I take my coffee and agave with me when I travel. I had to stop drinking coffee for a while. Now i drink one cup but its not as strong as I really like. I bought this thing called an AeroPress and its the most amazing thing. It takes minutes and takes a lot of acid out of the coffee.

I can't drink coffee past 2PM or I'll have trouble sleeping. Of course most of the time I'm in bed by 8.

Charlotte is great! I'm only 4 hours north of there.

GOOD MORNING!

who likes french toast?


I'm gonna make some with cinnamon and some peanut butter and syrup on top. I saw some with the peanut butter inside and some bananas mmm I want to try that too!

http://www.about-recipes.com/imgrec/...Toast-Bund.jpg

I love french toast.
My honey made the other day w/ cranberry *walnut bread with a cinnamon/almond custard.

I like maple with mine--
or sometimes with yogurt and berries
or sometimes with pb / syrup.

Just depends on the mood and type of bread.

I'm going to make Indian curry- butter chicken.

I just got a curry leaf plant I'm growing inside. Its still young but I'm tempted to yank a few of its leaves.

If you like curry try this sometime. It's awesome

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Curried-Meatloaf/

Thanks. let me change this a little. Change it to ground lamb, get rid of the oats (ewwww) use more egg, use curry paste, add Garam Masala Spice, replace the apples with mango but add a little more, keep the raisins or use figs. Definitely nix the ketchup, add some heavy cream.

Thanks for the idea. Now I;m going to have to go make it.

Talking about agave-- I thought you'd be interested in this article. I use to use agave in most of everything (baking, drinks, food) but I had an awful spike in my sugars and talked with my MD about it and it turns out its not really that good for you. Its not a natural sweetener. Check it out!!

Also, you can buy low - acid coffee-- http://www.puroast.com/ -- I have found that this one tastes pretty good.

:tea:

funny you posted this--

I just had for lunch a curried veggie turkey loaf-- My honey's mom makes it and its delish.

:cigar2:

awww dang that sucks huh? lol It's always something. But I;m good with honey too. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

This is exactly what I am in the mood for!!! I guess I know what I am doing for dinner at my house tonight... breakfast for dinner... its a house favorite.

After the bullying fiasco with my son yesterday, I decided it was time for a piled high ice cream sundae!!! We got some good, all natural strawberry ice cream, and all the fixings to go with it.... Mine ended up with bananas, ice cream, hot fudge, hot caramel, crushed up oreo cookies, whipped cream, and of course, it was topped with cherries!! (with a side of a lactose pill so I could enjoy it and not pay for it too bad later)

On a side note... we make our own caramel, and its the most amazingly simple recipe I have ever seen.

Place a can of sweetened condensed milk in a large pan of water on top of a rack so its not touching the bottom. Keep at a low boil for 6 hours, adding water as needed so the can is always covered... open, and enjoy...

Bullying fiascos are never good - I hope all parties have recovered. Your sundae sounds incredible!
And yes, that method makes the best caramel ever.

Speaking of which, I thought you might like this "experiments in dulce de leche". While it doesn't provide any surprises, I think it's still interesting...

http://theheartoffood.com/experiment...stion-of-time/

Noooooo! That is the best bit! I hope to try and make bagels some day... the recipe tells me that you boil them first before baking. I think that's interesting!

I LOVE oysters. I had a vegetarian friend who used to say she wouldn't eat anything with eyes. I said to her, "so that means you wouldn't eat a potato, but you'd eat an oyster?" She totally didn't get it.

Do you uhh.....need our address again...???

<<lovesssss caramelllll....toffee too...js :)

Nice link Ursy thank you. Interesting how the results were sampled after the dulce de leche solidified. I think that I would want to sample the warm product.

Bagels are fun to make. The boiling water is the key. There are many theories in NY as to how to make a great bagel. What I have found when consulting with the bagel experts is that you can never skip the boiling step and expect to get a real bagel out of the deal. Some people try to do this and the interior is fluffy not dense and chewy. It may look like a bagel but it is a bagel fraud. Also, the oven that the bagel is baked in makes it. My favorite places use older stone ovens. A brick oven would work as well. A wood fire would be ideal but even a gas heated stone oven where the bagels are cooked on the stone, make the crust hard and crispy and that quick shock of heat seals in the now formed (by boiling) strong gluten strands. This is really an art as much as it is a science.

When I was going to school in NYC back in the day (seems like forever ago now) I would stop by H&H bagels and look to see what was coming out of the big stone ovens (looks similar to huge pizza oven) and get one of those bagels while they were hot. I recall stepping outside into the brutally cold winter mornings with a hot bagel and eating it as I walked down the street to school, thinking that this was the best thing ever. All for about .50 cents.

The bagel police aka Mi Amore, believes that she is helping me by deconstructing the bagel. I really don't to have to sneak around for a bagel. Imagine? It feels so wrong, so dishonest. Some guys sneak away to a strip club with their buddies, I am gonna wind up sneaking off for a bagel or slice of pizza with mine ;)

We both love to eat so, since I am the one who has the challenges with gaining weight, she has become carb police. You would never know that she can eat as much as she does because she clearly burns it off. So people are always asking her how she stays so thin and this is one of her tips. Scoop the bagel.




LOL that is truly funny.

I love oysters too. I have been trying to figure out how to prepare them for Christmas. I think that I will do one platter of raw oysters and one platter of baked oysters, 3 different ways. M.A.'s oldest daughter is coming in from college in CA for 2 weeks and she loves food too, so she will enjoy the oysters as well. Now to decided on the 3 preparations. I am thinking Rockefeller for one. Perhaps a twist on it, and get rid of the Pernod. Not my favorite part. Any suggestions?

I have to make do with an electric oven, but at least I have a pizza stone. Love my pizza stone, it's awesome.

I haven't had oysters rockefeller yet, but it sounds really good to me.

I haven't tried this one yet either, but I think it could be good!
Finely grate ½ a thumb-sized piece of peeled ginger and mix with 6 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 1 finely chopped and deseeded red chilli and a little finely sliced fresh coriander. Stir in a teaspoon of sugar until dissolved. Serve in a dish with the oysters.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/s...nger-rice-wine

We went to a persian restaurant a few years ago and had an appetizer of oysters and caviar with sour cream. It wasn't a combination I would have thought of by myself but it was absolutely wonderful!

Jaime Oliver's dipping sauce is similar to one that I make but I do not use coriander and I use soy sauce. I like to serve that one with a cucumber salad that is just thinly shaved cucumbers and sweet onion (I do this on the mandoline) with rice vinegar, sugar, water, salt.. Let the cucumbers sit for a few hours and become soft. Then I shuck the oysters and lay some cucumber slices at the bottom of the shell. Replace the oyster. The oyster and cucumber are eaten together. You can drizzle a little of the sauce on top.

The combo of sour cream and caviar on top of the oyster is very popular in NY. That combo has long been used as a way to showcase good caviar. I like the Tobiko and Masago from Japan very much. I like to work some Nori into a wrap for a small rice cup for hand rolled sushi (think ball of sushi rice, small enough to be pressed into a small cup, then wrap a piece of Nori around that) and top off with a fresh oyster and some orange Tobiko.

Oh dang oysters rockefeller! what a great idea for the weekend. I don't serve them on a shell. I refer just using a ramekin and stuffing a few in there like a little baby casserole. I have some meyer lemons. I prefer more of a lemony taste and use fresh baby spinach.

I have a pizza stone and make a rustic pizza. I'd love to get better at making dough tho. I suck at baking

Sun I;m jealous. NY has the best pizza. Next best place is Florida mainly because of all the New Yorkers!

If you're near St Augustine. Go to Carmelo's Marketplace and Pizzeria. NY Style Brick Oven made with deli fresh meats and cheeses! Mmmm Hoping to get down there around Christmas time so I can enjoy some!

These are by far the best freaking breadsticks on the planet earth and the local restaurant that made them just up and quit one day. No warning, no offers to sell the place. Pinocchios was an icon for the entire town. Alas though someone has gotten ahold of the receipe and if you follow the directions excatly you can't tell the difference. Yummy!


http://students.ou.edu/C/Inger.C.Cob...readsticks.swf

There it is.. a pic of my enchiladas.

I'll be making these again tonight!

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...64938862_n.jpg

What an amazing morning read... Oysters, pizza, bagels, and sweets... I think I have gone to foodie heaven...

You all brought on a series of wonderful pleasant memories for me today. The caramel is something my family has been making for years, but would you believe I never put it together with dulce de leche? How strange. I really want to play with cooking times right now... but I have to finish off the 4 cans in the fridge first... We make it because it is a corn syrup free alternative for my daughters allergies. Thank you for the amazing article Ursy.

There is an oyster farm here, headed out to the ocean. They have fantastic bumper stickers that are all over town... "shuck me, suck me, eat me raw" my mother hates these, and I love them. BUT, what I think of most often when I think of oysters farms is the piles and piles of oyster shells that are by that place. I think its just beautiful to see them all spread over the ground... I will have to take some pictures.

I want pizza. Good pizza. I know that I am really missing out on that. Right after high school I spent some time working at a pizza place. I learned how to toss crusts and its probably still my favorite way to have them done. There is something so different in the texture of a hand tossed crust that makes the pizza perfect to me.

I am going to be daydreaming about food all day long. Thanks everyone!!

These look great!

That is one thing that I plan on doing, on my winter break between classes. Learn how to temper chocolate, and to do it well. I've helped do it in class a couple of times, but I would not say that I am good at it, right now.

Being from NY I have yet to find pizza that's like back home .... I miss home now I'm wanting ny pizza ..thanks guys .. lol

Hey ruff, you are lucky to have a good pizza place over there. Never been to St Augustine but maybe one day. I have family down there.

Hey Okie, wow that is so sad that a well loved place would just close like that. Sorry to hear that. Wonder what happened. Check Dept of Health rating online, its all public info. If by any chance someone became ill from the food that could have caused a sudden shut down.

Nice work ruff! It would be nice if we could have a cooking event at the reunion, I would love to sample whatever it is that you all specialize in.

Hi Jenn,

I had to crack up laughing over that bumper sticker. They are very popular in oyster towns, and I have seen many. Its been a while.

On the oyster farming, are they using natural beds that are part of a bay or inlet, or have they created artificial beds? Just curious. Some really amazing oysters come from WA and they are super pricey by the time they get to the east coast. A little more accessible in CA.

Did you make pizza? I need a pizza stone but am considering just getting terra cotta tiles (untreated) at the hardware store and winging it.

Hi Nadeest,

Practice, practice, practice. Make a lot of truffles. You will find a big difference in the timing and melting point when you go from a commercial kitchen to a home kitchen. Unless you have a similar sized pipe bringing in the gas to the similar gas stove. We can get so much heat so quickly in a commercial stove top.

Let us know your tempering goes!


Hi Kat, Amazing how that works huh? We just read about a food that we love and poof, we want it. Do you by any chance have Trader Joes down there? They have a pizza that is a good sub for a NY pizza. Hand tossed and made for Trader Joes in Italy. For under $5. This is one of the most mind boggling things that I have ever seen. How they do this, I do not know. So while you may not get to NY for pizza you can make a side trip to Rome.

Do you have Xmas Eve (or Day) Food 'traditions'?
 

My world has changed a bit from the kids/family even that it used to be and I'm thinking of starting a few new 'traditions' - no time like the present!

Do you/your family have special foods that really "make" the holidays for you?

Inquiring Kittens wish to know!

:)

Not a foodie tradition, but I started a tradition where there would be a photo ornament frame of me, Kris and Bek on the tree, one for every year we were together. This ended when he transitioned and didn't want any reminders of his "old self" around the house, but damn I love that idea.