Well? Where did you end up, and how was it?

A couple people I work with (Bloomington) swear by Joe Huber Farms, and have organized dinner trips for the family style Amish fried chicken -- http://www.joehubers.com/index.html

If you wanted to start by going backwards, a pulled pork sandwich at Vince Staten's BBQ wouldn't be a bad thing ... east on US 42, Prospect. Call it "laying down a base". But then, you have lots of kickoff options in Louisville...

Isn't there a place called the German-American Club? or is that where the Rathskeller is? AOL Cityguide also has Heidelberg Haus, at 7625 Pendleton Pike. Cafe/bakery.

She then turned her hand to Fuschia Dunlop's Dong'an Chicken ... a fair amount of prep work, but the result was bright and sharp -- quite different from the thicker-sauced Szechuan recipes we've done in the past. We agreed that it needed something darker in contrast, like the Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs we'd already polished off! We'll do this one again.

Search this site -- there have been many recommendations in the past couple years. It's hard to go wrong in South Ken. La Bouchee for French, Lundum's for Danish, Cambio de Tercio for Spanish -- it's a great neighborhood. Pick up a copy of the latest Harden's, and it will serve you well, tempered by the past critiques of the Hounds.

High fructose, but is the favorite in our house. Best overall flavor.

Ummm ... clicking on "Boards" doesn't bring you to a list of the boards? and why not?

Candy seems to be correct -- if you click on "Boards", rather than the "carrot", you get "Latest Posts" regardless of where you are. IE or Firefox, same thing. I haven't replicated what she's said about the heartbeat boards, but certainly the current behavior of clicking on Boards is not the way it spozed to be.

DW and I are in agreement on this one. I consider my knife skills ok, but I would rather save the time in prep using the press, and spend it later in cleanup with everything else. I like the idea of the microplane, though, and will try that. Still have to peel the clove, which is slower than smacking it (not sure I want to run a crushed clove of garlic over a microplane).

"Aroma Portable Electric Range", aka single electric burner. Our 16-year-old Monogram glass cooktop shattered a la Vonnegut's Ice Nine on New Year's Eve, and since the glass supports the burners, we aren't using them until the glass is replaced. You don't know how much you use your cooktop until you can't ... the standalone burner from Target has turned out to be invaluable, and we expect we'll be using it after the repair, as well.

Agreed -- better than generic as a brand, but not better necessarily than niche products. Our local independent butcher shop opened a year or so ago with a variety of imported deli meats and cheeses and finally had to capitulate to carrying Boar's Head in order to compete with Kroger, Marsh, and O'Malia, even though they are miles ahead of the chains on their other offerings.

At the end of each episode of Boston Legal, Alan Shorr and Denny Crain have a scotch on the balcony and pontificate. Does anyone know who makes the glasses they drink from? We've not seen them anywhere else.

I haven't done a side-by-side (not sure if I can, given the old adage about martinis -- one's too many, and two's not enough), but I do like the viscous freezer gin. Granted, the herbals do not come through as well as at room temperature, but it makes for a different cocktail.

Cream cheese and dill pickle on rye. Cream cheese and olives, and egg salad with olives, were my mother's standard sandwich fillings when I was growing up.

Definitely revolting. As was watching my father eat a bowl of white bread and condensed milk...

DH

Some good suggestions for alternatives and variations that I'll be looking into over the holidays. Our house standard -- gin in the freezer, Noilly Prat 3 1/2:1,

Yes, I tried that with my last batch. I used regular baguette pans, not preheated. It took some pushing and pulling with a dough scraper to shape the loaves and nudge them into the pans -- I wish I'd taken some pictures of the process and the results. The loaves turned out flavorful, but didn't get the rise they would have from the sudden burst of heat in a preheated pan. We have a narrow Le Creuset terrine that I might try preheating, though it won't hold much dough. Otherwise I'll stick with the round loaves.

Miz Candy and I were so into the chorizo sandwiches on our visit last month that we forgot to take a picture of them...

I wish I'd seen the video before I started last night ... as the processor was whirling I was thinking, this is way too much water for three cups of flour, but as dw says, "make it their way the first time". The result this afternoon -- 18 hours -- had the consistency of the starter I make, and another half a cup of flour was still not enough to make it workable. Went off to see "The Queen" (quite fine) and returned for baking. Needed only a 3qt Le Creuset, given the amount of dough sticking to the towel, and the resulting loaf was not very tall. 200 degrees coming out of the oven, but the crumb was still damp, given the starting wetness. Good flavor, decent crust, and I will definitely use this method again. But I can see from the video that the initial dough needs to be much firmer. Basically it's a quick levain, plus the enclosed baking. I wonder how it would behave just baked on an open stone...

A long, cool, first rise will produce the best flavor. However, there is a recipe in Bernie Clayton's bread book that calls for a first rise of 90 minutes, followed by however long it takes for the dough to double. I noticed that the leitesculinaria recipe was specific about the 1 hour first rise, with no time for the second rise -- I wonder if that might have been the problem. Also, just as another variable in the problem, the picture clearly shows the loaves were not formed as baguettes, though that shouldn't have made any difference on how the loaves rose.

Howler, the website shows two on Edgeware -- which one, or are both worth a visit?

Sorry -- they were not *able* to deal with separate checks. Too many double negatives...

Have to repeat on Manuel's. One of the best southwestern restaurants we've been to, with one of the most interesting and rewarding menus ever. They were not, however, unable to deal with separate checks for a moderate size group back in spring 2005, leaving us with a poor and embarrassing customer service experience.

Oh, yeah, Candy says I have to add ambience. Seriously, lunch at La Gavroche was one of the finest dining experiences we've ever had anywhere.

I think you would not be disappointed with La Gavroche. Great menu, great service.

Key to Chinese Cooking. We used it so much it fell apart and we had to get another copy. Great for technique.

Grill or pan-brown the kielbasa first, or don't. Simplest version is yayadave's, maybe even without the onions. Mashed potatoes on the side (to fork mix with the kraut for earthy pleasure), or sauteed onions with pierogies and sour cream ... is it fall yet?

Somewhere in Elizabeth David's "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" she says "toast is nothing more than a vehicle for getting more butter into your mouth". My favorite.

The only one we've had a chance to try was Lois, recommended by the very knowledgeable wine guy at our local emporium. Well-balanced and crisp, $15.