you just never know where you're going to meet a potential friend for life or a short period of time. either way, nice to put yourself out there or be a willing participant in occasional chatter. it's paid off for many of us many times over.

I'd buy a basil plant at a big box store and keep it on your window sill or put in garden or replant into a bigger pot and then you'd have a good enough amount to play with at your will. I don't have a tremendous amount of luck growing 'any kind' of of basil from seed although I do it every year. there are so many flavored kinds (and colors of basil) for you to choose from that for a small $ output you could have your purple and green forms. purple basil pesto I'd not probably do simply due to color could be off putting to some although not me.

"depending on my rapport with seatmates"

10 years ago on a flight I was seated next to a lovely man. my good fortune. we talked from the beginning, fun conversations. when they brought out our meals we ate and talked. there was some sort of a candy treat in the meal delivered. I guess I ate mine after finishing the meal as we were talking. trash picked up, restroom break and upon returning to a clean tray table, out of nowhere appeared his treat on my table. I looked at him to see if he was the culprit and he winked. nice seat mate.

at first the frosting is thin-I literally had my kitchen aid on almost full bore 13 min-the result

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/899144

auh shoooooot!
then it's not easy to get there, dang me.......... *>)

gooey caramel and whipped cream in a huge cup of tea

alka, are you talking about the little mesh bag of the tiny red potatoes that you microwave for a few minutes then eat?
maybe not...............anyway DD just made them last week and sheeeesh they're great!

"Maraschino cherries eaten from the jar"

how 'do' they get them sooooooooooo red?
love the things, don't get me started

you're funny ....love the cheese idea and the latch key kid thing, I think we were mostly all latch key kids

where are you guys TJ? are you in Toronto?

cake is in the oven, smells like heaven.
no recipe, don't often use for much of anything I make/bake but here's what went in the batter 'today':
semolina flour
salt
baking powder
baking soda
sugar
butter
egg
buttermilk
white vinegar
greek plain yogurt
sour cream
orange soda
orange extract
orange food coloring
orange zest

TJ's frosting
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/760095
is all ready > cake'll have to cool....can't wait, hubby may marry me again :)

I just watched Melissa D'Arabian on tv as I'm typing out some recipes, basically as background noise. BUT, she caught my attention as she was making the Scott Conant ravioli but using chicken instead of duck and chicken liver instead of foie gras for the filling inside. looked great and I'll be making that maybe in the next few days. like the fact that she cheated by using wonton skins which I have in fridge.

I wanna come too, where's this special cake day held?
it'd be fun to get together and all compare notes on what we adore about each cake or what we could do differently next time.
I'll do the Best Ever Yellow Cake recipe from that other foodie web site, it's hard, trying but great!

Today, I'm doing an orange spice cake for hubby that we'll take to our sons tomorrow if there's any left over.
so far, I've made a simple syrup of water and sugar and infused with the peels from 2 navals and cinn/nutmeg/cloves/ginger/allspice/salt.
then the actual cake batter will be made. I'd better get going on that so I have time to make TJ's YUMMALICOUS flour frosting.........W@@+

you're making me hungry jb, sounds delicious

today I made a breakfast that was out of the norm for me as it was a bit odd. hubby was hungry, I'd had a protein shake so:
roasted turkey on rye with applewood smoked bacon and caraway fontina cheese with tomato slices toasted and chips on the side.

dinner was grilled salmon fillets marinated in pesto, twice baked potatoes spinach and green beans, fluffy rolls and salad of celery hearts, green pepper, scallions, tomatoes,olive oil&rice vinegar salt and pepper. no dessert, hub didn't want any.

I understand Al bond

we've been to a rare couple of Sizzlers that we've actually liked. was this a good one?

years ago at a big box store I bought two weird sounding plants: when they grew they were lovely and tasted like their names.............
chocolate mint plant
pineapple mint plant

sure others have thought of this but in case . . . .
you know the little crystal lights or kool aide flavor straws?
they come in all flavors.
those are great to take in your suitcase with empty plastic bottles that you fill up once through security with water fountain cold water and add your straw.
that way you don't have to pay (a couple of bucks) for a small bottle of water. any empty plastic water/soda/juice bottle works and the little straws have lots of flavor. . . . I'm jus sayin :)

loved the story

garlic bread
cheesecake
Caesar salad
home made corned beef hash

love corned beef sandwiches, stinky, not sure
love tuna sandwiches, stinky, yep
love big ole bananas, stinky sitting next to someone eating one in a confined space, yep

I pack lunches and snacks on plane rides. I don't worry about getting hungry...ever.... I snack on nuts, dried fruits, cookies drinks, sandwiches, chips....it may take up space in luggage but once it's gone the room in your bag is back. I don't want to count on anyone else having to plan on my hunger.

agree

if you took the time to plan for the possibility of getting hungry later so you packed something and others didn't, um, it's like the I love Lucy show where they all ate the cheese sandwiches except Lucy who wasn't hungry at the time but when need to eat came up, she still had hers and they were dying to get a piece.

I like to buy spices like that in specialty shops.
They're in small portions, so if I don't like, no big deal, I didn't buy a bundle full of any one spice.
I got my white pepper in a small sealed bag at Granville Island in Vancouver BC. Must admit to not using it much

I would adore that, it sounds like total comfort food to me.

yep, they're more basic there than places around here where they add all but the kitchen sink tableside too no less

chowguest, what's the newest news on your quest?

sorry I can't help you Scott, my mint plant died over the winter.
taste the stems.
do they taste like the leaves?
I know with basil I don't make a point of making sure the stems are all gone when doing pesto, same with cilantro. some stems don't bother me.

but see tim, I can not stand fennel any which way so you're no doubt a bird of a different feather :)

at work one day it was the
"bring food for the store's lunch day".
I think I brough enough to feed the army of us myself but one gal brought meatballs in a cream cheese and sour cream gravy and they were wonderful. there was a bite of something in the meatballs and I asked her to spill the beans about the crunch factor in the balls. plus what was that subtle flavor I loved so much in the gravy- finely chopped almonds in the meatballs themselves and almond flour/ground almonds in the gravy...........sooooo good
I've made them myself

"http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo..."

oh my goodness, doesn't that look like a yummy mouthful?
wish my husband liked almonds. I could always try it on him, if not, the neighbors are really close :

I also thought of this sauce:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spanish_romesco_sauce/

and love a good veggie burger..
several suggestions here some using other nutmeats but why not sub out for ground almonds?
http://www.johnrussell.name/recipes/b...