haha, thanks! :)

thanks! that's my usual. can't do much better than an informed guess sometimes, but at least you can be as informed as possible. :)

so, just to follow up, in case anyone ever reads this... i did wear the sheath dress and fun heels and i felt totally appropriate. there was a pretty big range there - i saw a woman in a little black dress, and her date was in slacks and a blazer. i think the women next to me may have been in nice jeans/sweaters/heels, and there were several other dudes in collared shirts with no tie. so, definitely dress nicely, but to what degree depends pretty much on your own personal taste/occasion.

and since this is chow (even though it's 'not about food'), i have to report that the steaks were AMAZING. i'm not a big steakhouse connoisseur, but the medium rare filet was definitely one of the best steaks i've ever had in my life.

thanks all. i actually did call BLT and they said it is a little dressier during the workweek (since it's people coming for business dinners, coming after work, etc) and more "trendy casual" on the weekend. she said both nice jeans and a dress wouldn't be out of place.

i tend to be someone who errs on the more dressed up side (because you can't go wrong with that). so, if anyone cares, i think i'm going to do a more casual blue sheath dress and leopard print heels. nice, but fun/trendy. i'll post back later about how out-of-place i was ;)

just found the "not about food" category so i thought i'd take advantage! the new boyfriend is taking me to BLT steak for my birthday and i'm not sure what to wear. nothing in DC seems overly dressy, so i think i have to keep the little black dress in the closet... but i am pretty certain the jeans/dressy top combo that works almost everywhere else isn't completely appropriate, either.

help! what is good for DC steakhouses? i'm a girl, but also curious with respect to guys.

last year i started a project to cook the recipes from all the bon appetit covers, but started late. so this year i'm going to try for it, starting with January. we'll see... lately i've been much more into going out than staying in.

i like the idea of making 5 new recipes out of each cookbook, too - and i got several new books for Xmas, so i may steal the idea!

i know this has been addressed in a few other threads, which have been very helpful for sorting out what size i want (i'm guessing a #40 will make really reasonably sized cookies - and maybe meatballs? - and a #20 will be good for jumbo, bakery style cookies).

however, i still have questions about what brand, and from where? unfortunately there isn't a restaurant supply nearby (actually, that's REALLY good news for my wallet!)

i hear good things about the zerolls, but they're not spring-loaded. does it matter? should i go with the OXO i see on amazon, or is there something better?

i found some vollraths for reasonable price on the webstaurant.com site... but nearly $16 for shipping?! are you kidding?!

are the fantes scoops (or any metal scoops, shown here: http://fantes.com/ice-cream.html) going to give me carpal tunnel? all metal seems much less comfortable than plastic. i'm not using them all that often but when i do it's an all day bake-fest...

thanks in advance for any advice you have on brands or online stores...

thanks for the thorough review Elyssa! i am headed there tomorrow night and had my eye on the chicken.

for anyone else who has been - what are other 'can't miss' dishes?

what's the dress code like? is it hipster or should i look a little nicer? it's a dinner date so i want to look good but appropriate ;)

that sounds absolutely ridiculous! i sadly don't have a food processor (no room) but i'm sure a blender would get the job done...

thanks!

ha! hadn't even thought about how awful things look with balsamic reduction... good point.

both of those sound phenomenal! i'm absolutely bookmarking these. leaning towards yours for this... although figs are sweet, as someone else noted, i prefer a slight sweetness to dressing rather than too acidy.

thanks!

hi all -

i'm making the salad tonight for a dinner party and was assigned a fig/walnut/goat cheese combination. however, the recipe i was given called for sherry wine vinegar and walnut oil, both of which i don't have (and won't have time to get).

instead, i'm thinking of substituting either a reduced balsamic/honey mixture, OR an EVOO/balsamic/honey recipe i found... or should i do something else entirely? i have a good collection of vinegars on hand (but only olive oil)...

thanks!

this is a really good idea too... i do want the ones that sit out to be somewhat pretty/interesting, but i could certainly clean up old jars (paint lids, etc).

sorry, one more question... can you stack the fido jars? i'm thinking some of the shorter, wider sizes might work, but it's not totally clear...

thanks for all your help!

thanks for the tip on the silicone gasket... i had no idea. and really good point on having the jars be widemouth enough to get a scoop into...i suspect many of these are incredibly tiny.

thanks! do you have the IKEA ones with the wire bail, or the ones with the screw top/regular lid?

i'll check out the ELFA over-the-door thing, too. good tip! my kitchen is not only super tiny, but limited for what i can do since 1) i'm a renter and 2) the open wall seems to be made of something i cannot get nails into... ?

pantry moths! that sounds awful AND terrifying!

thanks for the tip on the fido... i was leaning towards those. i like the gasket as well so you know it is sealed.

are the french jars that you refer to the "le parfait" ones? those are super cute as well.

i live in a small apartment with an even smaller kitchen (sigh). needless to say, for the avid home cook, over a period of years this has become a total storage nightmare! i'm now investing in some chrome wire shelving that promises to restore my sanity.

i'm thinking of open storage (ie, instead of bins), since the space is small enough as it is. i think i'd like to get some glass jars for flour, sugar, other dry goods... but while these items are all over the place, i'm wondering about a few things:

1) has anyone ever bought from a wholesale kind of place, like the webstaurant store? for something like this, for example: http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ancho...
these are SO much cheaper... i'm wondering if they are as nice or if when you buy something in a 'case' quantity you're asking for crap.

2) from a food safety perspective, is there some advantage to getting something from container store or chefs catalog, etc, vs. just getting cheap glass jars at IKEA? i've always kept things in their bags (and then in a freezer bag) so i don't know anything about these and i don't want some dreaded flour bugs, etc.

3) is glass going to be ridiculously heavy with 5 lbs of flour/sugar in it? i just think it's so much prettier than acrylic.

any suggestions on storage, styling chrome wire shelves so it doesn't look like my kitchen is a garage, etc, etc welcome. :) i'm sure there are some fellow small-kitchen owners here who can commiserate/share innovative storage ideas...

thanks in advance!

thanks cowboyardee and monavano - very helpful!

and another question - i thought you were supposed to avoid blocks because they dull the knives, or get damp inside, or something else. no? are they still in use by avid home chefs (it would seem so since several of you recommended them).

okay, dumb question - what's the difference between a santoku and a chef's knife? i'm noticing that a lot of people are recommending those.

thanks SO MUCH to everyone who is weighing in, also - this is all super helpful.

i've been cooking for a while, but have decided that 2012 is the year where i finally get all the good stuff i've been wanting for ages. first things first: knives. i have one good paring knife (wusthof), but what else is indispensable? next on the list is a 7 or 8 inch chef's knife... what beyond that?

perhaps more importantly, i'm looking for storage solutions. i have zero drawer space, and hardly any counter space. to complicate things further, i rent, so i don't want to get those super nice magnet bars unless they're easily moveable and won't ruin the wall.

a friend told me about some magical magnetic knife stand, but i haven't seen this thing. what about the bodum ones with the sticks where you can put whatever knife in there - are those any good?

thanks in advance!

i'm thinking about adding a crockpot to my Christmas wish list, but i have no experience with one, so i'm a bit overwhelmed with all the features and figuring out what i need and what i don't.

'i mostly cook for 2 people, but i'd like to be able to cook in bulk (probably no more than 6-8 servings, though) - what size is appropriate? the electrical ones are much more expensive than manual - is it worth it to keep the food warm? also, doesn't need to be dishwasher safe, and i doubt i'd use it for potlucks.

also, do i even want one, or is it a waste of counter space? i know some people rave about theirs, but i enjoy the act/process of cooking, and i'm wondering if it's less satisfying to have a machine do it all. i'm not so busy i can't come home and make dinner, and with only two people, it's not like i really need to stockpile food.

thoughts? any help/advice/cautions/recommendations welcome! thanks in advance!

woo hoo - i just got a box of this and am thinking about all the possibilities... i'm now seeing recipes all over the place for using it as a binder in veggie burgers, using it to coat meat for pan-frying, etc...

but the primary use (and why i bought it) is to see if i can't get some more puff to my virtually entirely whole wheat breads, AND to make them higher protein if possible.

my question is, recipes just say "add 1 T per cup of flour". do i need to subtract an equivalent amount of flour so the dry ingredients stay the same? do i need to add more liquid to compensate?

and if you have any interesting tips or ideas for what to do with this seemingly amazing new ingredient, i'd love to hear...

thanks!

Hi all -

i'm going to be in Nashville in a few weeks for the first time, and unfortunately, since it's for work, my play time will be short. I'll be in the Vanderbilt area, WITHOUT a car. I need to plan lunch and dinner and dinner Monday. Sunday's on my own dime, while i can expense Monday.

i'd like to get downtown to do some shopping (are things open on sunday in "downtown"?) so i'm looking for somewhere great down there that's easy to get to. (i'm under the impression that even with the free bus, it'll be too much of a pain to get to germantown, the gulch, etc, so maybe downtown is easiest?) also assuming the "meat+3" is the classic nashville thing, which i certainly want to partake in...

i've also noticed rotiers and elliston place soda shop near where i'll be... worth it, or should i cab somewhere else?

as for Monday, where would you go if you had about $50 to spend and only ONE dinner in Nashville?!

thanks!

yikes... i never considered the freshness issue. by "very long", how long do you mean? like it stays good for a week? or is it more like a matter of days?

hi all -

after several rounds of very successful greek yogurt-making (thanks to chow-ers), i am left with nearly an entire refrigerator shelf full of jars and bottles of whey. i've of course looked all over the internets to see what i can do with it, but i don't want to make a smoothie and i don't have pets or plants to water. i may try some in my bread next time i make it...

but what i really want to know is, can ricotta be made from it? i see all over the place that it's possible, but then when i go look at recipes, they're all milk and citric acid. i'm confused. can i just boil this and ricotta will magically appear? i've never made cheese, so i'm not sure if the whey from strained yogurt is the same as the whey you get from making cheese (which apparently can be used to make ricotta).

thanks!
pchow

i had tried that, but found i had to go back and keep turning on the oven. how do you get yours to stay about 100 F? 200 is the lowest setting on mine, and it kept falling too low when i turned it off.

i have no idea how i missed seeing yogurt straining apparatus, seeing as how i endlessly researched machines! that's awesome, thanks! would be much better than washing cheesecloth all the time.

did you retest? i was still getting hot temperatures, but as someone else thoughtfully noted, perhaps it's my thermometer? in any event, i'm now:

1) using less starter (1-2 tbsp)
2) straining immediately after taking it out of the machine with a cheesecloth/colander setup
3) getting amazing greek yogurt!

making your own yogurt is awesome.