I never pass on a good sushi bar, I make my own ceviche but only with seafood that either we caught or that I know was freshly caught. I prefer that my oysters be just steamed enough to crack open a tiny bit, which means that they will still be raw. Again, they must be fresh from the water. My favorite appetizer is beef carpaccio, which I will often have served as an entree, after a soup and salad. (I enjoyed it earlier this week at a great restaurant in Chattanooga!) I used to like peanut butter and bacon sandwhiches, but I don't think of that as particularly wierd.

We received this wine aerator as a gift. https://m.wine.com/product/vinturi-wine-aerator/120451?warehouses=CA&cid=GoogleBase_CSE_120451_Beta&gclid=CjwKEAjwlq24BRDMjdK7g8mD6BASJABBl8n310IPzm54CwZGYb5jIVpe2Mj-rkHdl7ntD2MlAdvEXRoC3Pnw_wcB&mode=xfercomplete Sometimes I have guests do blind tastings - (1) a glass straight from the bottle, (2) a glass poured through the aerator. They prefer (2) about 2/3 of the time. 1/3 of the time they can't tell the difference - but those guests might not be able to tell a California wine from a French wine, so we won't give their opinions too much weight. No one, so far, has preferred (1). If you decant into a carafe then the aerator is unnecessary. I picked this laser-sighted infrared thermometer up on a whim, because I was in Home Depot and it was only $16. http://m.homedepot.com/p/PRO-SERIES-Non-Contact-Infrared-Thermometer-with-Laser-Sighting-12-1-Spot-THERMNC/204262824 Along with enabling all sorts of geeky investigations - have you ever wondered how much hotter your ceiling is than your floor? do cats have the same internal temperature as humans? when your spouse is "steaming mad", is she really? - it has certain cooking uses. Measuring the temperature of a pan. Or of spitting oil that is too scary hot to dip your probe thermometer in. This one is as cheap as they come, and no doubt there are advantages to the expensive models, but save your money and get the wine aerator too. Differences in the emissivity of surfaces limits the accuracy of infrared temperature measurement anyway.

I've been making this soup several times every Summer for at least the past 10 years. My favorite way to serve it is on warm Summer evenings, along side my chicken salad sandwiches on croissants. Chilled Summer Zucchini Soup Ingredients: 6 cups chicken broth 4 medium zucchini, peeled and chopped 1 large green pepper, seeds discarded and then roughly chopped 1/2 cup chopped white or yellow onion 2 TBS fresh parsley 1 cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt) salt and pepper to taste 1/2 TBS fresh dill, chopped More sour cream to dollop on top of soup before serving, if desired. Directions: In a large pot, add broth, zucchini, green bell pepper, onion and parsley. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Cool to room temp. In a blender or food processor, puree one quarter of the soup mixture at a time. Do NOT attempt to do this while soup is still hot! Whisk in sour cream until smooth and well-blended. Adjust seasonings. Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight. For best results, I like to serve this soup in chilled, individual soup bowls, topping each with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt and a sprinkling of chopped fresh dill.

I bought the pull and chop as a present and tried it- now I have to get one myself!! Thanks beachem! I don't know if it is kosher to post here but I saw that bargainhunter above posted about how useful the Thermomix was. I am now selling my older model Euro Thermomix TM21 including the 240V transformer (to allow it to work on North American 120V circuits) on our craigslist if someone wants to try out the Thermomix abilities at a bargain price and is driving distance to Baltimore. It works well and I am including several Thermomix cookbooks. You can pm me if you want to see the listing. I also have a small electric egg cooker that I no longer use since I get consistently perfect hard boiled eggs on my induction cooktop so any gardenwebber is welcome to that if they can pick it up. Also several slow cookers that I don't use since I got my instant pot- just pm me. Would be great if someone could arrange a gardenweb kitchen gadgets or equipment swap /giveaway date some time!