natasha1270

I have a mortar & pestle but some spices give you a ridiculous arm workout (mainly I am talking about achiote/annatto). The sumeet multi-grind mentioned earlier in this topic looks wonderful but I am hoping for a non-electric option.

Hot Chocolate?

It may just be my inner gadget geek but in spite of the unfavorable review and exorbitant cost, I'm thinking about getting a Chroma Titanium Spice Grinder: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/2902450/?cm_src=RCP I like that it is dishwasher safe (the whole unit?) and lever manual not twist. What are some comparable manual options for grinding small quantities of spices? Maybe a mini brass turkish coffee/pepper mill?

Please let us know if the Special Darks have the same meltability factor as the original. Last time we tried Ghirardelli and they did not melt as well (softened but no smoosh). Not sure if the bar was old or if it was just the way of the chocolate.

I swear by the Strawberry-Lime Fruit Slushie, Popcorn Chicken and Hot Tots. They don't even cook the hot tots until you place the order! Oh, the only bad thing to me is they are over an hour away. If you are not eating the tots right away, it is imperative that you leave the bag open to vent, otherwise they will steam and lose some of their hot, salty, crisp deliciousness. A little splash or two of tequila in the slushie never hurt no-one either ;o) Not all locations have the popcorn chicken. My son recently had the foot long coney and loved it.

In my family, summer & s'mores go hand in hand. Found a few packs of the Campfire Giant Roaster Marshmallows and they are pretty awesome. The first s'more was perfection, the 2nd - think 'death by s'mores'. Shamefully, I couldn't even finish it. We tend to stick with Nabisco Grahams & Hershey Milk Chocolate. **never, ever shake a stick with a molten marshmallow. my friend's nephew ended up in the emergency room with severe burns after a tragic s'mores session. seriously, these things are especially huge and could do some damage. please be careful!

Thanks for the comments. I was just so stunned to see such a thing. Also, I wanted to update this because I was at the store over the weekend, took a closer look and wanted to represent the correct pricing and contents of the package. The price is actually $9.99 and the box contains 4 "trays" of ice, each tray encapsulating approximately 12 cubes. I probably will not be buying this product but I can see how others might. Thanks, N.

I'll try to add pics later but the new Indiana Jones M&Ms are out. They come in regular, peanut & mint crisp flavors. There might be another but I can't remember right now. I decided to try the Mint Crisp. Visually there is a crispy mint flavored center (lighter than a whopper-type center and sort of shaped like a skittle), surrounded by a chocolate layer and of course, the candy shell. The crispy center gives a sort of break from straight up chocolate and is not overly minty. Just like the pirates of the caribbean M&Ms, these have little designs incorporated with the m. I know people either like mint or not. I do but I'm undecided on the mint in these because they have a sort of an after taste I am not fond of. N.

http://www.icerocks.com/icerocks.php Anyone heard of these? I saw a few boxes on the shelf with the bottled waters at Balducci's a few weeks ago and thought it was brilliant and the packaging was superb. I didn't buy them but just the thought that someone is out there marketing ready-to-freeze ice cubes was so amusing. I believe they were priced somewhere around $6? for maybe 16 cubes!! That seems a pretty steep price to pay for a couple handfuls of ice but at least your ice will not be polluted by any off odors lurking within the confines of your freezer. Rip-off or next big thing?

One of the kid's in my son's algebra class brought in a cake for the class made to look like a pie!

I've also heard this paired with oysters as Bull & Oyster Roasts. I suppose Oyster Roasts, as well as the ever popular Clam Bake. N.

Our favorite end of summer food-event is the crab feast hosted by a family friend and county supervisor. One of the local reps has family in the crab business and no doubt they have the best crabs on offer.

I'm sure you will never fall out of favor with your aunties but in the unfortunate event that the scrapers get lost or snatched up by other family members, perhaps this will ease some of the pain: http://www.pilipinomart.com/addcart.asp?productid=918 (I've been looking on and off for one myself and also trying to track down proper llaneras for leche flan. This site seems to have both.) N.

Spoon cookies. I remember that article in Gourmet a few years back (Holiday issue?) and have the recipe "aging" in my recipe folder. A quick search turns up the recipe on epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/vie...&saved_to_box=y Would love to find out if they live up to their billing! N.

I've really only been paying attention that things were below the fill line but just re-read the instructions and it does say that item should be touching the quilted area. Some of the items I have in the fridge that didn't maintain the seal have only a small portion in the quilting. I'll move them up and try to reseal. Thanks for the hint!

Was terribly excited when I saw these in the store a few weeks ago because I have been wanting a foodsaver for eons but storage space is too premium. So far I am not quite as excited as before. About half of the time the bags seal like a champ but every single time I have tried to save half an onion (in at least 3 different quart bags) in the fridge. zip. total failure. Pancetta in the freezer. nope. raw chicken breast and pork shoulder (freezer) - yes. butter in the fridge. no. butter in the freezer - yes. cheese - none have maintained a seal for long so far. And so on... I tried to call the consumer line but they don't seem to have evening hours past 4:30p est if I recall. I want so much to like it but the results I'm getting so far are making it very hard to endorse. Glad to hear everyone else having such good luck with it. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? Now that I type it up, it seems anything with fat is not sealing so well. N.

No stainless but here's a heavy duty plastic one on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Mexican-Heavy-Plasti...a/dp/B000GT6PG8 Cast iron gets my vote. I switched from aluminum and really like the weight and evenness of it. N.

I have an electric Peugeot similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Peugeot-Rennes-Elect...c/dp/B000FDDVEE that I got on clearance several years back. The light is pretty handy but beware: changing the batteries can sometimes be more complicated than you would think it should be because of the way things must line up. Other than that I am happy with the capacity and grind. My other Peugeot is manual: http://www.amazon.com/Peugeot-PM16845-Soch...l/dp/B00008DHOO This set is great. Very solid mechanics overall. N.

Just an update: About a month ago I saw a couple of ebay listings for unopened bottles of inner beauty hot sauce go unclaimed when searching completed auctions. Unfortunately, they were never relisted. N.

I have a beautifully simple set of Jenaer Glas bowls but the largest broke after an apparently overly vigorous stir several weeks ago and I've been too afraid to use them ever since. Thankfully, I still have my trusty anchor hocking custard bowls with lids. I love the Mason Cash bowls, too. I have a set of 8 small pudding basins (42s size) that double as cereal bowls/prep bowls for larger amounts. The small prep sizes having been calling to me. I've resisted thus far but I can only be so strong. The Mario Batali melamine sets are very cute. I see them at Marshalls all the time. But I have so many other bowls and dishes that may be called into duty that having another single purpose set hasn't been a priority. Not to mention with my near overflowing cupboards I would have nowhere to put them. N.

Ack! I have so many books, folders, lists and files on my desk, counters and computers devoted to recipes and ingerdients... it is my ambition to one day organize it all. And possibly actually try one or two of them Not a kitchen notebook per se but just a notebook I keep in my purse at all times and scribble in. Here is a foodcentric page from my moleskine: My favorite writing materials for lists are paper napkins and post it notes. N. eta. I have been playing with the meals matter website in hopes of helping with menu planning, pantry inventory and all around organiztion. Thought this might be a good topic to mention it in. http://www.mealsmatter.com

Ditto the homemade and Nielsen-Massey vanillas and I also like the Sonoma Syrup Co vanillas. You can usually find a bottle or two at Marshall's or TJ Maxx. N.

I must admit to being an unrepentant gadget lover. I saw this today but didn't buy it ($19 @ bloomies). I want to find some use for it but even the usefulness of this garlic crusher rolling pin eludes me. Anyone? I know there must be some additional untapped potential to it. *note that the ad copy also touts the garlic scent removing properties as a bonus of handwashing said device. Take that hunk o'steel scent remover! http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/Produ...15_11521_null__ Also, why do all these labor saving devices always have so many nooks and crannies they would seem a major pain to clean thereby reducing the labor saving quotient? Growing up, we had a pair of those scissor tongs and I can only remember using them when frying lumpia. N. proud owner of chocolate chipper, mozzarella slicer, mango pitter and other gadgets of varying usefulness...

In our elementary school, the PTA set money aside for a lunch money account each month for a few meals but there is also the choice of peanut butter sandwich or cheese sandwich. The cafeteria sends a sticker home when the balance gets too low with the balance amount. It can go negative but I don't know what the cut off is. I do know that a few times my son would go for the pb sandwich even when he did have money because he didn't like the lunch (kindergarten & 1st grade)! So I don't know if there was/is any stigma to it or not. Kristin has some really great Japanese School lunch posts on this site. I wish our schools had something similar. N.

New Orleans classic, Barbecued Shrimp Also, must confess... my mother always put beer in her hair (to condition?) and when I grew older it took me awhile to understand the concept of beer as a beverage instead of a hair product.