KarenSherwood

Corelle will break or chip eventually, but it takes a lot of abuse. I've had the basic white set for about 15 years, my Mom has had the ones with the little green flowers for over 20. Once in a while I'll see a chip on the side of a plate. I made the mistake of putting one on a not-cooled-down burner a few years ago and had a spectacular explosion of razor sharp slivers. It's a good idea to give them a looking-over when you take them out of the dishwasher (or off the dish rack). The beauty is, they're cheap, you can find them in open stock (find a Corning or Revere outlet store, they'll be there), and if something actually sticks to the surface you can hit it with a scrubbie without damaging it.

I'm new here and after browsing 4 pages, I couldn't help myself, I just had to mouth off. DH and I are serious cheese-heads (I've corrupted him well). I've loved British cheeses for years, my favorites are Huntsman and Cotswold. I also love Wensleydale cheese, but most of what I've been getting lately has been US-made. We recently discovered Spanish cheeses. Oh my! Manchego is our new all-time favorite. It's lovely grated on salads, Caesar-style, or thin-sliced in an omelette, or just munched on by itself or with crackers or good bread. Then there's Cabrales, a Spanish blue (intense and amazing), Iberico, and Drunken Goat (too fun!). Our other recent favorite is Cambozola....what could be better than a creamy camembert married with a mild blue???? I have a recipe to share, one of our 'not dieting tonight' family favorites. NOT for the faint of waistline! This serves 4 with leftovers if you can actually behave yourselves. 5-6 red skin potatoes, boiled until soft 1/4 lb Huntsman cheese, roughly cubed 1 cup light cream or half & half 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg Smoosh potatoes (with skins) until slightly creamy. Stir in cheese, cream and nutmeg. Scoop into baking dish (I use a glass souffle dish). Dot with butter and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes, until top is lightly browned and cheese is melted. Terrific served with roast beef or pork tenderloin.

I always crave beef...juicy, hot, salty dripping steaks or roasts. Fluid replacement???

I'm only a home cook, but my grandma taught me NOT to press the solids because she felt that the tiny bits of meat/fat would make the stock cloudy and "gunky." (Also, boiling was a no-no for the same reasons.) Over the years I've read both opinions and tried it both ways. My conclusion was not to press because every time I have, I get an opaque murk. The fine solids will settle to the bottom of a container when chilled, but the least disturbance sends them floating around again. The other thing I've noticed is that even with a serious chilling and defatting, any sauces I've tried to make came out somewhat gelatinous as they'd start to cool. With a nice clear stock that's never happened. So, if we're allowed, I vote for gentle draining and no pressing. Oh, I made a soup today...we had The Turkey Dinner last weekend because my niece was visiting. I had a turkey breast which I trimmed closely and saved some nice pieces of white meat. The carcass went into the pot this afternoon, simmered with spring water, shallots, carrots, carrot greens, a few allspice berries, bay leaf and whole coriander. I strained it after 4 hours, then added wild rice (Lundberg's gourmet mix, rinsed) and fresh carrots, cooked that for 30 minutes, then added the reserved white meat. Even with the rice, the broth remained quite clear, and was a tasty dinner with cheese biscuits and a salad.

I'm so glad I found this, it may be the only place where someone might actually appreciate my garden monster. This is an Armenian Ivory cucumber, courtesy of seeds from Cook's Garden. I planted two innocent-looking vines which proceeded to conquer an entire 4x12 foot bed, strangling everything in their paths except for a purple sage. These buggers go from a simple pear-shaped fruit in one day to this obscene monster two days later. My kiddo swears I'm growing weapons in the backyard. Oh, and that's a normal 7-8" bunch of bananas for comparison.

DH and I treated my niece (from San Fran) to Richardson's brunch last weekend. It was excellent! That's one of our favorite dinner spots, but this was our first brunch....first of many more to come.

I'm nervous, this is my first eGullet post! I grew up in Central PA, and lived in Philly for 15 years before moving to AZ 5 years ago. I still visit my Mom twice a year, and I'm anxiously anticipating my next trip to the Homeland for Xmas. I highly recommend S. Clyde Weaver of Lancaster County for delicious country-style smoked ham (bone-in or not). Here's their website: http://www.sclydeweaver.com/home.html Click on Locations and you'll find all the farmer's markets they serve with times and days. They're at the farmer's market in Wayne (cool, I thought that had closed!), or it's well worth the drive to their Lancaster or East Petersburg stores to score a ham (and maybe some sharp cheese to nibble on while the ham is cooking). My Mom actually had a ham mailed to me out here in the desert for Thanksgiving! It's going to be a looong week looking at that baby in the fridge and knowing I have to wait til Thursday. Hope this helps!