Cleo

I was planning to try the On The Fence Brownies this past weekend to bring to a barbecue. I had all of the ingredients, but since I don't bake very often, I wasn't sure if I could use plain old Nestle cocoa, which is what I had. The recipe calls for Dutch-processed cocoa. So I Googled it and found this explanation and figured that I better get the Dutch-processed cocoa. The thing is that I went to 4 different supermarkets (including Whole Foods) and I couldn't find Dutch-processed cocoa; they only had natural unsweetened (Hershey's and Nestle although Whole Foods did have more brands available). Now this may be a stupid question, but is Dutch-processed cocoa hard to find for some reason? And if they don't have it in Whole Foods, where would I find it? I ended up making the Baker's One Bowl brownies which were good, but I was looking forward to trying a new kind for comparison.

I make an easy, quick and delicious mu shu and I buy the Dole coleslaw mix in the bag. Much easier than hauling out my food processor (it stays in the box in the closet) and shredding it myself.

I work full time and have a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 month old, so Fresh Direct saves me a lot of time and effort. We get a delivery once a week, usually on Sunday mornings. We get many of the basics like soda, milk, eggs and plenty of other packaged stuff, including Earth's Best baby food. I've always been happy with their meat too (mostly chicken). I get some produce from them, but not all. For certain things like baby carrots, grapes, cauliflower, bananas and a bunch of other stuff, I've always been pleased. I rarely order tomatoes or corn on the cob from them (other than grape tomatoes) because I like to pick that out myself. Then for certain other produce items, I go to Whole Foods in the TWC, since it's by my office and I can go during lunch. Yes, it's expensive, but I love their fruit. Then, every so often I'll take the car and go to Target in Jersey City, right through the Holland Tunnel. We used to go to Costco a lot, but once I started going to Target for things like paper towels and detergents, I decided that I like it better than Costco. That Target also has a lot of packaged and frozen items that they don't have at Fresh Direct. Every once in a while I will go to Fairway in Brooklyn. Sometimes I just need a change of scenery and if I go early on a weekend, I enjoy that store. We're moving to Scarsdale at the end of June and I have to say that I'm excited to be near Stew Leonards, but it's still not one stop shopping. Not sure if I will actually use them (I can't imagine that I will) but Fresh Direct apparently delivers to Scarsdale.

We have a friend who is a chef. The first time he came to our place was on Super Bowl Sunday a few years ago. Let me tell you, he enjoyed those pigs in a blanket just as much as everyone else! But I was surprised and flattered when he asked for my recipe for this eggplant/olive dip that I made. He's really a very down to earth guy (or maybe he was just being nice!).

I'd get a 5 1/2 qt. round or a 5 qt. oval. They're big enough, but not too big.

Look for sales on-line. Check e-bay. Others have found pieces at Marshall's or TJ Maxx. They are expensive, and worth it in my opinion, but if you're flexible on color you don't have to pay full price.

I love it!

They are definitely better the next day. I made the above brownies on Friday, and served them to my friends on Saturday. There are still a few on my counter in a tupperware and they were just as good last night (Monday) as they were on Saturday.

This past weekend I made the Chewy Brownies from Fine Cooking. They were great. This thing is that I'm not sure which ones I like the best! I think that I've narrowed it down to these and the One-Bowl. Next time I have a reason to make a bunch of brownies, I truly will do a side-by-side tasting. (This is my first time posting a food photo!)

I really never gave this much thought because I truly never use dish towels for drying dishes. I just think that there's something gross about the wet towels. Maybe the bacteria thing. We do, however, always have a black dish towel hanging over the oven door handle. Occasionally it will get used for picking up a pot or pan with a hot handle, but that's about it. We go through unbelieveable amounts of paper towels. Probably a roll every 2 days. But now after reading everyone's methods here, I'm sort of inclined to start using dish towels. Maybe I just never had the right kind. Plus, we live in an apartment now and only have laundry in the basement of the building, not in our apartment. So lots of dishtowels just creates more laundry. But we will soon be moving to a house and not only does it have a huge kitchen, but the laundry room is near the kitchen so the dirty towels can go right in there. Now I need to study up on the different kinds of towels that I will *need* to get...

We think there's a slim chance that we could convert to gas, but we're not exactly sure at this point. I certainly hope so!

Talk about adapting... In about 2 months, we will be moving out of NYC to a house in the suburbs. The house has a really big, beautiful kitchen which I am very excited about, but (and this is a big but) there is an electric cooktop stove. I've never really used an electric stove before -- I've always had gas. Everyone keeps saying "you'll get used to it", but I shudder at the thought. On the plus side, there is a double wall oven, which will be nice for entertaining and holidays.

What about an apricot chicken? I have a very easy recipe if you'd like...

Don't get me wrong. Rarely will I ever turn away any brownie. But I can't seem to find a "go to" recipe that I LOVE. Maybe I don't even know what I'm looking for, but trust me, I will know it when I find it. Also, I think I did something wrong when I made the Outrageous Brownies, because they never really firmed up in the pan. I literally had to scoop everything out and dump it in the trash. A rare occasion in my house, when a batch of cooked brownies goes straight into the trash! Maybe at some point I need to do a side by side tasting of the different ones that people like in this thread (oh yeah, just what I need!)

I'm not a huge baker, but I have been on a quest for the perfect brownie for quite some time. To me, a brownie should be very chocolatey, dense, chewy with nice glossy top. Definitely not cake-like (although I've been know to eat those too). Nuts I can take or leave, but I generally don't add them when I am in charge. Recently I've made: Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies Katherine Hepburn's Baker's One Bowl Brownies Nick Malgieri Supernatural Brownies Believe it or not, the ones that I liked the best are the Baker's One Bowl. Next up on my list is to be the Fine Cooking/Chewy Brownies. Sounds like those might just have them all beat. Oh, and I don't like blondies or cheesecake brownies.

My husband is a technology nut and video game junkie. We have a Wii (and a Playstation, and an XBox, etc....). If I know my customer, I will send him the link and he will buy it today. I'll report back.

I just bought another one, my fourth. This time a 5 1/2 qt. round in cherry red. On Ebay for $140. A present to myself!

This thread has been so helpful in the past, so now I'm wondering, once again, what's on everyone's menu for Passover this year? We're having a relatively small group at my place (7 adults and 3 children plus, of course, my 6 month old). I'm planning to make: Chicken Soup and Matzoh Balls Brisket Fricassee of Chicken with White Wine, Olives and Capers (a Patricia Wells recipe) Potato Kugelettes Spinach Souffle (from Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook) Macaroons and other desserts (tbd) The brisket and the kugelettes are definites. But I'm open for suggestions on the chicken dish and the spinach. The goal is to keep it easy and the other goal is to make a chicken dish that can cook on the stovetop rather than in the oven. I go through this every year since the brisket in a LeCreuset takes up most of the oven space to heat up. (In the late spring we are moving to a house and it has a double wall oven so next year oven space won't be an issue!)

With regard to the Tyson stuff, I don't buy the nuggets. And all of the varieties that I've bought at the regular supermarket here in Manhattan have been sort of gross. The ones that I buy are in a big bag at Costco -- the Chicken Breast Tenderloins, I think they're called. I've looked in the supermarkets and they don't seem to have this particular item. Maybe Tyson packages them for Costco only? Really, they're not so bad.

I have a 2 year old so I like to keep some chicken fingers in the freezer as well. But while I like to make as much from scratch as possible, chicken fingers isn't one of those things. I buy the frozen Tyson chicken breast tenderloins in a big bag at Costco and they're actually pretty good. When I have nothing else prepared for my daughter, I just pop one in the toaster oven and it takes less than 15 minutes to cook. If we run out of those and I don't have a chance to get out of the city to Costco, I will buy the Bell & Evans ones at Whole Foods or the Trader Joes's brand is pretty good too. Having said all that, I would think that this Barefoot Contessa recipe could be baked and then frozen, and here's another recipe for baked chicken fingers.

Definitely against. I make brisket all the time and I'm always tempted to cut with the grain, but I learned pretty quickly after ruining a few beautiful briskets to always slice against it.

I, too, live in an apartment without a grill and I make kebabs fairly often. I put them under the broiler and just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn. I use the wooden skewers, nothing fancy. I soak them in water for a little while before hand so they get a little moist, and then I wrap the ends in foil to make sure that they don't burn. Tonight we are having this Sesame Beef version, but the possibilities are endless. I've never done fish -- just chicken and beef. Usually I marinate with some kind of asian flavors, but on occasion I just use a combination of whatever I have handy -- garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, etc. In a few months we are moving to the suburbs (gasp!) and one of our first purchases for the new house will be a grill for the backyard. No more stinking up the apartment when I make steak!

Another vote for the bagel place -- it's called Bagel Buffet.

I'm pretty sure that the 7 train is not going to be running at all for the next few weeks (months?), so that could be a problem.

Not sure if lobster stuffed with crabmeat would do, but if so, my husband just had it last Sunday at Segovia in Moonachie. It's really good. I don't see stuffed shrimp on the on-line menu, but they always have a page of specials so perhaps they have that too.