Thats a great idea Kylie, and thanks for the bump. I'm still making my way thru this thread (I know, I know - I'm slow) offering up what I have left, so don't give up hope on getting some of those wishes or maybe an unexpected surprise from someone. But gosh, theres no way to top those SSanta boxes. Un-be-lievable! I have had the most fun reading those threads and actually got some great ideas for Christmas gifts. And those of you just beginning to cut back your bruggies, if you have something to share, make someone's day by trying to fullfil a wish or two. Its sort of like the "Give a Kid a Coat" campaign, except it's more like "Give a Pal a Cutting" or "Give an Addict a Fix" LOL. So everybody update your wish list or post again and Kylie I've noticed, you haven't posted any of your wishes.

Hey Mabel and dcarch. DH doesn't use a recipe as such either. He reads a lot and absorbs ideas and then closes the book and utilizes what he feels will work. He is a master of sauces. He rarely uses anything from a bottle or jar. One ingredient that is necessary is black vinegar. We have about 5 kinds ! They all taste differently and add a note to a dish that is not possible to duplicate. Another ingredient for his spicy dishes are the tiny pickled Szechuan red chilies. They are incredibly good and add a distinct piquancy to a dish. He also uses a tiny fermented black bean that he soaks and minces with cabbage and pork..yum...my very favorite dish. Another is pickled radish wonderful with pork also. A couple things he always does is use peanut oil as it won't burn and you must use enough to get the appropriate smoky taste and then you can drain it off in a sieve after cooking but before combining with the other ingredients. Also having the wok as hot as you can possibly get it. One thing he has done is to cook over hot charcoal in the grill. He sets the wok on the bed of coals. We have never had such perfect stir fry as when he does that :) Garlic and ginger are 2 things that the cookbooks always do wrong. They over cook them and also too hot so they burn/char and have a bitter flavor. He adds 1/2 of these and just barely fries them..only to bring out the fragrance. Then the other half goes in the dish with the sauce and is heated through/finished and thus not over-cooked. This way you get much more nuance. Key to many dishes is the stock. Our son is a professional chef . He has what he calls wonderfulness ! We have adopted this and find that it adds so much to a dish and you only need a few spoonful. We only make chicken but you can do it with any meat/poultry. He has duck and lamb and beef in his freezer. Roast a chicken and take all the bones and skin after serving and place them in a pot with onion/celery/carrot . Cook down for about 1 hr. Don't need to do it very long. Don't put in salt until ready to use as it can get to concentrated and ruins a dish. Now is the important part. Every single time you roast a chicken and are ready to cook the bones/skin...put them in your already prepared wonderfulness that you have stored in the freezer. Every time you reuse it the added richness makes it more wonderful !! DS has some beef stock that has been going for about 5 years. It is like a sourdough starter. You never use it all and you always add to it. You add more water to it so the bones are covered and add more vegetables. Let it cook one hour...press down hard on the bones/vegetables and then simmer the broth some more to condense. Filter it a couple times through cheesecloth and you are good to go. As for books we have a couple that he gets more ideas from these past few years than any others. Fuchsia Dunlop's books...Revolutionary Chinese and Land of Plenty also Yan Kit's Classic Chinese .Delf's Good Food of Szechwan also. As to our exhaust set up. It is fantastic. I researched for a year. It is a Tradewind liner in a custom wood surround. It is mounted 33" from the countertop. It is the exact width of the cooking area....12" fryer+6" space+36" gas Caldera cooktop. = 54". Due to the efficiency of the hood and remote 1400 cfm blower we didn't need to have the liner extend beyond the area. We use it for everything turning it on 5-10 min before we start to cook and letting it run the same after to make sure all the HOGS get out :) Heat, grease,steam and odors. You can't even tell we have cooked anything when we are done. It is amazing. We have an 1890 home so didn't need any makeup air. In fact we close the doors coming into the kitchen and make sure the windows are closed or the door shut so that it draws even better. It is a miracle of ventilation. Our open shelves/wood hood and wall are always clean. After over 6 years I never ever have to scrub anything. Only DH's splashes ! He loves to fling things into the wok and flash his spoon :) I am leaving for 3 months to bicycle across Canada with a friend. When I get back hopefully I will have time to get over to this forum. I used to come here years ago but can't keep up with so much else going on. My biggest thing is Wild Yeast baking of sourdough breads. My starter that I grew is over 3 years old I make breads once a week. I would love to share the ins/outs of that with anyone that is interested. Hope this gets you off to a good start. Dcarch...I looked at your pics ..wowza !! You will be interested I am sure in my DS's restaurant. It is The Red Hen in Lexington VA. He is the new Trailblazer 2012 Small Town Chef for Cooking Light Magazine. He will have a big spread featuring his food in the November issue. He was also just featured in a beautiful pictorial interview in Edible Blue Ridge. His big thing is charcuterie. He is really getting a lot of attention. There is one typo/mis-quote in the article...on ph...otherwise it is all accurate. Hope you enjoy. c Here is a link that might be useful: Charcuterie

"They've probably become more commonplace, but 5 yrs. ago my GC had never installed a bank of windows that came right down to the countertop behind the kitchen sink." My GC nearly dropped dead when I suggested this is what I really wanted....he said there was no way it could be done without leaking and how could they warranty that..... That was pretty early on during the build. Had I known how I was going to be as we got further into it, I"m pretty sure I would have flipped out at that point and gotten my window the way I wanted it. At least I did learn to push back. That was the same day he measured my husband's width and told him he didn't understand why the door to the mudroom (main entry from the garage) couldn't be the 24" one that they installed by accident...he tried to convince my dh that it would work... "do you have trouble fitting through a restroom door?" My dh told him he isn't usually carrying bags of groceries into the bathroom.....they ripped it out and started again. I mean, really people.

Hey Lambsear! Nice to read a bit about you. I'm the wife of ronf and we live in SE Minnesota out in the country. I'm originally from Texas, moved away when I was 35 to New Mexico, lived there 10 years and now in MN for 10 years. We have 5 kids and 2 grandbabies. We also have a dog, Lucy, a cat, Buddy, 4 ducks and 1 chicken! We love the outdoors too but not when it gets too cold, which will be happening any time now (grrrrrrrr!). What a sweet puppy you have!