emberz's Profile

I've had mixed results with the banana ice cream. Sometimes the bananas are TOO frozen and I've had to add soy milk to the food processor to actually get it creamy. I'm thinking next time about bringing the bananas out of the freezer for 15 minutes or so before processing and/or adding some non-frozen bananas to the frozen ones.

Cocoa powder is good, and I've also added blueberry jam.

It's not just the guests who appreciate the transition. After I've been cooking and setting the table, and picking wine and getting the bar ready, and making sure I haven't forgotten to do something, it's nice to sit for a while with a glass or wine or cocktail and take a breather with my friends before getting all the food out on the table.

Another vote for cumin, but cayenne and other chili powders vying for the number one spot.

I second Nannypoo, and we're really talking Trader Joe's here, which otherwise I mostly love. But it's bad enough to have to deal with adults leaving their carts all over the place, THEN we have to navigate around "little shoppers" who have no sense of direction or speed-appropriateness. I don't blame the kids for this (I'd race carts down the aisle if I was 5, too, given the chance), I blame the parents and I blame, mostly, Trader Joe's.

Maybe it's my minor OCD coming out here, but I can't stand how fingerprint-y stemless glasses get. We do drink wine occasionally out of small tumblers more meant for Scotch because they're pretty, but they're etched and less easily marked by finger oils.

The last--and I mean last--time I went to a pot luck, I came down with some wicked food poisoning. As someone who is food safety certified, I've grown wary of these gatherings unless I'm REALLY familiar with the people participating. (I know someone is going to point out all the icky things that happen in professional kitchens, but (knock wood), I have yet to get food poisoning from a restaurant.)

In my town: Safeway (which I can walk to, and is pretty nice), Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Mollie Stone (like Whole Foods' little sister), Petrini's and Draeger's (like Whole Foods' old, more expensive--you heard me--crazy uncles), some Asian markets, and small produce stores. I never realized how lucky I am! (There's a Lucky in the next town over).

I just finished sweet potato hash made with leftover corned beef from St. Pat's day (and a little bacon--bacon makes it better!). Yum and yum. You can't go wrong with sweet potatoes.

Every now and then I revive a childhood favorite that my mom called "egg in a cup." Put a pat of butter in a mug and break up two peeled soft-boiled eggs in it. Salt and pepper. Yum. Buttery eggy goodness. Mom used to crack the eggs open at the top and carefully scoop out the insides into the mug, but I've been opting for peeling the whole thing, which is slightly tricky with a soft boiled egg, but it's easier to avoid shells that way.

I had two closets like this in a rental. I added shelves in the smaller one for pantry items. In the one I had that is much like the pictured one here, I screwed in L-hooks to hang my pots and pans (I wish now I'd taken a picture). It eliminated the need for me to use cabinet space for them, along with the annoying nesting of heavy cookware (you always think twice about having to get to that bottom-most pot). Having the pans in the closet also kept them from getting dusty, as they would being hung in the open. When I moved out, I unscrewed the hooks and plastered the holes, and I left the shelves up in the smaller closet. No complaints from my landlords.