FauxPas

It's a great program, isn't it? Nice way to manage e-books. And these Humble bundle books are said to be DRM-free (Digital Rights Management), which means that Calibre could easily convert between the different formats. 🙂

Google Books uses the EPUB format. (So does the Kobo e-reader sold in Canada, which I think also reads PDF files directly.) Kindle can read PDF but you have to send the books to your Kindle's email id. It's not hard to do but it will take a few steps: https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/here-is-how-you-can-read-pdf-files-on-the-amazon-kindle You can also use the e-reader program called Calibre to convert in some cases but that also takes a bit of work to get things set up. https://calibre-ebook.com/

I think you want the MOBI file format for Kindle.

Sorry @btbyrd, I understand your point. I guess I would add that methane leaks do happen at all stages of gas extraction, storage and transportation as well as in home usage. And yeah, CO2 is going to be sticking around for a very long time so its effects get compounded. My badly worded post is just trying to say that a gazillion homes using natural gas are definitely worsening an already critical situation.

Instead of natural gas, we should just call it methane, because that's the main component and even if much of it is being vented from the home, it's still going into the atmosphere. And I think we all know the effects of methane on planetary warming and the very real problems that is causing.

...or other kitchen or household items, just like this Irish woman! She's dressing as some item each day in January. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.6325537/this-irish-woman-is-dressing-as-a-household-item-every-day-for-a-month-1.6325739 Her Instagram has even more awesome outfits. My faves are the Kerrygold Butter and the Guinness, I think. I love her sense of fun, also her quirky wardrobe. Next month (February), she will be dressing as items from other people's households. So feel free to submit requests! 🙂 I was thinking Cholula sauce might be fun, but maybe too easy?

Yes! I really liked the Trader Joe's halibut fillets for this. Used to keep some in the freezer pretty much all the time. A little pricier than some other fish perhaps, but we liked them a lot.

Canada's supply management system for poultry does mean higher prices for consumers in general. But I also think ordinary supermarket chicken in Canada is definitely superior to the ordinary supermarket chicken found in many parts of the US. We don't have much for high-end products here because the basic product is already pretty good. Air-chilling seems to be the norm, I don't think I ever see added broth, sodium, etc on a fresh product. Wings are mostly pre-cut, divided into drumettes and wingettes. So yes, the average product is pricier but it's pretty good quality. (And I did have a hard time finding fresh wings when we were in Arizona. I used to go to a butcher in Tucson, but their wings were ginormous, too big really.) Still (and while Vancouver Island is generally considered to be a fairly pricey place to shop) the prices you quote on grocery items often seem quite high to me. I can get a local (BC farm) whole chicken for $4.34 kg right now here in town. Granted, that's a sale price, so I have to shop around to find those kind of prices. Another local grocery is closer to the price you quoted. But I only buy fresh whole chicken on sale, given I can get a whole rotisserie chicken at Costco for $5.99. 🙂

I hear ya! It's been a while but I remember it as being painful. 🙂

I'm pretty sure you are right about only the salted version being available in grocery stores. BC does also have private liquor stores and I wonder if the Richmond stores carry more Asian products. Check the BC liquor store link though. It shows the amount of stock availability in each of the stores and even places like Vanderhoof, Dawson Creek and Queen Charlotte City on Haida Gwai show it as being in stock. From my (admittedly limited) previous experience, I've found the stock searches on the website to be fairly accurate.

For a lot of Chinese products, depending on where in greater Vancouver I was living/working, I would go to Richmond stores before I would go to Chinatown. That's where the largest group of ethnic Chinese are located. Richmond is almost 75% Asian and 55% ethnic Chinese. I think it's the largest ethnic Chinese community in North America. Here's a cooking wine search for T&T supermarket in Richmond, I think these might be salted wines listed as Shaohsing or Shaoxing, though. It may be that only liquor stores can carry the non-salted wines. But they have 3 stores in Richmond. https://www.tntsupermarket.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=cooking+wine

Did you search the BC Liquor Store website? I see two Shaoxing wines, each available at over 40 stores. The 3 stores closest to you don't have it but there might be others not too far away? Or you can ask a local store to bring it in for you from another location, they used to do that and it could be quite fast. https://www.bcliquorstores.com/product-catalogue?search=shaoxing wine&sort=_score:desc&page=1

Sorry, I'm really not sure. As I said, I've never done them. Do you think the time would need to change much between fresh and smoked? Maybe someone else can give better guidance on that. 🙂

I've never cooked them, but I found a couple of suggestions that said you can cook the frozen ones. Set the IP for about 45 to 50 mins and give it another 10 to 20 mins before releasing. https://www.ehow.com/how_5016098_cook-ham-hocks-pressure-cooker.html And on reddit, one user asked and another replied:

OK, a bit of research shows me that Evercrisp is just wheat dextrin, as per the packaging. Bob's Red Mill has a great description of how dextrin is derived and used. Trisol is sourced from wheat dextrin, according to Modernist Pantry, which sells it as well as Evercrisp. So for us Canadians who might not have easy or inexpensive access to Evercrisp, trisol looks to be a good alternative if we wanted to use something similar to crisp our wings. 🙂 Unless anyone knows otherwise? I've never used either before, so I'm going by what I can find online.

Amazon Canada does carry Evercrisp in a 113g size but it's $26 + $9 shipping as it comes from the US. And may not arrive until February. Powder for Texture (in Canada) is $10 for 225g for their Crisp Film plus about $13 shipping to Ottawa. ($20 shipping to my part of the country) I think Crisp Film is actually trisol, which I think has similar properties to Evercrisp.

There's a Canadian company (in Toronto, I think) called Powder for Texture. They don't have Evercrisp but they have something called Crisp Film. Can anyone say if it's the same or similar thing? https://www.powderfortexture.com/collections/ingredients/products/crisp-film-225-g CRISP FILM® is a modified high amylose corn starch. It exhibits good film-forming characteristics and acts as a protective barrier when used as a coating for fried foods. These same characteristics also help in reducing oil pickup, increasing product crispiness and reducing moisture loss in deep fat fried (battered and breaded) foods. CRISP FILM® is commonly used to impart internal bonding strength and texture for formed potato, meat, and vegetable products.

Your recipes look great! I hate hard clumpy brown sugar also. I'm going to try dividing it up and vacuum sealing it. I don't know why I haven't tried this before. I saw a recommendation to pack it like this: From https://www.coastalcountry.com/resource/blog-posts/country-lifestyle/vacuum-sealing-basics

My husband IS MAD for good smoked oysters and he especially loves smoked Pacific oysters. @Smithythere used to be a couple who sold beautiful plump Washington State smoked oysters at the farmers' markets in Sahuarita/Green Valley, Arizona (and maybe up at Tucson, not sure about that). They lived in WA half the year and would smoke the Pacific oysters and bring some down with them, along with some salmon and halibut products. Mike (husband) said they were some of the very best smoked oysters and had a hard time going back to the tiny canned Asian ones. Can't remember his business name, but if Mike can find it, I will share it. But for smoked oyster lovers who would like North American oysters, try searching for smoked Pacific oysters. A quick search found me this: https://seabear.com/products/smoked-pacific-northwest-oysters We do have some lovely local oysters here on Vancouver Island and there are a few businesses that have smoked them, but for various reasons they are harder to find these days. There is one that I haven't tried though and I think I will put in an order. They do ship to the US, but they run out fast and they are currently out. https://stjeans.com/product/pacific-smoked-oysters/ And I'm guessing there are lovely east coast ones, also, in both Canada and US. Yes, these smoked oysters are a lot more expensive than the Asian ones, but most of us don't eat that many at one time. OK, maybe @Kim Shookdoes. 😀😀😀

Noooooo! Another huge loss! 😢

I think that's a perfectly rational hatred. 🙂 I despise cleaning those types of things as well. Some things go through the dishwasher rather than spending my own time trying to get the last little bits out.

I wish I was your neighbour!!! 😀

Looking forward to these blind tastings! Sounds like fun! 🙂