I've had large and small heavy grill pans for a long time, but I've found the griddler very versatile and effective. Tonight I did ca. 1" boneless pork chops with a little dry rub on them in about 5 minutes and they came out brown and juicy. The grill needed barely a rinse off. It also does really well for boneless chicken. For the most part I don't oil the griddles or butter sandwiches since we're generally mindful of calories. And as far as time is concerned, it takes about a 5-minute preheat to do a sandwich, and 3 to 4 minutes to grill them. I have done some vegetables as well but I'm still working on those. For $74 at Amazon it worked out for me. It is one of the things I keep out on the counter

I would definitely not recommend covering those plates with foil. Haven't seen one with cast iron either. I've got a Cuisinart Griddler that I've been really enjoying. I use it quite a lot, so if the grids were to go after a pretty considerable period of time, I'd feel it had served its purpose, like a well-used non-stick pan, chuck it and get a new one.

On added word: keep careful watch out for these tiny guys, the black ones with the cream colored spots and the red trim. They're barely 1/4" long but both they and their larvae will damage your crops. They're not terribly fast so you can pick them off and drop them into soapy water, or once the ferns are formed (and you're not going to eat the asparagus any more) spray them with an organic pesticide like rotenone or pyrethrin.:

http://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden/...

If you planted them only two years ago then be patient and just take a taste from each crown this year and let the sun give strength to the plants. They will serve you well for 20 plus years with fat, sweet stalks. Don't forget to side dress them as well.

For compost to develop properly you need a balance of brown and green materials and moisture, and the whole mass has to rise to a temperature that will kill bacteria. This article should help explain the process or link you to more info:

http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a...

The burger is just ok but on a surprisingly ice cold roll, but I have found the french fries to be fresh, hot and really good. I truly miss Carole's Juicy Lucy Blue Burger which was maybe a buck or so more, but everybody on this board complained about her prices.

You might try doing them in the oven. At least the heat would be equal all around. I think I'd do a practice round first though.

http://www.food.com/recipe/hard-cooke...

At Christmas I made a similar kind of recipe (corn, creamed corn, Jiffy, eggs, jalapeno cheese), but found a recipe for muffins. So we served what we needed and freezed the rest. They were nice and moist, so they reheated really nicely, either in the oven or even in the micorwave, If I find the recipe I'll post it.

A couple of weeks ago I got an order of Cajun food (not the first time I've ordered it). It was shipped in a styrofoam cooler. It was picked up by UPS in Lousiana on Monday afternoon, and was delivered at our place in CT late Thursday morning. Everything, from stuffed chickens to bags of shrimp were all frozen solid when the package arrived. That said, I would definitely not mix your warm rotissery chicken with your cold and frozen goods. Keep frozen food in a cooler with frozen, cold food in a quilted bag, and maybe your rotiss chicken in another with a bag of ice if time is a concern.

Evrything everybody else said, plus when you cook it, make sure you cook the breast to 170 deg F and the dark meat to 180.

At lunch time, try Terminal Market. It's a paradise of food vendors. Try DiNic's for their roast pork and broccoli rabe sandwich; take it with you a few feet into the beverage area and have it with an ice-cold brew. We went into Philla. for the flower show and wound up spending the afternoon at the market.

Great salad stuff. Up here in CT we'll get a good six months plus of seriously good tasting lettuces, greens, arugula, broccoli, then tomatoes, green onions, sunchokes, etc. The mesclun we buy during the rest of the year seems tasteless compared to what we pick out of the garden.

Ditto re the Curtis House. We live in the area and can attest to the fact that Mr. Bagelman has got it right on the nose. We have not been to the Heritage Inn, but having been to many places that he has been and fully respecting his assessments, I would feel comfortable taking my family there.

San Marzano is a true heirloom variety (i.e. it can be grown from its own seeds) which, if it is grown in the Sarno Valley in Italy, may be labeled as DOP. While terroire is going to affect anything you grow in your garden, I think anyone who regularly who grows and uses plum tomatoes might want to give these a try in their garden next to their usuals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marz...

Perhaps it was your soil, whether the pH, watering issues or nutrients. It's advisable to do a soil test every three years.

We wound up canning 35 quarts of sauce and freezing several others, and I found that it got to that nice thick stage while still maintaining nice, fresh flavor, because it was ready in less time than with the romas. We will definitely grown them again this summer.

It is a variety of tomato. We bought plants at a garden center last year and were very happy with them. They are significantly meatier and have less juice and seeds than romas, and are high producers. You can find seeds at several seed companies.

http://www.burpee.com/organic-gardening/organic-tomatoes/tomato-san-marzano-organic-prod002164.html

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7934-san...

Studies make things seem so simple, but given these findings, I was surprised to see that Germany, where sausages, both fresh and cured, are such a significant part of the culture, has a life expectancy significantly longer than that of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Turkey salad, curried turkey salad, in jambalaya, warm on a roll with blt, pulled or chopped with a little BBQ sauce and some slaw on a roll, or sizzled up with onions and peppers in a fajita. I do love dark meat turkey -- we oven braise thighs almost as often as I can find them anymore -- and would use the leftovers if we had any, almost anywhere we'd use dark meat chicken or pork.

Emeril has had sauces and seasonings and nobody seemed to complain.

Mario Bario Batali has some (quite good) jarred sauce and nobody seems to complain.

Giada D, T Keller, and W. Puck all sell product. No disses.

I'm not criticising until I try.

If it seems to be getting too dark, you can loosely tent it with foil to keep the skin from burning.

After 15 minutes at that temp I'd drop the temp to 375 and then roast for about 20 minutes per lb, If you have pan drippings you can baste every 20-30 minutes. Roast until you get a temp of 160-165 in the thickest part of the breast and 165-170 in the thigh. Another test of doneness is that the leg will move freely at the hip joint, and the juices there will run clear when pierced with a knife, but a thermometer, not time, os the best determiner of when something is done and not overdone.

Well I'll try anything once, but 22 oz is not exactly saying dinner for two to me:

http://eater.com/archives/2013/02/21/...

I would go ahead and freeze it while it is still fresh. In genreal, baked goods freeze beautifully, and if wrapped well, will keep for some time. If I need fresh rolls and they will not be available tomorrow, I'll buy them today, freeze them and thaw them tomorrow rather than have them stale the next day.

The editors of the Daily Meal published a list of their ratings of canned tomatoes incuding some real San Marzano's, the California San Marzano brand, and the popular Muir Glen organics. While I wish they had given more details about their test panel and test methodology, I always enloy reading some side-by-side comparisons. The slide show notes details for each sample.

http://www.thedailymeal.com/canned-to...

Whether the pot is covered or not could also account for a difference in simmering setting.

Partners Yurgaitis and Malkemus are good neighbors here in the county. I believe they had originally owned the property across the raod fromtheir current location, and then decided to the big farm to preserve it, expanding it to become a real agricultural showplace. They are reputed to own the three top dairy cows in the US, Jersey, Gurnsey and Holstein, and care for them in pristine barns. They offer tours of the facility on Saturday afternoons by reservation.

A couple of years ago they purchased the old firehouse in the Bantam section of Litchfield which they converted into their dairy where they make their several varieties if cheese and ice creams. Locally several of the cheeses are available in the stores but only basic flavors of ice cream. Special flavors I understand you can only get at the dairy.

The partners are also supportive of agriculture in the area. On several occasions they've taken groups of our FFA (Future Farmers of America) students from our local vo-ag school to compete in dairy catte judging in Europe.

A couple of years ago I took a hands on cheese making course taught by the Arethusa Farm dairy plant mgr given as an adult ed course through the local vo-ag school. The course will be given again this year on 3-14-13. Further info is at www.woodburyffa.org click on class offerings and scroll down to 3-14. Besides making, there is a lot of tasting of many types of cheeses.

How about a drizzle of hazlenut liquour?

How about ice cream?

Black Forest ham was what came to my mind. Very smoky and sweet. I remember walking into Karl Ehmer's Deli in Arlington, NY once, and I don't know if they had had a smoker there, or if they had just brought some in, but the smell just captivated us. We do prefer smoked ham to those simply cured and hung, and while I've never smoked a ham, we've really have gotten to enjoy the flavor that the different woods imparts to various foods.

I was going to suggest the same book.