273 replies to this topic

[Darienne]

I am quite curious about this candy floss machine. (Haven't had cotton candy in over 50 years.) What brand is it? Is it a home use machine? What are your plans for it? Can I come to your house and play with it? What else does it do? What does it weigh? Etc. Please.

[Kerry Beal]

It's a Waring Pro - home use - weighs next to nothing. Really easy to use.

[Shelby]

Ok, I'm soooo enjoying this. How cool to be able to just cook what and when ever you want to.

I'm going to ask a reaaaaallllly dumb question, so please, don't hold it against me if the answer is glaringly obvious:

I love the clear, round ice cubes. I really do. But, is the point just to make totally clear, round cubes or is there another reason I'm not seeing?

[Kerry Beal]

Ok, I'm soooo enjoying this. How cool to be able to just cook what and when ever you want to.

I'm going to ask a reaaaaallllly dumb question, so please, don't hold it against me if the answer is glaringly obvious:

I love the clear, round ice cubes. I really do. But, is the point just to make totally clear, round cubes or is there another reason I'm not seeing?

Fair to say the point is to make totally clear ice - it's the holy grail of ice it seems.

Crystal Clear Ice Blocks

The Ice Topic

DIY Ice Ball Maker

[Kerry Beal]

I have a crisis up here - I know I've got a probe thermometer here somewhere and I need it to make some candy to use to make a weird flavour of cotton candy - I've searched all my bins and I can't seem to find one! Going to have to trash the joint in the morning.

And I haven't decided what I'm going to bake for work tomorrow. I'm leaning towards Butterscotch Squares which are quick and dirty and always popular. I think I've gone off the Milk Bar Cookbook a bit as I don't think I can trust the results.

[heidih]

Butterscotch squares sound good to me.

Breathe - you know it is there - my kid used to "trash the joint", exclaim that it had vanished and I would walk in and see it in a few secs. Let Anna be your eyes as well. Good luck.

[Kerry Beal]

Butterscotch squares sound good to me.

Breathe - you know it is there - my kid used to "trash the joint", exclaim that it had vanished and I would walk in and see it in a few secs. Let Anna be your eyes as well. Good luck.

Funny you should say that - figured when Anna's awake I'll ask her if she's seen it - and she'll point me right to it. That's how the rolled oats got found this am!

Butterscotch squares just doing their 20 minutes in the turned off oven.

[Shelby]

Ok, I'm soooo enjoying this. How cool to be able to just cook what and when ever you want to.

I'm going to ask a reaaaaallllly dumb question, so please, don't hold it against me if the answer is glaringly obvious:

I love the clear, round ice cubes. I really do. But, is the point just to make totally clear, round cubes or is there another reason I'm not seeing?

Fair to say the point is to make totally clear ice - it's the holy grail of ice it seems.

Crystal Clear Ice Blocks

The Ice Topic

DIY Ice Ball Maker

Ah, Ok. Cool (pun intended lol)

[janeer]

I think a bit of a backstory on how Kerry and I met is entirely appropriate as it involves eG.

I had been a member for some time when Kerry joined in 2005. I was on a topic about dishwashing detergents and bemoaning the fact that Dawn Power Dissolver was not available in Canada. Kerry PM’d me and offered to get some next time she made a trip to Buffalo. At the time, I knew nothing about her and assumed with the name Kerry that she was male. I was astounded that anyone could be so generous to a stranger and suspected some nefarious motive to find out where I lived and carry out unspeakable crimes on my person or property. (I have since learned that many eG members are incredibly generous with time, knowledge and even ingredients and equipment.)

I relented and gave my address. Kerry showed up at my door one day with said detergent. She didn’t look overly dangerous or criminal so I allowed her into my home. We talked for the next 3 hours non-stop and the rest, as they say, is history.

Thanks for this as I've been wondering since the last time you two did one of these joint cooking adventures. And thanks just for doing it.

[Kerry Beal]

Cheese toast for me this morning - using up the leftover baguette. You should have seen the look of horror on Anna's face when she saw me pull out the ketsup!

[Kerry Beal]

Butterscotch squares for work. I'm on call today which means I never know if I'll be home or away - I've occasionally ended up making a very speedy ride to Sudbury in an ambulance.

Never did find a probe thermometer - but found a glass candy thermometer in the drawer - so took the Idea's in Food recipe for Foie Gras Cotton Candy recipe and tried it with hazelnut oil. I think I had perhaps let the isomalt component cool too much before I added the oil component and didn't get an emulsion. Even a quick spin in the Thermomix only resulted in a Thermomix that won't be clean again until all that candy dissolves in the hot soapy water in the sink! Hope Anna doesn't have any plans for the TMX this am.

[Anna N]

Wow, thanks for the ThermoMix tips. How large is the steaming area?

The TM is at the very top of my most wanted wish list. The very top!

Here is a photo of the steamer (varoma).



Surface is approx 8 inches by 10 inches.

[Anna N]

Breakfast this moring was the last of the rib eye steak, a few slices of hardened goat cheese and a handful of rice crackers:



From the fuzziness of the photo I should probably have had more coffee before operating the camera. Sorry about that.

[rotuts]

thanks continue on the TMX. do you use the steamer simply because its convenient (the machine being on the counter all the time I suppose) or its much easier to control vs. a pan with a steamer insert? or another fantastic reason?

[Anna N]

thanks continue on the TMX. do you use the steamer simply because its convenient (the machine being on the counter all the time I suppose) or its much easier to control vs. a pan with a steamer insert? or another fantastic reason?

Convenience, the shape allows for more food than a round steamer but otherwise it's about the same as any steamer.

[Kerry Beal]

Ok, did a little better this time around. This is hazelnut oil emulsified in isomalt and glucose. I'll smash it up in the coffee grinder later and we'll see what sort of cotton candy it can make.



This is some isomalt and sugar with negroni fixins on it - it's in the oven now at a really low temperature to evaporate the moisture. I suspect it won't work well as the alcohol will selectively evaporate and the flavour might not come through as hoped - but we'll see.

[Darienne]

This is cotton candy at a whole new level!!! We await your report.

[Anna N]

So Kerry was called into work around 11 am. I know she didn't expect to be very long but here it is after 2 pm and she is still there and hungry I bet! I waited to have my lunch until I could wait no more and then roasted up some asparagus, plopped it on some of the miso butter I made yesterday and topped it with two poached eggs:

[Darienne]

Those yolks are incredible!

[Kerry Beal]

Maybe I'll get some for dinner! Not looking like I'm getting out of here any time soon. There was some lunch left over from the monthly meeting of the docs - so I did get a little something - but nothing that was anywhere near as good as that looks.

[Prabha]

All this is making me very jealous. You seem to be having such a good time! I need to find someone to cook with....whom I could tolerate for hours at a time

[Anna N]

So here's dinner for tonight ready to go into the oven:



It is a dish in constant rotation at both our houses down south - David Lebovitz' Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Shallots. It will take about 40 mins in a 425F oven.

[Kerry Beal]

Got home around 4:15 - Anna opted for a preprandial Negroni - sadly I can't partake.



I took the leftover mussels, boiled down their liquid, added a bit of cream and a squeeze of lemon and enjoyed a very nice bowl of mussel soup.

[Anna N]

As I was just about ready to pull this chicken out of the oven:





the phone rang and Kerry was off to work again.

Since I had had such a late lunch, I ate only two small pieces of chicken and washed it down with a glass of Pinot Grigio. Very satisfactory.

[FrogPrincesse]

That chicken looks wonderful. I assume it's this recipe, correct? I will try it soon, for sure!

[Kerry Beal]

It is indeed that recipe - one of the simplest but most satisfying chicken recipes I have. I just ate a piece standing at the kitchen counter - I wasn't even hungry but it smelled so good!

[Kerry Beal]

Cornflake crunch from the Milk Bar Cookbook.



Cornflake Crunch, marshmallow and chocolate cookie batter.



Batter doing it's requisite rest in the fridge - note the careful drape of plastic wrap for their one hour rest - NOT!

[andiesenji]

I am quite curious about this candy floss machine. (Haven't had cotton candy in over 50 years.) What brand is it? Is it a home use machine? What are your plans for it? Can I come to your house and play with it? What else does it do? What does it weigh? Etc. Please.

I've got a cotton candy machine - I think it is like the "Nostalgia" one but has a different name as I recall. It is in my storage building. I only used it a couple of times when we had neighborhood block parties. It was very inexpensive and worked just fine. It came with colored sugars, red, yellow and blue.

[Kerry Beal]

I am quite curious about this candy floss machine. (Haven't had cotton candy in over 50 years.) What brand is it? Is it a home use machine? What are your plans for it? Can I come to your house and play with it? What else does it do? What does it weigh? Etc. Please.

I've got a cotton candy machine - I think it is like the "Nostalgia" one but has a different name as I recall. It is in my storage building. I only used it a couple of times when we had neighborhood block parties. It was very inexpensive and worked just fine. It came with colored sugars, red, yellow and blue.

Speaking of which - the hazelnut mixture split and the oil weeped out - so batch 2 got binned. I suspect if I'd make floss out of it immediately it would have been OK - but it was a tad moist coming out of the coffee grinder. The negroni batch is still drying.

[Kerry Beal]

Here are the finished cookies - they aren't quite as dark in spots as they appear in the picture. I think the little lacy caramelized bits on some edges are from the cornflake crunch - unless that's what marshmallows do in the oven.

I don't know that I'd necessarily make these exact cookies again - but having the various 'crunch' options available might be useful when I'm making my standard cookies and don't want to add nuts because I'm sending them to school with the rug rat. You can still get a satisfying crunchy addition.

The one on the front left - that's Anna's for the morning.