Smithy

@rotuts, what do you do with the meat? Do I understand that you're using it in place of ground turkey? Do you use it in sauces, like spaghetti sauce?

My cookbook collection is wildly out of control, especially now that I've emptied the Princessmobile, but I do find the books to be inspiring. I've also been going back through the Camping, Princess Style topic and, though I miss my husband terribly, seeing some pretty good food that I used to cook. Maybe I will get that mojo back after all, but I still need to learn to cook smaller portions so I'm not eating the same thing all week. Also, I need to get through the stuff he loved that I don't, but is occupying the freezer anyway. Frozen peas, anyone?

The dedicated bowl stand is something I haven't seen before. I don't plan to buy one, but at one time I might have done. Thank you for that.

Thank you for this entertaining mental image! 😀

This very much resonates with me. I've learned that I'm actually hungry around 5 or 6 pm (and that seems to be getting earlier as the days get shorter). If I haven't already done some sort of prep work then I'm likely to eat a chunk of broccoli, or a grilled sandwich, and call it dinner.

It seems to me that in that case, the partner should make the meal! But I confess, my darling's idea of "company" dinner and mine were a bit different. Maybe it's the same for you?

Shall we start an "ambition vs. catalog sense" cook-off?

This could be subtitled a lot of things: "More ambition than sense" "When expensive might be better" "Whom do you think you're kidding?" The list of possible subtitles goes on. So, the back story is that when I was growing up, once in a great grand while someone we visited around the Holiday Season would have petits fours. Oh, how I loved those things! And how I pined for the advertised delicacies in the Swiss Colony catalog! To the best of my knowledge, my family never indulged in them. Too expensive, probably not even very good junk food, and we had plenty of good homemade Christmas cookies. Still. A few days ago a catalog from Swiss Colony arrived at my house, saying that it might be my last catalog because they didn't want to bug me, and pretending that I've ordered from them in the past. I haven't. I know it's a marketing ploy. But there are those petits fours. And Dobosh tortes and other delicacies that I've savored once in a while. I haven't made Christmas plans yet. I expect to spend it here in Minnesota, with extended family or friends, but without my late and sorely missed husband. He wouldn't have approved of petits fours, although he might have wolfed them down anyway, scoffing as he scarfed (as he used to with warm chocolate chip cookies). Still. He isn't here. My blood family isn't here. My marriage relatives have a number of food intolerances. But I want those petits fours! i dithered, and looked, and have been dithering and looking. Would I even think those mass-produced things are good any more? They're expensive! I also found an old Petits Fours topic here that might could stand updating, but doesn't provide the level of detail I think I need. Finally, I decided that a good used copy of Rodgers' Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from Vienna was the better buy. $5 and change for a book to tell me how to make good Dobosh and Bavarian Tortes, if not petits fours, as opposed to about $20 for a box of petits fours. I was convinced. I pulled the trigger. Have I mentioned that I'm trying to weed my cookbook collection? That cookbook is on its way. And I'm STILL probably going to buy petits fours from Swiss Colony!

@MetsFan5, any updates on this product? Is the oven kaput, or have you made friends with it, or is it simply languishing in a corner somewhere?

That sounds like an unpleasant reversal, were it to happen. What about crumpets? Could you make a passel of them (i.e. as much as the batter will make) and then freezer them for later consumption? In my experience crumpets toast rather well.

Anyone care to provide updates on the grand topic of petits fours? I have a ridiculous desire to have some for Christmas, and am torn between trying to make them or simply buying them from a catalog.

So. Maybe it's time to revisit this topic? The pandemic and isolation that probably triggered this topic have gone, more or less. We're all of us older, and it pains me to see that several of the original participants are no longer with us. Still, the problem remains. What do you do when you used to love to cook, and you remember loving to cook, but just can't get into it now? Is it a permanent or temporary change? If you don't like the loss of enthusiasm, what can you do about it? Personal circumstances have knocked the stuffing out of my cooking enthusiasm. The good news is that I've lost a lot of weight in a good way. The bad news is that one of my favorite regular home projects has become very perfunctory. Dishwashing is down, garbage generation is down, weight is blessedly down ... but so is the fun. I'll be very glad when I finish working my way through a pile of microwaveable packaged sauces and rice, but it's a moonshot-sized leap of faith to think that working my way through packaged convenience foods will lead to the rebirth of the Joy of Cooking. How about the rest of you? This is, after all, a site dedicated to food (and drink) and cooking (and drink). When and if you've found your enthusiasm flagging, what have you done to revive it? Has it worked? I can tell about a ridiculous cookbook-and-baking-vs-catalog-and-buying situation I've gotten myself into, but it perhaps belongs in Food Funnies. Or the cookbooks forum. Or the Pastry & Baking forum. I haven't decided. I am having fun laughing at myself. Maybe that's progress.

@DesertTinker: thank you! I don't think the 2024 winner has been announced yet, but based on the radio article I linked he's gotten even more imaginative. I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing the results. 🙂

Well, judging by the two comments above, I may be wrong! 🙂

I'm not weinoo, but I'm pretty sure the rings are so you can hang the bowls (say, from pegs on the wall) when not in use. I'd expect them to be no nuisance at all when in use.

Everything looks and sounds wonderful except this, which I can't make out. Would you please explain "live edge board"? Thanks so much for posting, and I hope you get that sale.

Interesting trick; thanks. I've only ever used gelatin to gel juices (I used to encase fruit salad in gelatinized citrus juice, like this and this) and didn't know about its role in tannin removal. I wonder whether it would have worked with the oh-so-tannic pulps from unripe persimmons I just threw away? Too late to find out now.

I had no idea this was a thing, but collard lovers should rejoice! Of course the idea was dreamed up to promote collards. I haven't been able to find the actual image, but it sounds like a fun promotional project. The gentleman in question said that he had a lot of visitors drive out from big cities, just to buy collards (and no doubt ogle the winner). Listen to the NPR article here -- it's about 2 minutes' worth. Click

Cheese toasties with a smear of mayo and mustard, and a topping of (over-)roasted tomatoes. The tomatoes and accompanying onions were so badly overdone that I couldn't bring myself to share them on the Preservation topic, but when added to warm cheese they're usable. 🙂

I haven't heard of that trick. Please describe it?

I shall never again pull the refrigerator away from the wall, blithely assuring my helper that there's nothing heavy up there to fall, until I carefully check this space: *CLUNK* Oh, THAT'S where that cast iron baking mold went! Fortunately nobody's head was under it when it fell. Also fortunately, the chip it knocked out of the floor tile will be covered by the refrigerator. I guess now I know how the housesitter put a chip in our wooden flooring, next to the refrigerator, a couple of winters ago. We always wondered how she'd managed to do that. Guess I'd better figure out a better home for that pan.

You're absolutely right. As I reread the article, I see they noted that most of the cookbooks are older because it takes time for a cookbook's influence to develop. I didn't make that clear in my opening post, and I'm not sure I understood that point when I posted. Thanks for the correction.

I have that one too! Or at least, I used to. (Don't know which, right now.) 🙂

This article in the New York Times Magazine is interesting: The 25 Most Influential Cookbooks From the Last 100 Years. The article should be unlocked so anyone can read it; if not, let me know so I can edit the link. The subtitle says it best: "Chefs, writers, editors and a bookseller gathered to debate — and decide — which titles have most changed the way we cook and eat". There's a good conversation, condensed from their final online conversations about the subject. The books are selected based on how much they've changed the way we cook, with a few caveats based on recency and author. The assumption on influence is that a book newer than 10 years old can't be shown to have lasting influence. One item in the introductory paragraphs that gave me a laugh and some hope for the industry was the comment that cookbook sales still flourish despite the ready access to recipes online. I laughed because only yesterday my best friend told me that her college-age nephew had laughed at the idea of getting a beginner's cookbook to teach him how to cook. "Nobody buys cookbooks any more!" he scoffed. I'm only about halfway through it, but I recognize and own a lot of those books. The Silver Palate Cookbook was my gateway drug purchase to an ever-expanding cookbook collection. My cookery has been informed over the years by many of these books. How about you?

Welcome to eGullet, paulrook-society! We've had a few folks explore the idea of a food truck here over the years, but I don't recall any steady discussion about it. It would be nice to see. One of my favorite local food trucks is Scenic 61 in northeastern Minnesota. They began as an outreach and survival strategy from my favorite restaurant, The New Scenic Cafe, as the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions began to lift. The New Scenic Cafe has a similiar philosophy to yours: locally grown to the degree possible; organic; creative and high-quality foods. Now that the restaurant is fully opened the food truck seems to be relegated to special events because it's difficult to find enough staff for the restaurant and the food truck. Do you have similar staffing issues?