Tri2Cook

Nice rack!

They seem to keep fine at average room temp as long as you keep the bag sealed. I just wasn't using them as often as I thought I might so they were around far longer than they should have been and not in the best room I could have chosen for storage. It's no fault of the pop rocks that I wound up with a big lump of sugar, that was completely on me.

They party together just fine in my opinion... but my opinion and $3 will buy a cup of coffee.

Mixing them with just enough chocolate to coat them and dumping them in the shell works, as does the barrier you mentioned. I've done both of those. I've used them in mixtures of chocolate and nut pastes or butters with no problems but that was in pastry applications where they didn't need more than 24 hours hold time so I have no idea how long they could have lasted. I'm sure the spraying would work but I've never actually done it. Panning them would probably do it as well but I don't have the proper equipment to try that one. I haven't worked with them in a while, I was too slow in using the last bag I bought and not careful enough with storage... about half of it morphed into a large lump.

That's a shame... I was just thinking that asparagus tart looks mighty tasty.

My heart bleeds for you as I look at the $46.95 Rittenhouse LCBO price.

I keep hoping to hear the announcement that things have come together so you can get in your own place. Yes, so you can get back to doing what you do best... but mainly because all this waiting has to be a heavy burden. I hate to see that at this stage of your career when you've worked so hard to get where you're at. Good vibes continuing to be sent your way.

I know you're joking but sometimes I'm half convinced that's a real thing. When working in a restaurant, the easiest way to instantly fill the place during a slow period is to make yourself something to eat.

Jamaican jerk pork loin. Cooked with pecan smoke. Mango habanero slaw. And the not very photogenic but very tasty rice & peas. Sunday dinner... Cooked chicken broth, cider vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, molasses, habanero, garlic, fresh thyme and crushed allspice berries to make what I'm calling Jamaican bbq sauce. Not at all authentic Jamaican and not really bbq sauce but it's mighty tasty with the pork.

I don't know about where you live but that's bordering on a good deal with the price of pecans where I live. My price isn't too far off of that for Louisiana style pecan pralines... and they don't require any chocolate at all.

I'm cooking a boneless pork loin today. It's spent the past almost 48 hours in my Jamaican jerk marinade. My brain kept telling me to toss it in the sous vide tank, especially with all the dark clouds that have been floating through today, but I really wanted it to go in the smoker. So I'm risking it and hoping the rain stays away as forecasted. Doesn't look too promising at times though.

Doesn't look boring to me. I've been a fan of cheese and jam or jelly on toasted items for many years. Gouda with gooseberry jam is a personal favorite.

You took the long way around to make that compliment but I think, based on her post, that is the colleague she mentioned cutting the cake.

It happens. I had a wedding cake to do when I was still catering where the bride wanted a tall, multi-tiered cake with buttercream only, no fondant, in August. She wanted it all white, white buttercream with white pearl beading. No piping, flowers or other décor... so there was nothing to hide disasters with. I fought hard to convince her to allow fondant that could then be removed at serving time if desired. Nope. As anybody who's done wedding cakes (or wedding anything) knows, convincing the bride she doesn't want what she thinks she wants is third in difficulty only behind arguing with the mother-of-the-bride and the best-friend-of-the-bride. It survived much better than I predicted it would but it was still not a cake I was proud to display. It also helped finalize my long-considered decision to implement a firm No Wedding Cakes policy.

I'm always a bit hesitant going in with boozy drinks that contain cherry. I fear the glass o' cough syrup effect. But thanks for posting these, it gives me some more to explore. The Slippery Slope page led to the Zara-ism which replaces the rye with bourbon and the 1/2 oz of Cynar with 1/4 oz of orgeat. The hint of almond with the cherry should be a natural so I may give it a shot as well.

That describes me exactly. My booze cabinet is better stocked, in terms of variety, than any of the local bars and the quantity speaks loudly of a serious drinker... but then the more observant viewer of said booze collection notes the abundance and depth of dust on most of those bottles.

That's enough to blow me away.

I see the EZtemper peeking from between those bags as well... I'm betting that's another "don't leave home without it" item.

Burger (6 oz) with bacon, blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickled Vidalia onion, mayo and horseradish mustard.

Pizza... smoked hot sausage, habanero and sweet onion. Stiegl Grapefruit Radler to cool the fire.

I've had sandwiches I didn't enjoy due to poor ingredients or preparation but I've never really thought about them as being boring. As long as they're tasty, I'm happy with the simplest of sandwiches and it goes up from there.

Looks like that place has almost as many amari and vermouths as my local booze store has... everything. I could probably kill most of a day in a place like that. I'd just need to leave my money with somebody else while I was there.

Interesting. I've only been in hospital once, that just for an unexpected and sudden removal of my appendix, and I found everything, except possibly meal times, to be remarkably accommodating to patient comfort and convenience. I didn't necessarily realize it while I was there but it was pretty clear once I was sent home that that was the case. Meal times didn't matter much to me because they had me on basically a liquid diet the entire time I was there (which was extended apparently longer that it should have been for reasons I never discovered, the Dr. kept there for almost 5 days). Apparently, a key component of the liquid diet is jello, which I am not a fan of. The person from the kitchen kept asking why I didn't eat my jello, I kept telling her I did not care for jello, she kept telling me she'd replace it with something else... then the next tray would come with jello as it's centerpiece.

Make 'em punch a clock. That's not foolproof if they're really determined to cheat the system but it goes a long way towards reducing false hours. If the entire staff is trying to cheat the clock and showing a great lack of motivation, dig into the root of the problem by talking to them and finding out what the problem is and what would help solve it. And don't be afraid to look at management. A great deal of time, lack of motivation or caring among a staff trickles down from poor management skills. If the people at the top of the ladder don't give a fork, why should the people they're supposed to be leading? And don't be afraid to admit, if it proves to be the case, that you just have a rotten barrel of apples that need to be replaced. Not the easiest thing to do but sometimes it has to be done.

Not gonna win any photogenic awards but a Cajun shrimp boil was dinner tonight and it was tasty. Washed it down with an Erdinger Dunkel Weissbier. Yes, I boil the potatoes, corn and sausages first, remove them, bring the spicy liquid back to the boil, toss in the shrimp and kill the heat. I've found that, while it's tasty immediately after cooking if they're all cooked together, the leftovers taste much better the next day if they're cooked separately. Not too much extra effort since it's just me. If I was doing it for a crowd, I'd just toss it all in at once.