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I did a test oven grilled cheese sandwich for Mike (my husband), who doesn’t usually care for grilled cheese (IKR?), and he thought it was really good. I’d weighted down a cookie sheet and put it on top, and boy, it was a smashed grilled cheese. Decided no weight was necessary and “tested” a batch and then ended up making 22 of them and taking them to the fridge. They were kind of greasy (sorry, recipients). I’d either use less butter next time or switch to mayo. Not a great pic, but the first full batch: The cheeses were a medium cheddar and havarti. I may or may not make more this week. Might make them another time and pair with homemade tomato soup (which I’ve never made before). Anyone have an opinion on a hard fried egg and cheese sandwich? Breakfast sandwiches are another option, especially if my granddaughter participates as planned. I’ll cook the sausage patties ahead of time, and bake the sheet pan scrambled eggs ahead of time, too. She can help me with cutting the eggs into rounds to fit on the sandwiches, and assembling. Frozen Grands biscuits will be used (sorry to all the people who are cringing over using frozen ready made biscuits). 🤷‍♀️ I might have unintentionally worried my granddaughter when I told her we would be making the sandwiches for children who don’t have enough food. She looked worried and later asked if her little brother could come, too. Maybe she thinks I meant the hungry children would be at my house? Will have to confer with her mother about it.

Last three dinners: Pan-roasted pork chop with pan sauce of mushrooms, shallots, white wine, chicken stock. Brussels sprouts. Maryland-style crab cake. Kenji's oven-roasted potatoes. House cocktail sauce. Baked rigationi w/four cheeses (Mozzarella, Muenster, Parmesan, Pecorino) and tomato sauce with sausage. Big salad.

I bought mine based on Amazon reviews plus the way it looks. I wanted it for dish liquid at the kitchen sink (Dawn). It's easy to put a sponge under it for washing items not headed to the dishwasher.

What a deliciously fun five years! I have no talent in the candy making department, but I might be able to be convinced to add dark chocolate to my diet. 😃 Even though I might learn better face to face, a good reference book is more valuable. Good to know. And I’m not going to ask or tell until I finish the course! So I’m the only person in the thread not qualified to cook and serve meals? 🤔😂 I just texted my former Continuing Ed boss (and one of my best friends) and confirmed that we used to offer ServSafe. It would’ve been as easy to take the course as walking down the hall, pre-Covid. But I will take it online.

Great photos, Is BDA winning vs the lionfish?

@gulfporter @JoNorvelleWalker Is it this particular brand you like? Have you tried one for foaming soap?

I made some a couple of years ago and still haven't used it. I can't seem to find small bottles to put it in! Trying to pour it out of a mason jar is not going to work out well.

Welcome back!

Greek-inspired Lamb Stew with Kritharaki/Orzo - stew was cooked in the oven with cubed leg of lamb, carrots, celery, red onion, oregano, thyme, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cumin seeds, red wine, diced tomatoes and beef broth. For the last 20 minutes you add orzo and cherry tomatoes and finish with feta.

I saw this thread about can openers and rembered this review of openers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65pLsbLToVs

I took FoosSafe years ago - it was required to do hot dog days, cupcake sales, etc., in our school district. It was a very quick course and if you already knew safe food temps, it was very easy to complete.

I’m on a very quick jaunt to Bermuda to celebrate husband’s birthday. Flying time is under two hours, and it’s warmer here than at home. We arrived yesterday, and only plans we made for this fast visit were to sit on the deck and take in the view, go down for occasional beach walks, and eat fish for dinner. We have been successful in following the itinerary so far. The view from our condo at the Reefs Looking towards the hotel from our deck and a sliver moon view from our arrival evening. The sun sets just after 5 at this time of year. There’s a new restaurant at the Reefs. Here’s the menu We ordered a special of lionfish crudo to share. I would have preferred the fish to be sliced a little thinner, but the flavors were good. Husband had the grilled lobster. He said it was delicious i had a special of coney fish, which came with carrot puree and the same asparagus sauce that was on the lobster. I really loved this Mini cannoli dessert We enjoyed our dinner so much that we cancelled another reservation elsewhere to come back tomorrow night. Today’s beach—Church Bay. The water was too cold for me to swim though other brave souls were in the water A light lunch at Coconuts Wahoo tacos. We just split this pate since we were going to dinner later. Tonight’s pre dinner deck view We went to Aurora for dinner. They have a new sushi menu, but we were not in the mood. Tuna tartare to share Husband had lobster and shrimp spaghetti. I think he orders this every time we eat here. I had a special of herb crusted turbot with potato purée, minced vegetables, and fish jus. We split a slice of coconut chocolate cake with coconut sorbet to continue the birthday theme

I’ve been absent from this community for several years, a combination of slow internet speeds and low patience levels. But, we’ve moved and I’m back ! I’m still cooking Indian food. Last nights dinner was vegetarian - cumin rice, sesame beans, potatoes with black pepper and peanuts plus dal with spinach. A blob of South Indian tomato chutney added colour and considerable heat.

I do, too. I'm required to maintain certification (its good for 5 years) because I own a bakery. I can opt to just take the test to renew my certification but I always choose to take the class and i always get the book that goes along with it so I can use it to study and have as a reference. Around here it costs $125 for the class and the book; you will get so much more out of it by just reading the book because the class is mostly just watching videos. There are practice questions you can find online just to see what the test is like (keep in mind that the questions are sometimes phrased to deliberately mislead you!) There have to be some kind of guidelines about community fridges in your area; maybe the sponsor knows if there's anything to be aware of. And if there aren't, I'm of the mind to "don't ask, don't tell" but if a Mrs Kravitz does tell, you can eliminate any fussing by showing your certificate!

I got a jar (it’s about 2 ounces of beans for anyone who want to know) and made a vanilla bean paste from it. Used it in a cake and it was delicious, but lots of flavor other than vanilla. Smells wonderful.

I have two sensor activated soap dispensers by my sink. I don't know how I managed before I got them!

"Most people" would never be curious enough to try making their own! I have a sister-in-law with a culinary degree that never took. I gifted her a bottle of homemade vanilla extract, and when I found it unopened 3 years later, I reclaimed it!

Thanks for the welcome! Those Heartland Gatherings sound great. I’ll check that out. Nice to see some Midwest food history here!

Thank you!

Welcome, Michael! I look forward to reading about your food explorations, especially the spicy ones. 🌶️

Chef Skye Gyngell, who pioneered the slow food movement, dies aged 62 | Restaurants | The Guardian

From Six Seasons of Pasta, I made the Sun-dried tomato and almond pesto p 33 a while back and stashed it in the freezer. Today, I pulled that out and used it in the pasta with Brussels sprouts with sun-dried tomato and almond pesto p 329. Excellent flavor combination, if a bit rich. I wish I’d noticed a previous recommendation on Eat Your Books to roast the Brussels sprouts instead of browning them in the skillet with the pancetta and garlic which gave them good flavor but I needed to add oil to the pan for this step even though I knew the pesto to be added later had plenty of oil in it. Still, it was delicious. I’ll add more sprouts next time - I have pasta left but all the sprouts got eaten! The sun-dried tomato and almond pesto is delicious. It calls for oil packed sun-dried tomatoes and I used some from an older jar which were quite dark. The flavor is fine but I might use some regular sun-dried tomatoes that I’ve steamed to soften for a brighter color and flavor.

Update on this item after a full year's use. We love it so much at our AZ home, we ordered another one for our MXN home. Never a problem with it. It's especially handy when both hands are greasy, dirty, stinky.....negates need to pick up a squeeze bottle or to even hit the top of a pump dispenser (which is what we are replacing at MXN home. It is also quite attractive.

I have tried using the heat gun for all chocolates and noticed no difference. I have tried it for just caramels to avoid leaking, and I wasn't sure it made a difference. I tried it with half-spheres (which often show the chocolate line), and I probably overdid it because the bonbons stuck in the mold and needed more than a little pounding on the counter (they usually pop right out). I'll give it a try with this difficult square mold. With using silk to temper, I keep the chocolate a full degree above the norm so as to get as much heat as possible to join the bottom to the rest of the shell.

I have had cocoa butter separate into plain CB and the color, but never with the CB liquid.