andiesenji

I bought my Maytag "Wide-by-Side" and a smaller fridge (mostly for garden produce and for cheese) as a temporary fix until I could decide exactly what I wanted as I was trying to decide if I wanted regular appliances or modular pieces such as drawers, etc. As I stated earlier, I had a bad experience with Sub-Zs. I got them to replace a huge 25 year-old Kelvinator side by side, 32 cubic feet total capacity and I think it was the biggest regular residential appliance made up to that time. They don't make them like that any more. It was sturdy, weighed a ton and the only thing that ever needed replacing was the door gasket. It had wire bins that tipped out in the freezer, instead of shelves, except for the rack for ice cube trays and stuff did not tumble out onto the floor (or my feet) when the door was opened. It was avocado green, as were most of my appliances at the time, and exceot for the color, I wouldn't mind having it today. There were a lot more refrigerator manufacturers back then and I think the competition was good as they really had to produce a great product to get the public to buy. Now it seems we have to take what is offered and much of it stinks. Just my opinion... Coldspot, Norge, Hotpoint, Westinghouse, Admiral and etc., all made great refrigerators that lasted for years and years. Now we are lucky if they make it past the warranty period.

There are lots more. Every culture has its own and some are very strange indeed. I think there was a book with all the old household superstitions published some years ago. The Farmer's Almanac used to list some odd ones.

Well, I think I would put this in the class of using magnets (or copper bracelets) to treat arthritis. A friend who is an MRI technician, works around very powerful magnets all the time and has severe arthritis can debunk the magnet therapy personally. I don't drink but I know people that do and they all say that the quality of wine depends on the quality of the grapes and the handling as it is prepared and aged. Of course imagination can do some odd things. Incidentally this has apparently been a tough year for pinot noir grapes, a very small harvest is expected but they also expect the quality to be better than usual because of all the energy going into fewer grapes. It should be interesting to see if the predictions turn out.

I grew up in a house with a very superstitious cook who had a long list of things one should or should not do in the kitchen at various times of the day or year. Certain tasks were not to be done by the other women who worked in the kitchen during their menses. (churning buttermilk or making cheese, for instance.) No man was allowed in the kitchen while cakes were baking. Liquor or wine bottles had to be opened outside or in the butler's pantry, never in the kitchen. They could then be brought into the kitchen. With beer it didn't matter. (It just so happened that Livingston county was a dry county, no beer or liquor was sold retail, however there always seemed to be plenty around.) Sauces and puddings were always stirred clockwise and never leave the spoon in the pan unless it was moving. The water in which the first spring vegetables were cooked had to be poured out in the kitchen garden otherwise the crop would be small. If anyone spilled salt they had to say "Blessings Be" three times and toss a bit of salt over their left shoulder. (apparently to blind the Devil). If silverware was dropped on the floor it meant company was coming for dinner. If someone dropped a plate and it didn't break it meant they were going to receive some pleasant surprise. If the plate broke it meant they were going to lose something. If a bee flew into the kitchen it meant properity for the coming month. If the fire went out completely in the big wood/coal kitchen range it had to be completely emptied of ash and a twist of paper containing salt and pepper and a piece of chicken feather had to be burned in the firebox before the new fire was laid and lit. An egg was roasted, chopped very fine and tossed out into the yard at the time of the new moon, for the "little people".

I like my Bagel Guillotine and if one has kids around it is safe for them to use with supervision. When I used to volunteer at fund-raising breakfasts we would have knife cuts almost every time from people trying to slice bagels and perhaps working too rapidly. Not only was there injury to a helper, but often food was ruined from blood contamination. And if you have once had to discard 20 pounds of ham because someone bled onto it, you would settle for a safe bagel slicer too. I have several electric egg cookers from various eras from the 1930s to the present. One is made by Hankscraft and was a Christmas gift soon after I graduated from x-ray school while in the Army in 1957. They all work just fine. The one I use most is a GE that does 8 eggs at a time and sounds a loud buzzer when the cooking cycle is done and the eggs are always cooked exactly the way I want, whether very soft or fully hard. It also has poaching pans which I have never used as I prefer them the old-fashioned way. I have my 30-year-old Bron mandoline which is on its third set of blades. I have tried them all and nothing works as well when one needs to slice a tub of potatoes, onions, cucumbers for pickles, ginger for candying, and etc. I just set the thing in the bottom of a bus tub, don my safety glove and go to it. Some gadgets are useless but some really work as they are supposed to and are handy for doing a job for you when you have several other things to do and don't have a helper in the kitchen. I also have one of the Stir-Chef things mainly for stirring lemon curd which can't be left without constant stirring and my arm is no longer up to doing that prolonged task. However most of the time I just collect interesting or peculiar gadgets because I like the quirky engineering (or lack of it) that goes into them. One gadget that I owned a long time ago and which disappeared when I moved, and which I would like to find again, was a large pot that looked sort of like a salad spinner with a crank into which one put potatoes and water. The inside of the pot sides and bottom was abrasive and when cranked for a few minutes almost all the skin was removed from the potatoes and it would do about 3 to 5 pounds at a time, depending on the size of the potatoes. I used it all the time and it was perfect for doing the small potatoes which take so long to peel by hand. I also use my knife to smash garlic cloves when I need only a few minced or crushed. However I also use a garlic slicer when I need a lot of uniform slices when I am going to dehydrate them. The slicer is made by the same company that makes the microplane graters and has a holder which one slides back and forth over the blade and holds 4 or 5 cloves, depending on size. Like beauty, the usefulness of a gadget is in the eye of the beholder. The rotating marshmallow holder may seem totally useless to some but others might find it useful for some other application. As soon as I saw it I thought It might be interesting to see how it would pick up and shape a thread of molten sugar while turning. I may order one just to experiment.

I hadn't considered the heat given off by commercial reefers. I live in a place where everything is airconditioned. I want it for the size of the shelves and the sturdy shelves which will hold a lot of weight. Also my kitchen is sort of separate from the rest of the house. The more I look at the Continental, the better I like their features. The Sub-Zs I had were a problem from the start. Twice the refrigerator compressor had to be replaced and the freezer once. There was condensation that apparently dripped down onto the floor and caused mold to grow. I kept smelling something like mildew and couldn't find where it was coming from until the units were moved for repair. That is when I decided they were no longer welcome. I live it a desert. It is very dry and I moved here to get away from molds and spores to which I am allergic. Bringng them with me via the Sub-Zs was not a good thing.

Andie, that basket is awesome! I won't be suing it to smoke as I use a Weber Bullet ... but my grill on the other hand would benefit from such a device. Thanks for the tips! A. ← My upright smoker is not available right now for photos as has it has been hauled off to a friend's place for him to use. It did not have a rotissiere but I just had two holes drilled in each side and large washers welded on to reinforce the metal and ran the shaft through from side to side. I also had a bracket to hold the motor welded on to the outside - the motor came from an old "Broil-a-vator" and has a chain drive that turns the shaft. Mine just happens to be square instead of round but I have seen the Bullet with a rotissiere installed and holding a flat fish roaster as the guy was smoking little fish like smelt.

I have a bagel slicer but it has a pointy blade that really cuts through the bagels rapidly, which really helps when one is preparing stuff for a bunch of people and one does not want inexperienced helpers slicing their fingers off with your expensive and very sharp knives. Bagel biter. Someone gave me one of the Ginsu ones and it did not work.

Drunken animals can be very funny. Growing up on a farm, like all my contemporaries, I was in 4-H. One year I raised a polled angus bull calf that grew up to be an enormous bull. He was very gentle and was allowed to roam freely around the home grounds. One night he got into the peach orchard, after most of the fruit had been picked, and must have eaten a lot of the groundfalls which had fermented. About 3 a.m. we heard a lot of bellowing and the men went out to see what was happening. Apparently Beau had knelt, either because he was unsteady on his feet, or because it was easier to eat the peaches in his condition. He had leaned sideways under a heavy limb and was stuck. When it got light enough to see, I sat and petted his head, to keep him calm, while my uncles sawed off the limb. After being freed from the "trap" Beau staggered around for a while, drank several gallons of water and found a shady place for a nap. Later that day he seemed hungover, rubbing his head on the grass and generally acting like he felt miserable. The farm vet gave him something to keep his stomach working properly and said he would be fine. I don't think he ever bothered the peaches after that. The hogs would often be turned into the orchards to clean up after the various fruits had been harvested and they would get drunk - I think they looked forward to it - one of the older sows would knock all the others out of her way to get first in line at the gate. You would be surprised at how fast one of those big animals can move.

Some friends stopped by this evening on their way home to Phoenix after spending 10 days in north Tahoe at a relative's vacation home. I had been reading eG and happened to mention this thread and got this story in return. When they arrived at the cabin, they found the ground floor door into the garage/basement (house built on a hillside) had been broken into. Inside they found the lid had been torn off a fairly large chest freezer and the contents consumed or scattered about (horrible stench). Plus a keg of home-made wine had been shattered. There was also abundant evidence of the identity of the perpetrator. More awful smells! When they questioned neighbors and a local ranger, they learned that a large male bear had been found dead a mile or so away having fallen off a cliff. The ranger said there had been a distinct odor of alcohol around the bear and his face was stained purple. Until learning about the wine consumption, they had thought it had eaten overripe berries that had fermented. My friends were sad about the bear dying but were relieved that they would not have a surprise visitor in the middle of the night. The owner of the house is getting a steel security door to replace the wood garage door.

Try any health food store. I have yet to be in one that didn't have both rennet tablets and liquid rennet/vegetarian rennet.

Check these out. I was not happy with my sub-zs and got rid of them a few years ago. At the time I was in the middle of a renovation and bought a Matag Wide by Side and a smaller refrigerator as a temporary measure until I could decide on what type I actually wanted. Friends have purchased and are very happy with commercial units which cost much less than sub-zs. I even like the glass doors. I already have a huge upright freezer so only need a unit that is refrigerator only. I will decide on the brand later but am leaning toward Traulson or True, although the Continental also has a lot going for it. This vendor doesn't charge for freight - which can be a significant cost. commercial reefers I should add that the Thermador, Kitchenaid and Jenn-Air are all even more expensive than the Sub-Zs. GE has a 48 inch side by side for 5110. but the others are all around 6000. The other thing I like about the commerical units is that in most the bottom shelves are much higher off the floor which is a great advantage for an old lady such as me.

I use liquid dishwasher detergent scrubbed into the grease spot with a toothbrush or nail brush. However the hand gunk used by mechanics may work as well. You have to treat it prior to washing, whatever your do. Another old remedy is saturating the spot with glycerine then forcing warm, not hot, water through from the back side of the cloth, blot dry and reapply the glycerine and repeat until the grease is mostly gone, then rub with strong bar soap (Fels Naptha, for instance) and wash as usual. Glycerine has the peculiar ability to surround particles of grease and separate them from cloth and it is hydrophyllic so it combines with the water and carries the grease out.

The Jals should be fully ripe, bright red, before harvesting and smoking. However, you can pick them when they begin to turn and they will continued to ripen after picking, as long as you keep them where air can circulate around them. On a screen is good. I smoke mine in a mesh rotisserie basket with the rotisserie on slow speed so they get turned constantly and smoke and dry evenly. tumble basket I lined mine with 1/2 inch hardware "cloth" mesh so the peppers wouldn't fall through. I am not doing any this year as my garden was trashed and it is still being renovated.

I still like the old Hamburger Hamlet in Hollywood at 6914 Hollywood Blvd. The Hamlet I love the burgers but especially love the: "BBQ Meatloaf Sandwich A Grilled 8oz Slice of Our Award-Winning Meatloaf, Brushed w. BBQ Sauce and Piled High on Garlic Toast w. Melted Jack Cheese, Hand-Mashed Potatoes and Our Little Fried Onions."

I use lard in pie crust, cornbread, certain very "short" cookied and for frying certain things that simply do not taste the same with any other fat. I never stopped using it. I render my own or buy the bulk stuff at the Mexican market. You can do a simple test to see how it is different from vegetable shortening (Crisco, for instance). Cream together lard and sugar in your mixer for a measured amount of time. Then cream together equal amounts of shortening and sugar, same amount of time. The lard/sugar mixture will be lighter and fluffier with more volume. It also tastes like something you would like to eat. The shortening/sugar mixture is bland, bland, bland, greasy sugar and that is all. I do not use lard if I am preparing something for people whose dietary laws do not allow it. However I do have friends who keep kosher at home but are not strict when out, and in fact we actually met at the Newport Lobster Fest, several years ago and the first time they came to my home for dinner I had prepared a peach pie. When they mentioned something about their kosher kitchen, I was horrified. I apologized and said I would prepare a different dessert for them. Arnold simply said that there was no way he was going to miss having a piece of that pie and his wife Mimi agreed. She said they had just spent a month in Mexico and would have starved had they adhered strictly to the dietary laws. In any event, I never believed that lard was all that bad, healthwise. A lot of people I know, who consumed it all their lives, seem to have aged well.

Alrighty then Maggie, we'll just be calling the men in the nice white suits now.. ← If we are confessing attacks on humans I supposed I should admit to the time, shortly after we were married, when my ex tiptoed into the kitchen on his stocking feet to "surprise" me. He grabbed me around the waist and unfortunately for him, I was holding a large cast iron skillet. I swung around and managed to fracture his left collar bone and his jaw. This was prior to the advent of 911 so I drove him to the hospital, told the ER people what had happened (because he couldn't talk) and then had to answer a lot of questions from the police who had, of course, been called by the ER nurse. Later, when they were talking to my husband I heard one of the cops say, "Buddy, I think you should make a lot of noise before you approach her if she doesn't know you are there. And don't take out any big insurance policies!" In spite of that we remained married for several years. He told the story many times and always said that it was entirely his fault. The fact that he was much, much bigger than me (a dedicated body-builder) made it seem funnier than it actually was, at least to me.

I fended off a pit bull with the lid of my old Weber grill and a grill fork several years ago. My dogs were in the house and people were coming and going through the gate and had left it standing open. I heard a noise and turned around and saw this big pit bull stalking me and grabbed the (very hot) lid of the grill and pushed it toward the dog. It actually hit his muzzle and must have burned it because he turned and ran. I called animal control and they picked the dog up because it had been running lose for some time and had killed a couple of small pets. When the officer came to take a report from me I showed her how I defended myself and she said that was a good idea, difficult for a dog to get around something that size and shape.

Regarding the "carpet beater" - that is a Danish dough whisk and is fantastic for mixing quick breads, scones, etc., where you want to handle the dough as little as possible to keep it tender. I have three, this is the largest, and for someone with arthritic hands, it is just dandy. This really isn't all the whisks I have, just samples of each type. I have piano wire baloon whisks in every size and I have a huge heavy wire blending whisk that has a 3 foot long wood handle for use in deep bowls or tubs. I got it to mix the brine for brining large turkeys and pork legs which I mix in a 26 quart Cambro container. I did use it to chase a snake out of the house one day. It was the closest thing to hand and the rattler actually got caught in the wires and I was able to beat it to death on the driveway before it got away. The Mojave green rattler we have here is smaller than most and can squeeze through very tiny openings. They also have very potent venom. I just thank God they are not on any endangered species list because I have killed quite a few. Anyway, the big whisk turned out to be very handy that day, didn't even get a wire bent.

This is the "bedspring coil" whisk that Fantes carries. It is not very long. These have been around for many years. At one time one was sold as the "gravy master" as it was supposed to be able to take the lumps out of gravy easily. I think Ekco made it. I have one somewhere around here that I have had for about 40 years. see it in the photo, 4th from the left.

Click here and scroll down to green sausage tomato. Read the description = your tomato.

It wouldn't work on the giant mangoes I get at the Mexican market and I doubt it would work on the little "golden" mangoes, but for average sized ones it might be helpful for people who have difficulty holding knives. I use my thin-bladed flexible boning knife which is very, very sharp and will, if I am not careful, cut through the seed. I then do the criss-cross cuts, invert the skin and slice the cubes off the skin with a blunt butter knife or spreader. On the other hand, I do have one of the pineapple slicers and it works great and saves me a lot of time. I did not think it would really work when I first saw one but after seeing it demonstrated at our local fair and being allowed to try it myself, I decided it might be handy, and so it is. Of course, I love and collect gadgets and might get one just for fun!

The ones that I know of are the "potato leaf" varieties, which have thicker foliage and larger leaves. After the plant has a dozen branches you need to start pinching off the new sprouts at the tip to encourage more side growth then when all the branches are about the same length, 4 to 5 feet long, put them on a trellis and pinch off every third new sprout and let it keep growing. Fertilize it on a regular basis for your area, if you get a lot of rain and have well draining soil you have to fertilize more often. You do have to keep picking the fruit and will have bigger fruit if your thin them out. When it begins to slow down production, pick off all the fruit, even the very small ones, pinch back the end growth and fertilize lightly. It should start blooming again within two or three weeks.

Another thing that is not widely known is that some "heirloom" indeterminate varieties will keep growing as long as some of the new vines are removed, maintaining constant new growth. Of course this requires a tropical or subtropical climate or sufficient greenhouse room. One of my friends, who lives in Lemon Grove, just outside of San Diego, has a cherry tomato that has been growing and producing constantly for more than ten years. It started out as a volunteer in a compost container in a southwest facing corner and just kept going. They cut it back a couple of times a year because it is now huge, completely covering a chainlink kennel run and produces buckets of the best cherry tomatoes I have ever tasted. The original vine "trunk" is at least 4 inches in diameter. They have sent samples of the foliage and fruit to Cal Poly Pomona and were told that there are many varieties that have this ability if people would maintain them properly. They were also told that tomatoes of this variety were grown in England and Europe as ornamental plants long before the fruit was consumed. I love the old varieties and their wonderful flavors. One of my favorites is the old pink ponderosa with its odd shapes, pink skin and bright red flesh. They were one of my grandfather's favorites and were huge. His other favorite was the orange Burpee's Jubilee. I can remember following him through the kitchen garden as he sampled various tomatoes. He always carried a little silver salt-shaker in his pocket for just such encounters.

Sometimes you can score some fantastic book finds at thrift stores, mostly because the volunteers do not have time to research the donated items. Not a cookbook, but the best I ever found was while I was still living in the Valley and making periodic pilgramage to the thrift shops in west Hollywood and Santa Monica. I found a first edition of To Have and Have Not, signed and with a little note "To Erroll, AKA Cap'n Blood, nice boat and great grog, pal!" I have picked up hundreds of cookbooks at thrift shops, many are the little soft back ones put out by appliance companies with the appliances such as Sunbeam mixmaster, Westinghouse electric roaster, Waring blender, Reynolds Wrap, etc. These are fun to collect, do not take up a lot of room and for someone like me, who collects vintage appliances, are especially valuable. One of my favorites is James Beard's Recipes for the Cuisinart, published in 1978. The recipe for braised celery is one of my favorites and is on several internet sites so others must have found it to be particularly tasty.