johannafin

60+ quarts crushed canned. 8 cups slow roasted and frozen.

Milky Way bars frozen solid. You must have strong teeth and jaws, but so yummy.

You absolutely can. A good friend of mine uses Musa basjoo and Musa dasycarpa leaves all the time - they're easier to harvest than the leaves off of the taller "edible" bananas. Thanks for the info, our banana plant is just coming up. I'll have to try some fish wrapped in banana leaves on the grill this year! Johanna

Can you use banana leaves from a decorative banana plant, or does it have to be from a fruit bearing plant? We have a pretty large hardy banana plant with good size leaves, after seeing this topic I was wondering about using them for wrappers. Johanna

You don't want to play around with canning. If you do not process correctly you won't kill the nasty bugs and you could inadvertantly cause your friend to get sick. I would go to the Ball, USDA or Univ Georgia website and read thouroughly before you start expirmenting with canning. I think freezing would be the much better option for what you want to accomplish. Johanna

We recently had this happen here in Asheville, NC. Son runs a restaurant in dad's building. Son wants to break away from dad. Dad finds out in a newspaper article that son is opening a new restaurant. Son's employees go to open up the day after the article appears in the newspaper to find out dad has locked them out of the building! http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012302290042 Johanna

It would be interesting to see how well it holds up. Over the past few years there have been many reports of poor quality for enameled cast iron made in China. With that information in mind, and the good results I had with earlier LC, my latest "Dutch oven" purchase was LC. Staub also has a good reputation. I have a Martha Stewart Kmart 5qt enameled cast iron dutch oven. I would guess it is 8-10 years old. I think it has held up fine. It is a bit discolored on the interior, but my Le Creuset (5-6 years old) is as well. I bought the LC as a second,the color on the lid is a bit blotchy, but other than that it is great. I also have a piece of Lodge enameled I purchased as a second at a Lodge outlet store. There was no obvious damage when purchased, but about 1" square of the exterior enamel has since flaked off. Since it doesn't effect the cooking surface I don't care that much about it. Johanna

Are you going to leave the neck and giblets inside the turkey when you cook it?

I didn't notice a lot of smoke. There was a strong odor, especially at the begining. I did turn the hood on to deal with the odor. I did go to bed about half way through. Everything was fine the next am. Johanna

Inspired by this topic I used the self cleaning function on my new oven (Electrolux slide in induction range). This is actually the first time I have ever used a self cleaning function due to always having crappy ovens that didn't offer the feature. I pulled out the manual and was advised to take out both the racks and the side supports the racks sit on. The manual stated that the self clean function would not work unless they were removed. I was wondering why they would need to be removed. The racks are the slide out type with ball bearings. Could the heat effect the sliding mechanism? I was able to put the side supports in the dishwasher, but the racks wouldn't fit. After a good soak in soapy water they cleaned up nicely. I haven't actually wiped out the oven yet (ran it overnight), but there are nice little ash piles where burnt on black stuff used to live. Johanna

I don't recall Mary Janes having a peanut butter center. They are a chewy toffee like candy with chunks of nuts in it.

I love it! Artisinal dishwashers, sounds so much better than washing the dishes by hand. I've been an artisinal dishwasher for 40 years, never having lived in home with a dishwasher for more than 2 months. For the record I also am a clean as you go person. Yet there still seems to be plenty of dishes at the end of a meal. Johanna

I like to use garlic salt in the oil.

Bumping up this topic seeking some restaurant advice. I'll be in Wilton this weekend for a family event on Saturday. Grew up in Norwalk but haven't lived there since I went away to college in the fall of 1980. I'm going with my mother and will probably be eating most of my meals with her. Because she is often on a diet, we tend to eat places where she can portion out her protien, veggies and starches. Steak houses, seafood, Italian and American places are generally fine, but Asian and Mexican are generally out. We'll be eating a couple of dinners and lunches out. We likely won't want to eat anywhere super expensive, but we are both willing to spend money on a quality meal. Can anyone help with some recommendations? Johanna

Okay, I have a trip to DC starting tomorrow. So I'm reading this forum to find places to eat. I put Komi on the list. Today I get my Food and Wine. And here is the chef, best new chef 2007. Does this mean I won't be able to get a seat at the bar for dinner for the next couple of days? Johanna