smokey

That's what I always find weird about these assumptions as well. I think Kliman's criticism that there are regulars at some restaurants who receive special treatment and then publicly fawn over the restaurants on this (and other) site(s) is accurate. But, as others here have pointed out, I generally know who those folks are (at least at this site). I know there is no reason to read person X's review of restaurant X, because it's going to be more about how the owner was so gracious to them and they had the same wonderful food and service and gee, isn't restaurant X great?

When you're really struggling like the way you report, I can totally understand the appeal of a strictly managed weight loss program (no choices about what or when, just instructions and food). I caution you to really consider it before investing any time or money. I think the biggest difficulty with those programs is that they don't help you make better choices within the context of your life away from the program. Do you have the time/energy to consider weight watchers, or perhaps weight watchers online? The thing I liked about WW was that it wasn't so dictatorial, so it was easy for me to make the program work within my own food preferences (a not particularly stringent vegetarian who really loathes what I consider to be fake foods, e.g. fat free sour cream, non-dairy creamer, etc.) I think you hit the nail on the head with some of what you reported in your first post--when you hit menopause (or thereabouts) a woman's metabolism just plummets and where you put on weight changes. It becomes a lot harder to eat what feels like a normal amount of food and not put on weight. Exercise would probably help, but I know it can be hard to fit that in to an already busy life. Good luck; losing weight is definitely hard.

I don't think I was very clear in the problem I'm having. It's not water coming over the top or condensation or steam, it's water seeping in making the crust soggy (like what you describe, Barbara). My springform has 3" sides. When I've cooked a cheesecake with a water bath, I've tried starting with boiling water. I do understand the point of the bain marie from a transmission-of-heat perspective (although my physics of heat is far from fool proof--in a moment of idiocy I *once* decided to try pouring boiling water into a room temp pyrex pan, thus necessitating the replacement of said pyrex pan).I'm thinking the low constant temp thing may be my friend. Thanks for the chocolate cookie recipes. The korova cookies are a bit much for what I'm after (great chocolate flavor, but I'm not much in the mood for a sable most of the time). I'm thinking the drop nature of the ones porcupine posted may be just what I'm after (from an ease of prep and texture perspective). Ahh, the joys of baking experimentation!

Zora--Have you had problems with the waterbath getting into the springform pan? No matter how I try to do this (wrap spring form in extra strength aluminum foil, what have you), I've never been successful with the waterbath and it drives me nuts. I would love to hear a tip or two from somebody who has made this work. Chocolate cookie recipe quest My 3.5yo and I made cookies for valentine's day last night. It was a cocoa snowflake recipe from Penzey's. Somehow, I think I got suckered by the photograph, because I've never been tempted by any of their recipes before. I love their spices, but those recipes, oy. Anyway, I found the cookies to be wholly disappointing. Not enough chocolate flavor at all (they did, however, look good). I searched the Penzey's site and the recipe isn't there, or I would link to it. It's a chocolate cookie, flavored chocolate with cocoa only. The dough is refrigerated overnight (or else it would never get firm enough to handle) and then rolled into small balls, which are rolled in 10x and baked. They spread somewhat and get a pretty, crackly white and brown top. (Full disclosure, the +1 and the 3.5 yo think the cookies are just grand, but they don't have very discriminating palates ) All this is actually my long way of asking whether somebody has a good, reliable, not-too-fussy chocolate cookie recipe. I've made those claudia fleming cookies where you have to have the dough whip in the mixer for roughly 15 min, and that's too fussy for me and me 3.5 yo (although they do taste good). I tried a chocolate butter cookie from Gourmet's xmas edition roughly 2 yo, and the dough was way too big a pain in the ass to handle. I want something with a good chocolate taste that doesn't require too much hand-holding. Is that asking too much of a chocolate cookie? If the answer is yes, I'll accept that, but want to try a few more recipes before I give up. I've got a brownie recipe I like and a chocolate biscotti recipe I like; I figure there's a chocolate cookie recipe out there for me somewhere! Thanks.

I PMed you guys, but just wanted to say I'm sorry I'm not there with you. Car issues notwithstanding, I'm rarely such a flake.

Because of my schedule that day, 12:30 might be a bit late for me. Could we aim for noon?

This is the little counter-service place next door to (and attached to) "Oh Said Rose". My SIL lives in Hampden, and I make it a point to go to this place everytime I go to Hampden. I love it. They serve homemade soups (the menu varies) and salads. The owner is this friendly woman who will chat with you about the recipes she's trying. The soups and salads are good. I'm not sure I've ever had one of the cookies, but on Saturday I tried a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting that was quite good. Bottom line, it's a pleasant, inexpensive respite from the precious, too-too surroundings of Hampden (not to be judgemental or anything ).

mustard please, no ketchup (regardless of the locale of me, the dog, or its ethnic origins!)

Hmmm, I think I could do a Passage to India lunch on Friday. I've never had a chance to go there and have long wanted to. anybody else available?

I made this last night http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/salmon-...ice-salad---qfs with a few modifications. I used rice noodles instead of rice. To 'bulk up' the veggie quotient, I added some steamed spinach and some thinly sliced red pepper to the mix. I found the recipe a bit odd (it wasn't entirely clear to me what temp the rice salad should be, but the salmon gets cooked immediately prior, so is obviously supposed to be hot), but I liked it. And, in the parlance of WW, it was roughly a 10pt. meal but was quite filling. It's certainly derivative (I mean, it's F&W after all, not some Thai or S.E. Asian cookboook!), but the flavors were good. It's certainly more of a summery dish than wintery (I agree with porcupine, this is the time of year to eat polenta covered with something warm and spicy), but it hit the spot last night. I've already made the bilrus tofu dish twice (thanks again to whoever posted it, laniloai?). This dish is a real winner, easy to make without pork and throw in lots of veggies. I'm planning on keeping it in the regular rotation.

No, but this is the stuff that zora recommended to me upthread when I said that my goal was simply to recreate the miso soup that I find at my local sushi joint. If you buy some and are pleased with the results, share the brand name!

Thanks, Bill! How many would you estimate that serves? I'm thinking 4, but they might be small portions?

To me, beer is a great accompaniment for pizza, but more when it's an order out pizza you're sitting around eating while watching a game or something. Greasy and with too much cheese. Both Two Amy's and PP are pizzas that are better accompanied by a glass of red wine. <shrug> To each their own. I prefer everything about 2A, except the atmosphere. And it's not even the kids that get to me. It's the overall noise level. The whole of it drives me nuts. Foodwise, across the board (apps, pie, dessert), I think 2A is better.

I think that's a really great piece of advice. Before eating out it's often tempting not to eat too much so that you haven't 'used up' all of your calories/points for the day/week. The result is that you arrive at dinner absolutely starving and eat way too much (bread, apps, anything that gets within grabbing distance of your table!). It's better to snack ahead of time on something like carrots or an apple so the edge is off your hunger with something more healthy.

The Shady Grove metro is not too far from there. Certainly too far to walk, but if somebody else attending were willing to pick you up at the metro and drop you off, you would be in good shape. I have no sense of whether there are regularly taxis at that metro stop (sometimes there are). I think it's very unlikely that there is a bus line that is evenly vaguely direct from the shady grove metro to L'academie. You could always try plugging the relevant data into wmata.com--I've found their website to be very easy to navigate and helpful.

Mmmmm, you wanna share the recipe for that green apple salad? It's looking might tasty!

Jael--thanks for the quinoa reminder! Here's my stupid quinoa question. Everything I read about it talks bout needing to rinse of the (bitter-tasting) saponin (have I got that name right? I hope you know what I mean). So, I do. But, then you read these recipes for more of a pilaf-type preparation with quinoa that have you toast the quinoa, or briefly saute it, prior to adding water too cook it. So, how do I rinse it then do this? (hard to image toasting wet quinoa) Any quinoa experts want to weigh in (yuck, yuck, fit for summer, yuck, yuck!)?

That's funny; I definitely still get the email notifications of a PM. Did before upgrade, still do

I just want to second Crackers' comments. Mr. and Ms. P. were incredibly gracious hosts, supplying a large kitchen, flour, eggs, delicious food (olives, panna cotta, mmmmm), guests brought LOADS of good food, advice and opinions were freely shared. I had a lovely time and my only regret was that I wasn't able to stay long enough to help clean up--I fear for Grendel's pancreas. Thank you!

I'm with you, Heather, on the modern competitive parenting aspect of this. At the same time, when the topic of 'what my kids eat' gets discussed among food-folks/gatronauts/callthemwhatyouwill, I think there can be an incredible level of snobbery displayed. I don't think the 'foodie' group is any more or less inclined towards competitive parenting, but I do think food is an arena where the foodie group (and specifically not saying Rockwellers, because I don't think it's any better or worse among this group of food-type-peple) can display a lot of pride/snobbery. As the parent of child who is not an adventurous eater (I like to think he's on the north beach diet--high carb, high glycemic index!), I can tell you, that attitude gets to be really frustrating. It's usually accompanied by somewhat paternalistic advice on what I should do/should have done (as though I haven't thought about any of this) and presumes that one's child comes into this world without a single preference, a blob of playdoh waiting to be formed by me. Obviously, if the kid isn't an adventurous eater, it's all the parents' fault.

Argh! The penalties of leaving early. I was eyeballing that cake and eyeballing it, but just couldn't be the first one to cut into it. Homemade buttercream (where's that homer-simpson-drooling icon when you need it?!).Yes, I too tried to stick with tasting (and I kept trying to stay near the veggie tray, so I tasted more of that), but then there was the caponata to be sampled (again and again), the bread, the cheese...

Don't be too sure about the major repercussions. I swore off the drinking/biking thing after I managed to break my pinky toe when biking home from a 4th of July party one year. I looked at it and figured it would right itself over night (this, despite the fact that it was perpindicular to its normal configuration when I went to sleep). I think, even in my stupor, I also realized that on the evening of the 4th, an ER would be hassle.It was a breeze the next morning at 7am with my hangover.

Way to go, bilrus! I'm so psyched for you. I agree, I definitely have preferences among the non-fat plain yogurts that I eat. I recently tried butterworths (or some such) farm for the first time. Dang, that's tart. I like it to taste yogurt-y, but this is a bit much. Note to self, return to one of my other nonfat plain yogurts before buying butterworks again.

Woo-hoo! congratulations on the weight loss---that's huge! I figured you had to lose weight this week. When reading your food journal I was really struck by how 'well' (define as you see fit) you were eating!And as for the Big Weekend Ahead--yeah, I hear ya'. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it through Sunday's activities...

You know, I don't want to make this into an alcoholics anonymous type thing, but in my experience I had to hit rock bottom before I found the motivation to make the change necessary to lose weight. Rock bottom is different for everybdy. For me, I had put on roughly 40lbs. over a many year period. I was looking at a photo of myself over Christmas that year and realized that that image of me was really what I looked like. I could no longer claim that it was a bad angle, bad outfit, poor lighting, whatever. I looked like that in every photo I had seen of myself for the past year or two. That's what I looked like day in and day out, and I didn't like it anymore. I think you've really hit the nail on the head. If you haven't found the motivation *to you* to make changes that will help you lose weight, you're not going to make permanent changes in your eating and exercise. I'm sure you can do it if you decide you want to--good luck!