MelissaH

When we lived in Ohio, we'd drive to the in-laws' house. I'd always bring at least one or two knives with me, ones I liked and I knew were sharp. Now that we've moved further away, we'll often choose to fly, especially at this time of year when weather could be an issue. A couple of years ago, we bought a couple of knives especially for the purpose of leaving there. I know it seems like a waste, but this way at least I know I won't be driven crazy in the kitchen by the knives. MelissaH

We've been enjoying Aliza Green's Starting with Ingredients very much. MelissaH

If you watch carefully, you can see him actually shaking the cup, which will pack the flour in even more tightly. In this case, 430 g is really about right. MelissaH

I agree with Fat Guy and slkinsey that irradiation is likely to make a difference in terms of a safe product. And I'd be in favor of that. But what about changing growing/processing/storing methods, not just for green onions but other foods as well, to make them safer? I wonder if irradiation might just be the latest food safety bandaid. MelissaH

I've seen electric ovens that go both ways: some turn only the bottom element on when you're baking, and the top element alone on for broiling. Others turn both top and bottom on for baking, and top alone for broiling. There doesn't necessarily seem to be a standard. MelissaH

Yup, that's one of the songs not on my "safe listening" list. MelissaH

I gave one to my husband for his b-day last month. We've taken it out of the box, but haven't started anything yet because we'll be doing some between-semester traveling and don't want to be out of town for the harvest. We'll be doing the Gourmet Herb kit, since that's what came with the garden. MelissaH

Oooh, congratulations! We desparately wanted to go that route, but 53 ft^2 of countertop in our kitchen made it cost-prohibitive for a while. We're planning on the upgrade in, oh, 10 years or so. I'm anxious to hear how yours hold up. (And if zillions of chemistry lab benches everywhere are any indication, you probably don't have much to worry about.) MelissaH

I'm biased, but might I suggest the recipe published in the book as the Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake? You could make the dough one day (or do that part ahead of time) and then do the filling, assembly, and baking the next. MelissaH

My MIL taught me a neat trick over t-giving, as I built my first-ever gingerbread house: use a couple of empty glass jars to hold up the first wall. Put some royal icing (our mortar) on the bottom, and then sandwich the wall between the two jars. Keep the jars in place while you get the rest of the walls up, appplying icing to the bottom as well as the sides that are in contact with the already-assembled walls. By the time the rest of the walls are up, the icing should be set enough to hold things in place without outside assistance. Just remember to remove the jars before putting the roof on! MelissaH

You could always plan for multiple garbage cans in the kitchen. If you have more than one workspace where you know you'll be making a mess, plan on more than one garbage can. (For us, what works well is to just take out a large bowl that we bought specifically for the purpose, line it with a grocery store plastic bag, and use that for immediate collection of junk. When we're done, that bag gets tossed, and the bowl either gets a quick rinse or a trip through the dishwasher. YMMV.) MelissaH

And I tried Boylan's cola over the summer (the regular version) and didn't care for it at all. The Diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale's not too bad. I have yet to find a Pepsi product I enjoy, with or without sugar.

I can't stand Diet Coke, the regular version or the Splenda variant. I don't care for most of the other diet sodas on the market, unless you count seltzer as "diet soda". I look forward to Passover, when I can get real Coke with real sugar. Sprite Zero is just plain nasty, with a chalky aftertaste not present in the non-diet version. I do like Diet Dr Pepper, although I really wish I could get the caffeine-free version here so I don't stay up nights. And Coke Zero is quite drinkable as well. Now, once again, if it only existed without caffeine.... MelissaH

Marmoleum Click. Did fine with our minor flood, even. MelissaH

Over Thanksgiving, we did a fair amount of cooking at my in-laws' house. And although we had a good holiday, it made me very thankful for my own kitchen. Among the things I've gotten used to, very quickly: A large sink basin, big enough to hold anything we own Lots and lots of counter space Somewhere to clamp a pasta machine, since we made ravioli A floor that's easy to keep clean Landing space on both sides of the range Six gas burners, since we had three electric burners going concurrently and it got just a little cozy at times Electrical outlets galore Knowing where everything is! I believe we accomplished our goals in our reno: making a kitchen that multiple people could work in at the same time, fits our cooking style and our lifestyle, reflects our personality, and in general makes us happy. It's spoiled us. We still have some minor cosmetic details, such as painting around the side doorway, but that will come in good time. Having said that, I'm off to cook dinner. Tonight's offering: spaghetti squash, baked and scraped out, with tomato sauce. MelissaH

Yesterday, my husband and I were on our way to a meeting, listening to All Things Considered on the car radio. Along the way, we heard a teaser with a woman talking about making pumpkin marshmallows. I had a suspicion who it probably was, but unfortunately we got where we were going and I couldn't very well bring a radio with me. So this morning I checked NPR's Web site to see what I'd missed, and found this: Dorie Greenspan talking about her new book and some of the goodies within. If you can spare eight minutes or so, it's worth a listen. MelissaH

When it comes to non-canned pumpkin, I've always had much better luck using butternut squash. I cut it in half, scrape out the seeds, roast it till it's soft, scrape out the flesh, puree it, and then put it into a coffee filter-lined sieve to drip for a bit. Then I remember every year why canned goods can sometimes be nicer. MelissaH

I thought about it with oranges...but decided to take a detour instead. And I remember making a recipe once that was absolutely delicious that called for a whole bunch of stuff, including toffee bits and SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK.

How many of you have sucked the juice out of an orange with a... peppermint stick??? MelissaH

I've got another batch of dough going. Last night shortly before 9:30 I mixed together 400 g KA AP flour, 75 g KA WW flour, 1/4 tsp SAF instant yeast, 9 g salt, and (this is the different part) half a teaspoon, which registered as 1 g on my scale, of diastatic malt powder. I mixed these together with my hand, and then added 370 grams of room temperature water. (My room was at 64 degrees F.) It's been sitting since then, and in about another hour I'll be turning it onto a rice floured towel on my peel, in preparation for baking this afternoon in my usual 4.5 quart LC oval pot. I think I will try taking the lid off sooner than 30 minutes in, because my crust has been very thick, almost tough. Unfortunately, there probably won't be any of this loaf for me to eat---it's going to be sent with my husband for his small class tomorrow morning. MelissaH eta: aaagh! What I've thought was rice flour for these batches of bread is really potato starch! Whatever it is, though, it seems to work fine to keep wet bread dough from gunking up a towel. I will, however, be acquiring some rice flour from rice (not potatoes ) when I'm shopping next.

Change of plans here too. We've acquired a loaf of mandarin orange–cranberry swirl bread, which is now destined for a bread pudding. Saves me the trouble of rolling out pie crust in a kitchen not my own. MelissaH

Anne, I think you're giving me too much credit. I'll be making another batch tonight, to be baked tomorrow evening. (It's going to be sent in with my husband, to be shared with his little class on Tuesday. Ideally I'd bake Tuesday morning, but there's enough going on that I won't have time, so Monday night it is.) I'm planning to use some WW flour in it, but I'm also going to try pulling the lid sooner rather than later, to see what that does to the crust. MelissaH

Andie, are you thinking of one of the episodes of Baking with Julia, possibly the one with Steve Sullivan? MelissaH

My part-WW loaf from yesterday was definitely an improvement. Even at "only" 475 degrees F in the oven, it was turning deep brown on top after only 15 minutes with the lid off, so I pulled it off, stuck my Thermapen inside, and got 208 degrees. It talked nicely for quite a while. I gave it about 25 minutes to cool. Then everyone else in the house decided they'd waited long enough, thank you very much, and took the knife to the loaf. My first tasting impression was: Yuck! It tasted wheatier than my first, all-white-flour, attempt, but that was IT. No other flavor whatsoever, and the inside seemed almost gummy, to the point where I wondered if it had actually baked long enough. I was disappointed, and wondered what I needed to do to get flavor into this stuff! Then I waited another half hour and tried another hunk. What a difference! This time, the salt flavor came through. Then the bread flavor came through. Lesson learned: Even if those around you have the knife, wait till the bread is cool. I'll be using some of my starter next time, once I get it fed. MelissaH

I had pretty good luck keeping the bread for a day and a half by simply turning it so the cut side was facing down on my cutting board. Any more than that, and I'd wrap it well and stick it in the freezer. I'll be interested to hear if anyone using either a starter or a piece of old dough has better luck in keeping the bread from going rock-hard. Or is that not a problem in your houses? MelissaH