1 Green peppers
2 Green beans
3 Eggplant
4 Iceberg Lettuce
5 Bean sprouts

When spring comes around I live for the Amateur Gourmet's raw rhubarb syrup: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2011/05...

It's not quite raw, just heated only enough to melt the sugar (which I tend to halve). So refreshing.. He makes it into a daiquiri, but I drink most of it with plain seltzer, or else I add gin and call it an aurora borealis (my friend came up with the name and I'm sticking with it).

I'd like to find a good rhubarb chutney recipe. Last year I made a sweet-and-savory lemon-rhubarb jam, but it still ended up being too sweet.

Hmm, found their catering menu. The only cake options are chocolate and vanilla, and I'm starting to think I have my heart set on a lemon cake. I will ask if they can do that, but I might have to look elsewhere. Thanks though.

I like the look of that place. I wonder if they could decorate a coconut or carrot cake--they both sound good.

Not sure I want it to be THAT sweet, although their caramel cake looks intriguing. Too bad they don't have the pickup section of their website ready. But I'll keep it in mind.

I hadn't thought of that, but it could be a perfectly good option. Wonder how easy it would be to order remotely--their website isn't very informative. But I will try getting in touch with them.

I checked their current menu and none of the options really appeals. This might not be a whole-cake place for me.

Milk Bar is on my list of places to try, but I didn't know they made cakes to order. Have you ordered from them?

Hello 'Hounds,

I will be spending my birthday in a couple of weeks with a friend who lives on the Upper West Side (Columbus, in the 70's), and I want to know where to go for a birthday cake. I looked on Yelp for bakery reviews but they cover mostly the dine-in experience and don't say much about cakes made to order. So I'm turning to you. I've always made my own birthday cakes in the past but this is a special birthday and I want someone else to make something nice for me.

I am flexible as to type of cake as long as it's good and reasonably sweet. I prefer fruit/nut/caramel flavors to chocolate. Something creative is great, or I'd be happy with the almond-flavored white cake with maraschino cherries my mom made for my sixth birthday, as long as it's well executed and ready on time. I don't need fawning service and I don't mind paying (although I'd like to keep it under three figures--I don't need anything huge).

Any recommendations? Thanks!

Bread. I've spent enough time around wheat and yeast that I just know how they're going to act when you put them together.

Back before I quit eating meat I was good at meat-y comfort foods: chicken and dumplings, pot roast, chili, sausage gravy, things like that.

I am pretty good at menu planning for any occasion. My favorite things to doodle are Thanksgiving menus.

I canned my first pickles last night (I had canned plenty of jam before, but no vegetables), and I think I may need to reprocess. I made beets in a red wine-vinegar brine, from a recipe in The Preservation Kitchen by James Virant. They sealed just fine, but now I'm noticing that there are some beet pieces sticking up out of the brine in the jars. I tried shaking the jars down a bit, but there's just not enough brine to cover the beets. 

1) Do I need to open the jars, take a few beet slices out and reprocess so everything is covered in brine? Is it a matter of food safety or of pickle quality? I understand that reprocessing will soften the beets, plus I have lots of other things to do today. 

2) If I do need to reprocess, how do I do so safely? When I followed the recipe last night, I packed lukewarm beet slices into jars on top of the herbs and spices, then I poured hot brine over them and sealed the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, then processed in boiling water for 10 minutes. The jars are cool now. I don't have any way of reheating the contents unless I pour them, herbs, spices, and all, into a saucepan. Or can I put the cool jars, with fresh sterile lids, into a BWB and process for 10 minutes as before? Or do I put the jars with new lids into a kettle of cold water and bring the whole things to a boil, then time 10 minutes? Or...?

Thanks in advance for your help. These pickles were kind of a big deal to put together, and I'd like to be able to eat them a few months from now without being poisoned. 

Mmm, I hadn't thought savory. Perhaps a nice potato-rosemary white pizza. Does it count for Pi Day if it's not perfectly round?

Maybe black-bottom peanut butter pie. Or perhaps this will be my chance to try Dorie Greenspan's lemon cream.

Ooh, great ideas! Flavored syrup, more filling: always good. I might go with coconut on the sides instead of the nuts. Good point about making sure the maraschinos are dry. And you're right, the marzipan is probably overkill.

Frangipane filling is lovely, but it's almost too tasteful for the Dr. Seuss-esque cake I have in mind.

That sounds great, thanks! I wonder about the issue of sweetness. I don't usually like desserts too sweet either, but I don't know about tangy either because I'm not using lemon. I'll think about it.

I'm planning to make my own birthday cake soon to share with friends at home. This year I'd like a girly-girl cake like the one my mom used to make me when I was a child. I'm envisioning fluffy white cake layers flavored with almond extract, filled and iced with sweetened whipped cream (stabilized with gelatin perhaps?), with chopped-up maraschino cherries in between the layers. I may or may not garnish the top or sides with toasted almond slivers for a slightly grown-up touch. Or I might go with coconut for the outside instead. I might like to try a rolled maripan layer in between the outside of the cake and the whipped cream. I know of a great recipe for a one-layer butter cake made with almond paste in a springform pan, but that's not what I'm going for here. I need fluffy, red-and-white girlitude.

I'd welcome your recipes or recommendations for the almond white cake layers. Comments on piping with stabilized whipped cream and on rolling marzipan to cover a cake also most welcome. Thanks!

Wow, that looks amazing! Much less fussy than I'd feared too. Definitely bookmarking. I wonder how it would be with cognac, or would that be an abomination? I don't tend to keep bourbon around anymore. I guess I could always buy a pint just for Thanksgiving.

Bourbon, shallots, always good. I'll keep an eye out for it, thanks--or do you have a link?

Wins

Mulled cider with Drambuie - in the Crock-Pot, with cinnamon sticks and lemon slices, Drambuie on the side.

Creamed Onions (epicurious) - I added these this year. They were scrumptious, totally worth the expense and the crazy work of peeling. This was the only cream-sauced dish at the T-Day table, and it's a keeper.

Mashed sweet potatoes with garlic, coconut milk, and cilantro (ATK) - Amazing as always, even when made by my SIL (a less-than-confident cook) and screwed up slightly by my mother's failure to read the directions. The only dish with no leftovers.

My made-up stuffing of bread + celery + an apple + sage and other herbs + (at the last minute) some bacon - Everybody was skeptical of my play-it-by-ear approach. Everybody loved the results.

The turkey, a free-range, fresh, 15-lb. bird - finished cooking earlier than expected (the same as last year, but I'd forgotten), but my mom saved the day by bundling it up and keeping it in the oven at 180 for an hour (?) while we finished the side dishes and rounded up all the eaters. I don't mess with brining or basting, I just rub herb butter under the skin of the breast (Thanksgiving comes but once a year) and never have to worry about dry white meat.

Losses

Mushroom Terrine (NYT) - Ridiculously complicated to make (with every ingredient under the sun including four kinds of mushrooms, soaking of the dried ones, multiple chopping and blending and mixing steps) and not really worth it. My guests loved it, but I didn't. I might try it again without the shiitakes - I'm beginning to think those aren't meant to be eaten any way other than soup - or I might just let it be.

Cheese course - I had a crazy idea to add a cheese course to the end of the meal this year, inspired by some plum jam I made earlier in the fall that paired really well with a local goat cheddar. I was only going to make pecan pie for dessert, but then my mom requested that we add pumpkin. When the cheese plate came out on top of all that it was met mostly by stunned silence - people ate a little just to be polite, but I wouldn't call it a success. I think I'll save the cheese course for non-holiday meals from now on.

Tie

Cranberry sauce (HTCE) - Nice flavor - the added fragrance from cooking it with strips of orange peel was not overwhelming as I'd first feared - but didn't gel at all. If I make this again I'll use less water. I'd be open to going with a different recipe next time, perhaps the one with dried cherries mentioned upthread

I wear flip-flops, nothing more, nothing less. They protect my feet from the hard floor but without giving my feet that encased feeling of full-scale shoes which, I agree, is just wrong to have when you're cooking.

*I mean, on my feet! On my body I usually wear something pretty skimpy--wearing too much feels uncomfortable when I'm cooking and I hate to get my nice clothes sweaty/smelly/greasy.

Whoa. I thought my menu was reasonable, but writing it out right now it seems like insanely too much food for 8 people. I'd written it down before but it didn't seem like so much then. Well, we'll have leftovers all weekend, I guess... :$

Root vegetable chips
Olives
Mushroom terrine w/ little toasts
[Hot mulled cider (in crockpot), Drambuie on the side]

Roast turkey w herb butter
apple-celery bread stuffing
Cranberry-orange sauce
Mashed sweet potatoes with garlic, coconut milk and cilantro (from ATK)
Succotash (corn, lima beans, red pepper, ancho chili)
Raw butternut salad (from Bittman, if I have time--ha!)
Creamed onions
(I think my baby brother's bringing Green Bean Casserole--he requested it, I told him I'd never made it but if he brought it I'd serve it)
[Pinot, a sparkling white wine, plus whatever guests bring--wine's not my strong suit]

Steen's pecan pie
Pumpkin pie (my mom will make this when she arrives, according to her recipe which is "sweeter, spicier, less eggy")
Whipped cream, lightly sweetened with rum/cognac
[Coffee, tea]

Cheese course:
local goat cheddar
something blue, can't remember but it looks good
a Spanish sheep cheese (La Leyenda?) with herbs and brandy
plum-cardamom jam
Pear slices
Walnuts (candied and spiced if I have time--ha!)
[cognac/Armagnac if anyone wants it]]

I think the cheese course is what takes it over the top. Initially I was inspired by the super-delicious plum jam I'd made this fall, thinking it would be nice with a cheese course at Thanksgiving. I planned just one pie, gingerbread-apple. But then Mom requested pumpkin and the pecan pie snuck in there somehow. Hmm hmmm hmmmmm.

Also, the side dishes are a bit out of control. Perhaps I'll skip the sweet potatoes. If only I hadn't already bought the cilantro : /

The restaurant is a business. If they won't give you the dish you're trying to pay for, or they're too foolish to let you stick around and order more food/drink, they're shooting themselves in the foot. And yes, part of what you are buying is a certain atmosphere. What I'm saying is that, aside from the logistical basics, what I care about is food, not pampering or sucking up which is what some service-philes seem to demand.

To get around people who fake allergies to avoid things they don't like, and because I think their health issues are none of my business, I generally just ask guests if there's anything they don't eat. If they're deathly allergic they can offer that information. But generally, barring allergies or religious dietary laws, people are embarrassed to answer that question with a whole litany of things. The only thing I would name in that situation are bananas because I might actually hurl if I tried to eat them.

That said I question the wisdom of trying to juggle dietary restrictions when cooking for 50 people. I would recommend just making enough of a variety so that everyone can find something to eat, without worrying about making every single dish suitable for every guest.

Rice is great anytime a dog has an upset stomach, definitely.

Mmm, yeah. Even better with the addition of some canned cranberry sauce to the mix. [This from somebody who is fanatical about making her own jellied cranberries from scratch at Thanksgiving.]

I prefer sandwich bread--ideally the "wheat" kind, but not too firm--to a crusty artisan loaf. All that crust hurts my mouth and makes the bread a poor vehicle for butter and other toppings.

I get stubborn cravings (I first typed "crazings") for McD's sausage biscuit (no egg or cheese--THAT would be an abomination!), although I only rarely indulge because I'm supposed to be a vegetarian. I know it's made of pig snouts and floor sweepings, but somehow nothing else tastes as good.

I like eggs and steak well-done. I think the egg thing is an actual physical intolerance for runny yolks. The steaks (not that I've eaten one in years) are from growing up in South America. The beef there is tough and flavorful and always well-done. A thick, rare American steak just tastes to me like eating a sponge.

I love the super-salty ramen blocks, although I find that I'm happier if I go with a slightly higher-end imported ramen because the noodles are thicker.

Oh, and also Popeye's red beans and rice.

And flan made with sweetened condensed milk. Anything with SCM really.

Cheez-Its, OMG. Serious yum. There's a lot I would do for Cheez-Its.

LOL. Having spent lots of time in both places I know exactly what you mean. That eye contact, in Boston, is really pushing the bounds of familiarity. Friendly in Boston = shockingly, born-in-a-barn rude in the South.

"Friendly" is probaby a regional issue. Personally I don't want to make friends with the server. If I have to interact too much then s/he's doing it wrong. I figure the server's a professional, there to do a job, and I'm the consumer, there to pay the server. [I'm in DC and have lived mostly in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.] But I know people who want to feel welcomed as friends when eating out.