Bernaise

Sheesh! where to begin... The wedge of perfect creamy "triple creme du village de Warwick" cheese that had the consistency of soft savory frosting - beeeuuteeful! Or perhaps it was the prosciutto di San Daniele from San Daniele via air canada. or maybe it was the perfectly crisp confit of duck legs with lentils de puy smothered in caramelised onions and fresh thyme. oh wait! the panino made with organic (Green & Black's) hazelnut chocolate spread with fresh banana and pressed to perfection in the Krups sandwich press.. hard to say really!

in italy where eating is often paired with copious coffee consumption and cigs, altoids don't quite hit the mark but a GOLIA minted liquorice gummy very small oh so potent and a tough little gel tidbit is glorious. you can taste them even when you have a cold - imagine!

chips and dips. chips and dips. well. do make a note to yourself in your palm pilot/daytimer etc. "next potluck rolls and pop" you!

My Mom loves her pressure cooker! She is a tiny 80 yr old European woman. She loves to make veg in it. For example - she will place a BIG pile of potatoes in the cooker and presto (no pun intended) she has cooked them in 1/3 of the time in less water which makes better gnocchi. Also she swears by it for long stewy things....example her osso bucco, and her lamb shanks are gloriously melting and delicious in half the time. My Aunt in France also loves it but for a slightly more direct reasons - gas like other utilities is expensive cooking in this way is more efficient in winter and cooler in summer. Recently I gifted a friend with a pot and the "curries" coming out of there are outstanding. Hope that helps

nasty things the Oreo and the Ahoy! Especially the winter time Oreo coated in nasty white wax- or is that stuff what coolwhip becomes once you beat the air into it? However just once in my life I had the BEST experience....a salty ritz cracker coated in real semi-sweet chocolate deeeeelish! Never saw them for sale again..think I might contact those people.....

boiled pork. any kind any time... broth made with pork and frankly any of those pork dumplings particualrly steamed dumplings at dim sum

the hot dog with grape jelly and chili sauce thing is beyond intriguing...I'm thinking of making it with bits of tofu dogs for the next vegie potluck I'm invited to. But for clarification what is chili sauce? Here in Canada we have something called chili sauce but it is chunky and also sweet and not spicey at all...any tips?

Can I also express my deepest sympathy and just add that I am so happy to learn you haven't reached the "oh I'll bring rolls or chips and pop" people...yet Crock-pot aside - and yes I do quite love them... The flat flour tortilla in various colours with either cheese/veggie spreads or the smoked salmon, leaf lettuce mayo mustard combo is quite popular! Bring them rolled and slice at the office eh voila! My last piece of advice is coordinate the next party at the local pub!

As people in this forum have always so generously helped me in the past..I thought I'd ask again! I work for a charitable organization and recently a donor gave us three bottles of wine to use as prizes for a Holiday Auction. I don't know what value the wine has and I have tried the local liquor control board (we are in Ontario-Canada) but they only have more recent vintages. To further complicate matters...people are asking for food pairing reccommendations...as these wines are a bit better than your average plonk! Here's what we have: Spotteswoode 1994 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Hardy's "Eileen Hardy" Shiraz 1994 Hermitage La Chapelle -Paul Jaboulet 1997 prices and menu ideas and hey anything else you can think of would be great! Thanks a lot!

lavishly buttered and jammed toast into unsweetened tea with milk. don't gag but.... arrowroots into someone else's creamy sugary coffee (what we here in Canada refer to as a "double double") technically this doesn't count but...whenever I have a chicken salad sandwich -once a year- each bite has to be accompanied by a large gulp of chocolate milk. most repulsive dunk I have witnessed was breakfast sausage dunked into a glass of ginger-ale (which technically makes some sense-pork & ginger)

And ya know - it always seems to be the zealous vegetarians and the "born again" food allergy people that insist on two things: 1. that their new food lifestyle is so good-you need only taste it to be converted and 2. you won't even notice there's no meat in this! Let me first say that it was a potluck - for which I believe an entire thread nay an entire forum heading needs to started. Having said this I will launch forward. Dinner at the new home of two professors - money is not an issue. They are veggie people the menu was as follows: Sugar free mojitos with tons of lime juice and the cane syrup on the side and a lot of pressure not to use it. Round blobs of some kind of nut mixture - so they said. The texture was more like squishy dark brown jelly with soft flecks in it. There was no nut flavour - nor mushroom either for the life of me I cannot tell you what it was composed of and as there was no other main course it seemed both rude to ask and dangerous to find out what it might be. To accompany this was an undressed salad and to accomodate the food allergy person a wheat free bread product. It was doughy and floury and so firm it caused the brown blobs to ooze out of the sides when you tried to bite it. ( I popped into the bread like thing hoping to reduce the gag reflex of the brown blob!) The guest, Miss wheat free, milk free, sugar free brought out "a fabulous desert" we will all die for and never miss the wheat , sugar or milk - and frankly the flavour or colour as it turned out. The bottom crust was spelt and melted margarine with a little stevia. the filling was frozen strawberries whizzed with soya milk and soft tofu and fresh orgaanic lemon juice. the topping was ground pecans and a few oat flakes with another packet of stevia. This was frozen into a 9 by 13 pan and served as desert. it had many frozen crystals and was both insipid and rock hard. VILE! After choking back two or three flinty chips I put down my fork and thought enough! I think it was Orson Welles who said it is really only polite to eat three times a day -and health dictates a maximum of calories in a given day so I REFUSE TO WASTE MY PRECIOUS CALORIES ON bad FOOD. At the risk of starting a fight, can the food allergy people start to find each other and host their own damn dinners!

How about making the traditional pudding mix BUT...steam it in very small cheesecloth pouches -aka "beggars purses" When they have finsished cooking I suggest two options: 1. unwrap and cool to room temp and then rewrap each 'beggar' in well buttered filo -pop into the oven untile the filo is crispy and golden serve ina puddle of sauce decorate with candied angelica 2. unwrap and cool to room temp then dip them in tempered bittersweet chocolate and voila a pudding truffle??? runs the riskof being mistaken for a rumball though

Leftover fried spinach sandwich - but the bread has to be robust in order to withstand the oily wetty thing that happens with spinach. Never grew up with the PB&J but recently someone introduced me to the PB and marmalade sandwich delicious... Also yummy Branston pickle and cheddar. in the gross but was strangely compelled to eat them category: crustfree squishy white bread, heavily buttered, and then generously mayo'd and a soppy drooping spear of canned asparagus rolled into a puffy log of toothless wonder! Hey I guess it's another version of the spinach sandwich

I think the question is not specific enough: if I am eating shoestring style potatoes then nothing but a thick unctious(sp?) sauce will do! perhaps my namesakes sauce However if I am having thick fries they need to be fried properly, soft and yeilding interiors to a deep and crispy brown exterior...so rare to get them this way. As soon as they emerge from the fryer they needto be salted aggressively and vigorously. I hate the "marlon bland-o" fry. Of course after a night of carousing in vieux montreal NOTHING beats a plate of poutine -hot fries covered in squeaky cheese curds and dripping with a light gravy. And frankly in the same way that the french smoke like it's good for you...they salt food without a backward glance! Vive les frites de Montreal and oh yes a little hot sauce too!

Oh my women my womyn my womb! I should have known what was coming when a week ago I started reading the "what you like to eat on Marijuana" thread - and thoughfully considered some of the options! Two nights ago I was driving home from work when completely out of nowhere I had an excrutiating desire for a spring roll. And no, not a spring roll made with artfulness and pride in the back of some fabulous out of the way Thai resto by some indentured servent mother-in-law of the owner. I'm talking an oversized filled with cabbage and carrot shreds poorly fried spring roll that costs about $1.39 Can. and squirts grease into your mouth with every bite - accompanied of course with generous lashings of viscous sweet golden plum sauce 'wing wong' - 'wong lee' -'wing on' brand name?? Sadly I could not get one so I settled for a bag of cheeto puffs and a "home burger". While the puffs were very satisfying the burger was like lead and left me cranky-still not understanding why! And then I read this thread and after laughing "hyster"ically, thought I'd add my 2 cents. This morning I had a sensible breakfast and found myself lusting for the bad spring roll AGAIN! Stopped in at a Vietnames/Thai/Chinese eatery - my first mistake and was shamed into ordering not simply spring roll but the combo (2 rolls, H&S soup and about 2 lbs of spicey fried rice with chicken and pineapple) WHAT WAS I THINKING? The rolls barely hit the spot and the rice just tasted like burnt frying pan -and the soup - don't ask! Donated my lunch to others and had, yup, another bag of cheeto puffs and a big pile of milk chocolate covered raisins. This provided some small relief until I got home and had a slab of Shepherd's pie and finally pure satisfaction a bowl of apple crisp-sweet, sour, salty and crunchy! In a related theme I thought I would ask: have you noticed that even though you are aware that Satan will be arriving every month to invade your person and take possesion of your senses before clawing his way out - why is it still always a surprise? i.e. "I don't understand, I'm starving and eating everything in the house and I keep banging into door jambs and dropping things - what's wrong with me?" Oh look at that, I should have known, the P has arrived. The women I know agree, we all feel like goldfish constantly surprised by the damn castle we keep swimming by every couple of minutes!! PS as a Canadian I would like to tell you that the quality of a great butter tart is not at all like a pecan pie. Butter tarts need to be runny and drip just a bit when you bite into them. The magic is in the perfect PMS combo of salt meets sweet and rich buttery greasy goodness. Let me know if you'd like my recipe. Off to find more food ciao for niao

I am constantly impressed with the enthusiasm and generosity of the people who participate in this forum! Thank-you so much for all of the information, suggestions and links. I just knew someone here would know where to find fine food in the Alsace region.

Hello to all of the hard-working French eaters -a full time job indeed! I will be in Strasbourg and the vicinity = Sarreguemines in the first few days of October before heading out for Italy. I was wondering if anyone had any information about where to eat and/or any local specialities I simply cannot pass up? Perhaps there are some local fairs/ harvest festivals etc.? Little known but fabulous restaurants? Any and all tips appreciated

did I hear anyone mention "scrummy or scrummie"? and then the term "pan-seared" where else might one sear? How about "it's a bit too peppery" does 'it's a bit too' followed by an 'ery' ending soften the blow

Hey Plunk! I think one serious problem is the butter. As you may know the dairy farmers have a protected monopoly on butter production so you can't get butter in Canada above about 32-34% butterfat. You can only import french butter through USA - and Canada customs is not always helpful (I consider this a winter proposition!) This is not "fat" enough and may expain why you are experiencing cracking when you pull your dough out of the fridge - too much water in the butter. Lots of economy bakers use high ratio fat but it's not butter. Often with pastry/bread there is a temptation to add more water because the dough seems too stiff to work. I have learned to allow the dough the time it often needs to allow the water to penetrate the gluten -gluten can sometimes seize a little and resist but not usually for long. I hop this helps a little....if I think of anything else I'll write again.

Hope it's not too late for a contribution but in Toronto Canada the generic (popular) term is pop. And frankly, when you lift the tab or twist the cap it does in fact go "pop" as opposed to say bubblah, or soda or even coke wouldn't you agree? Now from time to time one has to be a little fancy -shall we say- in that case it is soft drinks (with the slightest of pauses between the two words) - however juice fits into that too! I especially would never refer to it as a 'coke' as once, many years ago, I was a approached in a bar by a man who wanted me to know he had "a really big coke" - He was foreign!

puuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrr likewise Marlene

If your goal is strictly utilitarian then sure....hack the pasta to fit your fork. But surely, is not the pleasure of your meal in some small part a sensual esthetic adventure? I love pulling up a half curled strand of spaghetti allowing it to air cool for just a moment and the that meeting of my mouth and that glorious coated wonder... i think i'll slither off somewhere to consider what I have just shared

Just today I was sipping a coke clasic and it had an aftertaste reminiscent of the smell of mothballs...a fond if strange childhood memory. I like my coke, poured from the can into a glass (never plastic) and it doesn't bother me if it is close to room temp (not hotter than 70 degrees). Had a can of grape crush so evil and tasty - I'm done for another 5 years on that one! Ever think how odd it is how we outgrow some of the flavours we pledged allegiance to in our youth?

Miracle Whip NEVER and nice to meet up with an old friend CC!

Hi-lar-ious! Lottery burgers! I love it! BBQ'd corn on the cob rubbed with lime juice and hot ground chilies mixed with equal parts of sugar and salt! YUM! definitely if stranded on a desert island etc. a bottle of hot sauce - I mean it gives you salt, vinegar, heat and sometimes sweet overtones it is perfecto....however I am also on board with the orange marmalade obsession. recently I had a creamy peanut butter and seville orange marmalade sandwich on fluffy white bread (part of my twice annual-how many things can I produce with this one loaf of super-white!)