MelissaH

I'm upstairs, book is downstairs. But if you visit Amazon, bring up Paris Sweets, and then search inside for Korova, you'll find the recipe in all its glory. MelissaH

I just had a visit from the FedEx guy, who for some unknown reason parked down the street and WALKED half a block to me rather than just pulling into my driveway. The only reason I haven't opened the box yet is because I want to wait till my husband gets home so we can do this together. MelissaH

No need to convert, Chris. The original recipe from Paris Sweets, back when they were called Korova Cookies, is already by mass. The volume recipe is actually the conversion. MelissaH

The ones they liked: a Kenmore, an Oster, a Cuisinart, and a Black and Decker. The ones they didn't like: a Sunbeam, a Farberware, and a Toastmaster. MelissaH

Dishwasher. When I didn't have a dishwasher, I rarely used the processor because I so hate cleaning it by hand. I'd rather throw it in the dishwasher and need to replace the various pieces and parts a little sooner than wash the beast by hand. MelissaH

Chris and Kerry, That's what I'd thought: you need to get the steam going to get the pressure up with good heat transfer capabilities. I may need to try this myself! MelissaH

Has anyone figured out yet whether it's literally just a jar, oil, and flour in the pressure cooker? Or is there some water in the cooker as well? Someone asked in the comments on that blog post, but there's no answer yet. MelissaH

And I agree with Maggie. MelissaH

Guilty confession rant here: I love seedless raspberry jam. I love it because the texture is so perfectly smooth, and contrasts so nicely with extra-chunky PB. I most emphatically do not like having seeds left behind to get caught in my teeth. I will go so far as to strain out the seeds from otherwise perfectly good raspberry jam. I am not a big fan of most strawberry jam because I do not like the way the seeds crunch and leave behind a bitter flavor, and the chunks of fruit destroy the silky velvety smooth texture of the jam. If I want crunch or other texture in my PB&J sandwich, and most of the time I do, I will get it from the extra-chunky PB. MelissaH

I was amazed a couple of years ago, visiting friends in Phoenix, to find rosemary bushes used as shrubs in a shopping complex. It smelled wonderful. MelissaH

I won't go to the one bagel place in my town for exactly that reason: same gloves handle money and food. Ew. MelissaH

Is the public transportation in the Twin Cities good enough to get to most of these Twin Cities locations, from the area around the University of Minnesota campus? MelissaH

I'm a chicken foot newbie. What does it mean, to be de-yellowed/scraped/skinned? And how can I tell if that's already been done to my chicken feet? (And if not, what do I need to do with them before I put them into stock? Do I need to worry about the hard bits that must be the calluses that formed where the bird walked?) MelissaH

I'll probably be able to be there, at least for the Friday festivities and Saturday during the day. MelissaH

We have a Fagor Futura that came with two pots: 4 qt and 6 qt. We're very happy with both sizes (there's just two of us, so we don't need to make mass quantities). MelissaH

Those of us coming in through Buffalo won't have any additional border crossing issues with a Friday morning stop at Tomric. As far as lodging, for me, the cheaper the better, within limits. MelissaH

No. MelissaH

Looks as though I'll be there, at least for part of the weekend. I'll have to check with my husband to see if he wants to come, or if he'll be busy grading final exams. MelissaH

Another meal has come and gone. We cooked about the same amount of pork this year as we did last year, and only had about half of it go. The big difference: we had more munchies out when people got here. We had a double batch of the spinach-artichoke dip, served with pita chips and vegetables. We made a white bean dip. We had more mangoes on hand this year. And we went through only 47 tortillas. Cooked three pounds of black beans, and had a ton left over. Also needed less rice this year: one pot of 8 rice cooker cups would have been more than enough. We'll have leftovers to freeze and eat later. This is a very good thing. The best part: lots of help doing the dishes! MelissaH

There is no ketchup other than Heinz. MelissaH edited because I can't type today

Do you have an oven? I've seen a couple of recipes lately for pumpkins with the lid cut off and seeds scooped out like you'd do to carve a jack-o-lantern. The pumpkin gets pre-baked to soften it a bit, and then inside is filled with some kind of stuffing (custardy, cheesy, bready...) and the whole thing gets put back in the oven till the filling is cooked and the pumpkin is done. To serve, scoop out filling with some of the squash from the shell. Without an oven, you might be able to do something similar on a rack in a steamer large enough to handle said pumpkin. MelissaH

I do whatever the recipe writer says. Look at the cookbook intro; often the author will say something about how they measure flour (and other ingredients). If they don't say anything, I scoop and sweep. But in either case, if there are no mass measurements, I weigh the flour before I add it to the recipe. All the recipes I make on a semi-regular basis, I've converted to mass measurements. Much quicker, easier, and more reproducible...not to mention, fewer implements to clean afterwards! MelissaH

My husband's aunt taught us to wrap celery in paper towels and then foil, and it seems to keep forever that way. Great tip! MelissaH

Very important point here. The question is not "Where should I eat?" but rather, "Where do you like to eat?" MelissaH

Or even throw it in a crockpot with a bit of liquid, and let it go with the cover on till it's done. MelissaH