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Terrasanct

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Everything posted by Terrasanct

  1. My daughter got a new dishwasher while I was visiting a few weeks ago--and while she got the cheapest one she could find (she's renting) Home Depot delivered and installed it for a really reasonable price. I wouldn't consider doing it myself at all--leave that to the people who know how!
  2. Terrasanct

    Y2K Foods

    No, I've only opened up three cans so far. I figured I'd only open them when I had a reason to use them. It makes sense that the quality will start going downhill as soon as they are opened initially.
  3. I'm also in the market for a dishwasher, but I'm hoping to keep it under $600. Are there any good options for that price? I read this whole thread earlier today, and most of the ones mentioned sound pretty expensive. I'm wanting to replace my range and refrigerator soon, so I need to save some up for those as well. I don't know what sort of dishwasher I have right now, but it's been in the house for at least the 10 years we've been here. It works fine; nothing too exciting about it.
  4. Terrasanct

    Y2K Foods

    That's good to know, but these are all dried foods, and some are powdered. Some are freeze-dried survival foods, and some are vacuum-packed with oxygen absorbers. I have to think that they'd last longer than wet foods, low or high acid.
  5. Terrasanct

    Y2K Foods

    They're not much to look at--do you mean the cans? But I was sorely tempted to get some Dharma Initiative stickers for them!
  6. Terrasanct

    Y2K Foods

    When I was visiting the Seattle area recently, I went to an estate sale where there were hundreds of food-supply type foods for sale. The garage was full of #10 cans of a multitude of freeze-dried foods, presumably bought in preparation for the end of the world that never quite materialized. There were other things, too, most of which I passed up, with the exception of some maple syrup, which I figured wasn't going to go bad. The estate sale company had thrown out tons of food they weren't sure about, including all the honey, which was unfortunate, since I don't think honey really goes bad, either. So, just out of curiosity, I purchased about 15 assorted #10 cans--well, they were only a dollar each, so I wasn't out too much in case they don't work out. I'm not planning to store them--I'm going to try to use them up in my regular cooking, provided they are still good. I'm using a lot of caution, but I have to consider that these foods were canned with the idea that they might be stored for a long time. It's quite possible that most of them are at least ten years old; I haven't been able to decipher the date codes yet. There are some interesting things--tomato powder, buttermilk powder, egg powder, butter powder (there was margarine powder, but I couldn't imagine wanting that!), dried diced potatoes, fruit, soup mix, freeze-dried entrees, pancake mix, buttermilk, oh, lots of other things I can't remember. So far I've opened three of the cans, with good results on all of them. The mixed fruit, after being rehydrated and cooked, tasted similar to apple pie filling, just a little more tart from the apricots; the pancake mix produced very good pancakes, which I had with some of the maple syrup, and the stew vegetables were fine. The stew didn't taste like homemade but would do in a pinch. Now I'm kind of excited to try the peanut butter powder--I'm thinking granola bars, or cookies for sure, or even smoothies. Does anyone here have experience with this sort of thing? And is there any reason to think these foods could have gone bad, being dried and sealed? Is there any way to read the codes so I know how old the food is?
  7. Okay, so we went to downtown Seattle on Monday to buy some different kinds of bacon. A & J's was closed since it was Monday, so we didn't go there. I was trying to stay within the Seattle area to make it a bit easier, too. We stopped at the Whole Foods in Westlake and bought some of their Beeler's maple bacon, black forest dry rub bacon, applewood dry rub, and peppered dry rub. The dry rub bacons were all Wellshire Farms. The Beelers is out of Iowa, I think. At Bavarian meats, the woman couldn't tell us much about the slab bacon, just that "we do it ourselves." At Don & Joe's, also at Pike Place, we got some Hill brand bacon from Pendleton, thick cut with the rind on. We picked up a brand of Nueski's bacon at Uwajimaya as well. It's from Wisconsin. The "we" in this group are my daughter Marketta, a cook at Alligator Soul in Everett; Brendan, who used to man the meat counter at Larry's Market, and myself, someone who just really likes good bacon. I'm from Seattle, but I live in Billings, Montana, where a local butcher makes the best applewood smoked bacon I've ever had. I've been trying to find a bacon here that might measure up. We tried the bacons plain and in a BLT, the most common bacon application around here. The results were as follows: We liked the dry rub bacons okay, but they tasted more like a lunchmeat than a straightforward bacon. Not the kind of bacon you'd have for your bacon and eggs breakfast, in our opinions. The textures were also not our favorite. The maple bacon was very fatty and the texture of it was like chewing on fat. Not very pleasant. The Hills bacon, with the rind on, was thick, chewy, very authentic tasting bacon. The texture was perfect. The rinds can be a bit chewy, but since there was a willing dog in the kitchen, I had no problem getting rid of mine. The Bavarian meats slab bacon was thick sliced, with the perfect smoke. The smokiness is one of the most important variables as far as I'm concerned. The Neuski's was also very good but may have been cooked a little too crispy to really compare the nuances of texture with the others. Also, I probably should have included Hempler's bacon in the test. I had tried some last week and wasn't too impressed, although it was a good bacon. It might have been good to try it head to head with the others. The top three, for Brendan and I: Number one was the Bavarian market bacon Two was the Hills rind on bacon Three was Neuski's Marketta liked Hills, then Neuski, then Bavarian. She also liked the dry rub bacons a lot more than I did. Not that there was anything wrong with them, they just weren't the classic stuff. So those are the results of my testing of seven bacons available in the Seattle area. I'd like to do another round, but I'm going back home next week, so I'm not sure if I'll get a chance. I do want to check out some local butchers in the Everett/Snohomish area. If any of you get a chance to go to the 4th Avenue Meat Market in Billings, Montana, check out their applewood smoked bacon. It's still number one on my list.
  8. We're planning to do our Bacon Tour of Seattle this week sometime. I'll let you know how it turns out. Regardless of having read that bacon is like, so over, in the other thread, I still love the stuff. I don't eat it every day, but it wouldn't be as good if I did.
  9. You also shouldn't underestimate the crowd who will buy any cookbook that looks interesting whether they ever plan to make any of the recipes or not. I sell cookbooks, and something people tell me time and again is that they really just like to read cookbooks even if they don't cook that much. They're good for local history, or education, or maybe just for food porn, like watching the Food Network and heating up a can of chili. Or as a starting point for inspiration. Of course you want your recipes to be something that people could make. But if they're interesting there are those of us who will buy the book just to leaf through it.
  10. I live in Billings, Montana. I recently needed pomegranate molasses and sumac and had to order them online. You can get anything online, of course, but as far as buying things locally, Costco is about as comprehensive as we get. Might be able to get crema and creme fraiche in Billings, maybe pancetta. It's never stopped me from buying a cookbook, though.
  11. Thanks, I'll try it. There seem to be butchers there I've never seen--are some of them downstairs? I think I know where Bavarian meats is, though.
  12. Even Bremerton or that side of the water would be okay. I got some Niman Ranch applewood bacon from Trader Joe's and it was flimsy and all fat. For the amount I paid for it, I expected something much better. There was a local brand I tried too, I can't remember the name. It was fine, but nothing special. I know there's got to be some good local bacon out here.
  13. I'm looking for some really good, local smokehouse type bacon, preferably applewood smoked. I've tried some local brands but haven't found what I'm looking for. North of Seattle is also good, if there's anything there. Any suggestions?
  14. I was off sugar for two years with no cheating, and the hard part is really only about two weeks, but it is pretty rough in those weeks. I didn't have much fruit either, and only with protein at the same time so it didn't make me crash. No starches or breads either. But I'm back on sugar now, even though I don't like it very much and it doesn't like me at all. Takes a lot of willpower to get off in the first place.
  15. I'm kind of wondering now if there is more than one kind of dried hominy. Maybe this is stuff you have to soak with lime or something?
  16. I bought some dried hominy, which I've never cooked before. I soaked it overnight and cooked it on the stove for an hour until it started getting cooked, then put it in a slowcooker with a ham hock. Not quite sure where I'm going with it, but either tomatoes or cheese will probably be involved. But now that the hominy is cooking, the very hard outer skins are loosening. I realized that those things aren't present in canned hominy and don't seem very edible. Will they come off in cooking? If not, how do I remove them? Any other general advice about dried hominy would also be appreciated.
  17. No photo, but this morning I ate breakfast late and had what seemed like a perfect breakfast. Applewood smoked bacon from a local butcher, eggs from a nearby Hutterite colony, a sliced tomato from the farm market, and toast made from my homemade oatmeal hazelnut bread. Mmmmm.
  18. This probably creeps a lot of people out because of the incest taboo. Drinking milk from breasts is okay when you're an infant, but it doesn't seem that okay when you think of it as an adult. Who wants to think of their own mother nursing them? Food and sex are already mixed up enough in our society. Yeah...a bit too strange for me, not to mention the logistical difficulties involved in "milking" that many women. Yikes.
  19. I just cook all of it the first day and freeze the rest. I can't imagine putting bleach in my food. It's not appealing. The other thing I do is to remind myself that corn, like summer, is fleeting and there's really nothing to do besides just enjoying it while it's here.
  20. Terrasanct

    Preserving Summer

    I've never heard of the pear honey before--it looks interesting. I may try that.
  21. Terrasanct

    Tomato Jam

    I've made tomato chutney and homemade catsup and both went well with cheeses, cream cheese, and with any sort of meats. Mix it in to a meatloaf and then pour it on top before baking, it's very good that way. I used to make this "chili sauce" from my family cookbook and can it. My kids love it. I don't know why they called it chili sauce, since it's closer to chutney. http://www.maystar.org/Cookbook/Canning.htm#CHILI%20SAUCE
  22. 10 out of 11. I guess the one about the whole fish on the plate threw me a bit. None of the questions were that hard, though. I'd be lost if I had to know how to behave at a formal tea service in Japan.
  23. Terrasanct

    rosehips?

    They are here, wherever roses are grown. I've heard some people dry them to make rosehip tea. I made rosehip jelly a few years ago. It was pretty good, a very delicate flavor.
  24. Terrasanct

    Preserving Summer

    This seems to be the appropriate thread to ask this question--I have two pear trees and a lot of unripe pears that had to be picked. I want to make pear butter out of them but wondered if they have to be ripe. I need to use the unripe pears right away for various reasons. Does anyone have experience with unripe pears? I know they'll ripen eventually but I don't want to wait.
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