Toliver

I agree with your settling on 10 kinds of cakes...it sounds like a good number. Put the rest on the Special Order list. I also like the suggested idea of seasonal cakes...like pumpkin spice, etc. Limited time availability may spur some extra cake sales. Is there one cake that outsells the rest? What about upping the ante and figuring out how to make that cake even better? Instead of a chocolate ganache, use a dark chocolate ganache. Instead of frosting between cake layers, what about using a raspberry or chocolate mousse? Little changes could make your cakes even more memorable.

Can you assign someone (someone not involved in making the pies) to take pictures of the class/process and post them here? I would enjoy seeing how the teens tackled this project and their end results. I hope they will be proud of the pies they make given that pie-making is a lost and dying craft these days.

There's the out-of-print Florence Lin’s "Complete Book of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings and Breads". You might find other pertinent titles in this eGullet discussion about Chinese cookbooks (click). I also stumbled across this page in the internet...some of the books are about Asian noodles, not just Chinese noodles: Chinese Noodle Cookbooks: A Handful of the Best Titles

Sorry to break the sad news to y'all: "McDonald's eyes the McRib for December" Normally it's reintroduced every year in October. Will Autumn ever be the same without the McRib?

There was a previous similar discussion about MSG. Apparently, MSG doesn't have to be called MSG on product labels. A lot of the time it's just called "natural flavoring" or something similar.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!...Christine. Though I wasn't sure if she was going to win during the final judging. The judges kept asking her "This is the final cookoff of MasterChef and this simple dish is your entry? What are you thinking?" Josh did push the envelope with his cooking but it ended up being quite the mixed bag in the end. He did a great appetizer...but the lobster was undercooked. Great pecan pie for dessert...but the added twist of bacon in the crust ended up making the dough soggy from the extra fat....and so on. I know Christine gets prize money for winning. Does she also get a job in one of Ramsey's kitchen? And if so, will she also have an assistant like she did on the show?

I don't know why but I've always considered "gravy" as made with meat and "sauce" as made without meat.

The nice thing about the World Peace cookies is that you can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it. Make a double batch and freeze half of it to be used at a later date. It's great for last minute invites or surprise guests that pop in.

I used a similar coupon/discount site for a BBQ restaurant that we had already previously enjoyed. To have coupons to this place was icing on the cake for us, so to speak. And when the coupons were used up, we still patronized the restaurant.

Having seen your detailed work, I say you are vastly underpaid.

Thank you for the address. I Googled it and Google Street-viewed it, as well as looked at the satellite view. The location is a little odd. The neighborhood is quasi-residential (near Barrio Logan). Unless they also buy the property next door and make it a parking lot, there's not much parking available for customers who will drive to the location. I am looking forward to the transformation.

I agree about the running commentary keeping her abreast of what's happening down below. And when Becky and Christine paired up on this week's challenge, Becky was basically leading Christine through the show pantry picking out ingredients, getting her feedback, and so on. I know Christine has an non-contestant assistant who helps her get around in the show kitchen because of her lack of sight. I'm assuming the assistant didn't do any of the plating of last week's tuna dish and that it was all Christine's doing which makes it all the more remarkable since the judge's said her plating looked the same as the original plated dish. I think that's pretty cool, too. If someone asked me to whip up three different soufflés, I'd be completely lost. I'd need lots of instruction. I'm amazed that Josh and Frank were able to do it.

I've had it on Italian beef sandwiches (the bun was garlic toast!). It's awesome. Plus, if there's any juice, you sop it up with your bun/bread. "Food processorize" it, drain off any juice then add to a green salad or cottage cheese.

This is great news. I hope they will have a successful launch. Do you know if it's near any trolley stops? They didn't list the address. They mention Petco Ballpark and the harbor in their Kickstarter pitch. I know Petco has trolley stops and there's a trolley line that goes right past the Convention Center. It would be so convenient if it were near a trolley line. I could imagine my mom, who lives in Santee, easily hopping on the trolley and coming down to the market. Thanks for the update.

Anyone watching this season's shows? I can't believe that the guest judges last night were Guy Savoy, Daniel Boulud and Alain Ducasse. I think somebody at Fox must have something on the three of them in order to get them to appear on this show. And then the idiot contestants didn't give every judge's serving the same plating...some were actually missing ingredients! Inconceivable! [/Vizzini] I think Christine will win in the end. She has an amazing talent for flavor and for plating, if you can believe that (she's legally blind).

As Sam mentioned, there are arguments against a low sodium diet: Low sodium versus normal sodium diets in systolic heart failure So after all these years of using quite the heavy hand when adding salt to the food they serve, these same chain restaurants have suddenly "seen the light" are going to deign to police our intake of sodium by removing salt shakers from their restaurants? Really? No thanks.

I was going to suggest to make a sauce from the excess but if your significant other doesn't like yellow sauce, then that's not a good solution. You could always oven-dry the extra fruit in a slow oven. That should concentrate the sweetness and excess water shouldn't be a problem with dried tomatoes.

There are some new versions of Jif Peanut Butter available: Jif Natural made with only 5 ingredients Jif Hazelnut Spread Their version of Nutella, I suppose. It comes in two flavors: Chocolate and Mocha Cappuccino. Has anyone tried them?

How ironic that it was Italian Night at Hell's Kitchen and Clemenza got the boot. Now, I've never made it myself, but is risotto really that hard to make? Every week, it seems to be the one app dish the contestants keep screwing up.

Savory here. In order to kid us kids to eat it, my mom would add sliced black olives. As we got older, she's use the stuffed green olives. Today that's about the only way I'll eat it.

PBS Digital Studios commissioned this Julia Child Autotune video in honor of her 100th birthday (they also commissioned one for Mr. Rogers earlier this year). I'm not sure how to embed videos, so click here for the link to the video. Bring on the roasted potatoes! edited to quote a bit of the "lyric"

Are any of the remaining contestants worthy of the final prize? They throw each other under the bus so often it makes me wonder how they'll fare in a professional kitchen. The Blue team was outshone by the Black team (made up of returning also-rans from previous seasons) for the dinner service. It was just sad and so bad to watch. So the exiting contestant from last night was ejected because she seasoned raw scallops too soon? Really? Or was it the last straw of many that broke the proverbial camel's back?

What if they had been taking pictures of each other (say it was a birthday celebration) intead of the food? Would it be just as annoying and rude? Or is that a forgivable sin? Life's too short to be upset by something so picayune.

One good...one not so good. These are scans of bags where I consumed (most of...see below) the contents and scanned the empty bags on my office scanner. While Doritos has their "Jacked" line, Ruffles has the "Ultimate" line. With the Ultimate line, the ridges on the chips seem deeper than normal Ruffles chips and the chips themselves also seem a little thicker. The chips were crunchier/crisper than the regular Ruffles, too. The Sweet & Smokin' BBQ flavor was good. I'm not a fan of sweet BBQ flavor and I find this flavor a little on the sweet side for my tastes, but overall I do give these chips a thumbs up. The Kickin' Jalapeño Ranch flavor was horrible. The thought of combining Jalapeño with Ranch flavoring is intriguing and in this case, far from successful. In fact, they tasted so bad that I just couldn't finish the bag which should tell you how bad they were. So one thumbs up, and one thumb way down.

I agree with judiu. Are the ornamental peppers edible? If so, are they spicy? My brother grows a variety of chile peppers that he dehydrates, then grinds in a dedicated coffee/spice grinder (grinds them outdoors while wearing eye protectors and a breathing mask). He gives away bottles of the spicy chile flakes as gifts to chileheads for Christmas.