Heidi the Pilgrim

Unfortunately that didn't work, I just ended up with thinner, 'chunky jelly' soup.

It's been a long time since I was here...life and all. Yes, this is a burning question, for the simple reason that I am sick, with the bubonic plague or something, and I am going to my freezer for my favorite remedy, hot and sour soup from my local Chinese restaurant. With the last batch I defrosted, I noticed it was chunky when reheated, it never did break down and smooth out which I attribute to the arrowroot probably used to thicken it. I did search and found many articles on arrowroot as a thickener but nothing about reheating it. Is there anything I can do to smooth this soup out again, or will I have to suffer with the somewhat rough texture in favor of it's medicinal properties (which are fantastic and should be documented...)? If they delivered I'd order it fresh...but.... Thanks for any help...*coughcough*

I planted 14 different kinds of tomatoes this year, most of them small pear and cherry, so I was overrun as well. Thankfully they've slowed a bit but when they were at their peak, I actually made and canned salsa, which tastes pretty darn good. Follow a proven canning recipe to make sure you get the right acidity. I also made Martha Stewart's Tomato Cobbler, not having gruyere I used cheddar in the pate brise recipe - it was to die for, it's one of my late summer favorites. Mixed Tomato Cobbler

My first thought when I heard the report was "Oh no, not again with something that causes cancer", and when I heard what it was I said to myself, 'well they should quit injecting it with all sorts of crap and hormones". I think, as it always does, it boils down to "moderation". If you eat fatty red meat four or five days a week, you've probably got bigger problems than a risk of cancer, you've probably got a weight problem, high cholesterol and heart disease too. So what else were these women eating? Were they eating plenty of fiber, lots of fresh veg? Or is it one lopsided "finding" that really doesn't mean anything to most normal people with a healthy diet?

What great recipes in this thread. I always thought the next time I need to bake something for a bake sale, I'd make Ina Garten's coconut cupcakes. I made them for a baby shower once and they were the hit of the day, they're absolutely beautiful to look at and they taste fantastic. You could bake them in silver foil muffin cups for some fancy flash, and put them in individual cello bags (get them at party stores, themed if you want). Tie them with ribbon or sparkly silver twist ties- pretty and they won't get crushed if you transport them in a tray. Recipe is here:Ina Garten's coconut cupcakes

Oh Lord..I hadn't even thought of that...we were worried about her smoking in bed. We are trying to get her out...actually, we are kind of hoping she will die, but people like that don't, you know. They live for years torturing everyone around them. ←

Heaven help you if she's on oxygen and is still smoking....I've seen people nearly burn themselves to death by smoking while on oxygen. Hello...those warnings on the bottle???? I don't suppose you have any recourse with getting her to leave?

Nope, haven't tried those, our weather can be so dodgy in the spring that I don't bother to plant anything early (except peas and sweet peas), I start all my tomatoes myself and I would be seriously cheesed off if they got whacked in an early frost. I think they take up too much space for my little postage stamp - I use the spiral tomato stakes about a foot apart, I think I crammed 14 of them in this year, with a couple of small cages for the pear tomatoes. ETA...Green Zebras are ripe today - so sweet..... My landlords had a three-bin composter, they'd turn it every year, and what they got out of it was nice but it was not enough to be bothered with the turning. IMO they never 'fed' it or watered it properly so they didn't get out of it what they could have. Now we just grow tomatoes in it, they self sow there anyway and they're the nicest ones on the property. I do miss the compost though, hate having fruit waste in my house because of the fruit flies!

Most of mine are producing like crazy, the ones I worry about are the "Striped German" heirlooms, the few I have are just barely half the size they need to be and still dead green, they're really just starting to bloom now - is that late or what? Big advantage of your tire method is also that you can plant them plenty deep for a better head start. I don't have room for tires, though! I tried something new this year, the red mulch that's supposed to heat the soil and increase production. My tomatoes are better than they have ever been, so I will probably do that again. I don't dare plant anything out here till Memorial Day weekend, but I put the mulch down a week or two before, by then the soil was good and warm and I planted them all with a bulb planter so they went in fairly deep. Even with all the horrible cold rain we had, they survived and thrived.

Currants are about half the size or smaller than cherry tomatoes. I somehow got some orange currant seeds this year - they were supposed to be Sungold, and all the other Sungolds are of normal size, but one plant is tiny currant-size orange tomatoes - delicious nonetheless though!

What excellent advice - what is the significance of downward pointing foliage? I usually trim off some extra leaves to thin things out a bit and let the sun in, but I don't know what downward pointing foliage means. I think we may have a few more weeks of ripening here Zone 5, with any luck they'll keep going right until the end of September, but that first frost can come at any time. It's New England, after all....

Specialty Bottle also has these tins, which I like much better because they're square, not round little space-wasters: Square glass-topped tins I've been looking for a solution too, I have a cascade of plastic bags everytime I open the cabinet. I like the tin boxes with the watch cases but the square ones really appeal to me. .68 and .88 a piece, not bad. ETA....Yeah, what JohnL said...

An update on the home Cuisinart model. I made pistachio ice cream using a custard base, and it froze beautifully this time. Tastes divine, despite the fact that I effed up the nuts totally, I ended up shelling my own while the ice cream was freezing and it worked out fine. Not sure what the difference was, whether it was yogurt that didn't work or the canister wasn't frozen enough, but this time I was pleased.

Alrighty then thanks for the tips - my bowl has been in the freezer for a week, but I just turned the freezer up anyway. I just made a custard base for pistachio, with eggs, (now you tell me, down there!) and it's going to be in the fridge for about 12 hours. I have to say, the base is smooth and delicious, with a hint of almond extract. Can't wait to see if this batch turns out any better.

That's the Cuisinart I have - and I just found the review on line, the one they used was a "Professional" model, not the common home one that I bought. Dern. If the recipe fails this weekend, the Cuisinart is going back.