Kouign Aman

Yup, to me the commonwealth chocolate is the caramellier/maltier one. I dont like cadburys much here, and I wondered why I liked it so much on vacation. That info cleared up the mystery. Now, Why Did Cadbury's stop making the Whole Nut bar? Had to buy Whittakers (oh my, and so good too. Maybe better?)

Malt tablets Bassett's Licorice Allsorts Milkchocolate Lindor - the little domed-square ones are better than the big spherical ones.

That's interesting, that the same 'chocolate' bar has a different formula depending upon the country of origin...or the country of destination. They dont have different formulations. The brand gives the same recipe to each manufacturer (we have this info from the Cadbury factoru in Dunedin).. What they have is variation in raw materials. NZ milk tastes different from all the milk I've tasted in the US. NZ sources east asian chocolate beans. I suspect in the US they use south american bens, etc. Whatever the reason, the NZ or British Dairy Milk is quite different from the IS one. Marked difference in 'caramelly-ness'.

Looks like you are just in time for fruitcake 2011, then.

LOL!!!! Good for you, for that would certainly dull them!

I love it, my husband couldnt care either way, and my kid, who is an adventurous eater, hates it ansd says it tastes like shampoo. Since she's never heard anyone talk about it, I'm going with the inherent difference in perception theory - genetic version.

You may have to help the birds by picking off the caterpillars and leaving them somewhere visible. The little orange moths destroyed our sunflowers. We had gorgeous flowers which is what we were after, but the caterpillars ate thru the seeds before they could fully develop, so we didnt get sunflower seeds. On the other hand, we got lots of tiny little caterpillars, which is almost as good at our house these days. Did you fill the kiddypool w sand or soil? (I love that curbside treasure hunting!) I HATE slugs, so leafy vegetables need a tightly controlled environment in my world.

Oh my! that's a grand sight! Maybe a dish of planaria* and worms? (*fried sage leaves & pasta)

My fat hindend in a chair, far away from weeds, gloves and shears ???? Seriously, I am toying with the idea of a winter garden - peas/beans etc. But I have my doubts we'll get anything started in time. What about you, Raoul Duke?

Costco sells apples in a hardpack with one space per apple. These are excellent for storing special christmas ornaments of the glass ball variety.

Apple dumplings, pie, strudel. ribs.

Many digestives work by helping one burp. otherwise known as releasing gas.

lots of cucumbers, a couple zucchinis, several japanese eggplant, and 4 of the best cantelope I have ever eaten. The latter were from a volunteer vine that grew out of the compost pile. Its fun to watch them develop. The strange fuzzy fruit were mysteries to us until the webbing formed, overnight. Tomatoes all summer long. A bunch of those also volunteered from the compost pile. Looked like 2 plants of 'brown' tomatoes, and the rest were teh grape tomatoes from a Costco party tray. They were better picked fresh from the 'vine' in the sun. Better still were the currant tomoatoes that came from Toliver's mother's yard a year or so back. We saved a few seeds and they grew again. The small person ate many many many. A new favorite is Green Zebra. Absolutely delicious. Ripe when bright orange w green stripes. What a kick to have on a plate! The carrots recovered, and a second crop were planted. Its still a thrill for most of our small guests to pull one, wash and eat it on the spot. We've gone nuts and started new tomatos from seed in mid-August. They are flowering now. In theory, white, pink striped, orange, yellow, red and brown cherry tomato varieties. Planted 6 pumpkin vines, not one bore fruit. As always, the growing was as much fun as the eating. And as always, I'm glad our ability to have full bellies does not depend on my skill and luck in the garden!

So does mine! I have little blue lids from Petco (with their logo) that fit perfectly. Thank you! Next time I repurpose crickets from being a snack food to use as a pet food, I'll also check out the lids.

Nestle's Quik containers, with hole cut into bottom edge, excellent storage for bath toys. Also good to rinse out shampoo from hair of offspring. Beercan cozy - covers faucet in tub, to reduce risk for munchkin. egg cartons or small plastic cups for starting seedlings. egg cartons for paint-trays when doing art w munchkin the top makes a nice pallet too. pie tins - makes a moat around petfood bowl to keep the 6-legged beasties out. (used this one in Miami) But, what to use as a lid for a Fancy Feast can? The manufacturer sees it as a single serving. My cat sees it as three servings.... editted: Gah. Quik. not quick.

Candy corn, of course.

Frosting control is the question. I want to glaze cupcakes, using a stencil which I will remove to let the cupcake show thru. How do I keep the glaze from making an unholy mess of the cupcake paper/sides? Are there any cute little cupcake-collar tricks?

When they are tender and not too large, a crisp batter of milk and cornstarch works well w deep frying. As they get older and larger, it helps to part them out. The legs tend to be tough from all that running, jumping and climbing, and so work best w a slow braise.

cook em w the seeds in, and strain the seeds out before adding the sugar. Like making blackberry jelly.

A bit rubbery, yes that describes the meal well. It was chopped into small bits, in a sauce. You eat the ears, I'll eat the rest of the rabbit. Glad I could help.

Since my last post, chicken feet (locally)- I just cant get past the texture. The munchkin was ok w that but didnt like the sauce blood sausage 'lamb fries' in New Zealand Sweetbreads in LA squash blossoms (havent eaten too many kinds of flowers before) fresh rambutan (its exotic over here, anyway) Most of these arent wildly exotic, just not familiar to me.

Left-over, sat in the fridge a day or so, rice. Short, long, white, brown, whatever. a bit of sesame oil, smashed fermented blackbeans, soysauce (i like San J tamari), eggs scrambled in, bacon. Season w black pepper til its good and spicy. Carnitas works well in this, as do pretty much any left-over cooked vegetables. Finely chopped kale or steamed spinach are excellent additions up to a high % by volume. I fry in the veg before adding the egg. Basic recipe came from McCall's cookbook when I was a kid. Added the sesame oil and black beans later. Added the variety of meats, veg etc as I needed an easy meal and the fridge needed space made. Might try the vinegar on the side. Sounds interesting.

What is it you are afraid will happen to the knives? If they are ceramic, they have certainly been subjected to higher heat, and there is also little likelihood they will suffer chemical damage from the detergent. Careful placement within the silverware rack would minimize risk of edge chipping.

I'm toying with the idea of candying tiny grape tomatoes. Toying, because its a serious continuous time commitment and its seems unlikely I could see it all the way thru. It would be fun to dry and candy cross-ways slices of a larger tomato, such as an early girl. They are certainly sweet enough - they are too sweet for caprese, for example. Would be so pretty if it worked.

Agreed. I'm sort of sad to admit that no "from scratch" brownie I've ever put out has tasted better than these badboys. Try subbing in Kahlua or dark rum for the water, and see where that takes you. Oh sugar, I realllllllllllly wish you hadnt said that. Oh dearie me. Its a long time til I get off work today.