andiesenji

This Sharp is deeper but not as wide as the one you had. I have had the larger model for many years and it has worked nicely in both convection and microwave and combination phases.

Wendy Sweetser has authored a book "Cooking with Chimineas: 150 Delicious Recipes for Barbecuing, Grilling, Roasting and Smoking" that may still be available but I wouldn't recommend it. There is this blog: http://www.squidoo.com/cooking-with-a-chiminea however, both these suggest cooking with charcoal briquettes and I don't think they are recommended for use in a chiminea. I have one (been stored in the shed for years) but it is the traditional clay, purchased on one of my trips to New Mexico years ago and used the first year but not since then. I have a perfectly adequate charcoal grill/smoker/barbecue that is much easier to use and much easier to clean. I did use natural charcoal in the chiminea as I use it exclusively in my barbecue - I don't like the briquettes at all. In my opinion you should just enjoy it as an outdoor firepit as you would a fireplace indoors and not try the cooking part. My neighbor, who is visiting and looking over my shoulder, suggested a pot for mulled wine and some "nibbles on skewers" but that is her thing, not mine, as I don't drink alcohol.

I make stratta, bread puddings, summer puddings, stuffing mix, toasted bread crumbs that go into the freezer (for future use in meat loaf, croquettes), Welsh rarebit, open face sandwiches with gravy - stale is better than fresh in these, quick mini pizzas, and so on... I have a neat little cookbook, "Cooking With Bread" "Cooking With Bread" that I have been using for many, many years. I checked and found a copy on ebay - it was published in 1969 and I have had mine since then. There have been a lot of changes in things since then. In particular you will note that many canned goods mentioned contain less net volume than back in those days.

Looks terrific Zoe. I have become addicted to this bread, especially my version with the added asiago cheese. I mix it in the pot after dinner, stick it in the fridge and bake it next morning. It is very difficult to hold off chopping off a hunk until it is cool. I have to confess that occasionally there is one edge marred that just has to be sliced off while it is still hot. Doesn't even need butter.

I receive one of their catalogs at least once a week. Saw the bag holder-open gadget and also am fascinated by this clip-on pan spout. I have a goodly number of products sold by this vendor, some from long before the internet came into being. I also am a subscriber to FeedBlitz' Kitchen Contraptions Where I have found some extremely helpful items. Two weeks ago they showed these silicone pot handle grips and I ordered them.silicone grips Great product.

Thanks for posting this. I love unusual kitchen/baking gadgets and have just ordered one. Will report back after receipt and use of same.

I have one of these under one of the overhead cabinets where I prep for most baking and general cooking recipes. I also have a very expensive one that I rigged so it will hang from my pot rack over the kitchen island. I know it is still available but can't find a web site readily. It's made by "Levo" or at least that is the name on the thing. I have also seen an acrilic one that is in one piece, shaped so there is a pocked for the book and the back support is elongated into a gable shape that has a round hole so it can be hung on a cabinet knob or on a hook. Otherwise, Crate & Barrel had some cast iron ones that were pretty nice back around Christmas time.

And here is my report on my new "strawberry towers" - a compact and efficient way to do a lot of gardening in a very small space. Each of the Agro-Towers Grow Pots has six sections and they fit together in a sturdy stack 3 high with no center post but with a center pipe or post, anchored in the ground can be stacked higher. I saw a brief segment on one of the shows on the "Green channel" about these in use on a deck garden (Manhattan Beach) and also on an apartment balcony (West Hollywood) and since they are a California company, decided to give them a try. I purchased twelve and have four more to fill with my remaining strawberry plants and am anticipating ordering more as I have some other ideas. The quality of the materials in the pots is exceptional and I anticipate that they will last for many years. The usual disclaimer, I have no connection with the company other than as a customer.

That rocks! I hope it grows and prospers. My mom still has a potted tomato plant from last year that continues to bear fruit. Granted, the fruit stayed green through the winter months but now that the sun has returned, the fruit is finally starting to turn. She's also decided to give her Topsy Turvy tomato planter another try this year. Best o' luck to ya, Ma! So far my Topsy Turvy tomato is way behind the others that were planted in deep pots at the same time. Same variety (Early Girl) and from the same six pack as the others and they were all the same size when transplanted. I do have it in a protected area, where it can get sun but not so much of the wind. (It has been very windy the past couple of weeks and started out nice today but about eleven a.m. the wind came rolling in.)

I am reopening this topic because after a lapse of a few years I am again gardening but on a smaller scale than previously. Having lost a considerable amount of weight over the past two years, I now have far more energy than I did and the gardening does not seem so much like an impossible task. My knees are still a bit "iffy" but as long as I avoid kneeling or squatting, I am okay. All of my new vegetable gardening is in containers. Several tomato plants, eggplants, cucumbers (different varieties), summer squash (zucchini, crookneck, etc.), kale, chard, onions, carrots, radishes, lettuces, beans (both bush and pole), peas (pod and sugar snap), and various herbs and a couple of exotics (Yacon plant ordered from Nichols Garden Nursery in Oregon) and something called "summer cilantro" which is supposed to resist bolting in the summer heat. Also strawberries, more about these later because I have purchased some rather interesting pots which are due to arrive today and which are supposed to be a more efficient way of growing. I have been taking numerous photos as the garden has progressed but there are so many that I really have to narrow it down to just a few to post here but will have more of them in my photobucket album. I'm posting a couple of teaser photos. A note about the anise: This specimen was originally planted twelve years ago and just keeps coming back, with little or no attention every year. How about other California gardeners? Anybody doing anything interesting?

I made a Bombe Royale (30 cup size) only once. It turned out nicely but once was more than enough. It took me all of one day and well into the night to prepare it. I had difficulty sleeping because I was so worried that it would collapse when released from the mold. The following day I had to prepare a dinner for twelve and was already exhausted so the presentation and success of the bombe was rather an anticlimax. I was barely able to taste it.

After doing some investigating and asking a couple of technicians who specialize in repairing vintage stoves, it's my opinion you should opt for a new oven. Both guys told me that bringing a vintage electric wall oven up to code is difficult, expensive and potentially unreliable. They work 95% on gas ranges and ovens because they can be converted to new technology with pilotless ignition and with newer and more powerful burners without altering the appearance and also making them safer to use. The older electric ovens need to be completely rewired and all the components replaced because there is simply too many ways something can go wrong and when one part fails it can cause a cascade failure when one part fails, causing the next to fail and so on. One of the guys showed me a 1950s schematic for a GE oven that included two 30 amp fuses - the kind that one used to screw into a household fuse box. I'm with you about the size of the fridge. I detest the counter depth types and think they are overpriced for the volume. I like big refrigerators and had Sub-Zeros for quite a while, (tree full of lemons there) I now have an LG with French doors and two freezer drawers on the bottom. Overall it is 30 inches deep. The shelves are all roll-out so no problem with finding stuff in the rear.

I think Blue Star is essentially the current incarnation of Garland. I didn't know that. My Garland was made in 1969, had 8 burners, a flattop grill/griddle and the raised salamander at one end and two full-size ovens (each held 4 sheet pans) and a warming "shelf" overhead. The floor had to be reinforced because it weighed nearly half a ton. I wasn't about to move it when I sold the house and actually IT sold the house as the first couple that viewed the house walked into the kitchen and said they would take the house without even looking at most of it. I loved the continuous grid over the burners. My previous ranges all had individual burners and moving a heavy pot from one to another was a task I was happy to forget. Incidentally, it required a much larger gas line - a solid pipe that was connected through a special fitting that would allow for some movement. (in case of earthquake) and an early version of an automatic cut-off valve that was very expensive but I was glad it was there when the '71 Sylmar earthquake hit.

One of my friends has a countertop salamander but it requires a 220 outlet. It isn't very big, maybe two feet wide, but it is very efficient at making quesadillas (the task I performed the one time I used it) but it gets a lot of use for gratin dishes, fish, etc. I think it is an Anvil but can find out for sure later. I know that it cost less that $1500.00. Years ago I had a huge Garland range that included a salamander (gas) and it worked brilliantly and was used almost daily. There are times when I still miss that monster.....

Chris, there are a number of vintage and antique stove restoration places around the country and I know there is one in Mass., but I can't recall the name offhand. They used to advertise in the antique stove collector's journal. In the meantime, there is this StoveList where you can post a request for parts & etc. There is even a Thermador double oven on the current listing but it is in California. And here's the link to the Old Appliance Club where you can order rebuilt parts for vintage ovens, ranges, etc. I've been a member for years and have almost all of the old issues of their newsletter/magazine.

No, I have one that has never been near a bean but has split hundreds of yards of ribbon.

Yes, the wide French oven is much shorter - that is, only 2/3 as deep as the regular one. There are two sizes 3 1/2 qt and 6 3/4 qt. The size and shape of this pan is similar to the classic "rondeau" pan, long available in copper, SS, aluminum and cast iron. Shallower than a "Dutch" or "French" oven, A caveat. Unless you have large burners on your stove, you will not get edge-to-edge even heat in this pan. There will be a hot spot in the center and it will be cooler toward the edges. I got one a year or so ago and can only use it effectively on my large burners. However it works quite well on an induction burner with even heat across the bottom. (Checked with an infrared Thermapen.)

Earlier today I took a look at my kitchen and counted more than fifty unitask items. The first one I noted was my seltzer bottle a unitasker of the first degree as there is no possible way to use it for anything else. (Except as a large paper weight!) Less obvious is my antique marmalade cutter which produces very fine slivers of citrus peel and that is all it does. There are some people who would argue that a knife would suffice but I can't cut several pounds of citrus peel with uniformly fine slivers of peel as the final result. My tamago pan is not used for any other task nor is a three section blini pan.

Where do you buy these lids? My local Walmart carries them and from time to time puts them on sale. However, they are available on line from several vendors, including Amazon and Kitchen Krafts Bernardin Mason also makes the same type of lid - I bought one box but to me they seem to be a bit thinner - although I haven't done comparison measuring.

In my first answer I noted that I use the Cambro containers for most dry products and that includes the various thickeners, xanthan gum, tapioca flour; other dry ingredients in small quantities (in the liter and 2-liter containers. For smaller volumes I do use canning jars and as I mentioned in another thread, I use the plastic "Refrigerator/Freezer" lids that are available both in regular and wide-mouth sizes. They are one-piece lids and seal the jars tightly and I like them better (for non-canning storage) than the two-piece lids which can sometimes (with repeated use, opening and closing) develop a slight defect at one point where they might have been pried off if they stuck a bit and this caused them to not really seal tightly. I determined this because I have a jar of blacksalt (kala namak) that has, to say the least, a strong aroma (sulfur). A couple of days after using this ingredient, I opened the spice cabinet and got a strong blast of the aroma which is certainly distinctive. On inspection of the jar and lid, I found a very small bump on one edge of the inner lid, just enough to allow air exchange and escape of the aroma. Obviously this would not be a problem with most materials but in some cases it is important to have a reliable seal on a container.

I must have been composing my post when you posted this. I have the juicer. And I also have a very classy Ice-O-Mat from the same era. It is an unusual color too. Will post a photo later if I can remember where I put the thing... Sometimes the classics simply can't be improved upon.

Excellent! Your remarks are perfect - wish I had thought to write them...

I have a unitasker that could be put to use ON such "acquaintances", i.e., my meat pounder (also used for poultry). A simple tool but an absolutely necessary one. That being said, I have a huge collection of unitasking utensils, appliances, pots, pans, dishes (a set of escargot plates, for instance) and etc. I have the space and I want them and I simply could care less what anyone else thinks. My friends, and I have a significant number that eat here often, have never criticized anything in my kitchen. In fact many have bought things they have seen me use because they thought it was a good idea, even though for only a single task. Frankly, if anyone was so brash as to make such a remark (unless they were joking), they would not be invited back for a meal.

I cut the segments, stripped of the pulp, into slivers and add to antipasti plates. Excellent rolled in a slice of prosciutto.

I use a "trick" utensil - a "pig-tail" turner the smaller of the two in this set. It works a treat! I also use to to hook waffles out of waffle irons - better than any other method I have ever used.