chezcherie

oh, dear...

i want to play...when your hands are smelly from fish, or onion, garlic, etc. , rinse them under running water, while holding something stainless steel (a spoon is my usual weapon of choice). there is some magic--or chemical reaction--that occurs that will take the odor out, rather than just cover it up with lemon joy scent (or whatevah).

and fleur de sel....for SO much cheaper than fauchon or wherever...my mistake was "bonding" with the cashier, who looked puzzled at the vast amount of salt i was purchasing..."jolie cadeaux", i explained, at which her expression turned from puzzled to sour...some friend, bringing SALT home as gifts. (the giftees, however, were thrilled!) bon voyage.

got a wine bottle?

due to family illness and a death, we have had two traditional menu thanksgiving dinners already this month (while family members were in town). we were just going to roast a turkey breast, and go feed the homeless in the park today, but the idea of a tamale-stuffed turkey caught our fancy, so, since we feel no obligation to cling to tradition today (already "clung"), we are looking forward to seeing what this is all about! tamale-stuffed turkey, and a few hours in the park, remembering what we have to be thankful for, ought to make for a memorable thanksgiving 2005! happy turkey day to all.

i was there two years ago (sorry not to have more recent info, but at least more recent than your 10 yrs ago...) and it was still glorious. upstairs, above the men's store, which is in a separate bldg. across the street from the main GL store. the cheese, the caviar, the foie, oh my!

i own both the $200+ fancy stainless steel mandoline and the $30+ plastic Benriner....I nearly always reach (carfully--that's sharp!) for the Benriner....unless I need to adjust the thickness beyond the two "thick" or "thin" slicing settings, the plastic jobbie works great, is easier to clean, and has a better hand guard than the fancy-shmancy one.

i love these...my favorite way to prepare them is to (yes, peel them..sigh) simmer them until tender in hard cider (pear or apple). the cider will reduce down to a glaze, and i finish with a touch of butter and a shot of balsamic or raspberry vinegar...MUST be served in a glass bowl, because of jewel-like properties! gooo--oo---orgeous!

Just got gifted with about 40 volumes. haven't even looked in the boxes yet, but i'm hoping to spend a rainy weekend poring over them....where should i start? do you have the whole set? (how many volumes in the "whole set"?) i've heard and read that folks really prize these, so i'm excited to know what's great. thanks!

camellia brand red beans.

i swear by penzeys. penzeys clickety

for the pate choux--sauteed mushrooms, bound with mascarpone, cream cheese or creme fraiche. for the crepes, stack and fill between layers with dulce de leche...do ahead, no individual attendtion required!

i think i may have seen these, or something similar at whole foods. and while $16 seems steep for food coloring, wouldn't it last just about forever? the kid will have bdays for years to come...and maybe siblings with similar restrictions. seems like a good investment for a grandpa to make!

i do not like chunks of anything in my drink. i do not like them, sam i am. no boba. no cookies 'n' cream whatevah. no chunks. no, no, no. drinks is smooth, not chunky. (but that's just me...)

here's what i know--very soon after katrina, i noticed that emeril's organization had a blurb on their corporate website (a) trying to locate their people to verify that they were safe, (b) letting salaried employees know that their paychecks had been direct-deposited, or if no direct-deposit, for them to call with an address and they'd be sent, and © letting hourly employees know that the records of hours worked had been destroyed, so everyone had been paid for a full 40 hours, and the checks had been deposited, or to call, blah, blah... it's a small thing, but it was in place very quickly, when most others were still scrambling. i think it shows that they are doing the right thing, and have their employees in mind. i personally don't care for the emeril schtick, but i have heard, from people i respect, that he's a decent guy, and that the schtick is just schtick. that schtick makes gazillions of bucks, and my guess is that the more he can keep working (and i'm sure his schedule is grueling), the better able to do some good he'll be...

tiny trapeze makes vegan marshmallows clickety apparently they are out of stock online, but there are a lot of stores that carry them.

your colleague might find this diary of a boot camp attendee interesting: http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/...9900/59827.html http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/...9900/59843.html http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/...9900/59870.html worth a read, maybe...

oh good lord, that sounds so good right now....i see that those boys will need additional knife practice next week, so i can try out all these ideas. thanks for getting me out of my sliced vs. chopped rut.

fried oysters with blue cheese at (R.I.P?) uglesich's in new orleans. love raw oysters, don't care for cooked ones. love le fromage bleu, but with oysters? well, damn if it wasn't ethereal. also a good lesson for me, miss "i can taste it in my mind's palate and know if it works"...the dish humbled me...i'm much more open to trying before judging because of those deep-fried beauties.

all of these are great suggestions---i think of many of the suggestions as calling for sliced, rather than chopped onions--especially bhajis and onion soup. i guess i need to get out of my preconcieved onion rut. the indian suggestions with ginger, garlic and kidney beans got my mouth watering...

taught knife skills to a gaggle of teenaged boys this week. they produced some tears, and a boatload of mirepoix. used some for tortilla soup, mexican rice, etc., but i have a cambro full of (fairly uniformly) chopped onion. somehow, caramelizing chopped onion seems weird to me---that's for onion slices, non? but i suppose i could try that.... anybody got a great use for these? i've done knife skills classes many times before, but i can't honestly recall what we've done with the resulting product... suggestions gratefully entertained.

depending on which end of l.a--try: surfas in culver city click or nicole's gourmet imports in south pasadena click i'm pretty sure i've seen it both places, but not all the time.

used to visit my knife guy 2x per year. got a spyderco triangle goody for christmas last year...haven't seen cy since. sharpening clickety

yes, i have a gadget for the oven, and i frequently do the beer-can chicken thing on the grill (also a vertical method). both seem to result in a moist bird, with crisper skin than a horizontally roasted bird. also cooks faster. (altho, most of the time when i roast a chicken now, i spatchcock it, which accomplishes the same goals of crispy skin and faster roasting time...)