MelissaH

Actually, you might: too much salt and the freezing point will be so low that it won't freeze under normal ice-cream maker conditions at all! Cold cured salmon soup, anyone? MelissaH

At the Asian store we frequent, which has a Korean tilt, we picked up a package of something called "malt powder." My husband's a homebrewer, so I know what malt is and I know what it looks like. Well, this stuff isn't like any malt I've ever seen before: rather than a uniform powder (or even stuff that's recognizable as sprouted grain), it looks like quick-cooking oatmeal. The sole ingredient listed is barley. Any clue what this is, and how it might relate to common beer-brewing malts? My thought was to use it when I bake bread. I'll post a pic of the package, if you think that will help. There's writing in Korean, but I can't read it. MelissaH

Actually, acetic acid is miscible with water: the two will mix (and dissolve) completely, regardless of the proportions of each. However, acetic acid is a weak acid, chemically speaking, which means that is does not dissociate completely into acetate ion and H+ (rather than staying together as one molecule of acetic acid). Trying not to get too technical, here's a brief discussion of freezing point depression. If you dissolve stuff in a substance, the freezing point of a substance is lowered. The amount the freezing point is lowered depends ONLY on the concentration of PARTICLES of added stuff. Salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) completely ionizes in water to form Na+ cation and Cl- anion. Thus, one unit of NaCl will dissolve in water to make two particles. Sugar, on the other hand, dissolves without dissociating, so one sugar dissolves in water to make one particle. Thus, if you had two aqueous solutions, one of NaCl in some concentration and the other with an equal concentration of sugar, the solution of NaCl would have a lower freezing point than the solution of sugar: even though the concentrations of NaCl and sugar are the same, the solution of NaCl has TWICE as many particles as the solution of sugar. Acetic acid is a weak acid, so some of it will dissociate but some will not. Therefore, acetic acid won't lower the freezing point as much as a salt will, but the freezing point will be lowered. Alcohol won't dissociate when it dissolves in water either. That said: in general, the vinegars that we can buy in the store are NOT pure acetic acid, but only about 5 or 6% acetic acid in water (maybe with some other stuff added). Remember that the more particles get added, the lower the freezing point. So getting rid of some of the water and making the vinegar more concentrated would certainly help to lower the freezing point even more. MelissaH

I've always just used a plastic bag (either produce or regular grocery). I have no dishwasher, and a bag doesn't need to be washed afterwards. MelissaH

I'd actually go the other way and say not to bother using a homemade mayo. Why bother? Save your arm muscles or electricity because any subtleties in the mayo are completely and totally lost under chocolate and cake yumminess. YMMV. MelissaH

More random musings now, while I still have time before classes start tomorrow (yikes!). I'm going to be quantitative now, for once, since I've been thinking about numbers most of the day already. I put a price tag on the cabinets, as calculated by last year's version of the Ikea software. With last year's pricing and Adel birch fronts, we're at about $4000 in cabinets. (I couldn't do this year's pricing because I haven't downloaded the new version of the software on this computer. You can apparently only have one version at a time, and rooms made in last year's version don't open properly in this year's version. Since I don't want to redo the whole thing, I'm using last year's prices for my guesstimations. Even if things have gone up by 10%, we'd still only be at about $4400, although this could go up depending on the amount of customization we'd need to do.) After a lot of discussion and thought about the way we cook, we've scaled down our range thinking, from 36-inch pro-style to a good-quality 30-inch consumer model. If we decide we need a second oven, a convection toaster oven to replace our current Black and Decker model will probably fit the bill. The list price on the top-of-the-line GE Profile dual-fuel range is about $1750 if you don't want stainless. While my husband doesn't mind a little stainless used judiciously, he doesn't want large expanses of the stuff. Considering the price markup on stainless and the fact that anything low is bound to get noseprinted, I'm inclined to agree with him. For the range we'll probably go with either black or bisque/almond/off-white/whatever you call it to match our refrigerator. Downsizing the range will also get us 6 more inches of storage space down below, and we've always thought more is better. Hood: this is one place we're thinking it may be good to use some of our range savings. I want a hood that sucks! We'll need to talk to someone to help us figure out our needs, but with the amount of smoke we've been known to generate, oversize (say 36-inch hood for a 30-inch range) might not be a bad idea. The house is old enough that makeup air shouldn't be a huge problem. But we'll be talking to people when the time comes so we don't mess up. Wild guess of $1000 here. Dishwasher: we haven't really talked about one much, other than it WILL exist in the new kitchen. I'd like something with a stainless interior, but without a tube sticking up the middle of the bottom rack that makes it difficult to load large items. I suspect we'll be visiting somewhere like Sears that has lots of brands and lots of models on the floor, opening every model, and looking inside. I'm guessing that we'll probably be looking at a list price of $700 to $800, but I wouldn't complain if a lower model will do everything we want. Anything's better than the current dishwashers in this house! So far, the price tag's at about $7500 for cabinets and appliances. To this, we'll need to add shipping costs on the cabinets if we get them from Ikea, countertops (probably about 55 ft^2 or a bit less) and possibly their installation, a sink and faucet, a new mighty garbage disposal to go in the new sink, a floor (no more than 144 ft^2 because the kitchen is about 18 ft by 8 ft if you measure from the walls), lights so we can see what we're doing, permits to do everything, and a little help from a plumber and an electrician, maybe also HVAC although we need to talk to one of those people sooner than next summer anyway. Maybe a little help from a contractor if our time looks like it's going to run too tight for us to make the kitchen livable and functional before classes start in the fall. Probably a whole bunch of little things too, like new silverware organizers and trash can. Appliance garage-building materials. And either a dumpster or a day's use of a truck to haul a load of demolition debris to the dump because you can't do that on a household yearly pass. I also haven't considered paint or backsplash yet, or drywall to replace what's likely to get torn out. I'm guessing that color is going to be the toughest decision in the whole kitchen. One thing we're wondering about is if it will be possible to somehow incorporate the Lion of Flanders into the kitchen, if yellow and black won't clash with beech-veneered cabinets. Neither of us is Flemish in the least bit, but we're both huge cycling fans and we fell in love with the region on last year's summer (cycling) vacation. I don't think I want a big flag in the kitchen, but maybe we'll get lucky and find appropriate tiles already made. Or we'll just hang a flag in a different room of the house. We already have a cycling-themed bathroom! Did I forget anything in my list of kitchen stuff that we'll need to buy? The more I can add now, the less likely I am to be surprised later. Overall, I'm guessing that we're probably looking in the neighborhood of $20,000 for the entire renovation. I'm hoping that my guess is on the high side of things, especially if we can do a lot of the work ourselves, but this is a number I can live with. After all, this is a house that we're planning to stay in for quite a while (knock on wood) and we want it to make us happy. MelissaH

Oswego's the largest city in Oswego County, about 18,000 people big. Does that mean 5 Oswegos equal 1 Duluth? MelissaH

In today's NY Times there's an article on cooking in a toaster oven. What kind of toaster oven do you have? What do you make in it? Do your experiences match the author's, or is it necessary to get a brand-spanking-new model to take full advantage of having one? Mine's a Black and Decker model that we got for a wedding gift. It seems to work better as an oven than a toaster. We haven't done much cooking of raw ingredients, but we use it to warm up crispy stuff that wouldn't stay crispy in the microwave. I'm intrigued by the idea of using it to roast garlic and vegetables: must give that a shot the next time I don't want to turn on the big oven. MelissaH

By far. For the record, New Orleans is the one place in this country I'll drink coffee. It actually tastes good to me there. And when I have the pleasure of visiting, I must go to Cafe du Monde for my cup. The only other place I've ever drunk coffee is a small town in Zeeland, where for my chocoladekoffie they added a square of bittersweet chocolate. I can't help but think that with even regular old American coffee, a square of good chocolate and some scalded milk might make a difference for me. To get back on topic: I seem to remember a blurb in Cook's Illustrated (I think) that discusses scalding milk for bread-baking, and I think they actually did the experiment. They discovered that scalding does make for a higher rise. I don't know what it means if a toad hops into your milk. MelissaH

Here in Oswego we still don't really have aisles that look like these. Of the three grocery stores in town, only one is set up such that you can pass someone else without scraping something off a shelf. Our produce is getting better, even in just the two years we've been here, but when I need a produce orgy I have to drive the hour to Wegman's.How big or small a town do you feel like you live in? Do you feel "safe" running to the grocery store in whatever you happen to be wearing, or are you pretty much guaranteed to run into someone you know and you feel like you need to at least put a baseball cap and a non-holey shirt on? Enjoying this slice of your life tremendously! MelissaH

Recipe, please? MelissaH ← I added it to the eGRA. Check it out. ← Thank you! Have you ever used frozen spinach to make this? One box worth? MelissaH

I've tried just about every way. My preferred method, when I have time, is to peel and de-seed them. When I'm in a hurry I just de-seed them and call it good. This particular batch had been chopped in a food processor (not pureed, just chopped) but I've sometimes just cut them in half, dug or squeezed out the pulpy seedy stuff to the extent possible without damaging the flesh, and crammed them into a container or freezer bag. ← Hm. In our Ohio days when we had a garden, we never got so fancy. We'd take the tomatoes just as they came off the vine, give them a little bit of a rinse under the hose, and then freeze them like you'd do for berries: on a sheet pan in a single layer until they're solid, and then packed into a double layer of freezer bags. Then, when you're ready to use them, you take out as many as you'll need, and stick them in the fridge inside a bowl. When they thaw, the skins slip right off. If you can catch them while they're still a little frozen-crunchy inside, it's also pretty easy to dig out the seeds and the slime they're encased in. If they're completely thawed, the tomato flesh is a little more fragile. MelissaH

Recipe, please? MelissaH

Downy woodpeckers already? Ours pretty much vanish for the summer. We've given up on leaving suet out once it gets warm: not because the suet melts (our orchard store actually sells suet blocks that are guaranteed not to melt) but because the &^%$ squirrels demolish a whole block in about ten seconds. Do you have a squirrel issue? The dishwasher! Oh, a dishwasher! I also noticed that you don't have a hood over your stove. Have you found this to be an issue, or are you just very good at not making dishes that create smoke? I like this story. Very much. I like all the pretty things on top of your cabinets. That's a big improvement on a soffit!MelissaH

Got a ricer? My favorite way to get rid of the water from spinach (or shredded zucchini, for that matter) is to put a handful or two into my potato ricer, held over the sink, and squeeze! MelissaH

I'm most definitely not a pro chef, but I did plenty of cooking without a stove back in the days when I lived in a dorm and the only cooking appliances permitted were hot pots and small refrigerators. No microwaves, toasters, or anything else. Or what about some tapas-like little plates, which could be prepared elsewhere and then either served cold or heated in a microwave? (I like that idea!) Maybe a Spanish tortilla? Bread with ham? Potato salad? Seasoned chickpeas, roasted or not? Cured olives? Slices of pate? You can make more-than-decent bacon in a microwave; this time of year, BLTs go with everything. Get a single burner of some kind (standard electric, portable butane, or induction) and set up a pot with a steamer basket for seafood and maybe vegetables too? Actually, I think someone makes an electric steamer. (Come to think of it, you could even do shrimp or fresh pasta in a wide-mouthed hot pot!) With a rice cooker, you have the ability to make rice to go with. Get a panini press and you can do all kinds of toasted sandwiches: use your imagination! If you can't find decent bread to bring in, you could investigate acquiring a bread machine. Heck, you could even get an electric griddle and do pancakes (blini with caviar, anyone?) or acquire a waffle iron. A George Foreman-type grill may be another viable option, although in my opinion the best use for one of those is to cook the frozen slices of garlic bread from the grocery store. Soup or stew made in a crockpot? MelissaH

pa-TEET-sa? MelissaH

We just got the September issue of Gourmet in today's mail. My husband got everything out of the box, and while we were at a friend's house made the comment that the new cover art looked really disgusting. At the time, he had both hands busy replacing an electrical outlet. My friend and I looked at each other quizzically; she hadn't yet retrieved her mail to look at her copy. I asked, "Animal, vegetable, or mineral?" His reply stunned me: "Definitely mineral. It looks like dirt. Maybe a scoop of ice cream, on a pile of potting soil." We got home and he tossed the mag my way, still in its plastic wrapper. And he's absolutely right! Maybe that's a new tactic: put dirt on the cover and force people to read the article to find out whether it's for real. MelissaH

I've discovered that cookie or cake crumbs make a nice addition to galettes, to help sop up juice from nice ripe fruit. Don't know if it's practical to make mini-galettes, but I'd think that if you wanted to do a creamless fruit tart, you could make use of them in that. Almond goes nicely with many fruit flavors. MelissaH

Reminds me of the first time I saw Oswego, on a house-hunting trip after my husband had accepted the job here. It was the week after Memorial Day, and the whole two days the fog at the shore was too thick to see the lake. It took until our second house-hunting trip for me to believe that there actually was water out there! We're only supposed to get down to the mid-60s tonight. Our refrigerator's a little smaller and warmer than yours. MelissaH

If Daddy-A ever was in our neighborhood, I'd happily feed him, ply him with appropriate beverages, or whatever it took. However, since I have a hard time getting people to even drive the hour up from Syracuse, I somehow doubt this will happen. MelissaH

I believe the active ingredient is oxalic acid. Don't know what else is on the ingredient list. Maybe scrubbing with a rhubarb leaf would do the trick? MelissaH

Yesterday we replaced the other circular fluorescent ceiling light with the other Ikea fixture. Overall it's a huge improvement, because the light now shines into the areas that actually get used. I also like that you flip the switch and the light is on instantly. The downside of these fixtures is that because they're mounted in the middle of the ceiling, your shadow flops right over your work surface. I don't think these lights are ideal for the only lighting in a kitchen, especially as a retrofit. However, it's still a huge improvement over what we had before, and it's livable for the next year or so. In the "new" kitchen we'll be looking into undercounter lighting, and in the areas that don't have upper counters we can put something directly above on the ceiling. MelissaH

Don't know that you could undermount a sink, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't do a tile-in sink at the same level as the tiles, like you can do with any other tiled countertop. That would accomplish the same goal as the undermounted sink: removing the raised lip that makes it impossible to just brush gunk from the countertop straight into the sink. MelissaH

I've known some gymnasts who stored their grips in a bag. MelissaH