Hello All

I'm enjoying a Gin (Bombay) and Sprite (diet) while watching The English Patient. Unfortunately out of tonic, but still very refreshing while watching all that sand...

And you?

To me they taste like soap. I can't stand them. I can't even eat "Mixed Berry" yogourt because I can discern the soapiness. Do I have a weird chemical imbalance or brain tumour? (anyone remember the "Dr. Penfield, I smell burnt toast" heritage moment?) Am I nuts? Everyone else seems to LOOOve them...

Please remove this poster. See "what to cook when you are exhausted" It's an ad for online sales of assorted junk.

I don't usually have drinks Sunday night, but with Mad Men back on the air, it seems fitting...

It's starting in five minutes, and I have my drink mixed - Pimm's with iced tea and lemon (new favourite). Not very 60's but an appropriate mash up of US and UK tastes - perhaps an homage to the new trans-Atlantic Sterling Cooper?

Happy Mad Men!

I just created my new favourite drink!

Pimms, iced tea, and lemon - so good, I wish I had thought of this at the beginning of the summer.

(Probably it's been invented before, but it was a first - and not last - for me)

I had a friend over tonight and she opened my fridge to get a glass of water. She looked in and said "You sure have a lot of cheese !". I was a bit surprised at her comment. My cheese holdings have never seemed to be excessive to me.

This is what I currently stock:

Feta
Parmesan
Cream cheese
2 kinds of cheddar (Balderson 5 yr old and Old Cracker Barrel)
Chèvre
Fin Renard - a delicious Québec cheese in the Gouda style

Is 7 different cheeses too many for a single person?
Am I a cheese addict?

How much cheese are you holding?

I'm enjoying a delicious and refreshing large gin and tonic with 2 limes.

What are you drinking tonight?

PerkyMac, I miss you...

Are you still around?

After successfully making Basic Egg Pasta ( 2 3/4 cups flour, 4 eggs, 1tsp salt) with my Kitchen Aid I decided to give the Whole Wheat Pasta recipe a try. The proportions seemed a bit off, and guess what? They are! The recipe calls for 3 cups WW Flour, 1 cup All-purp and only 4 eggs plus 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt. The dough was way too dry and I had to add close to 1/2 cup water and another tsp oil to make at approximate the right texture. I also ended up mixing and kneading way longer then stated in the recipe. Now the dough is resting in cling film. Can this resemble good pasta if I go through the trouble of rolling it out? I would hate to waste of 4 eggs and 4 cups of flour...

Any good WW pasta recipes?

Does anyone else make popsicles?

I just made my first batch of the season with sweetened grapefruit juice and vodka with a mint leaf at the bottom. When I was growing up my Mum made them with Jello. I think that it was to reduce the drippage....

What kind do you make?

Hello!

I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian travelling to Amsterdam later this week. Do you know anything to add to my must-eat list? So far it includes stroopwaffels, fries with mayonnaise (although I do that here too...), and Dutch cheeses - Edam, Gouda, etc...

Any restaurant recommendations?

Hi

I won the cookbook "Ten" but received "Beyond the Great Wall".
Unless I have a secret cookbook-sending admirer...

Mix-up?

Hi there. I need you help.For the last few months Postum has been absent from supermarket shelves here in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). This has caused my Mum great distress as she has been drinking Postum 2-3 x per day for the last 50+ years. She is down to a few cupfuls left only, after collecting the last of my sister's Postum from Toronto and my aunt's from California.

Is there any Postum left anywhere? Have you seen it in your area? Any ideas for alternatives? My elderly Mum is really not going to cope well with this change....

Despite knowing full well that it will result in excrutiating pain, I persist in picking at the charred cheese bits on the nacho pan. The hard crispy cheese goes under my nail and is terribly painful. Yet I pick at the cheese again and again... Why? Because I love hard burned cheese that much!

Any of your repeat food related injuries?

Nay for me as I'm vegetarian.

Actually this is a sneaky way to ask for suggestions for an anchovy alternative in otherwise vegetarian recipes - usually pasta sauces.

I don't know why but I usually substitute chopped capers for the anchovies, although I'm pretty sure that they don't taste remotely similar. Then again I have never had an anchovy, and no fish at all for 20 + years so I really have no clue... Please Help!

I was wondering if it was possible for SE to post nutritional information with the recipes. This was brought on by the Croissant Bread Pudding recipe - AKA heart attack on a plate.

Thanks!

The recipe in the newletter is not clear at step 3 - it states to remove the crust from the oven after 5 minutes, then prick with fork, then return to the oven. But it doesn't say for how long to bake again. Can anyone correct this?

Is it just me or is Jacques Pépin aging very well? He must be in his mid-late 70's but looks just great! I love how he pronouces words that are the same in French and English always with the French pronunciation."Salade" not "salad". This 30-something year old has a bit of a crush...

I'm enjoying a delicious Sidecar made with Brandy de Jerez, Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice (no sugar). What are you drinking this Saturday night?

I once ate half of an enchilada entrée, then found a nail which was baked into the enchilada. Not a hardware store nail, a HUMAN nail!! I called over the server and she offered to bring me a new entrée. That was the last thing I would have wanted! I should have complained and got the meal for free, but I was young, not very assertive, and felt that I needed to leave that place ASAP. I felt like throwing up, but didn't.

What have you found in your restaurant food?

I just ate half a head of cauliflower with curry dip (yogourt, mayo, and madras curry paste). Now I'm eyeing my basket of peaches... Is anyone else out there seasonal-produce-imic?

Hello all! I'm drinking a delicious 2002 Argentinian Malbec. It's cold and rainy so it fits. I've had a really tough week, which called for a special bottle...

What are you drinking this Friday night?

I'm currently drinking a refreshing Gin and Fresca. And you?

What are you going to eat to celebrate July 1st? I'm making pancakes with Manitoulin Island maple syrup for breakfast, Oka cheese and roasted vegetable sandwiches for lunch, and a to-be-determined dinner featuring a strawberry rhubarb dessert. And we'll drink beer, and watch "Trailer Park Boys". Bonne Fête du Canada!

Everyone seems to be very specific about their coffee... What about tea?
I'm a tea drinker through and through. Tetley in the morning, Twinings Earl Grey after lunch, and herbal (I have about 20 varieties... lately I'm on a Rooibos kick) after dinner and in the evening. Weekends I break out the "good tea" - Harrod's or Fortnum & Mason's. Anyone out there as tea obsessd as me?

The following recipe is from the January 28th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here! Nicole Rees, author of Baking Unplugged, calls this dish "anytime" bread pudding because she loves to... More