emmalish

Wow, what a great idea. Thanks for posting an update – I didn't notice this thread before and I just have enough time to sneak an order in.

Ohhh, those look great. I like the sound of the pb nougat. I still haven't read through the entire book and have no idea what I'm going to try first, but that's definitely a contender.

Against everyone's advice, I too opted for a small starter set. It was a great price (much better than if I'd bought the pieces individually) and I use every single piece in the set (very similar to the one you linked to), so it wasn't a waste of money. If you think you'll use the pieces, I'd say go for it.

Does anyone know where to buy real acai juice in Vancouver, preferably kits or downtown area? No, I'm not jumping on the "LOSE WEIGHT ON ACAI!!!1!!" bandwagon. I've heard that it's high in antioxidants and has a nice tart flavour, so I thought I'd get some to try in my morning smoothie. I've also read that what you really want to get the health benefits is pasteurized juice that is thick with pulp. Every bottle I've been able to find, however, even though the main label just proclaims "acai juice – 100% juice!" is actually blends where the prominent ingredient is apple juice (tricky tricky marketers). Any ideas?

I have a mini food processor that I use almost exclusively for chopping nuts. Although I'm usually too lazy to pull it out of the cupboard and end up just chopping them by hand.

I've got it, but there are three recipes... corn and rye muffins 1 c whole wheat flour 3/4 c yellow corn meal 1/4 c dark rye flour 1 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1-1/2 c buttermilk 1 egg 1/4 c vegetable oil 1/4 c honey four-grain muffins 3/4 c whole wheat flour 3/4 c yellow corn meal 1/2 c dark rye flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 c rolled oats 1-1/2 c milk 1 egg 1/4 c vegetable oil 1/4 c honey oatmeal muffins 1-1/2 c whole wheat flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 c rolled oats 1/4 c ground filberts (optional) 1 c milk 1 egg 3 tbsp melted butter 2 tbsp molasses 1/2 c currants all three recipes are mixed as usual for muffins, then baked for approx 20 minutes @ 400°. which recipe are you making? I've never actually tried any of these.

Yeah, those are hand dipped. Probably my least favorite thing to do, that's why caramels are the only slabbed thing I do right now. I borrowed a small digital Canon camera from a friend that has a super up close setting. It works pretty well. She invested in a $900 Canon Rebel that we used to take photos for my website. But this little camera is not bad. Wow. They look amazing! Every time I dip something I end up with little notches @ the bottom where the fork was.

Please tell me those aren't hand-dipped. I may cry.

lol!

I love having a scale and use it all the time when baking, but never for cooking. If your friend is just starting out, I'd be worried about overwhelming him with too many gadgets and fears of measuring things exactly. I have a friend who wants to learn to cook (at age 45), but he finds it all so daunting – he's so afraid he'll screw it up and ruin everything. I'm trying to get him to start off with one-pot meals so he doesn't have to worry about timing and can just deal with mise en place and then following basic directions (he's terrified of the timing issue). Once he has a few edible meals under his belt, I think he'll be feeling more confident and willing to experiment more. So to start with, he just needs the basics. No scale, no specific tools. Just basics that he can get by with. Pots, pans, a couple good knives, a cutting board, a couple wooden spoons/spatulas, peeler, can opener. Once he's more comfortable in the kitchen, he can branch out and get some whisks and specific tools based on what he wants to try.

Oh damn, that is cute! Hmmm...

OUCH! I love my onion-shaped onion keeper. Sorry.. It may not be the same as the one I have (a gift) which falls open whenever it is picked up. It's supposed to snap to the base, but doesn't and it is not sealed because the onion aroma leaks out. I tried it once. It is this one: http://www.amazon.com/MSC-International-Jo-Onion-Keeper/dp/B001VE4K8M/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1264986172&sr=8-14 One of my friends has a Tupperware onion keeper that works just fine for her. I just use the heavyweight plastic wrap - I have the commercial roll of Reynolds plastic wrap, which I may use up in my lifetime or maybe not... I just chop the entire thing while I'm at it and freeze the excess. That way it's ready to go when I need some.

Thank you Kim! I love infomercials. They're an art form, truly.

I think I've read that yes Pyrex dishes will affect temperatures and times. Anyone else? Another thing to check is your oven temperature. You can buy an oven thermometer for about $5 at any kitchen store. I'm a renter so I always have oven issues. The one I've got right now is about 100°F off – if I want 350°, I have to set it for around 250°! And the dial has a lot of wiggle room so it takes some fiddling to get temps right.

You say the brownie portion didn't rise, but brownies like this don't rise so much as they just set up. They stay dense and gooey. Did it look anything like the picture? Because it looks pretty dense to me. I don't think you did anything wrong. If you prefer a cake-ier brownie, I'm sure you could try a different brownie recipe and add the creamcheese portion from this one...

Well, it just didn't work. The cream cheese part was delicious, like a light cheesecake, but the brownie part utterly failed to rise. Tasted fine, but it was hard and crust-like, not like a brownie at all. I served it anyway and just told people I'd accidentally doubled the crust. >_> Dakki, could you point us to the recipe?

I just have a wee top-of-the-fridge type freezer. A good chunk of space is taken up by raw food for my cats, but I manage to keep it stocked with soups & chili during the winter, homemade ice cream during the summer, and frozen fruits year-round for both baking and smoothies. I almost always have flat packs of homemade vegetable stock, and a dozen or so muffins individually wrapped and ready to reheat. And I might have some frozen perogies, edamame or corn at any given time. I also freeze leftover odds and ends like lemon juice, chopped onion and coconut milk. I wish I had a larger freezer. As it is, every possible square inch is being used.

I've made the pumpkin muffins several times with different variations. One I've tried is with dried cranberries, pecans & chunks of chocolate in them – really good! I usually sprinkle pumpkin & sunflower seeds on top as well.

My understanding is that once the toothpick comes out clean, it's overcooked. The toothpick should come out with crumbs on it, but not wet batter. Does that make sense?

I walked into the bookstore for something completely unrelated today and came out with 2 more cookbooks. How did that happen?

That's what Lurpak Spreadable is for (although I prefer the unsalted one)! While I love real, cultured butter on my rye bread, this stuff is pretty close. Or better yet, whipped butter!

Froot Loops. Straight from the box.

On her show, Rachael Ray has a plastic bowl on her countertop to put all her scraps in while she works. People thought that was a brilliant idea, and voila, the official Rachael Ray Garbage Bowl is now available for purchase.

THANK YOU! I've always been astounded that yes, this is a real item that you can buy in stores. A garbage bowl. Oh my god. And not even a cheap bowl! It's $32 on amazon!

Resurrecting this thread because I had to vent about this somewhere. One of my coworkers brought in a box of Thomas Haas chocolates the other day (see this thread here for more info). It was a small box, but enough that each of us would get one to try. Okay, I admit I'm a bit of a chocolate snob. When I try something new, I'll take a tiny bite and savour it, and have a look at what the filling is like, and then I'll take more tiny bites and make it last. There were a few of us who oohed and aahed and enjoyed them greatly. For the most part, people didn't get what was so great about them, but made the appropriate yummy noises. A few people, however, just grabbed one at random, popped it whole in their mouth, and then shrugged and said something to the effect of "I don't know what the big deal is – for the same amount of money we could have gotten a huge box of chocolate bars". *sigh* I should also mention that one of the guys who was all "meh" about it says his favourite place to buy pastries is Starbucks. I have another friend who always tells me she's the world's biggest chocoholic. But she'd rather get a big bag of bulk chocolate truffles from the grocery store than a small box of high end artisan chocolates. I could probably understand if it were just because of the cost issues, but she says she honestly can't taste the difference. Okay. End rant. I just needed to share with people who would understand. It just bothered me to see it so under-appreciated.