Porthos

We could use this counter for other things but it is just the right size for the large MW we have. A microwave has sat there since we moved in 30 years ago.

Pepper. No, the patio is not covered although the frame is still there. It used to have bender boards with gaps to provide some shade but the wind has damaged it. I need to repair it when I have available money. Propane is reasonably inexpensive. The bigger draw is that I already own all of these propane-powered items and I strongly prefer cooking with gas when I can. The reason I like my convection toaster oven is that I don't have to heat the house up as much compared to the convection oven on my kitchen range. The kitchen range oven costs less to operate but I don't want the extra heat load in the house right now. I had considered moving toaster oven out to the patio this afternoon to make baked mac'n'cheese but we may getting scattered thunder showers here and that rather makes using electricity outside a questionable proposition. As an aside I have another propane grill, an 1000-square-inch eight burner event grill that takes 2 propane tanks, put away in the garage. I never use that one at home, only for my ren faire cooking. I have always figured that if a major earthquake struck that took out the utilities I could put it out so that neighbors would have an option for cooking food they may have in their freezers.

I just accidentally blew away my response about caprese salad. Unfortunately my wife does not eat raw tomatoes.

Pictures of my patio setup. Remember that I've already said that the backyard is the domain of the dog and the weeds. My regular BBQ The main stove and sink setup: Our dog is the dumbest but sweetest thing. I think she would be willing to help a burglar break into the house if she had opposable thumbs. The Coleman stove for when I want less powerful burners: And the portable BBQ at the ready if I want it: Everything is powered by propane. I have many 20 lb propane cylinders between those I own and those I store for my ren faire guild kitchen (they belong to the guild). Since I've set this up the only thing I've done on the stove in my regular kitchen is making French omelets al a Julia Child. The burner is on for maybe 2 minutes. Now I have to figure out tonight's dinner. My DW has asked for meatless Mondays which is a challenge for a carnivore like me. I made a Navy Bean stew last week. Saturday night was make-you-own tacos with sort-of-chili-beans so chili is out. The black beans that I cooked yesterday are earmarked for some rice-and-bean patties my daughter wants to make. But rest assured whatever it is it will be prepared out on the patio.

Located, copied, edited and saved. I will want to try this when the weather cools off. We like to make lamb patties and bbq them to stuff into pita bread halves. Freshly-made pita bread sounds like a nice addition. I will most certainly have my wife make her home-made tzatziki for them.

Has anyone tried cooking barley in a PC? Comments on how it turned out?

I set up an outdoor kitchen on our patio this week and have been doing all of the cooking, except for veggies in the microwave, out there to keep from adding heat to this already very hot house. It is 91 degrees in the family room where I am typing this. I did the beans on the patio.

It looks like 30 and 30 might work for me. These beans will be bagged and frozen for future use. I think, at least for the moment, I have decided to hang on to the PC. Next up, but not today, will be pinto beans.

From a Rancho Gordo post earlier in this thread: "Deborah Madison suggests for beans: 20 minutes at high, unsoaked, slow release and then about 20 minutes in the open air." So while searching for a steamer insert the other day I happened across our pressure cooker that we have never used. I used on in my teens but I haven't been in my teens since before Nixon resigned. At first I thought I would donate it but then I decided that maybe it would be useful for beans. So I searched and found this thread. I am in the middle of my initial experiment as I type: one pound of black beans. I released the pressure after 20 minutes and tested the beans. Still more crunch than I expected. I have brought them back up to pressure and am going for an additional 10 minutes. If this works out I will probably stop being lazy and mostly using canned beans.

Kerry, you have my sympathy. This recipe is written in a manner that drives me crazy. The ingredients list has nothing to do with the order they will be used. I find this often on the internet and that is why I word process recipes and save them to disk. This is the order the ingredients should be listed (I removed quantities to avoid any copyright issues): x cup toasted shredded unsweetened coconut, divided x cup heavy cream x teaspoon pure vanilla extract x ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate x cups sugar x cup light corn syrup x cup water x tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces X teaspoon salt

Temperatures where I live in southern California have been hitting triple digits. Since I am unemployed with no form of revenue stream (fortunately my wife is still employed but her income doesn't begin to cover our expenses) I can't run the air conditioner much. Yesterday it was 107F outside and 93F in the kitchen. Who wants to add to that heat? Also I think that the frequent use of my convection toaster oven has been adding to the electric bill more that I care have to pay for. A couple of days ago I decided to do something I did several years ago. We have a large back yard which is the dog's and the weeds' domain. We do have a patio. Normally it only has an unused table, the regular propane BBQ and my wood-fired smoker. I rearranged things so I could bring out my free-standing Camp Chef camping stove (30k BTU burners) , a small chrome shelf for a landing space and brought out both the small propane BBQ we use for traveling and my old Coleman 3-burner camp stove since I can't get the flame low enough on the big stove for some things I cook. Yesterday I made a chicken pasta salad for dinner and realized I didn't have an easy way to drain the pasta. In the evening I remembered that we had an old camping kitchen-with-sink in the garage so today I brought that out, cleaned it up and added it to the setup. It is at the edge of the patio and I just place the drain hose on the sink to empty onto the dirt. This setup should get me through the summer. Food-wise I am having to think long and hard about cold or room temperature since one of my foibles is liking hot meals all the time. I don't do cold sandwiches for lunch as an example. For sides for meals I would like to add some cold bean dishes. My problem is that I most decidedly do not like vinaigrette dressings and similar tart-to-me dressings. I'm pretty much a creamy-stuff guy. If anyone could point me in the direction of bean dishes with creamy dressings I would appreciate it. I just got inspired to make potato salad to go with dinner tonight. Not exactly traditional with London broil done on the BBQ but it will be a cool side.

Ouch! Do you ever do just rhubarb? Way back in the day my mother, who successfully grew rhubarb, would very occassionalycut some up, cook it in a pan with some sugar and water, and serve it for dinner instead of a veggie. Yum time.

I assume this comment will be blocked as being off-topic but I want to say this. I cried the day Julia Child passed. I felt like I had lost a family member. I still use her cookbooks and, on occasion, will watch topic-specific TV segments on YouTube.

I worked with an electronics engineer who was open to help from anyone, from his peers to the janitor. I feel the same way about learning new techniques and tips in the kitchen. I am trying to watch the episode of Essential Pepin you mentioned and it keeps stalling out and taking me back to the start. I will wait for a while and try it again.

The last time I remember asking for a picture was at the Rose and Crown Pub in Epcot. They were not busy and very willing to accommodate. Last time in a regular restaurant, just don't remember. We rarely photograph food.

I found this an interesting read. My question is it valid and/or typical? http://themetapicture.com/people-kept-complaining-this-restaurant-sucked-look-what-they-found-out/

Your oatmeal raisin cookies look to die for!

You won't find Pain Perdu(sp) (lost bread) in France? Fascinating.

As I see it the OP's issue regarding cheese was not whether a particular cheese was imported from the country where first created or made locally in the style of the original. It was selling her a cheese not made in the style of brie. I fully get that Korbel is not from France. If I order a bottle of something that is supposed to made in the style of true champagne and that is delivered I am satisfied. If you bring me Cold Duck and you figure it has fizz and that's good enough I am going to be most unhappy. If I ask for an emmentaler cheese, not caring about the country of origin and you sell me muenster I am going to be unhappy. Yes, I know the OP brought in other items beyond cheese but cheese which was not the style indicated was the apparent causation for this thread to be started.

I did succeed in making some passable olive oil mayo once but I didn't care for the flavor difference. I and my DW are corn oil for mayo people.

We don't use nearly as much mayo as we used to. Back when we could use up a batch before it would go bad. Now our everyday mayo is Best Foods (Hellman's) but we do still make our own mayo for vacation and other special occasions. But for me - no dijon, I just don't like it. Around here we call it Grey Poop. I use good old prepared yellow mustard. About the Braided Chicken Pot Pie, I have decided to use the soup when I try it about 3 months from now. It will be 96F today. edited to add: When I started making mayo about 34 years ago I used a blender. Soon after that we got our KitchenAid stand mixer and I started using that instead.

Anna, thank you for the link. It is my habit to copy recipes and put them into a Word document, which I have just done. I have a particular way I like recipes formatted. I also can't stand recipes where the list of ingredients isn't in the order used so I fixed that. edited to add: since I don't like to dirty extra bowls and such I will be sorely tempted to mix the cheeses and soup in a bowl and then add the peas & carrots and the chicken.

I'm thinking I will make a basic white sauce to substitute for the soup.

I just bookmarked this page with the title "Braided Chicken Pot Pie." So going to make that after the weather cools off. Not using the oven these days because of the high summer temperatures here in the reclaimed desert that is much of southern California.

I believe that that is how panko break crumbs are made also.