Janet, what a story and what a test of tact that must have been. Ann, I love shortbread. If anyone wants to start a fan club, I'm there. I didn't have time earlier to post it, but has anyone tried Regan Daley's Butter-Toffee Crunch Shortbread from "In the Sweet Kitchen"? It is the most incredibly rich brown sugar shortbread variation. I don't make it often; I have to be sure I have lots of recipients lined up first so I don't keep too much in the house. It's deadly to diets. BUTTER-TOFFEE CRUNCH SHORTBREAD Makes 50 3-inch fingers "Awfully impressive, and dead easy, this is just a good basic brown sugar Scottish shortbread recipe, enhanced with butterscotch and toffee bits. As with any shortbread, the quality and freshness of the butter and flour make all the difference in the flavour and texture. Use the best, and make sure they're fresh. This makes a large batch, perfect for giving, and the shortbread keeps very well in airtight tins. If desired, the recipe can be reduced by half." 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup rice flour, or substitute cornstarch if rice flour is unavailable 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups (3/4 pound) fresh unsalted butter, at room temperature 6 tablespoons fruit sugar or superfine sugar 6 tablespoons tightly packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup miniature butterscotch chips 2/3 cups English toffee pieces for baking such as Skor Bits (available in the baking sections of most supermarkets) Additional unsalted butter for greasing pan Preheat the oven to 325° F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13-inch metal baking pan. Line the bottom and up the two long sides with a piece of parchment paper. Leave about a 1-inch overhang over the sides to make removing the cooled shortbread easier. Sift the all-purpose and rice flour together with the salt and set aside. In the bowl of an electric or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, beat the butter until very smooth. Gradually add the sugars and cream the mixture until it is very light and fluffy. If using a mixer, transfer the creamed butter-sugar mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, fully incorporating each addition before adding the next. Use your fingers to knead the final portion of dry ingredients into the dough, keeping your palms off the dough as much as possible, so the warmth doesn't turn the butter oily. When the last of the flour is fully blended, add the butterscotch and toffee bits and knead them into the dough until they are evenly distributed. I should warn you at this point, that this dough now smells better than any cookie dough you have ever experienced. Restrain yourself; you will do yourself no favors devouring the entire mess at this point, and the baking doesn't take that long. Press the dough firmly into the prepared pan and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth the surface. Prick the dough all over with a fork and set the pan in the center of the oven. Bake the shortbread for about 45 minutes, then prick the dough again to release any trapped air. Return the pan to the oven for another 15 to 30 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown, and the center feels just firm to the touch. The shortbread will set to a very firm biscuit as it cooks, so it must be cut while it is still warm. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 7 to 8 minutes, then run a sharp paring knife around the outside of the dough to loosen the edges. Make two long cuts in the shortbread, dividing it evenly into three rectangles, each cut beginning and ending at a short side of the pan. Cutting from long side to long side, cut the rectangles into about ¾-inch wide fingers, wiping the knife on a clean towel between each cut, as it gets sticky and can pull and tear the cooling shortbread. Leave the fingers to cool completely in the pan, then re-cut and transfer them to airtight tins. This shortbread can be frozen before or after it is baked. Freeze the dough pressed into the prepared pan, well wrapped with plastic and aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, without disturbing the wrapping, and bake directly from the refrigerator. The baking time may have to be increased by a few minutes to compensate for the chilled dough. Freeze the cooled fingers in airtight bags or containers, layering between sheets of waxed or parchment paper and wrapping the whole tin or container with aluminum foil. Thaw the entire package, without removing the wrapping, at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. I haven't previously frozen the dough, but I do intend to do that this year. Very handy for the holidays. Carol

No big plans for us this weekend. Will has a buddy sleeping over....so he'll be tired tomorrow.I need to bake some cookies for a bake sale, and get out some more holiday decorations, for outside, I guess...and put in my kitchen storm windows....well, I guess I do have plans - LOL. Oh tonight I went to a friend's house and made a couple of pendants of dichroic glass for my sister for Christmas...my friend has the kiln and is really into it and it was really fun! So, Alexa, I was intrigued by your metal working and would that tie in? I never thought there would be a connection til I saw the post by doucanoe...on conversations. But I "created a couple things - she's awesome about letting you do that and if they turn out, I will post pics! Sharon, the wool dyeing sounds interesting...I have a friend who is an alpaca farmer and is kind of into dyeing. Good luck to Clive on that garage! Give him a hug from me. Trixie, I hope your team WON! Claudia, I hope you got caught up on everything....ROFL at the urinal comment.... Diane, enjoy your quiet weekend...I kind of know how you feel, but mine stretches out longer with any kind of football you can imagine on tv...he's GOT to watch it all...ugh. Donna, I hope the weekend is more fun than you anticipate - and I am also ready for Christmas! The weather has just not caught up yet....I think mother nature is feeling bad for not giving us any kind of summer at all and is giving us an extended fall.....funny thing is, I LIKE winter at this time of year... just not in March and April or MAY! yeschef - welcome to the TGIF thread! I LIKE the idea of a stomach stretching party...and I haven't checked out all the threads lately...what are ritz patty poos? Alexa - I'm intrigued with the metalworking class... and I hope you have a fantastic dinner at the bistro. David, I agree, I love this thread. And I love that you've had so much company that you need to catch up on laundry! We've had mild weather well into the fall, too and I'm going to be sooooo happy in the spring when I don't have any dead piles of leaves or undeadheaded flowers that were caught by that first snowfall and that I never got cleaned up....ok...does that make sense? LOL. wow, Gina, busy times! Which dessert did you decide on? Hey Nancy - hope your weekend turns out to be FUN! Enjoy that time off. Linda, yep, it amazes me too that we typically get our tree the Sat after Thanksgiving....the weather is just not making me feel like Christmas....but it'd be great to enjoy nice weather into Dec then have some white stuff for Christmas???? stacy

What a memory you have mercurygirl! “Break out the sherbet dishes and fill them with custard” Oh, if only, bragu... if I only I had a kitchen! This will be the first year I’ve not made DH’s beloved cheesecake. In the interest of ‘adding’… I see above that I abhorred chocolate pot de crème due to the grainy texture, but since then I’ve acquired a sous vide, and as Islay wisely said, no better (or easier) way to make the perfect pots de crème, even non-grainy chocolate. Here’s my recipe: Sous Vide Chocolate Pots De Crème Ingredients: 4 cups of heavy cream 1, 9.7-ounce bar of Schaeffer bittersweet chocolate (or your favorite brand) 3 t espresso powder, divided 6 T sugar plus 1 t sugar, divided 2 pinches kosher salt 8 egg yolks Directions: Heat the cream in a pan over medium-high heat until the cream around the edges of the pan just starts to bubble. Do not let the cream come to a full boil. Remove from heat. While the cream is heating, coarsely chop the chocolate. While the cream is hot, whisk in the chopped chocolate, espresso powder, sugar, kosher salt. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks one or two at a time, whisking completely after each addition. Pour the mixture into a large measuring cup suitable for pouring. Pour 6 ounces of the cream and chocolate mixture into 8, 8-ounce mason jars, leaving about 3/4" of air space in each jar. Do not fill to the top. Screw the lids on using your fingers only until the lids are finger tight. Do not overly tighten as air needs to escape from the jars during the cooking process. Fill a large pot or a 12-quart storage container with room temperature water and secure your sous vide circulator onto the vessel. Place the jars in the pot or container. Turn the sous vide circulator on and set it to 176 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water reaches 176 degrees set the timer for one hour. The water should cover the lidded jars. When the timer goes off, turn off the circulator and remove the mason jars from the circulator with a pair of tongs. Set the jars on a dry kitchen towel and allow to cool for a few minutes and then store in the fridge for at least two hours and up to several days. Top with sweetened crème fraiche, fresh raspberries, shaved chocolate, chopped toasted almonds, or best of all, serve plain : ) I hope others will chime in and add some of their recipes to this!

As I understand it, there are extra sensors (my words) who have more taste buds, so their perceptions are amplified. That sounds like what's up with the soy sauce, et al..like having sensitive ears and going to a concert. Then there are three types of supertasters who have specific genes that enable them to perceive specific compounds. You can have zero, one, two or three of these genes, and you can have Zero, one or two alleles of each one. If you have one, you can perceive the compound but it doesn't bug you. If you have two alleles, you probably think the compound is truly revolting. On the first two tests, I was all take it away, that's disgusting, it burns. The third compound is perceived differently, sweet, sour, etc., depending on the person, and it's whether it can be sensed at all that's important. On that, I tasted sour, as it moved into eew bitter bad awful. I tried to do the tastebud test, but the dye wouldn't stick to my tongue! Annie, I like dark chocolate, too, but it's a challenging flavor. Coffee is also challenging. I don't seek it out, I don't choose it, but I don't spit it out. I never get anywhere with Brussels sprouts because I can't chew them. The sulphur is so overwhelming, I have to spit them out. I'm sensitive to the perception of sulphur. I don't know if that's genetic or idiosyncratic. I had to give up some really good multivitamins—they'd been masking the sulphur of the B vitamins with artificial vanilla. They took it out without a replacement so they could claim all natural. Couldn't choke 'em down! And I rarely cook cauliflower because of the sulphur smell. But I don't think that's part of the supertaster thing. I do think, however, that we learn to deal with challenging things. I don't know if I have the cilantro gene or not. I think my father did, so perhaps I have one copy of it. I don't like it and tend to avoid it, but having grown up on Mexican food, it just tastes Mexican to me, not soapy, and I can accept it in small quantities. But, it's possible I have two alleles of the gene and just have been inoculated by exposure.