marie-louise

I agree-the Atlas is sturdy. I had one for about 20 yesrs. If you own a Kitchen Aid mixer & want to spend a little more, buy the pasta ROLLER attachment (not the extruder attachment). I bought one a few years ago. It is well-built. I like having both hands free to guide the dough. Somehow I always felt like I needed an extra hand w/ the Atlas (I'm left-handed, and that was part of it-you use your right hand to guide the dough. That didn't feel quite right.) I didn't notice any difference in quality of the finished pasta between the two machines.

I certainly cherish my set-painstakingly collected one book at a time. Even better-why don't they publish them as they were, but with a sequel chapter explaining how life has (and hasn't) changed since the book was written. I'd love to know if Germans still pick their employer based on the food, or if French women still get to go home from work and cook a two-hour multi-course lunch for their family, etc....

Cooking grounds me. When I'm too busy at work, when I'm sad, when I have free time-it doesn't seem to matter. It is always good for my soul. The comments about loss made me think of this article about Laurie Colwin. http://www.thefoodmaven.com/diary/archives/00000212.html I worked with the Janice Bracken in this story, and FYI-this is a good cake recipe.

Sigh.. I thought maybe I just hadn't found it yet. I did find a great place to stay, though. The Packard House. It recently got written up San Francisco Magazine. It is SO refreshing to stay in a B&B without all that Victorian clutter everywhere. We stayed in the Chapman Point room -you can see the ocean from the bed. http://www.packardhouse.com/ I like the botanical gardens, too. And the beach in town, and the headlands walk. And a number of hikes in the state parks in the area.

I think it may have changed hands a while back-or at the wife left a while ago (divirce.) Here's my review from another thread: My entree was a muddled mess of way too many flavors-it was some sort of vegetarian Mexican stuffed peppers and polenta number-and worst of all, it had pinto beans that were so underdone that they were crunchy. Yuck!!! My husband had greasy duck with a too-sweet sauce. The hostess was rude (we arrived at 8:27 for our 8:30 reservation and she had the nerve to look down at her watch and then rudely tell us to sit down on a bench because our table wasn't ready. The bench was in full view of many empty, set tables.) We then got handed a ticket and sent down a dark path-unescorted- and up some stairs to their other room, which might have a nice view during the day, but was just a cramped little room at night. The waitress was oddly perky in a too-much-caffeine sort of way. It was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in a long time!

Yes, it was batter that leaked out of that (10-year old) Kaiser springform pan that I threw away in disgust. I was making Patricia Well's Apple Lady Cake recipe. I wrapped the pan in foil so it didn't make a mess of my oven, but the batter still leaked into the seam and out onto the foil. Has anyone had any problems with the removable bottom pans leaking? I bake a few times a year, so IF they work, it seems like a more fool-proof solution than learning how to unmold things out of a regular pan. (At least for an occasional baker like myself.)

I've yet to have a great meal around Mendocino, unless you count Victorian Gardens about 20 minutes south of there (it is in Irish Beach). It would be very inappropriate to take your child there. I had a terrible meal at Cafe Beaujolais a few months ago. Moosse's Cafe is a pleasant place to eat dinner-not great, but pleasant. I would think you'd feel comfortable taking your child there. There are also some nice fish places in Noyo Harbor-children would be fine there. I've had a handful of nice-but again, not great-meals in Abion River Inn. There were lots of older children running around when I ate there, but didn't notice any small children. I'd call & ask. I haven't eaten at your other choices.

There is a savor to a personally handmade book that is the same as the savor of a personally handmade meal. I find the idea completely entrancing. If there is just one to make, and you have the time and desire to do so...well. Wow. Yes. ← It depends on your handwriting! My handwriting is like my mother's: completely illegible! I do have her recipe box, but for the life of me I cannot decipher many of the recipes!!! Fortunately, my dad typed some of them onto cards for her. Seriously-a handwritten book would be a treasure.

Your comments reminded me of several things about my own cookbook. I started mine over 17 years ago, in the dark ages of word processing. Fortunately, I happened to use Word. I printed the first version on tractor feed index cards that never got quite flat again from their trek through the printer! I initially created mine because I was dividing my time between my home and a little beach house, and quickly discovered that I couldn't remember to bring all the right hand-written recipe cards or cookbooks with me every week. Buying two copies of every cookbook seemed out of the question, so I decided to make electronic copies of my favorite recipes. I now have over 500 Word documents. Yes, it took a long time. Like any other big task, it helps to break it into smaller tasks. Do all your favorite Thanksgivng side dishes and Christmas cookies this year. Next spring write out a few of your favorite salads. Or, so a dozen or two family favorites for presents. (There's no reason you can't give a binder and a dozen recipes this year, with the promise of another handful of recipes as future presents.) You'll feel a sense of accomplishment at getting each section done. Keep it up and before long you will have an entire cookbook. I'm also really glad that mine is in Word because I've never had to retype anything. I've updated the format from index card size to 8x11, and every now and again I've updated the format using the style sheets, but just by luck, I chose a program that's still available. Word is obviously not your only choice, but I'd be cautious of using a product that isn't an industry standard. You only want to type these things once! If I didn't say this before-mine are in those plastic page protectors. I buy them in boxes of 100 at the office store so they are not too expensive.

Thanks Squeat! I use my local Safeway like most people use Costco-to stock up on bulk items. I'll buy some next time I go. On a related tangent, how do you prepare them? Someone mentioned frying them; that seems like too much work to me. I do think Tater Tots are much better if they are very crisp. I use a black steel pan like these sold at Bridge: http://www.bridgekitchenware.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=36 These pans get things much crisper than an aluminum pan (they don't work at all for something like a cookie.) I also use the convection setting without lowering the recommended temperature. I think I always coook them for longer, too-I like them really brown. Don't crowd the pan, and toss w/ Kosher salt as soon as they come out. Mmmmm... I eat Tater Tots a few times a year. I like serving them with a fried egg sandwich (on Acme sourdough toast) for dinner. I never thought about serving them as a side dish with something more "formal", like Beef Bourgignon. This opens up all sorts of chances to eat them!

Here's a nice looking binder! http://www.kolo.com/shop/albums/default.as...em=como&pg=pick (I'd spray it w/ ScotchGuard) One version of my cookbook was one of those cheap binders w/ a pocket meant to hold to hold a printed piece of paper. I had a little wallpaper left over from my last home's kitchen, so I slipped it in the fromt & spine pocket. Every time I picked it up I thought of my old home...

My Kaiser springform pan has leaked on me for the last time. I threw it away in disgust. I was thinking of getting a removable bottom pan to replace it. Is there any reason at all to buy a springform pan versus a removable bottom pan? Is there anything I just won't be able to bake without owning a springform pan? Springform pans are expensive, and I rarely bake.

Would it be much trouble to add these measurements to that floor plan you made before? I'm thinking you can have a nice L-shaped cabinet around your stove if you rotate it. 30-inches is a pretty shallow table-you will be getting your glasses confused! I think that's a perfect spot for a Hoosier cabinet someday. I don't know about Amanda fridges, but I have a GE Profile side by side that would fit in there nicely. Be sure to check the height before you buy!!! Think about a 27-inch Viking stove & a 25-inch wide single bowl stove. Not ideal, but the trade-off will be more counter space. Especially if you keep the table, it will be probably be worth it.

Google on binders to find something you find attractive. Word has something called Styles that will help you do what you want to do. (Templates are for new document layouts, and you should make one to use in the future for your new recipes.) Look through your cookbooks to find a layout you find attractive, then try and duplicate it in Word. When you get a layout you like, create "Styles" for each component. (The bullets for instructions, the title, the sub-titles, etc.) Make sure you copy each style into Normal (global template) via the Style organizer, so that when you open up each of your old recipe documents, all of your styles will appear in the style sheet lists. Highlight each section (the title, the bulleted instructions, etc.) and apply the styles to update each document. You can make outside borders around the ingredient lists (in a table with no borders in each row) and you can make all sorts of cool bullets using the symbols menu. Enjoy-

By now it should be clear. Le Creuset is addicting. Don't say we didn't warn you.

I don't know what's in it, but it gets LC cleaner than anything else. It's expensive, but you only need a teaspoon or two, so the bottle lasts forever. I don't use it every time, just when a piece gets a lot of "scuffs" from metal utensils, or seems a little discolored in general. Re: the outlets-they are all over the country. Over the years, I've bought many pieces there (that Vacaville outlet makes a nice stop mid-way along a very boring stretch of freeway). Not only do they have sales, and deeply discounted discontinued items, they have an ongoing promotion called "color of the month." Each month one of the colors is an extra 10-20% off. My LC is in several colors (a wise choice, since, except for the orange color, colors don't stay around for long). I bought it all this way-one or two pieces every time I had to go to Sacramento on business-if you call the outlet, they'll tell you what color is on sale. snowangel-next you need the size in between. Then you need both sizes of the roasting pan-nothing puts a nice crisp sear on roasted potatoes like this pan. After that, you need the flat buffet pan to make braised chicken, then your collection seems incomplete without the ovals. And so it goes... You will be collecting this stuff until your kids are in college!

I boil the stock, then turn the stock down to a simmer for the first three minutes. I like that method because I'm worried that the cold chicken might cool the stock & cause the chicken itself to spend too much time in that danger zone for bacterial growth. A few minutes at a simmer makes me feel comfortable it will stay at a nice temperature when it sits off heat for 20 minutes. I am careful to turn the heat down once the chicken's in so that it doesn't boil. I agree-that would not be a good thing.

I would consider myself a completely seasonal cook. I've lived in California all my life, so I grew up eating summer fruits and vegetables from our family friend's local roadside stand. For years, most of my food has come from local farms around the Bay Area. It comes to me via a small panel truck, not a jet. Eating asparagus and raspberries in December feels very, very wrong to me. Just because you can doesn't mean you should, at least around here. (I realize that we have more opportunity in California than almost anywhere else on the planet.) On a slight tangent, I'm always amazed at how much longer the food from the Farmer's Markets last in comparison to supermarket produce. There is a great deal of wonderful winter produce available here (but then, it barely freezes here): chard, kale, artichokes, all kinds of winter squash, Brussel sprouts, turnips, beets, celery root, the fresh fall crop of nuts, tangerines, oranges, Asian pears, apples, and many more that I am forgetting. Our Farmer's markets are open all year.

Now that I think about it, I do take them off the heat before they are "done." I do that for both grilled and sauteed boneless chicken breasts. I usually take the grilled ones off while the juices are still a little pink, but after a few minutes the juices are clear. (You know you've done it right when there still ARE juices in the chicken breast! ) I also do this for pork tenderloin-another cut of meat that turns to sawdust when overcooked. Actually, now that I really stop and think about it, I always let my meat rest for a while after cooking, and I just tent it LOOSELY with foil so it doesn't steam. (I cannot get my husband to stop wrapping the foil around the plate as if it is going in the fridge. I keep telling him to think "tent.") I do a variation on Andie's poached chicken breasts-simmer (not boil) in stock for 3 minutes, then set aside off the heat for 20 more minutes. I haven't made these as an entree in ages, but they are very good w/ a nice rich sauce on them. Here's a cut & paste of my recipe for poached chicken: 4–6 boneless chicken half breasts, skin on 6 cups chicken stock + enough water to cover chicken Bring chicken stock to a boil in a sauté pan. Add chicken breasts and simmer, not boil, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 20 minutes. Note: the poaching liquid is not salted, as that would draw flavor from the chicken. Transfer chicken breasts to a warm platter & allow to rest for 5 minutes. Remove and discard the skin, slice, and serve.

Overdoing them is indeed the kiss of death. Keeping them thick enough to get nut-brown adds flavor, but keep them an even thickness so they cook evenly. Details count in simple preparations such as this. I also grill (unbrined but marinated) boneless, skinless breasts-for about 3 minutes a side on medium indirect heat. Always juicy. PS Where is your recipe from? (in other words, who should I give credit to for mine)

I agree about the thighs-that's all I ever use for braises, but I also like these. I have no idea where I copied this from, but it works every time-the chicken is always juicy. Don't pound them too thin-mine are usually thicker than 1/4-inch. I almost always serve these w/ a little sauce; I have a master recipe for pan sauce and tons of variations. HOW TO SAUTÉ: Plan on 1 small boneless, skinless half-breast (6-8 oz.) / person. Sautéed chicken breasts should be a rich nut-brown on the outside & tender and juicy on the inside. The secret to success is high heat; not so high as to burn the fat, but pretty close. If the pan is hot enough, the chicken will take –more or less exactly– four minutes per side to cook through. Either separate the tender from the fillet, or butterfly the tender and leave it attached (it all depends on how large and thick the breast is). Place between 2 pieces of saran wrap or wax paper. Pound each piece to a uniform thickness. Dust lightly w/ flour, shaking off excess, and then sprinkle both sides w/ salt & pepper (and any other seasonings if desired.) Pat into chicken. Heat equal parts olive oil and butter until sizzling in a non-stick pan just large enough to hold the chicken breasts without crowding over medium–high heat. For two half-breasts, use about 2 teaspoons each of butter & olive oil. Sauté for 4 minutes on the first side, then turn and cook for 3–4 minutes longer on the second side. The chicken should feel firm to the touch & milky juices should appear around the tenderloin. (You can cut into one in the center w/ a knife to make sure.) Remove to a warm plate & tent loosely w/ foil while you make the sauce. You can also place the loosely covered chicken into a 200º oven.

Check out the town of Ferndale. It's only about 15 minutes south of Eureka-a fun place to stay. Are you going to be there over Memorial weekend by any chance. They have some 3-day kinetic sculpture race in all the towns in the area. Hurricane Kate's is a great place to eat in Eureka-we ate there on our 25th wedding anniversary, we like it so much. (It's cheap and casual.) That reminds me-there's lots of ideas on this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=39525 Crescent City is a dump. (The whole area around the redwoods is pretty depressed-and depressing-because the logging jobs have gone away.) There is an interesting hotel called the Requa Inn right by the redwoods. I stopped in to check it out when we were passing through last summer. It looks over the Klamath River; they cook locally caught salmon that's a few hours off the boat. Recently San Francisco Magazine did a story on places to stay and said "why doesn't anyone know about this place." There is no food worth eating between Eureka and Fort Bragg. Really. Nothing. You will starve if you do not take a picnic, and if you do not get it in Eureka you will be eating a sandwich made w/ green meat & two-week old bread from the gas station/ country store. (Been there, done that.) However, The Avenue of the Giants is a great drive. Just don't go hungry. Just south of Fort Bragg is a little fishing town called Noyo Harbor. Nice casual fish-and-chips restaurants. Fort Bragg has a good breakfast place on the main street-the name escapes me at the moment.

I can't help you too much with the cities. I've lived in or around San Francisco for 33 years. Who needs to see other cities? Seriously, knowing that seeing the cities are your priority makes planning your adventure easier. We need to recommend two-hour stopovers, not the weeklong adventures. My first recommendation, knowing that you are on a budget (and even our gas is VERY expensive out here), is to eat cheap. Making eating our wonderful ethnic foods a theme. Taco trucks, a Cheeseboard Collective pizza in Berkeley, dim sum, pho, chaat-you name it, you can eat fabulous food for $5-10./meal-and you will have lots of fun adventures seeking them out. If you must, spend some of your money one one or two fancy meals, but I think some of the very best food at any price is found at our local ethnic mom-and-pop places. I enjoyed Port Townsend, but it took a long time to get there, and it will take you all day to get to the Olympic Peninsula National Park from there. It is a very cute city but not that different than Mendocino. I'd skip it. A couple of places you will be near that I would recommend: a drive along the Columbia River and a hike all the way to the top of Multnomah Falls. That's about an hour outside Portland-so you can get there & back in an afternoon. MT. ST HELENS-you are going right by. The town of Seaview, WA is beautiful and has great food-there's an unbelievable pie shop on the main road and a place called the Ark for amazing oysters. It is across the bridge and up the road a bit from Astoria. The Oregon wine country is south of Portland. It is very pretty, but not really set up for tourism the way Napa is-very spread out and interspersed with other kinds of farms, poorly signed, and many wineries don't have tasting rooms, even by appointment. It is interesting from the perspective of seeing what a wine-growing region looks like before it becomes a tourist attraction. You can drive through the Oregon coast along 101 in a day. I was SO disappointed in the Oregon Coast. For much of the drive you cannot even see the ocean. It doesn't get pretty until about Brooking. I'd skip it & drive the length of the California coast as another theme for your trip. It will be a great adventure for getting from coastal city to coastal city. Of course, there is also Mt. Shasta, Napa, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the Gold Country, the desert, and much more that you will miss by staying along the coast. It is a BIG state! Tana will cry and cry if you do not visit the Ferry Building. I will merely pout if you do not make it a point to see our redwoods. They exist nowhere else on the planet except northern California. They are incredible; no words or pictures can capture what it is like to walk among these giant 2000-year old trees for a couple of hours. The very best ones are in a remote corner of California at the Oregon border-that you happen to conveniently be going right past. Don't miss them.

Glad the book is helpful to you! Check out the fridges on pages 115 & 120. Also, on page 82 is an example of what I was trying to explain about putting a funny little cabinet around the sink.

I had a TERRIBLE meal there last month. One of the worst dining experiences I've had in a long time. Milla-I'll answer your questions in a few days. I have some ideas for you about CA from Eureka through Big Sur. Tell me your planned routes through WA & Oregon. I took a 3-week road trip through there a few years ago. Are you looking for places to stay, too? If so, how much do you want to spend/ night? Is there a reason you are not veering inland to go to the Napa Valley?