Reader feedback
Photo courtesy Taylor Price
I love hearing from readers who won in a Fridge Magnet contest. It doesn’t happen often, but today I was lucky enough to hear from TWO readers.
Karen T. says she had a great time at the Wine Trail of Botetourt County Summer Concert Series, especially after the rain cleared up.
Also, I received this photo from Taylor Price, who recently won a Lebanese Cookbook on the blog. She made this baklawa for her dad for Father’s Day, and it was a big hit. Look at that beautiful pan of baklawa! I’m really impressed – aren’t you guys?
Side note: I’ve always heard that baklava, the Greek version of this treat, is made with spiced honey, while baklawa, the Lebanese version, is made with rose water syrup or orange blossom syrup. I’ve never had a problem consuming either of them!
Way to go, Taylor, and if you get a chance, please do share that recipe with us. Hope you enjoy the cookbook for a long time to come. Happy belated Father’s Day to all those gourmand dads out there.
June 20, 2011 - 2:25 PM
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Here is the baklava recipe. Since I didn’t get to the store beforehand, I made the fillo and used 1 tsp. cinnamon instead of orange blossom water. It says to use rose water of you use pistachios in the middle instead of walnuts. You can also use almonds or cashews. It can be baked up to three days ahead of time and stored completely cooled in an air-tight container. Enjoy!
Syrup:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Baklava:
1 (16-oz) pkg 12 by 17-inch fillo dough
3 cups finely ground walnuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp mazaher (orange blossom water)
1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp finely ground unsalted pistachios
To make syrup:
Dissolve sugar in the water in saucepan. Place over high heat uncovered and cook at rolling boil for two minutes. Stir in lemon juice and boil for 10 to 15 seconds more. (Lemon juice keeps syrup from crystallizing.) Remove from heat and cool completely uncovered.
To make baklava:
Bring fillo to room temperature. Combine walnuts and sugar. Then add mazaher or cinnamon and mix well. Divide fillo sheets as follows: one-third for bottom, 4 for middle, rest for top. Brush bottom of 9 by 13 pan with butter. Place one sheet fillo on bottom of pan and brush with butter. Continue layering one-third of sheets on bottom of pan, brushing each one with butter. Middle section: Place one sheet of fillo so half is in pan and other half drapes over one side of pan. Brush with butter. Repeat for other three side of pan. Transfer walnut mixture to pan and use fork to evenly spread up to sides and corners of pan. Fold draped fillo over walnut mixture and brush with butter. Continue layering rest of fillo sheets, brushing each with butter. Use pancake turner to press down evenly over the entire top and brush top with butter. Make 5 cuts lengthwise and 9 diagonal cuts widthwise. Bake baklava in center of 350-degree pre-heated oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until top is golden. Evenly drizzle cooled syrup over top of hot baklava to coat each piece. (Do not pour hot or warm syrup. It will make baklava mushy.) Cool for 4 hours. Re-cut baklava before serving. Garnish with pistachios. Serve at room temperature.
Haggis is very easily reproduced in SW Va. I was refused a post by the stupidly myopic CAPTCHA CODE. I’ll not waste my time trying to reproduce my post, since the Roanoke Times website cares far more about ‘security’ concerning posts on food than they do concerning customer service.
No wonder the RT is suffering from declining subscriptions and is forced to lay off more & more employees.
Keep on insulting customers, RT, and you’ll keep on losing money. Let’s see, it’s about 7:40 pm, this post will probably be approved some time around 9 am tomorrow morning.
Customer service – woo hoo!
If you forget to fill out the CAPTCHA code, it directs you to click the back button and your post should still be there. Sorry you had problems.
Thank you so much, Taylor! That looks great!
Any time you are redirected back to the captcha code, it never accepts the new one. Never. Ever.
It would be a good idea to have the captcha code requirement above the submit button. That was not the problem, though. I filled out the captcha code exactly as listed, and it didn’t accept it. Why? I don’t know. Sometimes it just doesn’t accept the code, even though I copy it exactly as listed. That was my point.
I suppose the main thing is that some errant message wasn’t posted on a food message blog that could have compromised the elite security of the sacred RT web site. After all, such a site is so rife with the potential for unacceptable comments about food that the utmost in security is an absolute necessity.
It’s about 70/30 on the post being deleted vs remaining in place with a missed/wrong CAPTCHA. I’ve taken to having to copy my whole post before submitting it just in case it gets refused and it’s not there when I go back, which has happened more often than not. It has cut down on my frequency of commenting on some blogs substantially, just because I’ve lost too many good posts and grown too frustrated by it to feel like the effort is worthwhile. I really only frequent here, Happy Wag, and Weather Journal regularly. The other blogs on the site I used to visit I’ve almost all but cut out now due to the headaches.
Oh, and Aaron McFarling’s blog, I go there regularly too. I cover my main interests with those: weather, sports, food, and pets. Who needs politics? Food is a much better topic!
Thank you Abdnva and Other John for the feedback. I’ve just sent a long note to our Online Editors detailing your complaints. Computers make me want to smash something on a daily basis so I can understand that this must be super annoying. I’ll do my very best from this end to get the kinks worked out. Thanks for your patience.
Part of my issue is because of my posting style. I don’t write a single line and toss it up there, I tend to post at least a paragraph or two. Then when I take the time to exactly replicate the ridiculous captcha code, yet my post is still rebuffed, it is more than irritating.
All the RT has done is take the online experience and made it cumbersome. I visit lots of websites that are FAR less convoluted than the RT site. It is about as backwards of a site in terms of user friendliness as I know. It’s not like it is bothersome because of ignorance on the part of the site administrators, it is bothersome because of deliberate actions taken by the administrators.
The biggest overriding message I get from this RT website is that the paper doesn’t take it seriously, that the paper somehow thinks that the future lies in actual hard copy print medium. Who needs these motorized vehicles? Horse & buggy is the way to go!
Lindsey, computers are indeed worthy of smashing daily. I have at least one major problem a day with mine at work. One I used to use at home I literally hit with a 2×4 because it kept glitching. Oddly enough though, aside from a rough-sounding fan, it worked perfectly after that for several years…I think I just tenderized it!
Who else is having these problems? I have only heard from a couple of people since we started using the CAPTCHA codes, so I really don’t have a good sense of how many people are put off by them.
All I know is that my blog (and the Shoptimist) in particular gets TONS of spam mail, and to have to sort through all of that junk every day would delay my approval of legitimate comments such as these, or cause me to accidentally overlook a legitimate comment.
It sounds like the issue is the RT not having adequate spam security for the employees, and has nothing at all to do with guests posting. Yet the guests are the ones who are being asked to wade through the security measures. And the guests are the customers, who have lots of options for other web sites that somehow manage to be FAR more user friendly and able to function without requiring their customers to jump through logistical hoops in the desire to post something.
As I said before, the RT appears to be extremely backwards in their customer service process.
I’ve had problems with posting since the CAPTCHA codes began. It’s so irritating, that I don’t bother trying to repost when it decides I’m going to sabotage the site. On the Back Cover, it’s actually told me that I cannot post because I’m a potential hacker (I’m paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact message). Most of the time, I don’t bother trying to comment because it’s a pain in the ____
to take the time to respond and then have it disappear because of the CAPTCHA code.
It’s a repeated problem with me, and it’s not because I can’t remember to post the captcha code, even though it is located in a spot where I have to search for it, and not above the SUBMIT button, as anyone with any sense of customer friendliness would locate it.
I remember to jump through the extra hoop to post, despite the fact that I post on nearly 30 different websites and NONE have to resort to a captcha code for security.
When the Washington Post can figure it out, yet the RT can’t? When ESPN can figure it out, yet the RT can’t? When FIVE other newspaper sites in Virginia can figure it out, yet the RT can’t? When EVERY other website, from Southern Living to Food Network to Discovery to (fill in the blank) can figure it out, but the Roanoke Times can’t?
All that tells me is that I now understand why the Roanoke Times is suffering financially. They don’t get it. How many times do I have to say it? Most customers would just leave, or not post as shown above, yet I hold some absurd hope that the Roanoke Times will eventually wake up and understand how much they’re failing at customer service. I really think it’s a lost cause. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot of excuses, and nothing will change. It hasn’t in the past several months, and it won’t.
Yikes!! Someone is in a mood today!!
Anyway…I’d just like to compliment the RT for having what I consider to be a better than average website. I’m sure some of you may immediately begin to belittle me and my perceived lack of web savvyness but I assure you that is not the case. I just value news over the ability to easily comment on a blog (never had issues withthe CAPTCHA code BTW). Other newspaper sites that I have had occasion to look through, in state and out of state, have been spotty at best. Difficult to navigate, incomplete linkage and not updated in a timely manner. For that matter, WSLS and WDBJ have extremely unfriendly sites…not pleasing to the eye and NOT easy to quickly navigate. I find myself continually coming to the RT website for updates and avoiding other sites completely. And the Fridge Magnet blog is a great bonus!
Ahh, criticizing me is cool, yet any reply back is labeled ‘belittling’. I see how that goes. No problem. The final factor is the lack of response that the Roanoke Times website receives, so whether one is a cheerleader or a critic, the bottom line is the dollar. A quick review of the number of hits per blog on here tells a clear story. Some folks like stagnation, others prefer evolution to a superior product. To each their own…
Abdnva, your readership is important to me and I am always open to constructive feedback from anybody, but you are repeating yourself. Your complaints about the newspaper and this website have been registered and passed on to the appropriate parties here. Jim Ellison, who built this blog and is working on the spam issues, has asked that you email him directly with your concerns at jim.ellison@roanoke.com. Jim is always amenable to feedback and has always attempted to make things right when I have passed along reader comments to him.
Now, if we could get back on the topic of FOOD that would be great. Thanks.
I only repeat myself because the problem persists after many months. Obviously, it is preferred that I only post happy comments about food and keep any complaints out of public view, so I’ll comply with that directive. I know exactly where my opinions stand. I’m not a cheerleader, I’m a realist, so I know where that leaves me. I look forward to lots of future posts about tasty food concepts and people’s cheerful opinions regarding them. I eagerly anticipate the next food related blog…
abdnva, there are a lot of other blogs out there that have CAPTCHA codes. The fact that you don’t read those sites doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
My only problem with the code is that sometimes the placement of lines makes it difficult to make out a letter or number. If you get it wrong, then it comes back with the lines in a different place so you can read it clearly. Why not make it easy to read the first time.
If a CAPTCHA code is all you have to complain about, consider yourself lucky.
I am impressed with the baklava. It looks wonderful!!!
As I said before, unlike some others, I’m not a cheerleader, and thus I come under whispered scrutiny.
I’m just thrilled that I have the opportunity to discuss baklava. That is, when anyone else bothers to actually discuss the food that is so wonderful.
If the captcha code actually allows me to do so, this post will reflect my pure joy of all things baklava. I eagerly await the first response on this thread that actually discusses the recipe for baklava. It will just bring a level of joy to me that is deliciously indescribable.
I can only hope the same applies to you, Debbie, as you’ve been a staunch defender of the captcha code since its’ inception on the RT website. When the post is refused, the code changes, so the placement of the lines is inconsequential.I don’t know how many times I have to repeat myself – oops, not allowed to do that, sorry! A new code is displayed, and after many months of attempts, I have NEVER had a second attempt go through. Oops, I’m not supposed to talk about that, except with Jim Ellison, and out of public sight. Please ignore anything less than cheerful that I’ve posted, since we’re here to talk about food, not ease of use of the website. Everything is beautiful, especially the baklava…
I love baklava, and have found that the honey does not need to be spiced for the baklava to be extremely tasty. I’ve made it with pecans as well as with walnuts, and both are quite good.
The first time I ever had baklava was as a kid, when my family was visiting a little town called Tarpon Springs in Florida. Tarpon Springs has a huge Greek population.
I remember wanting a piece right away when my mother acted like it was so good it was dangerous. She fretted over getting a piece for a few minutes, talking about how rich and decadent it was. Then we got one and shared it next to the car outside the shop. I have loved it ever since!
This recipe looks like it turns out a very large pan. Seems like it would be great for parties or potlucks, or even to make and wrap up a few pieces for little gifts around the holidays.
I miss Zorba’s baklava. The first time I had it I think I dreamed about it for days afterward. Baklava is definitely one of those desserts I enjoy immensely but will never actually make at hope. Down the philo dough path lies madness.
Bailie, doesn’t Zorba still sell it at his Small World Cafe out at Lynchburg Turnpike and US 419? I think he does, although I realize that’s a drive from downtown on a lunch break.
Paul’s on Franklin Road has great baklava! Sorry to enable a deadly craving
If you want to travel to Blacksburg for a Saturday lunch, you can visit Souvlaki, where they have outstanding baklava. In fact all of their Greek offerings are as good as you’ll find, from the gyros (yeeros) to the spanikopita to the souvlaki to the baklava, etc.
Of course, they’re open for lunch & dinner all through the week, but for the Roanokers, it’s a nice Saturday trip – stroll downtown Bburg, then take your gyro & dessert over to the Duckpond for a relaxing lunch. Follow that with a visit to the Hahn Gardens, and you’ve had a relaxing journey.
ab, I find the captcha code a pain, but it’s not that bad. If I type the wrong letter or number and am told it’s wrong, when I am taken back to it, it’s still the same code, just easier to read.
When I type the correct code, exactly as displayed, and it refuses to accept it (about 10% of the time), when I return to it, it is ALWAYS a different code, which is also never accepted. I have tried this as many as five times for the same post, and it ALWAYS produces a new code which is NEVER accepted.
I don’t know how many times I have to reiterate that I am capable of reading and typing a four character code, but that the site does not always accept that code before people stop trying to blame it on my supposed inability to accomplish that task.
But then, I’m only supposed to discuss this with Jim Ellison, so I will continue to only defend my assertion and not make new ones. Interesting that others are welcome to post freely about this, yet…
He probably does still offer it. I knew he had moved but couldn’t remember where the new location is. But now that I know about Paul’s baklava I think I might be in trouble. I’ve already started visiting them about once a week for their salads (so cheap! so tasty!). I might just have to add baklava to that order as well.:)
abdnva, I’ve been to Souvlaki before when I lived in Radford. Their gyros are great! There are a lot of great little restaurants in Blacksburg that I miss that I don’t get to frequent nearly as often since I don’t live there anymore. I always enjoyed Mediterranean cafe (I think it’s called something else now?) and She Sha as well .
He does still sell Zorba’s offerings at the Small World Cafe.
Paul’s is great, and I would agree on Souvlaki, as well.
There are a lot of great restaurants in NRV.
Chris always did a great job with Souvlaki in downtown Bburg, ever since he opened it in the early 80′s. Now that he has turned it over to younger hands, it is still quite good. I’ve been to a lot of Greek restaurants all over the nation, and very, VERY few measure up to the quality & authenticity of Souvlaki. It’s not even close to being ‘fancy’, but it is GOOD, which is all that matters.
Souvlaki is delicious! and Paul’s is not far behind. I don’t get to the NRV as much as I used to, but when I’m there Souvlaki is pretty much at the top of my list. Taylor, that baklawa looks great!