[Hospital Food]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

They are gaslighting me!

 

I left the hospital the ad hoc supply of breakfast as they had never screwed that up. Every morning they brought rather good 肉包 - pork buns. 

 

This morning they were running late and the doctors were getting impatient as they like us to have eaten before taking medication.

 

Finally someone rushed in with my Bao breakfast. Sadly this had metamorphosed into jiaozi dumplings.

 

Then came the evidence of gaslighting. The damn things were full  of c@rn!!!

 

Twenty minutes later, the buns turned up. They didn't gave the nerve to charge me!

Beware the wrath of @liuzhou when given c@rn!!

[What time do you eat dinner/supper?]

We aim for between 5pm and 7pm, nearer seven in summer, nearer 5 in winter. The cat demands his dinner at 5pm (but absolutely no later than 6pm), followed by treats before 7pm.
Hmm… who’s actually in charge here…😹

[What is your favorite "go-to recipe" for a quick meal when you are pressed for time or just don't feel like cooking?]

10 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Thanks to the magic of the mai tai I had the endurance to choose fresh arctic char.  Good it was.  And tonight's French fries were really deep fried, not oven baked.  (Plus I managed not to burn myself.)  However I am exhausted.

 

I didn’t even see the “Yoda-ish” tone to my reply until I read your response.🤣 Real deep fried fries with no burns? You had a very good night and dinner. Sleep well, you’ve earned it!

[What is your favorite "go-to recipe" for a quick meal when you are pressed for time or just don't feel like cooking?]

35 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

This may be another of those nights.  I am not a morning person by any means but once every four weeks I must work an early shift.  This means leaving my bed and home in the morning cold at 8:00 am, setting off on foot, only to arrive at the library dehydrated in the heat an hour later.

 

Last night I splurged on an amazon Whole Foods order, delivered this afternoon.  My pantry is now overwhelmed with dinner options.  What is a Piel De Sapo melon anyhow?  And don't enquire about the ice cream.  (Hint, McConnel's was on sale.)

 

What I should cook first is the lovely fresh arctic char.  Now that I've had most of a mai tai I am feeling more than a little better.  Maybe I can do it!  I have sufficient coleslaw remaining from two nights ago.  The alternative is frozen cod.  Good as it is, one must resist.

 

 

Fresh fish wins over frozen, and I’m not a fish eater. Sounds like you have many options. Choose wisely. 😇

[Diamond Crystal salt changes]

I think you bought the Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher Salt. See this page. The regular version is sold in 3 lb, and 26 oz boxes. The fine comes in a 4 lb box.

[Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)]

1 minute ago, Cyberider said:

Looks like mine from the 1970's which is still going strong. 

The plug makes me think ’70s might be more accurate. I don’t remember when the switch to the polarized flanged plugs 🔌 occurred.

[Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)]

My recent under $5 rice cooker find. It just cooks rice, no keep warm, no tunes, no ding at the end of the cycle, no non stick coating. The cord had been undone for testing at the thrift I got it from, but as soon as I cut the zip tie it was apparent that it had never been unwrapped. My research indicates it is probably an early 1980’s model. It had one of the vinyl clings “Automatic Rice Cooker” still with it, but I think the cat snagged that while I was getting it cleaned up. Works perfectly, replaced the peeling non stick Aroma we had been using.

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

1 hour ago, Captain said:

How can I find this please Ann.

Not Ann_T but here’s the link. Be sure to look around on the blog, she’s got tons of good things on it.

[Food in the time of a pandemic]

3 hours ago, kayb said:

I did forget the jalapeños, probably because I don’t like them. 

Sounds like my method. “Did it say that jalapeños were supposed to be part of it? I guess I missed that. Sorry!”

[No! No! No! Stop it! The bad ideas topic!]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

No comment.

 

Quite certainly “Laxative Mayonnaise” with the pectin, 2 teaspoons of mustard, not to mention the 1 quart of mineral oil! Just the thought of it has me twitchy about TP on hand. 🤣

[I will never again . . . (Part 4)]

4 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

You've got it! I'm trying to creatively use up all that extra stuff I've got in the pantry. Does anybody have some creative recipes for spaghetti?

Turn spaghetti into ramen from Serious Eats.

[Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets]

The first US site I happened upon $3.50 US

Even the Canadian price is much more in line with what I expected.

[Kitchen appliances that are noisy: do you use/need hearing protection?]

4 hours ago, Annie_H said:

I should contact them and ask why they list it when it is no longer available. 

It is listed as “discontinued”. 

[Kitchen appliances that are noisy: do you use/need hearing protection?]

49 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

My Blendtec has a sound reduction enclosure, which helps.  When I was an undergraduate we were purchasing a new homogenizer for the lab.  When we had a demonstration from the company, someone remarked the device made a lot of noise.  The salesman replied "Noise?  I don't hear any noise?"  He was smiling as he said it.

 

To him, the sweet sound of a sale. 

[I will never again . . . (Part 4)]

1 hour ago, haresfur said:

I will never again buy an Asko oven because it will often throw an err 06 code and stop working after a power failure. This has something to do with the self-cleaning interlock and requires a repair person to come out and poke at it with a screw driver while reciting magic incantations. I'll try to watch more closely this time. It required multiple calls to the store we bought it from, to Asko, and to the repair company to get them scheduled to come out and I'm not happy about going 2 weeks without an oven because of a power glitch.

 

Aside from that and some stupid design of the controls, it's a nice oven and holds temperature spectacularly well.

I’m not implying anything about your skills or assuming you haven’t already tried this. But, have you tried turning off power to the oven with the breaker/fuse for a few (5 or so) minutes? Often when “they” are restoring power there are several quick on/off cycles that mess with the electronic appliance’s boards, a clean “off, wait a few, minutes, on” cycle can reset them.

[Supermarket Hot Dogs]

6 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

My mom was an old school microbiologist and I don’t think she trusted that pre-cooked business so she treated hot dogs the same as breakfast sausages. Obviously no need to do it that way if something else works better for you. 

My mom wasn’t a microbiologist or anywhere close to being one, but hot dogs were not to be eaten unless they were cooked, “pre-cooked” wasn’t relevant.

[Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)]

1 minute ago, chileheadmike said:

Mystery solved. IO error.

 

It somehow got set to low pressure. I've never changed that setting, it's always been set to high. Not sure how that happened. Apparently, it matters. 

Hurrah! Unfortunately it does make a bit of a difference in your final results.🤣

[Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)]

41 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

If I have an issue with an IP recipe that has previously worked well, I clean it thoroughly, replace the sealing ring with a new one and try again. Hasn’t failed me yet. 
You could just reseat the existing ring after cleaning but if I have a new one on hand, I’ll try that first and give the old one a second chance later. 

Also, be sure to remove and clean the float valve (the little pin that pops up when it comes up to pressure). The one time I had a problem it was some invisible bit of schmutz in that part. I took the gasket out and cleaned it, took the float valve out, q-tipped the hole and the pin (nothing visible came out or off), and reassembled. Problem solved.

[Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)]

10 minutes ago, chileheadmike said:

I did eggs in the IP today. Four large eggs. Six minutes with natural release.

 

These things were raw. The whites were not set and the yolks were hadn't even thought about setting. Defective eggs? 

Did it actually come up to pressure? I can’t imagine how they would be that uncooked if everything was working properly.

[I will never again . . . (Part 4)]

Blessedly cool here in the desert too, topped out in the very low 80s F. Currently 67 and dropping. 🥳

[Cooking with an Air Fryer]

51 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

While I totally agree with your general concept, I have never dirtied a pan boiling eggs; simply removed eggs, emptied boiling water into the sink and upturned the pan to air dry.    No washing involved.    How does your method vary?

Lucky you. Our water has become high enough in lime/calcium that we have to put a slug of vinegar in the pan after boiling water. I buy white vinegar by the gallon.

[The Great Sriracha Disasta 2022]

Fully stocked (front to back & stacked where possible) in Yucca Valley, and this is the store that gets a lot of the Joshua Tree National Park visitors on supply runs.

[Gotten any fun stuff lately?]

43 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Annie_H 

 

which ones did you get ?  the same as the Vid ?

 

I throughly enjoyed the video

 

I think Ive seen the ' host ' in the past , but made no

 

bookmark .  big mistake .

 

anyone know his YT ref ?   love to watch some more

 

many thanks

He’s Alex, here’s a link to his YouTube page.

[Current sales, deals, and bargains (Part 2)]

5 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Gripstic has 25% off everything today only with the code DEALDAYS

I quite like these big handles for big bags of cat litter, pet food or garden stuff.  Rather overpriced for bits of plastic but they work well and are awfully handy - they seal the bags securely and make them very easy to haul around.

 

Here’s your enabler gold star ⭐️. Got one set each of the purple, orange, and green. I couldn’t see where I would use the smaller or larger sizes.

[The Air Fryer topic]

@Anna NI used your time/temp/pan recommendations for some Johnsonville bratwurst last night in the Cosori. They were perfect! I’ve done them many times before, but never at that low a temperature, and not in a pan. Loved the easy cleanup (no dishwasher here).