andiesenji

Does organic/natural mean it's harmless? dcarch Click here and read about the cherry red dye.

An email missive from ChefShop.com contained this bit about their coconut milk testing and selecting the canned product. Since there has been obvious interest in the topic in recent months, here it is. These are also smaller cans than the usual 13.5 ounce and for me that is an advantage. Many of my recipes call for 250 ml of coconut milk so I often have a third of a can sitting in the fridge until it acquires unwanted visitors. This 9 ounce can (270 ml) is just about perfect for me, cooking for one. If the product is superior, I don't mind paying a premium price.

And this is the main reason I avoid red velvet cake(and cupcakes)like the plauge. I can taste the food coloring and to me, its just so nasty. That's the reason that I have been using the Organic food Coloring from Nature's Flavors My Mewmaw's Red Velvet Cake never used food coloring - she would use maraschino cherries but I later used canned red cherries to avoid the dye. In recent years I found the All-Natural Maraschino cherries and I keep these on hand to use in the cake. The color is just a vivid but there is no red dye to cause problems or an altered taste. My Mexican neighbor uses a combination of annato seeds and tamarind paste to make a coloring for some of the cakes she makes for fiestas. I haven't researched it but she tells me that annato seeds are "healthy" and better to use than regular food colors. She says that some of the food colorings sold in Mexico contain chemicals that are dangerous so she has always made her own, but buys the natural ones now available here.

I have seen that in situations where it is cut into cubes. Clearly some people will pay to avoid handling raw meat or using a sharp knife. This is why I don't buy "stew" meat - I just bought a chuck roast to cook today (stew), because I forgot to take one out of the freezer a couple of days ago. The stew meat was almost twice the price of the chuck roast but was also labeled "chuck" and I think that is ridiculous. The roast was 2.67 a pound, the stew meat 4.79. I shouldn't think the "labor" costs would elevate it that much. Anyway, I'm picky about how my stew meat is cut.

Or prune whip or lemon or pineapple fluff (all from the '50s) Hold on. Are you saying that people today wouldn't complain about- or at least make fun of- prune whip? Prune whip? Really? I know quite a few people, mostly men, mostly all transplanted southerners (with one Newfoundlander), who are very serious about prune whip. Their mama's and grandmama's made it and they really, really like it. Laugh, at your peril.

I'm bumping this up because I just found this item Apparently it doesn't work as well as the regular pans that don't have a bump in the center. I don't understand the purpose of the bump but I'm guessing that this is a simple idea that some engineer (who doesn't cook) got hold of and decided to "improve" it.

Ditto &etc., and I'm a diabetic.

Or prune whip or lemon or pineapple fluff (all from the '50s)

The first health food store I visited was in Panorama City in the San Fernando Valley and it was in 1952 when I was out here for a visit with my dad. The "Panorama Market" was a supermarket and produce market on Van Nuys Blvd., just south of Parthenia St. and right next door was the health food store that sold a lot of stuff than was not available in the regular market. (I remember huge jars of brewers yeast.) Then, as similar stores do now, they sold herbal remedies and my dad and stepmom liked some of them as well as some other stuff that I don't recall. My dad used brewers yeast in health drinks that would equate to today's smoothies. Health food stores have been a California fixture since the 1920s, according to some folks I have spoken with over the years. One (Billie Dove) told me about a health food store in Santa Monica in the early '20s who catered to movie people who wanted special diets to keep healthy with the rigorous demands of the work. There was a sharp increase in the number of stores in the '60s and some morphed into supermarket types Mrs. Gooch's was rather late to the party. A lot of the "ranch" markets - such as Bill's, that used to occupy a corner in Glendale at Glenoaks and Alameda, carried "natural" foods as well as the produce, much of it from "local" growers in the '60s - I lived in Burbank and shopped there regularly. The Ivine ranch market in Orange County was also one such - We used to stop there on our way to or from San Diego.

Cristina Ferrare's Big Bowl of Love with interviews in her home kitchen (lovely kitchen, and very practical) has been on every local news program this morning. I just watched the third I have seen today - this one on ABC Channel 7 - and the enthusiasm of the interviewer was catching. I just ordered the book, mostly because of the descriptions of some of the recipes on a segment on another station. I also have had her book "Family Entertaining" for many years. Amazon does not yet have the "Look inside" feature for this book but it is probably in the near future. I certainly enjoyed the few cooking segments I saw her present on Oprah, although I rarely watch the show, I did tune in for a few because I like Christina's attitude.

Garlic jelly (left front). I am FASCINATED by the notion of garlic jelly. What's it like? It is a sweet/savory flavor that is great with strong cheeses and with some of the saltier patés and terrines. To my taste some of the latter are a bit to salty to really appreciate the meats/fowl, etc., but the addition of a tiny dollop of this jelly seems (again, to my taste) reduces the saltiness and enhances the flavor of the base. Somewhere in there is a pepper/garlic jam that I also like with cheeses.

I've got backup generators but I also have solar panels on my roof (installed after I got the generators). I might run out of diesel for the generators but the sun ain't going to stop shining as long as I am still around and it's free! So I have redundancy, backups to the backup, so to speak. I was the first in my area to go for this alternative power source but now almost all of my neighbors have it. Even better, for much of the year, I'm producing more power than I use so SoCal Edison has to pay ME! Very satisfying, those checks.

Salton and other hot trays show up on eBay and Ruby Lane, etc., frequently. I broke the glass top on one of mine and was able to replace it immediately. Some have a "hot spot" to keep some things at a higher temp - often used for fondues back in the day...

That clamp-on lamp is rated for and sold with 500 watt flood lights and with photography lamps up to 1000 watts.

I feel your pain! These are just the ones that have not yet been opened. How about a honey collection?

Uhhh. Isn't this like reinventing the wheel? Today's heat lamps use less energy than they did twenty years ago and you don't have to monkey around with them. Actually you can just buy the infrared bulb and put it into a clamp-on portable lamp, which is very inexpensive. And safe to use. Or you can get one of the more expensive (but not much) ceramic bulbs that they use in large reptile enclosures.

I've held it for an hour, sometimes more - when folks seemed to be reluctant to leave the cocktails...

I don't have a problem because they are in my pantry, which has been engineered to be cool, even during the summer. No exterior windows, etc. During the winter it can be downright chilly, but not as cold as a fridge. I live in the high desert where summer temps can get well above 100° F. but the pantry rarely gets warmer than 70 and is usually cooler. Frankly there are a lot of sauces that to me do not have as much flavor when they are refrigerated. With the pepper sauces, there is enough vinegar in them that works as a preservative. Chutney, for instance, is never refrigerated. And I don't put the marmalades and jams that I use frequently in the fridge. I do refrigerate curds &etc., that contain eggs. Also. Darienne has posted the best description/explanation and/or justification!

I think we may also be related. This is just one shelf in the main pantry. There are more in the little pantry and also in both refrigerators. I see a condiment and I just can't resist. Perhaps there is an support group? Condiments anonymous, perhaps? I am a regular customer of the Mustard Museum And can't resist the "deals" that show up in my email every week. Often several mustards are "bundled" at considerable savings. (I also have a Poupon U hoodie, a tote bag and a T-shirt.)

I wouldn't touch food that was served on anything that couldn't be sterilized. That entire concept is insane. Are you sure that wasn't an April Fool joke?

Thanks Helen. That is very helpful. I'm thinking that it would be handy if and when we have another power crunch, like back in 2001 when we had rolling blackouts here. I've got a gas stovetop but my ovens are electric and a lot of folks in my area have only electric. We did have warnings of when the power was going to be cut and it was possible to work around it. Something like this, where the food could be started on the stove or in the oven and finished without power, would be a boon in an emergency situation. I've got a slab of steel boilerplate that once heated, will stay hot for a very long time. I'll have to get it out of the shed and see how long it takes to heat up with an auxiliary heat source, i.e., a blowtorch.

I am SO stealing that excuse for my huge spice/condiment/cookbook/gadget/small appliance/Fiestaware collections! It's possible we are related....

Risotto and polenta can both be kept over simmering water in a colander lined with parchment I have one of the heat lamp units that I bought a few years ago at Smart & Final to keep meats warm for a while on a platter or the serving plates. I have three electric roasters and several slow cookers. When I was catering, I held hot foods in "hotel pans" over simmering water in the roasters for large batches, in the slow cookers for small batches. There are Pyrex baking dishes of almost any shape to fit these. Rectangular ones that fit into the roasters, round and oval ones that fit the slow cookers. The latter are good for foods that don't need to be crisp - those need the heat lamps or a warm oven but the heat lamps keep foods crisper. That's why they use them in restaurants. This is the one I have. I paid about $150.00 for it.

I'll see yours - and raise you ....... these! plus these that live in the freezer - spice mixtures with seeds and etc., that often have unwanted hitchikers that hatch at room temp. And those do not include the salt collection and the pepper collection: I'm NOT hoarding, not at all. I am merely prepared for just about any cuisine from several continents. One never knows when a visitor from some exotic local may drop in and wish to cook for me.

Don't apologize, glory in it! That's what I do - check my cornbread from "scratch" post on my blog!