Tri2Cook

Never mind that... this means it's going to sell for more than $75.

I had some done by this guy. They were much more detailed than the simple examples he shows on the page and turned out great. Edited to add: if you check the feedback section at the bottom of the page, it looks like I'm not the only happy customer.

As disappointed as I was initially, in hindsight I think it is entirely for the best that nobody bit on that one...

Canadian skunks know the secret to the proper way to eat a frog... so they eat them all the time.

It looks very tasty!

I translated that as "your reward for pledging $100 is that you will get one for 75% off of retail". So 25% of whatever retail turns out to be. I'm entirely open to being incorrect about that... but there is no way that thing is going to retail for $400. At least, not if they actually plan to sell any.

A cool idea that came too late. If it works as advertised, they could have sold this like crazy 8 - 10 years ago. The rewards are a bit underwhelming and made worse by not knowing what kind of value they bring to the party. "Pledge $100 and get one for 75% off". I mean, if the thing retails for $60 why would I want to pay $115 for it? If it retails for much more than that... it won't for long. I wish them the best with it, I just think it's an idea whose time has passed.

Food safety wouldn't be my main concern with that one. I just don't care for the texture of raw ground beef. I'll do medium rare but even that's pushing it a bit. It's not a squeamish thing, I like my steaks still looking for a nice patch of grass to nibble on, and it's not a food safety thing, I know how to minimalize those issues... it's strictly textural. Warm raw ground beef just isn't a texture I find pleasant.

Absolutely. The responsibility belongs to the parents right from the start and 40 minutes is unacceptable in almost any circumstance. I only said what I said because I see that other extreme more often than situations like the one being discussed. Where a kid makes a little too much noise and you see everybody start to glare and sigh and become visibly annoyed even though the parents are trying to deal with it.

I want to add to this conversation that there are times when people on the other side of the disruption need to be a little more understanding as well. Yes, a baby crying or a kid screaming or a person with a disability that makes it difficult or impossible for them to control or to understand some of their actions can be disruptive and there are setting where the parents need to deal with the situation but a lot of people are instantly annoyed or rude in those situations. If the parents are attempting to solve the problem, relax a little and allow them to do so without making them feel like they should never leave the house with their child.

I won't argue that the owner was right to yell at the kid, I wasn't there, but the sort of parent that already believes that the entire world thinks their precious little snowflake, and everything said snowflake does, is as wonderful as the parents think it is will respond with equal offense regardless of whether you yell or ask politely and quietly. Either way, you've suggested their perfect little angel is less than perfect and questioned their parenting ability. Doesn't matter if you actually did either of those things, that's how they'll see it. It's really a no win situation so at some point you just have to do what's best for your other customers.

Yeah, I have a ~$300 Bradley original that's controlled by a ~$180 Auber dual probe controller. So just under $500 all in (but only just under $180 all in for me, the smoker was a Christmas gift). I wouldn't want it for large scale production (not enough capacity) or if I was using it every day (the pucks would get costly) but for what I do, it's been almost perfect. I'm seriously considering doing the second heating element mod, that would eliminate the only thing that makes it slightly below perfect (for me), the relatively slow temp recovery time after loading it.

The liners for mini muffin pans will work regardless of brand. I have 2 dozen non-stick mini muffin pans that I used frequently back when I was still catering and never had liners from any source that wouldn't work with them. The pan cavities can vary by brand sometimes but, as was mentioned above, the pleated liners adjust themselves to accommodate that. Beyond whether or not one wants them for muffins and cupcakes, there are times when they're handy for other purposes (for example, I actually used the pans for making mini tart shells much more often than for muffins or cupcakes and tossing in a liner and some pie weights makes the job much easier and faster than cutting little pieces of parchment for each one).

That is f'ing awesome.

This is probably one of those times I should just quietly walk away without saying I've done the very same thing myself... but, ummm...

Those look really nice... and I'm a sucker for most things peanut butter so it probably would have been my choice too.

It's possible, just not easy. I'm working similar hours and it's definitely made a difference in my outside-of-work life. I'm into road cycling and mountain biking. When I first started in restaurant work, I was averaging 350 450 km a week on the road plus occasional mountain bike trips during the months when weather here allows and running on the treadmills at the gym 6 days a week during the nasty winter months. As I've worked my way into more responsibility and the additional hours that come with that, those other things have suffered noticeably. I probably average more like 150 - 200 km a week on the road now on my good weeks with the bulk of that coming on Sunday, my only day off. What I've found is that it's not really that there isn't time, it just means having to do it when you can instead of when you want to. It's also a lot easier to not do things even when you have time because it's nice to have a little time to just relax. Getting out on the road or trails on my bikes is more than just exercise for me. It's also my happy place where I can wipe everything else from my mind for a little while so it contributes to my mental health as well. That makes it easier for me to go do it even when I really don't feel like it. For the eating healthy part, I take a lot of fresh fruit and veggies and other fairly healthy stuff that I can just grab and eat quickly without any prep/cooking and keep it in a container in the walk-in at work. If I get a minute, I grab a piece of fruit or something and a glass of water and keep going.

I had some buttermilk left from the bacon potato rolls I made a few days ago and it's been a long time since I had buttermilk pie so...

That looks really good... and cherries have arrived at the local store. I'll have to add it to the "things to make" list. Maybe even straight to the top of the list.

This thing is really impressive. I know you've already heard that from many people with much better chocolate credentials than me but the more I see being done with it, the more impressed I am.

You can run fresh, raw blueberries through a juicer and the juice will thicken and clot. If you heat the result, it will break down into smaller, firmer curd-like pieces that can be drained in cheesecloth and the result can be molded and sliced. As Lisa mentioned, they will also quite often produce a good pie without adding starch. They average less than 2 grams of pectin per pound of berries which doesn't seem like it would be sufficient to do the job but somehow they do. Maybe it's the high fiber content working with the pectin... or maybe blueberries are just magic.

I'm not sure what you're running into with the (lack of) hardness issue. I know you're experimenting with a much higher degree of scientific interest than I generally put into my ice cream but I've never had an issue with the amount of alcohol in vanilla extract causing hardening problems. Just out of curiosity, I made a batch of my basic ice cream base and added vanilla extract to half then churned both and tossed them in the freezer. The two, in terms of texture, are identical to my tastes. But with the level of testing and differences in equipment, you may have yours down to the point where very minor differences are easily discernible to you. Regardless,. it's fun watching the process and hearing the results of your search for ice cream perfection.

If I wasn't at the other end of the province, I'd do my best to help you out with that.

Thought I'd report back, seeing as you mentioned that you might try them. The rolls are nice, worth the effort in my opinion. I really like the texture and the flavor is good. The bacon is more subtle than I expected but that could easily be a product of the bacon I rendered the fat from. I didn't buy anything special, just the basic cheap stuff. In a moment of brilliance, I planned exactly what I was going to cook today with the knowledge that I didn't have to work because it was a holiday... and completely gave no thought to the fact that the grocery store would be closed. So tonight's burgers were sans lettuce, tomato and onion. Guess it was a good thing the buns were tasty.

Happy Canada Day to you too. I actually get today off so I did a little baking this morning as well. Just pulled these bacon potato rolls from the oven. I'm going to grill some burgers and a few of the bacon sausages I made over the weekend that I posted about in the "sausage making" thread so homemade buns seemed like a good idea. The clouds are already moving in for our traditional Canada Day rain but they're claiming it will clear up by this evening... so we'll see.