Exactly. For most home users, it makes more sense to buy a hard japanese steel knife that will need sharpening every 6 months or so with home use, than it would to buy 3-4 $80 stones to sharpen it at home.

Though eventually learning to use whetstones will make sense depending on how much time you plan to devote to using them. They are not easy to use properly.

Also, it is misinformation when anyone says a honing steel sharpens a knife. It does just what it says in its name. Hone.

Also, german knives use very soft (comparatively) steel, a softer steel can't take the same edge harder steel can. And hard steel can't take the edge a ceramic blade can.

Once you have worked with, and sharpened german stainless steel, japanese stainless steel, japanese carbon steel, and ceramic bladed knives, you will know exactly what I am talking about.

Also, most henckels have a full bolster. Which means in about 4-5 years of use and sharpening, the blade will be ground to above the bolster. So that the blade will no longer have complete contact with the cutting surface, leaving accordion cuts.

Well, Henckel choice is the first issue. They use very soft stainless steel. They sharpen easy, but don't hold an edge. Especially if you don't hone your knife with every use.

Which brings me to the misinformation that people have spread here so far. A honing steel does just that, hones a knife. Not sharpen it. Honing straightens out a bent edge, sharpening creates a new edge.

Now for a few tips to keep your blade sharp.

Wood or plastic boards only.
Handwash only.
Never let acidic juice sit on the knife. Cut a tomato? Rinse immediately.
Never let your knife touch a hard surface like a metal or marble countertop.
Never scrap your knife along your board to move food. Use the heel instead. A little practice and it becomes second nature.
Hone your knife with every use, at the correct angle. Look to the manufacturer for which angle the blade is ground to.

And next time.... Buy harder steel. Not necessarily carbon steel. But harder than Henckels.

So a few months back a company called Loft Organics approached my workplace to be a drop off point for their new organic delivery company. We didn't go through with it as having people in and out during dinner rush.

Anyways, I received a small flyer for their program in the mail yesterday and decided to try it out.

We had the option of either a 25$ bag, or a 37$ box, one for singles/couples, the other for families. Both with the option of only local organic produce, or local and non-local organic produce.

We went with the local 25$ bag option. Our order was confirmed today, and were instructed to bring 25$ cash in an envelope to MiraVena Yoga. The listed possible items in this weeks bag are.

NEXT WEEK'S EXPECTED LOCAL BAG CONTENTS:
apples, tomatoes, celery, sweet potatoes, kale, carrots, leek, canary honeydew, red or white potatoes, cooking onion, lettuce

EXPECTED COMBO BAG CONTENTS:
valencia oranges, kiwi, bartlett pears, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks, carrots, red or white potatoes, cooking onion, lettuce

EXPECTED LOCAL BOX CONTENTS:
spinach, tomatillos, apples, tomatoes, celery, sweet potatoes, kale, carrots, leeks, canary honeydew, red or white potatoes, cooking onion, lettuce, parsley

EXPECTED COMBO BOX CONTENTS:
valencia oranges, kiwi, bartlett pears, canary honeydew, celery, spinach, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks, carrots, red or white potatoes, cooking onion, lettuce, parsley

You also have the option to never receive 5 certain items in your bags. We chose apples and celery, So it will be interesting to see what they replace it with.

Has anyone else tried this program? I will post back once I pick up the order on Wednesdays,

"Wild" Blueberries aren't actually picked wild. They just come from the lowbrush cultivars rather than the highbush ones.

The ones we get from BC at my work are good, But they aren't like the ones I've picked canoeing.

Well, So far it seems to be working. I also tried a balsamic salt. The salt is taking on the colour of the liquids I've been using and the flavour. The resulting crystals are a bit cloudy, So I am assuming the particles are being trapped in the salt crystals when they reform as impurities (flavourful ones). I'll try to post pictures as my progress continues.

Okay, So I would like to make a few different flavoured salts. However, all the how-to's I seen online aren't what I consider flavoured salts, but just salt mixtures. Spices/etc mixed with salt.

What I want however is the actual salt crystals to contain the flavouring. So I am currently trying to make a shiitake mushroom salt, but how I am doing it. I plan on making a mushroom stock, then adding kosher salt, then I plan on putting it in the oven on a glass tray on low heat to recrystallize the salt.

Has anyone tried something similar?

Well, I am thinking of buying a whole chicken to make some ground chicken, mostly for burgers. I was wondering though what your thoughts were on using the skin, or if I should only just the meat. There is a lot of flavour in the skin, but I am concerned it may alter the texture in an undesirable way.

So any advice?

Traditional as in something that would be served by someone's grandmother in Mexico, or grew up with.

There is lots of things I grew up with in Canada, I'd like to experience what that would be if I had lived in Mexico.

I find it more interesting than re-interpreted western European cooking.

Does anyone know any good sites for traditional Mexican dishes? No tex mex or the like, traditional mexican only.
It's so hard to wade through the watered down version of Mexican food, and I am sure someone here has a good site.

Cheers.

I believe the parents should be shouldering the blame for this for several reasons. If their child's allergies were severe enough to cause death, they should be preparing as much of his food as possible. My uncle has severe food allergies and realized he cannot put it upon restaurants to make sure his food isnt contaminated, at most restaurants there is far to many variables to properly prepare food for people with deathly allergies. Why take the risk?

Also, why would they let their child eat food that normally has large amounts of peanuts in it? I wouldn't let my child eat mexican if they had a chilli allergy, I would also think it negligent to just ask the restaurant to not use chillies and expect that was enough.

Lastly, and most important I think, why would they send their child to school without their epi-pen, and make sure the school knew how to properly administer it?

If a child had a heart condition, I'd expect the parents to make sure the child/school kept the medication available at all time, as well as make sure they are properly trained how to provide it. And if that was beyond what the school was capable of, then find another school, or homeschool.

The parents are responsible for their children, and there was several steps they could have done that could have made this avoidable.

anyone know how the winerack operates and who owns it? Is it private?

Curry paste is far superior to jar, both in quality and in price. A small size of Aroy-D curry paste sells here for 2.50-3.00. And is enough for 10 or so batches.

Also, after much testing, I've found never skimp on the coconut milk quality, and that coconut cream is ideal.

http://www.ettason.com/products_detai...

And adding a tablespoon of fish sauce and palm sugar near the end is vital to get the right flavour. Or brown sugar if you cant find palm sugar.

Tastes exactly or better than restaurant curries, since a lot of thai places use this exact product.

So I stopped by the local LCBO tonight. I inquired about my order for a case of LFDM. I was told I was out of luck, it has been discontinued. I talked with him for a while about LCBO policies, and he informed me that if a store cant move 500 units of a SKU, it will be dropped.

While discussing it with my SO, I came to the conclusion the LCBO puts far too much emphasis on Ontario products, while for the most part, neglecting other Canadian brands. I've found Ontario products to be largely lacking in the quality/cost ratio, and believe we should support all Canadian products fairly.

One of the recommendations I received from the staff at the LCBO when asking about LFDM, was for a Muskoka Weiss beer, for 7.95 per 750ml bottle. Not even in the same category. Either way though not nearly as well regarded as unibroue products, and almost twice the price.

Agh, Now I'm reminded how they only carry plymouth gin for a limited time.

Good point actually.

There is a local microbrew (Old Credit Brewing) that sells an unpasteurized beer. Great beer, but normally when I buy it through the LCBO, it has noticeably gone sour.

I've tried bringing it to the attention of the staff that it must be constantly refrigerated, even says so on the instructions, but they reassure me they keep it cold. However I constantly find it out on the unrefrigerated shelves, as well as the coolers. I do know they also dont cool it before it is stocked on the shelves, as they dont have a fridge in the back.

I plan on phoning the brewer to inform them, as their great product is being tarnished by the LCBO's improper handling of their beer.

Just seen this thread, earlier tonight I posted about LFDM. CHOW's lousy search engine didn't show me this thread.

Anyways, LFDM is hands down my favorite beer, and yes it is getting harder to find. It is a shame the LCBO nixes all of the real quality products, especially a Canadian one.

What I have done is ordered to my local LCBO. However, they took 5 weeks to get my order in, and only got me 6 instead of the case of 12 I asked for. Good thing it was just for at home, and I wasn't planning on bringing it to a party or anything.

I would suggest if your local LCBO doesn't carry it, then order it through them. It will hopefully show the LCBO that there is demand for these beers.

French Canadian beer from Quebec's Unibroue. Any one else here enjoy it as much as I? It isn't carried at all LCBO's (Ontario's only liquor source, government run), and when I try ordering it at my local one, they always seem to mess up the order. Took them 5 weeks for them to get me six, ordered twelve.

Hopefully this next order will go smoother.

So for those who have tried it, thoughts? Recommendations on similar style beers to try?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...

Red curry with bbq duck, bamboo shoots, lychee, and sweet bell peppers, garnished with extra dash of coconut milk and thai basil. So good.

Elmwoods at Hurontario and Lakeshore. They have frozen cryovac packages of it. They arent the newest however, but they have it. I picked some up a few months ago for a stew. It wasnt too bad, like a slightly gamey, extremely lean beef.

I only bought it because I hadn't seen it before, but didn't realize it was a hard to find item.

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Lakeshore Restaurant
2390 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON M8V1C3, CA

Pollo, not all compounds have isomers.

and you have yet to provide any evidence to support your claim. When you are trying to argue a point, it is hard to take it seriously when you provide no evidence or reasoning to support it.

it is indistinguishable. The difference you taste is the other minor components in the truffle that also make up the aroma.

Which is why in my original post I said the fake oils taste one note compared to actual truffles.

But the point was that 2,4-Dithiapentane sythn'd or isolated from truffles would taste the same.

That was my point. That the chemical is the exact same regardless of its source.

You can disagree all you like. But the main organic compound in truffles is reproduced and put in truffle oil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4-dith...

In white and black truffle oils they synth the organic compounds for each, then put them in oil. They dont have all the compounds, but they have some.

And an organic molecule is the same as an artificially created organic molecule.

Yes it is fake. Like Artificial vanilla and the likes. but it can be perfectly fine in a lot of dishes.

I think what people really don't like about it, is that is is taking away some of the luxury of actual truffles.

The chemicals they use to make it are the same chemicals in the truffle that give them their distinctive taste.

People over use it, too much and too often. However I love having it around for when I want to add a little truffle earthiness to a dish without searching out fresh truffles.

The oil is very one-note compared to real truffles though, So it is easy to get bored of it.

I worked at the cue. The food has really gone downhill as of late. The pump is okay. Pricey for what you get, but all of PC is. The best pub IMO is the Harp. Much better live music than the rest, cheaper pints.

This is a GC right? Aren't those not legally able to expire?

In the area I normally goto;

Pho da Bo for the less whitewashed Pho. Cheap, fast, tasty. Doesn't have the 'cool" atmosphere that the places my friends have taken me for Vietnamese, but all those places tasted too subpar.

For Thai I goto Thai Signature. Mainly for their red duck curry and deep fried taro.

Greek is Colossus of Rhodes, nice small little place with good environment and good food. The piklia starter which is a selection of cheese, olives, spreads, and spanakopitas is more than enough for two and only 11$.

For pitas I goto Port Credit Souvlaki/Souvlaki Hut. 10.95 for any pita (except lamb) plus a big portion of greek rice/potato/fries/salad and sparkling water.

Aielli is nice italian food. Not cheap and not the biggest portions, but very satisfying.

For absolute late night food, it is pho ba ca. Very average pho, but open till 4am. They also with serve drinks until then, nice for after the bar when you are looking for a little more.

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Thai Signature
203 Lakeshore Rd E, Mississauga, ON L5G, CA

Aielli
286 Lakeshore Rd E, Mississauga, ON L5G1H2, CA

Anyone ever try brassaii? Seems they have several veg options.

OK. So here is the deal. Girlfriends birthday soon, she is vegetarian. I crave meat.

She does however love cheese and such, so I'm not looking for vegan options.

What would be some options for restaurants in the downtown area?

I was looking at Susur's before I noticed they have closed and not removed their website.

Looking to spend up to 100/person plus wine.

Willing to try any style food.

First post here. So let's see how it goes.

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Susur
601 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V1M5, CA