Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Another vote for "fries light well" - they're cooked halfway between normal and well done, so they have a little more crunch without drying out so much. The whole onion and medium rare options were a revelation - will definitely try these next time.

Julia Child, Charlie Trotter, Jacques Pepin. Many, many ethnic restaurants inspired experimentation. Valuable for basics: Joy of Cooking, The Way to Cook, Moosewood (various), The Breakfast Book, Cake Bible.

MMinNYC - please say more about how you substitute ricotta for roux / bechamel? Same volume of ricotta as bechamel before cheese is added, or some other concept? Thanks!

I didn't really have a baker to learn from, so it was mostly trial and error - and reading informative cookbooks and picking up clues wherever they appear - to eventually learn principles like what's safe vs what's tricky to adapt in a baking recipe.

To cooked spaghetti, angel hair, or flat noodles, add one or two beaten eggs. Warm a pan with olive oil (and a little butter optional). Add the pasta mixture, tamp down lightly, and then don't disturb until golden and crispy on the bottom. Put a plate on top of the pan, invert the pan to get cake onto the plate, golden side up. Slide it back into the pan and let it brown on the second side. Move it to a plate or cutting board, cut into wedges, and enjoy with anything from butter & salt, to sugar & raisins, to your favorite pasta sauce or gravy.

Home made pizza: thin crust, garlic olive oil (instead of red sauce); topped with goat cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives.

Yep, home ec class in the midwest is where I first saw this too... but we didn't enrich the sauce with an egg yolk, or add the lemon. It sounds much better this way!

Hot & sour soup
Cranberry-grape juice
Home made chicken soup with LOTS of very fine noodles
English muffins with butter & jam
Grape Nuts cereal
Rice pudding (with raisins & cinnamon)

Can someone recommend a frosting recipe (per photo)? Thanks in advance!

I haven't tried the NYT cake - I find lemon usually has more impact than orange in baked dishes. I have made olive oil Country Pear Cake from Bon Appetit several times, it's very simple and very good.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Country-Pear-Cake-106131
The recipe calls for self rising flour - I made my own with these proportions: 1 lb flour plus 2 Tablespoons baking soda plus 2 teaspoons salt.

Wish we knew of more good bakeries in this part of CA... A few we like for specific items are Copenhagen in Burlingame, Norm's Market in Pescadero, the Brickery at Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino

I think this is the same as Cajeta that we had as a treat in Mexico - My aunt bought it prepared, but she described the same home preparation option - simmer a can of condensed milk for a few hours. I've seen cajeta in jars our local supermarket in the last couple years.

Acorn Squash lasagna. My niece's boyfriend is vegetarian, but he's not the only person who will be happy next Thursday, when this shows up on the table.