Toliver

Thanks for the "money shot" of the egg yolk. It looks gorgeous and is making me hungry! Regarding on whether to experiment or not...I vote for "experiment". You never know what great recipe is lurking around the corner.

Shelby...girl, you've got gold in that there tree! Black walnuts are highly prized by serious bakers. My mom grew up in Ellsworth, KS, and at age 84 still talks about the black walnuts from her family's farm. If you don't want them, either barter them away for something you do want or call your local Gleaners when they're ripe. Nuts are a good protein source. Anna and Kerry...thank you for taking the time to post the pics of your meals, libations and baked goods. You are both inspiring and have made me soooo hungry! I've been Googling a lot of your ingredients...thanks for the education. That appenzeller cheese has me jonesing for Swiss cheese now (my dairy Achilles heel).

My brothers and I do a yearly holiday shopping trip that starts at BB&B. We call that coupon that you received "The Magic Coupon". It's rare...I think it's not the usual blue & white color, either (red, maybe?). Perhaps your luck is turning...play the Lottery!

Breaded carrots? Savory breaded? Sweetly breaded? Please let me know the recipe. They sound interesting.

Manitoulin machaca?

My mom bought two of these ice cube trays from Bed, Bath & Beyond: Joseph Joseph® QuickSnap™ 2-Pack Easy-Release Ice Tray They're pricier than most trays. You flip the trays over, revealing their backsides. There are small tabs, one for each cube, that you press/move to one side. This releases the cube or loosens them...then a twist of the tray should release them all. She hasn't encountered any leaks like some of the reviewers mentioned on the web site (see link). The releases aren't always clean...some shards can be left at the very bottom of the cube mold. Leaving the trays out at room temperature for a little bit of time before removing the cubes should fix that. My mom doesn't like fighting with ice cube trays. She doesn't have the strength in her hands to give a powerful twist that is sometimes needed to release the cubes from the plastic trays. Her response is to under-fill the ice cube trays with water so she can more easily twist the trays. Of course, the trade-off is that she has smaller ice cubes to use (it doesn't seem like a very efficient use of energy to me).

KCET in Los Angeles has the recipe on their web site: "Weekend Recipe: Almond Granola with Dried Fruit" Since it aired on the ATK show this season, the video episode where they made this recipe may be on the ATK web site free for viewing (I haven't checked it out to see if this is true). I think they ended up using the flat side of a meat tenderizer to tamp down the granola before baking. It's broken into clumps after baking, as Mjx indicated.

Tomorrow is 7/11 and they should be giving away their usual free Slurpees! It was 103°F here yesterday...and they're forecasting triple digit temps all next week. I had to stop by and get a Slurpee to keep cool. The original Coca Cola flavor.

The potato could have been improperly cured after harvest. If improperly cured, they sometimes they develop rot, other times a hard core (if stored too cold). This may be what caused your potatoes not to soften. Sour cream in a recipe can also be a culprit due to its acidity. Acid will prevent veggies from softening. Anecdotally, I had a good friend who wanted a baked potato. She put one in the oven at 350°F and after testing it repeatedly for doneness and leaving it in the oven for 3 hours, still had a hard potato. She ended up tossing it in the trash and making rice. You're not imagining it and you're not alone.

Gail Simmons mentioned this new show in a radio interview she gave to promote "Top Chef: Boston". Again, I question her value as a judge on this show since she is a vegetarian and won't be able to eat a lot of the dishes that will be prepared by the "chef-testants". Though I think I may tune in for the first show, at least, since it's going to be a duel between Richard Blais & Marcel Nigneron. Click here for a list of the dueling chefs on the show (scroll to the bottom of the article).

And what if someone who doesn't tip at all takes his place at the table? Then what? Do your servers understand Bell curves? How about plotting on a graph one day's worth of tips and show the servers that, in the end, while the 9% tipper may drag the curve down, there are likely to be over-tippers who will balance him out? The fact that this diner has decided to patronize your restaurant and crack open his wallet and pay you in exchange for the wonderful food you make, as opposed to dining with his wallet elsewhere, is a blessing and he shouldn't be banned. Tell the server(s) to suck it up.

Funny but I couldn't stand the Yellow/Orange bag. It was just sweet and blah to me. I'd place it lower than third if I could. You're completely correct about the mole in the Blue bag. They have a slight kick to them, too (chipotle in the ingredients list). I loved the Red bag and you're right...they did taste like regular Doritos but with a kick. They reminded me a lot of a souped-up version of their Nacho Dorito chips with just more of everything....more cheese, more spice, more flavor. I'd rate them: 1) Red bag 2) Blue bag (almost a tie with the Red bag) 99) Yellow/Orange bag edited to add: 1) I was surprised that the Red & Blue flavors were spicy. You'd think they'd tone down new flavors just to get people to try them. 2) Floved the fact that the chips were their "Jacked" line...bigger, crunchier corn chips. It helped make the taste test a better experience for me.

I admire your restraint. I believe the "mini" size has been down-sized, as well, and now can be called The DQ Dinky. JK

This web site has it.(click) You might be able to email them (search for their web site) and ask them where you can find it locally. They should be able to tell you. Don't search for it on Amazon unless you want a heart attack when you see the price/bag.

Sorry to revive such an old thread but I visited a local Dairy Queen recently and saw that they had down-sized their Blizzards. The large cup now looks like the old medium size. Kinda sad.

It's supposedly a done deal as of today...the plant will stay in Irwindale and the "public nuisance" charges will be dropped by the city council.

Recently, Oreos (Nabisco) has been having success with their limited edition flavors. The two I've tried were Marshmallow Treat and Birthday Cake. They've announced a new limited edition flavor: "This is NOT a Drill: Limited-Edition Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreos Exist" They launch on June 9th. If you try them, please report back.

I just don't get it. I happened to hear Gail Simmons this morning doing a radio interview to promote the upcoming "Top Chef: Boston" and she said she's a vegetarian! She says she does eat fish/seafood but not meat. How do you judge all of the dishes the chef-contestants make when you can't eat some of the ingredients?

Saw the usual tiny key limes for sale at 89 cents each. Then two bins over they were selling regular limes that looked to be the same size as the key limes for 79 cents each.

I usually have a short helper (a young niece or nephew) when I make ice cream and they get to clean off the dasher as a reward for helping me with the salt and the ice in our ancient electric ice cream maker (an avocado green bucket should tell you the era it's from). When I am in the kitchen by myself, I tend to over-taste everything which means I'm not very hungry when it comes time to serve it. I'm...er, correcting the seasonings...yeah, that's the ticket.

Their recent advertising has been to tout their fresh-baked buns. I thought the buns were solely for their premium line of burgers ("$6 dollar burgers") but on a recent visit I was asked if I wanted a fresh bun with my Western Bacon single. They charged a little extra for swapping the regular buns for the new fresh-baked buns. To my surprise, the fresh-baked buns do taste better than their regular buns, IMHO. The dough is a little on the sweet side...not quite King's Hawaiian bread sweet but sweet enough that I noticed it. It did make for a better burger experience, if you will. Has anyone else tried their new line of fresh-baked buns?

August seems ripe for a food holiday. There's a big no-U.S. holiday gap from July 4th through Labor Day (first Monday in September). And I vote for it being bacon-themed: "A day without bacon is like a day without bacon." - Fat Guy (click)

The politicians in my area (southern San Joaquin Valley) have expressed interest in moving the plant here. We have the nation's second worst air quality already...what's a little chile pepper gas mixed in?

Call me jaded but I think what city they're in only matters to the producers and whatever deal/money they can squeeze out of the respective city's leaders for bringing the show to that city. Besides, once they're in that city it doesn't mean they're going to stay there. How many seasons have we heard "Pack your knives...we're off to Cuba! (or whatever island getaway deal they can finagle)"?

The Subway in my neighborhood is now going to be open 24 hours a day. As an incentive to bring in customers, between Midnight and 6AM from May 1st and July 31st, you can buy any 6" sub and a drink and get a 6" sub of equal or lesser value for free....no coupon needed. Maybe they're going after the late night Taco Bell/Jack-in-the-Box demographic. And it's really not a good neighborhood in which to be open 24 hours, either.