Hi all,
Thank you to all the folks here- I love salivating while you describe all the things not available OOT where I live far from my native NYC.

Im going to Florida, we live in a town with no kosher restaurants and we rarely travel so its a big deal to be going there.

I have a few questions I hope you can help with.

1- Hubby is arriving Friday and will be spending shabbat at a conference in Ft Lauderdale - any suggestion for where he can get either take out or if possible someplace I can order food to be delivered to the Hotel (to keep in his room in the mini fridge)

2- Again in Ft lauderdale any suggestions for meals for the next few days?

3- I am joining with my boys for the week and we will not be tied to FtL so what are the BEST places to eat food I cant cook at home. Think Shwarma, Chinese or really elegant places where we could leave the boys at the hotel (they are old enough to leave and would be just as happy eating tuna sandwiches in front of the TV)

4- We plan on staying where ever there is the greatest concentration of good restaurants so we can limit wasteful driving during a short vacation so ANY suggestions of the best area to find a hotel is appreciated.

Thank you SOOOO much for any advice you can give!

-J

Im in the same predicament in Columbus now. Did you find anyplace that carried a selection, or did you find another solution.

It also seems there is only one quartzite slab in all of Columbus too. I feel like living in Ohio means we feel off the face of the earth.

-Judith

"The other thing, mentioned plenty, is the faucet. Try it before you buy it!"

How do you do that??? I have been in countless stores and none of them have functioning faucets. Im stuck only buying faucet that my friends have?

sold out... Is this the same one?

http://www.canningsupply.com/product/...

No I was not trying to season the pan (though it turned out I basically did LOL)
I had watched the video that was posted on this thread about how to tell if the pan was hot enough to add oil. The video used a stainless pan so I thought I would give it a try since I always use teflon. I did figure out how to do a better job on the stainless pan. Though the first one I burned is still burnt.

Its stainless steel, not CI. I am not ready to make the jump to CI anytime soon.
I am taking baby steps, and not close to ready to take on a pot or pan that I cant throw into the dishwasher.

So you bring up something else that I dont understand... How would putting your cast iron pan through the self-clean cycle ruin your oven? I can see worrying about ruining a pan, by how can it hurt the oven?

Well I started off with a razor blade and scraped off quite a bit of the hard film. Worked on it for a while and then gave up - I will tackle it again when I have time.
OTOH i did find another SS frying pan in the basement and successfully cooked without burning OR sticking. This was my main goal, as I would like to stop using my teflon coated frying pans.

Oh my!! I am an awful cook who always uses non stick pans. So when I saw this link, I watched it through and brought out my old rarely used SS frying pan. I kept waiting for it to get hot enough to get the water to the single mercury blob (not the shatter to pieces that I had achieved) well I waited and waited and raised the heat and waited... decided my pan wasnt going to get any hotter and poured in the oil.
It smoked up and hardened on the bottom of my pan in moments. I guess it was too hot.
OH I just re-watched it .... sigh ... I did it wrong....

Any way to get the film off the bottom easily?

Did you end up buying the Karbon? Do you still like it... I have fallen for it and am looking for either someone to tell me that its the dream I always wanted or please tell me not to waste my money on it.

But I dont keep CY, which is what makes my choice of hot coco even more pathetic LOL

I'm sure it was because I was scarred as a child by my families low brow cooking.... but I like the Ko-Sure brand. Its mostly sugar with a bit of chocolate. Its about as far as you can get from the Ghirardelli.
http://www.allinkosher.com/p-38652-ko...

Also coming in late... I just wanted to let you know what we are doing to 'sink' the fridge into the wall a bit to keep it from jutting out so far from the cabinetry. We are cutting out the wall a bit to make a niche- it will save 2-3 inches which is enough to keep the fridge from being in the way.

I have read through the old posts about vent-a-hood, but does anyone have anything to say about the newer models?

What is the current wisdom about the VAH is it worth the money or can you recommend something else?

My hood will be 60" and going over two 30" GE monogram ranges installed side by side.

Any advice or experiences are appreciated.

I am embarking on a kitchen remodel and the sink will not be under a window and will have a cabinet above it. We are retrofitting the cabinet above the sink by opening the bottom and fitting it with a dish rack. We have a dishwasher so this is just for the odds and end that get handwashed.

But I feel bad using their service, since I will not be buying from them.

http://www.star-k.org/cons-counter-dupont.htm
These countertops contain plastic and resin components. If they were used previously for non-kosher, or for use on Passover, one should consult a Rabbinic authority.

------------but stark K policy is on another page and-------------
http://www.star-k.org/cons-counter-ad...
Zodiaq Quartz Surfaces®, Formica, Silestone - Star-K policy does not allow kashering of plastic or materials with plastic components.

Thank you for that review. I had that same problem with my dacor oven, the rubber feet burned to a crisp and the grates became discolored (which I dont mind)

Do you kasher the double oven with the grates in?

Which modle fridge do you have, does the sab mode turn off the lights, I check one of the user guides and that model didnt... If they are reg bulbs I dont mind unscrewing them, but the new ones are harder to disable and the led ones are impossible I think. I guess I have to look through every type they have..

I have, but I am really disenchanted with them. They dont really certify many refrigerators. They also dont specify whether the sabbath mode on the ovens are useful or not. ie the slew controls are so hard to use on YT and there are some that one are available on one oven, or that the temp had to be the same on both. They are also confusing regarding quartz countertops. One page says they are not kasherable and another says AYLOR.

Can you describe your blech cabinet? is it a larger version of a cookie sheet holder, or did you think of some other way of storing it?

Actually I use parve more than dairy - I have a son allergic to dairy so its mostly for breakfast bowls and coffee mugs for the rest of us. I use parve a lot more for baking and making side dishes.

Im moving and getting a total kitchen renovation and need help deciding on appliances to buy. Keeping in mind shabbat modes and other kosher requirements has me quite confused.

I came up with some possibilities but I am very open to other suggestions. I am in middle America and I cant demo many of the products in my area so my research is limited.

For the double oven: I think I will go with the GE Monogram because it has dials for temp control and you can leave the racks in for self cleaning.
http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SPECPAGE&SKU=ZET2PMSS&SITEID=MON2
or
http://products.geappliances.com/Appl...

Dishwashers: I hate washing dishes so I am getting a 2 draw FP for dairy/parve and a full size one (I havent even thought about brand yet) for meat. I currently own a FP 2 drawer and I like it, but its older - are there newer doubledrawers worth looking at?

Stove top is a big question for me... I planned for a 36inch stove top. I hear great things about the Blue Star, while I can order from here, no one has one on display. My biggest worry is the ignition and using it on YomTovs. I looked at the wolf and like it bec I can disconnect the electricity and it will still work so I dont have to worry about using more flames on YT, but I liked what I read about bluestar here on Chowhound and just want to know if anyone has that have they had any issue with the the ignition on Yomtov.
This part of me is wondering about going the cheaper 2 regular ranges option. But I really like the high BTU/low simmer I have have only seen in higher end models.

Lastly the Fridge: I want a freestanding, french door 36". It seems that very few are star-k certified, an not many seem to have shabbat modes - Any suggestion - again i dont have every model available to look at so I need to rely on suggestions from people from bigger cities.

Thanks so much for reading through this and any advice is much appreciated!