Toliver

I can't believe that they sell it for $17.50!!!!!! Look again. That it's $17.50 (currently $15.00) for a 5 piece set, one of each color. That averages about $3.00 per peeler. Though why would one person want 5 peelers at one time is a puzzle. Perhaps it's their idea for stocking stuffers at Christmas time.

Those feed companies wouldn't be headed by this guy, now would they? Exxxxxx-cellent.

I share your pain. I never tasted butter until I moved away from home. That fake stuff follows me where ever I go....crossword puzzle clue "4 letter word for margarine": [GAH] "OLEO" [/GAH] When I made Christmas cookies at my mom's house this year, she said they tasted better than hers and wondered why. Maybe it was because I used BUTTER, Ma!! Mwaahahahahaha!

Wasn't there some sort of "Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?" with Robert Morley as a Food Critic? "Moonstruck" had a lot of food-related scenes in it. I always get so hungry when I watch that movie!

As a Southern California native, this is completely new and utterly foreign to me. Is it like an ice milk? A Slushee? A Slurpee?

Oh, God. La Choy Chop Suey. Yeah, the canned stuff. It was putrid and I never ate it...just sort of mushed it around my plate. Mom always accompanied this horror with a bowl of the crisp chow mein noodles (also from a La Choy can, most likely) which would end up being my dinner. The chow mein looked like something even the dog wouldn't touch... Lucky dog.

Well, "oht" and "oat" sound the same to me, unless you're saying the "oht" sounds like "ought". It's "chee-poat-lay", if you pronounce the spanish vowels correctly ("ah"-"eh"-"ee"-"oh"-"oo"). Unless my 7th grade Spanish class did me wrong...

Let's put a positive spin on this. It sounds like you're being frugal and there's nothing wrong with that. I enjoy a good Porterhouse, for example, and when a local store has "Family Pak's" of Porterhouse's on sale, I'll spring for a package or two and split the packages up into smaller portions for freezing. It's called taking advantage of a good price. Full freezer? Time for an eGullet Shindig! Again, a positive spin would be: 1) You're being frugal. 2) You're being ecologically responsible by not throwing away something that can be used or recycled (leftovers!). 3) You grew up being told "Eat everything on your plate, there are kids starving in China" and the message is just now sinking in so you're hestitant to throw anything away. Positive spin: Thanks in part to eGullet, your palate and food-wisdom has become more refined and you subconsciously realize that you're a better cook than most chefs so you stay at home where you know the food will be good. Positive spin: You're eating healthier, not avoiding expensive snacks. Postive spin: 1) See "frugal". 2) Less is more. As we grow older, we realize we don't need to eat that entire box of candy when only one or two pieces will carry the entire experience of the pleasure we seek. Or, you could just be getting older, period (thanks for that Marlene!). edited to add a period

Why are we re-inventing the chicken? Wasn't there already a wonderful thread (or two?) about roasting the perfect chicken and the "how-to's"? Here. And Here. And Here. Amidst these threads you'll find two glorious new words for your eGullet chicken vocabulary: "brine" & "spatchcock".

Thanks, "Dr. Phil"! I resolve to finally wade through and use (or toss) the freakin' cupboard full of sauces, condiments, dried herbs and spices I've accumulated. It is literally overflowing onto my precious countertop space and I want that real estate back. "Poultry Seasoning"!? I know I never bought that little can. Did it come with the apartment or was it a present from my mom when I moved in 17 years ago? Out you go, little can! Out with the Old....and let me ask myself "Will I really use it?" before I try to bring in the New.

C'mon guys! Can't somebody give in and take one for the team!? Maybe we can get them to donate a pan to eGullet for analysis and review. Yeah, that's the ticket. Let SLKinsey take one for a ride.

I can personally attest to the fact that tolerance can be developed. My brother is famous in our family for his spicy "Two Beer Shrimp", named so because it used to take two beers to cool off your mouth after you took your first bite. But today, its spiciness is rather mild to our "seasoned" palates. It amazes us that we once thought it so hot that you had to have a "crying" towel next to your plate. Times change and so do tastes, I guess. As for the "second burn", Chile Pepper magazine once recommended Solarcaine sunburn spray to relieve the pain.

The Winter Farmer's Market doesn't have as many vendors as it does in it's heyday during the Summer, but here's what I got this weekend: Organic garlic 2 HUGE heads of cauliflower (Roasted Cauliflower, here I come!) (They also had HUGE heads of what looked to be purple cauliflower, but I passed) Sweet red onions Gala apples Baby spinach leaves Locally produced honey And two pieces of spiced Linzer Tort from the German woman who sells baked goods, as well as a bag of her raisin scones.

Never even heard of one. Where are they located? There's an M&M store/Museum on the Las Vegas Strip, on the MGM side of the street (there's a Coca Cola store in the same "mall"). It does indeed have a wide spectrum of colors. Rumor has it the place is popular with brides-to-be who want to find M&M's that match their wedding colors to use as party favors for their receptions.

I made roasted cauliflower for my family to go with our Christmas Eve dinner. My mom was already making green beans with butter & almonds so I just roasted one head (sliced as per the Jim Dixon recipe) thinking it would be enough to let everyone have a taste. Two women at the dinnertable nearly came to fisticuffs over the last bit remaining in the bowl after it had been passed around the table! Needless to say, it was a big hit. One very different thing though: My mom's (gas) oven is about a year old and has never really been calibrated correctly. Her cooking times always seem to be off because of this. I set the temp to 400 degrees (like the recipe calls for) but it had to have been actually lower since, at the ten minute mark, I took the cauliflower out to turn the pieces and not a piece had been browned. Wassup wit dat? So figuring the temp was off, I just set a timer and every 10 minutes I turned the cauliflower. Instead of the white-ish bits with brown spots that I got on the caluiflower when I previously cooked this recipe in my own (electric) oven at home, the cauliflower ended up becoming a pale golden color with brown edges. It was absolutely gorgeous and tasted as good as it looked. I think the total cooking time ended up being about 30 or 40 minutes. Now I am thinking the next time I try this recipe at home, I'm going to try it in a slower oven to see if I can achieve the same golden color I got on Christmas Eve. Has anyone else have this happen to them?

As I've posted before (everyone here must be sick of seeing it said) my mom used tenderized round steak but instead of just flour, the coating was mostly corn flake crumbs mixed with a little flour and onion flakes, garlic, s & p. I could eat if for dinner every night for a month. Too bad her cream gravy always sucked (sorry, Ma, but it did!).

That's because Hefty is a division of the Pactiv Corporation. Link below http://www.pactiv.com/ Thank you for finding that link but they are still idiots for not buying the domain name www.hefty.com (which is currently a create-a-book site for personalizing children's books) and having it forward to the parent company web site. www.heftybags.com isn't taken. www.heftyplastic.com isn't taken. Someone isn't thinking in that company...

Ginsu. When they get dull, buy another set for a dollar on eBay.

Regarding the Dweezil & Lisa Loeb show, having just seen the promos for it, I would hazard a guess that this show is FoodTV's blatant attempt to draw in their (Dweezil's & Lisa's) demographic. Most cooking shows (on PBS, for example) tend to aim towards the "foodie" and aren't age specific. This show, however, looks like it's aimed to draw in a specific age group. This will impact how FoodTV can sell themselves to sponsors...the prize demographic being 18 to 35.

At the moment, I would have to decline. I am about to leave on my Christmas vacation and will be away from computers for a couple weeks (hard to imagine, isn't it?). Unless eGullet has a WiFi laptop they can loan me. I would like to, eventually, but will have to pass for now. edited to add: No Chicagoan here...I'm in Bakersfield , California, originally from San Diego.

Last night I oven roasted some broccoli (a riff off of Jim Dixon's Roasted Cauliflower). It didn't chop up as well as the cauliflower does but still had that sweet carmelization. Unfortunately, I over-salted. Since I was busy wrapping presents I also popped a Freschetta Brick Oven combination pizza (the square ones) into the oven. It was surprisingly good. The crust turned out soft and chewy and actually tasted like pizza dough instead of the usual cardboard flavor one gets from frozen pizza. It had lots of toppings and the red sauce wasn't too bad, either. Imagine that...I was impressed by a frozen pizza.

[sHAKES FIST] Why...you! [/sHAKES FIST]

My mom used to do this, too! Now she puts the butter in a small Corning Ware dish and covers it with a paper towel (the dish is a deep one so the paper towel doesn't make contact with the butter). Now if it goes "pop!" it gets the paper towel and not the microwave oven.

Thanks for posting the pics! They brought a tear to my eye, the food looked so good. A great blog!

Welcome, HollyB!