Sugarella

Incidentally, this also belongs in the Deal Breakers thread........

I don't know about locally to you, but you can buy CK brand from amazon. Buying direct from CK requires a business account, unfortunately. http://www.amazon.com/gp/search.html/102-9...eywords=glucose Sorry, I don't know how to make url's more compact. Edited to add: I sometimes have luck finding it in 500g plastic jars at health food stores. Try there too.

Thank you!! I never knew about the cold set transfer sheets.

Poop shoot. Texture/contents I would gather depends on what the little guy ate lately. Can I ask why you shell & devein after cooking? I never heard of that. Is it better?

Everybody's stuff looks great! I wish more people were posting their pics. I'd love to see more. Drewman I have to ask; How exactly did you go about making the pattern for the Black & White Cake? And with the White Chocolate Mandarin Cake, I'm assuming you iced as normal, then used a template to remove the teardrops then filled? Or did you do it another way? The rest I think I can figure out..... And one more..... I do love the look of cut cake presented....but don't you find the edges dry out because they're exposed cake, or is there something you put around the perimeter of these to keep that from happening? Thanks.

Chicken soup is popular on one side of my family (Hungarian) and I was always told that scum is just cooked chicken blood rising to the surface. There's nothing wrong with it, and you eat the same stuff when you eat chicken prepared any other way. It just happens to float to the surface in boiling water is all, where you can see it. But we always skimmed because, as I was told, it makes for a clearer soup in the end, which is what Hungarian soup is supposed to be. And no, it doesn't taste like anything. Fond on the other hand, which is the same cooked blood dripping out, is mixed with fat drippings and is therefore more flavourful. Can anybody back up the fond/scum = blood thing I was told, or is my family just nuts?

Yup, me too. I still love my red meat to be as rare as possible. Love the smell/texture of it and I think it tastes better than cooked meat. When I was a kid I used to eat raw bacon more often then anything else raw, until one day my Dad told me I'd get worms. That worked....never did it again. Thankfully I never had the urge to try raw poultry. But then, I also used to eat condiments straight out of the jar with a spoon, especially mustard. Grew out if that habit too.

We always called them "strangled eggs" when I was a kid, and it's stuck. I don't do it, never have done it, but do cringe whenever I hear someone say "sammiches."

What do having sex in a canoe and American beer have in common? ` They're both f*cking close to water. ******************* A man goes to the doctor with a carrot stuffed up his nose and mushrooms sticking out of each of his ears. Doctor goes: Well, I can see you're not eating right." (.... groan) ******************* Little Girl: "Daddy, why are eggs called eggs?" Dad: "Because that's the sound a chicken makes when it lays one......... "Eeeeeeeeeegggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." ******************* Bill inherits a parrot from his late uncle, who unfortunately only ever taught the bird bad words. The next evening while hosting a dinner party, the parrot suddenly starts verbally assaulting the guests with all manner of profanity and Bill is forced to remove him to the kitchen for a good talking to. Bill tries to reason with the parrot, who just keeps cursing louder and louder, yelling "F*ck you, F*ck you!!", upsetting all of the guests. Bill throws the parrot into a cupboard, but the parrot only replies even louder "F*ck you, F*ck you!!" and starts banging on the cupboard door and breaking the dishes inside. Bill decides to throw the parrot out the kitchen door, and again it starts screaming "F*ck you, F*ck you!!" and starts throwing trashcans around the yard. A neighbour rushes over to Bill and yells at him to shut the bird up immediately, and if he doesn't he'll call the police. Not wanting a police presence ruining his dinner party, Bill grabs the bird and brings him back into the kitchen. "F*ck you, F*ck you!!" the bird continues, and Bill, embarrassed and desperately looking around the room for something soundproof, spots the freezer, unceremoniously throws the parrot in, and slams the door. "There!", Bill says, "Nobody can hear you in there and you're not coming out until you behave yourself!" Bill waits a few minutes, then opens the door and peers inside. The parrot, wide eyed and meek, quietly exclaims that he's sorry. "Now are you going to behave yourself?' Bill asks. "Yes, I promise. I'm sorry." "Good, then you can come back in the dining room and join the rest of us." "Thank you Bill. I'm sorry. I'M SORRY EVERYBODY!" And the bird starts to tear up and choke on his words. Bill puts his arm out for the parrot to perch on, the parrot slowly climbs out of the freezer and onto his arm. "Bill?', the parrot queries. "Yes?", Bil asks. The parrot slowly raises his wing and points into the freezer at the footless, featherless, decapitated frozen turkey carcass. "What'd HE do!?"

I think maybe you want these: http://www.reynoldsfoodpackaging.ca/en/pro...y_type_list.asp Sorry, I can't figure out how to post url's in short form.... They have some on pages 21-25 but these are the tallest and probably best for not smooshing your decoration.

I think you could easily lose up to 1 1/2 cups sugar from this, based on the amount of flour it calls for. But remember that the sugar helps retain moisture while baking so I'd suggest one of 2 things...... either add about 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (you won't really taste apple after it's baked) or try omitting an egg white or 2. I've never tried this exact recipe but it looks pretty similar to many I have done, and I agree with everyone else that 3 cups sugar to that amount of flour is way too much. Bake at 325...... ....edited to add that I notice there's no baking powder in this....I'd suggest 1/2 tsp.

In a large tupperware container, place your loose chocolate then on top of that place a small open container of new baking soda, so the soda isn't touching the chocolate. Make sure the buds aren't packed in tight; you want there to be enough room in there for air to circulate. Then seal the whole thing up tight with the lid for 24 hours. I've had some success removing very bad odors from things this way and it does work pretty well, but if the odors have permeated all the way through the buds and aren't just attached to the surface area of fat in the chocolate I doubt anything could save that, and in that case I'd definitely take the chocolate back. But try that for a day first and see if it works...... only thing I can think of....

My first thought would be a simple stir-fry that, as she learns, will turn into more complex dishes. To start, she can plan ahead with prepping, will learn to time adding ingredients, will learn how to mix & thicken a sauce for it, etc. Then once that's mastered you could make something more complex like cantonese chow mein, where she'll learn about handling meats, etc. It's the type of thing she could modify each time and really make it her own. Just a thought.....

Oh! ... you guys are just so terrific....what great ideas here. Great.....now I need a foamer! I'll just add it to my long list of other kitchen stuff that I'll probably end up never getting. Wonder if I can make these just by whipping the cream but I expect they'd likely fall flat pretty quick. Thanks for all the terrific suggestions Scott. I made your marmalade/cayenne suggestion and it was really very good; I also made the lemon aioli and liked that a lot too. I'll be trying petite tête de chou's spicy mango and chowguy's tequila lime cream suggestions next; I'll repost with the results but it may be a while....I have been eating an awful lot of shrimp here. Thanks again everyone......

Thanks so much everyone for all of the terrific suggestions! You're all much more creative than I am. Mayur: I just made your soy/mirin/brown sugar suggestion but I used avacado oil as a base for it.... not sure if I like it as a dip but it was pretty dam good on the salad I made right after! I'll try the aiolis and variations suggested.... now that I know what aioli is. Now to bug Scott: ..... you totally lost me! Cream based in what way and foamed in what way? .... this one sounds excellent, actually. I assume I should heat the marmalade first, then chill to combine with other ingredients? .... you also lost me with ceviche. Sorry for all the dumb questions.... ceviche and foam I don't know from but at least I have saffron, wasabi & mirin in my cupboard, so at least I have good ingredients going for me, right? .... and I do have xantham gum so that's good.

1) Lemon aioli sounds terrific! 2) What's lemon aioli?!

Having spent another round of holidays looking forward to shrimp cocktail apps only to have them served to me smothered in the standard vile storebought horseradish/ketchup concoction, I've decided this past week to buy myself a boatload of shrimp and experiment with sauces myself. The end goal here, for me, is that after you dip the shrimp you should still be able to taste the shrimp, which is something that horseradish versus ketchup thing does not allow for. I've come up with one so far that's half decent.... it's basically an acidic pureed salsa with hints of good soy and cilantro in the background. I'm happy with that one. But as I don't know from sauces, the other experiments are going all wrong.... I'd like to make something sort of like a lemon cream, perhaps with a hint of saffron in it, and another creamy sauce with wasabi, but so far everything has ended up in the trash bin. Apparently I cannot make creamy sauces very well. Both ended up very liquidy and no good, although taste-wise they were ok, sort of. Does anybody have a good recipe for something like these, or could you help me fiddle with the ingredients I'm already using?? I don't host holidays at my place because I don't have the dining apparatus necessary for large groups (read: big table) but someday I will and plan to completely take over all control of holidays from my family, god willing.

As far as the "decoration only" thing ...... you can buy 2 kinds of edible gold leaf or gold powder. The first is mostly gold with other alloys; that's the one marked "for decoration only", and is the kind you buy from most places, or you can buy pure 23kt gold powder which is completely edible, as pure gold is an inert metal and has no ill effects on the body. It's obviously a lot more expensive, though. It's the same as the flakes in goldschlager, but powdered, although you can buy flakes or leaf packets too. I've been buying mine from these guys for years and they're a good company to deal with: http://www.goldleafcompany.com/goldleaf.html Go 3/4 way down the page and find Dauvet Powder Gold - Edible Gold Powder .... that's the one you want. Make sure you buy the edible stuff because they mostly sell inedible metals for crafts, etc. Oh, and don't use extacts with this stuff, especially lemon, because the acidity will turn the gold off colour. Plus it's easier to spread an even coat with straight alcohol like vodka, because it dries quicker. Hope that helps.

This has been bugging me for a bit because I knew there was a way to make meringues creamier and I was pretty sure I'd done it years ago, too. So I went hunting in my notes file and found this, for what it's worth....... "Adding vinegar to regular meringue will result in a softer centred, creamy, almost marshmallow texture to the meringue after baking" ...... and my notes read that I put 1 Tbsp. per 5 whites. I know the recipes you're looking at have more ingredients but I figured I'd throw this out there...... maybe I'll try these again this weekend.

Well in that case I stand corrected ......as I said my familiarity with France's french is rather limited. French seems rather insipid here, unless they're talking about other Canadians. I'll make sure I call them "chocolate meringues" from now on.....

Thanks for the recipes Patrick. That vanilla is quite similar to the one I have already but I needed a good peanut butter one. Yum yum....

The way I read it (with knowledge of Quebec french, not French french) is that tetes des negres literally translates to blackheads ..... where heads is used in place of caps, the way a mushroom head looks like a cap. I don't think it's nearly as offensive as some would like us to believe in this age of political correctness. The description sounds rather innocent and innocuous to me, for what it's worth. ....And I have had meringues that have whipped cream in them so you might be right on the mark with that one.

A-HA!!! ......I never knew to cool it before beating. DUH! No wonder mine never worked right. Thanks so much. This bit totally confuses me though.... I always thought letting steam in would cause sugar crystals, not help alleviate them. Hmmmm.... Is that why mine sometimes gets gritty bits?

Oranges in the stocking here too, when I was a kid. My grandmother told me oranges were a huge deal to get in your stocking when she was a girl because citrus fruits were so scarce and expensive, and so it was considered a very luxurious gift at the time. To her it gave a sort of reassurance that everything was going to be ok, especially as she grew up during the depression. Apparently kids back then would rather get oranges than candy. Thanks for bringing this up...... yet another food tradition in my family that I hadn't really noticed before. We always have oranges, even if they're just for decoration. .....Pears seem to be a prevalent Christmas food symbol also....wonder why?

Of course! .... baby squash...... Thanks raxelita and rjwong...... that was driving me nuts!