Living the dream in PDX Soup in the winter. My mom always made Ox-tail stew around the holidays. My dad stuffs a mean turkey and makes a Hollandaise sauce that is to die for... literally, watch your arteries. One time I made Beef Wellington for New Year's Eve with the help of my mom and my girlfriend. Our stove broke halfway through the preparation and we had to transport everything to a friend's house to finish cooking it. It turned out awesome!!! But this one 'alternate' sauce we made smelled like burnt plastic and chemicals... not sure what happened there. Once I tried to deep-fry some falafel but the oil wasn't hot enough and it all turned to oily mush. I'm currently learning the subtleties of yeast bread. If anyone knows some good yeast wisdom please pass it along. (By telepathy of course, because this site does not allow users to send each other messages for some odd reason)