Istanbul Eats also offers food tours. We did the Kebab Krawl. It was one of our trip's highlights.

Peeps are best when stale! We have Easter at my aunt's every year. She buys the peeps about a month in advance to get stale.

Not only do I store my baking sheets vertically but when I had my kitchen redone they suggested putting them in the cabinet above the fridge. I never used the cabinet above my fridge before because it always involved pulling out a step stool. Now I can easily reach the front of the sheet and pull it out. Genius!

Sorry! I didn't check back on this thread. I normally use fresh ingredients but this is how the recipe was written and I pretty much stick to it. I would rather use chicken broth but the original calls for 2 1/2 cups of water and 7 bouillon cubes. Not sure how to replicate that ratio/strength with homemade chicken broth. Also, some measurements might seem odd (weights instead of cups, etc.) but I just reduced the recipe as is and I have a scale.

Garden Vegetable Chowder

1 stick margarine (I use butter--I think that I actually use a little less)
2 medium onions, diced
1 3/4 lb. zucchini (approximately 4 small)
1 pinch thyme
1 1/2 tablespoons dried basil
1 pinch salt
3/8 teaspoon pepper
3 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
3 1/2 cups tomatoes, chunked (I used diced tomatoes)
14 ounces frozen corn
7 chicken bouillon cubes
3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup half-n-half
5 1/4 ounces grated cheddar cheese
1 3/4 ounces Parmesan cheese
1 3/4 teaspoons lemon juice

Melt margarine. Add onion, zucchini, thyme, basil, salt, pepper and parsley. Sauté for 8 minutes. (I like soft zucchini so I sauté a little longer.)
Add the tomatoes and the corn.
Dissolve bouillon cubes in the water. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Add to pot. Add milk and half-n-half.
Simmer for 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.

Let me know if you make it and how it turns out!

Ingenious! Someone upthread mentioned a separator that works like that that I was going to buy, but maybe I'll just save the money and do your method!

I mean that I don't want the fat to get in.

I just noticed this "feature". How dumb. Why did they do this? Did people complain about not being able to see the newest first. How many people prefer to see newest post first? I think more people would want to see oldest first. Maybe they should make the "oldest posts first" the default and let those that want to read the newest first click a little button.

I just use my bare hands to break up the clumps of cold rice. Doing it with a spoon does sound like a pain!

I can understand if you are truly allergic to the smell as one poster mentioned. As for the rest of you, is the server sitting down and eating with you? A server spends what? About 2 or 3 minutes tops at your table? You can't tolerate that?

I like the way that one seems to work. With the spout kind, I hate when I get to the bottom because I don't want to waste any of the broth but I don't want the broth to get in.

Twenty five years ago I was a waitress at a restaurant owned by Stouffer's. I begged one of the cooks for their Garden Vegetable Chowder. I still make it to this day. It's sooo good.

I never knew how bad I smelled when I smoked until I quit smoking and smelled others.

Do you really think that someone would get fired for having bad breath ONE day?

Well, it's not a mix but I love Glutino's pizza crust.

Of course, it counts. Congrats!

+1 I was thinking that there was a category that was left out!

OP mentioned improving her meat skills. I was always confused by the various names for the same cuts of meats and which cuts could be substituted for others. I love this site; it is very helpful. It covers all types of meats, fruits and vegetables and has nice pictures of everything.

www.foodsubs.com

Cook's Illustrated rated the OXO Food Scale as the best. I got it for Christmas and I love it!

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Stain...

Also, I use the scale in ways I never thought about. On the page linked above, scroll down and watch the video one guy made as part of his review of the scale. By knowing the weights of each ingredient, you can put your bowl on the scale, add each ingredient and zero out the scale after each ingredient and never use a measuring cup or spoon! The first time I made a recipe using the scale, I recorded the weight next to the item on my recipe. I'm sure this is old news to people who use scales, but to me it was a revelation!

Thank you all for your responses. That's just the info I was looking for.

sr44, I enjoyed the Ruhlman link. It's nice to know that even the experts don't agree on how to cook beans!

biggreenmatt, I just read an article in Cook's Illustrated about why you should buy a pressure cooker. I think I'm convinced!

Hi,

I would like to start using dried beans instead of canned. I have read many of the threads on cooking but still have one question. When the bean is not the main ingredient of a dish and I'm just substituting dried beans for a can of beans do you season the cooking water with anything? I made one recipe, just cooked the beans in water and the beans seemed bland. But if you do flavor the beans as they are cooking could that affect the overall taste of the dish you are making?

Thanks,
Dana

Why would you go with a name whose definition certainly not positive? You're right, Dining Diva. It does fit.

OK, I'll admit it. I don't get what's wrong with Christmas mass.

For goodness sake! I'm not saying that they would have to rebuild the set. IF they would have an opportunity to pick one more person for each team, it would have ALREADY been part of the plan! You seem to be obsessed with the size of the set and missing the point that I would want to see who they would pick from the leftovers!

I recommend Shop Shop.

Uh, it's not as if they couldn't change the set, rjbh20. The point was that I would like to see of all of the people that were told "I wish I would have said yes", who would they pick.

Yea! Apparently I'm too young to know the old meaning of mean! I never knew that it meant cheap. Learn something new everyday. Thanks.

I think some of the real Bourdain came out when he pointed out that the three times that Ludo and "Malarkey" (what's up with that?!) went after the same cook, all of the cooks picked Ludo. I was thinking the same thing and I cracked up when AB said it.

I don't know why, but I am totally annoyed by Brian Malarkey.

I would have liked to see them get a chance to select one more person for their team, from all of the cooks eliminated, after everyone tried out.

What is "mean, in the older sense of the word"? What is the newer sense? Am I getting so old that I don't realize their is another meaning of mean?

My husband and I ate there last month when we visited NY. We loved Pylos.