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Butternut Squash Soup recipe w/out cream

I often add 2% milk with some powder milk mixed in when making soups that call for cream. It's an easy way to make a soup healthier.

Cook the Book: Serves One

chicken sandwich

Food Photography: Affordable Camera?

If you want to go budget, get something that has a good macro mode, and don't use the flash. Look for a model with high ISO capabilities.

Personally, I like using an slr with a fast lens.

I agree with evilchefmom, the big box stores will not be a good source of info. If you go to a camera store, you will be able to try them out and talk to people. Try taking pictures of things on the store counter, that will give you a good idea of the macro capabilities of the camera.

Aprons - What does your apron say about you?

I never wear an apron. Sometimes when baking I get flour on myself. But otherwise I do okay. I've never really thought about it.

When I am at my parent's house for a big holiday dinner, I will borrow one of their aprons if I am helping. Usually because I am dressed up and because usually they have asked me to do something very messy - like stuff turkeys.

Did your parents weird out your friends?

Borsch, and cabbage rolls. Even the concept of these foods weirded my friends out.

The other kid's parents allowed cooler food....

Oh, there were so many things my parents wouldn't let me eat as a child: cheeze whiz and pop tarts are the two that really stand out. I can remember being at friends' houses and being amazed they were allowed to eat such things.

What challenges do left-handed cooks face?

I agree with luswim06. It really isn't a big issue. Sitting left to right handed people is a pain though. I always try to sit on the far left if possible - my family refers to this as "the left-handed spot".

Nutrition facts labels, what's important?

I agree with Liartist, I like to check out the ingredient list first. I use the nutrition information to decide if a food is a treat or an everyday food.

I also like to check out the kinds of fats, and if the food is high in iron.

What do you do with sour cream?

Fresh strawberries.

Inca Coke or Mexican Coke: Have you seen it?

Canadian Coke is also made with sugar.

Maple syrup...only for pancakes?

I find maple syrup is especially good on vanilla ice-cream with raspberries on top.

a trifle disaster

If you have only curdled it a little, you can quickly put the pan in a sink of cold water and it will stop the cooking. Then you can press the custard through a sieve. If you do this, it usually ends up okay.

Good luck.

What was your last culinary related injury?

Touched the top rack of the oven with the top of one of my fingers while taking someone off the bottom rack. I do it more often I would like too - last time was about a week and a half, still not quite healed.

But that sliding pie pan thing sounds dreadful.

Help!: Standard Time's Ruining my Food Photos

Get a mini-tripod. Food usually doesn't move, so you can take longer exposures with the available light in your kitchen, or dining room or whatever and it will look pretty fantastic. If you need to fix the white balance afterwards it's pretty easy in Picassa.

Do you blog? What's your URL?

Blog Name: laura dot cooks
My URL http://lauradotcooks.blogspot.com/
What it's about: The food I cook in my woefully inadequate kitchen.

Mostly I blog to keep track of what I made, and because I like taking pictures of food.

This was a great topic, I am looking forward to checking out other people's blogs.

12 Egg Yolks, 0 Ideas

Ice-cream.

What do you do with fresh pears?

My boyfriend's Mom poached some pears in sugar suryp with cinnamon sticks and cloves for thanksgiving (Canadian) last week. They were amazing. She said canning these pears was a traditional way of preserving them in Poland.

I think they would be amazing with vanilla ice-cream.

Keys to great food photography...

Natural light is nice because it is full spectrum and usually diffuse. But if you don't have natural light it's not the end of the world. Get a tripod (or even a stack of books) and try shooting with your ambient lighting. Long exposure shots in low light can be pretty nice.

But maybe the best thing to do is look at photography you like and try to figure out what you like about it and try to reproduce it.

How do you make the perfect biscuit?

I have found Dorrie Greenspan's recipe from Baking to be terrific.

What cooking technique have you mastered?

@JEP, I've had a lot of success using the "milk bread" recipe from the Joy of Cooking. It has milk and egg in it, and I have found it to be essentially foolproof, even with my half-hearted kneading. I always using the instant, or quick rising yeast recommended by Mark Bitman for the no-knead bread. And I always make the dough a little sticky and let it rise longer. Sometimes I replace 1/3 of the white flour with whole wheat.

The milk bread recipe is especially awesome if you add about 3 tbsp of poppy seeds. This winter I am thinking of adapting it so it is more like the traditional Ukrainian bread I make at Christmas time.

Serious Eats - seriouseats.com