lemniscate

When I was a kid, we bought homemade butter from a small dairy farm nearby. It was shaped in a big round clump and wrapped in foil. It was one of the best things I had ever tasted, the farmer used soured cream to make butter. I guess that's the more traditional butter, since you collected cream from your cows, stored it in the milkhouse for a few days until you had enough to make alot of butter. During the storage, the cream slightly soured. That tang is what is missing in commercial butter, I've yet to find even an artisnal butter that tastes like that. We would literally carve slices off the round and make butter sandwiches, it was that good. Has anyone tried to make homemade butter with soured cream? I don't think it was salted, since the slight sourness added so much flavor.

If you do a google search of "pyrex explodes" or "pyrex exploding" there's lots of hits. A theory is that the newer Pyrex is not made out of borosilicate glass anymore. I have had a newer Pyrex rectangular dish crack in half in the oven (it was a very new dish) but not reduced into shards. The old 60's/70's pyrex and fire king I inherited have never chipped, cracked or shattered in almost daily use. Just my gut, but I don't trust the new glassware now. I have never heard of expiring glassware before.

My cheapie Burton induction burner has temp settings, 140F being the lowest. I tested it at that setting with a pan with ~2 quarts of water and the water temp stabilized and held (+-2F) at 158F. I'm not sure how it's measures the temp, if you know the idiosyncrasies of the unit, it *might* work for certain types of SV. I haven't tried any type of SV yet.

I have a Burton 1800W single burner induction. I wouldn't dare put that much weight (water + stockpot) on it. The instructions state to put nothing heavier that 25 lbs. on it.

That looks like the Profiserie/Pro 1 line. Without seeing the bottom, you can tell by the handles, which look like they're made from an oval metal tube on the Profiserie pans.-- http://www.dvorsons.com/Sitram/Profiserie.htm On the Catering/Pro 2 pans, the handles look like they are made from a single sheet that has been curved so the cross-section would look like a "U." http://www.dvorsons.com/Sitram/SitramCookware.htm ← I think you are right, it's the Pro 1 line, the bottom just says Sitram-NSF-sitram france 24 E. Also, I need to correct that I have the Saucier, not the saute. I love my saucier.

I have a couple Sitram pieces I bought at the Costco Business that supplies restaurants. I don't know if it's pro or catering, it just says Sitram on the bottom. I cook on a ceramic top electric and have never had issues with burning around the edges of the disc. I use the saute almost daily, it's my favorite all around pot. I just thought it was a good pot for the money. Here's a link to what Costco Business sells in Sitram.

I just used Open Table for the first time this past week and was very impressed with the convenience/communication. I plan on using it again. I loved the fact that reservations emails were sent to the rest of my party (I asked them if I could provide their emails to Open Table before I finished the reservation as a courtesy in case they might have been concerned about future unwanted emails) so there was a hardcopy for everyone.

I dunno, I bought the Zojirushi IH rice cooker and would never go back to the on/off cooker. Totally agree on the Sitram, that stuff is great, and one of the Costcos in town sells it open stock, quite a deal.

Happy to oblige G! I think you meant the Queen Creek Olive Mill which is a bit of a drive to the extreme SE part of the Valley. If you go that far, you ab-so-lutely need to visit The Pork Shop for everything porcine. I highly recommend the ham and bacon. The best thing is the green chili burritos that they sell for about $4 each.

Wow. Mole in Phoenix is a tough one to find. Sonoran Mexican style rules here. I have heard Rancho de Tia Rosa has a mole dish on the menu. I'm not a mole lover so I can't judge if its good or not. We have Mexico City style food here at La Parrilla Suiza (The Swiss Grill). The serve grilled meats and chorizo on table grills. I LOVE their trio of salsas, the chicken soup, and the pork filet chuleta. The nopalitas dish is very good also. I also think their house margarita is one of the best around. It doesn't taste like lemon-lime koolaid like 99% of the margaritas made around here. There are 3 locations of La Parrilla, Mesa, Paradise Valley and Glendale. Glendale seems the best (it was the first one here) with Mesa being the next best choice. I have never really liked the PV one, the food just seems different there, not as good as Glendale or Mesa's. For a different Sonoran Mexican food adventure: Nogales Hot Dog and similar stores in the East Valley: Sonoran Dogs and Tortas

LeeLee in Chandler (Dobson and Warner) is the biggest that I know of in the East Valley. This would be my top recommendation for shopping. Ranch 99 is the chain from Cali, located in the Chinese Cultural Center at 44th St and the 202. Actually it looks like it changed names to Super Ranch L Market. There's a new Vietnamese market Mekong Plaza on Dobson between Main and Broadway in Mesa. I haven't been but my Vietnamese friends were pretty excited when it opened recently. All of these are sufficiently close to the freeways (101, 202, the US60) to get you to Scottsdale in no time. edited for grammar.

I used your exact recipe but I don't weigh, I measure. The dough was very tender. I struggled with the rolling because I didn't let it warm up enough, but learned for my next batch and didn't fight with it. I made strawberry filled with peanut butter glaze and almond-cinnamon with the peanut butter glaze and they.were.GREAT! I think the recipe works fine. Thanks for starting the thread and providing the recipe.

Chandler has a ton of chain restaurants. Hard to find locally owned fine dining, but it's there if you look hard enough. In Chandler, try Cyclo for Vietnamese inspired dining. San Tan Brewing sounds good (I have never been there, but word-of-mouth has been good) located in downtown Chandler. In Tempe, Vincitorio's for Italian. Also in Tempe, Classic Italian Pizza is very good, artisanal wood fired pizza. Scottsdale is pretty wide open. Lots of choices. I like Roaring Fork near Scottsdale Fashion Square. Angel Sweet Gelato in Chandler is good for a visit or two. Best gelato in the Valley. Lee's Sandwiches in Chandler is a good cheap bahn mi place. I like the sardine bahn mi especially.

"He found out I am gay and makes anti gay comments." That right there would have a high probability of getting walked out immediately in places I have worked. Does your business have a harassment-free workplace policy? Stuff like that is a legal liability to the employer.

When I first moved to the southwest and tried my first true salsa made with cilantro, I couldn't believe people would eat stuff that tasted like soap! But then, something weird happened, the soapiness l tasted tapered off, I'd say it took a couple years. I didn't actively seek out eating cilantro, it's in most restaurant table salsas here. Now, a couple decades later, I love it, I don't taste soap at all, I get the citrusy tang. I use it in salads, soups, and occasionally put a sprig in my lemonade. I guess it might be possible to out-grow the soapy reaction. Or our tastebuds might change, who knows? (bit of a thread-jack, sorry )

Uncommon Grounds was a good read.

I had tomato powder, beware it seizes up like concrete if open to even slightly humid air. I couldn't figure out how to store it. I live in Arizona and it turned into concrete in the jar I stored it in.

I love the freeze dried fruit in cans from Honeyville Farms. I've made pies and fruit desserts with them and loved it. We eat them out of hand like candy also.

I remember making my Dad's 7 & 7's Christmas Eve at Grandma's house, basement bar, early 70's. Huge Polish family, lots of libations. After a while, the adults were a little too "happy" to make their refills, so the kids were called in. I remember (I think I was about 6 or 7) him showing me on the glass where to fill for Seagram's, how far to go with the 7up and how many ice cubes. But I never, ever in my life saw my Dad drunk. All the uncles, aunts, and cousins, yep, but not Dad. Of course I would taste the 7 & 7 before serving. Probably why I don't touch whiskey today. Now, vodka and tequila are another story............

I was in SLC for business in January. I was not having a great visit but the highlight of my trip was an accidental right turn into the parking lot of the Wild Grape Bistro. Just east of downtown on Temple. Very comfortably hip place with what I thought was great food. I unfortunately was not in a foodie mood that night and played it safe with a local sourced lamb burger on focaccia and their cauliflower bisque. Had a glass of a nice pinot. The menu looks very nice, changes daily I'm told. Highly recommended by me. I believe it's quite new to the SLC restaurant scene. The Wild Grape Bistro website

I have half a bottle of Damiana left and just tasted it to remind myself what it's like. I don't get any orange flavor, it's more of a light honey mixed with tequila flavor. I have been struggling to use it in drinks, but it's just kind of a sweet taste, nothing out of the ordinary. The bottle is great, Goddess shaped; but I didn't find the licor anything special, nor do I remember any "special" effects after drinking.

My husband and I tried this in the coffee this morning (I read the ideas in food blog yesterday, heh). We found it did not add an appreciable improvement in flavor, maybe added a little weird flavor to it. We won't be doing salt in coffee again. I'd be interested if someone did a blind taste test with this. I knew the salt had been added and that could have affected my expectations.

We always shot the big ones, but I really don't know how the sucklings were slaughtered. We never ate suckling pig, but sold them. Mostly Italian families bought them and took them away live. My Deputy Sheriff uncle always wanted to shoot the pigs. He was stationed at a Courthouse (60's and 70's) and pig killing season was the only time he ever got to draw his service revolver. We nicknamed him Barney Fife, which he really didn't care for. In fact, my father would hand him the ceremonial first bullet out of his shirt pocket.

My local Costco has been carrying these lately and they are very good. Kind of a crackery-chip consistency, nicely salted and a really good pistachio flavor. True North Pistachio Chips <click blue words for chip homepage>

I've had my Big Berkey for 4 years now and LOVE it. The Brita is just nothing compared to a Berkey. Phoenix tap water gets murky/smelly during the summer months (I think it's algae residue from the canals maybe that just doesn't get worked out by the municipal treatment). When I was in Tasmania, one museum there actually had a colonial sand-filter Berkey. I was excited to take a picture of it, my husband just rolled his eyes. He thinks I am unnaturally attached to the Berkey. But he does admit the water out of it is the best for coffee and tea. I don't understand California's ban on Berkeys either.