chromedome

It was spread out over a period of weeks, just whenever I had the time to tackle some of it. The last bit was rather rushed, as it always seems to be.

A few belated photos of the doings: Cookies drying on the racks: Ready to make up some baskets. Lots of different types of cookies, and the little tissue-wrapped bundles in the middle are mini-loaves of various kinds. A basket, with loaves beneath and cookies above, naked and then wrapped. This particular one went to my daughter's best friends/bridesmaids, hence the David's Tea gift card. The Christmas tree cookie covered in Skittles that you'll see in behind was decorated for us by a neighbour's little guy. Multiple views of the village. My plans for the surface itself were much more detailed, but ran afoul of time constraints. The decorating itself is not at all up to professional standards (again, time constraints...final touches went on in the last hour before everyone arrived for Christmas dinner), but this year was primarily a "proof of concept" as I learned how to work with the materials. Lots of lessons to keep in mind for next year.... It's better when illuminated, though the camera in my elderly Nexus 4 struggles in low light conditions. Just FYI, strings of LED mini Christmas lights make it look like there's a party going on inside. The little battery-operated faux tealights have a gentle flicker that nicely simulates a fire on the hearth inside the cottage. The little cottages were made with a cookie-cutter template from the dollar store. Two cuts equals one cottage. For the little church I just cut out a template from corrugated cardboard and ran with it. FYI, a microplane zester works marvels when it comes to straightening and squaring the pieces, or beveling them for a neater fit.

Pretty much. In fact her sheepish comment to reporters after this blew up was "...at least I'm pretty..."

Some of you may have seen this already: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/11/us/family-feud-canada-popeyes-trnd/index.html

I'd read this a couple of years ago and tripped across it again this morning. It occurred to me that it fits well in the context of this discussion, so I'll throw it out here for anyone who's interested. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/plant-memory-hidden-vernalization

I'm guessing that would be some sort of Internet personality who streams live video. Most are pretty obscure, though a few have become "internet-famous" and actually make a buck from it.

That's a shame. I lost my father a couple of years ago to the same cause, and in the same fashion. After the diagnosis he spent no small mental effort tracing his way back to the earliest symptoms, and kicking himself for not having it looked at then. The oncologist told him pretty bluntly not to do that, saying "By the time there's a symptom you might have noticed, it's already too late. The only thing that would have changed is we'd have all felt obligated to take our shot at treating it and slowing the cancer down, and your last couple of years would have been a lot more miserable."

Yup, same here. And gardening stuff going out on the shelves.

FWIW, I remember seeing a recipe for a marmalade-ish jam made with oranges and spaghetti squash...I think it was from one of Clifford Wright's books, and was Sicilian, but I couldn't swear to it.

In the video the big boule seems to take up no more than half the available height of the oven, so there should be room for a good-sized loaf to reach full height. It looks to be good for about three standard loaves in width, too, so it's probably big enough for most purposes. The cast-iron pan the boule was baked on looked to be 10-12" square, and there was a fair bit of room left at either side, so yeah...at least 1/4 sheet by the "eyeball test." As long as it's fully functional without the app, and not ridiculously expensive, they might be onto something.

At my last rental the oven was in Celsius, and I needed to print out an equivalency table and tape it up beside the range. After a year or so I got used to it, but it definitely required thought (unless I was working from an overseas recipe, in which case it was pretty simple).

After following this thread I bought OXO openers for myself and my mom, who has Parkinson's. Both are working well, thus far.

I hear you. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've had to go back into the store for the one thing I'd specifically intended to buy when I walked in...

There've been a few widely reported studies over the past decade in which physicists have looked closely at the behavior of spaghetti. It's not as trivial an exercise as it sounds, because the research has broader applications. Here's the most recent example.

Very few of the "real" burgers fare well under those circumstances...

It looks big enough to be practical for more users than the CSO is/was.

There's also the cost of installing three gas lines instead of one (or 240v outlets, if electric). Speaking only from my own experience, if the ovens are on and burning gas all day are they're also in use all day. The ovens that weren't needed didn't get fired up. As to the relative efficiency of heating one large space vs multiple smaller spaces, that's beyond my ken and I haven't felt inspired to research it. It's possible that some restaurants may find it convenient to go the route you're suggesting, especially smaller boutique-y places or those who are served by a central commissary and only need to do "final assembly" before service. I rather doubt it will become the norm, simply because restaurants are quintessentially the home of high-volume food production. When you generate large volumes of food, large appliances make sense. (..and also, to be fair, because inertia of the "this is the way we do things" variety is a strong factor)

Is "commissary" the word you were looking for?

It's not a 4-litre bag as such. The outer bag is just packaging and contains 3 smaller bags, which are what you actually use. They fall between a US quart and half-gallon in volume so it's a handy household size.

Supposedly it uses/generates less plastic than the rigid jugs. I generally buy mine in old-fashioned cartons, which also go into the blue-bag recycling here.

You're correct, I mistakenly conflated them with the broader low/no carb ethos. It's grains and legumes specifically that the paleo crew object to. I shall have to de-gloat the title of the thread... (I'll leave my original post stand, because when I say something stupid I own up to it)

Perhaps your crew fall into the "...but it's RAW!" camp. I see that a lot, where I live.

Not that many people really believe the pseudoscientific rationale for the Paleo diet anyway, but a recent study provided further proof of its silliness. Here's the original paper, which is paywalled for most of us, and an explanatory article which is not. For those who follow/advocate for low-carb and no-carb diets, please understand that I'm not suggesting they don't work (within the usual limitations of any such effort). But the silly evolutionary argument advanced by the originators of the Paleo diet is purely bunk, with no valid scientific basis.

My elderly Willow critter is indifferent to cod and tuna, but will eat salmon until she explodes. She's also fond of the occasional little nibble of crab, lobster or shrimp, when the humans are eating same and feel like sharing.