mikeinkansascity's Profile

oh my......
This works eerily well for people's faces too, though it over-emphasizes clothes. It was a dead loss when I used a picture of a sphynx cat as a 'bait'

Another echo for a great knife/knives and quality pans. I recently spent far more than I'd anticipated on a Shun chef's knife, but it felt just right in my hand, when I was in the store and it's been money well spent. All Clad ( or equivalent) is well worth the $$. Food doesn't stick (like it did to the grad school era Revere Ware!) and it's way easier to develop a good fond. Neither of these investments has made me a hugely better cook, they've just made mundane chores a lot more pleasurable. They feel good to hold and use.
I'll also second the suggestion for high quality, everyday china. Mine was picked up at an estate sale, it's thin, white German porcelain with tapered edges. It gives me pleasure every time I eat and I never feel the need to pull out any of the 'good stuff' residing in the hutch.

Chicken paprikash, chicken in mustard cream sauce, thighs work well in ~ any braised chicken dish
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_paprikash/
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-in-tarragon-mustard-cream-sauce

That Nigella recipe sounds pretty good...

Coconut cookies and carbonated orange drinks (specifically, Polo biscuits and Fanta orange) ; I had too much of each during a Sunday afternoon car trip, they didn't sit well. Never again.

My cat took matters into his own claws and fashioned a 'hammock' for himself by clawing through the fabric on the underside of my bed's boxsprings. I think he really liked both the darkness in there as well as the support offered by the sagging fabric. Yes, it got full of cat hair in there.

I live alone and have had a dishwasher for about the past 10 years only and hope never to be without one again. That said, I wash most of the pots/cast iron and the 70-year old silverware by hand. I end up running it 2-3 times/week. The current machine is a Bosch model that I mostly love - 'not crazy about the arrangement of the tines on the upper shelf. Also, if you're running the machine infrequently, a quick ( 5 min) rinse option really helps, especially in the summer when food/liquid remnants on the dishes can start to ferment within a few days

And for something completely different.... take a look in at the Irish Yeast Company, 6 College St, just across form the front gate of Trinity. It sells baking supplies and is a veritable time capsule, unchanged from the 1940s or so.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/3537284053/
http://www.dublincitycenter.com/locations/irishyeast.htm

I made carrageen pudding once, with a package of some dried seaweed. It resembled milky jello, and not in a good way.
http://mrslsnoshtalgia.blogspot.com/2009/02/carrageen-pudding.html

During the past few hot weeks here in the midwest, I've used a PC to cook potatoes quickly for potato salad and to make chicken stock. Risotto also works very well, as does this bolognese sauce http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/01/tomato-sauce-with-hot-pork-sausage-bolognese-pressure-cooking-recipe.html

Power's Irish whiskey, cut with a very small amount of water. More depth than Jameson's or (gold label) Bushmill's IMO