Lisa Shock

I got this recipe as a college student, from another student's mom, who was from Texas. She was one of the socialite types, with the perfectly coiffed helmet-hair, high heels no matter where she was, neatly appointed dresses from Neimans, and pounds of old Zuni jewelry acquired on vacation trips to New Mexico. -And she was always quick to point out that she was dressing down while on vacation, like NM was one giant dude ranch set up as a Texan playground. Of course, this was the early 1980s; the days of oil boom and a savings and loan bubble. Money flowed out of Texas, in ways not seen since. First and foremost, these nachos involve real cheese -not a cheese sauce. Preheat your oven to 350°. Heat an ovenproof serving platter. One asks the maid to take sheetpan and carefully places tortilla chips on it so that none are touching. The round type of chips are preferred, because it's easier to get everything uniform on them. Then, she places cheese on the chips. It can be shredded or thin slices that have been cut into rounds. Just make sure that the cheese is pretty even on each chip, so there is some in each bite. Then, the other toppings are carefully, evenly placed on each chip. These may include fresh or pickled hot pepper slices, black olives, thinly sliced roast beef, shredded beef, shredded chicken, etc. Broil until cheese bubbles starts to brown. Immediately top with any cold toppings (like dollops of sour cream [a pastry bag is useful here] or fresh raw toppings like grated sweet onion) and serve in a single layer on that hot platter. Have the maid keep making batches of these for a while, as it is difficult to make more than 30 or so at a time and if you are serving guests, one pan's worth will be gone in under 5 minutes. Your friends will judge you by how neatly your maid prepares these, so, be sure to stress that these need to be assembled to be as pretty as possible. (extra points for making fancy patterns with the olives)

Not necessarily. The Indian subcontinent has been majority vegetarian for a very long time. Also, not everyone as much meat as the average modern American back in the day. In hot climates, storage of fats is problematic, but oils can be pressed from nuts and seeds and used as needed -with a longer shelf life than butter or lard. Look at the middle east and Mediterranean areas where olive oil and nut oils are the default.

For something homemade, you might try making a couple of simple syrups for him. (label them so he knows to refrigerate them) I make a regular gomme syrup with white sugar, I also make one with jaggery and gond. I also add a couple tablespoons of grain alcohol per pint, just to try and extend shelf life, it may not really work as well as I think it does. Anyway, having syrup handy really speeds things up. I like the jaggery one for making really old drinks, to try and capture authentic flavors. The crafts stores sell lots of decorative food grade containers this time of year, so your product can look good, too. I have not made bitters yet, so, I have no clue about that, sorry.

I am more of a fan of Texas style nachos -with New Mexico toppings. But, I have never found a restaurant that was detail-oriented enough to make Texas style nachos.

Thanks! I just wondered what someone felt needed a model or pop star to endorse.

This was a bad year for vanilla, the price has skyrocketed. There's a chance that Costco decided against carrying them due to the price. Even extract Grade-B beans are less plentiful and cost about 4 times as much as they did two years ago on eBay.

What is the product shown in the second image, on the left, with a photo of a man? I'd like to point out that if one has the space to store it, buying TP in bulk can be useful. I insulate part of my house with it -upper shelf in laundry room which is on an exterior wall.

Just posting this to help people in the future: a video from the TV show Unwrapped, showing the Butterfinger factory.

I just saw an episode of D,D, and D filmed in Italy. It was a bit uncomfortable seeing Guy ribbing people who did not speak English, and the Italian-born translator having to quickly make sense of his awesome-licious nonsense words.

I personally have never had any issues. But, I am a vegetarian and regularly eat more vegetables than the average american. -I eat beans 4-5 times a week, and lots of onions (onions are also a good source of inulin).

More likely, they will eat your clothes up. Check your closets.

There's probably some correlation between what happened and the amounts each individual consumes on average in their normal diet.

Tuesday Morning has Red (Rouge) Staub right now at reasonable prices. Only 2-3 of each type of pan, so get over there quickly. (this red is kind of brick colored) At my local location, they were on an endcap facing the back of the store, far away from the kitchenware, so, look carefully.

I should point out that nowadays, if I were to make edibles (I did some consulting work about 5 years ago for a commercial wholesale bakery getting into edibles.) I would make and use a tincture rather than infused butter. The Magic Butter loses much of its emulsification properties. (you can't make a good buerre blanc with MB) With a tincture, it is much easier to accurately calculate dosage, you get a smaller sized end product per dose (easier to store), it can be used in all sorts of products -not just butter-based ones (you can make vegan foods and sugarwork), if you do make butter-based foods your non-MB will retain its functionality, and the tincture has an almost indefinite shelf life at room temperature. The tincture is easy to make: de-carb (bake for a little while) the botanicals, grind, then place in a container with grain alcohol for about a week, agitating occasionally. Strain. Use as-is or reduce to make a concentrated oil.

Traditionally, the old-school MB recipe has the botanicals simmer for about an hour in stockpot with water and butter. Preferably large, freshly picked, intact lower leaves and stems. (this system gets results from plant parts not thought to be worthwhile for other uses) The botanicals are not ground up. After the simmer, the hot mix is strained through a fine colander. The colander and contents have some boiling water poured over (while being held over the stockpot) to reclaim butter clinging to the colander or greens. The greens are then discarded. The stockpot is chilled until the butter is hard. The butter is then removed and the water is discarded. (yes, throw it away!) The final product has just the tiniest hint of pale green color, which disappears when cooked. (your shortbread cookies will still look the same) And, an almost imperceptible, mild spinach-like flavor. The reasoning behind the old school process is that the botanicals contain a lot of different chemical components: some water soluble, some fat soluble. The water soluble compounds aren't very good for you, and they taste really bad. The botanicals do not need to be ground up, time and heat will be very effective in moving certain chemical components into the butter. An amazing amount of dark-colored, stinky stuff will move into the water, and then be out of your life. IMO, that machine is much cleaner and simpler to use. But, it does not eliminate the bad, water soluble components and the ground botanicals are in the final product giving it a strong taste, color and probably a bit of a texture (for those of us used to silky fine dining foods). The straining system needs a LOT of work, I see a LOT of loss happening there. Running some boiling water through the strainer could reclaim significant amounts of butter. Bottom line, it makes cute little batches neatly and keeps your kitchen clean. However, the end product is not of the best quality and people are losing a lot of product if they use that strainer.

Just picked this up for $1.99, it's a great window into the past and almost as good as another old CIA text I have called the Book of Buffets. This book is copyright 1964, and MUCH thinner than the current edition. That said, it devotes an entire 20 pages or so to the world of pastry! (oh how things have changed, pastry is now its own 600+ page book)

At this time of year, lots of russets get shipped to stores. It's as if the big market buyers don't think anyone eats anything BUT russets. In past years I have had trouble finding red potatoes at this time of year. The only consolation being that the russets get deeply discounted after Thanksgiving. Last year, I got ten pound bags of russets at Kroger for 50¢.

One last point about a tile floor, yes, they can be cold. I live in Arizona where the outdoor temperatures hover around 120° for a couple of months in the summer. My house does not have a basement, it sits on a concrete pad which wants to even out the inside AC temps with the outside heat in the summer. Also, to save energy, because it gets so hot here many of run the AC at higher temps than Northerners are used to. (around 82°-84°) This translates into a floor that isn't all that cool in the summer, but, we still love it. The ability to come home, take off your shoes and walk around barefoot on the mildly cool tile really helps you feel better when you're overheated. You will need more lights. I prefer some sort of light fixture that has small moveable lights on it so you can change what they are aimed at. There are a lot of variations now, it doesn't have to be track lights. When I was practicing knife cuts for competition, I found that getting the right angle for the lights really helped me cut better. Also, with a bunch of smaller lights, you can illuminate a lot of small appliances -each one to its best advantage. I do recommend LED lights. You can get them in stores now in most sizes and a variety of color temperatures. (I like the cold/daylight ones, but, that's me.) They will save you money on electricity, but, more importantly, they don't waste much energy as heat, so they don't heat up the kitchen.

I personally would have tile floors, not wood. (you can get those tiles that look like wood) Spills are not good for wood or laminate floors. Tile also costs less. My whole house is tiled and I love it. Pet accidents, water dish spills, etc. are no problem.

Just got most of a Dippin Dots Frozen Dot Maker. It's missing a couple of the liquid tanks and the main machine (which was nothing but a support for the ice trays), but it doesn't really matter. Much of the activity that this is supposed to provide for kids was pretty silly. Essentially, it's a bunch of ice cube trays that make tiny spheres. The machine was supposed to let you freeze dots made from different juices into a pattern in the ice tray. -Which is made immaterial when you pop the spheres out to use them. I got about 90% of the kit, but will wind up just using the ice trays to make plain and flavored little spheres. The plastic seems harder than silicon, but softer than an old-school ice cube tray, so I do not know if it will stand up to being used with sugar work. That said, I have been cheerfully making cute itty-bitty ice spheres for cocktails out of various juices and having fun. I have 4 of the ice mold trays, a decent deal for $.99. If I can make tiny hard candy spheres, that will also be fun.

Ok noted. I still think they will brighten up the emergency supplies quite a bit.

Today, I found small aseptic packages of whipping cream on the shelf in the baking section, $1.29 each. (IIRC, 8oz, it's like a juice box) I got two of them and will test one soon. The expiration date on them is April 2017. I think these will quickly become pantry staples. Imagine being able to whip up mousse anytime, or dress up a dessert with whipped cream on a moment's notice.

Well, some of us recall a time before Teflon. The older style cast iron has a much smoother surface than modern cast iron, and was very non-stick. I have a small pan that is over a hundred years old that I can make eggs beautifully in. Lighter weight means that it's easier to flip food in a saute pan and easier to carry a full dutch oven from the stove to the table. It also means you can store more of it in less space and not stress your shelves as much. I like my old cast iron and would consider new pans, if, like that other crowdfunded cast iron project, they promised a glassy interior surface. I have one Teflon pan left in the house and I'd like to be able to get rid of it.

I can see parts I like on both sides. On the one hand, the hydroponically grown produce will be as pure and pesticide-free (and many other things-free) as any other organic, maybe even better. So, that's good for me as an eater. But the carbon footprint, and other issues like urban heat islands need to be looked at as well. On the other hand, a big part of organic farming is stewardship of the land. I recall reading about organic issues in Scientific American in the 1980s, when farms using commercial fertilizers were having terrible problems with their topsoil. Farms that had used modern methods were losing topsoil and had huge erosion issues, while farms that never started using commercial fertilizer and still relied on manure had plenty of great topsoil. And, often one of each of these farms would be next to each other -in stark contrast. I think managing the land is very important. If a hydroponic 'farm' is essentially like another high-rise (especially if you make a mini-city of them), then it's not helping the ecosystem. I think, I'd like to see the hydroponics located in areas without arable soil, not disrupting grasslands or farmlands.

my condolences...thanks for taking one for the team!