andiesenji

I have bought all my pullman pans (in different shapes) from Fantes Fantes.com The prices are reasonable and these are heavy duty commercial pans. I line the pans with baking parchment as this gives a thinner crust. The triangular pan is especially nice for baking bread for tea sandwiches. Other than removing the crust (which I save for crumbs) there is no waste. The round-bottom pan produces the dense, fine crumb and the finished loaf looks rather like a traditional loaf only it is perfectly even with smooth sides. The ones I use most is the standard rectangular pans, the smaller is 11 inches long, the standard is 16 inches long. I do not use the fancy shaped tubes - they do not work as well as the ones with the removable tops.

I use an aluminum crochet hook - one of the huge ones that is fairly long (14 inches) and made for giant yarn. You can find these at craft/yarn shops and they have a lot of uses in the kitchen. Lacing up a turkey or goose, for instance, much easier than using a needle and for getting the cord under cross tied cords on a roast. I also use it for turning tubes inside out and although I know a lot of you wouldn't have any use for it this way, it is great for skinning the feet and legs on rabbits.

I finally got an estimate for what it will take to replace the stuff that was destroyed and have the entire acre fenced with chain link with the posts sunk in cement. The cost is going to run over $7000.00 and only part is covered by insurance. The repairs to the generator will be over $1500. The biggest expense is fence, then the watering system mainly because of the valves and timers. I haven't even added in the cost of the plants and seeds. I think I am going to give up on having a garden this year as by the time everything is finished it will be past the time most things can be planted. I didn't start a kitchen garden next to the house this year as I had decided that all the vegetables and fruit should be in the big garden. Fortunately the ginger patch was not affected, nor was the garlic so I will at least have something to show for this growing season.

Your information block does not indicate where you live. If you are located where Smart & Final stores exist, you can get an excellent knife (a serrated slicer) for $14.95. It has a white composition handle that is textured and easy to grasp and has a long blade. I have been using one for several years and it slices everything from angel food cake to hard crusty breads easily and neatly. Similar, but with a shorter blade is this serrated bread knife from Chicago cutlery. At that price you can afford to throw it away if it gets dull.

The simple thing to do is pasteurize your own eggs. I do all of mine as soon as I bring them home from the store. Go to this site scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see my method. Shirley Corriher mentions a method in Cookwise that says you can simply run hot tap water over the egg (eggs must be at room temp) however not every home has hot water that goes as high as 140 degrees and that is the important detail. One thing that I have noted. After the eggs have been pasteurized, the air pocket often seen on older eggs does not form or is not as large. My hard-boiled eggs are perfectly shaped, no flat spot at the large end of the egg. I can't explain it but that is what I have found.

I believe I have the entire line of Cuisinart food processors. I bought my first one at the old Broadway dept store in Woodland Hills when I lived in the Valley, probably in 1973 or 74 as I was still married to my last husband. I knew most of the women who worked in the kitchen section and one called me and told me about this new appliance and that they were going to be demonstrating it that afternoon. I saw and I bought, even though it was very, very expensive. I never regretted it. It was small and I had to do multiple batches for anything more than a few servings but it really changed the way I prepped certain things in the kitchen. It was retired from active duty but I still have it. When the 11 cup became available I got one and also bought a domed lid for dough and a flat lid for certain things (pesto for instance) where almost everything goes into the bowl and then oil (or another liquid) is added through the center hole as it hits the top of the blade shaft and is sprayed evenly around the bowl. I think I have purchased 4 or 5 bowls, usually because I broke them from mishandling them. (They are tough but will not survive a cast iron skillet dropped on them in the sink.) Several years later the 14 cup made its appearance and I got that one also and a flat lid for it too and an extra bowl. About 5 or 6 years ago I bought the 20 cup and use it for large batches of dry ingredients into which I need to incorporate butter, lard or shortening, shred large batches of cabbage or slice cucumbers for pickles, make large batches of salsa, or in particular, the verde sauce I make for pork (tomatillo sauce). Here is the lineup of the 11, 14 and 20 cup. I also have the "Mini-Prep" but rarely use it. It was a gift. I have never really had any significant problems with any of the Cuisinarts and they have had a lot of use. I have used other brands at the homes of friends but have yet to find one that I like as well. However that is just my personal preference, other people have other needs and likes and they should use what works for them. I have never returned a motor unit to Cuisinart service - I have a wizard of an appliance man who does wonders with anything I take him. I have had the cords replaced because they do wear out after a while and I am a safety freak. One of the switches broke off when I dropped the thing and the appliance guy was able to replace it. I didn't ask how, since he isn't an "authorized" repair service for Cuisinart, but it works as well as it ever did. And that is just about all I have to say on the subject. By the way, all of my slicing blades on all the machines have removable shafts except for the very first one which I no longer use.

The oldest Cuisinart I have, the first one introduced to the US, has the feeder tube that can be left open, the plunger does not have to be locked on before the thing will work. All the later ones had that interlock latch that is a pain, just so idiots would not be able to stick their hands into the feeder tube. Sometimes the plastic latch on the back gets broken and unless you know the trick of how to stick something in there to take its place, your only option is to get a new lid. After I got the domed "dough" top for one of my machines, I figured out how to make it work but it is still tricky. There is a web site, if I can find it, that has "Cuisinart secrets" with descriptions and illustrations of how to get around some of the problems, such as when the shaft holding the shredding plates won't release. I still like the Cuisinarts better than any other food processors, even with their idiosyncracies.

Remove the entire plunger assembly from the feed tube. That will give you room to insert something with a hook on the end which you should hook under the back side of the blade on the lower side - pull up sharply. This has worked for me when I did the same thing. I also found that when I had the lid stuck on another time with something hard stuck between the shredding plate and the lid, I was able to break it loose using a rubber mallet, giving a sharp sideways tap to the open edge of the front latch. As I recall it took a couple of taps to get the top to rotate enough to unlatch it. This was on the big one (20 cup) and with it, when the top is latched it is also locked on to the base which is very heavy.

Here is a hint that you might find useful. Get some long poles that you can re-use, sink them in the ground about every 4 feet, then get some tree netting (to keep birds off fruit trees) and either staple or tie it to the poles (we use the plasti electric wire ties that have a slot at one end for the free end to slip through.) At the end of the season just take the netting down, clean it and roll it up for next year. I use it for cucumbers also. It is dark green so is not an eyesore. It also has the advantage of being very inexpensive. My neighbor uses it for flowering vines, sweet peas, morning glory (I don't grow the latter because they are poisonous) and a friend has a huge row of this stuff down in Vista, CA where she grows passion fruit.

Coconut sorbet I serve a small scoop of this on top of pineapple upside-down cake for a sort of piña colada dessert. This is also very good with chocolate, particularly on top of melted center chocolate cake. Coconut sorbet Yield = 1 1/2 quarts Coconut milk, 5 cups, canned or fresh made 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or Mexican crema) 1/2 cup lightly toasted "macaroon" coconut (very fine grated) In a heavy sauce pan mix the coconut milk, condensed milk and sugar. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and toasted coconut. Remove from heat, place pan in an ice water bath and whisk until the mixture is cool. Transfer to a container than seals well and refrigerate for a minimum of three hours. Process in an ice cream freezer until very thick. Serve immediately or return to sealed container and store in freezer. Use within two days. For a frozen piña colada, non-alcoholic. Add a scoop of this sorbet to chilled pineapple juice in a blender. Run blender until mixture is smooth, transfer to cocktail glass and serve with a straw. If desired a tot of rum may be added before blending. Andie Paysinger ( RG1293 )

Coconut sorbet I serve a small scoop of this on top of pineapple upside-down cake for a sort of piña colada dessert. This is also very good with chocolate, particularly on top of melted center chocolate cake. Coconut sorbet Yield = 1 1/2 quarts Coconut milk, 5 cups, canned or fresh made 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or Mexican crema) 1/2 cup lightly toasted "macaroon" coconut (very fine grated) In a heavy sauce pan mix the coconut milk, condensed milk and sugar. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and toasted coconut. Remove from heat, place pan in an ice water bath and whisk until the mixture is cool. Transfer to a container than seals well and refrigerate for a minimum of three hours. Process in an ice cream freezer until very thick. Serve immediately or return to sealed container and store in freezer. Use within two days. For a frozen piña colada, non-alcoholic. Add a scoop of this sorbet to chilled pineapple juice in a blender. Run blender until mixture is smooth, transfer to cocktail glass and serve with a straw. If desired a tot of rum may be added before blending. Andie Paysinger ( RG1293 )

I prefer the chicken thighs, bone in and with the skin, available in large bags at Smart & Final (and recently at my local Wal-Mart, very cheap.) I think the flavor is much more intense than I can ever get with breast meat.

Here it is. This is also one of the soups I prepare in the Vita-Mix blender I saute the onion and ginger in a little oil first and add it after the carrots and sorrel. Carrot/Sorrel/Ginger Soup Serves: 6 to 8 2 tablespoons canola or light olive oil 3/4 cup chopped onion or half onion/half shallots 1 1/2 tablespoons grated or minced fresh ginger 4 cups shredded carrots, firmly packed 2 cups chopped sorrel, loosely packed 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water kosher salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup half and half chiffonade basil leaves In a large saucepan or evasee heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger, sauté until the onion is transparent but not browned. Remove the onion/ginger and set aside. Add the carrots and sauté, stirring often, for about 8 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften. Add the sorrel and toss with the carrots. Return the shallot/ginger to the pan, mix well. Add the stock or water. Increase heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan and simmer for minutes, until the carrots are soft and mash easily with a fork. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool until just warm. Transfer the soup to a blender (blend 2 cups at a time) and strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. When all has been blended and strained, place over medium heat, stirring constantly until the soup just begins to simmer. If the soup is quite thick, add a little hot water and blend in. Stir in the half and half and blend well. Serve with basil chiffonade scattered on top. May also be served in mugs with cinnamon toast points on the side as a starter. Orginal Recipe by Andie

Carrot/Sorrel/Ginger Soup Serves 0 as Soup. 2 tablespoons canola or light olive oil 3/4 cup chopped onion or half onion/half shallots 1 1/2 tablespoons grated or minced fresh ginger 4 cups shredded carrots, firmly packed 2 cups chopped sorrel, loosely packed 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water kosher salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup half and half chiffonade basil leaves In a large saucepan or evasee heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger, sauté until the onion is transparent but not browned. Remove the onion/ginger and set aside. Add the carrots and sauté, stirring often, for about 8 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften. Add the sorrel and toss with the carrots. Return the shallot/ginger to the pan, mix well. Add the stock or water. Increase heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan and simmer for minutes, until the carrots are soft and mash easily with a fork. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool until just warm. Transfer the soup to a blender (blend 2 cups at a time) and strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. When all has been blended and strained, place over medium heat, stirring constantly until the soup just begins to simmer. If the soup is quite thick, add a little hot water and blend in. Stir in the half and half and blend well. Serve with basil chiffonade scattered on top. May also be served in mugs with cinnamon toast points on the side as a starter. Orginal Recipe by Andie This can also be made in the Vita-Mix blender. Simply sauté the onion and ginger as above, set aside. Then place the carrots and sorrel in the Vita-Mix, add the onion and ginger then the remaining ingredients. It will "cook" in the blender. ( RG1289 )

Carrot/Sorrel/Ginger Soup Serves 0 as Soup. 2 tablespoons canola or light olive oil 3/4 cup chopped onion or half onion/half shallots 1 1/2 tablespoons grated or minced fresh ginger 4 cups shredded carrots, firmly packed 2 cups chopped sorrel, loosely packed 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water kosher salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup half and half chiffonade basil leaves In a large saucepan or evasee heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger, sauté until the onion is transparent but not browned. Remove the onion/ginger and set aside. Add the carrots and sauté, stirring often, for about 8 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften. Add the sorrel and toss with the carrots. Return the shallot/ginger to the pan, mix well. Add the stock or water. Increase heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan and simmer for minutes, until the carrots are soft and mash easily with a fork. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool until just warm. Transfer the soup to a blender (blend 2 cups at a time) and strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. When all has been blended and strained, place over medium heat, stirring constantly until the soup just begins to simmer. If the soup is quite thick, add a little hot water and blend in. Stir in the half and half and blend well. Serve with basil chiffonade scattered on top. May also be served in mugs with cinnamon toast points on the side as a starter. Orginal Recipe by Andie This can also be made in the Vita-Mix blender. Simply sauté the onion and ginger as above, set aside. Then place the carrots and sorrel in the Vita-Mix, add the onion and ginger then the remaining ingredients. It will "cook" in the blender. ( RG1289 )

My sorrel is already seeding and I am cutting seed stalks every day. It is in the small garden next to the house. It seeds itself all over the place if I don't keep up with it. I made some dolma using the sorrel as wraps, instead of grape leaves, and the lemony flavor really sparked the flavor. I simply steamed the leaves for a couple of minutes and removed only the largest center ribs. I have made two batches of carrot/sorrel soup so far. Again, the lemony flavor of the sorrel counteracts the very sweet flavor of the carrots and makes a wonderful soup, hot or cold, that I serve in mugs as a starter.

This was just a vegetable garden, not the garden next to the house. It is one acre of a 5 acre parcel that has been fenced and graded and the soil amended over the past few years. The water system, drip-trickle pipes, was PVC pipes just under the surface with heads spaced out that had radiating tubes attached to deliver water directly to the plant roots. Apparently they used a hook or something similar to pull the pipes right out of the ground and break them in addition to running over almost all the heads. They also broke the main assembly where all the different areas come together and since the water was on, it made a huge mud patch before my neighbors got home and turned the water off. This afternoon my gardeners found that they had also damaged my auxillary generator. The sheriffs got some boot and hand prints off of it and are hopeful now they can identify the perps. That is going to be costly to repair.

Only if the metal is magnetic. I can assure you that gold is not affected by it because I dropped one of my gold bracelets onto the burner while it was on high and I picked it up with my fingers, the burner was not even warm and neither was my bracelet.

My big garden in the field behind my home HAD a large number of squash, multiple tomatoes, cucumbers of different varieties, carrots, onions, tomatillos and several varieties of peppers. Yesterday, while I was at work (70 miles away) and my neighbors who overlook the field had gone to LAX to pick up one of their sons who is home from Iraq, several people on ATVs vandalized the field. They broke down a fence to get in and must have spent several hours tearing around, knocking down trellis, plants and even breaking up the watering system and broke several of the panels on the greenhouses. When I got home yesterday evening and found out what had happened I was sick. I couldn't even sign on to eG. The sheriffs that came out to take the report said that there have been several similar happenings but they have no clue who is doing it. Another neighbor saw a couple of the 4-wheelers down the street but said they were so covered with mud and dust she couldn't even tell what color they were and the riders were wearing the helmets with the blacked out face shields. She said the ones she saw were too big to be just kids. They also broke into the shed belonging to my neighbors and stole a couple of expensive bicycles and some power tools. I simply can't understand why someone would do this just for kicks. It is the act of someone who has the intelligence of pond scum. They were smart enough to cut the lines to the transformer powering the electric fence (to keep animals out). My gardeners are out there today, trying to clean it up but it is going to take a lot of time and money to fix the watering system. Fortunately they couldn't get into the well house (they tried to pry the lock off the door) otherwise my well may have been damaged also. I had a crop of mustard that would have been ready to harvest in a week or so. Sometimes I really despise those ATVs because it seems when people get on them, all their common sense leaks right out of their heads.

What is really funny, at least in my opinion, is that this is not a NEW idea. The original pop-up hot dog and bun toaster appeared way back in the 60s. I had one made by Presto that also made a "Hot-Dogger" that cooked 6 hot dogs at a time but not the buns. I occasionally see the pop up hot dog toaster on ebay, but more often see the "Hot-Dogger" as I believe more of them were sold. Just another case of "What's old is new again"

I read an article several years ago about one of the makers of flavored syrups that froze very mature fruits and then spun out the mashed, frozen stuff in a large centrifuge that extracted the concentrated flavored liquid from the pulp and skins with much of the water ice remaining in the pulp. As I recall, the fruit mentioned was black currant so it was probably a European company.

foie gras with black truffles

I have never cared for cheesecake, or rather the dessert cheesecake. There are a couple of savory cheesecakess that contain textured ingredients that I do like. For me it is the mouthfeel of regular cheesecake that I don't like. I have tried to eat it when pressed, just to be polite, but then find I have difficulty swallowing more than a bite. I also do not like okra and never have, even though I was raised in the south. I can't stand doughnuts, however beignets are okay, if done correctly.

I thought I would post some photos to show how the L.verbena looks this morning. The first two plants get morning sun, light shade in the middle of the day and late afternoon sun. The third plant is on the northwest side of a shed and only gets afternoon sun. It is just now putting out new leaves, ten days ago it still looked like a dead stick. You can easily see that the leaves are 1/4 the size of the others. In fact, the two that get the most sun are already blooming. I have 4 more plants that are essentially just like the first two.

I should have mentioned that although I do live in southern California, it is in the "high" desert - almost 3000 ft altitude and we have hard freezes usually beginning in December and can sometimes occur as late as early March but this year had two nights of temps in the high 20s in April, which is unusual. This year the lowest temp was 9 degrees and we had several nights of lows in the low teens but in past years I have seen it down to 1. We do not get a lot of snow but have rain during the day that freezes on the surface of the ground at night. I have hardy rosemary bushes that overwinter well and even bloom around Christmas in spite of the nightly freezes. Sage and lavendar also overwinter outsite. My bay trees are protected with burlap wraps with dead leaves stuffed inside from the ground to about 4 ft high. However I do not protect the lemon verbena and it will look totally dead (I have to make sure my gardeners do not cut it back so tie little tags onto the branches so they know to leave them). I am patient with it and eventually it will put out new leaves. It can be maintained in a pot but you have to be careful to not give it too much water. Actually it, like so many herbs, will develop more flavor in the leaves if it is slightly stressed, i.e. given less water once it is well established and in full leaf.