thistle

I'm in, too-way too many cookbooks & not enough cooking going on around here-throw out a few suggestions & I'll check my shelves (or find an excuse to get some new ones).

I was happy that CJ was the one who was shown the door in this episode. because I don't think he was as strong a cook as most of the remaining competitors & I thought he came across as rather calculating & dismissive (although that may have been the editing). I like Dale & Hung for the final 2, & all of the remaining competitors have made dishes that I would love to try...

I also have Rick Bayless's Mexico-One Plate at a Time & although I haven't cooked very many dishes, everything has turned out well-(the recipe for Classic Red Tomato Rice in RB's Mexican Kitchen is my favorite, bit of work, but it's excellent). I signed up for the Sur la Table cooking class, then backed out (still thinking about that). Instead, I'm taking a knife skills class at La Cuisine & a Fairfax Co Adult class-Prep like a Chef. I hope I made the right decision...

Thank you, that's the brand I've been looking at-love those high output burners. And again, best wishes for your upcoming nuptials-we are coming up on lucky 13 & our wedding was great!-we planned a long distance wedding in Charleston, SC (we were living in Fayetteville, NC) in Oct. & it worked out wonderfully. One of the best parts was a free concert in the park across from our hotel the next day, Hootie & the Blowfish, Big Head Todd & the Monsters-no problems the day before, everyone that came to the wedding (about 110) had a great time in Charleston (we ran into some of them barhopping the night before the wedding)- I think the key is plan as much as you can & then just relax & enjoy what happens!...

Best wishes to you both! (& don't think about looking like a meringue, weddings can actually be very fun parties, if you do a little planning & luck out). This is slightly off-topic, but not really (havng to do w/ the spring picnic)- if you guys can grill bacon together in a rainstorm, I predict your marriage will be long-lived & very interesting (a prophecy, not a curse!). What kind of camp stove did you use & do you recommend it? Was that a removable griddle? Congratulations once more ...Thistle/Linda (whose son, Tom, was really drawn into cooking w/ his experience blotting bacon & draining the grease can-he just started middle school & I think he'll ace home ec!)

I did share, my friend was practically swooning & wanted to know where the shop was. I came home & ordered Chocolate & Confections by Peter Greweling off Amazon the next day, I can't wait until it arrives. Also, egullet has an online 'course', Confectionary 101, which has some good basic instructions for making caramel & nougat. This way, Jason, if you decide to ever offer a chocolate weekend, I'll be prepped...

I think my food phobias are pretty common-offal, green peppers, asparagus, sweet potatoes, melons & I might be able to eat some of these if they were cooked REALLY well. I'm not a big fan of traditional breakfast food, prefer savouries to sweets, the only thing that really sets me off is the smell of microwave popcorn (dates back to my first pregnancy, that only thing that made me nauseous).

My kids, who drink soda when we go out to dinner (we don't have soda at home) are strongly encouraged, if they finish their soda, to switch to water (my choice). I am the one, who's a waiter's nightmare-I generally order unsweetened tea & water & require frequent refills. If I don't have enough to drink, I get a bit cranky...(not obnoxious, mind you, just perturbed).

I agree, an absolutely wonderful class! My only regret is that my chocolates are almost gone. My children were waiting up for me, like small hungry jackals, I shared some w/ the babysitter, his family, other friends. If it weren't for my son hoarding the caramels, there would be almost nothing left. I guess I'm going to have to make some chocolates, although I know they won't have the finish of the ones we did the other night. Thank you, Jason, for a great intro to chocolate...Linda

I had a great time at the risotto class today-MHBerk, it was nice to meet you & your wife & get some inside info on your earlier class. I arrived too early, never having been there before, but it was easier to locate & to park than I had expected. Now, I definitely want to go back for dinner & try some other dishes. Chef Donna gave us some basic tips on risotto, types of rice, method of cooking, then we all sliced some onions (some of which we saved for our individual efforts & the rest went into the community pot). He then cooked a large batch, giving us tips along the way, divided it into 2 batches, added some pureed spinach to one (w/ egg?) & saffron to the other. After cooling them down, we were shown how to prepare arancini w/ leftover risotto. My saffron one was nice, but for the spinach, my oil wasn't hot enough (running out of butane, flame went out), so they sort of fell apart-they still tasted delicious, though. We placed our finished risotto balls (or sludge, in the case of my spinach) at the table & went back to our burners to tackle our solo risotto. Shrimp stock, bit of tomato sauce, pesto, shrimp, bit of butter to finish. My burner went out halfway through, but after a quick replacement, I was up & cooking again. It was interesting trying to keep one eye on your own risotto & looking around to see how everyone else was doing. We took our finished plates back to the community table, ate, & talked about how it went. I went too heavy on the oil, I think, which was explained to me as the rice absorbing the stock too fast (so the addition of more stock would have helped). The chef then sent out plates of black risotto w/ cuttlefish & risotto w/ sausage, beans, & barbera (my fave! like the best red beans & rice you've ever had). After a delicious pannacotta w/ peaches (someone said mango, but it tasted more like peaches to me), which I couldn't do justice to, because I could feel the risotto continuing to expand in my stomach, & realizing I would fall asleep at the table if I sat there one minute more, I headed home. My son, whose interest in risotto encouraged me to take the class, was ready to give it a shot as soon as I came home. I didn't have the proper ingredients on hand, so we improvised. Green onions instead of yellow, Calasparra (Bomba) rice, boxed (horrors!) stock instead of homemade. It took longer to cook, but I didn't overdo the oil this time. Finished w/ some butter & parmesan, then divided into 3 -plain, one w/ a spoonful of pesto mixed in, & the last w/ some diced pancetta. So, that was dinner, along w/ pork tenderloin & some sauteed spinach, & my biggest joy?-my daughter (an unenlightened eater, the original chicken nugget kid) said she loved it & that she wanted to have risotto all the time...Priceless!

My daughter got 2 new Nintendo DS games recently-Hamsterz (she named her hamster Hung) & Cooking Mama, which was not nearly as much fun as I thought it was going to be. Both my kids smoked me on this ( I know cooking, but they know games). I'm almost embarassed to admit one of my favorite knives is a 6.5" Spyderco serrated. After my risotto class on Sat., I think I really need to take a knife skills class...

Last night's show was pretty good (except for Tre getting the boot)-the Quickfire was awesome, I loved seeing Sara & Hung work the knives! I really think CJ should have been ousted though, he's starting to really annoy me... I thought Tre would make it all the way to the finals, too.

I love watching TC, not the least is wondering what you would do in their place. This last test was particularly challenging, 'Restaurant Wars' divided the chefs, but not along lines that were quite fair. I want to see all the chefs, operating on a level playing field, with a challenge that is creative & inspiring....

I am, (the morning class, that is). The short story behind this is while I have always been into cooking, this year I've started watching the TV cooking reality shows (Hells Kitchen-Mon., Top Chef-Wed.). After this week's TC restaurant wars debacle, my son (who's been watching these shows w/ me) started asking me about risotto- how do you cook it? what extras do you put in? how could Howie screw it up? I was embarassed to admit I had never cooked risotto, nor did I know what to do to make it excellent....When I saw the mention of the class by Roberto Donna, I jumped-I'll learn how to cook it & how it should taste...next Sat., I'll be there w/ bells on (well, not literally), I think it will be fun...

Poolboy, It sounds like your kitchen reno worked out wonderfully!-the things I envy the most are the drawers (my Mom redid her kitchen recently, I was down for a family reunion, & I loved those drawers!) & the cookbook bookshelves (mine are up in the tiny library). The only thing I'd question is the no more microwave-ever!? Do the double ovens really sub for a micro? I use mine for so many small things-heating water, melting beutter, defrosting, reheating leftovers-the kids can even heat up/cook things unassisted-I think I'd be lost without mine...

Me, too-I love watching it-it's disturbing & compelling at the same time-I find myself yelling at the contestants, 'Donkeys!', although I'm sure I'd do just as poorly as they seem to be doing...Tonight, it's got to be Josh or Bonnie (unless there's a wild card)...

A toaster oven is a must in my kitchen, I still have an older Black & Decker that doesn't look too great, but works just fine. It's good for cooking small items w/out heating up the oven, & melting cheese. I have a Kitchenaid Ultima speedcook oven (combo microwave/convection) & though I feel like I haven't utilized its full capabilities, I love it. The grill was missing when we bought the house, but I use the browning pan all the time. The regular oven is also is conventional/convection.

I added about 3/4 cup of lime to each container, then added some lime dissolved in water to the reservoirs about a week ago, I also used TomatoTone, red plastic mulch, used Neem, seaweed & fish fertilizer, & Messenger, & they still look wretched! These are the ones in EBs, although the ones planted in the ground look just as bad. I pulled one out, a yellow pear, because I'm sure it was dead.

Well, I am NOT having a good tomato year-don't know if it's the heat or disease (I'm consistent w/ watering), I have lots of green tomatoes, but the plants look half-dead! On the plus side, herbs & cucmbers are thriving (I'm almost tired of cucmber salad). Maybe the best thing to do is think about planting a fall garden & just try to keep everything alive right now.

Crappy beer is an oxymoron, but then, I like beer. Yuengling, well-chilled, w/ a squeeze of lime, please..

I am SUCH a cookbok junkie! I try to control my purchases, because I'm out of bookshelf space, so my favorite place to 'browse' new cookbooks is the library also. Right now, I have -Rosa's New Mexican Table-Roberto Santibanez (this is good!), Perfect Party Food, Gordon Makes it Easy, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Big Sky Cooking, Crust & Crumb, & (not really a cookbook, but very good) The Earth Knows My Name-Food, Culture, & Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans. I have quite a few cookbooks (3 bookshelves) & I reread them periodically. My cooking is not quite on par with my cookbook reading, unfortunately, being more mundane & suited to a family with unadventurous palates. However, my son has really started to show an interest in food & cooking, we watch cooking shows together & he helps out alot in the kitchen as my sous-chef. I have high hopes for him (& he'll always be able to feed himself well!)...

I have 10 w/in 5 miles of my home, but I've never had coffee at any of them. I make my coffee at home. I have a friend who tried out the OnStar in her new vehicle, by asking where the closest Starbucks' was (she was vacationing in the Outer Banks, NC).

I smoked some pork last night, so tonight we will have smoked pork quesadillas (smoked pork is sprinkled w/ hot pepper vinegar, since I was too lazy to make sauce). Very basic, flour tortillas, 'Mexican' cheese blend, Pace Picante sauce, & whatever hot sauce you choose. We also have cucumber salad (my plants are pumping it out!), cantaloupe (yuck, I hate it, but my son & DH love it), leftover collards (these are also premade, 'cause I'm lazy) Glory canned (please don't banish me!) collards, & cornbread. I'm looking forward to visiting my Mom next week in coastal NC & eating some seafood....

My tomatoes & peppers aren't ripe yet, I can't wait until I get to taste them (of course, they'll probably ripen when I go away for a long weekend & I'll miss it). It IS incredibly, miserably hot-the kids & I went out today to Chef Huang's for a lunch buffet-not outstanding, but we had lots of soup, rice noodles, my son scarfed up the dumplings & there was chocolate cake & oranges for dessert-perfect for a summer lunch! I just wish I could figure out why my DH thinks he can eat all the tangerine icepops & that I won't notice that only raspberry & strawberry are left...

gallons of iced tea, microwave-poached salmon (w/lime & salt), & pickled cucumbers-also, Edy's fruit bars....