Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Hey pretention is Ted's schtick, it's his gig, it's what he has done on every show he's had. Ted doesn't hold a candle to Colin Cowie, ya know.
Ted could make a hilarious 5 minute comedy schetch out of one of those baskets and trying to cook something edible. He could become a culinary Shatner and make a living spoofing himself. It's not like Ted doesn't know how he comes across. The show is stupid, but then the network has become the stupid contest network, hasn't it?

My daughter was in the hospital for a week a while back and I spent all day every day, there with her. There were two really wonderful food gifts, one was a shopping bag filled with tiny containers of salads from the Whole Foods deli, with crackers, juice and plastic spoons. The other was a batch of small, homemade scones and a jar of lemon curd. I hope your friend recovers quickly and completely, my daughter has.

I love mine. I use it for all of the above tasks and for making hummis, and white bean puree, which I love and I use it to whip cream and whip eggs for frittata or quiche. I use that immersion blender pretty much every day.

I couldn't think of anything that I "hate" the smell of, so I read through all of the posts to see if there was anything that I remembered as being foul. Nothing, except burned microwave popcorn, which I find unpleasant, but would not put in the catagory of "hate". What I do find so vile that I do something about it, is garbage and spoiled or rotten food.....ew! I use a small plastic shopping bag for my garbage, and I remove it to the trash can in the back yard twice a day.

Lately I've been making Chinese scrambled eggs, which is: eggs, soy sauce, sesame oil and sambal in a bowl, whipped with a fork and into my non-stick skillet with a little olive oil spray. (I got this from an Asian food site) OMG this is a revelation and I eat it over rice. So yummy. I also enjoy baked eggs with any cheese (parmesan) and any herb (cilantro) and S&P. Until something better comes into my life, this is IT!

I, also, have a very old and heavy wooden rolling pin that I have used for many years and it was used by somebody else for many years before I had the pleasure of owning it. Mine has been in a shipping box for the past year, as I have been moving around and traveling. I just encountered it the other day and did give it a good wash with soapy, hot water, followed by an air dry, a rub with flour, a wipe down and into a drawer. I rarely use soap on mine, however after a year in a storage box and when creating with little kids yucky stuff gets on there that might require a soapy wash, but mostly just a wipe with a damp cloth and always air dry completely.

Apple upside down cake with lots of brown sugar and butter and a dash of cardamom. My family now prefers this to the more typical pinapple. I don't think I will ever see a black turtleneck without thinking of Steve.

I haven't bought mayo in a jar in years. When I learned to make mayo I was using a whisk, which made my arm tired, but then I got my first immersion blender and like magic, there was mayo! So easy, so fast, so inexpensive, so delicious. Why buy it?

Carmelized onion...............

How about forgetting about the mayo and/or yogurt and all of the dairy, and use a tangy vinaigrette then toss the just cooked potatoes in that vinaigrette, and forget about rincing under cold water. The hot potatoes will absorb the tangy vinaigrette. Then add all of the other ingredients, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill, garlic, shallots, dijon and S&P. Yum! My take on potato salad.

I'd ditch the red sauce altogether and try one of Mario Batali's pasta recipes, or just wing it with stuff in the frig. Saute some slice up bacon, throw in some onions and garlic and broc or asparagus or zucs and mushrooms, toss together with the pasta and add some grated parmesan. I'd add some herbs too along with S & P. Or I'd saute some hot italian sausage with onions and garlic and herbs deglaze with wine and throw in a can of diced tomatoes or fresh diced tomatoes and of course lots of parmesan. I've been doing this for awhile and my kids call it the anti-sauce. I always reserve some of the pasta water (salted water), which has a lot of the pasta starch in it and this will make a thick creamy little sauce when added to the finished pasta dish if sauce is too dry. There are so many things that can be sauted together to make a "sauce" something to dress the pasta. There are some great ideas posted here. Good luck with your, now, unboring dinner.

Rats, there should be no 'e' in spicy, then the link will work. Sorry

Sombody mentioned tongs, I never thought of tongs as a cheater tool, but if they are then my cuisinart, mandolin, immersion blender and garlic press probably fit in too. My rice cooker and the machine I use to roll out my pasta dough?

For me the real cheating tool is the garbage disposal, just push that stuff into the sink and it goes away. I love that and I lived without one while I was in the South last year, kind of a rustic existance for me.