Porthos

Are you taking the ferry or driving through Sudbury?

The timing of this trip prompts a somewhat unrelated question. Has your annual summer trip to Manitoulin to work at the clinic been delayed or are you not going this year?

@Toliver I can't remember if you listed Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era Kindle Edition by Janet Macdonald  $1.99 but I'm getting ready to travel and I thought it looked like a good read while on the plane.

As am I. @ElsieD I'm enjoying following along. Thanks for posting about your trip.

And then there are those of for whom a birthday cake is meh but a birthday pie or cheesecake - now you're talking. Pies are purchased, cheesecake is home made by my DW, the baker in the family.

They must have stopped doing the Hardee's " made from scratch" biscuits because they were available for several years. To me, made from scratch implies measuring out all of the ingredients by hand for each batch and I seriously doubt they went that far. The biscuits weren't bad.

Founder Carl Kartcher was forced completely out of management about the time that Carl's Jr ads were transitioning from wholesome-family to sex-sells and my DW (born and raised about 4 miles from the Carl's Jr flagship store and headquarters) and I just shook our heads. Carl's had been our go-to burger place since before our marriage but slowly lost out to Jack in the Box. At this point we no longer have a go-to. Here in suburban Southern California there are simply way too many options for fast food to pick one go-to any more. And for me personally, decades later I still mourn Carl's Jr taking the California Roast Beef Sandwich off the menu ... 😧 Just for fun I'm going to see how many options easily come to mind: Carl's Jr Jack in the Box InAndOut Burger King McDonald's Wendy's Farmer Boys Subway Miguel's Jr Del Taco Taco Bell El Pollo Loco Everything on this list is within 5 miles of my home, most with more than one store within that radius.

Am I perhaps missing something? It seems like for the most part that the Amazon daily deals have been the same cookbooks for maybe a week now.

Amen.!

I have to ask. Does he have a basis for comparison?

I found these beautful Brussels Sprouts at the Claremont Farmer's Market yesterday morning.

I will never again make Alfredo sauce (pasta water, butter, parmesan) and leave it sitting to clean the next day in my Demeyere pan. Dried glue that needed a lot of effort to clean up. My bad for leaving it. And the whisk, it's a mess. I may opt for a non-stick pan in the future. Or adding butter first, then pasta water, then parm to allow the butter to coat the pan.

A few months ago i picked up a Dexter-Russel 6" utility knife for probably a buck. I finally had the time this week to put a new edge on it. I won't say it was very worn, but I had to go down to the EdgePro 120 grit stone to remove enough metal to eliminate the nicks and get it to the angle I prefer (18/18). Now I have another useful knife for my ren faire arsenal.

You mean way back when when there were no Honey Nut Cheerios and you had to sprinkle sugar on them yourself?

I didn't express myself very well. The cans and bottles stored in bags is to keep them contained before I take them to a local recycler to get, more or less, the cash value back, the nickel a can and ten cents a bottle I have to fork over when buying the soda and beer. At the recycler I dump the cans and bottles into barrels on wheels and put the bags I used back into my vehicle to be used again.

I found (and bought) this one this morning on Amazon's kindle books. A History of the World in 6 Glasses Kindle Edition by Tom Standage $1.99 It's an NY times Best Seller. Also saw this: The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones Kindle Edition by Anthony Bourdain $1.99. USA pricing, I'm NOT a prime member.

An honest thank you for reminding me why I happily live without cable or broadcast TV.

I will need to try some recipes but this quote from the introduction caught my eye: "Whether you use a countertop mini pie maker appliance** or bake your pies in muffin tins or small pie plates, you may need to experiment with amounts of filling and baking times to get the pies just right. The recipes in this book are geared for four mini pies made in a standard mini pie maker appliance or four pies made in a standard muffin tin." Gehring, Abigail R.. The Magic of Mini Pies: Sweet and Savory Miniature Pies and Tarts . Skyhorse Publishing. Kindle Edition. I didn't even know a countertop mini pie making appliance existed. I will use my oven and pans I own when I do try a recipe. Based upon some of the pictures in the book I will most likely use a jumbo muffins pan. It seems more in line with the size of what the specialty appliance produces. ** (Asterisks added ) I need another kitchen appliance like I need ulcers.

@Toliver Thanks for the heads-up. I sent the link to my daughter in Georgia.

I re-use large trash can bags. Most of our recycle goes to the curb in the blue recycle barrels. I keep aluminum cans and California CRV plastic bottles and recycle those for my "booze slush fund." I store up those items, until I have $20+ dollars worth to turn in, in the large trash bags.

@kayb. I caved. Mini pies won.

@boilsover First use observations. I made a simple weeknight meal, coined sausage in caramelized onion and half & Half over penne ragate pasta. There will be a learning curve for regulating the heat. I almost burned the onions, However, reducing the half and half was very easy to keep control of. Two things did impress me. First, the 2-layer lid really does stay cool. Being able to grab the lid handle without a pot holder was nice. Second, it cleaned up very easily, needing a little bar keepers friend because of the long caramelization time and me getting used to regulating the heat. eta Besides the lid handle being cool, the design of the pan handle keeps it much cooler than most pan handles. I think I'm going to enjoy this pan.

My DW chose other things for my anniversary gifts. However, I was given 2 gift cards as a thank you for my years in the Southern ren faire kitchen with the instruction to buy something I wouldn't normally buy for myself. Tomorrow morning I will be picking up a Demeyere 3 quart Silver 7 sautee pan. Definitely not something I would buy for myself.

aw, com'on. You know you want to. (ducks and runs, yelling over my shoulder, "that one is also calling to me."

I was in a Costco Business Center this morning and for giggles I was looking at commercial refrigerators and freezers. Across the different brands the price placard had a bullet point that stated "Warranty void for home use." My only guess is that, I believe, commercial kitchens have individual dedicated circuits for the fridges, freezers, and such.