andiesenji

The beauty of the garbage bag is how dirt cheap they are. Use it once and pitch it, plus earily in the day you can use it to double line your garbage pail. I use plastic wrap/saran wrap over my smaller mixers and the one that has a shield..........that's lovely cause it contains the mess better then open mixers, even though it's challenging to work with. ← The time I am talking about is back in the 50s, before there were plastic garbage bags. We saw a baker at one of the baking shows we attended using the garment bags and thought "How Great is That!" and immediately bought some. The only plastic bags were the very thing ones that cleaners put over garments and that stuff was too fragile.

I have stopped at a place between Lake Elsinore and Temecula that has pretty good produce that is quite varied. I Think it is called "Tom's Ranch" and I know there is a billboard on I-15 that directs one to the correct offramp. It has been a couple of years since I was down there but they had heirloom tomatoes that were just lovely. They also had some unusual melons.

One thing that may make a difference is that duck egg shells are not a porus as chicken eggs. We used to mark eggs with an indelible marker and I often noticed that the color would have penetrated to the interior of chicken eggs, but not to the interior of duck eggs.

I thought I was weird for putting a tea towel over! I will have to try with plastic ! ← Way back when I worked in my mom's bakery we used the plastic garment bags that just fit around the big mixer and the top, where the hanger would go, would be secured to the top of the mixer with a cow magnet. it was split front and back and held together in the front of the bowl with a spring-type clothes pin. The heavy plastic was washable and we used the steamer to sterilize them.

I supposed that 97% of the time I am an organized cook/baker, especially with the baking. In fact I mentioned last fall about my routine for holiday baking when I weigh and measure all the dry ingredients for cookies/cakes and etc., and place those in their little plastic bags in a bus tub or on trays along with a copy of the recipe and list of perishable ingredients that need to be added to each and if special baking pans are needed, those go in there also so everything is together when I am ready to bake. With most recipes, I gather and prepare all the ingredients before starting to cook, just to make sure that I do have everything. I don't plan days in advance, except for very special occasions. But I do need some plan, so I can use up things that are perishable before they expire. Occasionally I just throw stuff together and if I don't have something in the recipe I substitute something else. Little glass dishes?? Yes, I have a bunch of little glass dishes, different sizes. Also little SS dishes, little silicone dishes, little pottery dishes, little porcelain dishes and disposable nut cups for use outside. Am I organized. Yessss. Those little dishes are placed in an antique shallow muffin tin to keep them from getting lost on the counter or being knocked over. This is so easy to do and saves a lot of mess. (if you have ever jostled one of these little dishes holding an egg, or honey, or oil, or ?????? you know what I mean. (Or, as I did one memorable time, pushing a cutting board too far and knocking several little dishes containing an egg, paprika, chopped bacon, olive oil, pepper and dry mustard onto the floor. Broken glass in a gooey mess was not fun to clean up, particularly when the dry mustard poofed up in a cloud and caused me to sneeze for 10 minutes.

There used to be a few permanent "Farmer's Markets" around the L.A. area many years ago, when there were still "truck" farms in the San Gabriel Valley and the San Fernando valley and Simi Valley. When I lived in Burbank in the 1960s, there was Rob's Ranch Market on the corner of Glenoaks and Alameda. It was a ratty series of wooden buildings that had been joined to make one L-shaped building around two sides of the parking lot. They also carried dairy products from Giacapuzzi dairy, including all kinds of raw milk products plus Goat milk and products from a goat farm in Newhall. They also had a tortilleria in the back with 3 or 4 ladies patting the tortillas from hand to hand and baking them on a big square steel sheet. They would make them extra-thick to order. Sadly, when Burbank decided to "beautify" they forced Rob's to modernize and they eventually sold out to a chain and it became a Market Basket market then a Ralph's. I can remember shopping in Rob's when it was raining and the roof leaking in many spots with the clerks running around with galvanized trash cans placed under the worse of the drips. Those of us who shopped there just thought it gave the place character. It also was not air conditioned which would have been useless as there were double doors in several places that stood open all the time.

I think that part of the reason there is no big produce market such as you describe in the L.A. area is the area..... San Francisco itself is spread over 47 square miles and the residential areas are close in to the business district. The outlying cities are not all that distant and driving distances are not the same as here. If something were centrally located in L.A. it would mean a long, long drive for many people. There are half a million people in the Antelope valley and for a time we had a Farmer's Market in Palmdale every Saturday morning but not enough people supported it and it died. One would think that something like that would be very popular but it was not publicized well and had to move a couple of times as their space was developed. I would love to go to the Santa Monica Farmers market but it is too long a drive for me just to shop. The ones in the Valley are at times or on days where I can't get to them because I am working. The distances here are just so much greater than in the Bay area. I drive 70 miles to work which means a 140 mile commute for me four days a week. I drive to South Pasadena about once a month to shop at Bristol Farms (and Sur La Table since I am in the area) and would go to a Farmer's market if one were open at the time. I have been told there was one in Artesia but only on Thursday so that wouldn't work for me. There was supposed to be one opening in South El Monte this year but I have yet to hear if it is going to get the permit. That is the other thing. Many municipalities are not friendly toward these markets. They make so many rules and regulations that it is prohibitive in cost to organize them. Green Thumb Nursery on Sepulveda blvd in Sepulveda attempted to organize a Farmer's Market several years ago but after months of negotiation gave it up because of all the permits that were required, making it too time consuming and costly.

99 Ranch Markets have a pretty good selection of produce. Nothing like you describe at Berkeley bowl, but pretty good and the prices are reasonable. Marukai Market at 1740 West Artesia Boulevard in Gardena has a pretty good selection of Asian produce. It is an interesting place to shop, they have a huge selection of fish and fish products.

I used to shop at Jurgensen's on Ventura Blvd., in fact I had a house account and got a bill once a month. It made it easier for me because I hated standing there writing out a check while people were in line behind me. It also meant my housekeeper could shop for me and charge it to the account. They were so great about special orders, fancy strawberries on long stems, Brussells sprouts on the stem, huge artichokes or baby artichokes. And the cheeses. They had the greatest selection of imported cheeses - I still have one of their signature cheese crocks that held their special blue cheese spread that was so delicious. I also have one of their crocks that held fresh caviar, the light gray one with drawings of sturgeon in blue on the sides. I do miss them. And their breads - wonderful artisan breads long before La Brea bakery came onto the scene.

They are also very good for eye health. I make an infusion from the dried berries that I mix with tea. The local middle eastern market carries them. Even though they are dried, they should be stored in the refrigerator. I saw an article about the various fruits that support eye healt in Prevention magazine 3 or 4 years ago and have been buying them ever since. They are also great sprinkled on salads, in sandwiches and etc.

I like kosher salt because it is "sweeter" to me. However I am blessed with a lot more taste buds than most people (had one of those "ink-blot on the tongue" tests) so it may not taste so to you. I also like sea salts that contain additional minerals. I have a large collection of various salts from all over the world. Iodized salt has a bitter component to it. I am very sensitive to iodine so had to stop using it many years ago and began using kosher salt because I liked the way it tasted and to me it was easier to sprinkle on foods evenly using my fingers. This is all a matter of personal preference. Just tasting straight salt on your tongue is difficult. I have found that the best way to taste a salt is to spread some plain bread with unsalted butter, cut it into squares, then sprinkle a bit of one type salt on one piece of bread and butter.

Try it drizzled over a poached egg on toast. When I first got a bottle I couldn't thing of anything in particular to do with it so I tried it this way. Heavenly!

I second the BBB notion. I have a bunch of their glasses and they are cheap and tough. The other place I buy glasses is Pier One.

I remove the legs and thighs and wings. Then I cut the back away, using poultry shears. I then put the breast, meat side down on the cutting board and bend it outward until it is pretty much flattened and the sternum breaks. Starting at the sternum, I use a thin-bladed knife to separate the meat where it is attached to the sternum. By this point, the breast meat should have been loosened from the ribs and can be pulled off in one piece on each side. You can also flatten it with the meat side up, whichever, it is the flexing of the ribs that looses the meat from them. I learned this by watching the guys at El Pollo Loco one day while waiting for a large order for the office. I thought it was such a neat trick I tried it at home and it WORKED!

Chicken tagine and couscous in the large steamer from Clay Coyote

You can make it as simple as 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 metal). 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.

There is a barbecue place here in town that sells a lot of sandwiches, including grilled cheese (however they do not serve hamburgers or their relatives, it is barbecue (pork, beef, chicken) for the meat eaters and grilled cheese for the ones who don't eat meat. They have 3 sides and two kinds of pickles, dill and bread and butter and also those little hot yellow peppers common to every barbecue place I know of in SoCal. They also have barbecue sauce (hot and mild), ketchup and mustard but no mayo, no salad dressing. That is the extent of the condiments. The sides are coleslaw, german potato salad (warm) and mac and cheese (also warm). The sandwiches come with one side and people can choose, the pickles are included. The sides are served in the little paper cups that hold about 1/3 to 1/2 cup (my estimate, haven't measured) and extra sides are 1.00. Some people don't bother to get the sides, since they have a choice. I have been in the restaurant when three people would come in together, get their sandwiches and sides and one person would eat all three sides. (A man with two women, guess who ate all the sides?) When they first opened they also had French fries but had some trouble with the fryer and it was taken out and replaced by a bigger toast machine - the kind that carries the bread or rolls in a wire rack up and over and the toasted stuff falls out into a tray at the bottom. I inquired and was told the 3 4-slot toasters they had could not keep up with the orders. Occasionally they have specials when you get two sides with a sandwich along with a free drink. They also sell the meat and sides in bulk but they are all pre-measured into pint and quart containers. I don't recall the prices because I have never bought them this way. They don't do anything special with their grilled cheese. You can get a choice of type of bread and the choice of cheese is very mundane, American, cheddar or pepper jack. They have the advantage of being close to the high school and do a lot of business early in the morning and right after school lets out. They are only open till 8 in the evening - 10 on Friday and Saturday nights. Open at 6 a.m. every day but Sunday when they open at 10. The pepper jack is very popular in this area. I think that they figured that the best way to go would be to keep things simple and straighforward. They are trying to buy the property next door to their lot and if they can get it at a reasonable price they may expand the place so they have more room for service and for parking. Right now it is not expandable. Those sides are all delicious. The coleslaw is the creamy, sweet-sour type that I love, with celery and dill seeds throughout. The german potato salad is one of the best I have every eaten and the mac and cheese is pretty good. They make them all on site.

This is one of the reasons I bought most of the higher end appliances when I expanded and remodeled my kitchen at major market home shows (Los Angeles, Anaheim, Long Beach). I made a point of being at the show early on the first day and carefully mapped out the various booths I wanted to visit and looked at the items I wanted. I would then speak to the lead rep at the booth, occasionally taking one to lunch, and would ask about purchasing the display model (at a significant discount) and picking it up at the end of the show in "as-is" condition. They use a new piece at every show because invariably there will be some scratching or other minor damage to pieces during the show or while being dismantled as they are usually in a hurry. I did this well in advance of my renovation and stored all the items until time for use. I knew what I wanted and wanted the kitchen designed around them. I saved 30 to 50% on appliances, more on the countertops and other materials. I also managed to get a large Jacuzzi tub for 25% of retail because it had a minor ding which is completely covered by the tub surround. I had to pay for a truck and two men to transport the stuff but that cost was far less than the amount I saved.

Amazing how much it looks like some of the "low-riders" in vogue with many of the Hispanic youth around here. The "spoiler" on the back is to hint that the vehicle has a lot of speed, more power under the hood than a regular one from dealer stock.

You are correct. Green garlic, also known as "spring" garlic is the first stage of garlic growth, when it is still a single bulb, much like a spring onion, green onion, bunching onion, etc. When the really hot weather of late spring, early summer arrives, the bulb produces small buds around the base of the original bulb, which grow and fill out until there are up to 30 in some varieties. When the green tops turn brown and fall over, in the fall, the garlic that was planted last fall and overwintered in the ground, is ready to harvest. However you can break up a head of garlic and plant the individual cloves in the late winter or early spring, or at any time and within a few weeks will have "spring" garlic which should be picked and eaten immediately. Garlic planted in the spring will not really mature into garlic that can be stored, it remains too full of moisture and will rot. I speak from experience, I have grown a lot of garlic over the years. It will grow in a window box and if you are growing it for spring or green garlic, it does not require the spacing of garlic planted for full maturity harvesting. Plant the cloves 1 1/2 inches deep in loose potting soil, 1 1/2 inches apart.

I have a little note about heat diffusers, in particular for electric stoves. I was invited for coffee to the home of a neighbor who has been away for two months visiting her daughter and SIL who are now living in Uraguay. She was showing me some of the things she brought home, including a soapstone cookpot which is similar to one I have had for years. However she also had a heat diffuser for use on her electric store that interested me. It is very simply made. All it is is two long coil springs, the kind that one finds on a screen door, coiled and fastened together (with what looks like paper clips) so it lays flat when on a flat surface. The spring steel that these springs are made of is pretty tough so it should handle the heat just fine. She has yet to use the pot, but we tested the diffuser on her stove, which has smooth flat metal burners, and it worked fine to heat up a heavy skillet. It isn't large enough to cover the largest burner on her cooktop but her husband said he could add another spring or maybe two so it would fit exactly. How about that for an idea.......... She told me that young boys make these in the open air market as well as trivets and other useful gadgets and sell them in the market or door-to-door. They also make a whisk with the springs by wrapping a spring around one end of a stick. I have a similar whisk that I have had for many years, purchased in Mexico, but apparently they are made and used in South America also.

Smart & Final carries Diamond Crystal kosher salt in boxes at a very good price. The only place I buy it.

To me scalded milk is milk that has been brought to just short of a boil and when a "skin" forms on top it is "scalded" - the skin has to be removed. My grandmother had a "milk pan" made of copper, similar to a sugar pan, with straight sides, but the pouring lip was on the right side of the pan instead of on the left. This was so that one could pour the hot milk with the left hand and use the right hand for whisking the milk into whatever it was going into. One of my aunts has it and has promised it to me "someday". I shouldn't complain, I got most of the other copper cookware but this little one quart pan was a favorite. My favorite now for heating milk is a Corning ware pan I have had for 40 years (Blue cornflower design) with the detachable handle and pouring lips on three sides and even better, it has graduated measure marks on the inside. I used to have two of these but one suffered a mishap. I have occasionally looked for one on ebay but they are a little scarce. It is just perfect for heating milk, for some sauces, particularly when reducing delicate sauces as the markings on the interior make it easy to see how much it has reduced.

Skirt steak is also the meat that I like best for making teriyaki beef. I cut it into strips 3 to 4 inces wide, marinate in teriyaki sauce for an hour or so, then place right onto the barbecue grill, just using tongs to lift it out of the marinade. I immediately pour the marinade into a saucepan, bring it to a boil then cool and freeze it. All you have to do is trim the gray fat off the meat before it goes into the marinade. The skirt steak will shrink about 1/3 while cooking so figure on this when deciding how much to serve.

The only way I know of it is because a friend has an autistic grandson who was placed on a wheat-free, dairy free diet about a year ago. He also couldn't tolerate large amounts of soy or nut milks so the potato milk was recommended. Apparently the change in his condition has been nothing short of astounding and his mom is taking part in some sort of long-term study. Autism and diet. My friend recently sent me this web site URL.