Rivetless. I have one riveted all-clad 8" frypan, which I very rarely use. I *really* dislike rivets.

I've owned Lagostina (the classic stuff that was sold 20 years ago), Paderno (10+ years old) and a couple of Berndes non-stick frypans.

In those 20+ years, I've had one welded handle fail -- on the Lagostina steamer insert, which had been dropped one time too many.

- RIchard

Greetings.
Wings, salad, beer, near Kendall Square Cinema?

Greetings -

Anyone know of a place in Boston's Chinatown (or in greater Boston) where

i) one might buy a small (100-120ml) Yi-Xing teapot?
ii) one might buy and/or sample Pu-erh tea?

Thanks.

- Richard

Greetings -

Looking for a reputable, skilled sharpening service in Toronto to help my folks out -- their knives that have seen less than commendable hands.
Need some rehab work.

Nothing terribly high end -- mostly Wusthof & Sabatier. But they deserve better than they've seen.

Thanks.

- Richard

Greetings.

Can anyone recommend a reputable knife-sharpening service, preferably in the New England or (ideally) Boston area?

We're looking for someone who'd be able to grind down the bolster of some of my older knives (e.g. a 1980-ish Wusthof-Trident 8" Chef) so that I can use a wetstone effectively to get an edge back.

Thanks kindly.

- Richard (richard A T oldwithoutmoney D O T com)

Greetings.

We'd welcome recommendations for a coffee bean mill/grinder.
*Easily* adjustable so I can grind coarse for my French Press, SWMBO can make her morning drip, and we can make espresso for guests.

We're replacing an old Braun coffee grinder that never worked terribly well. Too much of the coffee generated a caked powder near the top of the output chute, and never a satisfactory coarse grind.

Ideally under $100 (tho' I'd consider more if the machine truly merited it), less is more, and compact size would be a huge plus. I don't mind manual, tho' I suspect my better half would prefer electric -- my suspicion is that electric generates heat & reduces control.

Cheers,

- Richard

Greetings -

I'd like to have something freshly baked for breakfast at 7:00.

Has anyone recipe suggestions that can be prepared (or pulled out of the fridge) and baked in short order that doesn't require that I get up much earlier than 6:00?

Thanks kindly.

- Richard

For both the kitchen and the table.

I don't currently have a coffee grinder (I get it milled at Peet's (typically Gaia organic), and use it within a week).

Greetings.

Can anyone recommend a cost-effective (under $50, but less is more) mill capable of grinding crushed red pepper flakes (i.e. - the flat round flakes typically found in a bottle at a pizza joint)?

I'd be using it mostly in the kitchen, but I can see it going to the table, depending on the meal.

With pepper mill I'm currently using, the flakes typically slide out pretty much intact.

The goal is to have a small mill that I can dedicate to the task.

Thanks.

- Richard

> ... anyplace where a Greek person is cooking breakfast ...
As a former short-order cook who was the only one in the kitchen who *didn't* speak Greek, I'd have to agree. ;7)

Folks -

Anyone care to recommend a simple, small (12-cup max, but 10 or less is better) drip coffee maker. Something that'll work & look nice. No thermal carafe -- too hard to clean well.

All of the 4-cup models I've seen are pretty much trash.

Don't really care how much it costs if it fulfills the above criteria.

Thanks.

- Richard

I made another batch via the timer. Went to bed at 1am, food was ready at 7am.
The generally accepted 3:1 (water:oats) ratio worked fine. I added apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, 2 tbsps milled flax seed, 1 tsp canola oil, and 4 turns of sea salt. The apples had to be stirred into the mix when I got up. Not surprisingly, it wasn't quite as al dente as when made & eaten in one go, but still plenty good enough. (Again, as a comparison, every oatmeal I've ever encountered is too gloppy for me to even consider eating.)

I added some raisin bran and a bit of milk before chowing down this a.m.

Hmmm. Went to Blue Ginger once. Perhaps they were having a bad night, but I was totally underwhelmed. Bland, gloppy & uninteresting.

Have enjoyed L'Espalier, but way overpriced. For half the cost, I could get a better dinner at the late, lamented Federalist. And I've always enjoyed Rialto.

Over in my neck of the woods (Coolidge Corner), I've always enjoyed Matt Murphy's pub, the Publick House, Ginza, Lemongrass and Taberna de Haro.

If you think that you're going to be cooking small quantities regularly, I can certainly recommend the 3-cup NS-KCC05. It's the only model we have. I've found that three cups is enough rice for about 7 at dinner. And it makes really nice steel-cut oats on the Porridge setting. We've had ours for about 5 years.
- Richard

Well, the porridge setting on my NS-KCC05 (the 3-cup model) seemed to work just fine.
Took 50 min (about the same time as brown rice takes). No boiling over.

My proportions were off, tho'. I put in half a measuring cup (80 ml) of steel-cut oats, and filled the water to the .5 level mark for porridge. When the machine beeped ready (about 50 min. later), I had about twice the liquid I needed. (I did add a small diced apple, but I don't think that it added quite so much moisture).

After draining the contents through a fine mesh sieve and then adding about 3-4 tablespoons of the liquid back, I had a *very* nicely textured result. Just soft enough, but still a bit al dente. Totally unlike the oatmeal I've seen in the past whose smell and texture had me gagging immediately. This stuff was yummy good (especially after the nutmeg, cinnamon, a hint of brown sugar and drizzle of maple syrup).

A new weapon in my fight against cholesterol (which I'm already winning)!!

taste test -
Thanks for bringing this to the fore. As I type, I've got a half-cup of steel oats in our 3-cup NS-KCC05 Zojirushi at the porridge setting. We'll see what happens.

Romanmk -
Depending on how the Zojirushi goes, perhaps the crockpot will be next. Ours has high & low settings -- but it's a relatively big sucker, so it may not be practical.

- Richard

What settings do you use on the Zojirushi for steel cut oats?