chromedome

That was in the first book, IIRC, when they lived in "the little house in the big woods." The cow's pasturage would probably have been pretty limited at that point.

I always wind up straining the seeds out of anything I make with passion fruit, now that I'm not "restauranting" any more. I'm not a fan of crunchy seeds (even with pomegranate I spit 'em out) and the unfortunate resemblance to frog eggs doesn't help.

It looks to me like bits of the polymerized fat from the seasoning could be detaching from the pan. I've had that a couple of times on pans I've picked up in various places. If that's the case, the solution is to take it down to bare metal and start over on the seasoning. That's not as bad when the pan is relatively new, and you haven't got serious time invested in the finish. Don't take my unsupported word for it, though. I love my cast iron, but I'm not a serious maven like some of the others around here.

Several years ago I dug a trench through waist-deep snow to the grill, so my late wife -- a Californian, mind you -- could scratch her itch for a grilled steak. I did the digging, she did the grilling (although I'm a culinary professional, only she could cook a steak exactly the way *she* liked it).

Doesn't answer the immediate question, but just FYI staph aureus produces heat-stable toxins that can't be cooked out after the fact.

Oh, indeed. A friend of mine down in the US served several years in the Vietnam-era Navy, then went on to be an investment banker for a decade+, then managed hotels for a decade+, and eventually passed the Michigan bar and became a lawyer when already in his fifties.

Not a horror story as such, more amusing. When I was entering my second year of culinary school everyone was trading war stories of their work placements, and one classmate topped us all. He was Jewish, and the hotel where he'd interned had him carving the ham at their Easter buffet. Sensitivity training, anyone? (Edited to clarify...he himself related it as a funny story, not a "horror story.")

I'm in the anti-tile camp as well, having spent far too many hours scrubbing the damned grout. I favor continuous, easily-cleaned surfaces in the kitchen. That being said, I understand the appeal of tile from viewpoints other than straight-up sanitation...and at the end of the day it's your kitchen, not mine.

It lacks a certain something. Maybe use it as the filling for a stuffed green pepper?

It's the 12-spline version. Honestly, I doubt I'll use it enough to need another beaker. I use my immersion blenders fairly regularly, but I've probably fired up a conventional blender no more than three times in the last decade. It's mostly for when my daughter and her hubby come to visit. They're smoothie drinkers.

I had the same thing happen recently when making my usual choux recipe for the first time in a couple of years (I'd been living alone...not much call for 5 dozen profiteroles at a time). I unthinkingly added 'em all, and it turned out to be "an egg too far." I made a second batch and combined the two, as @teonzo advises upthread, so I was only out my first tray of testers. I knew those were doomed as soon as I started piping, but I froze them once they were out and eventually used them for a dessert (split and filled with ice cream for snack-sized ice cream sandwiches).

I used to sell that at my farmer's market stall in the autumn, along with baked beans. Baked beans are just as traditional and deep-rooted here as they are in New England, but the steamed brown bread was something of a novelty and sold very well for me. I made it in two sizes; both smaller than the traditional coffee can, but more practical for my clientele.

I had a pretty good "wind anchor"...I secured the back corner of my canopy to the cannon you see at the left. These date from the War of 1812, which our neighbours across the bay in Maine referred to disparagingly as "Mr. Madison's War." They were reluctant participants in the war, and more or less continued trading with the enemy (us) for the duration. Local lore tells of neighbouring St. Stephen (NB) sending a barrel of gunpowder across the river to Calais during the war for the latter town's July 4th celebration; while Calais in turn allegedly loaned a cannon to St. Stephen on an emergency basis (a gun had been misappropriated, and an unexpected inspection threatened to get someone into deep trouble...).

I'd recently bought one of these used from Kijiji (similar to Craigslist) for my parents. The woman selling it knew she had the tamper, but couldn't for the life of her remember when she'd seen it last. Finally she asked her kids, who didn't understand at first what she was describing. Finally her 9 year-old son piped up and said "Oh, you mean my sword!" He promptly fetched it from the basement rec room, and presented it to me with a flourish.

Okay, so it was sausage nachos? I could handle that.

And for those of us who hail from the frozen North, Tom Thumbs are....?

I think I might be today's winner... It's missing the tamper, but aside from that is immaculate down to the seal inside the dome. It looks like it was somebody's impulse purchase, and spent the last 30 years in a closet somewhere. I honestly never use a blender, but for $25 I'll keep a Vita-Mix on hand just 'cause.

The pumpkin vs squash thing has been around for a while, and resurfaces occasionally. The whole business of what's called a pumpkin and what's called a squash is pretty random and arbitrary at the best of times, so I just use what I've got at hand. Except for jack o'lantern pumpkins, which go into the compost unless I'm really desperate.

I guess everyone has their own answer to that. For me, it's mostly about pleasing textural contrasts and mopping up the sauce/gravy. Also I'm not a carbophobe, so going a little heavier on 'em at one sitting isn't that big a deal (I don't fall into the "gotta have it at every meal" camp), I'll just have less at another meal.

I expect you'll be fine with a drop cookie. If it was a crisp cookie you might have to play with a it a bit, perhaps.

Welcome, Gary. It's a great place to hang around, socialize, and learn. I'm in Saint John, so I suspect I'll probably take a drive up the old highway to see you at some point in the not-too-distant future.

So...after a bit of Googling I presume you're in Gagetown? Duh. Never mind, I looked up your introductory post in the new members' thread.

A former colleague of mine did something similar with a Dremel, tapering the bolster to just about nothing for the last 1/8" or so. He did it in stages because he wasn't sure how hot the knife could get without ruining its temper. He was also the first person I'd ever met who rounded the knife's back edge to reduce wear and tear on his index finger.

My girlfriend and I were walking out of the supermarket one day, shortly after moving in together. She had an odd smirk on her face and was shaking her head, so I asked her what was up. "This is so weird," she said. "We walked in there to buy two things, and we're walking out a minute later with two things. And they're the same two things!" (I hasten to add that I've also frequently walked into a store for two things, and walked out with $80 of unplanned purchases that were too good to pass up...)

I can't answer for JNW, but personally I avoid knives with a bolster because it's a PITA to sharpen one after the first couple of years. That being said, for $2 I'd have bought it too. Bolster or no bolster.