andiesenji

Bumping up this thread - Starbucks' test of breakfast sandwiches must have been successful because several local stores are adding them to the menu and there have been several mentions in the news both TV and radio. Some of the stores that have drive-thru service have signs up that say they will be open at 5 a.m. (obviously for commuters) for drive-thru breakfast service. There is a sign next to the freeway (14) indicating the off-ramp to take to get to the Palmdale store that is just off the freeway. They don't miss a trick!

I was born in 1939. I remember washing and flattening empty food cans (made of steel then), bottle caps, saving foil from candy wrappers, gum wrappers, paper, rubber jar rings. Glass jars and bottles were saved and re-used. Waxed paper was used sparingly - we made our own waxed muslin for many kitchen applications. I recycle everything, scrape the remnants from jars, combine sauces, salad dressings, marinades and etc., when there is just a smidge left in a bottle - some interesting flavor developments discovered this way. And I am also addicted to expensive cookware and other kitchen accoutrements. In the matter of food, only the best is good enough. My philosophy is that I am worth it and life is simply far too short to skimp on certain things. After all, there is no guarantee that I will be around next week or next month or next year to taste something if I avoid it now because it is expensive. Presently waiting for a delivery of Perigord truffles coming by way of Fed-Ex.

I have been using recipes and ideas from Spiffy Smoothies and recipezarr smoothies You can use fresh or frozen fruit. Strawberries, yogurt a sweetener if drink is too tart, and so on. However, if I don't feel like looking at a recipe, I usually just use frozen fruits, in any combination or just one, yogurt, a little milk, orange juice or water if it is too thick, a teaspoon of almond meal or hazelnut meal, a dash of cinnamon (supposed to be good for diabetics) and whatever else occurs to me. Sometimes the fruits are a bit tart and I will add a teaspoon of Splenda. I also sometimes add malted milk powder. I like strawberry/banana with a dash of carrot juice. Blueberry/lemon, mango/lime and so on. I buy the Greek yogurt at Trader Joe's, the zero fat stuff. At recipezarr, check pages 4 and 7. Page 7 has a great recipe for mango lassi that is terrific. Page 4 has a mango/ginger recipe that is super.

Brooks, part of the problem in your area may be that a significant number are being exported, here for instance. The local markets have had specials on them for the past couple of weeks.

This is what I use. It is solid at room temperature, and is very tasty, as is. Not cheap, but is perfect for certain applications. I tried another brand but found this one is superior. Tropical Traditions They also have an excellent palm oil. (I have had problems with rancidity in other brands, opening one jar that smelled horrible and the "aroma" hung around the kitchen for some time.)

I use Carbon-Off on my All-Clad and other cookware. It works beautifully. Unlike other compounds, it can also be used on aluminum. Carbon-Off

I have an antique "soap saver" like this one that my grandmother used, not for laundry but to swish about in her tub. When I was little, I used to get to do this and can remember hanging over the edge of the tub and swishing it about in the water to make lots of suds, just like a bubble-bath. I remember she had some soap that smelled like gardenias. Thanks for evoking this memory. However I also have one of these, sisal soap bags into which one puts the remaining pieces of bar soap to wet and work with the hands or simply swish about in a basin of water.

How quickly do you need it? Wine jellies are very easy to make and are virtually fool-proof. Recipes for Wine jelly.

I put the larding all the way through roasts. "Barding" is the wrapping of meat, fish or fowl with fat. Larding is forcing strips of fat deep into the meat or whatever. Barding

You can actually grow angelica in a pot but since it is a biannual, it can only be harvested every other year. If there are farmer's markets in your area, when late spring comes around, call and see if any are growing it. There are a few specialty growers around the country that supply the herb products manufacturers. Angelica I occasionally see it at one of the Asian markets at which I shop.

As long as they are stored in a dry jar, with a tight seal, they will keep a long, long time. And, if they dry out, simply dry them completely in a very low oven and grind in a spice grinder. You can add this to marinades and sauces, to tea, or add to frosting for topping cakes or cupcakes, lots of ways to use this.

Some of the new silicone "spoonulas" have one very sharp edge on one side and a rounded edge on the other side and are narrower than the standard scrapers. (Discovered at Linens 'N Things) They are perfect for cleaning every smidgen of stuff from the inside of jars of PB, jams, jellies, honey, molasses, mayo and the very sticky things such as tamarind paste, chile pastes, sambals and etc. When there is a bit of PB left in the jar, not quite enough for spreading on something, I add a little seasoned rice vinegar, a dash of coconut oil, a little coconut milk, a dab of chile paste, a squeeze of lime juice, a teaspoon of brown sugar (or palm sugar). Put the lid on the jar and shake vigorously, remove the lid and microwave for 15 seconds or so, replace lid and shake again. Then I make gado gado salad.

I have candied many types of fruits, nuts, odd things like Angelica stems, not-quite-ripe seed heads of fennel, edible flowers, chunks of pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, parsnips, and one unfortunate experiment with a turnip(don't try, it isn't pretty). The following is my process that is posted on Melinda Lee's site. Glace or candied fruit And this is my crystallized ginger method Melinda has had the latter posted for several years, I think she put the glace fruit method up a year or so ago. I noted that when preparing dried fruits for candying, it is best to steam them first, to "plump" them without adding too much water to the fruit. Soaking in water may may them too soggy to absorb all the syrup they should. I also said don't try to candy limes. I am speaking here of the Persian lime (seedless). The little Mexican or "Key" limes can be candied but they are full of seeds which do not soften with the candying process. Candying pears is tricky, particularly with the skins left on. It can be done but just a bit too much heat will cause the skin to turn an ugly brown like a dried leaf. Dried fruits that already have a high sugar index are by far the easiest and I usually advise people just starting out to try them first, apricots do beautifully when steamed first to plump them and look like jewels when finished.

I was told to do it cross-grain so it could penetrate into the linear strands. Well, that wasn't exactly the way it was explained to me. The chef who was teaching the class was not big on explaining why, it was mostly "do it that way because I am telling you to do it that way" and "what? are you writing a book or something? All you need to know is how to do it not why." This was a good many years ago and perhaps he himself did not know how the process worked, only that it did. (This was the same teacher who used calipers to determine if we were dicing properly.)

It will take longer for the fruit to be candied all the way through. Go through the process as described in my post, cut one or slice it and see how far the candying has progressed. When I have done them whole, I have found it may take almost twice as long if there is no way for the syrup to get into the center of the fruit.

Early last year several friends and I went to a fairly new restaurant, which was apparently aiming at the "trendy" crowd. The dining area is sectioned into several "rooms" and we were placed in a room with only one other party at a table well away from us. Just as our entree arrived, another party of several individuals, who had apparently been in the bar for some time, were seated at the table right next to us. There was much loud talking, cursing, very loud and offensive, suggestive remarks to the female server and generally obnoxious behaviour. I held a whispered discussion with one of my friends and a few moments later his cell phone sounded (I had called from my cell phone, then disconnected.) He said "yes?", then followed in a louder and somewhat angry voice with, "this is judge so and so, how did you get my private number?" Instant silence from the table next door. He disconnected, apologized for the interruption and we continued with our meal, with only normal conversation at the formerly noisy table. Less you thing he was inpersonating an official, he is a dog show judge and is entitled to call himself such in conversations. It was certainly effective.

Keep the crockpot covered. Enough steam will escape on its own and it will keep the syrup at the correct temperature on the low setting. It will be too cool uncovered. You start with everything room temperature. If you want you can put the syrup in first and let it warm a little, the sugar will dissolve a little easier, but don't allow it to get too hot before you add the fruit.

Regarding fish or seafood, I haven't tried scallops, but many years ago, when abalone were still abundant and I had diver friends bring them to me, after pounding them, I would use a larding needle to insert butter inside the steaks. It is also handy for inserting a composed butter, with herbs and spices between the ribs and the flesh when cooking whole fish, either poaching or roasting as you can do this without marring the appearance of the fish.

I lard the pork tenderloins which from today's "bred for lean" hogs, is very dense with little marbelling and mostly is too dry when roasted. Also lamb, which I really don't care for but cook for others who do. It is a must for venison roasts, usually much too lean and dry - it makes a world of difference. Fantes has two types of larding needles. I have both plus an old one that is similar to the one with the pusher. Scroll all the way to the bottom of this page where you will find a Larding Needle with pusher 6 from the bottom and the other one right below it. Larding needles. It can also be used to insert garlic, strips of pepper or an herb paste deep into a roast, or into the thick meat of a fowl, in particular, stuff that is too thick to go through one of the injection needles. As I mentioned on another thread, I use it for coring very small fruits such as the tiny seckle and forelli pears as I can get into the fruit from the blossom end and leave the stem intact.

The syrup will concentrate as the water cooks out of it over the long period of cooking. I only tried one time to do it with the increasing concentration of sugar and got an unsatisfactory result. The sugar crystallized and the fruit had hard lumps in it, instead of remaining flexible and chewy.

They have to be processed at a fairly low temperature and alternating heating and cooling as noted above. This should keep them from collapsing.

I candy the tiny seckle or Forelli pears, cut in half and cored, however they have to be very hard or firm, not yet ripe. Otherwise they fall apart. . ← Agreed - thanks! It is indeed very informative. I have a dessert that I was serving poached seckel pears with (a savory tart) that would do well with a bit of sweetness. Would love to use a whole seckel pear. I'm assuming that I can do it whole... I just want to use an itty bitty thing to scoop out the core from the bottom. Your thoughts.. ← Scroll all the way to the bottom of this page where you will find a Larding Needle with pusher 6 from the bottom. I also use, in some instances, a sculpting tool you can find at most art stores. There are several shapes that work beautifully, with a very sharp wire which will cut into fruit without deforming it. This is a set that will give you an idea of the shapes. There are larger ones also. sculpting tools I also use a couple of wood-carving tools.

Felicitations and Mazeltov!! I remember when the store in Alexandria, VA opened. One of my friends, who lives a few blocks away, sent me a "Nyanh, Nyanh, Nyanh!" email. I introduced her to TJs when she was out here for a dog show and like you, she bought enough to fill a suitcase plus a tote bag (had to buy both) then proceeded to snack on various items on the plane trip home. She said that quite a few folks on the plane were taking notes from her TJ's receipt. She wrote that the day the store opened, there was a huge traffic jam (well, more than usual) and the police had to direct traffic. They do sell wine and liquor at that store and she says it is not unusual to see people checking out with two baskets, one full of wine bottles, the other with groceries.

It depends on your crockpot, generally low is just right, you should be able to see it simmering very, very gently. I stated in the first post the "light" simple syrup is 1:1. Equal parts, water and sugar. Regular simple sugar is two parts sugar to one part water, you don't need that heavy a concentration. The water is going to reduce during the prolonged cooking anyway. It is even possible to use less sugar but the process takes longer. Larger fruits can be candied whole also, but those take a long time. When I do clementines, it usually takes a week for fruits that are no more than 2 inches in diameter, even with the core punched out - for those I use a larding needle. Other fresh fruits are a bit more complicated - however I candy dried fruits of all kinds with great success. I candy the tiny seckle or Forelli pears, cut in half and cored, however they have to be very hard or firm, not yet ripe. Otherwise they fall apart. Whole figs can be candied and they take probably twice as long as the kumquats.

Now I want to explain why the heating and cooling is important. As the fruit is heated in the syrup, the liquids in the fruit tissue are driven out. As the fruit cools, it draws the syrup into the spaces left when the fruit liquids were driven out by the heat. This heat/cool process gradually causes the syrup to penetrate deeper into the fruit. Consider that when candying chestnuts, the process takes 4 or 5 times as long because the nut is far more dense than citrus. The relatively low temperature is important because if you cook it too vigorously, the fruit will eventually break up.