Toliver

I'd consider all of your suggestions except for Bed, Bath & Beyond, as quite upscale. If you have friends and family with money, then they're good choices. If your friends and family don't, then BB&B would be a good choice. I'd also put Target's wedding registry in the latter category. While these two may not offer the higher-end quality products that the others do, you can still get good kitchen equipment there.

Klary, how about some comfort food? Something from your childhood or to remind you of your parents or grandparents, so you'll start off cooking with good memories.

Ooh, that looks simple and good. Did you put any dressing/sauce on it?

They look like what are called "grape tomatoes" in my area. Great blog so far! Thank you for taking the time to do it.

There's also "Vegetable Gardening for Dummies". And Googling "container gardening" gets you "goodles" (I think I may try to trademark that word ) of hits like this one: "Guide to Container Gardening "

Salted water has a higher boiling point than unsalted water. Some people believe the water takes longer to boil if you salt it so adding it just before the boil (or just after) would make sense, if you believe that. However, an SSB (Smug Scientific Bastard ) posted in another discussion that the difference between the boiling points of salted versus unsalted water is negligible so it doesn't really matter when you add the salt. Do what you want. It's your kitchen.

Yes, but at least they didn't change how much was in a packet. Can you imagine how many church-picnic recipes could be ruined forever if they did? ← Amen to that! It was one of my dad's "secret" ingredients for his hamburgers (A-1 Sauce is the another secret ingredient). And it was my mom's go-to ingredient when making 7-Bone roast for dinner...a cheap cut of meat made palatable thanks to the onion soup mix. I tried making it from scratch once. I started with beef boullion and dehydrated onion flakes. I forget what else I threw in there. I came close but something was missing.

You can find lots of info and inspiration in the eGullet discussion "Gardening, The Topic (merged w/ similar topics)" You can also find regional gardening discussions in most of the eGullet region forums. For example, in the California forum you'll find "California Gardening: What's up?, Planting and growing for the table....". If you can't find such a discussion in the eGullet regional forum for your area, you're welcome to start one.

Jenni, you should try making Roasted Cauliflower ("Roasted Cauliflower, Tastes like French Fries") for her. It could convert her.

Thanks Chris and Jim for your posts. Jim, I feel your pain. My nemesis was salmon (from cans) patties. I shudder from the memory to this day.

My mom received the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook when she got married in 1956. It's a three-ring binder cookbook and over the years the pages have all torn themselves out of the rings that held them. The back finally broke on it and she lovingly wrapped rubber bands around it all to hold it together in her cookbook drawer. One Christmas I surprised her with another copy of the same edition that I had purchased on eBay (It had to be the same edition because in later editions she discovered they dropped some of her favorite recipes). The pages in this new copy were practiaclly pristine and it dismayed my mom. "Who could have this cookbook and not use it?" To my chagrin, during one of my recent visits home, I discovered her using her old beat up copy of the cookbook. I asked where the new copy was and she said she didn't want to ruin it so she left it untouched in the cookbook drawer. Moms! Go figure.

I can see it now..."This is what candy used to smell like." Another product that got downsized...Lipton Onion Soup mix. They used to come four in a box. Now there's only three packages in a box. I've seen them sold in individual packets, too, so maybe they're trying to skip offering two in a box and just sell them one packet at a time.

Google has a free program for images/photos called Picasa. You can resize and rotate your pictures using that program.

Bread pudding is another good use for leftover bread.

Bumping this discussion up in case there are new members who would like to answer the questions.

The other night I had some Popeye's again. Spicy. I love that they actually have green beans as a side...not as good as home cooked but still good. Colonel, where are your veggies, sir? And the Popeye's cajun gravy on the mashed potatoes makes it comfort food to the Nth degree.

It just came to me. Dove Bars. Lordy, lordy, lordy. When they first came out, I became a rabid fan. I would first meticulously eat the chocolate coating that enrobed the silky vanilla ice cream and only after the chocolate was completely gone would I start in on that wonderful ice cream. Sinfully delicious. They used to come four in a box. They now come three in a box. Is the day they come two in a box that far off?

Not to drift too far off-topic from this dicussion but what if, instead of using the two tablespoons of shortening that the Oyster Cracker recipe calls for, you used two tablespoons of bacon fat instead? Or would that be pork overkill (as if there really is such a thing ).

I've never worked BOH, but I'd suggest, since you're leaving in a couple months, hold your tongue, chalk it up to experience, take the reference as gfron1 suggested and never look back when you leave. If you say anything to the idiots you work with you run the risk of retalliation, no reference and a bad work environment made even worse. edited to add: And welcome to eGullet!

The amount of oil in that skillet scares me. I've always gone by the rule that your oil should never come up the side of the pan more than half way to help reduce the risk of it boiling up and over. It looks like that chicken leg is floating. Or is that an illusion?

It's a great price, but I think a lot of people prefer the round instead of the oval shape. ← I believe it was Fat Guy who once suggested in another eGullet discussion that the oval might be a better buy since larger or irregular cuts of meat can fit better in the oval pot than in the round one. Makes sense to me.

I don't think it was "enhanced". My theory would be that the tenderized texture of the meat turned your flank steak into a meat sponge ([HOMER]Mmm...meat sponge[/HOMER] ), trapping moisture inside every nook and cranny. That could explain the extra water in the pan when cooking.

McDonald's french fries used to be lengendary in their beefy goodness. To this day my brother waxes poetic over how good their fries used to be. Used to be. Past tense. Well, they ain't what they used to be. The same could be said of me, I suppose. The last batch of McDonald's french fries I had just weren't that good. The fries were thin and not very long (what's up with all the short fries? They're not as easy to handle when dipping them in ketchup). I thought the last bunch of french fries I'd had at Wendy's were better. Wendy's fries were thicker, potato-ier and most were lengthier. Hmmm, perhaps size does matter. They were a little under done, though, and needed to be crispier. You either love or hate Rally's french fries. I'm in the "Love 'em" camp. They're battered & seasoned fries and unlike most of the other fast food restaurants. But they're a small franchise and perhaps they shouldn't be brought into this discussion. I'm not a big fan of Jack-in-the-Box french fries. Their regular fries are just plain bad. They had a big PR campaign about their new "Natural Cut Fries" (meaning they left the peels on the ends of the fries) but they should have tried a new recipe instead. They also serve Curly Fries and Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges that I can't comment on since I haven't sampled either version. Sonic Drive-In serves a sort of tater tots as well as regular fries. The tots could be crispier and are quite potato-ey in flavor, but I'm not a big fan of the flavor of their frying oil. The french fries at In & Out Burger are really bad, IMHO. They're always limp, undercooked little potato worms. Okay, they're fresh cut, but they still taste bad. So, what are your favorite fast food french fries? Which ones do you despise?

Bacon oyster crackers?! My inner Homer is drooling at the thought. Is the recipe a secret or can you post it in eGullet? Congratulations on your win!

I have a friend who will not eat white food. Period. I've never heard the complete story as to why he won't eat them. The poor man will never know the pleasure of eating whipped cream or mayo (or Miracle Whip ).