Slow Lorus's Profile

Totally agree with people saying to just sub in some whole wheat for a portion of all-purpose white in most baking recipes. In fact some items, like chocolate chip cookies, come out better with some whole wheat flour in there. At least, I think they do!

Martha Stewart classic!!! From her 1982 Entertaining tome...wow, flashback city.

I'm old.

That sounds awesome. Except the pickled vegetables (do chua) are my favorite!! Whenever I get banh mi I always ask for extra and when I make them at home I always make a double batch of do chua so I can serve more on the side...but then I'm a pickle fiend.

BTW, that kushari get mega-thumbs up from omnivores as well. We can't seem to stop eating it in our household.

Oh, I think this is genius! When I used to rely on my Moleskine pocket calender I used to scribble all sorts of recipes into it...but I like the idea of an alphabetical index even better.

I switched to putting recipes in my iPodT but I hate how I have to touch the screen every so often when I'm actually cooking from it. I much prefer working from paper.

Wow, what a bunch of cranky comments on this one! I love this idea. I think the Binchotan coal looks really cool, striking, and modern and I really love the fact that it's completely biodegradable. Doing away with the plastic casing that so many water filters use is one thing but to make a product that has a second use after it's spent is just plain awesome.

@kentucky16 -- I always drank water straight from the tap and I never understood all the people who filtered all their water until I moved into my current place. The water in this neighborhood is so horrendously unpalatable (even though I was previously living only 5 minutes away with perfectly fine tap water) that I eventually relented and bought a water filter. Also, tap water might taste better everywhere if more people/governments/industries actually thought the environment should be something to care about.

@misplacedtexan - If you're self-conscious you can always just keep the volume low. Most people having a great time don't think about what's playing in the background anyway. I just find it nice to have at least a bit of music to serve as a backdrop.

Always! I usually task the husband with creating a playlist if I want something more thoughtfully curated but I'm also fine playing it fast and loose with the music as well (hooking up the i-pod, putting on some vinyl to suit the mood, letting guests pick something out, or throwing a few CDs into the player). The only thing I can't stand is a totally quiet background. It feels like dead air to me. And no music in the background makes lulls in the conversation feel worse.

I've especially noticed this since my FIL's wife doesn't put on music during gatherings and it makes our family get-togethers feel a bit empty and cold (unlike my dear departed MIL who always had some sort of music playing softly in the background).

I keep Guittard chocolate chips stocked for everyday use. I also love their mini chocolate chips. And I buy Callebaut bittersweet callets whenever I see them (and I just noticed last week that some Costco locations are carrying 3.5 lb bags of them for a great price...I picked up two bags and am crossing my fingers that they turn it into a regular item).

But I'll also grab other chocolate discs/chips for my chocolate cabinet just for variety (Valrhona feves, Cordillera discs, Ghirardelli 60% dark, Peter's chocolate wafers, Trader Joe's semi-sweet chips). I'm with Emma in that I like the security of knowing a little chocolate something something can be whipped up at a moment's notice.

I live right near an awesome Middle Eastern bakery (slash grocery store slash deli slash restaurant), Holy Land, and they carry so many different styles of plain pita - greek, white, wheat, Roghani, Lebanese, discounted day olds, etc.- so we always get our pita there.

My favorite quickie pita snack is a pita drizzled with olive oil and copious amounts of za'atar shaken on top, a few sprinkles of hot pepper flakes, and if I have it, feta or fresh mozzarella placed over it all. I throw that into the toaster oven until everything gets heated through or melty. And then more za'atar, usually.