andiesenji

I still have several of the Tupperware Jell-O molds from the 1960s. Also the recipe book. However, molded salads and desserts go back much, much further than the '60s and "jellies" were very popular desserts in the 19th century and before.

The ubiquitous party dessert in the 1960s was the "dump" cake. It wasn't my favorite - being a baker, I made cakes from scratch, but I went to a lot of parties where the main dessert offering was a dump cake. This is an image from a site that has images and "recipes" for the different varieties. In my crowd it was ice cream cakes that got the most applause. Pies that were popular in the '60s were some resurrected southern specialties: Chess Pie and Black Bottom Pie. In the late '60s we began seeing fruit tarts more often - including kiwi fruits that were just beginning to be popular and which were somewhat expensive. One that I recall was a custard pie topped with sliced kiwi and strawberries - brought to a potluck at my home in 1969. It sticks in my mind because we had to take my stepson to the ER because it turned out he was allergic to kiwi fruit.

Back in the '90s, I burnt out two KAs - 5 qt lift bowl models - trying to mix and knead the Struan bread from Brother Juniper's bread book by Peter Reinhart, I bought an AEG Electrolux mixer - now called Ankarsrum - and it got a lot of use in the early days when I was doing a lot of baking of large batches of "artisan" breads. There is a bit of a learning curve and it is more expensive, but it has held up with no problems and still works perfectly after 20 years. Having a timer is especially handy for me as I can set the speed and the timer and walk away to do something else, instead of hovering over the mixer to stop it and/or scrape down the sides (the latter is annoying to me with the KA because it isn't easy to get in and around the paddle with a spatural to scrape down the sides of the bowl). I have written about the mixer numerous times in the past in various threads on this forum. This is one discussion And in this thread about stand mixers, I again wrote about how I use it: Post # 422 When I bought my AEG in November 1994, I paid $439.95. - For me it has been a bargain. Pro-rate that over 20 years.

I'm selling some of my cast iron cookware so took some photos, including showing how non-stick well-seasoned cast iron can be. This is a "vintage" Griswold #3, made in the late '50s, 6 1/2 inches in diameter from rim to rim, not including the pouring lips. This morning I used about two teaspoons of oil (rice bran oil) added to the pan after it was hot, then added the two eggs. I covered the pan for a few minutes after the initial setting of the whites. The eggs slid easily out of the pan with absolutely no sticking, as well, if not better than any non-stick pan. Of course, I have been using this little skillet exclusively for eggs, since the early '60s so it is very well seasoned - it has been preiodically cleaned and re-seasoned over the several decades I have owned it. Before: The brown is polymerlized oil, not rust. During: After: Just needs wiping with a paper towel.

After a hiatus of several years, after a disastrous pruning done when I was away from home (the tree trimmers were supposed to trim a tree in a neighbor's yard, got the address wrong), my apricot bore heavily this year and I was able to can a bunch of apricot preserves. And I also dried about 15 pounds. The tree was so burdened with fruit a couple of branches broke but not completely so the fruit continued to ripen - it did make it easier to pick those. This is a variety call "Katy" which was developed in the late '70s specifically for the high desert where we have hot summers and cold winters with hard freezes. It is also a very early variety ripening in mid-to-late June. Extremely sweet and quite tender - not suitable for shipping. This is what one branch looked like just as the fruits were ripening.

I just saw this today. For future reference - when my side by side freezer died several years ago (the fridge compressor was separate from the freezer) I used dry ice to keep the frozen stuff solidly frozen - maintained at 5 degrees F. Fortunately there is a dry ice supplier just a mile from my home (supplies ice cream trucks and street vendors) and the thing to do is wrap the stuff in four or five layers of newspaper and put it on the top shelf of an upright freezer - you need 5 pounds for a side-by-side type and 10 pounds for a 22 CF upright. And it will last for 3 days as long as you don't open the freezer too much. It certainly saved the food and allowed me time to get some of the unnecessary stuff out of my big freezer to make room for what needed to be transferred. And I went to Costco and bought a small chest freezer for temporary use until I got my new fridge. (Subsequently donated it to the local food bank for a tax deduction as I didn't have room for it.)

In 1957 I joined the WACS, basic training at Ft. McClellan in Alabama. On my KP rota the cook had me opening several BIG cans of sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand) and the date stamped on the cans was 1948! It was used, nobody got sick and the pies (coconut cream) tasted fine. We had a lot of "stockpiled" military food - in the olive-drab colored cans - some even older, including some cans of fruit preserves. I came across one big jar of pickles from 1944.

Early last year I helped two young women who were setting up their new homes and needed just about everything. Both had limited means but had received monetary gifts, including cash cards. I took them to the Tuesday Morning store in Palmdale where they found some amazing bargains for kitchen wares, linens - prices were better than comparables at other discount places, including Goodwill and Salvation Army. Store locator is here. Check them out and do some comparison shopping at TJ Maxx, Marshall's and other discount stores.

King Arthur prices are a lot higher than Smart & Final.

Sometimes there are distractions, not visible, that contribute to situations such as this. Last fall I went to a local restaurant that has always had excellent food and fine, attentive servers - all have been there a long time. This time the service was iffy, my breakfast was slow in getting to the table and the food was no longer hot. I mentioned that I really would prefer to have my eggs and corned beef hash hot. The server apologized and took my plate away. The manager came to the table and apologized for the problems - their long-time head cook and their head server had been in a terrible accident the night before and they had to call in one of their "vacation cooks" with no advance notice and he had to drive three hours from the beach, where he was visiting his kids. There was also a fill-in server who had not worked for some time and was unfamiliar with the new menu. Everyone was dispirited and trying to cope with the problems. Since then I have been back to the place a few times and the service and food were 100% back to normal.

I use only Cambro containers - the translucent round ones - the same that most commercial places use. They range in size from 1 quart to 22 quarts and I use the larger ones for proofing big batches of dough. I store all grains and most flours in the freezer - except for self-rising flour that I use almost daily - whole wheat and other whole grains flours, cornmeal and etc., all go in the freezer. I have purchased all my Cambro containers at Smart & Final and there should be one near you. You can also use them for leftovers and they can survive microwaving without harm to the containers or to the contents, just pop the lids. They can be put through the dishwasher and the lids DO NOT WARP, which is a problem with other containers. I recommend them highly for lasting use. Some of mine were purchased in the 1980s before I moved up here and they are still in use. Note, you can buy a large one and put several 5# bags of flour in it for freezer storage.

I love it too. And am surprised that it is in such nice condition. Usually these have chips around the rather thin edges. The little brown pot with a lid is a McCoy covered sugar - I think I may have the matching creamer somewhere in my stuff. Sadly the matching teapot was broken in the '94 earthquake. All of the earthenware bowls are from the 1930s, as is the little butter pat.

I am with you on the upright freezer. Some people claim that the chest types keep foods colder but I have two thermometers in mine, one hooked to one of the door shelves and the other in the center shelf. They indicate the desired temps, unless I have the door open for more than 5 minutes or so. I have several of the wire baskets perfect for this type of freezer and it makes it so much easier to keep things rotating and easy to access - especially frozen stuff in bags that otherwise tend to slide around and get buried at the backs of shelves.

I took my dog (Aston, the Basenji) for a walk early this morning - before the heat rose. In the next block I came across a yard sale (grandmother going into assisted living place, no room for much of her stuff) that consisted mostly of china, glassware and etc. They weren't open yet but since I am a familiar neighbor, they allowed me to pick out a few things and fill a box. She said $10.00 and I did not haggle. and since I had no cash with me, I said I would be back as soon as I took the dog home and got my "wheels" on which to transport the rather heavy box. Since the guy was going out to pick up something at the local donut shop, he offered to transport the box to my house. He arrived just after I loosed Aston in the yard and even carried the box into the kitchen for me. Not a bad haul for 10.00 Three Bauer bowls, a Watt bowl, an early Metlox casserole, a "majolica" shallow dish, cream color with polychrome flowers and foilage - Wade, England - perfect, not even a "fleabite" and a Shenango butter pat. Also a couple of odds & ends that looked interesting. P.S. Sylvia, prior to my aortic valve replacement, I could only walk about 10 feet. Now I can walk 2 blocks easily and am increasing my range every week.

I have a few non-stick skillets/omelet pans and a couple of "specialty" pans - with "wells" for "pan" cakes so I don't have to use the SS rings. I have one of the "original" Calphalon skillets - 12 inch - when they first offered non-stick in 1992 and it has held up nicely with careful use and avoiding dishwasher and abrasives. (My other Calphalon was purchased in the late '70s at a restaurant supply place before it became a consumer retail line but after the "hard anodized" line was introduced - Except for a couple of stock pots that "silvered out" and were replaced free when I shipped them back to the factory, they have held up amazingly well. I use my antique (more than 100 years old) cast iron skillets and griddles which are well seasoned and non-stick in that sense. I have one reserved for baking corn bread and that comes out easily, never sticks and neither do the Dutch Baby oven pancakes I bake in the same skillet. Some things I don't cook at all in non-stick pans and I don't have much trouble with sticking - most things eventually "release" on their own, excpet for things with a high sugar content, etc.

Smart & Final raised the price on one of the 12" "scalloped edge" slicer knives but the other (the one I have found is the perfect bread knife) is still about $15.00 - the P94805. The "sani-safe" one S140-112SC-PCP is twice that price. That 12" blade works so well in cutting across boules and I have one I use only for cutting large cakes - cutting angel food cakes into layers, etc.

Yes. I have Ed's books and routinely buy the sourdough starters from various areas - they "evolve" after a few months so can't be kept going for years. World Sourdoughs from Antiquity taught me quite a lot about sourdough - after I had been baking with some starters for decades. If you have not yet tried it, I highly recommend the South African culture because it does a terrific job with whole wheat flour even when seeds and nuts are added to the dough. It also does a good job with rye flour and the sourness really complements the flavor of the rye. I used it to make Limpa bread and it was extraordinary.

I have all of Peter Reinhart's books, from the very first. Some recipes evolved a bit but I have found the books to be extremely helpful. Another that is essential to me is Bread, by Jeffrey Hamelman. And My Bread by Jim Lahey - No-work, no-knead method.

I can explain it quite easily. Some machines do not release the paddles easily so it is difficult to get the finished loaf out of the pan and often tears a large chunk out of the bottom of the loaf. With machines that have two paddles, I have seen (and experienced - when I forgot to remove them prior to baking) almost the entire bottom of the loaf be messed up when the two paddles were removed. Slices from these deformed loaves are not very attractive - at least to me. Some machines have very large paddles, which makes a larger defect. If this doesn't bother you then leave the paddles in place. I began doing this 20+ years ago after my older Zo (vertical pan type) delivered a "loaf" but retained the paddle and a large chuck of the core of the loaf. I didn't want a hollow loaf so began using this trick - if the loaf did cling to the small shaft, I just twisted the drive bar on the bottom and it would break free and the loaf would drop out. A friend reminded me that I posted this hint on Prodigy back in the pre-www days.

The bread machines are time savers because you don't have to constantly "supervise" the mixing, kneading and the proofing times are also automatic. Once you figure the cycle times, you can set a timer for the exact time the baking cycle is due to begin and do what is needed from that point on.

I have posted many times about the various bread machines I own and use. In early January 2014 one bread machine died - one of the drive shafts for the kneading paddles stopped working - while I was mixing some very stiff dough. I came across the larger capacity (3-pound) Black & Decker, ordered it and had it two days later. I wrote a review a few weeks later, after I had used it a lot for many different breads. Here's a link to the REVIEW. I have not had any reason to alter a word in it. It still works great and the larger capacity is great for mixing double batches - when all are part are going to be baked in the oven. Often I make a double batch, separate half for rolls, or for longer fermentation in the fridge, or when I want a boule in addition to the loaf baked in the machine.

Too bad you threw the mocha cappuccino out. This stuff is very good when ADDED to a cup of regular coffee - especially the dark roasts. It is also great for FLAVORING homemade ice cream = about 2 heaping tablespoons to a quart of basic ice cream mix and you can reduce the sugar in the ice cream recipe. I've also used it for frozen yogurt.

I have tried several blade guards but use only the MesserMeister - I have them in all sized from the very long - for my long bread knives and the big cheese knife (with two handles) to the short ones for paring knives. I have a couple of knives that are odd lengths and one advantage is that these can be cut to fit. They stay on firmly but are easy to place and remove. Shel_B I forgot to mention, I got a similar one to the one you link to in your post. Mine made by Lamson - it cracked after just a few months - while I was inserting the blade and I got a small cut in the webbing between my thumb and index finger.

The local middle eastern store carries frozen artichoke bottoms, much better than the canned and very reasonably priced.

Last week I bought limes at Vallarta Supermarket on the Wednesday special, 3 pounds for a dollar regular price 2 pounds for a dollar. Nice big juicy limes so if you are in the SoCal area, look for a Vallarta Market near you. They have some great deals on produce - go on Wednesdays, pick up a flyer on your way into the store and check the specials for that day. Warning!! Stay away from the prepared food counter - or be prepared to spend a lot of money.