I'm heading to the Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, NY tomorrow night. We'll need someplace to grab an early (4ish?) bite, where casual dress is acceptable. We're open to pretty much any type of cuisine. Can anyone make a recommendation? Thanks!

It's been at least 3 weeks since I've seen this column. I always enjoyed it -- not just for the witty comments, but sometimes it pointed me to articles I otherwise may not have read.

I know we've seen a ton of threads around here on how to best season cast iron. I ran across this link earlier today and I'm somewhat intrigued by it's process for creating a slick, long-lasting season by using multiple thin layers of flaxseed oil. Has anyone else heard of this technique or tried it?

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Last night I picked up 2 small pizzas from a local place on my way home. The boxes looked awfully large so I asked the cashier to make sure we had gotten the smalls I ordered. He said yes, they were in large boxes because the screens they were baked on are too large to slide the pizza into a small box. I've been to this place a number of times and I know I've seen their pizzas in pans (I like in New England where the Greek style crust is king) -- although I can't honestly say if the pizzas in pans are raw or cooked. I'm guessing they start in a pan then move to the screen. The bottom of the crust had a little diamond shaped grid on it, which I've never noticed before. So, what purpose does the screen serve?

I've noticed in the past few days, that SE is loading very strangely. The basic layout of the page loads, along with the person who wrote the article/comment, what category it's in, etc. But the headlines, blurbs, and photos take at least 5 extra seconds to load. I'm not entirely surprised by the photos not loading instantaneously, but the headlines and blurbs?? It's especially annoying on talk because everything but the thread names loads immediately, making it slow to navigate between threads. Is anyone else seeing this?

My fiance and I recently had a conversation about things we'd like to keep to remember our grandparents by after they're gone. The one thing I'd like most to have is my grandmother's marble rolling pin. My grandmother is a big part of why I love to bake - we always made cookies or pies together. My fiance hopes we can take home his grandmother's butcher block. It would need a little care to make it useable - the top is a little sunken in places and it's too short for either of us (his grandma is under 5' tall), but it's a beautiful piece we could get many years of use out of.

What heirlooms do you guys have (or hope to have) in your kitchens?

I'm planning on making batches of orangello and limoncello for some holiday gifts this year. Between the two, I'm going to need the zest of 10 lemons and 10 oranges. The leftover oranges will probably get used up since they're my boyfriend's favorite fruit to snack on. But what do I do with 10 lemons without zest? I'm thinking of freezing a few -- when I make apple pie, I put my mandoline over a bowl of water and the juice of one lemon to keep my fruit from browning. Other than that, I'm blanking on a good use of lemon juice without the zest! Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

At the end of this month, I will be moving. My boyfriend and I are super excited about buying our first house, but I'm feeling lost when it comes to packing up my kitchen supplies. Pots and pans with handles just don't fit well into boxes. I have visions of my cast iron skillets plummeting right through a cardboard box and leaving someone's toe(s) damaged.

Someone I work with suggested obtaining boxes from a liquor store with dividers for packing glassware. I have a modest collection of cookware that needs to be packed away, plus a stand mixer, blender and food processor. I would love to hear any and all tips for packing them up safely. Or if anyone has great tips for organizing a new kitchen, that would be helpful too. Thanks in advance everyone.

I've been under the impression that my stoneware pan is made of the same material as pizza stones. At least, the company my pan is from offers a pizza "stone" from the same material. I'm baking some bread tonight and put the pan in a cold oven and turned the oven on to 500F. I let the oven run for a bit to get it nice and hot before I threw the dough in.... when I opened the oven door, my pan was smoking and went from a tan color to a dark brown. It honestly looks burnt. Did I ruin my pan? Is there a way to salvage it? I honestly don't do much bread or pizza baking.... I'm hoping this is just a beginners mistake I can recover from. Thanks in advance for the advice.

My dad asked me to make lemon squares for his birthday/father's day this weekend. The last time I made lemon squares I winged it and combined a recipe for shortbread bars (which I normally fill with jam) and lemon curd. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the lemon curd bubbled out of the middle and burnt, leaving very few edible pieces of lemon squares. If I try the same combination again, I think I'll use 2/3 of the shortbread on the bottom, cook until almost golden, add the curd and the remaining shortbread as a topper. Hopefully this way the curd won't be in the oven long enough to burn.

Does this sound like a better approach? Or does anyone have a killer lemon square recipe they'd like to share? Or a great lemon meringue pie recipe? My grandmother used to make those all the time when she was alive so I know my dad would appreciate one of those also.

Pie is one of my favorite things to make -- especially fruit pies. So in honor of pi day, I thought I'd ask: what's your favorite pie?

For me, I think it's an apple pie. There are many delicious variations on the apple pie -- double crust, single crust with crumb/struessel topping, sour cream, etc -- and I've yet to meet one I didn't like! I'm looking forward to strawberries and cherries in particular coming into season for delicious pies this summer.

I'm also a fan of making my crust with lard. I tried this for the first time around Christmas and it was a revelation. The texture is soooo much better than any other crust I've made. I think I'll always be playing with my crust recipe to some extent... but lard has become a key ingredient for me.

The comment system seems to be working as intended the past few days -- at least for me. I hope everyone else has been experiencing the same. Just wanted to let the good folks at SE know and say thanks for getting things back in working order!

Next month I will be attending a memorial service at Arlington Cemetery. My boyfriend and I will probably only be in the area for dinner, but it's possible we may be in town for lunch as well. We'd love to find a great place to eat, that won't break the bank (and a hotel with the same criteria, if anyone has had a good experience). I suspect we will be going out to dinner with my extended family after the service. I come from a long line of picky eaters, unfortunately. Usually seafood or a steakhouse is a safe bet for my family. Can anyone recommend a good restaurant like this in the DC or Arlington area? Entrees should probably be no more than $30 per person. And if anyone has had a good hotel experience in this area, I'm currently on the lookout for one of those, too. Thanks!

I noticed the comments on article being "paged" a few weeks ago... now I see it's happening on the talk threads. I have to say I'm not a fan. Now, I don't mind reading 25 comments at a time, but when I get to the end of a "page", hit next, and the next 25 comments load, but I'm still at the bottom and have to scroll up to pick up where I left off. If the script that handles this could be updated to load the comments so I don't need to scroll to pick up where I left off, I wouldn't mind this change at all.

One of my oven mitts suffered a casualty this week in which the neoprene grip actually melted. I still have one good one, but I'm in the market for a better pair. I've done some poking around the internet and noticed very few pairs give a temperature they are rated for. This pair is the highest rated I've seen at 600 F, but they get alot of unfavorable reviews saying they are inflexible and made for a giant. Anyone have a pair of great oven mitts they can recommend to me? Thanks.

I'm on a mission to make mac & cheese for my boyfriend's birthday next month (it's his favorite). I've tried making mac & cheese at home, but it never comes out the way I want it to. I like my mac & cheese to be rich, super creamy and the flavor of cheese should be present. Usually my sauce turns out gummy or has very little flavor. I've tried different recipes and mixes of cheeses (I think the best was goat, manchego and cheddar).

I can consistently turn out a delicious alfredo sauce, so I was thinking I may be better off approaching the cheese sauce like an alfredo. Instead of baking the whole thing, I could toast some breadcrumbs separately and top each serving with them. Is this a successful approach? What cheeses would work best this way?

Any advice would be much appreciated. I haven't settled on sides, dessert or a cocktail yet, so feel free to let me know your favorites. Thanks!

I've had my KitchenAid stand mixer for a little under 3 years. After the first year, the black plastic knob on the speed lever broke off. Last night the knob on the tilt lock lever broke off. I checked KA's website when the first one broke and couldn't find any replacement parts. Anyone have any suggestions on what I can use to cover the bare metal? The speed control one isn't so bad, but the tilt control sometimes sticks, so I would bump it with the heel of my hand. I can't do that with bare metal. I refuse to build up a little ball of duct tape or something because that would look awful on my beautiful mixer. I've seen KA's quality first-hand (my parents got their stand mixer as a wedding present in the 70s and it's still going strong). I'm pretty disappointed these broke off and so quickly.

Next week, I will be taking a 10-hour roadtrip to spend the holidays with my boyfriends family. I'd like to bake a cheesecake this weekend to bring along. I think the best way to keep the cheesecake cool for the trip is if it starts out frozen since I don't have a large cooler. I never freeze baked goods, so I'm looking for advice. My thoughts on freezing it are as follows:

1. Cool cake to room temperature
2. Remove collar
3. Place in freezer until the cheesecake is firm (I don't want plastic wrap/tin foil leaving those ugly little impressions all over it)
4. Wrap tightly with a layer of plastic and a layer of tinfoil
5. Freeze until it's time to pack the car
6. Unwrap, put the collar back on the pan, cover top with tin foil, place in car

Is this method ideal? I see these people very infrequently, so I try to make a good impression with my food. Last year we flew down and I mailed cookies (2-day) ahead of us. They were good, but a bit stale. My cheesecake stole the show at thanksgiving with my family, so I'm looking for a repeat performance. Thanks!

I currently have 2lbs of Miso paste sitting in my fridge (1lb each sweet white and dandelion-leek from South River Miso). I can make a simple miso broth that's super when you have a cold, but I'm not sure what else to do with it. What do you guys like to use miso paste for?

Tonight I'm trying to make my own chili powder for the first time. I noticed when I was removing the seeds from some of the dried chilies they had a greyish-brown powder inside. I set these chilies aside and didn't use them. Is this normal or should they be discarded?

My electric oven is in dire need of cleaning. However, I am rather terrified of doing the job. I'd feel much better about it if I could cut the power to the oven, but if there's a 'plug', I can't find it and my circuit breaker panel is not well labelled. My apartment complex recently upgraded the fire alarm system and currently if I turn the oven on over 400 my fire alarms go off (no smoke is visible). There's some gunk at the bottom of the oven I assume is responsible. I can't use the auto-clean cycle because it will set the alarms off. Any advise on how to safely clean my oven would be greatly appreciated!

I've been asked to bring a Mexican dish to a party this weekend, being held by some of my boyfriends' coworkers. The party is not being held at a house and will be about an hour drive from where we live. I do not know what, if any, facilities will be available to use for reheating. I would prefer to bring a dessert, but my boyfriend keeps forgetting to ask if this would be okay with our hosts. I'm not terribly familiar with Mexican food, so I'd love some suggestions! I have texture issues with refried beans, so I would prefer to avoid making something that includes them.

Next weekend my boyfriend and I will be spending a long weekend in Manhattan. We've got most of our meals planned out except our first one. We plan to arrive in the city around 12-1 and will be looking for lunch immediately. We're going to a concert that night, so we have early (5:30) dinner reservations. We're planning to keep our visit to primarily places we can walk to since it's a short trip and we're planning on doing plenty of eating. Our hotel is near Times Square and the Theater District, so this is probably where we'll be starting out when looking for lunch. We'd like to eat someplace casual and spend less than $20/pp. Thanks!