MelissaH

I actually did RTFM (as any good tech writer would, lol) and somehow I missed the part about being able to adjust the saute temperature.

Yinz are making me wish I had a ready source of duck confit that didn't cost a fortune.

Lucky you, with an excuse to stay in and read!

I still also have a confirmation number but no email. I may wait till after New Year's to try and contact them to make sure my request really went through...and to see if they have a guess at a replacement timeline (order of magnitude: weeks, months, years, decades?).

I used a different email address, and checked that spam folder. No go. So if it was sent, I have no idea where it is!

My newer Cuisinart, the one that's even more of a PITA to clean, has a blade without a rivet. The older one, which was a hand-me-down from my parents more than 20 years ago when they upsized from 8 to 14 cups, has rivets, and is the one I registered for a replacement (and STILL haven't gotten a confirmation email, although I saved a screen shot of the confirmation webpage with the number).

Did you just find the topic for your next book?

But it would be really nice to get a confirmation email with my service notification number!

I just got on and did mine, no problem.

Serious Eats also has a spritz cookie recipe. They suggest creaming the butter and sugar super-well, creaming some more after you add the eggs, and then pressing the cookies onto chilled naked cookie sheets. Those of you who regularly make spritz cookies: what cookie press are you using, and do you like it? I'd like to get one, I think, but want to make sure I get a good one. One of my friends (who actually takes a week of vacation specifically to bake about 2000 cookies, which she distributes to her friends) had to replace hers this year. She decided to go with the one King Arthur Flour is selling, and had a world of trouble with it. And nothing on Amazon is popping out with universally glowing reviews. I've never owned a cookie press. What does one look for when one shops for one?

@ElsieD, would it help if you let her know that the yolks DON'T develop into the "babies"?

That looks delicious. Would you be willing to share your recipe?

When I'm in a mall with a W-S store, I usually wander through. But I can't remember the last time I found something I (a) wanted or needed AND (b) didn't already own. Maybe ten years ago, when my husband was testing out chef's knives? They had a small cart with a cutting board and a supply of potatoes so you could actually see how the knife felt in your hand while you used it.

This article may help: http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-cant-find-aleppo-pepper-heres-why-and-what-to-substitute-20141216-story.html

As did I. The challenge will be finding the time!

My MIL has no issue leaving her little dog in her trailer for short instances, with the AC running. (The noise of the AC also helps keep the dog from barking at everything.)

This sounds, to me, like an argument to buy a portion of an animal (or a whole animal) and request a custom butchering job.

I'm definitely thinking sandwich. Or in an appetizer: either as part of a baked brie (spread on top of a small round, wrap in puff pastry, and bake till the pastry is cooked; serve with crackers) or as the topping to a savory cheesecake. Or is it potent enough that you could add water and turn it into a bowl-at-a-time of soup?

Give it time.

Are ticks and the diseases they carry a concern for you? Our county's health department just issues their annual cautions to hunters about rabies and Lyme disease; they said that most hunters will never see a rabid deer, but if you're a lucky hunter you will see ticks on the deer you get and you should be vigilant about checking for them on yourself as well.

I regularly use my manual pasta maker alone. It isn't hard, as long as you aren't trying to make noodles that are 10+ feet long.

I could see that the other two might have culinary uses, but I'm not sure about donkey skin gelatin sugar. What would someone do with it? Would the sugar be medicinal, or is it the equivalent of all the recipes that hide vegetables in kid-friendly foods?

This brings up a topic I've wondered about for a little while. Many vegetables will float, even if you manage to seal them without adding air. I perpetually have a problem when I do carrots, as their density is apparently not much different from water so if you trap the least bit of air in the bag, up it goes. How do you all deal with things that float? I've contemplated putting my sealed food bags inside another ziplock bag, along with a few good-sized washers from the hardware store. My husband proposed adding some large teflon-coated stir-bars from the chemical supply directly to the food bag. At times I've resorted to just using a rack, a potato masher, or another utensil to wedge the bag down. I'm not happy with any of these solutions. So, vegetable bathers, what do you do?

Agreed. Ten years ago, about a week before Christmas, my FIL died. The worst part of it for me was that I was effectively barred from the kitchen. It wasn't that there was a ton of food brought to the house, because that wasn't really the case. The funeral took place at the country church, and the lunch after the service that the church ladies prepared and served was non-descript, but I don't recall that any of the leftovers came home with us. The usual two family Christmas get-togethers, for my MIL's family and my FIL's family, both took place in the days following the funeral during the week leading up to the holiday, as they always have. There was a lot of food around, but people weren't specifically bringing it to the mourners as part of a timeless tradition. I wouldn't say that I felt unloved or uncared-for, exactly, with all the family around, but I certainly felt uncomforted and at loose ends. That was the pits, for a number of reasons.

Our Thanksgiving weekend here in the U.S. was one of losses present and soon to come. For the holiday Thursday, we did as we've done the last several years and joined our next-door neighbors and other friends. But this is probably going to be the last year when both of them are at home—he's been slipping badly over the last year or so, both physically and mentally. (It doesn't help that he's a diabetic who loves sweets, doesn't care to control his blood sugar, and takes a passive-aggressive stance with his family over it.) Nights are particularly bad: after sitting with us at the dinner table for a few hours, we moved to the living room, and he looked at my husband and asked quite seriously, "What's your name? Where do you live? What do you do?" We've lived next door for over 13 years. After he went to bed, she told us that she's been meeting with people to get their affairs in order for when he can no longer live at home, and that time will come when she can't entertain. His 79th birthday will come at the end of December, right around the time they usually host a big holiday party, but I'm beginning to wonder if that will happen this year. On Saturday, we and another friend drove into the Berkshires, to stay with his dad and watch a few hockey games. Until recently, both our friend's parents lived in the house, but his mom got to the point (we didn't ask why, but we think it might be a wicked combination of Parkinson and dementia) this fall where she could no longer stay at home, even with skilled help. So she was moved to a facility in Texas, near where our friend's brother and family live. Our friend's father is a meat-and-potatoes type who has apparently never been much of a cook, but he definitely hasn't been eating well since then. So we brought along our Instant Pot, our knives, and the traveling kitchen box, did a bit of homework beforehand and a bit of shopping when we got into town, and made a quick pot of stoofvlees (that's the Dutch term; in French it would be carbonnade; in English it's a Belgian beef stew) for dinner, which we served in traditional Belgian style with fries and salad. I'd made a chocolate stout bundt cake, with a beer ganache glaze to use up the rest of the beer, and that was dessert. And then for Sunday lunch, we did peppers and onions and Italian sausages and pasta. I think Dad ate three servings of each, and there was about a serving of leftovers of each too. The whole house seemed, to me, to have an air of sadness about it, but our friend said that it had been months since he'd heard his dad laugh as much as he did for the day and a half we were all there. All of this is a long way of saying that sometimes having other people around can help, even if you aren't sure about it yourself. Hugs to all of you. It makes me feel better, even if you aren't much of a hug person.