andiesenji

Irwindale is not part of the "Inland Empire" and you are absolutely correct about much of the Inland Empire being unattractive. The city is just 20 miles east of downtown L.A. in the San Gabriel Valley - I have driven through it thousands of time on my way to Orange county - the 210 freeway runs right through it. A few years ago the "city fathers" were begging for new businesses, and they were not being picky.

This recipe has been around for decades. I used to make these for afternoon tea events when I was catering. sugar molds I learned to make molded hollow sugar cake decorations (bells, etc.) back in the 1950s - when I attended baking school. Solid cube are a cinch compare to the hollow ones.

I have tried baking fruitcakes in bundt pans with varying success. Cakes with a lot of fruit tend to lose chunks from the outer edges at the "points" of the fluting. I tried a method recommended by a friend which produced a "clean" outer surface - the batter is kept separate from the fruit and is poured into the bundt pan and then the fruit is added in the center - sort of like one of the "tunnel" cakes and mixed with a fork, so as to not get it into the outer perimeter. It worked okay but was not a traditional fruitcake. I only tried it one time. For the last few years I have used the disposable baking paper forms both round and loaf - They come in several different sized and are available on Amazon. And I have stacks of them. The large tube molds are somewhat expensive so I only buy a few of them.

Apparently other business owners in the city want the plant to stay open because they get a lot of business from WORKERS at the plant and some of the workers actually live in the "affected" area. It seems like a small rather vocal group did not consider that the COST to the city for the plant leaving would be detrimental. Another Irwindale resident stated on air that back when all the gravel pits were operating in the city, and on windy days the stuff blowing all over the area was raining down on cars, swimming pools and etc., none of these people made any complaints and that stuff was much worse and much more widespread.

I have several chili recipes that include chocolate - but it is bitter chocolate or unsweetened cocoa - no sugar or spices. I never use "chili powder" - I grind dried chiles - always have some on hand because they do keep well and ground chile loses much of its "flavor" (not the heat) rapidly.

I pre-bake the custard shells for 10 minutes - and I sprinkle the bottoms lightly with superfine (caster in the UK) sugar. It is important to remove the tarts from the oven just after the filling has "domed" and is still a bit jiggly. Same with a custard pie. Cooking too long is what makes the custard tough. And I use half & half instead of regular milk. It is more stable when heated.

Listening to the radio to and from the store - a man who lives a block from the factory said he moved to Irwindale from Gilroy and to him, the pepper aroma is like "perfume" compared to the stuff he had to smell in Gilroy.

I used to order from Bineshi but since Amazon began carrying it, I order from them. This is an excellent wild rice. Years ago, when I was still doing some catering, I ordered from Indian Harvest but the amounts are too large for regular consumers.

I agree that there are a lot of smelly things in Irwindale that are a lot more annoying than the Siracha plant. One reporter was on the roof, shown the EXISTING high tech filtration equipment and right over the exhaust there were no fumes. Apparently only a few "neighbors" have complained and one man said he had never noticed it but one woman claimed it had spoiled a wedding party in their yard. Inside the plant it was pretty harsh. At the same time the city is crying about low tax revenues because some businesses have left. Remember, Irwindale was the city that spend a HUGE bundle of money on a STUDY on the feasibility of building a football stadium (for the Raiders) back in 1999, only to have it all fall flat. Big waste of money. The city does not have a great track record on managing finances.

If the city is successful in requiring additional filtering systems, costing more than half a million dollars, the price of this ESSENTIAL sauce may rise. Here's the story. I plan on stocking up if it looks like this is going to be a problem. Although we do have some time before things get more volitile!

My bergamot orange tree had single leaves that were like the orange tree leaves but the mature leaves had a "canoe" shape, slightly curved with the edges curved up. The fruits were round and some had a sort of "nipple" on the stem end sort of like a minneola.

I had a bergamot orange tree when I lived down in Canoga Park - in the Valley. I got the tree at Treeland, a nursery in the westernmost end of the Valley next to the Ventura Freeway. The skins were similar to some oranges that have the larger pores on the surface and were definitely orange in color when ripe. The aroma was very distinct and flowery. The tree was messy in that it would drop all its nearly ripe fruit if at all stressed. When blooming, which was most of the time, except the middle of summer, it would be alive with bees, yellow jackets and hummingbirds.

I went to the market today and took my iPad so I could show Ari the fruit. He said it is certainly, although greener, very like the fruits they bought last year - at the Grand Central Market in L.A. from a citrus seller whose brother owns a ranch in Ojai and grows "exotic" citrus for specialty stores like Ari's. He goes on Tuesdays at 3 A.M. and will see if the man has any yet this year. The grower also has Buddah's Hand, blood oranges and had a limited number of yuzu last year, bigger crop expected this year. He also said that the fruits should feel "heavy" for their size.

I may have to try one of these. My 16-year-old 1/2 size Cadco oven has stopped working. I phoned and got immediate connection to a live person. I can take it to the authorized service place in Santa Monica - a long drive for me. Or I can see if a local place that works on convection ovens can fix it. Or I can buy a new one but since I have the Sharp combination convection/microwave, which works just fine but limits the size of things I can cook in it. I have a few smaller baking pans but the ones I use the most (up to now) are the half-size sheet pans. Must think about this.

Yum-yums are similar to the cronut - deep fried donut dough, but thanks for looking Thanks for the suggestion - by "plain", do you mean with no folds at all? From the same page, http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Danish-Pastry-Apple-Bars-II/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes LOOKS to have the same sort of structure though. I had a read through Rose Beranbaum's Bread Bible last night, and from her description, it would be pretty close to her Monkey Bread dough inasmuch as it is "akin to sticky buns"... so might well take that as my next attempt. I meant when it is baked without fruit or other fillings. I also use this with a meat and veg filling, in a roll that can be cut in slices after baking.

I was shuffling things in the freezer earlier today and came across a tub with a couple of cloth bags of grits and two bags of cornmeal from Nora Mill Granary, Grist Mill and Country Store - located in Helen Georgia. Finding them prompted me to cook some of the grits: (White Speckled stone ground - A.K.A. Georgia Ice Cream) a large batch both for immediate consumption - and the remainder poured into a pan to "set" in preparation for cutting into squares and frying on a griddle. One bag of the cornmeal is the self-rising type, which I seldom use but decided to give this a try and the other is the "Plain" white cornmeal. They also have yellow but I have always preferred the white - perhaps a leftover from my childhood when yellow corn was called "horse" corn or "hog" corn and was fed to the animals and the chickens - after being hulled and run through a "cracking mill"... These grits are very flavorful and the cornmeal makes an excellent cornbread. I agree wholeheartedly with Jaymes that the only way to bake cornbread is in a cast iron skillet. Preferably one that has been seasoned for decades and has developed the perfect non-stick inner surface.

I phoned Ari at the middle eastern store. He just called back and told me the citron fruits they had last year and should have again this year - middle of next month - are an India fruit - Mahkukur (I think this is what he said.) They are supposed to be sweeter than other citrons and more juicy pulp. Found it with a Google search: 'Madhankri' or 'Madhkunkur'–fruit large with sweetish pulp. Apparently can be green or yellow and a citrus grower in Ojai, CA is growing them.

You can never have too much Cambro... I repurposed some of my old, discolored, translucent containers to use as planting pots. Drilled holds in the sides, next to the bottom for drainage and planted herbs in them - especially the thymes, sages and oregano plants that so often become pot-bound. I can see the roots against the sides and can pull them out, divide the plant and repot easily.

I think this is the type of Danish YEAST dough you want. When baked plain it is similar but a bit more moist and not as "cakelike" as brioche. It is sturdy enough to handle being loaded with fruit and does not get tough with handling. It does take some time because you do have to chill it between folding operations and I cut the FOLDING AND ROLLING business in half with no problems. Meaning that I only do half the folding operations called for in this recipe.

It looks like one of the newer varieties of citron - that have been hybridized to produce more "fruit" and less fibrous interior structures. The middle eastern market had them last year at this time. The rind is extremely aromatic, the pulp is somewhat bitter. They range in size from about 4 inches long to 7 inches long and are more oval than the ancestral citron or etrog which has a "boxy" shape tapering at each end. I cut a few of the ones I bought and salted them just like preserved lemons - excellent result but took 60 days. The remainder I used only the peel and candied it.

Just a note, any time you are looking for a Portuguese recipe from meats to custard tarts and everything in between, check first at David Leite's site. David's recipes are all designed for the HOME cook or baker, no matter how complicated they may seem. I used to correspond with David - in the late '90s before things got so busy for him. He is dedicated to getting the recipes right.

It's called BROA and this recipe on Leite's Culinaria is totally authentic and utterly delicious. Of course it is nothing like southern cornbread, but is perfect on its own.

I make my own baking powder 1 part bicarbonate of soda to 2 parts Cream of Tartar. Some people add a little cornstarch but I don't see any need for it in my area which has low humidity. For folks who live in more humid climates - close to the ocean, in the south, etc., adding a little cornstarch will allow it to keep longer. I like it fresh.

I do have a couple of the flat soft rubber "stoppers" that used to be widely available - and they still are like this but used to be in every supermarket in the area with the scrubbers, sponges and etc. I use them in the laundry tub and the tub in which I used to wash the dogs when I was still showing them. They work on the same principle as your Cool Whip container lid (something that has never graced my kitchen) but they do become brittle and crack after a few years. I checked and both of mine are cracked and I doubt they would keep water in the sink.

Sorry I did not see this earlier today. You posted the link to the eG topic in which I posted the same photos I put up on my blog about cornbread However at the end of the photos on the blog I have listed several online vendors that sell cornmeal as well as grits. I have sampled every item, including the various self-rising cornmeal mixes offered by Southern Connoisseur and I have tried some from other vendors that did not come up to my standards so I omitted them from the list. From Anson mills I buy both the coarse and fine WHITE cornmeal and blend them together to get the texture I want. Other folks like the fine and some people like the yellow meal but I grew up on the white and it is still my preference - I think the white is sweeter. I currently have a 5-pound bag of the white corn meal from Falls Mill. I also have blue corn meal, red corn meal and the organic stone ground corn meal from Purcell Mountain farms. The latter is pale yellow, sort of in between regular yellow and white. These are excellent but include the "germ" so have to be kept in the freezer because they go rancid rapidly at room temp.