Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

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NOTE! There is a SERIOUS flaw in the frosting...it's basically salty chocolate butter! Nothing to sweeten it! I was very sorry when I managed to somehow NOT taste it until the entire beautiful (and delicious) cake was frosted. :(

I see maple walnut cookies in my near future. It's one of my FIL's favorite combos. WOW that sounds good

Oh, and FWIW Trader Joe's has a pretty good sized/priced bottle of Grade B which can be tough to find (at least here in Ohio).

Wait! There are other raisin-haters out there?!? I'll have to tell hubby to leave me alone. I don't hate the raisins per se, but the nasty little stem nubs that find their way in. Yuck. Great info on the corn during the potato famine! I'll have to do a little research. Hubby thought I had made up a joke when I mentioned an Irish potato famine (foreign history's not his thing). Fun! :)

Totally non-food related shout-out since the real Naked Cowboy is from Cinci (where I'm currently transplanted). He once was my hubby's server at a TGIFriday's where he sang to them. Hubby claims his friends will confirm this. :)

I have tried MANY different dark chocolates since my favorite brownie recipe calls for dark AND bittersweet, and I've found that TJ's is far and away the best choice (helpful that both varieties are available in the Pound Plus size, which is incidentally a 500g bar, not 250 since 2.2# per K). For those who are milk chocolate lovers, it simply can't be beat. Hubby was enjoying half of our anniversary gift Godiva chocolate bar and after one bite pronounced it insipid. I promptly gave him half a square of a TJ pound plus milk chocolate bar and he declared all was right with the world again. :) I get through 1-2 of them a week, so I'll be joining a gym this week or next. SOOOOO worth it. :)

I'm a noted thread-killer, so I waited to say that this dish has become a family favorite that we make at least once a month if not more often. Our busy family concession is that we get the Trader Joe's frozen organic yellow sweet corn instead of fresh since it's out of season. Today I made a big batch with rotelle and took it to a playgroup as a sort of pasta salad alternative and all the other moms were quite happy. Thank you!

I have to agree with Simon. I've had 2 yrs of culinary school followed by 3.5 years studying nutrition, and Simon is more on the nose than most. Doctors rather logically work from the assumption that patients are eating a standard American diet of highly processed and overly salted/fatted/sugared foods. MOST "normal" people do not need any additional salt.

Those of us who COOK our food from scratch do need/want to season it. My husband made a heavenly bolognese once only to have it ruined by my dad's wife who decided NOT to salt the pasta that she prepared to go under it. Tragic. The whole meal fell flat due to something as simple as unseasoned (and unfortunately undercooked - not al dente) pasta.

Incidentally it was hysterical to watch a Julia Child segment on preparing vegetables while in Dietetics school. I was the only one who didn't gasp loudly when she tossed in an appropriate amount of salt to the blanching water. I pity those who think you can't balance health and taste.

LMAO at Dyslexor. Really glad to see this and also the links for other related things (crock pot onions, and vinegar potato thingy). I appreciate how much I always get from these analyses and how much they relate to so many other things I do in the kitchen. :)

While the filling didn't immediately sound appetizing, the picture made me run to the kitchen and whip out the masa harina, and tortilla press. Thanks for inspiring a dinner from nothing! We added leftover rice and beans (Bayless black beans w/chipotle) which would have been only enough for one person to eat as it was. Stuffed into fresh tortillas and topped with cheese and sour cream fed 2 adults and two little kids. Thanks!

Note: Homemade mallows do NOT bake particularly well. I made my absolute best brownie recipe and decided to try Rocky Road with my awesome homemade marshmallows and they disappeared into little gooey chewy bits that left whitish craters in my beautiful brownies. Definitely lost the effect (and wow factor) I was going for with that one. :(

The crabmeat and oyster dressing for today. Ususally it's the cauliflower gratin, but I'm branching out. :)

I think it's funny how popular Dumpling has become. Maybe you should do a calendar. It makes me wonder if foodies may perhaps have a higher ratio of dog people to cat people. :)