Badiane

This is the cake she wants...I think it's the only one on the main page...the one with all the little flowers. www.wendykromer.com I know K8Memphis did this cake a few years ago with gumpaste flowers, but I am going to use Royal Icing because that seems easier to me. I thought I would tint them mauve and then brush them with purple petal dust. Do you think that will hold up or is it going to go all funky? How long do you think royal icing flowers will last stuck to creamcheese icing? Fortunately I don't have to worry about cold storage. It's coastal BC the first weekend of March...I will just use the great outdoor refridgerator, also known as the back of my van

right...I modified an existing recipe and subbed the carrots for pumpkin

I have been tasked with making my niece's wedding cake, and accepted the challenge only to have her hamstring me with the following: Carrot cake, but no nuts, no pineapple, no raisins, no coconut. AND she wants creamcheese icing. Of course she does. Little monster. I won't even go into how she managed to pick the only wedding cake in the Martha Stewart book that has a thousand individually crafted flowers on it- but white is so boring, so could they be purple? Sure sweetheart, anything for you So...here's the first question: Could someone who knows more about chemistry than I do tell me if this recipe could be successfully doubled? Tripled? Quadrupled? It's basically a muffin method cake, so I think it would be okay, but I'm not really sure. Not Really a Carrot Cake 1.5 cups carrot, cooked and fork mashed 6 oz. (3/4 cup) unsalted butter; more for the pans 9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pans 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. table salt 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 2 tsp. vanilla 1/3 cup buttermilk Melt the butter in a heavy-duty 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally until the butter turns a nutty golden-brown, about 4 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and let stand until cool but not set, about 15 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves. In a large bowl, whisk 1-1/2 cups of the pumpkin purée with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and buttermilk until very well blended. With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Gently whisk in the brown butter until completely incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

You could always *ahem* cut the cheese in fingers and make pinwheel sandwiches. That would save a lot of trial and error and messing about. For the sandwiches - if they have to sit out for a length of time, a thin sheen of butter on the outside can keep them from drying out. Another good trick for keeping the edges nice is to smear them with a bit of butter and edge them with parsley or some other green herby thing. When I do tea sandwiches, I leave them whole until I have to plate them, and keep the stacks waiting to be cut covered with a damp tea towel, then drape the plates with a damp tea towel until the last possible second.

You could try this... 5 oz Sweetened condensed milk 1 ts Vanilla 2 c Powdered sugar 14 oz Premium shredded or flaked coconut Beat the condensed milk, sugar and vanilla together to a frosting-like consistency, then add the coconut. Will firm up if chilled. Of course I would make more...I just use the whole can of condensed milk and add more vanilla and powdered sugar until it feels right, then I mix in however much coconut I feel like having in there. Not really an exact science in my kitchen. You can also sub nuts for part or all of the coconut.

Soup, or anything else containing meat of any kind must be pressure canned at anywhere between 11 and 14 pounds of pressure depending on your altitude. I recommend you go to your local library or used bookstore and pick up a good guide to home canning, or check out the ones on googlebooks. Personally, I only had to read one egullet story of a neighbour poisoned by his wife's asparagus to convince me that freezing is the preferred method for any risky items.

I don't live in France, but I do speak food French. A thorough search for 'les sucettes' yielded a great many versions of the french lollipop, not one of them paper thin. Chupa Chups seem to be popular, though. I thought these looked fun http://www.delicesdecandice.com/produits/les-cheris And that website has a great many examples, again not one of them paper thin.

Wash them, spin them dry, put them in a zippie and freeze them. I do that for everything from bay leaves to kaffir lime leaves to winter savoury. You are never going to retain the great color, but freezing is better than drying, at least in our kitchen If you are a pesto person, you can whiz up the basil olive oil portion of the recipe and freeze that in small containers or zippies. When you want pesto sauce, you thaw the basil, run some garlic and pine nuts through your press, grate in some cheese and bob's yer uncle.

This will probably bring groans all the way around - I know I groaned when I opened my Christmas gift and it was two heavy duty sheet pans with matching silicon sheets, sold under the Paula Deen brand name. But I tell you, they are fantastic pans. Okay, yeah, they have the Paula Deen logo in the middle of the pan, and when you flip a cake, there it is but otherwise, fantastic pans, good gauge, never warp in the oven. I'm not a fan of Ms Paula, but I do love her pans.

I'm with Kerry on that...especially because all of the other cakes have buttercream, and they are most likely to use what they already make rather than make something completely different.

Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and chocolate, preferably in the form of a Reese's PB Cup. The salt and vinegar with the sweet is a perfect combination.

Hey! I'm the Salad Lady too! I'm the Salad Lady because I continually amaze people with my innovative salads. How? My shocking use of fresh, quality ingredients and my ability to...wait for it...make my own salad dressing! I can also toast a mean crouton and shave parmesan like I'm Sweeney Todd. My use of green mangoes is a constant source of bafflement. No one can figure out what they are, and everyone thinks I make them myself. I personally 'invented' Quinoa Salad. My coleslaw dressing is lauded as genius, as is my inclusion of sunflower seeds and raisins in said slaw. I am a legend in my own mind, and the bane of my sister's culinary existence I am sharing my Blue Ribbon Coleslaw recipe for your awe and amazement. 1 bag shredded Coleslaw Mix. You pick the size of the bag depending on the size of the crowd. 1 cup raisins for every 6 cups of cabbage mix 1 cup Sunflower Seeds for every 6 cups cabbage mix 1 bottle Kraft Coleslaw Salad Dressing. Again, amount depends on the amount of cabbage to be covered. 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar for every 1 cup Kraft dressing or to taste Salt and Pepper to taste. The sad but true fact is that this is the most requested item in my repetoire. And I have classical french cuisine training. Sigh. Philistines.

When I was in catering, we created crystal clear ice by pouring boiling hot water into a metal hotel pan and putting it in the freezer. So perhaps your success has something to do with the fact that you are starting with hot water from the coffee machine?

You could go mennonite and make Fruit Moos...especially good with cherries or gooseberries. Usually served alongside fried potatoes and ham or farmer sausage. 4 c. fresh or frozen fruit, or soaked dried fruit mix (apples, pears, prunes, etc) 5 c. water 1 c. sugar 1/2 c. flour 1 1/2 c. cream 1 1/2 c. milk In a saucepan bring fruit and water to a boil. Simmer 5 - 6 minutes. Stir a thin paste of the sugar, flour and part of the cream. Add slowly to the fruit mixture, alternating with the remaining milk and cream. Stir constantly. Remove from heat. Cool. Maybe served warm or well chilled.

I would go totally unconventional...make a small hole in the bottom of the cherry with your knife, then use a hairpin - also called a bobby pin - to remove the pit. And indeed, the dishwasher bit was probably dead on. I once worked with a dishwasher who was better and faster than most of the line staff at chopping, pitting, cleaning crabs and a host of other boring jobs no one likes doing. There is nothing quite as humbling to a new line cook returning to work after a few days of to learn that the dishwasher did her job while she was gone, better and faster. Needless to say, I did not last long in that particular job

You would use both the oil and the 'goop'. Just give it a stir with a spoon or a chopstick and scoop some out to mix with your other dip ingredients.

You can usually find it in the dairy case either near the whipping cream or near the cream cheese - always on the top shelf in a tiny bottle with a blue label. Extortionately pricey, tho. I've seen it at Safeway, Urban Fare, Whole Foods and Marketplace IGA stores. You can also find it at any British specialty store. Farmhouse Cheese makes a creme fraiche that is a fabulous substitute, if you can get your hands on that, but it's harder to find in the summertime because there is lower milk production and she reserves the bulk of that for cheeses. I'm intrigued by the idea of making my own...must search out the method!

RE: The KFC Double Down...I forgot to hit 'quote' Actually, if you don't have an issue with the fat or cholesterol or sodium content, it's shockingly good for you It's low in carbs and high in protien. The grilled version has only 460 calories and 3 carbs. The fried one has 540 calories and 11 carbs. Of course better than half the calories are from fat, and there are 23 and 33 grams of that respectively. Cholesterol is higher in the grilled version with 185. The fried one only has 145 grams. The sodium is also higher in the grilled version than in the fried, with 1430 and 1380 respectively. I still wouldn't eat one on principal, it's just wrong.

Palak means spinach, so if it's palak, you are only getting spinach. If it's Saag, there is something else in there with the spinach. Or there is no spinach at all I would imagine that there are a lot of places that use Saag when they mean Palak because that's what's familiar. I usually just ask, especially after a nasty brush with a broccoli version. I hate broccoli.

Palak is the punjabi word for spinach...so Palak Paneer is just that - spinach with paneer. Saag is kind of a generic term for greens...so Saag Paneer could have spinach, or watercress, or mustard greens, or even brussel sprouts, gai lan or kale or whatever is fresh at the market. So Palak Chana would be just spinach, and Saag Chana could be anything green. Hope that helps :-)

If by Fraser Valley you mean Chilliwack or Agassiz, I can help you out. Chilliwack is a bit of a culinary wasteland, but the Airport is famous for it's pie...and there is Cookies Grill on Old Yale Road, which is a good diner type place, especially for breakfasts. We have outstanding Indian at the Shandhar Hut on Young and Chilies Thai on Yale Road. There is a great bakery on Mill Street called Birdies, and you can get sandwiches and whatnot to go. There are some real winners in Agassiz. The Bread Basket Bakery on Pioneer Avenue is a not to be missed spot. Fantastic bread, pizza bread, pastries. Do NOT miss the cheese buns. Just up the street (on the corner of Pioneer) from the bakery is a good coffee bar/restaurant that I think is called the Oasis. Nice freshly made food, nice young couple that could do with the business. Carry on from Agassiz to the FarmHouse Cheese store as above, then toodle along through the countryside to Limbert Mountain Farm. http://www.limbertmountainfarm.com/ The have a tea room/lunch spot that serves lovely fresh food, much of it grown right there. and you could check out http://www.circlefarmtour.com/ for all kind of other interesting places.

Those look beautiful, Cathy. Looks like a very successful adaptation of the recipe. I'm just curious...why not just use a vegetable margarine in place of the butter? I know why I wouldn't I'm just wondering if it would be a textural or density thing or if it changes the final product in some way? I'm curious about the science of these sorts of things.

Check out http://www.lowcarb.ca/low-carb-recipes.html. As a type II diabetic, low carb desserts work well for me. Karen Barnaby is a well known Vancouver chef who went low carb a while ago, and her recipes are great. The sponge cake with the tiramisu recipe is very nice on it's own,as well as in the tiramisu, as are the cheesecakes. Actually, the stuff is all good, if a little different from traditional baking. There are a few things there that would for sure work at a farmer's market. If you do end up looking at those recipes, please note that she gives the calories and carbs for the entire recipe, so you have to divide it per serving yourself.

I suspect, based on bakery experience, that it was probably an instant custard powder or instant vanilla pudding with plain old milk, and the whole 'whipped' thing came from the fact that they put it on the mixer and let it go until it thickened. I would obtain some Birds Instant Custard (the no cook one) and beat that with milk on the stand mixer. Maybe fold in a little cream at the end for extra fluff

I have a tin of cayenne pepper that my mother bought the week she got married in 1948. It cost 5 cents (price tag attached) and it is still half full. I absconded with it last year when I realized that she was still sprinkling it on her devilled eggs.