PopsicleToze

The turkey roasts look good. Is that sage?

That's one of my favorites, too. Every member of the family loves that recipe, and it's sooooooooo easy. It's on my list of things to do with leftover chicken.

The last time I was in New Orleans (about a month ago) I read a review (probably in the hotel's "Where" magazine) of Blue Plate Cafe's breakfast. It's been on my list of must try's since then. I've googled and cannot locate that particular review, but here is one I found online: From Gambit Weekly http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2.../restreview.php ---------------------------------------------------- What: Blue Plate Cafe Where: 1330 Prytania St., 309-9500 When: Breakfast and lunch Monday-Saturday How: Credit Cards Reservations: Not Accepted Maybe some of our New Orleans regulars have visited this place.

I can't believe no one has tried Houston's Restaurant Spinach and Artichoke dip before. The recipe has been very popular here and made all of the rounds at parties and such a few years back. Here's a link to a copycat recipe http://www.recipezaar.com/52556

Tabasco Sauce

You could make it like a traditional Spinach Madeleine and add oysters/artichokes to it. I've added just the oysters but haven't tried it with the artichokes in it. However, artichokes and oysters are heavenly together. I'm sure it would work. http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/vegetables/sidedish45.htm

MiFi, that cornbread looks good. Is that whole kernals of corn in there?

I kept pralines once in the freezer thinking that would help. Not a good thing to do.

You'll have a lot of fun, and the weather is perfect. Re the blood sausage, I think you mean boudin, which is blood sausage in other parts, but it's a rice dressing made with picnic shoulder, pork liver, onions, etc. It's extremely good, but it's not blood sausage. I don't recall ever seeing real blood sausage in New Orleans, but I never looked for it either. Have a great time!

You can make spiced pecans and store in the freezer -- lovely for Thanksgiving and Christmas table. Also, pralines are always a hit. Butter pecan ice cream. And if nothing strikes your fancy, you can keep them in the freezer and they keep very well for a long time.

I cleaned out my spice cabinet this weekend and found what was really a good package of Madagascar Penzey's vanilla beans. I probably have 6-8 whole beans, but they're dried out at least 2 years old. I thought if I steeped them then I could use them for vanilla. Will this work? edited: typo

Yum!

Maybe something like Oysters Rockefeller – except instead of an oyster shell, use an artichoke bottom as the base. It works really well.

Leftover cooked vegetables can be marinated in a vinaigrette and used in an Italian-inspired salad. You can also use them in a frittata. Leftover rice—dirty rice, rice dressing, stuffed bell peppers, fried rice, yellow rice (eggs cooked with rice) for breakfast… Leftover bread—Italian bread salad, make croutons for later use, ditto

Amusing story and I'm sure you improvised well. But as I read the story I kept wondering why you didn't make a grocery list in the first place.

I hope things are getting better for you. Ike was a horrible storm. The whole country has been hurting with you. The food situation is tough. People have a hard time comprehending grocery stores (what few are open) closing before dark, restaurants closed, etc. On the good side for you, you will be coming up with very creative things to eat. My recommendation would be any comfort food that envokes memories of growing up and being comforted by your mom. For me -- that would be chicken-n-dumplings made with a big fat hen.

I like out of the way, small places, with cozy ambience. Would like some normal restaurants locals would eat at for every day type meals. However, we will have one over the top meal and budget is not a concern for that restaurant. Thanks!

I will concur - the best bolognese - a couple of weeks ago I quadrupled the recipe just so I could freeze it - and trust me it's better re-heated!!! T ← Question -- do you make the homemade tomato paste that this dish calls for? Do you think it's necessary for a fabulous dish (similar to the difference between homemade chicken stock and canned broth)? I ask because the tomato crop this year has been dismal and there has not been many good tomatoes to be found. Thanks!

Could someone enlighten me -- what is this dish?

I'm having the luncheon catered. Chafing dishes are available. I was just wondering if the preference would be something good or something light like sandwishes and the like.

That's IF you don't evacuate. Even though the track will most likely change once it enters the Gulf of Mexico, one it enters, that track will be more stable. Right now it's on its way to the coast of Louisiana, and I made reservations to get the hell out of the way. Love your gumbo take-along idea. Your hosts will be mighty happy...

Preparing an all day business meeting affair. Breakfast is pretty easy, but I'm wondering what everyone here likes for such lunches. It's a board meeting, so I would like something nice, but my DH likes sandwiches and such for lunch so that it's light and not too filling in order to concentrate in the afternoon. What would you like to eat for such an occasion? Thanks!

For chicken stock, Better than Bouillion is okay. It won't give the mouth-feel of real stock, but it will do in a pinch. Not the case for beef stock. No time to make stock? It can be made and ready to use by first thing tomorrow morning. It's really easy and practically cooks itself.

Kim, that looks amazing. What type of cheese is that?

I googled cha lua, and the following picture is exactly what it looked like -- the one in the middle, except that it was wrapped in green leaves. It was very processed and tasted, well, like bologna. http://www.kamkwokfood.com/images/Original.jpg Edited to Add: (Silk sausage sounds waaaay better than bologna Wiki says this Chả lụa From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Cha-lua) Jump to: navigation, search Sliced chả lụa served over bánh cuốn, and garnished with fried garlicChả lụa is a Vietnamese food, also known as Vietnamese ham or Vietnamese sausage. [edit] Etymology The name chả lụa is a plain description of its characteristics: chả means sausage, and lụa means "silk" in Vietnamese, as the texture of the sausage is smooth like silk. Northern Vietnamese call it giò lụa, a different word that also means "silky sausage". [edit] Production and consumption Traditionally, chả lụa is made of lean pork, potato starch, and good nước mắm (fish sauce, usually made from salted mackerel). The pork has to be pounded until it becomes pasty; it cannot be chopped or ground as the meat would still be fibrous, dry, and crumbly. Near the end of the pounding period a few spoonfuls of nước mắm are added to the meat for flavour, but salt, ground black pepper, and sugar can also be added. The meat is now called giò sống, meaning "raw sausage," and can be used in other dishes as well. The mixture is then wrapped tightly in banana leaves into a cylindrical shape and boiled. If the banana leaf is not wrapped tightly and water leaks inside while it is being boiled, the sausage will be ruined. The sausage has to be submerged vertically into boiling water, and typically for a 1 kg sausage it takes an hour to cook. When making chả lụa by hand, a common way to tell if it is well cooked is to throw the sausage onto a hard surface; if it bounces, the sausage is good.[1] The most well-known chả lụa comes from the village Ước Lễ, Thanh Oai, province Hà Tây, northern Vietnam, where people pride themselves as professional chả lụa makers. When cooking chả lụa, the villagers of Ước Lễ light a stick of incense with the length equal to the circumference of the sausage's cross section; they believe that when the incense has completely burned, the sausage is well cooked. Correctly-made chả lụa can be stored at room temperature for about one week. During the initial wave of Vietnamese immigrants to the United States in the mid-1970s, banana leaves were difficult to find and, thus, Vietnamese chefs substituted aluminum foil for banana leaves, a habit that continues today. The sausage is normally sliced and eaten with bánh cuốn, bánh mì, or xôi, or braised in fish sauce and black pepper with other meat dishes. If fried, it is called chả chiên.