Special K

The @#$%&* Turduckhen. It turned out OK, but I will never get that time back. ()

Hit the thrift stores and/or garage sales. Seriously. I see quality kitchen items there all the time.

I have several of the "French White" Corningware casseroles. One reason I like them is that they come with (or you can buy separately) heavy plastic snap-on flat lids (for the freezer or refrigerator) as well as the glass lids. I have a smallish round one and a bigger oval one, and they get a lot of use. I have a pretty blue ceramic Le Creuset dish with lid that I use for company, and when I know I won't be freezing the casserole, but for make-ahead-and-freeze-for-later, those Corningware ones can't be beat.

I saw a new one (to me) this morning: The Pasta Boat Microwave Pasta Cooker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNa--OlH8AA The scenes showing the perils of cooking pasta in a pot are priceless. Hey, it's the red-haired lady!

It seems to me that as long as you sear the breasts first, the only difference between a quick (high oven) cooking method and a slower (low oven) one is time. Macht nichts. I would skip the move from the pan to a pre-heated baking tray and just do the whole thing in a cast-iron skillet, first on the burner, then straight into the oven. If I were making a risotto, I'd certainly use the slower cooking method for the breasts. And save that duck fat!!

Duck eggs (and quail eggs!) are more difficult to peel, especially if they're very fresh. I drain the hot water, shake the pan around so that the eggs are cracked all over, then drop them in iced water and leave them for about a half-hour. Then they're a bit less difficult to peel.

Not sure if I've posted this before ... Another old college friend story. Worst meal was no meal at all, although we were invited to dinner. They weren't surprised to see us - they did remember having invited us, but I guess Mrs. Old College Friend just didn't feel like cooking that evening. Finally, after sitting around for an hour and not even being offered water, we suggested going out and they picked a so-so place. We paid. The wife said, "Well, if I'd known you were paying I'd have suggested a better restaurant!" College Friend himself was completely oblivious.

Oh,yes! With glass doors! That would be wonderful. Hurry and die, clunky LG refrigerator, die, die!

I agree - since we got our Miele dishwasher about a year ago, loading and unloading it is a pleasure. (I never had a Hobart (or a pantry) to spoil me. ) The dishwasher fits under the dish cabinet and the bowl/glassware cabinet and right next to the silverware drawer in my small kitchen, and I use the like-things-with-each-other-so-I-just-have-to-grab-them-all-at-once method, so unloading goes really quickly. (Small kitchens do have that one advantage - the work triangle is never more than two steps!) I love that the Miele is so quiet, and I really, really like the silverware tray (as opposed to basket my old, noisy dw had). Unloading dishes makes me particularly happy! And Andie, I do sometimes use an extra-long pair of tongs to get llightweight things down from the upper shelves, and I have been thinking of getting one of the "grabbers" you mentioned - although the small hydraulic lift sounds great!

Maybe this will help: http://www.hopkinscoloncancercenter.org/CMS/CMS_Page.aspx?CurrentUDV=59&CMS_Page_ID=8345F49E-9814-467C-B7F3-A68FC4C6FE96

I hate having to retrieve things from high places. Well, I just hate being short in general. I have to put things up on the top shelves, because there's no room anywhere else. I try to put only seldom-used things there, but still seem to need something once a week or so, always when my (tall) husband isn't around. This wouldn't be such a problem if I didn't have a little balance problem.

Amazon carries the Chiba Peel S Turning Slicer, also for $235.00.

The Mag Blok IS beautiful!

Like this? http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://foodutensils.com.au/home/images/229T05157_Knife_Rack_Wall_Mounted_SS.jpg&imgrefurl=http://foodutensils.com.au/home/product_info.php%3FcPath%3D363_71_97%26products_id%3D523%26osCsid%3D09f01c2b83cac13d18b3badc25999b34&h=393&w=530&sz=25&tbnid=CJhM_MJ6jPUL6M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dknife%2Brack%2B-magnetic&zoom=1&q=knife+rack+-magnetic&hl=en&usg=__DvSBZGrAkY_TG83mTF8ihECNrQw=&sa=X&ei=KRT5TOK4JIj2tgO1hOTVAg&ved=0CDMQ9QEwBQ Actually, I use a magnetic strip myself, but I just like the looks of the W-S block for those who use blocks.

True, I guess, but if you bake your own bread you get to enjoy the aroma!

I like the looks of this block, but I think you have to buy the set to get it. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/zwilling-j-a-henckels-cronidur-8-piece-knife-block-set/

Or the ez scrambler?

There is a classic 'trick' for frozen casseroles: Line the dish with heavy-duty foil, freeze the food, and then pop it out of the dish. Now, why didn't I think of that? Thanks.

You know, I've never had a problem with already-cooked turkey or chicken being tough and dry. After all, the meat is suspended in the gravy, and I pre-roast the vegetables and pre-bake the crust, so all I'm really doing with the pot pie is just reheating. If you made a pot pie using raw turkey or chicken, you'd cook the meat before you put the pie together anyway, wouldn't you?

Bad decisions: Didn't make enough potatoes - next year there will be mashed potatoes and Janssen's Temptation. Asked a guest to bring the rolls. Made some casseroles for the freezer a week or so before Thanksgiving - so half of my usual casserole dishes were in the freezer! Good decisions: Shopped early! (We were snowed in Monday - Thursday). Bought a few new casserole dishes at the grocery store, because obviously I didn't have enough! Started cooking early - heck, I had those days off, why not use them to put together the JT and the spinach artichoke casserole, and the pies? Made what I thought was waaaay too much dressing - it wasn't too much! Butterflied the turkey - cooked faster and more evenly, and left room in the oven for the sides.

We've had the usual turkey sandwiches on white bread for lunches (the only time we eat plain white bread, with mayo for DH and Miracle Whip for me). We've also had full turkey dinners with all the sides the last four nights - but we're ready for lasagna tonight! I made a couple of turkey pot pies for the freezer, and since I still have leftovers, I think I'll do the casserole thing and freeze that, too. Now it's time to start planning for Christmas dinner!

We have a plastic bin on one side of the cabinet under the sink for recyclables (cans, bottles, most plastics, clean paper and aluminum foil, etc.), another on the other side for yard waste, and a very small trash bag hung on the inside of one door (I know I've posted a link to it somewhere, not too long ago, on a similar topic). We can get away with a small one because most of our "garbage" (even bones) goes into the recycle/yard waste bins. The trash bag doesn't have a lid (it had one, but I removed it) because it isn't needed. All of this somehow fits under the sink, along with the garbage disposal and various cleaning products (not home or I'd attach a photo). Both the recyclable and the yard waste bins get emptied daily into the big outside bins and the trash bag can go for days before it needs replacing. We have cats who regularly open cabinet doors, but for some reason they always leave this cabinet alone. If that were a problem, I'd install child safety latches. I wish every city would make recycling this easy! Edited for clarity.

Oh, and don't bother to really wash your hands - certainly never before you begin, and if you handle meat, etc., well, heck, a quick rinse, or just a wipe with a towel will do.

I do like my own cooking, and I very much prefer to eat what I have cooked over what anybody else (friends, restaurants, Mom - especially Mom ) cooks, because a) I know what goes into what I cook, and 2) ( ) I care what goes into what I cook. I'm very careful about checking where ingredients come from, how they are handled, how they are prepared, and I'm just not sure everyone else knows or cares so much. I guess I'm just not a very trusting person.

Oh, this reminds me of Thanksgiving the first year we were married. His Mom's dinner was at one - my Mom's dinner (about 2 miles away) was at three. We should have walked (waddled) over there, although I doubt if it would have helped much. Of course we had to load our plates at both places. The same thing happened at Christmas, and then we wised up and had Thanksgiving with one set of folks, and Christmas with the other (thereby offending both mothers deeply every year). Finally, we hit upon a solution: we moved across country, where we were finally free to cook our own holiday dinners!