This is what comes of talking to people on planes.

I'm watching it right now! Never seen it before, but it's pretty good. Much better than Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

None. I'm rice-impaired. Can't cook it, and now I don't even try. Oh, I've tried and tried. I'm good with no rice made at home.

Yes, I remember these well. They're not the ones pictured in the links provided by other responders. My grandmother was also a big fan of these - gosh I wish I could remember what they were called. Sometimes that had the white icing on them, but you could also buy them un-iced.

+1 for a Schwartz' Smoked Meat, eaten at the counter in Schwartz. Worth the 5 hour drive to Montreal.

Amen, sister/brother! I have a friend who prides herself in never measuring anything when baking, to the predictably erratic results. This is the same friend who every single year makes her rugelagh dough and leaves it in the fridge (it needs a chill) but then winds up throwing it away and starting again because "it goes bad."

Personally, I have a few tried and true things committed to memory (1234 cake; brownies) but I STILL follow the recipe.

This appears to be TLC India/South Asia.

Trader Joe's own brand (plain, I'm talking about) is very good, and much less expensive than Fage, which is still the gold standard as far as I'm concerned.

Ringing in as a big fan of the FP.

I'm of the "stir-as-you-pour-in-the-water" school of thought. I use a little whisk, actually.

I think it's meant to compliment both the egg and the cheese - nutmeg is often in milky, fatty kinds of food (like bechamel and eggnog). If you don't like it, leave it out. I don't think it will change the recipe appreciably.

Why not roast two or more whole chickens the Hazan method?

Also doing high-protein here - lowfat plain greek yogurt and lowfat cottage cheese are daily consumables. I like Fage yogurt better than all the rest of the now-trendy greek yogurts; my go-to cottage cheese is Friendship, which is apparently only available in the Northeast US. But it makes other cottage cheeses pale in comparison.

Well, flourgirl, I may need to give these a try. Do you recommend any particular version of Ghirardelli? I know they have a few flavors.

Brownies made from any of the mixes available today - at best, flavorless brown cakes. At worst, poisoned cheese. Disgusting. It's just too easy to make your own brownies from scratch.

You could try and make your own - it's not too too hard. Check out RLB's The Bread Bible. There's a great recipe there that I make in quantity every Christmas.

Another vote for Teddie - both the smooth and the crunchy varieties.

Have a look at the recipe for Pumpkin Pie in Beranbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible.

In short:
1. Don't prebake, but line the crust with pecan/gingersnap crumbs you make
2. Bake the pie on a preheated baking/pizza stone

The stone helps set the bottom crust right away - it's crispy and definitely cooked through. The crumbs keep the wet filling from seeping into the crust too much before it sets. Easy and no faffing about with egg whites or docking or pie weights or anything.

Now I'm hungry too! I'm not so versed in prep of SW food, but of course your suggestions seem like a total "duh" now that I've read them. I think have about 5 pounds - psyched!!

A very, very kind friend of mine in Santa Fe just sent me some of her own home-prepared roasted green chiles. The last time she did this, had green chile cheeseburgers ad infinitum, or just ate them plain (I know, but sooo good). This time, I'd like to use them in some kind of preparation - any ideas?

It seems like we went on the same night! I was in MTL just for the weekend and based on the foodie buzz I went alone without a reservation at around 6:00 pm. There was just a little hemming and hawing from the maitre d' ("oh, one? well, maybe... dunno... ok - do you mind the bar?)

I had the same fiddlehead/potato pancake cake appetiser. There were little chunks of bacony goodness in the cheesy potato, as well as some toasted pecans hither and yon - and I love runny egg yolk, so it was a home run for me. I ordered the "happy pork chop"as the main - a Fred-Flintstonesque affair. It was good, but it made me wish I'd ordered another starter instead - perhaps the beet and goat cheese salad. There was also a hake special that evening, but I figured I should stick with pork on the first go-round.

I just had a beer; my total bill was just under $50CAD, which I don't consider too bad for a "special" dinner.

Overall - I'll be back. I need to try those fries done in duck fat, as well as the deep-fried foie gras nuggets I kept seeing leaving the kitchen. Oh, and all visible members of the staff are uniformly young, upbeat, and very attractive - always a plus.

I agree with jaykayen, only add an apple (or two) or a ripe banana (or two) in the bag. The ripe fruit will give off ethylene gas to hasten the ripening of the plantains.

I'll second the attachment for the KA - works really well, and maximizes your mixer (assuming you already have the mixer...)