andiesenji

It is two pounds for a dollar, not two dollars a pound. And the strawberries are 99 cents for a ONE- POUND clamshell. This is pretty good because at the produce market a flat of 8, 8 ounce baskets - 4 pounds, is 8.50.

Many nuts as well as seeds can be made into butter. Check Here for some advice and instructions. I make combinations with nuts and seeds, flax meal and oil, coconut oil (which is solid at room temp). Toasting the nuts and seeds prior to grinding gives different flavors as well as adding herbs and spices. You can use a blender but you have to do small amounts and make sure there is not too much load on the motor. One of the mini food processors, relatively inexpensive, would be a good investment. I also have one of these which works quite well. I had an older Sumeet machine that had problems and I returned it for credit and I had considered getting one of the newer (and larger) Sumeet machines a while back but after I placed an order, I kept getting notices that it was back-ordered so finally I cancelled the order and got this instead. Since this does the job adequately I doubt I will get anything else.

Just to tempt you. The flyer from Vallarta was in today's mail. Photos not wonderful, flash a bit bright but this should give you some idea of prices: How much do you pay for lemons? These are 2 pounds for a dollar, the golden mangos are 3 for a dollar and they are good sized.

I can't remember ever NOT liking beans. They were a staple when I was a child and for me they are comfort food. I love the big, fat butter beans, made from scratch or canned, with ham or bacon or ??. "Shelly" beans - a mixture of snap beans and mature but not dried beans cooked together. Baked beans, all varieties, kidney beans, red or white, the various "exotics" or heirloom varieties. Black beans with rice, with orzo, with mushrooms, with lentils, with dal. And I like pickled yellow wax beans with onions and peppers. I love the combination of beans and corn - black beans, snap beans and pozole. and of course, navy or great northern bean soup with cornbread - now that is a "comfort" food. But you have to have the correct type of cornbread I could go on, but you get the idea. I like to cook two or three varieties of beans separately, then combine them, perhaps with other vegetables, with baby red potatoes, roasted with garlic. Braised celery and spring onions combined with stewed scarlet runner beans.

Note that I wrote the above in July '05. I neglected to mention that I have been using rice cookers since I saw a Toshiba in the May Company back in the '70s. I used it constantly until it gave out, then proceeded through various Sunbeam, Panasonic, Sanyo, Salton, Rival, Hitachi, Westinghouse and finally the Zos, first the regular one, then the fuzzy logic. I didn't wear them all out, but they all got a fair amount of usage. I did get some as gifts that I didn't use and passed on to other people and as far as I know, they all worked fine too. I can safely say that I never used one that didn't cook rice just fine. Sometimes I had to do a bit of juggling, to get other things cooked correctly, but never a problem with rice. Perhaps I have been lucky. During my catering days, I got one of the big Panasonics which can handle a lot of rice and keeps it perfectly for hours. I think they are incredibly handy and like the fact that I don't have to worry about the rice or the pan. I have in the past, created rice "stepping stones" because I forgot about the pan on the back of the stove and got involved in a book, in the garden or even, on one occasion, went shopping, only to return to a kitchen that smelled like I was vulcanizing something. When I chiseled it out of the copper pan, the tin lining came with it. That prompted me to get my first automatic cooker. I like the Zo "Neuro fuzzy" very much, there are now other brands on the market that are less expensive and that are said to work just as well. (Same thing happened with bread machines). However, being an inveterate appliance/gadget collector, I have just sprung for the new induction rice cooker, also by Zo. After I have given it a test drive, I will report back.

I got a kick out of the first sentence in the article. I remember when coffee was 10 cents and refills were free.

I shop at Mexican markets all the time. Vallarta Supermercado are big stores, as large, if not larger than many regular markets. Their produce is excellent and the price differences are significant. Why should I pay 59 cents for ONE lemon at Vons/Pavillions when I can buy them for much less, (sometimes 3 pounds for a dollar) at Vallarta. Same with limes. They have "sweet" limes, which look and taste like Meyer lemons, for much less than Meyer lemons in regular markets, when you can find them. You can also find produce there that you can't find in regular markets. Their meats are excellent and you can find stuff there you can't find in regular markets. Goat, for instance, Guinea hens, different cuts of meats. Their ready-cooked foods are also very good and they have fresh made tortillas, several varieties, that are just wonderful.

These are the kind I have. I also have one that is a 5 - tier and holds charger-sized plates. I don't think it is still made. The rectangular one at the lower left is like the one I ordered from Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma. I also like this one from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I also have one of these which we use for outside parties - it keeps bugs and kiddies fingers away from irresistable goodies.

You can give this design program a free test drive Smart Draw If you have a PC - not for Macs. One person I know used this service kitchen design on line Because they live in Tehachapi and wanted to avoid paying a lot for travel back and forth for someone to just come there and measure the space. They are quite happy with the results. They did have to compromise on some of the things they wanted, mainly because of their location, but all in all they felt they got a pretty good deal. They got some significant discounts on appliances and the cabinetry by going through Lowe's, after they contracted with this place. One thing they did that made a difference was to rent a storage place in Palmdale and have everything except the construction materials, delivered there until they had everything on hand, including appliances, sinks, lighting fixtures, boxes of floor tile, new windows, etc. Then when contruction was underway, Milt and his sons rented a big trailer, loaded everything in it and hauled it up to their home so the crew could pull stuff out of the trailer and into place. He didn't have to rent a truck because he has a big dualie but he could have. This was the same thing I did when I remodeled my kitchen back in '94. With everything on hand, there were no delays while "waiting" for something to arrive or because the wrong thing was shipped. I figured the cost of the storage place saved me a heck of a lot of tooth gnashing and foot-stomping. It took 3 1/2 weeks for the project, start to finish and it would have been 1 1/2 days less except they had to wait on an inspector.

The price seems reasonable to me. I paid more for a two-tier server half that size.

Cooking.com has a sale on Calphalon going on right now. Some items are already sold out. Roasters at Cooking.com I have several roasting pans and use the Calphalon non-stick, which, unlike most non-stick cookware, does allow the development of fond. at less than $65.00 it is a pretty good buy. I also use it for a lasagna pan as it is deep enough - It also does a bang-up tamale pie for a crowd. However, on page two there is a covered graniteware roaster which is an excellent buy and these are a good, all round roaster for cooking all kinds of things. Sometimes it is handy to have a covered roaster. I have a stainless All-Clad roaster, the smaller one, that I got at a deep discount at Linen's 'N things a couple of years ago, right after Christmas.

I am really enjoying the photos of the city, the markets and your place. I haven't spent a lot of time in San Francisco for many, many years, however I was stationed at the Presidio for almost two years back in the late 50s. My friends and I did a lot of walking and that is a city that one can get around on foot. (I was young, strong and thin.) Almost every Sundary morning we would walk up the bridge approach that ran behind our barracks (we were down on the street that was one row of buildings from Crissy Field), walk accros the GG bridge and back, then have breakfast at the Roundhouse Restaurant. They had the best waffles in the city. Great memories.

Is it glass, with wire mesh on the outside? Does it have the charger holder? Can you post a photo? There is a diagram on this page that shows the varioius parts and how they go together (or come apart). I usually order chargers from Bestwhip as they have a pretty good price. 24 for 8.95

for the shaped pans, I use Bak-Klene, made by the same company that makes Vegelene. I have never had any problems with it messing up my pans and molds.Bak-Klene I buy it at Smart & Final. Store locations in SF

For pasta I usually use a pasta scoop strainer, similar to this one. except mine has a rubber or easy grip handle. I have an over-the-sink colander and a small cutting board that just fits in the bottom of it. When I have to cut something when I only have one hand working, I put in on the cutting board because the sides of the colander holds whatever I am cutting in place. I found that I could hold the handle of one of the turkey lifter fork thingies, which I could stick through a chunk of meat and use like a carving fork. like these. In fact, these things will pierce a chicken fairly easily. One will also hold a head of lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower or bunch of broccoli. I always wear the disposable food-handler gloves anyway, when handling meats, poultry, etc.

I have the same problems with getting involved with people, which is why I wear a timer that hangs around my neck when I have to do something cricital at a specific time. That does depend on remembering to set the timer, but now I simple put it on top of the recipe, with a clip holding it to the page or sheet of paper so I have to pick it up and put it on before I proceed. I have several timers for different tasks, including one made by Taylor that is a super long-ring. It rings fo 20 seconds.

I am surprised a chemist wouldn't know what it is. It is used as a laxative. Try this site, print it out and take it to a chemist. "White" oil

For the mini tube pans and other tube pans up to 8 inches in diameter, I use this circle cutter. I buy the parchment paper in packages of 100 flat sheets. If I am doing the little ones, I tape the edges of a stack of 5 sheets to the cutting board. Then... I cut all the center circles first, leaving enough room for the larger circle, starting at one corner of the paper. Then I go back and cut the outer circles. Remove the tape from the edges, which is now scrap, stack the little liners and store them in a ziplock bag. You can buy liners for tube pans, but I have some very old ones which are odd sizes and no one makes that size. I also cut bottom liners for regular cake pans up to 8 inches with this cutter. This saves me a lot of grief and especially allows me to slide mini cheesecakes baked in the little springform pans off the bottoms so I don't have to worry about scratching the finish.

That is a beautiful cocktail. It also reminded me that my mother used to drink a cocktail called Cherie Cocktail (this was in the '50s) that was made with Cherry Heering - later re-named Peter Heering - and included triple sec, rum, lime juice. My step-dad would also make it in a tall glass with a spritz of soda water over ice during the summer. This was in a village in Wisconsin where most of the people drank mostly beer and stuff like peppermint schnapps and many of the ladies didn't drink any "mixed" drinks except for possibly a Tom Collins, and thought my mother was somewhat odd anyway. The only southerner in the village and for a long time the only woman business owner in a town where most of the women stayed home, played bridge, or??? Thanks for evoking this memory.

Thanks! I needed that shot of reality!!!

I have a couple of life-threatening food allergies. The worst one is alcohol which is a rather odd allergy. I have had numerous scratch tests on my back for the numerous allergens that affect me, mostly hay fever, burning eyes, and the normal things one expects. However, with alcohol and iodine (the seafood thing) I get edema in the larynx which partially closes my airway and several times I have come very close to a tracheotomy. I didn't always have these allergies as severe but about 40 years ago began having peculiar symptoms whenever I would drink a glass of wine or beer, a sensation of what felt like prickly heat on my face and neck, itching around my eyes, then hives. Then I began reacting to the liquid medicine(prescription at that time, now OTC) I was taking for my allergies, hives, scratchy throat, hoarseness and finally losing my voice. My allergist said he thought I might be allergic to yeasts. However when he did the scratch test he first used grain alcohol, diluted with purified water and I reacted strongly. With seafood, it started with shrimp but then other ocean fish that concentrate iodine, began to bother me also but it wasn't too bad, I could tolerate it with antihistamines. Then I had a kidney problem and had to have a special x-ray with an IV dye that contains iodine. Huge reaction, very scary. Advised to avoid seafood. However I can tolerate a limted amount of lobster and crab but not much else. Fresh water fish is no problem at all, its only the stuff that comes out of the ocean and of course that includes kelp and other sea "vegetables" .... I can cook with them and serve them to other people but have to keep them separate from my food. And I take medications and carry an EPI pen always. Aspartame or Nutrasweet has also been a problem, but not a conventional allergy.

That is so cool! Thanks for the idea! ← That is a great idea. However, my problem is that there wouldn't be enough....... I can get around half a pan all by myself. In fact, I often commit the sin of eating the stuff while it is still hot. Whoever made that rule anyway? When I first started working in my mom's bakery (at age 15) one of my jobs was to load the bread into the oven and bang the finished loaves out onto a table and transfer them to the racks for cooling. (Four at a time - as the bread pans were bound together in sets of 4 pans, with metal straps holding them a couple of inches apart so the heat could circulate.) As soon as I finished with the unloading, I would take a loaf, split it down the middle, lengthwise, apply butter liberally, then chop it into chunks and the bakers and other assistants would snack. My mother always said that eating yeast bread fresh out of the oven was unhealthy. I always asked, then why do we eat hot dinner rolls?

I often use them instead of kale in soup with cannellini beans, browned sausage (bratwurst is my preferred type) and pasta. Not exactly Pasta e Fagiole but my version.

I made a big pot of Alford oatmeal (pinhead) divided the batch in half and added some chopped dried apples and apricots to the breakfast half, stirred in some half and half and continued cooking until it was just the way I like it. No need to add any sweetener because the fruit has enough sugar to flavor it. Oh yes. There was a nice dollop of butter stirred into the bowl. The other half is going to be mixed with some chopped fried chicken livers I have to use up today, along with some chopped scallions (I waded through some very cold, yucky mud to get into the greenhouse and think I have ruined my favorite boots, just to get some green onions! Darn!) I may add some chopped hard boiled egg and something else for flavor (besides salt & pepper). I have several things set out on the counter to contemplate. Then I will form the oatmeal mixture into nice fat patties and fry them until they are crusty on the outside and still creamy inside.

THat's what I use mine for too Andie! ← The term "Great Minds" comes to mind!!!