Seeing a lot of new faces! Come introduce yourself..

amandasw

KrisO:

Hello.

The worst thing I ever made was about ten years ago.  I attempted to make Persian food and it was so salty I had to throw it all out.

I kid you not that was what happened the first time I tried it too!  I stuck with it because it's total comfort food to me, but it's not easy!  If you'd like to make another attempt I'd be happy to help

amandasw

I don't really think I'm that much of a newb, but I don't have a blog or anything so people may or may not know me.

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? my very first baking attempt was when my mom took a nap and I wanted to make brownies for her (she had a headache).  I learned the hard way that cocoa powder =/= hot chocolate mix

Best thing you've made recently? I was really happy with dinner the other night: salmon, roasted broccoli and crostini with goat cheese and caramelized onions

New technique or recipe you would like to master? bread!  I finally got a KA mixer and would like to try pretzels and eventually other kinds of bread.  I just haven't had a whole day to set aside for it.

How long have you been married? 2 1/2 years

lisac113

I have been posting lately, so I will join in.

Kevinslady:

I love seeing new people here on the board! Here are some questions to help break the ice...

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? my lasagna.... it was crunchy!

Best thing you've made recently? a great marinated grilled pork tenderloin

New technique or recipe you would like to master? bread

How long have you been married? 3.5 years

 

 

26summer

I'm not new but I want to play.

Whats the worst thing you've ever made?  I made baba ganoush recently and it was awful.

Best thing you've made recently? Vanilla bean cupcakes with fresh blackberry icing

New technique or recipe you would like to master?  I'd love to make croquembouche

How long have you been married?1 year and 9 months

LoveLossHopeRepeat

I'm not new, but I'm an infrequent contributor!

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? There have been so many, including meals I blocked out, but I once made pumpkin cupcakes that just...melted. I have no earthly idea what I did to the poor things, but it was dreadful.

Best thing you've made recently? I tried PW's Steak Bites last night and while I don't think my husband was enamored of them, I wanted to lick my plate.

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I'd like to become more comfortable with yeast doughs.

How long have you been married? 3 1/2 years, roughly. We have an almost-5-year old and one due in September.

BananaBlitz

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? I've definitely made some bombs, just nothing in particular stands out right now!

Best thing you've made recently? I have not made anything spectacular lately due to not feeling well.... possibly homemade gnocchi with a gorgonzola & pancetta cream sauce.

New technique or recipe you would like to master? French food. Something about it intrigues me, and it is less commercial than Italian or Mexican

How long have you been married? 4 years

adelerose

I'm new! I've been lurking for about two weeks and been too shy to say anything- you all seem like experts!  But I love cooking and didn't know this, or your blogs existed...which are amazing, by the way!

 The worst thing I ever made was chili, last week.  I thought it smelled like dog food!  But what's funny, is that I made the same recipe a few months earlier and it came out great...maybe the meat was bad.

 The best thing I've made recently is either lasagna rolls or chicken parm- I make a mean tomato sauce. Oh, or Pasteis de Nata, which are Portuguese custard cups and Dan's favorite dessert.

I'd like to get better at using fresh vegetables in my cooking- my husband doesn't like many veggies besides peas, so I have to hide them or just make a salad for myself. I also need to learn how to cook Portuguese food for my husband.  See above.

We've been married for 3.5 months.

abvernon

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? The first time I made kale chips, I burned the hell out of them. DH or the cats were not too pleased with the smoke alarm going off. I have learned how to make them without burning them...

Best thing you've made recently? I made salisbury steak with mushroom sauce and scalloped potatoes last week and it turned out fabulous. I loved it so much, it is on our menu for next week!

New technique or recipe you would like to master? On my to do list:

tortillas and bread. 

How long have you been married? 4 yrs in September

laptopprancer

MaineWifey:

IrishCoffee7:

RedheadBaker:

I'm not new, but I lurk more than post. 

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? I tried to make a potato gratin years ago, and even though I boiled the potatoes, then baked them in the gratin, they were still raw. 

Best thing you've made recently? I made an awesome, really rich chocolate ice cream over the summer. 

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I'd like to give croissants another try. I set the oven on fire last time (note: used rimmed baking sheets!), and just generally get more comfortable using yeast in general. 

How long have you been married? I was married for four years, but got divorced. Have been in my current relationship for almost 3 years. 

LOL your croissant story reminded me of making bacon-wrapped jalepenos.  I didn't realize just how much fat would render and wind up on the bottom of the oven.  We have a security system including fire monitoring so not only was every alarm in the house going off (on Christmas no less) but the security company kept having to call. 

Really stupid, really embarrassing. But yeah.

 

Dinner isn't ready in my house until the smoke detectors have gone off. 

I made the Thanksgiving turkey for the first time last year and you start it on 450.  When I put the recipe away with my notes I wrote in huge block letters at the top:

REMOVE BATTERIES FROM SMOKE DETECTORS

lol

 

nestinginjapan

SO many new faces! So why the sudden un-lurkdom, everyone?

loveblacklab

I'm not new but thought I'd add mine:

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? Salsa chicken in the crockpot-the chicken was overly dry and just gross.

Best thing you've made recently? I have 2-I made buffalo chicken tacos this weekend and they were AMAZING and I also made a southwestern pizza that was really good.

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I've been working on my baking-I used to be awful but I've gotten better but still find that I rely on making the same things so I want to try expanding my baking.

How long have you been married? 1 year and 5 months

UDscoobychick

MaineWifey:

Dinner isn't ready in my house until the smoke detectors have gone off. 

Between searing meats and roasting vegetables, same here!

Not new, but the questions looked like fun. 

Whats the worst thing you've ever made?  I was attempting to come up with a chili recipe containing chocolate wine for a chili cookoff at work.  I sent BF to the store to pick up ingredients (mistake #1), and he came home with the chocolate raspberry Chocovino stuff instead of a less sweet chocolate wine.  He talked me into using it anyways (mistake #2), saying that I should think of it like Chopped where I have to use up the secret ingredient.  I never throw food away, but a HUGE batch of sickly sweet, weirdly raspberry-tasting chili went in the garbage.  Neither of us could make it through more than a couple bites.  The upside is that when I eventually got the recipe perfected (with the right bottle of wine), I won the chili cookoff!

Best thing you've made recently? Baileys Cream Pie.  I will be blogging it soon.  Without a picture, because it didn't last long enough to get one.

New technique or recipe you would like to master?  The art of presentation, and some of the more artistic techniques that pastry chefs use, like sculpting with fondant/modeling chocolate/marzipan, pulled sugar work, etc.  I'm a fantastic baker, but I'm not a pastry chef.

How long have you been married?  Dating BF for just over a year.

jackpackage

Worst thing-Tie. Most recently was a fairly easy pumpkin loaf recipe. I didn't pay attention to the pan size, so instead of using two pans, I used one big one and it was a disaster. It didn't cook through, leaked all over and the leakage remaining on the baking sheet in the oven looked like, well, turds. The second was a crockpot pork recipe a few years ago. I accidentally used Worchestershire instead of soy sauce, and it was inedible.

Best thing-chicken pot pie. I followed Ina's recipe exactly and it was excellent.

New technique or recipe-Probably bagels. We have a place here in town that's really good, so I feel like it hasn't been necessary, but I still want to attempt them sometimes.

I've been married a little over 3 years.

IrishCoffee7

nestinginjapan:

SO many new faces! So why the sudden un-lurkdom, everyone?

Every time I remember to come over here I wind up posting a few times because I can't help it, I love food.  But I think that I'm starting to feel like I have something to offer instead of just lots to learn..even though I dont' hold a candle to a lot of these ladies.

But I also feel like I'm getting a feel for the board and well, as a Bumpie, the older my kid gets the more dead my home board gets.

Also, FWIW, I'm glad I'm not the only one with smoke-detector stories.  And those bacon-wrapped jalepenos turned out AWESOME.

 

evitawylie

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? Crockpot kalua pork for our anniversary. I followed the recipe to a T, and there was waaaay too much salt. We ended up throwing it out!

Best thing you've made recently?  Dark chocolate ice cream (coming to a future blog post)

New technique or recipe you would like to master?  Homemade cinnamon rolls (and conquering my fear of yeast)

How long have you been married? 6 and a half years

KrisO

amandasw:

KrisO:

Hello.

The worst thing I ever made was about ten years ago.  I attempted to make Persian food and it was so salty I had to throw it all out.

I kid you not that was what happened the first time I tried it too!  I stuck with it because it's total comfort food to me, but it's not easy!  If you'd like to make another attempt I'd be happy to help

I need to try again, because in general, I am a much better cook than ten years ago.  I also recently made (well helped my friend make) lubia palow and I will try that soon on my own.  Any tips or recipes from you, however, are appreciated.

jackpackage

nestinginjapan:

SO many new faces! So why the sudden un-lurkdom, everyone?

Eh, I try to post occasionally, but nesting is a PITA since I don't sit at a computer all day anymore and I hate nesting from my iPad-it takes me forever to write a post! I hate feeling like a creepy lurker when I'm able to nest and this post seemed like an easy one to contribute to, so here I am.

kreeper611

I'm not really new, but I don't post as often as I used to. 

Whats the worst thing you've ever made?  This was something I did NOT like...however DH said it was ok.  He could have been lying...a "baked" potato soup in the crockpot - the flavor was just wrong and the onions never really cooked so they were so strong...I hated it.

Best thing you've made recently?   This brown sugar pork tenderloin from Pinterest - DH has requested it every week since, but I refuse to pay $4/pound for pork tenderloin

New technique or recipe you would like to master?  I want to bake more - but I really want to bake more pies.  I suck at pies, but I never really try to make them.

How long have you been married?  6 years

huber22

I'm not here often, but I'll answer

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? The list is long. I've been cooking for a long time, and I've made some poor things in my time.

Best thing you've made recently? Probably the whoopie pies I made two weeks ago. They went like hotcakes.

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I've been trying to master bread for a long time.

How long have you been married? 2.5 years.

 

 

nestinginjapan

jackpackage:

nestinginjapan:

SO many new faces! So why the sudden un-lurkdom, everyone?

Eh, I try to post occasionally, but nesting is a PITA since I don't sit at a computer all day anymore and I hate nesting from my iPad-it takes me forever to write a post! I hate feeling like a creepy lurker when I'm able to nest and this post seemed like an easy one to contribute to, so here I am.

 

living_insanity

Whats the worst thing you've ever made?  I messed up a pumpkin pie badly once.

 

Best thing you've made recently? DH made the best strawberry habanero BBQ sauce.  We grow our own peppers and make hot sauce. 

 

New technique or recipe you would like to master?  we dont make bread or pasta but I'd like to do that

 

How long have you been married? this will be our 7 year anniversary

abvernon

laptopprancer:

MaineWifey:

IrishCoffee7:

RedheadBaker:

I'm not new, but I lurk more than post. 

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? I tried to make a potato gratin years ago, and even though I boiled the potatoes, then baked them in the gratin, they were still raw. 

Best thing you've made recently? I made an awesome, really rich chocolate ice cream over the summer. 

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I'd like to give croissants another try. I set the oven on fire last time (note: used rimmed baking sheets!), and just generally get more comfortable using yeast in general. 

How long have you been married? I was married for four years, but got divorced. Have been in my current relationship for almost 3 years. 

LOL your croissant story reminded me of making bacon-wrapped jalepenos.  I didn't realize just how much fat would render and wind up on the bottom of the oven.  We have a security system including fire monitoring so not only was every alarm in the house going off (on Christmas no less) but the security company kept having to call. 

Really stupid, really embarrassing. But yeah.

 

Dinner isn't ready in my house until the smoke detectors have gone off. 

I made the Thanksgiving turkey for the first time last year and you start it on 450.  When I put the recipe away with my notes I wrote in huge block letters at the top:

REMOVE BATTERIES FROM SMOKE DETECTORS

lol

 

We still have the batteries out of the smoke detector in our living room b/c since Thanksgiving b/c of this exact same thing.

ForTheLove959

Long-time lurker, here. I have so much to learn and so little to contribute, therefore I don't post much!

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? Beer Cheese Soup. I added too much flour or something. It just turned out very grainy and bitter.

Best thing you've made recently? I made chicken pot pies a few weeks ago that were delicious!

I also made Kevinslady's Athenian Orzo for DH and a friend of his. As I served the food, I mentioned that it was a recipe I was trying out for the first time. A few bites in, DH's friend says "there is no way you have never made this before. It.Is.Awesome!" Made me feel super good!

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I would love to learn better knife skills. I could use a lot of help in the baking department as well. This girl cannot bake a cookie to save her life.

How long have you been married? 2.5 adventure filled years!

 

ms.ricka

I've been lurking for awhile so I thought I'd join in.

Whats the worst thing you've ever made?
Oh geez, I make tons of awful things!  Really and honestly I mess up all the time.  I recently attempted to make some baked french toast...it never seemed to cook all the way through.

Best thing you've made recently?
Baklava!  I used Michael Symon's recipe and it was divine.

New technique or recipe you would like to master?
I would love to use royal icing more.  Right now I'm too intimidated but I keep seeing sugar cookies with royal icing that are so cute.

How long have you been married?
2.5 years.

amandasw

KrisO:

amandasw:

KrisO:

Hello.

The worst thing I ever made was about ten years ago.  I attempted to make Persian food and it was so salty I had to throw it all out.

I kid you not that was what happened the first time I tried it too!  I stuck with it because it's total comfort food to me, but it's not easy!  If you'd like to make another attempt I'd be happy to help

I need to try again, because in general, I am a much better cook than ten years ago.  I also recently made (well helped my friend make) lubia palow and I will try that soon on my own.  Any tips or recipes from you, however, are appreciated.

that sounds good!  This is the book my aunt gave me (and my mom has used for years).  It has great recipes, although I have since learned to ignore the directions about using a ton of salt with the rice (the main polo recipe at the beginning) and just do an amount I would normally use.  I've also been working really hard at making tadiq - sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't!  Just make sure to really rinse the rice off and drain it well.  Glad to know someone else is attempting these recipes too! 

dorothyinAus

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? -- cheeseburger lasagna rolls

Best thing you've made recently? -- this http://thewaytohisheart.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/chicken-lasagna/

New technique or recipe you would like to master? -- pate a choux and frittata

How long have you been married? -- 2 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, and 5 days

h2babe

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? I made a cranberry pork loin in the crockpot from a famous crock pot blog that everyone talked about, and I took a bite and told my hubby that I couldn't eat it. It was too sweet.

Best thing you've made recently? Golden Potato Latkes 

New technique or recipe you would like to master? Macaroons (tried this twice and couldn't get it to have beautiful legs!!)

How long have you been married? It will be 4 yrs this August!

philandclaire

Whats the worst thing you've ever made?

An eggplant pasta bake recipe from foodnetwork sticks out in my mind.

Best thing you've made recently? 

tiramisu cupcakes

New technique or recipe you would like to master?

...hm...

How long have you been married?

almost 6 years

lasirene

I've been around, but I'm a dirty, dirty lurker!

 Whats the worst thing you've ever made? Rice.  Always crunchy no matter what.

Best thing you've made recently? Red chile sauce!  I could eat it all day every day.

New technique or recipe you would like to master? Rice!  & fresh pasta!

How long have you been married? 6 years in August

 

LexiMS

I was more active awhile ago, then things got crazy with moving, but now I have more time to cook again!

Whats the worst thing you've ever made? Last year I made a bourbon scallop recipe, it was awful!  Tasted like straight bourbon, and I was so upset that I ruined $17 a pound scallops.

Best thing you've made recently? I made some peanut butter chocolate chip brownies (from last month's Penzey's catalog).  The ILs were coming over and  DH hid them in the cabinet so he didn't need to share...guess they were good!

New technique or recipe you would like to master? I would love to be better at cake decorating.  I may take the Wilton class.

How long have you been married?

A bit over 1.5 years.