sydthewyd's Profile

I have a friend who is an olive oil producer in northern California and he actually does not ever recommend cooking with olive oil. He says it should only be used for things that are cold or simply warm up. For cooking - roasting, sauteeing, etc. - you should use an oil that has a higher smoke point, like grapeseed or canola/rapeseed oils.

I'm in agreement with @babyb - doesn't the water get all over the floor? I love the look of them but I question the practicality. Do they make some like dish draining racks - with a tray underneath to catch the water? Or will I need to wipe the floor each time the shower is used?

Super inspirational and perfect timing - I may be renovating an old Dutch barge soon!

It drives me crazy when people season without tasting. My bf and I had one of our first fights over that when we first started dating! I'm also with @violetveil and have heard (and been brought up with) that if something is hot, you should start.

If you want to splurge for a special occasion, Wilson Winery (and their sister wineries as well) have some amazing zins - award winning too! They are big - really big, juicy, fruity, basically everything I love in a wine. If you are ever in Healdsburg, Sonoma County - check them out. I can't recommend them enough.

@CCP MBD - I think that it's a bit unfair to say that young people don't treasure our ancestor's linens. Many of us are living in very small places that simply don't have the room to store it all. I barely have room to keep my clothes, let alone hand-embroidered tablecloths and napkins. Luckily, my grandmother has the ability to store her linens and china until I live in a place where I have the capacity to have it. So please give us "young people" some credit. And really, should we keep something simply because our ancestors spent hours making it if we won't use it? Why not give it to someone who would? This was my grandmother's philosophy and mine as well. I don't want my future kids to feel obligated to keep the quilts I have made over the years if they don't want them.

Having lived in London for 2 years (and changed flats a few times in the first 6 months) I found that I always heard horror stories from my coworkers using agencies - we have all used Gumtree to find our flats. Also, to make sure we get our deposit back, we always ask if we can skip paying our last months rent, which is the amount of our deposit.

I made this for a dinner party over the weekend and it was a raving success! I used a rocket/spring greens mix and omitted the fennel. As maple syrup is really expensive here in the UK, I just used some sugar, but found it lacked a bit of complexity so I added a squirt of rooster sauce (sriracha), not enough to make it spicy, but enough to add some depth of flavor. Very very good and easy enough for a weeknight!

I wrestled with getting a slow cooker for a really long time. Now that I'm working full time and have an hour commute, I bought one and I love it. I definitely prefer a Dutch oven, but I use that on the weekends and the slow cooker during the week. Finding recipes that don't say "add a can of condensed cream of whatever" is a bit tough, but there are loads out there. I'm preferential to what I call a "dump-and-run" method like this chili lime Mexican chicken.

@twnt1andcounting the recipe says cauliflower works as well :)