Porthos

Thanks to all of you. We gave it the sniff test. No off odors, smells fine, looks fine. We do not take chances with questionable items but the commercial Rubbermaid container has a good seal and we feel good to go. We live near San Bernardino, CA and had many 100+ (F) days so it saw some heat but the container was not in the light. As an aside, however, I'm going to try my best to only have our normal level of supply left at the end of this season.

Last year my DW and I overbought on AP flour for our holiday baking. She unearthed this container last week that still had some of the flour in it. It does not appear to have bugs. Is it safe to use for this year's baking?

GlorifiedRice, how widely avaiable are the fuel canisters?

I'm in earthquake country so the cause of a disaster may be different but the need to be prepared remains the same. I have a propane BBQ on my patio and in the garage I have both a turkey fryer and a 3-burner propane stove (free-standing 30,000 BTU per burner) and my old Coleman table-top 3-burner stove. I have multiple 5 gallon propane tanks stored out on my patio to power them all. I also could drag out my 8-burner event grill if neighbors had meat defrosting that they needed a way of cooking up. Because of the Renaissance Faire kitchens my DW and I run (as volunteers) I have shelves full of pots, pans, hotel pans, bowls, whatever in the garage as well . The thing I do need ot store more of is water. 6 gallons for 2 people seems a little light. Anyway, I am a major believer in propane for emergency preparedness. Coleman and Camp Chef are my go-to brands. And don't forget to have one or two of the long-reach butane lighters for lighting the stoves, etc.

Anna, I used 2 tea bags of Bigelow's Constant Comment for the strong tea and I put the raisins into the tea as soon as the tea bags came out to help re-hydrate them. Both my DW and I enjoyed the results and we will be trying out different dried fruits very soon. Because of how we will be serving this next fall, needing to cut it into individual bite-size servings, we will be experimenting with differently shaped pans. And my DW, who is the very much better baker, wants to try dusting the bite-size pieces with powdered sugar. Thank you again for sharing this recipe.

I just found a NordicWare 8 x 4 loaf pan this morning in great shape for $1.50USD. The timing is just right. I needed a 8 x 4 loaf pan for the Tea Bread recipe Anna N posted in another thread last week. It's in the oven as I type.

2 weeks went by so quickly. Thanks for sharing your time there. And Anna, I finally get to try the Tea Bread recipe today. I'm going to try golden raisins for the fruit since I have some left over from something else.

I'm no scientist, and in general am not that worried about GMO, but something about Canola has always made me a bit shy to use it. My wife and my daughter do use it. For me it's olive oil or corn oil. EVOO when I'm looking to impart that specific flavor. Toasted sesame seed oil for that specific flavor. But no Canola. YRMV.

Regarding cocktail shakers: at the Los Angeles County Fair (and I assume other fairs) there is a tequilla stand that sells margeritas (sp?) in self-contained cocktail shaker/strainers that you take away with you. I'm surprized I've never seen one at any of the thrift shops I haunt.

Kerry and Anna, I appreciate your posts more than you will ever know. Thank you two for sharing.

Anna, thanks for the recipe. It's already been converted into a Word document (that's how I do all recipes) and saved to my hard disk. Just as soon as this 100+ degree weather breaks I will be giving it a try (I'm not turning the oven on for anything right now). Again, thanks.

Anna, if your willing to publish the tea bread recipe I have some vegan friends I'd like to serve it to.

I'm not a restaurant professional but need input from those who are. I have recently had a teenager who wants to go into the restaurant BOH for a living who has helped in a kitchen my wife and I run. It is an all-volunteer kitchen tied into a historical reenactment fair and we do a "catering style" meal to feed some of the reenactors. He shows potential and wants to return the next time we do this. My question has to do with one thing he did. He had his ears plugged into his iPOD a lot and it made getting his attention difficult at times. In a real working kitchen is being plugged into your music typically tolerated or not? If not, in the future I will want to have him leave the tunes for his down-time. Otherwise, I'll just let it go. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Thank you all for your input. I'll be passing it along tomorrow.

I've always had good luck with this one: Barley-Spelt Grain Salad Salad: 8 Oz Spelt 8 Oz Pearled Barley I small tomato, diced ½ cucumber, seeded and diced 1 can of olives, halved 1 Tbl minced fresh dill 8 Oz feta cheese ½ cup chopped fresh parsley ½ cup diced red onion Dressing: 1/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup cider vinegar 2 cloves garlic 2 Tbl coarsely chopped dill Salt and pepper to taste In a large Dutch oven or stock pot bring 4 quarts of lightly-salted water to a boil and add the spelt. Bring back to the boil and then reduce to a simmer and let simmer for 45 minutes. Add the barley, bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let simmer another 45 minutes, then remove from heat, drain and set aside to cool. When the grains have cooled to room temperature, place in a large bowl. Add the remainder of the salad ingredients and mix by bringing the spoon up from the bottom of the bowl until thoroughly mixed. Place all of the dressing ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour over the salad and mix in using the same technique used to mix the salad ingredients. Cover and place in the refrigerator. Serve cool or at room temperature. Whole wheat berries can be substituted for the spelt.

A friend of mine who cooks well and enjoys cooking for family and friends asked for my recommendation for new cookware. He's not looking for Mauviel and such. He's just ready to replace his 25 year-old stuff - heavy-gauge cast aluminum. I told him that I'm not much help because I tend to favor no-frills commercial cookware from restaurant supply houses. My main recommendation was to NOT buy a set but to find what he wants in open stock and buy the pieces he'll really use. He has a serious limitation. Bed, Bath and Beyond is the only store anywhere near him that has a selection of cookware. He lives in farming country and doesn't fancy trips away to look for new stuff. And he wants to be able to touch and handle pots and pans so the internet, which he does use, is not an option. All that being said, what brands of cookware at BB&B would you, my fellow egulleters, recommend he look at? My last purchase at BB&B was an Analon skillet for a gift and I think it was well received. As an aside, my guess is that he will buy 1 item per shopping trip to use those blessed 20% certificates that make things almost affordable there.

Just a side note: As someone who lives in the USA, sugar in any form in hot dogs is one of the main reasons I dislike hot dogs. (Texture is the other major one).

Tonight I will put appox 10 lbs of corned beef on a rack with 2 bottles of Guinness in the bottom. I use a turkey roaster in place of a traditional crock pot. Cooks at 235 degrees F for 7-8 hours. It will be part of a Renaissance Faire feast-style lunch tomorrow for my fellow guild members.

Sometimes I wish we had a "like" button also. I'll scream with you.

You're making me glad that I haven't gotten my DirectTV thingy fixed. Chopped was the last straw for me. Let see what's in the basket: Leeks, pork chops and gummy worms.

ScoopKW - do they do this at your particular place of employment? Just curious.

I'd love to know if there is science. Each spring I boil about 1800 eggs over an 11 week period and in the fall another 600 or so. Has to do with a Renaissance Faire group I cook for.

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm going to try salting to see if the cracked eggs appear to leak less.

The eggs I'm doing are for either: Direct eating and served with salt; Deviled eggs; or Egg salad that will be salted.

I dined at a restaurant in Anaheim about a month ago. They had no salt or pepper on the table. My steak was under-seasoned so I had to get a server's attention to bring me some salt. Curiously, my side of creamed spinach was over-salted, Addressing the topic - I don't need other people deciding what is right for me. I happen to have rather low blood pressure and should not be denied what salt I do want because someone who is not going to eat MY food may need to control their sodium intake. It reminds me of the move afoot to limit the size of drink cups in fast food establishments. I drink diet soda or iced tea so I'm not awash in calories when I order a large drink. Let others take personal responsibility for the amount of calories they are taking in.