chromedome

I always joke that those lightning grabs (in my case) are the upside to a lifetime of clumsiness. Having dropped/tipped/knocked things over so frequently, I have plenty of "muscle memory" for those split-second saves. One of my classmates in culinary was a drummer in a band. He knocked his knife off of the counter while repositioning a cutting board, and snatched it (by the handle) even as it was plummeting to the floor. Our instructor said, "Okay, that was absolutely amazing. And I NEVER want to see any of you do that, ever again!" ("A falling knife has no handle," is the official take on that subject...trying to grab one as it falls is a recipe for a trip to the ER)

Having just gotten home last night from my monthly visit to NS, I started the day/year very happily with my usual oatmeal after not having it for a week or so.

I remember an interview with Grace Slick back in the day, in which the (male) interviewer complimented her on how great she looked for a woman of her age (IIRC, she was in her late 50s). She snorted and replied "Yeah, I'm living proof that alcohol is a preservative..."

The marketing people were definitely "thinking outside the box" (or in this case, the bottle).

For those of you Stateside, with Costco memberships: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/25/us/fda-costco-egg-warning-hnk/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=blueskyCNN&utm_content=2024-12-25T11%3A11%3A38

Like last year, I harvested some greens from my garden for yesterday's Christmas meal. This is my late-planted lacinato kale, under its protective cover. The snow of course is great insulation, but poor for photosynthesis! Here's what's going on "under the hood," so to speak: The smaller hoops and mesh covering had protected them from cabbage worms back in the autumn. I have a pic of the larger bed of curly kale too, but the forum insists on turning it upside down when I upload it. I saved a flipped version of the photo, thinking that would do it, but nope... still shows as upside down once I upload it. Go figure. ...and this is my harvest. It's rather small, but that's not the point. The point is being able to say I'd harvested fresh greens from my garden for Christmas dinner! It also shows you how hard it was snowing yesterday, because that's how much fell into the bowl during the few minutes I was cutting greens.

Some lots of oysters sold by Taylor Shellfish are being recalled for norovirus. They've been sold in BC, Alberta and Ontario. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-taylor-shellfish-canada-ulc-brand-oysters-recalled-due-norovirus-0?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

The most startling thing on the menu (to my eyes at least) is the price.

There's a free signup (just your email address, nothing else) that allows up to 100 JSTOR articles/month. I frequently find myself looking for non-paywalled versions of papers and articles, so it was well worth it to me.

Potato starch thickens as well as cornstarch, but I find it to be more forgiving of cooling and reheating (even freezing and thawing) than cornstarch. YMMV.

I baked off my sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies last night, but the decorating will have to wait until the weekend. I have the same snowflake cutter, but use slightly different Christmas tree and star shapes (I always do snowman shapes, as well. I'm weeks late (they should have all been in the mail by the 10th or so, but we had a mail strike so...). Tonight I'll be doing baking the linzer cookies and almond kipferln (sp?), and hopefully the cinnamon stars if my back holds out. Then on the weekend I'll shift to decorating and assembling cookies, and baking off mini-loaves. There's also a walnut roll recipe I want to try, using a yeast dough. It's a recipe I rewrote this summer for a client, and it looked good. This version is Czech, IIRC, but apparently there are slight variations on the theme all across central and eastern Europe.

When I used to live in Edmonton, I frequently bought codcakes from an older Jamaican lady at a sort-of farmer's market at a nearby mall. It was a running joke between us that since my family in Newfoundland had possibly caught and salted some of the cod she'd eaten while growing up, it was only appropriate that I should return the favor a couple of generations later. Perhaps if I find the time and energy, one of these days I'll round up some photos (I don't think I have any family-taken pics still extant, but if not I'll hit online sources) and show how the old-school fishery worked in NL back in the day. Assuming anyone's interested, of course.

The moment the A4 made its first appearance here on the board, my mind immediately said "That looks like an induction version of my old electric skillet..." so these comments made perfect sense to me.

I took the opportunity yesterday, while temps were above freezing, to harvest a decently large bowl of kale and what will probably be the last of the broccoli florets. We'll see how things go.

The snow melted from my garden today, under the warmth, rain and wind. Can confirm that I still have broccoli and two kinds of kale doing their thing, and I will take advantage of the thaw to re-cover them a little more securely (a couple of the coverings blew off or collapsed under the snow load).

This doesn't seem to have hit the CFIA's site yet, but Made Good is recalling many batches of its granola bars for potential metal contamination (ie, brush bristles). They've had 7 reports from the many millions of bars sold, but (as they say of many other things) it only takes one to ruin your whole day. https://madegoodfoods.zendesk.com/hc/en-ca/articles/31692468452251-MadeGood-Granola-Bar-Voluntary-Recall

It's not that I can't see uses for it in dressings and suchlike, and a writer I follow on Bluesky jokingly described it as being just "savory eggnog." But as a beverage, I can't see it being in any way pleasant. Though doubtless some "cutting edge" mixologist will mix it with bacon-infused vodka and tomato juice to make a "BLT Mary" or some such abomination. Hell, if I knew anyone who drank White Russians I'd almost be tempted to do a bacon vodka and drinkable mayo version just as a prank.

Drinkable. Mayonnaise. https://www.foodandwine.com/nomu-mayo-drinkable-mayonnaise-8757564

My mom's been finding her mouth getting drier too, which is a common outcome for people with Parkinson's (in part because of the disorder itself, and in part because of the medications used to treat it). She always has a glass or bottle of water nearby, whether she's eating or not. It amazes her that I usually don't have a beverage of any sort with meals ("I wouldn't be able to choke anything down at all!"). I wonder to what extent dry mouth contributes to dysphagia in some people, especially in cases of advanced dementia? As some of you know, one of my cousins is losing her husband (only in his early 60s) to an aggressive form of early-onset Alzheimer's. On my last visit she told me that he's reached the dysphagia stage, and is rapidly wasting away now.

Since it's that time of the year when we all revisit the holiday classics...

I missed this one in my inbox the other day, but Taylor Farm's brand of "sweet chopped kale" salads is being recalled for salmonella. Affected area is everyone from Ontario east. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/taylor-farms-brand-sweet-kale-chopped-kit-recalled-due-salmonella

An update to the cucumber recall: https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/sunfed-brand-field-cucumbers-and-slicer-cucumbers-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23