purplewiz
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Posts posted by purplewiz
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As a general rule, and within reasonable limits, the smaller the container, the more often it gets used.
I often use half cans of things, so the rest of the can goes in a container and then into the fridge or the freezer, depending. Masking tape makes great labels, and I always have it around. Comes right off when it's time for the dishwasher.
Marcia.
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Beirut: Extraordinary show. Thank you.
Marcia.
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I'm another one whose cookbook collection has pretty much stopped growing. If I want a recipe for something, I check my favorite sites or go hit Google. My file folder of printed out recipes I've tried and liked and want to make again keeps growing, though.
I also shop for the larger pieces of cookware online. We don't have a lot of cooking stores around here, and when they do have something it's often at a much worse price, even taking shipping into account.
I've been so happy to find a community or two of relatively like-minded people when it comes to food. That alone has expanded my horizons and my culinary repertoire. (The 100 people you've never met to your house doesn't seem unusual to me, since I was helping run Usenet parties 16 or so years ago!)
The downside is that I now know what I'm missing here. When you only have magazines or newspaper stories, it's a lot easier to dismiss them as unusual occurrences, but when you've got everyday folks telling the same stories, you know they have something you don't have access to.
Marcia.
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Yup, sure do.
This is why I don't have plastic bowls anymore.
There are only two of us in the house, and I do pretty much all the cooking, so I have a pretty good idea of if the stove is hot and when it's been used.
Marcia.
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If you do read A Cook's Tour, make sure you're sitting where your snickers, giggles, and out and out belly laughs won't be heard, or you'll end up reading the whole book to someone else to share the joy.
This is what happened to my husband and I. Sick and tired of the question "What? What?" when the person currently reading the book laughed, we ended up reading it aloud to each other, taking turns reading with each chapter.
There's something special about an experience like that.
Marcia.
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They're not to my taste, but then, many restaurants use flatware I wouldn't have in my house, and I manage to enjoy my meals there all the same
.But my first thought on seeing those echoes the thoughts of others: boy, are they going to be a pain to keep clean with that dimpling on the handles. If you're going to hand wash/hand scrub them, ok, but again, in my house, when it comes to dishes, if it doesn't go in my dishwasher, it doesn't go in my house(*).
(*)With a few notable exceptions, like the china which gets used once or twice a year.
Marcia.
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I've successfully substituted zucchini for cucumbers in Bread and Butter pickles, and made zucchini relish from a recipe I orginally found on the web but have since altered to have more garlic
. It's really the only viable way I've found to preserve them.However, I've been blessed with neighbors with two teenage boys, all of whom love fresh zucchini, so I solved my problem another way!
Marcia.
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____ Las Vegas.
____ Salad and fresh vegetables.
I love Las Vegas. I love eating in Las Vegas. I love eating to the point of pain in Las Vegas. Pain that requires a two hour walk just to start hurting less.
Ok, maybe I don't love the point of pain, but I have NO regrets whatsoever about doing it. None.
But when I returned home, all I wanted was grilled chicken and fresh salad and fresh grilled zucchini from the garden. It's all I want still. When I come home from a vacation like this one, I'm tired of overindulging (sad, but true). I want healthy, fresh, and most of all, smaller quantities.
Marcia.
who is already looking forward to her next trip back to Las Vegas.
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The staff at our local Baskin-Robbins looked at me like I was nuts when I asked about this, so I'll try you... did they once have a sherbet flavor that was something like mandarin orange and chocolate? I remember this from when I was a kid, but so far I seem to be the only person who does.
I don't remember the name but do I remember the flavor - very popluar with adults I believe
I believe the name was Mandarin Chocolate, and a quick search on Google brought up some other people's recollections and a couple of make alike recipes.
Marcia.
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Convenience. I only buy bottled water when I want to take some with me somewhere, or I'm at a gas station and want something to drink and don't want soda (I like soda, but it's more of a treat/snack than a beverage to me, even the diet stuff) or anything carbonated, or I'm at a rest stop on the highway and the water fountain is icky/rusted shut/dispenses warm yellowish water.
I don't drink it routinely - I have a nice glass of tap water and tap water ice right next to me. And yes, I will take along my own water when I remember to. But when I don't, it's nice to have options.
Marcia.
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I dont know if you can read this sign, but it says " Blowout sale". My two favorite words.
Excellent choice in favorite words! My husband teases me that my two favorite brands are "on sale" and "clearance".
The lettuce wraps look just about perfect for a hot day!
Marcia.
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For tonight's dinner (was supposed to be last night's but I got started too late) I made a riff on kofta kabobs using the herbs and spices I had around that sounded good.
To 1 lb of ground beef I added a bunch of chopped mint, a tbsp of dried oregano rehydrated in 1 tbsp water, a mess of garlic salt, some more garlic in the form of powder, ground cumin, sweet paprika, and a mess of black pepper. Mixed it well and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Tonight I portioned the meat into 16 "mini meatballs", and threaded them on double presoaked wooden skewers with pieces of onion alternating (because I forgot to chop and add an onion to the meat mixture):
Presoaking for multiple hours didn't do one bit of good. They were on fire about 3 minutes into cooking. Fortunately, I have a Super Soaker and very good aim, so I kept shooting out the flames.
I served them on whole wheat tortillas (went to three stores yesterday and NO ONE had any pitas - are they horribly out of fashion or something?) with lettuce, tomato, and a riff on tzatziki: yogurt, grated/salted/rinsed/squeezed cucumber, mint, and garlic.
It was delicious, and it was not something I would have thought of making for dinner on my own. This is why I love the cook offs!
Marcia.
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A local restaurant, no longer in business as the same place (they kept the name, changed everything else), used to have a "Kobe beef" hamburger on the menu for $7.99 (included fries).
Needless to say, I wasn't buying it. Or ordering it.
I agree with the earlier comment that the variety of the tomato doesn't matter if it isn't ripe. I've gotten amazing results with boring old grocery store tomatoes just by bringing them home and letting them sit on the counter in a bowl with the bananas for a couple of days. Unripe heirloom tomatoes are just as tasteless as unripe non-heirloom. And I'll take my homegrown whatever they are tomatoes over both of 'em.
I take all menu hype with a large dash of salt. My bottom line is: is the dish good? The rest is all marketing.
Marcia.
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You have to be born a Norwegian to love lutefisk.
Having a great deal of glogg to drink beforehand and shots of aquavit afterwards goes a long way towards softening one's feelings towards lutefisk
.Marcia.
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I will never again "just pop" a fiery red thai pepper from my garden into my mouth and crunch it up-just to see if they are hot this year.
OH MY GOD!!!!!
THE PAIN!I take it that's a yes, then?
Marcia.
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When I was trying to put together an eating plan that would address my specific requirements while being realistic, I thought about nutrition a LOT. I researched and read everything I could get my hands on and thought about it darned near constantly.
I reached several conclusions from this:
1. Like most medical things, nutrition is ever-changing as more research is being done.
2. If people only ate foods which no "expert" claims has something bad for you in it, we'd all starve to death because no foods fit that criteria. Yet somehow the human race has managed not only to survive but thrive beyond our wildest expectations on this bad for you stuff.
3. Most nutrition research doesn't worry about taste or satiety or what color the sky is in the real world.
4. Nutrition gets REALLY boring after awhile.
So I ended up figuring that if I ate a wide variety of foods, especially foods that fit in with the goals of the plan, I was going to eat a wide variety of nutrients, and that should cover it. I still take a multivitamin to cover all the bases.
If my body was feeling the need for a little extra of something, it would let me know via a food craving. Learning to trust my body to tell me and to trust in my ability to listen was an adventure in and of itself.
I only talk about nutrition when asked. Most people aren't interested or don't want to know. Or they do know and they don't want to be reminded for their own personal reasons. (There's an erroneous concept among many reformers that if people only KNEW, they would naturally and inevitably take action to correct problems. It doesn't quite work that way.)
And honestly, I have no idea if what works for me will work for anyone else. In fact, I know it won't. On the rare occasions I am asked about it, I emphasize this point - I refuse to preach about diet and nutrition because I know how it annoys me. Even when I'm already on board.
Marcia.
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The first homegrown zucchini of the season. It's weeks early, I just sauteed it in a little olive oil and garlic, salt and pepper, finished with a nice fruity olive oil. Absolutely delicious.
Marcia.
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I've never had a bad meal anywhere in Epcot at Disneyworld....average seems to be about as bad as it got. We've eaten at the Coral Reef a couple of times and really enjoyed it, especially the special "Epcot Dessert": a hollow sphere of chocolate shaped like the Epcot geodesic sphere with sherbet inside and spun sugar decorations. (I hope I'm remembering it correctly!) Half of it came back with us to the hotel.
Another favorite was the pastry shop in the France area. Great for a mid-afternoon rest, especially since there was the indoor air conditioned seating area in the gift shop right around the corner that never seemed to be crowded.
My favorite unexpected find was the veggie wrap from one of the food places near The Land. We'd grabbed one to sustain us until dinner and it turned out to be fresh and flavorful and more than just the filler it was intended to be.
One of the many reasons I'd like to take another trip to Disneyworld is the food
.Marcia.
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I can find them pretty regularly at our local Safeway, and I figured if we had them here, you all have had them for years! They're not one of the standard cuts that are always available, but these days they tend to be more available than not, and quite reasonably priced.
I just cut out the gristle in the middle.
Marcia.
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Blueberry peach cobbler. Just substitute blueberries for some of the peaches in your favorite recipe - the combination is better than either of them alone in my opinion!
Blueberry jam. Blueberries make marvelous jam, but they're so expensive in the grocery stores that I understand why people never make it.
Marcia.
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The only time I've ever made 5 lbs of mashed potatoes and had them all disappear was when three of our dinner guests were strapping young men in their early 20s. Pretty much everything disappeared except the peas.
For me, it's pesto. I love pesto, but I just don't use it all that often. Last year I gave away most of my basil when I realized that I had frozen pesto left over from the past two years. This year I'm working on using the basil fresh because, yes, I STILL have pesto left in the freezer.
Marcia.
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I just finished watching Decoding Ferran Adria. An excellent show, and an enjoyable one, but I think it's going to take a lot more mental processing to determine what I think of Ferran Adria and what he's doing and how it fits in to my own experience of food and what I expect from it. My husband and I have already had a couple of interesting discussions about the concepts raised.
In this way it reminds me a lot of when I saw Blue Man Group. I know I enjoyed the show, but when people asked me what I thought of it directly afterwards, I didn't really have an answer. It was something I needed to process and think through before I could put together the right words. I still think about it, even years later, and find more things in it. Or maybe I'm finding them in myself.
Perhaps that's what Ferran Adria is aiming at, in which case the show captured it perfectly.
Marcia.
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Zucchini season is coming early - I've got two which will be ready to harvest this week, which is 3-4 weeks early for around here. I can't wait - just tried a new (to me) recipe for fried zucchini patties last night with the last of this year's store bought zucchini. While I want to tweak with the ingredients, we both liked them a great deal, so I expect to be making them as long as we have zucchini.
Marcia.
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the camera battery has already died...I might have to go pick up a spare
Better the camera battery than the camera
!It is going to be fun to see all the wonderful products you have within a 100 mile radius!
Marcia.
Do you use tiny (0.5 cup / 100 ml) tupperware?
in Kitchen Consumer
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My mother was feeding 5 people which included 3 hungry kids which included my brother, so if there was a dab or a spoonful of something left, it was eaten. It also made it easier to distribute that spoonful among the many plates.
I cook for two, and it's hard to hide that extra half cup of sauce on only two plates
. Also, a half cup of sauce will be plenty for two servings at another meal.
My parents also didn't have much Tupperware/Rubbermaid at all....they reused margarine containers for that kind of thing. This is why it was vital that we replaced the margarine container with actual margarine in it in the right place in the fridge - otherwise there was no telling what you would find inside.
Marcia.
whose butter tubs are used for watering wells for her African violets