andiesenji

You can also sprinkle granulated maple sugar on the top of a pancake just prior to flipping it over. The sugar carmelizes and is just yummy. (sorry, to those who object to using words like "yummy", but it really is!) I sprinkle it on my "mock" French toast, which is bread pudding, baked in a loaf pan then chilled, sliced and cooked on a griddle. Quick, no mess and the flavor is exactly the same, only better.

This made me think of the deep fried Twinkies sold at the L.A. County fair (and others) - - - If there are no more Twinkies, what are they going to deep fry, banana muffins? Of course there is that ersatz "Twinkie-like" filled cake thingy made by one of the other commercial bakeries. I just can't recall the name at the moment. Come to think of it, I think it is banana flavored. There is, of course, deep fried ice cream. I bet deep fried pudding would work. You would have to roll it in something like corn flake crumbs first - or maybe in a little filo dough beggar's bag, or in a won ton wrapper. The mind boggles at all the possibilities. maybe I should fire up the deep fryer and see how it goes............ Of course I would first have to get some bananas - ah ha! Vallarta is having a sale... Off to the market, soon.

I'm trying to find a photo of my old kitchen from the late 60s and through the 70s. My tile man was the first I ever saw that put powder dye into the grout and tested it, waiting till it was dry until he got the exact color he wanted. On the long counters on either side of the sink I had a tile that had a sort of pebbly texture on the surface in light sage green. He made the grout the color of terracotta which was the color of the mexican tile on the floor with sage green grout. I had been solidly against tile on the counters but my dad convinced me that Bud, his tile guy, would do a bang-up job and so he did. The colored grout made all the different in the world, it never looked grungy the way so much does in a very short time. That kitchen was even bigger than the one I have now, a total of 39 feet of counter space, a huge range,(photo in my public album), two refrigerators and an enormous round table on a pedestal that went through the floor into the ground with 8 seats that hung from the frame under the table itself. I loved that table, it was so easy to clean under it, (after evicting the great danes that thought it was the coolest place in the house to sleep) and if I had been able to get it out of the place I would have taken it with me when I sold the house. However the people who bought it also thought it was neat and it was one of the reasons they wanted the house. They wanted my range too but I was not about to part with that.

My daughter and her family have been in Inverness, Scotland for four months and are enjoying the many varieties of tea cakes available. She sent me some Bell Heather honey that would make a slab of pine taste good. She said "they take their tea cakes seriously here" and so they should. In spite of eating much more than when they were home (in northern California) they spent so much time walking that they have all lost weight. I have been the recipient of a sheaf of postcards of the various castles, gardens, villages and kitchens they visited. After reading them I too feel "a bit peckish"........

I don't know why you think you are a dweeb. I think your cabinets and counter look nifty. I certainly understand about the overwhelming effect of too much wood. However it does work because there are trims and edges to point up the difference. It looks like you are doing a great job.

Regarding the counter tops. Dave, how tall are you? Scroll down to the bottom of this page for butcher block counters at Lumber Liquidators. Their prices are way below any other place. note that instead of pricing by the square foot, they have it in 8 ft and 12 ft lengths, and $286.00 for 12 feet of counter top is a bargain, even if it is unfinished. The wood is thick enough that you can drill into it to take large dowels then glue two blocks together with a bar clamp to make a wider table. That is how they did my center island. If you need smaller pieces, you can check their "Odd Lot Specials" as they sell pieces left over from larger jobs. Of course you might be able to get a similar deal at a local place but go armed with a printout from this place and you might get a better deal if they want to keep your business local. Anyway, its worth a shot.

I have a "vintage" popcorn popper identical to the one on this link and it says Popcorn Popper or Coffee Roaster for the stove top, electric or gas. Whirly Pop I know a lot of people who buy these only to use as a coffee roaster. They work very well on an electric hot plate as well as a gas burner but most of the people I know that use them prefer an electric hotplate. I am pretty sure they are available in Japan because one of the lab technicians who works in the office went to Japan for a class last spring and forgot his coffee roaster. He was going to have his girl friend send his but then told her not to bother he found one. He came home in August and apparently left it with his hosts, having initiated them into the joys of freshly roasted coffee. He stayed in Kyoto and probably didn't travel too far to shop.

Have you seen this site with various homemade roasters?

Usually the whole fruits were used as decoration but meant to be consumed. Very elaborate desserts would be fashioned of fruits and nuts, honey, wine or other liquor then topped with whole candied or glacé fruits representing those in the dish. They had to look natural but obviously be preserved. The Italians were the greatest artists at this and some of their candied fruits would even be covered with gold leaf for a presentation. Pure gold leaf is edible. Some of the larger fruits would take months to prepare but you have to remember that labor was very cheap in those days. Here are some web sites that discuss and have recipes/methods for the process. Here and here another recipe This place has it for sale more to buy This is the method I worked up for Melinda Lee to post on her website. She also has my recipe for candied ginger on the site. And for those who want to dip into history!

When I cut into the squash I will see how the seeds look. Sometimes they are just too woody to roast. Usually butternut squash have softer, smaller seeds that roast well. The "sugar" pumpkins that are used for cooking also have softer seeds than the carving pumpkins. If the Hubbards are small enough their seeds are fine for roasting. However if you get one of the big rock-hard ones, their seeds are usually tough and woody. I don't even try to cut those with a knife, they get sawn into pieces on the band saw. (It is used just for food and cleaned carefully after sawing bones or frozen meat.) Part of my left great toe is permanently numb from the time when I was trying to split a huge blue Hubbard with an axe and it glanced off the squash and into my boot, cut right through the steel toe cap and into my toe. There is one great big banana squash that is laying next to the fence, Jose couldn't see it from the garden side but I saw it when I was doing my morning exercise walk around the kitchen garden. I tried to get a picture of it but there is too much foliage to make out anything clearly. The vine is growing out of one of the compost bins, the same place the giant tomatillos were growing earlier this summer and which I posted photos of in another topic. There are a lot out there now but I can't get at them. Jose cut quite a few squash off the vines early this morning but he won't be here again until Monday so I won't know what exactly I have until he brings them in. I think I bought two of every variety they had at Lowe's, Home Depot and Green Thumb nursery. Some were new hybrids I have never grown before. It will be interesting to see how well they did.

I forgot to ask about the straight handles. Are they solid all the way to the end? Many early pots had handles that were round at the end and hollow. This was so a tapered piece of wood, usually having been soaked in water, could be twisted into the handle to form an extension to make it easier to lift the heavier pots.

The old ones are very thick copper because they were put directly over the wood/coal fire in an old range. One of the lids over the firebox would be lifted out using an implement known as a lid-lifter and the pan would be set down into the round opening which has a lip to hold the lid and which will also hold the pot. Most pots were made with flat bottoms and were of the correct diameter so they would fit these openings. Most stoves had three sizes of openings, some had four, smaller ones to fit sauce pans and larger ones to fit poaching pans or jelly basins. The poaching pans and jelly basins had rounded bottoms, the poaching pans often had depressions in them which causes people nowdays to mistake them for baking pans but they were not. When the water was simmering, the cook would use the handle of a wooden spoon to stir the water in the depression and then slide an egg from a saucer into the center of the little whirlpool that had been created, then do the same in the next depression. This kept the egg white from spreading through the water. Interestingly these came in several sizes, bigger depressions for larger eggs, hens, ducks, etc. and very small ones for quail eggs, bantams, etc. All the very old copper pans made for use on these ranges had very thick bottoms and are much heavier than the modern ones. My old French jelly basin is 18 inches in diameter and weighs 19 pounds. My newer one, same size, weighs 12 pounds.

I am hanging my head in shame. All y'all are so dedicated to making polenta so nicely, even when just for yourselves. Although I do make polenta in the classic manner when preparing it for guests, when I make it just for myself I make it in the microwave. It is tricky and one has to sit right next to it and be prepared to stir vigorously every couple of minutes but it comes out quite nice and unscorched which was a bit of a problem in the past.... When I am alone and start something like this I sometimes wander off and become involved in something else and forget all about it until I notice something in the air.............. This never happens when other people are around, I realize that there will be distractions and take steps to be sure I stay on top of things. And it can't go down the garbage disposal. As long as there is nothing in it except water and salt, the miserable mess can go into the worm composting bin.

I have an OT question. When did fois gras become foie gras? My first class in French method of cooking was taught by a Chef Gregoire who pounded it into our heads that it was fois gras and if he found our notes listing foie gras the page would be practically slashed with his red pen.... I seem to be the only one using the spelling as I learned it and notice that most web sites also use the foie instead of fois, except for a few such as this one. It really doesn't matter all that much, I am just curious....

I found this link on the HGTV site 12 volt track lighting

Incidentally, very late last night on House Hunters on HGTV they showed people looking at a 1950s built house that they eventually purchased. It had a dropped ceiling with metal grid and plastic diffusion panels with florescent lights above it in the kitchen and family room that had been installed in the 1970s. Since the man buying the house was quite tall, (and the ceiling was too low for his comfort) he lifted one of the panels and looked to see what was above it and saw that there was a solid ceiling from which the lights and the ceiling grid was hung. The agent said that it would be simple to remove the grid and lights so they made an offer on the house. When they showed the house three months after the couple had moved in, they had removed the grid and light fixtures and installed neat track lighting that was 12 volt, very economical, some on the track itself and some suspended from a single cable from the tracks. The tracks were not straight, they were undulating and looked like they were modular in sections so they could probably be configured in any position. In one section that extended into the family room over a C-shaped counter they had installed, the trac was in an arc that followed the shape of the C. He mentioned that although florescent lighting is inexpensive to operate, the 12 volt system is even less and his wife likes having the pendent lights over the areas where she does much of her work. (They had also installed the same type of lighting in the bathrooms to replace the outmoded "can in the ceiling" spots. He mentioned that the electrician showed him places where those old recessed lights had actually scorched the surrounding material because someone had put in light bulbs that were too high a wattage.) I know this particular episode has aired before but I didn't pay much attention to the ceiling the first time. Just thought the overall look was very spiffy.

My best friend Carol wanted Corian and got it when she had her kitchen remodeled 3 years ago. It is beautiful. However, 2 months after the remodel was finished she had a Christmas party. She has a lot of Holiday decorations, including pottery cookie jars shaped like santa, snowmen, trees, etc. Unfortunately a lot of these have a rough surface on the bottom or in a ring around the bottom and this is to Corian as a diamond is to glass. As they were pushed around on the long counter between her kitchen and family room they dug into the surface and in places it was so deep that it could not be refinished on site. The entire counter had to be removed, taken to a shop and wet sanded, polished and sealed. The cost was pretty steep, almost as much as simply replacing it would have been. Now she has glass cutting boards, not for cutting, but for placing casseroles, clay bakers, or anything that has a rough bottom, anytime she is going to be cooking. It kind of spoils the overall look which was the reason she wanted it to begin with. She says that had she known about this problem she would have opted for granite. She thought the Corian would be "warmer". Oh yes, it will stain, particularly if a ripe tomato happens to roll behind the blender, out of sight and remains there for several days until a general cleaning occurs, during which it has broken down a bit and imparted its color to the Corian. Fortunately the blender lives in that spot on a permanent basis and covers the spot. I plop hot pans down wherever I happen to be or want the pan to be so I need something that will tolerate hot cast iron or whatever.

I have butcher block in much of my kitchen, except right next to the sink. This was installed in '96 and has seen a lot of action. You have a cutting board just about anywhere. When the cuts get too noticable it gets sanded down, rubbed with a bone hone to "seal" the surface then oiled. If I can find the hone, I will take a photo of it. My dad made it for me about 30 years ago when I was doing some wood carving. It is just part of a shank bone that has been boiled, had all the fat baked out of it, dried, then ground down so it is about the size and shape of one end of a French pastry pin, that is tapered and rounded at the ends. My dad told me that at one time that was the way that baseball bats were finished as it made the surface harder or so they thought. It does make the surface slicker and even without the oil, water will bead up on the wood right after it is done. Anyway to get back to the butcher block, although a lot of people think they are had to keep up, I have never had a problem. I like the way they feel and I can set anything down on them without worry. If they get a little scorched, that sands out too, however I just think it give more character. I saw one of the "my kitchen" segments on Food TV a couple of years ago and one of the women chefs said almost the same thing. She showed that everywhere in her kitchen the butcher block counter tops show signs of use but she likes it that way. I have areas that are marble (for pastry) and one area that is stainless steel, with a slightly raised lip around the edge and drawers under it that can be filled with hot packs or ice packs. This is for working sugar. I don't use it much any more but it is there if I need it. Right now it has a bunch of stuff stacked on it. (in fact there is stuff stacked all over my kitchen except right in my normal working areas. I am waiting for another storage unit to be delivered... Granite is ok but I have a lot of cast iron and I learned in my old kitchen that slapping a cast iron Dutch oven down on a granite countertop will chip it........ I was having a little temper tantrum so it was my fault. I wouldn't have laminate. I have ruined a lot of it over the years, same with tile. If I had it to do all over again and an unlimited budget I would still have the butcher block.

Speaking of squash, my gardener called me out to the garden shed so he could show me a few of the squash he cut last week and are now cured enough to bring in to store. That big Turks turban is nearly a foot in diameter. There are some big Hubbards as well as a couple of other varieties out in the garden but they aren't ready to cut yet. There is a tendril right at the stem end that has to dry up before they are "ripe". They almost look artificial, don't they?

Kobe beef, number one on my list. Fois gras truffles Fois gras with truffles, better than - - - sex? can't say, distant memory for me.. however I have had fois gras with truffle recently. Iranian golden caviar - had it once, definitely better than just about anything else. I don't buy much lobster, have a friend who scuba dives up at the Channel Islands, brings back big ones. Spiny lobster, not the big claw type. However if I had to buy it I would.

If you want to keep it in its "native" form, just wrap it in paper towels then put in a plastic bag (don't seal it) and store it in the crisper drawer. I have some in a basket that has been sitting in a corner of my kitchen since it was dug up a month ago. I just looked at it and some of it has begun to sprout and some had dried a little, but unless it gets mold on it, it is still good to use. If you want to keep it longer, get a bag of clean sand (like play ground sandbox sand) at your local home store (Target has it in the nursery department in small bags) put the sand in a pretty flower pot that has a drip tray and moisten the sand a little, not too much. Bury the ginger in the sand and it will keep for months. It may sprout and put up a stem but that is no problem. When you need a piece, just yank it out of the sand, break off what you need, leave it on the counter overnight for the broken spot to "heal" then stick it back in the sand. Or your can peel it as others have said and store it in sherry or wine. Ginger is easier to peel if you blanch it, just as you would a tomato or a peach, then use the tip of a rounded spoon to scrape off the skin which is now loosened. Much easier than using a knife.

I have candied many types of whole fruits. However they have to be small. The one exception is limes. They turn an ugly gray when cooked in the syrup and are not easily candied. I use them for decoration, cut them up as a garnish. I candy the little seckel pears whole, but it is tricky. I have been candying fruit, citrus peel, ginger, citron, nuts, pieces of melon, etc., since I was a child. My family did all of the candying of peel and fruit for fruitcakes, etc. I have experimented for years to get the process to the point where it is easy and works every time. I candy orange and lemon peel in the microwave but have yet to get all my times recorded exactly so have yet to publish my recipe/method. It works for small batches just fine, in fact, I demonstrated it at my office one morning. I also did kumquats as one of our patients brought in a bag full and most of the people in the office have no idea what to do with them. The easiest things to start with are orange peel. However if you want to have something very fancy, you can candy dried apricots and peaches, mango or other dried fruits. This is a long, slow process as you don't want to cook the syrup to the point that it will solidify so that is why a crockpot is so nice to use. I generally plump the fruit first by steaming, then place in the hot syrup. I go by look and feel more than by a set time. When it is right, it is easy to tell. The fruit remains glossy and plump after draining and is translucent. Last year I candied or glacéed almost 10 pounds of apricots and peaches. A friend gave me some of the "printed" chocolate sheets with postage stame-sized designs in gold on the bittersweet chcolate base and I pasted one on each piece of fruit. Everyone loved them. I have been trying to find similar chocolate sheets but so far have been unsuccessful. I could make them but this was so easy. They are made to top molded chocolate candies with a flat top but they were just flexible enough to use on the fruits.

I can buy bags of wet masa, masa for tortillas or masa for tamale at either Vallarta Supermercado, or one of the two independent carnicerias here in Lancaster. However there are other things added to the masa which I don't necessarily want in some of my dishes, so I buy the dried. If I am making a dish in which I want a coarser masa I simply buy the wet processed corn also sold at Vallarta and process it carefully in the food processor until it is the way I want it. I use this in tamale pie and it is very, very good.

A banana peel is the quickest way of ripening an avocado or a dozen or more, in a brown paper bag. Avocados do not ripen until after they have been picked or fallen off the tree. My friends, with whom I spend the Christmas holidays every year in Yorba Linda, have an avocado tree. I pick them early one morning, rock hard, put them in a bag with a banana peel and by the following afternoon they are ready to eat. Otherwise, just sitting on the counter, they will take a week to ripen.

I forgot to mention about the Mandarins. I candy the Clementines because they are small enough to candy well without it taking forever. It helps to pierce them all over with a very fine needle and pre-cook them in boiling water. However you have to have the syrup ready and immediately place the hot fruit into the hot syrup and cook at a low simmer for 4-6 hours, then allow the syrup to cool completely with the fruit in it, then repeat this procedure about three more times. The point of this is that the heat drives out the internal moisture and when cooled down the syrup flows into the interior of the fruit to replace the expelled moisture. However with a piece of fruit of this size it won't happen all at once. It happens in stages. You have to do several at a time and after the third time of processing and at the end of the cooling period, cut one open and see how far the candying has progressed. If it is all the way to the center then it is done. You can tell because the inner membranes become translucent instead of white and opaque. I hope this helps.