JTravel

Final chapter on the mustard yellow enamel "pate" pan from last summer. Decided to turn it into a (huge) bread pan now that I am baking a lot. It will hold at least a 6 cup of flour loaf, neat and square and nice for slicing.

I am always interested in what people come "here" to buy. When I travel I always try to hit supermarkets, as well as farmers markets. I always find things of interest. People in Rochester are rather proud of being the home of Wegmans.....plus they are a good employer. I remember when the "Chuck Eye" discussion started on eG and I went off to Wegmans to look for it, sure enough it was there though I had never noticed it. Looking forward to checking out the Blue Monk in Buffalo sometime as son lives there, and loves beer.

I'm guessing Caroline in Mexico

The last three especially look fabulous. Would people mind giving an idea of the prices? I am always interested in what you get for the money. Thanks

I am not an egg lover, I keep supermarket eggs on hand, mostly for baking. I'd never think of an egg sandwich as dinner,,,,,though with that description I might change my mind. I do think that bargain wise supermarket eggs are great. BUT.....when we traveled in Turkey a few years ago we were given egg dishes several times and I have to say that if I could eat those eggs I would eat them a lot more. More EGGY for sure.

We had this several times in Ukraine. It was white, sort of like lard, no crispy bits, and served with bread and salt. Very tasty. We took to calling it piggy butter after it was described to us.

I just came from the Indian Spice store. That place was full of bags of dozens of variations of fried extruded things....lentils and such. I was thinking I can use them in place of those Asian crispy onions on casseroles. Fish too maybe. I think there might be sweet ones too, but wouldn't hold up to baking in something, though on the frosting could work.

How? What? Sounds interesting. In the Netherlands I bought a couple of cones of broken Syrup Waffle bits. Wish I'd bought more. I'm thinking crispy pizelles(?) would be good

I'll enjoy a quiet evening as husband goes next door to watch the game. No idea what host is doing but there is always plenty of food, including lots of dips and spreads. I got a KA Pro for Christmas so I'm in baking mode. My contribution will be bread sticks to go with all those dips.

I have not thought about that in YEARS....like maybe 20 years. Nobody around me liked it, the the bar shape/size was very convenient for personal use and it kept in the fridge. Always purchased, never homemade....but IS there a recipe?

Thanks for a great time! I loved seeing your life there. The alleys are SO charming, then you realize that living there, with no heat, probably little light, and having to carry water, is not so charming. I am amazed at how modern and clean many of the shops and restaurants are. Of course as tourists the places we were were like that, but I'm impressed that your neighborhood is like that. my bias/lack of understanding I guess. Great Week!

That Friendship Brand is very common in Western NY. Reminds me of my Weight Watchers days when it was a common substitute .....for what? Cream Cheese maybe or Ricotta. I will have to try that recipe ....saw it in France and it looked so good.

"China Moon Chili-Orange Oil" from Barbara Tropp's China Moon cookbook. That recipe was an "Ah-Ha" moment for me. I will put it on some noodles or if I get to making some dumplings or buns I'll use it there. And, Yes, I did used to keep it in the cupboard for months. Now I will refrigerate it, and freeze if any is left.

OH YES!!!! There is SO much to see and learn about your new home. Last year we were in Vietnam and Singapore for Tet and welcomed the Year of the Tiger. It was amazing, but being a tourist is so different from being a resident. We are still hoping to spend a week there in 2012 after the canal conference. Now I'll have a head start on planning.

This is my quest for 2011. Son put a 5 qt.enamel cast iron poton his Christmas list and I told him he'll get it when I find it. I have rarely if ever found a good one. Best I did was that mustard yellow "pate"? thing that I haven't used yet.

I really like the house brand at Aldi, their red raspberries are $2.89 for a pound bag. Sam's Club has bigger bags of Dole, but they get icy when I keep them too long. I use them for blended things and also I use them frozen instead of ice cubes in my Wegmans Wedge (grapefruit soda.)

I'm looking forward to following this thread. I need to learn about pastry making, and I love ricotta.

From the birthplace of Wegmans, thanks for spreading the word about our local favorite. Our 2 nearby Wegmans are the smaller, somewhat more basic ones, not the huge upscale new ones. No mushrooms growing in ours, but still wonderful. I love your home finding plan. Thanks for the interesting week.

I am a real lazy person compared to most here. But I decided if I was going to eat bread it would be homemade so I make myself one loaf of my old "4 cup basic yeast bread" about once a week. I freeze some slices for later in the week and vary the recipe with soaked 7 grain cereal, or whole wheat flour in different proportions. Always better than "sliced" bread, probably not better than artisan bread....Wegmans and Italian bakeries have good stuff. Perfect for me. No need to ever run out...DH eats the cheapest of store stuff. I make a few batches of jam the end of summer, mostly peach, or peach and plum. Have slacked off on strawberry which I should get back to. Have gotten out of habit of yogurt, need to get back to that too, so easy. Love homemade fresh pasta, perhaps tomorrow. Have in past done Asian Dumplings, have the book. That should be next.

I would count myself lucky to get such a high quality Vietnamese lunch, on a good day or bad. To have it delivered on a bad day is really a blessing. The Roommates Who Lunch have been slacking off, but this week it will be "Rochester Italian". It's not Pho!

We always entertain international university students on Thanksgiving and they get the original soup and fried onion version. I got a HUGE bag of those French's? onions at Sam's Club.....so cheap I couldn't resist. Other stuff from scratch, but the bean casserole with Aldi's tiny green beans (frozen) and the rest.

Chinese friends had told us that grilled/roasted? sweet potatoes were a favorite treat in China. They would send their daughter out with a few coins and she could buy one for an after school snack. Then emerging from the Hong Kong subway on our trip we smelled something wonderful. There was a charcoal grill set up on the sidewalk and people were eating hot and blackened sweet potatoes. Don't know if there were condiments, I'm guessing not.

My apple pie "streusel" topping is: 1 part butter 1 part brown sugar 2 parts flour 2 parts oats, perhaps broken up a bit with stick blender Chopped walnuts or pecans is you want Put it on the pie when it goes in the oven, cover with a bit of foil if it gets too dark. What I'm looking for is how to make the streusel on the left in this picture from a German bakery. I'm sure no oats, and must be white sugar. They put it on LOTS of things.

When I was growing up it was always "around dark" , 5ish. That was because while my mother cooked for our small family group, Dad was out deer hunting. Especially as he got older it gave real meaning to "Thankful" when he arrived home safely for the meal. Now we entertain international university students who come at 4, photograph the bird as it comes out of oven , and eat around 5.

I LOVE that the blogs are back, I find every one of them interesting because they are someone else, in someplace else, eating something else. Blog on!