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December 26th, 2009
cooking
[xx_azure_sky_xx]
 | 05:22 am - Hot sandwiches?
*shruffle* Hello, all, long time lurker, first time poster.
Anyways! I've had the great fortune of a sandwich press being given to me this Christmas. I've wanted one for a while, but now that I have it, I realize...I don't actually know good hot sandwich recipes. So...I turn to you guys. Would you guys care to share with me your favorite hot sandwich recipes, so I may try them? c= I'm not too finicky when it comes to filling, although I don't like large amounts of onion. But that's about it. XD
thank you in advance, and I hope you all are having a great holiday. c= ♥
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cooking
[layers_of_eli]
 | 12:18 pm
Daring Bakers held a vols-au-vent challenge awhile back wherein we made puff pastry from scratch. We only used a portion of the dough for the challenge, and the rest has been sitting in my freezer since then. It was such a task to make it and it's quite delectable, so I want to use it for something special. I think I've decided on Beef Wellington (I know Daring Cooks just made this for a challenge, which gave me the idea!). Anyone tried a recipe and loved it?
Also, on a separate topic, anyone know if one can get foie gras that comes from happy, non-force-fed animals? Is that something that's available? I've always wanted to try it, but hear unpleasant things about the acquisition of it. Thanks!
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cooking
[gemfyre]
 | 02:02 pm - Chianti substitute?
Well this Christmas was one for cookbooks - I got three!
One of them has a chicken caccitore recipe that looks easy and I intend to make it in a few days time.
The recipe calls for half a bottle of chianti. Now we don't have any chianti in the house and don't really want to buy some. We have various reds and whites available though. What would be the best substitute? And also, how much, volume wise, is half a bottle of chianti?
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cooking
[ekmahal]
 | 12:06 pm - Christmas down under!
Christmas here was a glorious 25 (celsius!), nice and warm and gloriously sunny. In fact, Christmas dinner this year was low key - steaks on the barbecue and salads. We had no family around, so we didn't bother making a huge meal.
I did make an effort with the cake.
( details under the cut! )
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December 25th, 2009
moviebuffs
[erdbeermund]
 | 09:19 pm - Best of the Decade, Netflix Edition
I recently made that list of the movies I thought of as the best of the decade, as you may have noticed.
The list ended up being around 150 movies.
These are the ones available for instant viewing on Netflix, fyi.
( This is totally an exercise in self-indulgence but people are always asking if there are any good movies on Netflix instant viewing... The list of 45 movies is below the cut. )
Current Mood: self-indulgent
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December 24th, 2009
cooking
[starting_0ver]
 | 11:32 pm - Christmas baking
Kolache
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies & Peppermint Bark
Peanut Butter Blossoms, Choc Chip & Cranberry, White Choc Chip.
( Recipes )
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cooking
[kitchenbeard]
 | 03:37 pm - Brownies
Recipe from the Tartine Bakery cookbook. Also found here
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cooking
[jeisenne]
 | 02:51 pm - White rice
White rice is a staple around the world, yet I find a surprising amount of people who do not know how to make white rice without using measuring cups or elaborate and expensive rice cookers.
My Dad taught me how to make rice when I was about 6 or 7 using the finger method. Dad said that no matter how much rice you use, or what kind you use, this method would always result in perfect steamed rice every single time.
He's absolutely right.
I've made calrose rice, long grain rice, jasmine rice, basmati, short grain -- you name it, I've made it, and if all it needs is to be steamed then this method is perfect. If you're trying to make risotto, jambalaya, or arroz caldo, then of course that's a different cooking method for rice and this won't apply.
( Keep reading... )
Copied from my new kitchen adventures at: http://saraptalaga.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-make-white-rice-using-finger.html
Happy Holidays to all! I wish you peace, love, joy, and fantastic food!
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moviebuffs
[ladyknight1991]
 | 04:44 pm - Because i am such a slave to trends...
well everybody else is doing this so i thought i might make my own contribution about who i think will get nominated/win the Oscars. this is partly what i want and partly what i think will happen
and i am only doing the categories that i find interesting.
( my guessing at what the Oscars will do and so on )
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cooking
[octoberland]
 | 12:36 pm - Left Over Cherry Pie Filling
I have half a 20oz can of cherry pie filling and no idea what to do with it. Most of the recipes I have found call for a full can.
Help?
Current Location: home
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/mely/lemonfaces/split.gif) curious
Current Music: The Pretenders
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cooking
[in_thegreenroom]
 | 10:06 am - Cheese drop biscuit HELP
I have been instructed to make my delicious 3-cheese buttermilk drop biscuits for Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately I'm out of town at my parents' and I don't have the cookbook it comes from, Bon Appetit's "Fast Easy Fresh."
I've searched extensively online and this is a last-ditch effort to find out if anyone out there has the recipe! I may have to jaunt down to the bookstore to copy it down if I can't find it before that. I've found some similar alternatives, but I really want to find the actual recipe to avoid any surprises. Can anyone help?
I know they are buttermilk drop biscuits and contain a combination of parmesan, cheddar, and monterey jack cheeses.
Thank you so much and Merry Christmas!
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cooking
[waterphaerie]
 | 04:08 pm - Scottish Tablet?
Hi everyone,
just wondering if anyone has the recipe for Scottish Tablet (it's kindof like caramel fudge).
Thanks!!!
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cooking
[kireic]
 | 11:05 pm - Urgent gingerbread question!
Help! I'm in the middle of making my gingerbread cookie dough, and it's really dry, even though I haven't added all the flour (only about half!).
The general recipe components go like this:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
7 cups flour
1/2 cup water
There's obviously some spices, salt, and leavening in there, but in much smaller quantities than those main ingredients. It seems to me there's too much flour, because after only adding 3 1/2 cups, even with most of the water, the dough is very dry and stiff, and my mixer can hardly handle it! I can't imagine adding much more flour to this.
Does this seem odd to anyone else here? Should I stick with the 3 1/2 I've added and stop there? HELP!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/mely/lemonfaces/concern.gif) anxious
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moviebuffs
[fabfunk]
 | 11:10 pm - The 100 Best Movies Of The Decade
No descriptions, I figure if you wanna discuss something you can do it in the comments. I left out documentaries, I kinda view them as a separate entity from films. Dunno why. Anyway, filled the blanks with some pics and quotes and minor thoughts here and there.
( Cut for YAY LISTS )
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cooking
[__sail_awayx]
 | 10:21 pm - soupy custard
I decided to make this (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/red-berry-trifle-recipe/index.html) and all went well until it came to making the cognac cream. It said it would thicken in 5-7 minutes, and because it was thicker by 7 minutes I assumed it was thick enough. Fast forward to two hours later and it isnt thick at all, just really soupy. My trifle now just looks like a custard, which I'm just going to throw some whipped cream on and hope it just tastes good.
What did I do wrong? :(
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moviebuffs
[heycurtis]
 | 09:29 pm - my FAVORITE male performances of the decade, thus far.
so I got chewed out earlier for saying that certain films were the best. I mean honestly, I still stick to my opinion. these however are my favorites (and with performances for me, at least, favorite means best.) films as a whole I believe can be of the highest quality and yet... I just do not like them. I hope this is understandable? well anyway, my favorite acting of the decade (agree? disagree?):
10. Frank Langella -- Richard Nixon (Frost/Nixon)
9. Eddie Murphy -- James "Thunder" Early (Dreamgirls)
8. Sean Penn -- Harvey Milk (Milk)
7. Daniel Day-Lewis -- Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood)
6. Sean Penn -- Jimmy Markum (Mystic River)
5. Leonardo DiCaprio -- Howard Hughes (The Aviator)
a biopic can provide some of the most difficult material for actors around. not only do you have to equivocate that same passion for all other roles and create this character, but you have to emanate another being. what separates DiCaprio's performance from many others was that we got to see a profound change in the character. an obvious and traceable change. maybe I am a sucker for mental breakdown (see the next entry), but the performance offered here was mesmerizing and the fact that it was based on true events makes it even more devastating.
4. Michael Shannon -- John Givings (Revolutionary Road)
what a flat-out snub at the Golden Globe Awards last year. Tom Cruise? in Tropic Thunder?! seeing as though they were the only award show who were willing to extend a lot of thanks to Revolutionary Road as a whole film, I was flabbergasted that this jaw-dropping (though concise) performance was left out. the Oscars did pick it up for their show, but Ledger's performance was not to be matched. Shannon, however, had a quality all his own. it was mentally ill. to perfection. it was a complex character, yet one that was hardly in the film at all (we learned with 2007's nomination of Ruby Dee that that did not matter.) he was chilling and honestly inspiring for an actor. I will not say he deserved the award, but perhaps any other year he did (well maybe other than the year before that too....)
3. Javier Bardem -- Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
what a decade for haunting roles. Bardem's performance as this deranged serial killer is so built up and suspenseful, the entire audience is squirming in their seats. Bardem portrays the role so well, in fact, I lost track of who I was rooting for because I only wanted to see that devilish mastermind. nightmares ensued for weeks after seeing this chilling and completely believable character murder and murder and then promptly--well, you know the ending. perhaps no other performance thus far appearing on the list have seared into my brain like this one, but with good reason. Bardem is simply brilliant.
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman -- Truman Capote (Capote)
I was largely unaware of Hoffman before this film. I think a lot of people were. sure, we had all seen him circa The Talented Mr. Ripley or Almost Famous, but when this movie was released the first thought on my mind was: how did they revive Truman Capote from death? I would definitely vouch for the statement that this performance was the best male biopic performance of the decade, though DiCaprio, Langella and Penn are hard to shake. what those three don't have is that extra spark. that little something that actors, when watching the film, will give their life to figure out. it is this charisma that Hoffman brings to his films that sets him apart (his performance in Doubt was very close to making the list, but fell short).
1. Heath Ledger -- The Joker (The Dark Knight)
perhaps this performance has become one of the most discussed performances in at least the past decade (could I even say ever... I might.) I still remember the searingly cold chills that ran up and down my arms as we watched The Joker unveil himself. every little quirk was to a tee. he was graceful in an utterly ungraceful role. Ledger's death, which was subject to some controversy, did not win him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar last year, because I remember walking out of the theater thinking to myself, wow, that man just won himself a posthumous Academy Award... hands down. it was dark. it was delirious. it was, above all, mesmerizing and frighteningly believable. maybe the film did not get the widespread recognition it deserved (referring to its not being nominated at most major award shows) but this performance is one for the ages, and, well, the decade.
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moviebuffs
[erdbeermund]
| 07:03 pm - Preliminary Best of the Decade List
There Will Be Blood
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Mulholland Drive
All About My Mother
The Saddest Music in the World
Let the Right One In
I've Loved You So Long
8 Women
Shortbus
Waltz with Bashir
Inland Empire
Doubt
Barbarian Invasions
Lost in Translation -or- Marie Antoinette
Away from Her
Black Book
Dogville -or- Manderlay
The Gleaners & I
Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers, if I pick just one)
United 93
Raging Sun, Raging Sky
I don't know if I'd even agree with this list in an hour, let alone in a week. There are a few movies on all the lists that I haven't gotten round to seeing yet, like Moolade, Tropical Malady, Caché, or The Piano Teacher, so maybe I haven't even seen my favorite movie of the decade yet.
This is my brainstorming list, which also might double as a top one hundred list in alphabetical order.
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moviebuffs
[wellslud]
 | 10:26 am - Crap Lindsay Lohan movie - JUST MY LUCK
Is there any other kind? Well, yes, Mean Girls and A Prairie Home Companion were good films. This one got my interest, though, because it was an early role for Chris Pine, he who had such a successful year this year with Star Trek and Bottle Shock. And there are some out there that may say this film wasn’t made with my demographic in mind. Well, maybe, but then I wish they’d just promote these films in a direct manner so I can see it’s not my type of film – something like “This film is only for those who have never seen a movie before, and therefore won’t mind that we put no effort into the script and just went with the central idea (luck swap) and made it up as we went along, even though we don’t have enough talent to do that (we just make the obvious jokes, and so you won’t be caught unawares with a funny situation, we’ll telegraph it well in advance). Oh, and it’s for people who are unashamed celebrity followers, so we cast LiLo to automatically get an audience. And we also made sure it’s full of consumerist extravagance, and revolves around the selfish “follow your own dreams regardless of others” philosophy.” Anyway, because I’m getting older and don’t want to waste my lessening years on this Earth, I stopped watching after 40 minutes.
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