Anna Blume

I did not wish to incur great expense, but the advice is wise and I appreciate confirmation of quality and professionalism. Sounds like something I should investigate. Thanks!

In 1956, my talented mother drew a set of Cinderella paper dolls which she then painted with watercolors.

The colors are still vivid and lovely.

What I'd like to do is take them someplace to reproduce a set or two on heavier paper to give as a gift, keeping the originals.

The paper dolls are all cut out, so individual pieces are delicate, vulnerable, etc. They are currently in excellent condition.

This is not the sort of thing I want to drop off and pick up the next day. I want to be there and be allowed at least to supervise or assist in placing everything on the machine itself.

There is a Staples nearby where I would have taken this project in a heartbeat, but the fantastic employee who once did an amazing job is no longer there.

Since most of the chain photocopy services have state-of-the-art ink-jet printers capable of reproducing colors rather faithfully (if not w the nuances of an original watercolor, granted), I care most about finding someone who would have some understanding and respect for fragile originals and the capacity to humor me in doing the job on-the-spot and well.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Good luck! Are you planning on giving up legumes, grains and dairy forever and ever or just for now?

We're all different, but outright denial triggers cravings and resentment for me. Moderation got me through the last challenge. Slowly weaning myself away from sweets after the holidays is current strategy, one that is lenient enough to permit a chocolate salty oat cookie at Teaism, for example, as long as I stop bringing home store-bought goods and ingredients for baking.

I also plan on cutting back on baked goods as soon as I get through my freezer's stash of naan, Struan, rolls and cornbread, replacing sandwiches with salads made with wheat berries, brown rice, barley, for example. As someone without Celiac disease, though, I would never give up all Whole 30 denies its followers. Legumes are an important source of protein since they help eliminate or reduce animal products. And I would never, ever give up white pasta or the occasional cup of stubby white rice for risotto and paella.

Try refreshing. Should be fixed now.

"Help me help you."

'Tis! Thanks! You complete me.

What to do with most of a bottle of côtes du rhône? Beef bourguignon came to mind, but since I can't eat onions anymore, I'd rather find something else to make with it. No, I can't drink it. Oh, and I tried boiling pasta in red wine a while back and didn't like the result. Any ideas, anyone?

Porcupine asked this on page 9 of this very thread, Christmastime. There were a series of answers, Q, that you might find useful.

To the extent it helps, Don,   is html code for a non-breaking space (which can also be written  ). Very useful if you're laying out a website. Not so much when you're trying to read an email.

For quite some time, I've been reading "&nbspOurPartners" in white font against blue on the upper right corner, as a heading for the column of local restaurants advertising here.

- cast iron is maybe not the best to do the sauce after the fish is done (a smaller steel pan would have worked better).

Acid in wine not a great idea in an uncoated cast-iron skillet, though less damage to finish results than with a long-simmered tomato sauce, for example. Unfortunately, the retention of heat means the liquid added to make a sauce evaporates quickly. However, I love pan-frying steaks and adding mushrooms & butter to the same pan while meat rests.

***********

Comfort food from my cast iron skillet, plated cliché on the side:

Medium-rare hamburger (ground beef from Eco-Friendly picked up for a ragu) w fish sauce and garlic paste topped w sautéed mushrooms, garlic, parsley and dill on Panorama's olive-oil roll, toasted w mustard.

Diced golden beet w Chicano Sol's microgreens, goat cheese and toasted walnuts

Orange slices

I may be in the minority on this but my answer to your question would be a horrified and unqualified NO! Good bagels are best non toasted since toasting can neutralize some of the finer points of a great bagel...

I know from not ordering pastrami on white with mayo, but now feel abashed about my first visit to Goldberg's last week. Asking for a toasted bagel w cream cheese, I was disappointed with mine since it didn't even color, let alone change texture. Took it back and explained. "That's toasted," I was told, "you want it dark-toasted. You didn't say." He didn't even look up at me when I asked for a Black Russian to go. So hungry after nearly four hours of errands, I gobbled that plain bagel straight out of the bag and I guess it wasn't just hunger that made it so good. Flesh vs. crust wasn't as chewy as I would have liked, but the bagel was superior to others I buy since I usually pass the place on Saturdays.

Thanks, everyone for suggestions. I tried taking a photo w my camera phone, but quality of image does not justify posting. I definitely will report back once I start using them.

More counterpoint to the Guardian article at Slate.

Thanks, SiP. Interesting.

Black bean chili with chipotle in adobo added to beans during the final phase of their cooking and powdered chiles in arbol stirred with onions and cayenne before being added to the mix.

When tomato-spice-and-alium mixture added to bean pot, I puréed a couple of ancho chiles and added that, too. (Deborah Madison is my source for this purée and the base recipe for my simplified version.) Stumbling upon The Korean Korner yesterday, I found some reasonably priced, decent poblanos and jalapeños. (Too bad the fresh epazote was in such bad shape. Very interesting store, especially when it comes to noodles, beans and grains!) These will be blackened, skinned and chopped as garnish tomorrow during a week of mostly vegetarian meals; a little fish, too, maybe.

Here's one of the established threads on the topic: Bagels (2005)

There's more under dining, I know, because when I first moved to Montgomery County, I asked a few questions and Dean Gold plus others weighed in with comparisons of two leading contenders.

I thought the stories in The Guardian and NPR were old news since The NYTs published a compelling article several years ago that inspired me to stop buying quinoa. Chocolate & Zucchini's blogger was similarly affected. I would be interested in learning more, though. The documentarians report the positive effect quinoa's popularity is having on the Bolivian farmers and I don't think that was ever an issue. To say that other Bolivians are jumping on rice and other-grain bandwagons due to novelty and recent availability is almost like saying the lives of the fine people of Chartres and Florence are enriched now that they can supplement their diets with cheeseburgers from McDonald's and Kellog's corn flakes. Almost, mind you. I realize it's not perfect parallelism.

Do fair trade chocolate bars deprive the countrymen of African growers from the cocoa they depend on for inexpensive, wide-ranging nutritional value? Ditto on coffee.

Canning is big. If you can find a bookstore, go look at the shelves in the cookbook section: the number of publications rivals the number of books with romantic pictures of Italy on the book jacket.

My food in jars is a gift from a farmer who owns a pretty cool little drying machine which produced very thin wisps of (mostly) red frying peppers. Also have a wide Ball jar of dehydrated heirloom tomatoes, distinct from store-bought sun-dried plum tomatoes in texture and substantiality. More ethereal, sort of, except they're tomatoes.

Any ideas for creative ways of cooking with them?

I do own a coffee grinder and could go all Wylie on them, but I was thinking of dishes somewhere in between flecks in a tasting menu and suggestions from Ag-Extension websites.

Le Puy and beluga lentil soup with carrots from Tree & Leaf and Farm at Sunnyside, garlic from Next Step Produce, baby spinach from Chicano Sol and pancetta Three Little Pigs produced from Big Sexy, a boar raised at Evensong Farm.

Garlic naan on the side (Trader Joe's)

Two small Bosc pears from Quaker Valley

Is there any interest in starting this again for 2012?

Not just yet, but soon? I am not eager to count calories or weigh more than my dried pasta and baking ingredients, but I would be happy to start using some of the other strategies that led to progress last time: exhaustive food diary and gradual increase in hours walked each month. I've accumulated so much cheese over the past month or so and I am not into throwing out perfectly good food that melts.

Flemish beer stew

Welsh rarebit--and some use it for fondue, same principle

Homemade mustard with flattened ales or stout

ETA: The most recent winner of contests at Food52 was for a recipe featuring beer as an ingredient. Check other submissions for ideas.

Dolcezza! The real thing: melted Valrhona.

Lemony veal meatballs

Savoy cabbage w juniper & black pepper cream

Crusty baguette

Roasted apple-pear sauce

^Makes sense to me! Second Helpings, the second cookbook from Union Square Café offers instructions for roasting a goose with a recipe for making a pretty interesting sauce flavored w juniper berries, quince, sage, caraway, cider... RW Apple had requested the recipe for The NYT around Christmas 2000, so you can probably find it online. Suggested sides: baked sauerkraut, apple & mortadella stuffing or horseradish-mashed potatoes.

Nigel Slater's cauliflower cheese as Part II of a very large cauliflower. Were I not felled by a cold and short on energy, I would have tried this wonderful Tunisian dish instead. Anyone else leafing through the British author's Tender?

Blood orange (Giant; US-grown & good!)

Coffee

Leftover cauliflower fritters (coins?) reheated in oven w tahini-lemon yogurt sauce and pomegranate seeds (rebirth & coming of Spring)

(Recipe from Smitten Kitchen, though fresh mint, extra zest and extra garlic clove recommended. Steam veg and pulse in food processor for 2-3 seconds if you find potato masher does nothing for tender but firm florets.)

I absolutely abhor spaghetti squash when used as a pasta surrogate. Wrong texture, flavorless, watery.

However, I now buy the vegetable every once and a while to roast, scoop out the cooked strands and mix them into a gratin with cream and mushrooms. Delicious and satisfying enough to serve as a main dish with crusty bread and a mug of soup or large salad.

Here's a link to favorite recipe; fresh chanterelles are wonderful, but any good, fresh mushroom will do: Deborah Madison's gratin (Local Flavors). ETA for a new link to a blog with a more faithful version of the original recipe.

^Thanks for advice, Fishinnards.