JTravel

In my mind Nutella and Dulce de Leche are two of the great "spoon foods". You have either of those, you have dessert. Pretzels add some salt and crunch....perfect. Snack heaven when it has to be sweet. Yesterday I visited the local Whole Foods (we're visiting....don't have one at home.) They had a "Taco Cookoff" new ideas being tested by public. One worth noting, the dessert taco, cinnamon sugar pita chips (that's the topic part....in any flavor pita chips are great) topped with ice cream, whipped cream, choc sauce, chopped cherries and candied pumpkin seeds. Not a "taco" in my mind, but those chips gave great crunch to a "sundae".

I too am hoping the locals, or frequent visitors will bump this up. We just found out our son may spend up to a year working in the area. Reading the info it looks like it will make a great "across country" visit for us. Thanks

We went to Thailand with Kasma several years ago. She bought us those little coconut pancakes and they were wonderful. When I found my bargain/thrift shop pan I thought of them. Have to admit though that I only made the Ebelskivers once, and haven't done the Thai ones yet. Maybe this will get me at it. The learning curve on turning the little "Things" was very sharp but by the end of the batch I was getting better at it.

At my co-op they will weigh your jars on the way in, mark with a waxy pencil on the lid and deduct that on the way out. The marks stay pretty well and I used the same "honey" jar for a long time. Same for peanut butter. The locking top containers are good for such things. Can't see it working in a supermarket though. The co-op gives back 5 cents for each of your own bag you use...a la Whole Foods. Took a long time to train myself to bring bags IN TO store to use them. Sometimes I "need" garbage bags, and sometimes I get paper ones for my paper recycling.

I always knew we were lucky to be in the home of Wegmans....guess I haven't bought "other" ground beef to know just how lucky. We don't eat a lot of ground beef or I would always buy the Big Pack and divide for freezing.

I thought the Panama one was OK. I missed the Istanbul episode, but found it in 5 segments on YouTube. I watched it on my netbook, and I can, and may watch it again. No commercials (except the blue card thing) though it takes a bit to find and start each segment. We had good stuff in Turkey, but of course they always pick the really good places for him. Plus he has personal guides choosing the most interesting dishes and explaining things. My idea of how to travel. He was very gracious at home dinner, wish there were recipes.

Today's Rochester paper had a big spread on all the wonderful new equipment in the just opened Next Door Bar and Grill. The executive chef, Chris Brandt, and David Bouley designed two kitchens ....one for the restaurant and one for recipe developement, and for private parties. I don't know professional equipment, but I'm guessing this is top of the line stuff and unique design. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100119/LIVING/1190307/1032/Behind-the-scenes-at-Wegmans--Next-Door-Bar-&-Grill-in-Pittsford

The can of cleanser always leave a rusty mark on the counter so I put a soft drink take out lid under it. You can use the onion bags for suet for the birds. For MANY years we used a kind of margarine cup ....colored plastic cup (choice of 4 colors) as our camping cups. Of course that was their intended use once marg was gone. I deal with lots of international students. I've known them to mark and use yogurt and such tubs for measuring cups.

For quite a while Wegmans' own brand of butter has been $1.69 a pound. All baking was done with butter over the holidays but then I mostly use butter anyway. I think margarine is $.89 a pound and up. The newspaper today had a story of how milk prices in NY State are rising. That is good news for farmers who are getting less for their milk than it costs to produce. They are now getting near the "break even" point of production. I would expect the price of butter will be going up along with the price of milk....but customers have had it cheap here for quite a while.

Exactly! One Christmas, years ago, a friend brought me some buns made from that book. She had made them, herself. I could not believe an ordinary person could do that! I got the book and made the oils at the front of the book. Certainly "life changing" for cooking. Snowy day today, maybe I'll get it out. Would not recommend it for a real beginner though. First books were a spiral series: "By The Editors of Consumer Guide" Wok Cooking Class, Chinese Cooking Class and my first introduction Japanese Cooking Class. Copied from an Australian series it appears.

Have to admit to enjoying Rompope, a Mexican commerical eggnog. It's a different thing than dairy eggnog, or homemade. Can't get it in my part of the country though. Does keep a long time without refrigeration....good/or bad. Another use is to brush your Christmas breads with a bit of nog, takes the place of egg wash (or evaporated milk) and gives a nice sheen.

A copy of Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen.....we're going to Viet Nam in Feb. so I need to really STUDY it. Looks gorgeous and if there is one kind of food I love best it's wrapped up things. So I hope to be cooking from it soon.

I love the look of these melamine bowls and I use them all the time. For shocking or putting over simmering water I use a very large Pyrex...also it's the popcorn bowl. I even gave up my old Tupperware measuring bowl with the handle for these....though it gave a lot of good service. The rubber grip on bottom is helpful.

I am sure I learned to bake....oh so long ago....with the little cookbooks that were put out by Fleischmann's yeast. I still have a battered old paper thing that I reference sometimes. But I found a new copy of Best Ever Breads from several years ago and I'm checking that out. I used their Master Sweet Dough (very basic recipe) to make two braided loaves and now I have a second batch baking. They call for a mixer which I don't have, so I stir and then knead by hand. I used my homemade candied orange peel, and golden raisins in it and served it with butter mixed with finely diced orange peel and a bit of vanilla sugar. Seems I've covered several eGullet topics in one. I'm enjoying seeing what people are making. The Hot Chocolate on a stick looks very interesting.

With the idea that not everyone wants sweets, and being reminded that I got a big tub of cottage cheese, I am on a savory kick. I made a cottage cheese, butter, flour, and salt dough. Chilled in disks over night, sprinkled the rolled dough with a mix of grated Italian cheese and smoked paprika, and a bit of cayenne. Cut into little sticks, twisted, baked. A bit on the greasy side, but very tasty.

Not cream cheese? Never heard of the peanuts and orange peel, anything with orange peel sounds good.

What wonderful answers. I guess I am like a lot of cooks, trying to taste lots of new things and trying to make some at home. Unlike a lot of you I no longer entertain, I was always good with the cooking but not with the "getting ready". Now as a "getting old" lady I do find a lot of nostalgia for my Mother's old recipes. I just baked a pan of the dinner rolls that MUST be served at every holiday gathering. My Mother's recipe, from her mother. My sons think that they are the only rolls to have. I hope they remember me fondly, as I remember my mother when I bake them. I am on a baking jag lately, no-knead breads, crackers, sweet breads and tonight a cottage cheese dough to be filled with jam. I do love to play around with flour! So I'm a somewhat skilled everyday cook, who can bake, and who has a new favorite cuisine to study up on after every trip.

Easier than the aloe plant, a tube of 100% aloe vera gel....available everyplace, sometimes near the sun tan lotion. (Good for sunburns too.) Use it immediately ! and as often as you can afterwards. I have heard that the hand disinfecting stuff we all slather on is aloe vera and alcohol. Might work in a pinch but I'm guessing it would really sting. Foil on handle is something I picked up here, and it has no doubt saved me. Same thing with lid handle when doing the pre-heating really hot for the no knead bread. Once you pick it up it's hard to get rid of.

Since we are retired we have not been too effected....unless you count the stock market. Wegmans' own brand is very good and I buy whichever is on sale. I started years ago using R0-Tel tomatoes with peppers...an exotic product then. When Wegmans brought out theirs I switched. Now I often buy a similar and fine house brand at Aldi. It seems that house brands at the discount places are becoming brands on their own. Yesterday I got a popular Aldi brand of "leftover"....good till Feb..... chilled cookie dough, at $.50 a pound. Kids won't care about the brand, or the tiny fall leaves mixed in. Mayo is Hellman's or Wegmans, Ketchup is Heinz, but otherwise is is what is on sale. Locally now flour is $1. for 5 pounds at several places. So the pantry will get filled again. I love the thrill of the hunt at Big Lots and Ollie's Outlet and will at least give odd brands one try.

I didn't "carve" the turkey very well on Turkey Day as only 3 out of the seven of us ate meat. The family did a good job on the nice slices on their visit yesterday....that helped as it was a 20 pound bird. So today was clean the bird day....UGH.....so messy. I had forgotten how much juicy dark meat is on the back. I have a plate piled high. I bought some corn tortillas (sorry) and tomorrow there will be a big pot of my version of tortilla soup. That should take care of several cans of tomates and extra chicken broth. It will be heavy in meat, and use a couple of onions too. Plus, in freeze, a gift of roasted Hatch chilies from son in southwest. I'll hack off a piece from the chili block and see how much I can use. Dry storage and freezer or jammed full so I WILL try to resist buying from now till holidays. There needs to be room in freezer for cookies. One good thing in freezer is a coup of a purchase of Chuck Eyes at $1.99 at Wegmans last week. They will be Christmas meal.

Wooden tools are one of my favorite things to bring home from a trip. Usually I buy them from some wood worker at a public market. My favorite "big" spoon came from some kind of festival at a castle (ruin) on the Rhine where we bought a "stew served in a bread bowl" and got the spoon. It has stirred a lot of soup. The olive wood tools are really nice, wish I'd stocked up on those. I love the "spurtle" type thing, flat with a hole through it, that I got in Croatia. Plus, not spoons, but I have a couple of "oh so smooth" small rolling pins that work great. When I buy those things I feel I am actually helping a real local person and I get a tiny piece of the country.

I'm not really in this time, though I could do a month at least since I have REALLY restocked since participating last time. At least what I have should be fresher. But a couple of good things today,,,,,a rack of ribs from bottom of the freezer, I'd bought 2 of them, short dated at Aldi a while ago. Needs a boost of sauce so opened a bottle of barbeque sauce. When we've eaten those two things will be gone. From the pantry ( a deep dark cupboard down beside the sink) I cleaned out a bag of oatmeal ( I bag it and freeze it for long-term storage), a small amount of rolled wheat, and a package with a cup of wheat germ. Used the last 2 cups of grated coconut from the fridge. Tasted to be sure they were OK, them made a double batch of Ina Garten's Homemade Granola Bars. Grandkids loved them when I made them before. Older outdoor activity loving son should enjoy them too. SO....stocking stuffers. Used up an old jar of honey from the co-op and "European Style" almonds from freezer. Now I can buy fresh honey and start on a new bag of oatmeal. The rest of the almonds will become Pille's candied almonds. I'll store the bars in containers in freezer till Christmas....but I'm eating the broken edges.

I can still picture my Dad sitting at the old formica table which was covered with newspapers, cutting up apples so my Mother could make pies....or applesauce. He loved her apple pies. There was even a special beat up aluminum pan used for the good parts. He often did that sort of prep work for her, sorting blueberries, hacking squash etc. at the same spot. Newspapers even then were handy for messy tasks, though I don't think they composted. Thanks for the memory. As for bad habits, Messy, messy, with stuff stacked up as I work. Then stacked in drainer, glad I'm not the only one.

I'm only a home cook, but even I know enough to do a head count before cutting the dessert .....not good when some guests don't get to enjoy the gooey goodies.

In a similar manner I use a large, old fashioned hair pin.....though a paper clip will do too. Hair pin is easier on fingers I think. Whatever the tool it's a messy job if you are doing the dark ones. I never did anything but eat them plain till I tried a clafouti recipe last week. Now chocolate seems like a good idea.