Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Perfect Mashed Potatoes--because somehow, even though I make good mashed potatoes, I ALWAYS ruin it when I make the recipe for a large crowd!

Corniest Corn Muffins--I love everything from Dorie Greenspan. And I can also vouch for the Cook's Illustrated Fool-proof pie dough! It's magic.

@atammal: I think because the patties are cooked on the stove and finished in the oven, it should cook entirely in the oven and not be raw, I believe. Of course, I didn't write the recipe, but it seems safe that way.

Lol! This is the first time I've ever posted to Talk and I'm so surprised that I'm not the only one thinking of this!

For example, last night I made peanut satay chicken over rice and my boyfriend was playing Resident Evil 5 and picked at it during the cut scenes, but said it was awesome.

@chardonnay: I agree about eggs! Yicky on the cold eggs. I wait for no one when it comes to eggs.

@lambowner: Yes, soup must be hot. I reheat soup if it gets even a little cool. And lukewarm soup at a restaurant? Totally wrong.

@radley24: Hmmm...I've done my share of disordered eating (all good now!) and I can't see how hot food would fall into that category. Weird.

Dry cereal. Everyone thinks it's weird.

I'll do five...

1-When cooking, I tend to stand like a flamingo, with one leg up. And when doing dishes.

2-I made the best butternut squash soup on accident and keep making it now.

3-I once took on a cake job I shouldn't have and it was the bane of my existence. I hate fondant.

4-I'm too poor to bake like I used to. No one seems to think of this when they request baked goods.

5-I eat tofu, but I'm an omnivore.

I'm surprised that The Fannie Farmer Cookbook isn't on this list yet. I grew up on it and have given it as a gift before. I think I love the pages that show where each cut of meat comes from and how to substitute som ingredients. I recently made crepes from it (like, Monday night) and one of my friends called me today telling me that he was angry at me--he could STILL taste the crepes (angry in a funny way, as in, now he can't stop wanting them). So Fannie is my girl. =)

I love Vienna sausages and blood sausage.

=) Yes, I'm a Puerto Rican!

I've never properly brunched in New York, but I REALLY like bagels and lox, with chive cream cheese and capers, with perhaps some very thinly sliced red onion.

Oh, now I'm hungry.

Eating less meat means eating less meat, not cutting it out completely, and that sounds reasonable. In fact, I started buying locally, grass-fed beef since this summer and pretty much refuse to buy it from the grocery store anymore--beef is one of those things that's not necessarily seasonal, and so can be acquired at the farmers market all year. Since it costs more at the market, we just eat less of it--and it's been just fine, actually.

I have to agree that we could just eat less in general. A lot of restaurant portions are ridiculous; we've switched to eating at sushi places or tapas restaurants when we go out, mostly because the portions are a lot more manageable. Yeah, not cheap either, but we only eat out fancy-like every couple of months (birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions).

I don't think we need to eat as much as we do, particularly meat. I think American culture thrived on the bounty created by industrialized meat (and food in general), when it first started out. But we've taken that to an extreme in a hedonistic way, almost. So the fact that there are repercussions and that, in a capitalistic society, it continues to be lucrative (and cheap for consumers), are both not surprises.

I think of farmers in the past eating--they had true cause to eat heartily, considering they were caring for an entire farm--and I think they would be a little shocked at how much we eat. Overeating, to me, is a little like drinking too much--for special occasions or times when you've managed to bring together a large group of family and friends. Should we drink too much every day? No. The occasional over-indulgence (and the inevitable "oh that sucks" moment the next morning) keeps us in check--or should.

This isn't me shaking my finger at people, but with people shaking their fingers at how little I eat (I'm five feet tall and wanted to lose weight, and am now maintaining--so my portions seem just fine to me), I wonder if they should examine not how little I eat, but how much they do. Yeah, a small sandwich does look pathetic next to a steak and cheese on a humongous grinder roll--but it's not so pathetic if you add a salad, some ingenuity and a few more years on my life.

Wow, I didn't realize I had so much of an opinion on this...

Oh, this sounds awesome...

I will definitely try my hand at this. We'll see!

It totally depends on what I'm using it for...

Milk chocolate is yummy in a lot of cookies...
Dark chocolate lends a sophistication to a lot of cakes and pies...

And just for munching? Both will do, although I like to trick myself with dark chocolate's "healthy" features...

I just want to mention that if anyone is in Connecticut, Beaver Brook Farm cheeses are very good. They specialize in cow and sheep's milk cheese. I've sampled most of the ones on their list. Their cow's milk feta is great, but the best I've had is the Pleasant Cow cheese, which I'd like to think of as a hint of Gruyere, a cheddary texture and melts deliciously well, but holds up on a cheese plate for say...the five minutes it takes people to figure out how phenomenal it is. I purchase it at the New Haven farmers market on Saturdays, run by Cityseed. The Pleasant Cow cheese earned a mention as one of the top cheeses in America by Saveur a few years back, and the Cityseed market is one of USA Today's top ten markets that encourage local and organic farming. They also have a market, I believe, so if you live closer to the farm, that's an option. I recently made mac 'n' cheese with it and it was incredible.

Does anyone know of any other good cheeses in CT?