Smithy

Hello and welcome! That is an impressive first post and impressive dessert. Keep in mind that this topic will lock in a week, so if you need to continue the discussion you can post in the Pastry & Baking forum. Also: if you have any questions about how or where to post something, feel free to ask a host by PM. (I'm one of them.)

Hello and welcome, @Neely! It's good when lurkers come out of the shadows. As others have said: tell us more about yourself. What do you like to cook, do you cook for others or just yourself, what part of Down Under are you in? Whatever you want to tell us. If you have any questions about how or where to post something, feel free to ask a host by PM. (I'm one of them.)

Did you make the kimchi slaw? If so, how? (I'm on a kimchi kick these days.)

Please tell more about this dish. Your food ALWAYS looks wonderful, but this looks like exactly what I need to be cooking in the next day or two.

That's fair, and what I've done too. And I still have my Swiss Army Knife with the can opener as a backup to the backups. But boy, I sure like my little electric safety-style can opener!

Thanks for bringing this up. I have a jar of rabbit rilllettes that I bought on impulse at a favorite restaurant in October, and it's still sitting in the refrigerator. it's easy for me to overlook it, because (a) it's small and hides easily and (b) I haven't known really what to do with it. Put it on toast or crackers! What could be easier?

My mother, a Florida native and war bride, served us SPAM a few times when I was growing up. She'd slice it and fry it, much the way I understand scrapple is handled. She, or my father, may actually have liked it. I didn't. But it was considered nutritious and inexpensive, there in the late 50's or early 60's when we didn't have much money. I've never been tempted to try it again, though -- and I noticed that at some point she stopped buying it!

I've looked at The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) many times but not actually purchased or cooked from it yet. Do you mean it's part of an upcoming plan, or something you cooked from in a past summer? I'd love to know what you think about it. By the way -- as part of welcoming you, I should also have stated that if you have problems navigating the site, or questions about where to post something, feel free to PM a host. I'm one of 'em.

I would love to know which cookbooks you explore and what you think! You might join our massive league of enablers. 🙂 Meanwhile...welcome (back) to eGullet. It's good to have you here.

That is a lovely-looking little pot you have! It reminds me of the coffee pots we saw in Egypt for boiling water and making coffee, although most of the pots we saw for sale were made from aluminum. My husband had one for boiling water in the campfire -- that long handle is ideal for the purpose. As for the coffee itself -- I'm with you that the sugar wrecks it. Never did like coffee that way, except on very special occasions. I can't help you with the grinder. Would an espresso grind be close enough?

I've made it in both the 3qt and the 6qt. It's possible that the cheesecake has cracked in the 3qt and I don't remember. Thanks for the suggestion!

I made this today in a 3 qt IP and, for the first time, it cracked on top. The differences I know of are that I used real cream cheese (instead of my usual neufchatel) and light sour cream for about half. Got any ideas about why it cracked? Nobody will know the difference, of course; the sour cream topping will cover it. But I'm curious about why it might have cracked.

I did it *twice* today, this time without doubling the time. I'm going to take the excellent advice above! (Or else use the stovetop.)

An hour after I posted the above story, I had a small explosion in my own microwave. I will never again use the "melt butter" function twice without stirring between times, even though some of the butter is still solid.

When my parents got their first microwave oven, my father hosted two of my college friends on an overnight stop while Mom and I were away. For breakfast, before he took them to their backpacking starting point, he cooked eggs. In the microwave. There were 2 eggs in the house. At the time he (and the rest of us) knew nothing about the hazards of microwaving an egg with an intact yolk. One exploded in the microwave. There were bits everywhere in the interior. Dad scraped it together to the extent he could, gave it to one of my friends, and gave the intact egg to the other friend. THAT one exploded the instant the fork hit it! The whole thing was so funny that my friends were falling over themselves laughing and telling the story the following week when we saw each other again. I'd already heard it from Dad, because he too laughed about it that evening when I arrived. As he was describing the action, he gestured toward the refrigerator -- and found yet more egg that he'd missed in the cleanup!

I dated a man whose mother was Polish. Her family referred to Jan. 6 as "Littlle Christmas" and not only kept the tree up until afterward, but had another round of (small) gift giving on that day. I dumped the man, but kept the tradition of leaving the decorations up until afterward. 12th night, Little Christmas, Epiphany, 12th day of Christmas, and now I have Día de Los Reyes Magos for the same celebratory day! Fun!!

Very much like the Mardi Gras King's Cake. I don't remember whether the winner of the Baby has an obligation afterward, as you're describing. That's an interesting tradition. Thanks for showing the photos. Too bad nobody has answered yet about the significance of the citrus!

We plan to stay out here rather than go anywhere. Not sure about special meals yet, but they won't involve a trip to the grocery store! 😄

Don't they scorch? That was always my experience, and I didn't like the smell.

In which case, it truly might be someone's last eggnog!

Yesterday was our day to go dump the holdings tanks, refill the water and propane and gasoline tanks, and dispose of garbage. It's normally a 3 hour operation, start to finish, but we decided to go to a different place in the misguided belief that it would go more quickly. Not only were we badly mistaken about the time and simplicity, but the paved road was actually worse than the dirt road we take to the other place. Note the position of the pot lids. These pots were on the floor, with their lids on, before we started! Still, we got it done and got back in time for a walk and a fine sunset. We finished the last of the beef ribs from Christmas for dinner last night. I'm not sure which planned-overs we'll have tonight, but we have plenty of choices.

No. I could tell the difference in short ribs by size, but not by flavor. The back ribs were slightly tougher and I only managed to remove the bone from one of them, but the flavor was similar.

Well. The dust has settled, many phone conversations with family and friends have been enjoyed, the dishes have been washed and put away and our Christmas feast is behind us. (In my case, increasing my behind.) Now I can tell about yesterday's Christmas dinner. Last week when I had to go to town and barely made it back before the flash flood warnings, it was partly because Nothing Would Do But We Had to Have Short Ribs for Christmas Dinner. We had talked about all the food in the freezer and how we shouldn't buy anything special, but I wanted short ribs. I had to go to town anyway for other errands, so it wasn't really a special trip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I knew I was buying too much meat, but I didn't think the one package available at Fry's would be enough. So I went to Albertsons, got more short ribs, and while I was at it added beef back ribs to the mix. I was curious about the difference. When I unwrapped these, I thought the Fry's ribs had a strongish smell (note the darker color) and wondered whether they were spoiling. I washed them -- actually, I rinsed and patted dry all the meat -- and then coated them with this rib rub: It was a gift from my sister a few years ago. The Spice and Tea Shoppe has been a source of some fine gifts over the years! I browned the ribs on all sides, then added perhaps a cup of water -- enough to come halfway up the smaller pieces -- slapped a lid on the pot and put it into the oven as low as it would go. I think they braised in there for around 1.5 - 2 hours, but lost track of the time since I was working on other dishes in the meantime. I was following the technique I learned during the eGullet Culinary Institute's weeklong seminar and labs titled The Truth About Braising. I must say I've always been delighted with the results, but I don't think I've cooked short ribs this way for at least 10 years, due to changing family dynamics and, probably, laziness on my part. I bothered to take the extra steps: defat the sauce after the ribs were done, let them cool, remove the bones, then reheat the meat in the juices. It's more work, but makes a better presentation at the dinner table. In addition I learned from @Wolfert during the course and subsequent discussion that it helps add even more tenderness to the meat. In this case, I made gravy from the defatted juices, then rewarmed the ribs in the gravy just before serving. While the ribs were braising, I mixed up scalloped corn and a wing-it attempt at potatoes dauphinois using paper-thin slices of potatoes interspersed with butter and poured over with cream. The idea was to get a crispy base and tender potatoes. I think it went too long. Flavors were good, but there was quite a lot stuck to the bottom of the pan. Earlier in the day I'd used the food processor while the generator was running, to make a cranberry salad. It's based on his family's recipe: fresh cranberries, a whole orange or two, toasted walnuts, a bit of sugar. It was to be an accompaniment to dinner, or a dessert, but we never got to it. It's been breakfast this morning, and will be for a few more mornings. It took 3 loads of dishwashing (counting the food processor in the morning) and I wouldn't want to do this often any more -- but dinner was tasty and we have plenty of leftovers. I don't think we'll need to cook anything this week, beyond reheating things in the microwave. A nice GSM accompanied the dinner. He isn't usually a wine drinker, but made an exception last night. (He abstained from the barbecue sauce last night on his ribs, but has already noted that he'll probably put it on his next portions. 🤷‍♀️)

Those cat mugs are adorable! Too bad about the chipping.

Here it is, working on a very small can of jalapenos -- about the diameter of a can of tomato paste. It worked like a charm. @Maison Rustique. I think the angle of the cylinder is necessary so that the cutter is going halfway from top to bottom of the top seam. Note the angle of the body of the opener while it was in action. Even on this small can, when it was done I had a smooth edge on both the lid and the can.