pax

It took me a few days to get this off my camera but here was my first try. After the first batch I just started poking a hole and stretching it out rather than trying to keep the ends together. This is the first time I ever posted a picture. I hope it works.

I failed Pastry Cream 101 over and over. Could not get it. Had to go to Bird's (the tinned powder). Finally, finally, found a recipe that worked for me...the pastry cream one in the essentials section of Dorie Greenspan's "From My Home to Yours". I was able to throw out the Bird's! Yay!

AND?

I made bagels yesterday afternoon using the the recipe mentioned above and was shocked that my first adventure into bagel making was so delicious and easy. They were golden and crusty AND chewy. The ones we didn't consume like wolves last night were soft this morning but crisped up nicely in the toaster. I put nothing on them, no wash, no nothing, except I sprinkled some sea salt on a few of them just as they came out of the boiling pot. These were lovely, but plain was good too. Next time I'll experiement with toppings but I don't think I'll bother looking for another bagel recipe for a while, this one worked really well. ETA: I used turbinado sugar in the water. No malt on hand.

Erm. He wasn't giving his customers flatwear? Ok, back to Two Guys...I can live with the idea my food is not sterile. However, I deliberately choose to eat in either clean cheap places I can see the kitchen, or spend the money for a place where I think the staff is trained properly. My real issue with Two Guys and the double dipping is they are cooking to CATER which means that food is not being by their intimates, like family, immediately, the food needs to be held. With spit in it? Hmm. Yeah, sorry, I think they need to be held to a higher standard. But truly, what killed it for me was the annoying carping andd oneupmanship on the part of the guys. One of the things I absolutely LOVE about Ace of Cakes, for example, is that those people are almost unfailingly kind and respectful to each other, they show you the process, they make a beautiful finished product they are obviously enthused over, they think outside the box. There's a show I like my kids to watch.

My husband insists that there is something that happens in the ultra-pasteurization that makes him itch when he drinks it, so I know where to buy the u-u-p stuff in every town around. Such a pain, it is. And I have no idea whether it might be true, or not, because he is such a Professor Flubber, I can't get him to keep a food diary. "Yes, lunch." Long silence. "I think I ate lunch, yes... mmhhhmm....lunch." And then he wanders away again. We are moving to NH soon and he wants to add a small Jersey cow to the livestock we already have. He is in for a shock. I don't do cow.

Well, you made me curious, so I googled. The Bumble Bee tuna people sell tham tinned. Amazon had these All Natural Baby Clams

I've had good luck with bringing it to room temp, rub in seasonings, then slow, dry roasting it at 225F in a tightly covered Dutch oven. When it hits 120 I pull it, and let it sit in the Dutch oven with the lid loosely on, and cook off bisquits or roast veg in the hot oven. Then I switch to convection roast, raise the temp to 450F, uncover, baste in juices and pop back in the oven til the outside is crusty, about ten minutes. I do the au jus as it's resting/being carved. It's pink on the inside, crusty yummy on the outside, and I haven't messed it up yet, which is the real bonus. I hit on this because I was sick of trying to sear the outside on the stove top before cooking, and the au jus and texture I get when I sear at the end is better. There's probably some good reason I shouldn't do this and if someone wants to tell me, I'll read it. Maybe through my fingers, wincing, but I'll read it.

You've gotten great suggestions, I will just add one hint: no nuts. They are tough on those who wear false teeth. Same thing with gummy jam thumbprint type stuff. (Although I am sure your's are not gummy, I've seen lots that are.)

I can't be the only person who does this: Stand in front of the freezer section of the health food store, gazing longingly at frozen fries, and trying not to acknowledge the bag of organic spuds at 1/4 of the price, in my shopping trolley? I don't know why but for some reason I just get stuck right there. I'd love to use frozen chips but for some reason my lapsed catholic guilt kicks in upon my tree huggin' soul over this exact issue. You think it's just the taters working the Irish in me?

We had quite a few electrical outages last weekend and I was not surprised when my oven panel went blank. I bewailed and moaned when I couldn't get my kid's class holiday party's gingerbread men done, and after that I just gave up and went to the bakery. Following the Great Gingerbread Man Debacle, for which I am sure I wll be banned from the Crunchy Organic Mommy's Club, I just totally gave up the idea of cooking dinner for my family, announced we were having spaghetti, and was feeling really warm and cozy about a day in my jammies and NO shindig. I have been mini-martha for years about Christmas and I'm tired. A day of good movies and better junk food, hey, whatever I can fry in the deep fryer. I was all about it. And then my husband took the thing out of the wall and discovered it needed a 59 cent fuse, not a $400 special order board. So he went and got the fuse, (and in the process negating our almost $399 supposed net gain by getting not one but two tickets) came back and fixed my oven. So here it is, two days till Christmas, and now I have to go out and do the whole roast beast thing.

I have a couple of dedicated pans...one cast iron for sweet stuff, one for savory. One non-stick whose only function is eggs or pancakes. I think it's whatever is comfy for you.

I don't think macrobiotics is a religion per se, but if you're looking for raw/vegan, it might be interesting to explore. I was really surprised on a recent outing to find the guest of the group, a Buddhist psychiatrist on a lecture circuit, tucking into meat. When I discussed it with him further, he said, once you acknowledge that everything has a life force, or energy, then you realize no matter what you do, you have to consume to live. The best you can do is to consume with responsibility and care. He then added that meat has more karmic bang for the buck. If you need to feed a dozen people, one pig can do it, but a lot more energy or life force has to be expended for the same amount of salad. Can you hear the tomatoes screaming? I'm sorry, I'm being somewhat facetious but it was an interesting discussion so I offer it up, fwiw.

I have this ice cream maker and I love it. My favourite recipe is extremely basic, and I just add flavour depending on what we want. 1 can condensed milk 1 can evaporated milk 2 cups heavy cream (If you are making chocolate ice cream, melt the chocolate in with this stuff now. See * note below.) Mix above in the top half of a double boiler, and simmer very gently until well combined and the smooth. Take the top of the double boiler off and add flavouring you'd like to steep...the main flavour of the ice cream. I make a lot of vanilla so here's where I add it. If I'm doing fake kulfi, this is where I add cardomom. Cinnamon, etc. You get it. Anything you want steeped in for nice flavour. Cool on counter and put in fridge overnight. Next day, put in pre-frozen Cuisinart insert. Let it do it's thing about 45 minutes. If you are adding a "ribbon" of something, you want it to be as cool as you can get it while still being able to pour, and you add it just before the end. I add caramel to vanilla base, sometimes I add melted jam, sometimes chocolate syrup. I put the ice cream in it's freezer container to add "mix ins". Nuts, etc. Freeze and let set at least a couple of hours. * Re the chocolate, I use unsweetened chocolate, and that seems to work well with the amount of sugar in the condensed milk. I've never tried lighter or sweeter chocolate, you'd need to play with the sugar/chocolate ratio to get what you want. I am going to start messing with frozen yoghurt soon.

Well, I don't know about everybody else, but my organically raised, sustainable-harvested-fed, Beethoven-played-to, free-range pig sang the "Circle of Life" song with me right before I did him in. I think it made him taste even better.

Well...I have a slightly different take on your situation. If the disorder in the house worries you enough that you feel you really have to do it, then do it. Half measures are only going to make you feel worse. If you need to clean until your fingers fall off and you get everybody to help cook, then fine. If you hire in a crew to clean, fine. Whatever. My husband has OCD and it has resulted in occasionally needing to ride herd over what is appearing in my living room because he's had an itchy e bay trigger finger. If it's making you crazy, deal with it.

Oh man, Katie Meadow, I just read your recipe and I am drooling. That's got to be Sunday's breakfast. I am sorry to bump the buckwheats but maybe I'll do those for "Junk Food Night", which is tomorrow. I'll be the only one who knows they aren't junk at all, as they gobble them up. : I LOVE it when it works out like that. Seriously, we need a drooling smilie.

Can you define "slurry" just a tad more? No flour at all? I am not currently a lucky sour dough starter person. I had one for a long time that I loved for making something called "Amish Friendship Bread" which was delicious, now that I think about it. Hmm. Maybe I need to cozy up to somebody with a sour dough culture that's willing to swap out on some organic lamb. "Get yer chops 'ere!"

The only attachement I have is the slicer/shredder and I use it all the time. I've been secretly lusting after the pasta rollers and cutters, I'mwondering if I should go KA attachments or some other machine entirely. I'd rather go KA if possible. Any thoughts? (I hope it's ok to hijack a little, if this is bad please tell me and I'll edit it out and go write my own thread, it's just I get notices all the time about my stuff being combined with other threads so I am a little about the right thing to do. Thanks for your patience.)

Oh, Spaghettttttti, those look yummy. I'm going to try your buckwheats next weekend, Barbara. I put buckwheat on the list, I love that MOM's carries all the Bob's Red Mill stuff. (MOM'S in a local chain of organics/whole foods/delicacies ala Trader Joe's.)

I often turn on food shows when I am cooking dinner, and will generally just watch whatever I find most appealing. Two things that get the telly instantly switched off or turned to tivo is "Semi-Homemade" and Paula Deen. What is it, "Paula's Party"? *shudder* I just can't abide either.

I love you sour and tangy and stretchy thin, the better to stand up to robust amounts of butter and maple syrup. I love you cakey and sweet and not quite done in the middle, topped with fruit and whipped cream. I love you in your buckwheatedness, with warm honey butter. I love you whether you call yourself a pancake or a griddle cake. I love you particularly well when served snuggled up to parts of crunchy pig. You are all that is good to breakfast. Please share your favourite pancake recipe, and tell us why it's your favourite. This is my family's current favourite. Evelyn is my husband's grandmother. Evelyn's Buttermilk Pancakes 2 1/2 c flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda Combine thourougly. Beat one egg, add to 2 cups buttermilk, mix. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and mix till combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy. Drop pats of butter onto fry pan. Pour mixture onto melted pats of butter, let cook till bubbles form, flip and cook until done. These are in the soft and cakey variety of pancake, and I tend to feed them to my kids with cinnamon and sugar and some vanilla whipped cream. They taste like hot snickerdoodles.

Anything that came out of the sea. Not happening. No lobsters. No clams. No scallops, no tuna, no octopi. Jellied eel, just the smell of it is such a gag factor I don't even look in fish cases. No. No thank. Really. If it's land based, I'll eat it although there are many other choices I would make before organ meats.

I was sent to bring in the steaks off the grill...the steaks I had scrimped for to splash out on a lavish at home dinner for my Dad. I was maybe 18 or something. I dropped them when I tripped over a 75 lb. Lab. I hosed them off with the garden hose, marked the one I pulled out of the dog's paws, put them back on the grill, gave them another minute, fliipped them, gave them another minute. I was resolved to take the one the dog had gotten. But then my Dad took the plate out of my hands! And I lost control of it! And HE ate it.

I can't believe you've gotten this far into the thread and no one has quoted Alice B. Toklas on her habit of keeping live lobsters in her bathtub; "In addition to having a supply of lobsters on hand, it prevented Hemingway from jumping into the bathtub when he was drunk".