Porthos
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Posts posted by Porthos
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Not EVOO (which to me is supposed to add flavor, not be neutral) but for a mild oil I can recommend Kirkland Olive oil in the 5 liter jugs. It is my everyday OO.
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Outside of steaming veggies we don't actually cook in our large Panasonic Inverter MW. It does, however, a superior job of defrosting meat and reheating items. I don't ever want to be without an inverter MW in the future.
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I've been pondering something that occurred a couple of months ago and find that I still feel mildly irritated so I want to bounce it off of my friends here at eGullet.
As most of you know, I supply the knives for my ren faire kitchens, and that includes supplying a "steel." This year I purchased a ceramic steel from EdgePro and am very happy with it; I feel it does a better job of finishing and keeping an edge. There is someone who I really appreciate who comes in after the feast is over to make soup out of the leftovers. The soup is put out after faire closes to give the reenactors something to eat to tide them over until they can get a proper dinner. I noticed a coarsely-grooved steel show up and, after commenting on it to my friend who is essentially my sous chef said that the soup maker had brought it because he wasn't keen on the ceramic steel. Since we are all volunteers and I am grateful for the soup maker coming in and preparing the soups I said nothing. However, it bothered me that he didn't even ask about using something different on my knives. I feel like I am being petty, yet this is the equipment I supply. Am I really that petty, or should he have shown me the courtesy of at least asking me about the hone or telling me he had brought another?
As an aside I work diligently to provide sharp, well maintained knives. Each time someone who comes into my kitchen who had been in the kitchens prior to my taking over they comment on how nice it it to have sharp knives.
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1 hour ago, Norm Matthews said:
Here are some pictures of our knives. I know I have too many. I seldom use most of them.
One can never be too rich, too skinny ... OR ... have too many knives.
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I started working on my list yesterday and I got started baking today, but it was a rocky beginning. I am trying Maida Heatter's Giant Ginger Cookies Recipe, EXCEPT, I am trying to make small cookies. The dough is exceptionally sticky. I couldn't make my disher work, then I foolishly tried putting it into a pastry bag. That was worse. I shoved the mixing bowl into the fridge, licked my wounds for a while, and then decided to get back on the horse by making a couple of our old standards. Chocolate Chip Cookies and White Chocolate Craisin Cookies. The several hours of time helped me to come up with a plan. I am going to treat them like the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies we make. Keep the dough chilled, make small round balls the get rolled in powdered sugar for easier handling, and bake. Based on the few cookies I did bake up I would not call them giant ginger cookies, I would call them molasses spice cookies, good tasting but no high note of ginger.
16 more to go before the 21st.
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Bought the sausage book. I wanted to get started on making my own sausages to come up with some that my DW would like. Most Costco/Supermarket sausages offering put for the corporate belief that people will only buy spicy or pepper-centric sausages.
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Tuesday was a good day for thrift shopping.
My youger daughter and her husband have moved into their own home. They arleady have most of what they need but there are still holes. My DD likes to use glass pans for baking (I mostly dislike glass in the kitchen) and she needed more real PYREX pans. I found a shallow 8 x 8, a 7 x 11, and a 9 x 13, all for around $10.00. A 10" non-stick saute' pan is my goto saute' pan and I have kept 2 hanging on my pot rack for years. I had to toss one recently. Since it is down to my DW and me, and because of her weight loss surgery fixing dinner is for 1 1/2 people, I was looking for one more small sauce pan. I really like my Vollrath PRO-HG cookware; it serves me well. I found an almost complete set of what I own in a Goodwill individually priced and was able to get the 10" saute' pan and the 2 qt sauce pan for $11.88. Not a steal, but very affordable.
I had already given her a knife block but she asked if I could find a larger block which would also include slots for steak knives. I found this for $4.49:
I hope to find this one for her in the future but this style only shows up around once a year.
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No sure which forum this should go in.
Costco has decided to break my snack-heart. Today I went to the food court to get my favorite snack, a Polish dog and a drink, and Costco has taken it off of the menu.
The worker said they still had hot dogs. Um, no thanks. Sadness has crept into my life.
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8 hours ago, rotuts said:
nice
Im wondering about the Fry's logo
I grew up in the SF bay area
quite some time ago
there was a Fry's with that same Logo and font if you will
it was a big electronic store
The electronics et al stores by that name in our area are Frye's. I wonder if corporate evolution comes into play.Apparently I can't read anymore. Sad because I have shopped there.
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On 11/26/2017 at 12:23 PM, Smithy said:
Do you know if it was wider than the typical 8' width of a vehicle? I don't see how it could have been, back then, but it makes me wonder given the spacious appearance.
What information I can find says it was 8' wide.
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On 11/18/2017 at 6:41 AM, weinoo said:
That is a beautiful wall of storage. Will your coffee station be in the counter in the middle?
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6 hours ago, rotuts said:
I enjoyed this link
and thought of this thread.
While doing a little research I found this link that appears to be the story of this particular trailer: 1953 Vagabond Trailer – Model 35.
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Great link. Thanks.
In the 50s that was a typical mobile home - when mobile homes weren't "manufactured housing" but meant to be moved when you wanted to pull up stakes and settle somewhere else. My dad had close friends that owned one of that size that I was in as a kid. They even had a spinet Hammond organ in it.
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@Smithy When I showed Kate the picture of your prime rib she said to tell you that our invitation must have gotten lost in the snail mail. It looks like it was wonderful.
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15 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:
Nope, the Albrecht brothers split things up many years ago over a dispute over the sale of cigarettes.
Appreciate the info. Thanks.
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It was 94 F here today. Notsupposed to have to run the air conditioner the day before Thanksgiving.
So happy to "ride along" with you as you enjoy your trek.
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15 hours ago, TicTac said:
As funny as it might seem, it is not a joke. It can remove oil stains, clean rust - heck, it will dissolve a nail if left in it for a day or two.
Yet people still drink the stuff!
Yup, we drink it. The carbonic acid flows down into the stomach, which already has acids in it. My esophagus is none the worse for wear after 50+ years of consuming the stuff.
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Just did a walk-through. Still not impressed.
Produce was a mish-mash of bruised, blemished, and first quality. They have a limited selection of apples and I would have been out of luck if I had done my shopping there earlier today. I needed Braeburns, something Aldi does not carry.
Milk prices for what I drink are comparable to where I normally shop. And since they only sell gallons it wouldn't matter. With it down to me as the only milk drinker in the house I am now buying 1/2 gallon jugs. I get my eggs for a lower price.
When I looked at their canned goods I felt like I was in a Big Lots, products with labels that are supposed to look like name brands. The snacks aisle didn't fare much better. I just kept noticing the lack of choices. I did not look at meat. We drink, mostly my DW, a lot of soda. Their selection was pathetic.
I didn't look at meat.
I live in a highly competitive grocery store market so as it stands Aldi still doesn't work for me. I am thinking that Aldis in different areas of the U.S. have significant differences such as the pricing on milk.
I already knew that Aldi and TJs have the same parent corporation. I still like TJs a lot.
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On 11/15/2017 at 3:05 PM, andiesenji said:
I have shopped at Winco, where one bags their own groceries and I can attest to the fact that it is a hell of a lot slower than at other stores where the checkers bag everything with customer's bags.
WinCo is my go-to store, 1 1/2 miles away. Within 3 miles or less I also have Raphls, Vons (Safeway), Stater Bros, Superior Grocers, Aldi and other markets close but WinCo beats the others on price most of the time. Their produce section is well-stocked and, except for root vegetables, are of good quality. Root veggies tend toward old so you have to check individual items to make sure your getting something that will be okay. I don't mind the self-bagging. They installed 6 self-checkout statoins and I use them 95% of the time. I probably shop there an average of 3-4 times a week, picking up 10-12 items. I buy a bit less than half of my meat there since I shop ads and Stater Bros puts various meats (which they are famous for) on good sales. Sausages and frozen chicken parts come from Costco.
The one down-side I can think of is that because of their very favorable pricing they tend to be the go-to store for people that need government assistance (and I am assigning no shame there) and so the first 10 days of the month there are many families filling carts to the brim, and that does take a lot of time for checkout. I work a bit harder during those days to be able to use the self-check. I jokingly call my self-f s self-check ninja because, since I use self-check when I can at any store I am very efficient.
As stated way up-thread I was very off-put by Aldi when I tried it when my local store opened a year and a half ago; that was before California enacted the "no more single-use plastic bags**" law. I suppose I should give it another try, better-armed now with knowledge of how they operate.
** A law that is not equally applied. Lowes and many others can still supply single-use bags to their customers.
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Bought Tasting Rome, reading Opa! The Healthy Greek Cookbook at the moment.
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16 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:
I'm 6' tall—I can reach everything with the exception of what's on one corner cabinet shelf.
A Rubbermaid step stool fits the bill.
They are great step-stools and we use them in other places in our home. We have a 2-step folding step-stool for the kitchen. At barely 5'7" along with with short arms I need the additional height of the 2-step.
Because of my decreasing mobility I foresee not being able to use the Rubbermaid in the not-too-distant future.
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I thought of a couple of things that I do.
Crouching down has become difficult for me. Finding things on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator is particular challenge. I started using baker's half sheets on the bottom shelf to act ike a poor man's slide-out shelf. They have the added advantage of being easily cleaned if meat juices and the like spill on them.
After a real "Duh!" moment I realized that I could use a measuring cup for the rinse aid for my dishwasher and pour it in without risking overflow. For my machine it's 3 ounces.
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15 minutes ago, blbst36 said:
I'll be honest - depending on what I am getting, there is a good chance I am just going to climb on the counters like I did when I was little. BUT, I also have one of these babies that I kick around the kitchen and use often.
I would not use it with it's 77 pound load rating. I weigh a great deal more.
Christmas Cookies Redux
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
We've worked on our list for this year. We need to add 4 or 5 more. My DW will make the springerle. She will also make the Russia Tea Cakes because I think they are an uninteresting waste of time cookie.
When the cookie baking first turned into enough for 35 tins and 2 platters my DW was doing most of the baking. Now that I am retired and a house husband I do most of the cookie making.
Oatmeal Raisin*
Wadleigh’s Chocolate Chip*
Shortbread (Fannie Farmer's recipe)
Cherry icebox
Brownies
Soft Ginger Cookies*
Chocolate Crinkle
Pferrernuesse
White Chocolate Chip Craisin*
Russian Tea Cakes
Bourbon balls
Budd’s Almond Cherry Chip
Springerle
* Already in the freezer.
The Maida Heatter Soft Ginger Cookies will not happen again. They are supposed to be a basic drop cookie. After chilling for 24 hours I was able to make one sheet of 24 using my drop-dough-in-powdered-sugar-then-make-a-ball technique but about half way through the second sheet the dough, which had been out of the refrigerator less than 15 minutes, got too sticky to work with. The cookies taste fine but are not a simple drop cookie.
Sourcing question. I have only found candied cherries in one store and at a price I didn't want to pay. The produce man at Vons said that they hadn't received any and my DW and I couldn't locate any at Stater Bros. Are they harder to come by this year?