cakewalk

From today's NY Times, a travel article on Kerala, India. They think they're covering new ground, but eGullet's Kerala did it first! https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/travel/kerala-india-spices-teas-beaches.html?hpw&rref=travel&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0 You might need to register, but I think it's still free.

Wow. Except for the Twizzlers and M&Ms, his Ten Best list is my Ten Worst list. Ah, the wonders of subjectivity!

Etrog (citron) marmalade. I used four citrons and one orange. I've made jam before, but never marmalade. A lot of soaking and dumping the water, and it is still somewhat bitter, but it is quite nice.

Nothing is sacred: https://xkcd.com/1905/

http://www.thekitchn.com/the-10-worst-halloween-candies-for-trick-or-treating-251628 Black Twizzlers? I don't think I've ever seen them.

Ditto candy corn. Gross. I can't think of anything else that even comes close. My favorites (of the non-chocolate candies) are Twizzlers. Just thinking about Twizzlers makes me smile. When I was a kid, my favorite chocolates were Chunkies, hands down. We hardly ever saw them in our Halloween bags, but sometimes we got lucky.

Looks like you figured it out pretty well. Nice looking crust. Damned if I know what I would have done. But my question is: why doesn't the book address this? Didn't you mention something in the area of $650? Does the dough have any yeast in it? Or is it just flour and water? Because if it has any yeast, I'd add the puree at the beginning, just like the other purees. (Which are made of what, by the way.) The salt might make it take longer to rise, but it would still rise. Then you wouldn't have had to deal with incorporating the olive puree into a stiff dough.

Yup. Chocolate cookie outside. Win-win.

King Arthur Flour's Magic in the Middles. Haven't made them in a long time. What a good cookie!

I'm looking forward to it. I was in Italy for a brief visit a few years ago and was in Venice for only two days of that visit, but I loved it from beginning to end. I stayed in a lovely Airbnb apartment, and very memorable to me were the owner's instructions of how to get to the apartment from the train station. I arrived at night so it was dark and I was on my own, so I was a bit nervous. I'm paraphrasing, but the instructions went something like this: when you get out of the train station make a right and walk forward until you get to the Big Bridge. Cross the Big Bridge and then walk a little and you will pass the bus station. Make a right and go over the Little Bridge. Go straight and you will walk through a park, turn to your left and then cross over another Little Bridge. Continue straight, cross one more Little Bridge, then go to the left and continue until you see some shops and then you will pass a pizza restaurant. It is a very good restaurant, I recommend you have dinner there. Also, ask for the owner because she has the keys to my apartment. She will give you the keys and then tell you how to get to my apartment. There was not the name of a single street in the instructions, just lefts, rights, and bridges. (And a pizza place.) It worked like a charm, the restaurant was indeed very good, and, as I mentioned, I absolutely loved Venice. So I very much look forward to your blog!

During the time that I lived overseas I remember being in the States once for a visit and going to a restaurant with my sister and her husband. I was surprised when the server did not immediately place three glasses of water on the table, and mentioned this to my sister and husband. They said there's a water shortage and the new rulings stated that water should be served only if a person requested it. (This was during the 80s.) I requested it and got it. My sister and her husband ordered Diet Cokes. The reasoning here is that many people do not drink the water, so it shouldn't be given as a matter of course during a time of shortage. I know that my sister and her husband would have let the glass of water sit on the table, never would have taken a sip. I agree that it probably didn't put much of a dent in the water levels, but I think it was more a matter of trying to change our level of consciousness about things, and I wish it had continued. If water is requested, by all means serve it and continue to refill the empty glass, it means the person is drinking it; this is not about limiting consumption of water. But if it's just going to sit on the table and then get dumped down the drain? Not sure that's such a great idea.

Do you know what the difference was between the two imitations? I have the one you pictured above. I just bought two more, but the photo on their web page just shows the outline of a bottle shape, there's no actual product with a label, and I'm wondering which one they're selling. Last time I bought it, I don't remember whether or not there was a photo of the actual bottle or just the same outline of a bottle shape. Your mention of two imitation vanillas made me wonder. Well, I guess I'll soon find out.

@CantCookStillTry: That Stork Cookery looks wonderful. I don't think I've ever seen a series of children's books that revolves around food and recipes. Can you possibly show us a photo of one of the recipes?

Oh how absolutely humdrum! <yawn>

There's a thread about the wonders of fake, I mean artificial, vanilla. Gold Medal seems to have won hands-down. I use it now in baked goods. I'm going to buy some more now, because the rise in price of real vanilla will probably trickle down to a rise in price in the artificial stuff as well.

What does this mean?

Thanks for doing this. I don't see myself going this route, but I appreciate your posts. The breads are beautiful, and no doubt delicious. I really love your enthusiasm for the topic! (Did you try that chocolate-cherry loaf?)

Give the lady a slice of pumpkin pie ... with raisins!!

I see canned pumpkin as a completely different animal than whole squashes. I love butternut squash and kabocha, and never use them in sweet applications. I like them roasted, or in a soup, or any which way really, but always savory. Canned pumpkin I use for sweet applications only; I can't even think of how to use it for anything else. I bunked into this recipe the other day: http://ohsweetday.com/2016/11/pumpkin-mousse-chocolate-cake.html which definitely looks worth a try. Maybe this weekend. (Or next.)

That was telepathic. I baked a couple of pumpkin/cranberry/walnut loaves last night. Because pumpkin. I'm not a big pumpkin fan, but I was at TJ's so I bought some of their canned organic pumpkin. The loaves came out nice, albeit nothing spectacular. (The cranberries make it good, if I may say so myself.) I also give pumpkin to my dog, but I usually buy Libby's. TJ's canned pumpkin is much more watery than Libby's. My dog won't eat it. She won't even eat her treats when I mix them together with the TJ's pumpkin. Sheesh.

I made pretzels a few times a few years ago, but never used a lye solution. IIRC, the pretzels were first boiled for a few minutes in water that contained baking soda (the lye substitute, albeit a poor one), then baked. I don't think there was a second dipping and re-baking, but I'll try to find the recipe I used. When you say "dip" the pretzels into the lye solution after baking, do you mean boil them? Or just a quick dip to coat the pretzel with the lye solution? That would be good for browning. But essentially this method doesn't have the boiling part at all. I don't know enough about pretzels to comment on it, but if they're not boiled then it seems to be a totally different method, not just a change in the order.

Absolutely!

@kayb, I feel like I just read a page out of a novel!

More on electric knives: I remember a discussion on a now defunct forum about electric knives being the best thing for slicing angel food cakes without compressing them at all, apparently much better than those "pitchforks" that are sold for this particular purpose. I foresee a big run on electric knives now - they're much more affordable than the book!

Yes, that is true. But it is also not so new, either. Have you tried this particular recipe? To me it looks like there's a lot of chocolate and cherry, but not very much bread. I think they could have chosen a recipe that gives a better sense of why this book is really something different. (If it is indeed that.)