CaliPoutine

I'm so with you. I grew up with half sour or full sour pickles. I'm now forced to spend 4.50 a jar for Strubs here in Ontario or 2.69 at Trader Joe's in Michigan. I have access to bushels of cukes from the menonites, hopefully somebody will come thru with a recipe.

I made an amazing cherry crumb pie today. I'm not at home, but as soon as I get back, I'll post the pics( and recipe). It had almost 3lbs of cherries in it. Everyone said it was fantastic.

Cook's Illustrated has a fabulous one. Their website is subscription only though. I'll see if I can get it for you.

Id like to do a salad course or a fish course. I really enjoyed that fish last year and since I dont eat red meat, it was especially good. Hopefully, the fish course wont be deleted this year.

There is another red velvet thread floating around. Maybe admin can combine these two threads?

Is it possible to do a butt on a gas grill with a smoker box? Are the times and temps still the same. Would I have to keep refilling the smoker box?

That looks great Pam. Mine never looks like that, its never that yellow. I usually use a big bag of leg quarters, but maybe I need to add some wings and other pieces. My dad once said my soup tasted like " dead water". It's so hot that I can't even think about making soup, but once the weather turns chilly, It will be the first thing I make. When do we get to see the matza balls?

We have a cherry tree, but it is ornamental, so we must buy our cherries. I paid $3.75 for a quart of sweet cherries this morning -- not too bad. ← Our cherries are $8.00USD for a quart. ← Our cherries( actually, not ours, but imported from the US) are on sale this week for 1.99lb. I see a cherry crumb pie in my future. Anyone know the best way to pit cherries sans an actual pitter?

I'm making smoked cheddar( if I can find it here) stuffed chicken breasts with green apple slaw. This came from the august 05 issue of Bon Appetite. Coincidentally, the recipe came from Ted Reader( a Canadian who is "king of the Q). I think I'm also making a cherry streusel pie from the same issue.

I can a lot of jam every summer. I use a pectin made for low sugar jams. The recipe says you can use anywhere from 1-3 cups of sugar or substitute. I've tried it with splenda too, but I just prefer to use about 2 cups of sugar. After I pour it into sterilized jars, I do boil the jars for 10 min. You don't need fancy equipment, just a large stock pot. I use one of those blue orka type silicon mits to put the jars in and out of the water. I must be doing something right because I've won awards for my jams!!!

some of today's haul. A brand new Pampered chef wonder cup( good for peanut butter, corn syrup, etc) 1 dollar and an angel food cutter. The handle looks to be bakelite. 50 cents

Here are a few of our latest finds. To be honest, my spouse found almost all of these. It all started so innocently. Our town has a bi-annual rummage sale and everything is so ridiculously cheap. We went looking for wine-glasses for our large wedding reception. It was cheaper to buy the glasses than rent them and we didnt care that they didnt match. I bought 3 of those old-fashioned metal ice cube trays. ( the type with the lever). I paid 10 cents each, and then went looking around on ebay. They were selling for ridiculous amounts of money. I decided to list them and they sold for $26.00( for the set). So, I confess, a lot of what we find( collectibles, some kitchen items, etc) goes up on ebay. It's made for a nice little side business. My spouse, she is kinda obsessed.( but there could be worse obsessions). She/We go out every Saturday in the summer and she'll go to thrift shops during the week. She's already mapped out all the thrift stores on the way to our hotel for our next weekend trip. These items I've kept for myself. Robin paid 1.00 for this, I use it for spices only. She was sick of her coffee tasting like cloves. I love this. I think she paid 50 cents at a yard sale. It's made in Ontario, the spreader is cherry wood and its brand new. The tag says it's for pate, but since we don't eat red meat, we'll probably use it for a cheese ball. Once I found one of these french jars, I was hooked. I've found these at different places, I think the largest one was 50 cents. I love them. I store spices, bits of dried fruit, etc in them.

When I lived in California, I always found Wolff's Kasha at Ralph's in the Kosher Section. Have you checked there?

I absolutly love these too. I bought 10 assorted packs of them for one reason only. They reduced them to 1.00 each and I couldnt pass them up. I think after my purchase the grocery store thought they were big sellers and brought them back to 3.49. That is too expensive for me, especially since it is so easy to grate the knobs of ginger I keep frozen. You don't even need to peel them.

"2. I would like something with almond, but can't decide on what." How about mini bakewell tarts? If I remember correctly, they have almond and rasberry jam in them.

Try the sherry vinegar chicken from " A new way to cook" Its so fabulous. If anyone has cookbooks they don't want, you might want to check out this clicky and offer up a cookbook to someone who really wants it.

I tim tams. Why oh why can't they sell them in the states. Actually, its probably better that they don't. I traded with an Australian pen pal some reeces PB cups for a whole whack of tim-tams. OMG, they were fabulous. They are made with real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup.

Abra, Its all yours. PM me your address.

*Bump* I thought I would return the favor to someone who really wants this particular cookbook. The Minimalist Entertains by Mark Bittman If you would like this, let me know!! Anyone else have any cookbooks they don't want?

I signed up too!! I can't wait to tell them to remove "Fixing Dinner". That is the lamest show on FTV. Sandy Richard is one step above Sandra Lee!!

does anyone else feel sorry for that kid? ← I don't. He seems to really enjoy his food. When I showed my 8yr old neice the foodblog and told her about the lunches his mom makes for him she said " He's really lucky". This is coming from a child who's parents often give her a lunchable to take to school.

I was saw Jaimie Oliver make some flavored salt in his mortar and pestle. He used some orange peel and rosemary and strained those out after he mashed it all together.

You can get a used copy on amazon for 8.98 plus 3.49 shipping.

Me too!! I also hate brussel sprouts, eggplant, dark meat chicken and turkey, chicken wings and skin, seaweed, raw fish, mussles, salmon, dark tuna, ground beef, fennel, blue cheese and licorice. I don't hate red meat, but I havent eaten it in 20yrs. Cheesecake isnt my favorite, but I don't hate it. Sometimes I feel like a foodie fraud because there are so many things I hate. I realized though, I don't like strong flavored foods.

It does kinda bug me, I always thought it was his home, even if he was way too tall for it. My spouse loves his pantry, all those mason jars filled with everything you could possibly want. And, he's right on the water too.