilla pudding, whipped cream, chocolate.... And, Angelic Chocolate Dessert.... Angel food cake torn asunder in a simple chocolate mousselike froth.... If these are what you have in mind I'll post the recipes...

Sadly, the Stew Leonard's dude is dressed like a cow... Why Fat Guy picked him to ask about steak is beyond me... Would you ask Goofy how the cabernet is at California Grill...?

Thanks Ludja, yes they should be gentians. I got the avatar from a public domain clip art page when I searched under that flower name. I have a fondness for blue, as did one of my favorite authors, D. H. Lawrence, who expressed his enchantment by gentians when he wrote, " Oh, what in you can answer to this blueness?"

Some of my faves have been mentioned--Big Night, Babette's Feast... For dessert-Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...

Sammy, I have bought the porterhouses at SL previously at the $4.99/lb price, and they aren't deceptive about them. The price is for pre-packaged steaks in the display cases, not for the ones freshly cut by the butcher. As for tenderloins, yes usually SL lists a per pound price for a whole tenderloin prior to trimming so that is a bit tricky and may be confusing to the consumer. But the porterhouse price is what it is. Is it Lobel/Luger's quality...nope. But if you have a hankering for steak it might be worth stocking up the freezer with a few.

I never knew that was called 'Diplomat Cream.' For BCP I usually make the traditional vanilla cream filling, but on occasion the Diplomat Cream makes a pleasant variation. Larn somethin' new every day.

Pssst... Porterhouse... $4.99/lb at Stew Leonard's this week.

By george, I'm going to try this next time! Much thanks! Edited to add: Thanks Dave for that link!

On another thread, I can't recall what it was called, several of us posted Boston Cream Pie recipes. Mine might also be in the recipe archives...not sure. I use a simple vanilla custard filling (which can be enriched with some whipped cream folded in, if desired.) A Creme Anglaise will be too thin, and bavarian cream is...just wrong... nothing bad about it, it's just not the filling for a traditional BCP. As far as your mult-layer verson, just a few notes of caution... For a traditional cake, usually just one layer of cake is split in half and filled. That way the BCP isn't too cakey. Because the filling is kinda squishy until it firms again in the fridge, making a tall BCP may prove a bit unwieldy. My best advice is to make several short cakes. Also, I recommend a delicious choclate ganache for the icing. Hope you can find that old thread and recipes... a lot of good input from some terrific bakers on it.

Speaking as an ordinary consumer not especially sophisticated in wines, ratings mean squat to me. You have to be observant in a liquor/wine store. Sometimes there is a rave review and high rating posted in front of a wine display, but that wine is from a different year than the specific wine the review is rating. (I have brought this to the vendor's attention in the past only to be told "The year we are carrying is just as good...if not BETTER!" Maybe, maybe not... I don't know.) After trying several wines with so-called "Wine Spectator" high ratings (I bought cases years ago from Geerlings & Wade) I realized my tastes and those of these critics really didn't mesh, especially on characteristics such as body.