Betty's Profile
reservation by e-mail: how long do i wait for a reply?
Have you checked your Bulk folder? They may send out a batch at a time.
Paris - online restaurant reservation site?
This is great, thank you. True it doesn't have everything of course, but we will be driving around a couple of weeks + a week in Paris so I'm sure we will use it.
Looking for a Great Strawberry Cake Recipe
My mother often made one with fresh strawberries, no jello. I found this link that seems very similar. My mother would also add strawberries into her cream cheese frosting.
http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/1088
recipe to accentuate meyer lemons
This week I used Meyer lemon juice and zest to make cottage cheese (ricotta-like), put it in Manicotti then made an Alfredo sauce flavored with more zest and lots of fresh thyme & some kale from the garden. Pretty good.
A friend makes Meyer marmalade. (I make clementine marm & we trade)
First lunch in Paris - outdoor seating & decent food near Madeleine/Louvre?
Eating the workers lunch in the basement of Madeline is unforgettable, but not outdoors, not pretty, and I don't remember if there were vegetarian options. Definitely fast and tasty and "Paris".
Range hood solution for open peninsula: Downdraft? Unobtrusive hood?
I did the downdraft and am perfectly happy with it. It works fine. The view is not blocked, we installed it ourselves, and after 3 years of frequent use it is doing just fine.
Your best items at Sam's Club
This is a good thread for me- I just joined Sams and don't have a TJ's or Costco in the state. I joined mostly for the cheese & craisins later garden things, but now I have more ideas thanks!
Jamie's US tour show. Anybody seen it/ Thoughts/
I'm disappointed in it. It has no new insights into any region, so I can only assume I am not the intended audience. Maybe someone who has never been to America would find it interesting.
Words that Annoy You in Restaurant Reviews
Yes, (fill in the blank) "to perfection" is what I really am tired of reading & hearing.
Incredible Cookies from Lousy Ingredients and Pedestrian Recipe
I think mixing by hand in a sort of mashing way, not adding air is interesting. He creams the butter/sugar in a way that makes me think he has either mixed a lot of printing ink or a lot of mortar, it is kind of the same gesture. I also think the little dent in the top made by the spoon is interesting.
This whole discussion made me think of an experience a few weeks ago when I was making my first polyester plate lithograph. I am skilled in litho, but hadn't made one in years and had never used a polyester plate. The first plate simply did not roll up (accept ink) at all. At first glance I had done everything right - no obvious mistakes. After taking a walk I decided to go back to the very beginning and re-do each step of the process slightly differently - darkened the lines on the image, made the ink slightly less stiff, sponged the plate with a little less water, and added one more sheet of newsprint to the thickness on the press (one sheet). It worked fine, I even sold one of the prints that weekend. So I don't think the "magic" is any one thing, but many many tiny little variations. Jim, I hope you will share your ultimate list of those tiny little things. I'll try the recipe when I get over my recent love affair with another oatmeal cookie recipe that soaks the raisins in the vanilla and eggs for an hour ;)
Brown Canaroli rice and Speck
Not together necessarily.
I went to Lovera's Italian grocery this weekend in Krebs OK on the way to a wedding outside McAlester and got a few things, including these. I've never used either before, and am curious.
As for the brown carnaroli, do I handle it differently that other brown rice? I might make a pilaf with it, or is it better as risotto?
I might try some speck in my Thanksgiving brussels sprouts. It is a pretty good sized chunk, so I might divide it and freeze. How else should I use it? I found a recipe for using it in potato salad, but I'd like to use it in a way that highlights it better.
Generally scorned products that are madly delicious -- in certain applications
cool whip, two containers of lime yogurt, lime zest if you have it - or a spoonful of limeade concentrate. In a graham cracker crust. chill or freeze. Although when I made it I had a leftover box of vanilla wafers & made a crust from that. First tub of cool whip I'd bought in a decade or more.
Crock pot cooking--best ideas???
A retired teacher & cattle rancher told me to put in a well marbled frozen chunk of beef of the appropriate size with dry seasoning of my choice in the crockpot on my way out the door to school. No liquid. It is done by supper time. I have tried it, and to my amazement it worked fine. She is a German Lutheran farmer and was my PE teacher in the early 70's and was my mentor teacher when I started teaching 11 years ago. I don't argue with this woman.
can you re-ice cream ice cream soup?
when this happened to me I just re-froze as it was and used it for milkshakes. Mine wasn't starbucks though, just Braum's
pre-soaking pasta
I haven't pre-soaked but I sometimes do pasta kind of like risotto, barely toasting penne rigate in a little oil then adding liquids in stages. I learned it from one of the Italian cooking magazines. It was a good recipe except it added so much gorgonzola at the end that all the other delicious flavors that had developed were totally lost.
Dinner in OK between Bartlesville and Ponca city
Ate at the other Hernandez- owned restaurant & learned of a new item not on the menu. Ask for street tacos. very good. pork.
Golden Phoenix Oklahoma City
I'm glad you liked the food. Your comment about the server made me remember something funny about ours. It was all young women serving, and they'd ordered pizza for lunch and it was visible behind the checkout counter. Made me laugh, and they laughed and said something about how they need a change once in awhile. ( BTW, their "Autumn Rolls" are delicious, with dried shallots for crunch. )
Some years ago the neighborhood tried to get the area named "Little Saigon" because of the predominant Vietnamese population but that didn't go over with a certain segment of the local population. So "Asian District" it is.
For pho, have you tried the little pink & blue place to the north in the old Long John Silver's? It is my favorite.
Dinner in OK between Bartlesville and Ponca city
I'd go on to Ponca and have some BBQ at Head Country. there are a few places in Pawhuska but I only know about other restaurants owned by the same siblings as Hernandez. Reliable tex mex, nothing special, and the one here where I live is closed Mondays. Bad Brad's is a local BBQ chain but I have never eaten there. Its a beautiful drive if you love wide open spaces and great skies. If you find something wonderful along the way, please share.
The more I visit Ponca City the more I like it. I have had a couple of good simple Italian meals at Zino's, and really like their carrot soup.
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Head Country Bar-B-Q Restaurant
1217 E Prospect Ave, Ponca City, OK 74601
Zino's
200 N 2nd St, Ponca City, OK 74601
What homemade edible thing do you most commonly gift?
Canadice grape/Cranberry jelly, Concord jelly, peach/ginger jam. My young nephew says I use it like money (he's seen me give it as a hostess gift)
That Ginger jam recipe looks great!
Jam too thick - can it be saved?
That's a better solution than mine, I make a lot of jam and sometimes that just happens. Haven't made any this summer because of the drought. I was going to suggest using it to fill fried pastry.
What to do with bad peaches?
I got some mealy ones too. I chopped them up and used in a blender milkshake. pureed and strained they'd still be useful.
I generally pick my own peaches (except this year due to the drought) and expensively finally learned that peaches often don't ripen if they weren't ripe on the tree.
Hot where you are????
That's great! We Okies were pretty sad to have that rain pass on through - it was wonderful.
My saving grace this summer was growing Armenian melons - very cucumber-like. It never ever got too hot for them. The never wilted, no matter what. They didn't even start growing until it got over 100.
Tulsa - Downtown Dining
Thanks, I thought maybe I had too high of expectations or just didn't get it. I also found it rather flavorless. Things that sounded awesome on the menu just weren't. My friends loved it. I also thought the chocolate dipped raw serrano with dessert was unnecessary and Inedible for the average diner.
Tulsa - Downtown Dining
What is the word on Elote? In the old Nelson's Buffetteria building. Rick Bayless protegees.
Cajun King Buffet Oklahoma City
I've heard great things about Cajun King from two different people whose restaurant advice I take as truth. One, a former student of mine, restaurant cook & college student went there twice in one day just because he was still in town and couldn't bear not to.
As for The Golden Phoenix, a friend and I stopped there because we could see the ducks hanging in the meat takeout section from all the way across the intersection. It was delicious and I hope to return. We were surrounded by a group of very elderly Asian ladies having a great time. We took that as all the recommendation needed.
Lemon Curd Cake recipe?
I found this post while searching for a new lemon curd recipe, and made it yesterday with Meyer lemons. We found it oversweet. So I threw it in my ice cream maker (I keep the bowl frozen all the time)and then the freezer overnight and just tasted it & I must say I'm proud of myself, it is going to be delicious tonight with fresh raspberries. Oh I added just a quick glug of milk while it was mixing, not a lot.
jam woes
I'm a regular jam maker too, and have found that most runny jams will firm up over time. A very very old jam making book I have instructs they be placed in the kitchen window for several weeks. I've never tried that.
cooking career question
Thank you all. I will definitely talk to him next week about the Coast Guard. That sounds perfect for him, actually.
cooking career question
A former middle school student (now 20) of mine has been working in the kitchen for a local restaurant full time for the past year, and before that while in school. He's considering going into the Navy, and some kind of cooking training, but would like to take a couple years or so working for someone who cooks for, like, adventure travel groups - something along those lines. I don't know what to call that.
He's a very reliable independent young man, and I think he would go just about anywhere, he just doesn't know where to start. Any ideas?
Ryan Farr's healthy chicharrones - “Crunchy crack-in-a-bag”?
I think from now on grocery store chicharrones should be referred to only in terms of Hat, Half-hat, etc etc. Thanks for giving my afternoon a smile.
