Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I was making homemade marshmallows for a friend's birthday (I should say that I've probably said "They're easy!" 100 times when people are shocked that marshmallows are a thing you can make without a factory). My roommate's hand mixer is sort of old, so it doesn't have that nice retractable cord feature. No, this cord is stiff and permanently twisted. And the cord somehow got twisted amongst the beaters and the gooey marshmallow. Getting in untwisted (fast, as the mixture was cooling quickly) ended up getting marshmallow allllllll up and down the cord, all over my hands, my hair, and my kitchen. And it just. kept. happening. every time I started the beaters again. I ended up with about half the amount of marshmallows and they were really flat since I couldn't get any air into them because of the damn cord. Next time, I'll pull out MY beaters. Sheesh!

I looooooove canning. One thing I'd like to figure out is jams with pectin - so far, I've steered clear of the stuff, but I think it's time to learn.

This week I've been having open faced goat cheese and egg - Herbed goat cheese smeared into half of a hollowed out roll (don't know why I hollowed it, I guess it makes a boat-like vessel), topped with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and salt & pepper. If I wasn't so impatient, I'd bake the egg & cheese mixture into the bread bowl.

@pooch - Yes, I think it's really that good. The food's good (really good) and the atmosphere is lovely, I've had some of the best meals of my life there. But, everyone's a critic, so I'm sure that's just my opinion.

I made these for Thanksgiving and they were such a hit! Seriously, the best I've ever made and the compliments did not stop coming. And they rose really high, it was quite impressive.

For the person who was wondering about freezing/refrigerating, I par-baked mine and they came out great. I baked them just until they started to get a tiny bit of color on top, cooled them completely, then froze them. I thawed them in the fridge overnight, then baked them the rest of the way minutes before dinner. They were perfect!

"an ideal invite to a dance party" I love it!

And funnily enough, I came home to homemade green bean casserole last night, everything made from scratch by my roommate. When I said, "Craving thanksgiving?" She was perplexed. She had no idea it was a common Thanksgiving dish, she had only recently heard of it at a BBQ restuarant here in Manhattan and when she looked it up she (somehow) came upon a "from scratch" recipe!

As I've been contemplating doing one this year, I'll say the pumpkin cheesecake.

I might not have the numbers right, but isn't the bacterial "danger zone" between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit? So you either want to eat it hot or cold, but not let it hit those in between temperatures. My co-worker always swears that the microwave will kill any bacteria in questionable food, but I think not.

Around the holidays it's my (/Orangette's) fennel and mushroom salad, which is surprisingly always a hit. Most people say they don't like fennel, then love it when they try it in this simple salad.

Also, my mom's chocolate sheet cake.

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting (a Paula Deen recipe, on foodnetwork.com as "pumpkin bars"). I love pumpkin in all iterations and always want to try every new recipe I come across, but I always come back to that cake. I once pulled it out at the end of a holiday gathering to cut pieces to wrap up for people to take on their ways, and guests ended up staying an extra hour to eat a piece right there on the spot!

The Laura Bush cookies were actually her recipe, from the white house website. But I think in a hopeful election, an inspired recipe is called for.

Plus, I just wasn't all that psyched about Michelle's shortbread. Sorry Michelle!

Usually a variation on oatmeal. Lately, I like frosting a plain oatmeal cookie with maple cream cheese icing!

Not to be Debbie Downer here, but I've got a "Know Before You Go" tip. Make triple sure you have your ID with you.

I was there with a group of eight this summer, and the guy at the door wouldn't let in an Aussie in our group because she only had her australian driver's license and not her passport. Um, buddy, it still proves she's well over 21. Anyway, the guy had egg on his face when our Aussie called a friend of hers who was already inside with a beer - he had let the other girl in with a New Zealand driver's license. After that, he couldn't just be kind enough to let her in, so we all left. Bummer.