andiesenji

For the past year or so, I have been using moisturizing gloves, purchased from Hammacher Schlemmer, which are absolutely amazing. They are not cheap, last about three months or so, but work better than anything else I have every tried. I sent a pair to my daughter, who always has problems in cold weather, and she has noted great improvement after only three weeks use. People have commented on how "young" my hands appear - wish they had something for the face! (I will be 69 in March.) moisturizing gloves.

I agree about the dry skin problem. I live in the desert, where the humidity is normally quite low anyway and I am very picky about anything I put on my skin - I buy plain old Vaseline in the industrial-sized jars - and I do a lot of pickling and preserving in brine, which is tough on the skin. I don't have anything against anyone who wants to "feel" their food, as long as it doesn't affect me or mine. However, I have avoided consuming certain foods prepared by people who do not use gloves and who had obvious lesions on their hands (and I was embarassed to ask what they were but preferred to err on the side of safety). I think it is prudent to use gloves if one is preparing foods for other than family and close friends. I purchased a coffee cake at a fund-raising bake sale a couple of months ago and when I was portioning it, I found a Band-Aid in it and tossed it. Yuck!

Also the proofing baskets they sell are half the price from most other places. And, I like buying where it will benefit students that can use the help.

I use gloves all the time, mainly because the surest way to get the phone to ring is to plunge my hands into soft, sticky dough, ground meat, a sticky mixture of nuts and fruits and other gloppy things. It is so easy to simply strip off a glove and grab the phone, rather than try to clean gunk off a hand and still end up with a phone that is impossible to clean. I buy the latex-free gloves in boxes of 100 at Smart & Final. Wouldn't be without them!

Dry them. Split in half and cored. Then, when you want to use them, instead of plumping them in water, put them in a steamer and steam them for about 15 minutes. They will be like candy. You can also make "Pear Honey" which actually doesn't have anything to do with honey. It's really a simple recipe: Pear Honey 4 medium sized pears, peeled and cored, cut in half. 3 cups sugar. Place 1/3 of the sugar on the bottom of a pan that is large enough to hold 4 pear halves laying flat, cut side down. Place the rest of the pears, cut side up, in and around the ones on the bottom. Pour the remainder of the sugar over the top of the pears. Cover the pan and place over low heat and cook for 1 hour. Remove the pan lid and continue cooking over low heat for 1 1/2 hours. Using a potato masher (the wire type) smush the pears and mix well with a wood spoon (or silicone spoon, just don't use a metal spoon). Return to the low heat and cook for an additional 45 minutes. Pour into a quart jar (or two pint jars and seal. Store in the fridge unless you want to process it in a hot water bath for 15 minutes, then it can be stored at room temperature. If there is some that won't fit into the quart jar, use it immediately or within a couple of days. You can add some grated ginger mixed in with the sugar, pear and ginger go together nicely. This is very good spread on: Apricot Ginger Scones An original recipe by Andie (any dried fruit may be substituted for the apricots; apple, fig, peach, pear, mango, etc. chop and measure equally after steaming the dried fruits.) 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar, superfine or caster sugar if available 2 1/2 tsp baking powder - I recommend Rumsford and make sure it is fresh! 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp kosher salt, Diamond Flake. If using regular salt make it 1/2 teaspoon. 5 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into 1/2 inch dice 3/4 cup dried apricots, steamed to plump and finely diced 1/3 cup crystallized or candied ginger, finely diced 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 1 cup cold buttermilk Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until the mixture looks like large or coarse crumbs. (You can also mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a wire whisk then cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender, fork or two knives.) Add the diced apricots, ginger and lemon zest. Pulse about 3 times if using the food processor. The fruit should be distributed evenly throughout the mixture. Add the buttermilk and pulse or mix until the dough forms a ball or all the dry ingredients are moistened. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Lightly flour a board and turn the dough out onto it. Knead a few times until the dough holds together and feels smooth to the touch. Divide dough into two equal portions, form into a ball. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the dough balls on the parchment and flatten to about 3/4 inch thick. There should be about 1 1/2 inch space between the rounds. with a bench knife or straight knife, cut straight down through the dough across the center of each round then cut crosswise so each round is divided into 4 quarters. Place baking sheet in preheated oven and set timer for 20 minutes. Check and if they are not yet lightly browned, leave in oven about 5 more minutes. Remove immediately from oven, slide parchment onto a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly but serve warm with butter or clotted cream and lemon curd or your favorite jam or jelly. Or you can make Pear Honey, see recipe below….

I have found many, many uses for these.. I have many types of surgical instruments, none as long as these 12-inch beauties. I had gone into an acquarium store to buy some "marbles" to use as weights in my kitchen utensil holders and saw one of the employees using a pair of these to place water plants in the sand and gravel at the bottom of an acquarium that was 3/4 full of water. I thought "How Brilliant!" and immediately bought them - for 10.95. When I searched for them online, I found this vendor and bought several, some I kept, others have been gifts to friends, not necessarily for the kitchen. I have a lot of geeky friends who do all kids of hobby stuff and these are great for retrieving tiny bits and pieces from the innards of various machines, appliances and etc.

One caveat in buying from an art supply store. Check the product carefully. I am an artist and have purchased a lot of stuff from art supply stores, including linen canvas which I stretch and prepare for painting. I have gotten linen that had been stored too near other products and had a distinct aroma of linseed oil which persisted even after it had been coated with gesso, cured and sanded. I could find no evidence of oil actually on the linen, but the aroma lingered for a very long time. Do the sniff test before you take it into the kitchen! Furniture linen is available at upholstering supply stores and has to be "pure" and free from chemicals because often it is the base under extremely expensive silk brocades costing hundreds of dollars per yard.

I buy Jumbo eggs and often get them with dougle yolks. I just used up a flat of jumbos from Smart & Final and most of them had double yolks.

I use DRY baking soda, about half a cup, leave it with the cover in place for 2 days. For extremely persistent odors in Cambro containers, I get some activated charcoal at an acquarium supply store and put a cup of it in the container in a bowl that will fit inside (I have a Pyrex bowl that is never used for anything else) For beverage containers (plastic) I put the charcoal in a narrow tea infuser. The charcoal can be re-used, simply spread it on a sheet pan, place it in a very low, 175 degrees F., oven for 45 minutes. For glass containers, I have excellent results with distilled white vinegar, undiluted. Pour in a cup, cover, swish it around and leave it overnight. If the container has a tight cover or you can cover it with plastic wrap, shake it well or swirl it around, rinse.

I agree with using linen. You can order linen canvas HERE. This is a good source, nice people. You do have to order by phone.

I use vital wheat gluten, usually Bob's Red Mill or Arrowhead, because they are readily available, whenever I bake with whole wheat flour, with doughs containing a significant amount of grains, seeds, bran, especially flaxseed meal, etc. Also, any doughs that contain cinnamon, which can make the dough a bit "stodgy" - not exactly heavy, but with denser portions. Here is a good reference site to give you the amounts to use. I also add it to the flour when I prepare "bubble" bread, monkey bread or similar pull-apart types to keep the lower layers from being too compressed.

Things I can't replace exactly. The Robinson's spatula/turner, old, very strong and very thin at the tip. I bought it when I had a Garland range with a flat grill top. The one at the top is used with my cast iron 2-burner griddle. The wooden one at bottom was at least 3/4 inch longer but has been worn down and sharpened by me over the years. It is so well oiled nothing will stick to it or get absorbed into it, and it doesn't discolor at all. The pie server and the tongs were part of a set made to match Corning's "blue cornflower" stuff, so you can guess how long ago I bought them. Here are two nylon spatula/turners, one with the Revereware logo (and it has a sharp cutting edge). The other has the "Max. 220 C. and Made in Hong Kong" identity. Both are rigid and tough. I have not been able to find anything similar that works as well. Speaking of the Acme Safety Grater and here is another vicious grater that will attack without warning! The kids called this my "gator-grater"

I often make sourdough flapjacks because I happen to like the flavor, but I know some people don't care for them at all. I can post a recipe if appropos for this topic.

I think I managed to "kill" four of the Maverick remote thermometers. I bought a couple of These remote probe units to use in the barbecue and have since bought two more for use in the kitchen. All are working just fine. I also have this combination Thermapen which I use for bread, both dough and baked loaves, custards and things I am heating in the microwave, however I recently purchased some microwavable thermometers, if I could only remember to get them out and use them

Do you have a photo of your rice paddle? I have several, having purchased several rice cookers over the years.

Part of the contents of a "stocking" I received from a friend who is sweet and thoughtful but apparently not too observant. In the center of the silicone egg ring is a tin of "long pepper" and there is a bottle of Cyprus black salt (I already had some), and I have a plethora of spreaders, pickle forks, microplanes (this is a mini-spice grater and no way are my fingers going to get near it - I have a mechanical nutmeg grater), funnels, pastry wheels but the mini silicone-tipped tongs are neat. So is the mini "sugar sifter" The lemon tapper has very sharp teeth, which have already impacted my right thumb, when I "found" it in the bottom of the stocking! The three-pronged tool on the left is a mystery to me. It has a thick, heavy SS handle but isn't long enough to function as a pickle or olive retriever. It is also very, very sharp. Close-up view of "long pepper"

I can send you one, PM me if you would like.

Yes indeed! I order them from Camping World. I use them for freezing citrus juice and citrus zest syrup (grated zest cooked in simple syrup) and other stuff that may stain or add a flavor to my jumbo ice cube trays. (Sometimes I want cubes much larger than the ones turned out by the icemaker.)

My list is far too numerous to state them all, but here are a few "essentials" that come immediately to hand. The wine glass is present because it belonged to my grandmother and many of her "receipts" call for "a wineglass full or a wineglass half-full of ????" This is the wineglass she used. (Daum crystal, ca. 1915) I supposed I could convert all the recipes to a regular measure. Glass full equals 3.5 ounces and half-full (there is a scratch on the side at this level, made with her diamond ring) is slightly less than 1.5 ounces. However, I use it mostly because it connects me to my grandmother and through her to my ancestors.

Bread flour should be good for a year from date of purchase, assuming it has not been sitting on a shelf or in a warehouse for a long time. The bread flour I buy at Smart & Final has a rapid turnover (25-pound bags) and I just bought a bag that has a use-by date of 2/10/09, the bag of pastry flour, also 25-pound, has a use-by date of 4/05/09. I ordered a bag of Odlum's Self-Rising flour a few months ago and it has a use by date of 06/04/08. I assume that means April as the month and dates are "backwards" to our dating system.

I should have mentioned in my earlier post that I also received a "stocking" (a very odd one at that) full of gadgets, most of which I already have. I stuck them, stocking and all, into a box to examine later at my leisure, and before the housekeeper gets at them and washes them and puts them away where I will never find them.

I have a "cream-maker" a device, made in England in the '50s, which mixes butter with milk to make cream. Several manufacturers produced these in the mid-century era. Friends who lived in certain areas of England during the post-war period have told me that all the milk they got was essentially skim milk. For those who had lived in rural areas, they referred to it as "blue" milk.

Steven, how about variable power microwaves? Both of my big microwaves have power settings from 1 to 10 and the microwave emitter cycles on and off to maintain the "mix" of microwaves in the chamber at that setting. I have used this successfully to slowly bring milk or cream to a specific temperature, without boiling it, as happens with full power.

The ultra-pasteurization process renders the cream resistant to curd formation so it can't be used to make clotted cream and if you try to make butter from it, it becomes grainy. However, you can add calcium chloride to it, which counteracts the effects of the U-P process. If I can't get the "normal" type cream and I want to make a batch of full cream mozarella, I add a drop of calcium chloride liquid per cup of cream. (I get it from a cheesemaking supply vendor.) I learned to milk cows and goats as soon as my hands were big enough..... Growing up on a farm is a great education.

Ooooooh. A veggie punch shaped like a goldfish sounds like fun. I use the veggie punches to cut orange peel into interesting shapes before I candy it. (A few months ago I posted my method of removing the peel in one piece) The shapes make nice decorations.