FauxPas

We went with a low-profile over-the-range M/W because the larger ones don't fit well in this house. There is an external wall vent in the house designed for a basic hood vent, so even after replacing kitchen cabinets, a full-sized OTR unit would sit quite low relative to the cooktop. I used to have a full-sized one and it was awkward. This one was the perfect solution and it actually vents pretty well. Although the interior seemed small at first, I almost never have problems fitting things inside. I'm really happy with this M/W! It's also a great solution for people with older cabinets who want to replace a hood vent but don't need to replace cabinets yet. You get a bonus microwave in about the same space. https://www.whirlpool.com/kitchen/cooking/low-profile-microwave-hoods.html

Oooh, it looks delicious! Really nicely done!

If you lived closer to me, @rotuts, I would consider re-gifting this air fryer to you! 🙂 You might get around to trying it out sooner than I would. Especially since we are thinking of selling our house and therefore even if I keep it, unlikely I will use it until we get settled into a new place. Need to keep kitchen counters clean for viewings, etc. Or I can donate it or return for refund and give proceeds to charity. The person who gave it to me knew I might not have a need for it and encouraged me to do whatever I wanted. I did her a favour and she wanted to repay me in some way though I told her nothing was necessary.

And this is part of my hesitation; this model is quite large and heavy. Over 8 kgs (18 lbs) and (rounded) non-metric dimensions are 16" L x 14" W x 12" H. That's almost the size of my Cuisinart CSO and I don't have permanent counter space for it. I'd have to really think about where to store it, the only available space right now is a cabinet above the fridge and my husband would have to do the storage and retrieval every time it was used if it was up there! And it would have to be making some very good eats indeed for him to do that on a regular basis. Else, I would have to really rearrange storage in the pantry to find room for it, and I'm not keen on that. I don't do a lot of fried foods right now, I guess. As @JoNorvelleWalkersays, you can do real fried without a lot of hassle if you are organized for it, but I never seem able to get around the idea of dealing with leftover oil. My friend raved about cooking sausages in the fryer, but I'm ok with cooking them in the CSO (I've given up on trying to keep it clean, so don't care about the spatter) or in a frying pan (range is induction, so I can spread some paper towels around to minimize the splatter. My husband is happy cooking burger patties on the grill outside and then he does the clean-up so I'm not going to change that scenario. 🙂 I wondered about the dehydrate function on the air fryer, but need to find some reviews of that function.

Yes, according to the information I read, each basket can be set to a different temperature and time. It has a "Smart" cook feature that will hold the basket with the shorter cook time until the longer cook time on the other basket reaches that same time. So, if one will take 15 mins at 300F and the other will take 10 mins at 400F, then the 400F will be on hold until the 300F basket has cooked for 5 mins.

I'm wondering if it's partly the electrical limitations of a countertop appliance. You can only draw so much power from a standard outlet. For example, you can only broil on one side, not on both. And cooking times are reduced for anything that uses both chambers instead of just one, so I assume the cooking temps are basically reduced.

I was just gifted the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). I had never really wanted an air fryer and am still reading to see if I can benefit from having one, but my initial review suggests that my little Cuisinart Steam Convection oven will accomplish many of the same tasks - cooking chicken or french fries (from frozen or fresh potatoes), reheating leftovers, etc. I'm not sure that I would use the air fryer for cooking salmon, halibut or cod but maybe I'm missing something. Has anyone used this particular model and have any pros or cons to help me decide? It's not huge, but it looks like a good size (I haven't taken it out of the box yet) and I don't know if I would be willing to give it a regular spot on my counter and it also looks like a pain to carry back and forth to some other storage spot. And for folks who have had an air fryer for awhile, are you still using it much?

Has anyone suggested samosas yet? Or empanadas? I haven't tried these particular recipes but they appeal to me. Thai Basil Beef Gingery Ground Beef (Soboro Donburi)

I saw a little write-up on ketchup bottles in a daily email from The Atlantic and I really agree with their conclusion! I think those generic red tabletop bottles are way better than their commercial designs! What do you folks think? Ketchup bottles. If you’re old enough to remember glass Heinz ketchup bottles, you might also recall how frustrating they were to use. You’d strike the bottom until, eventually, a huge blob would splurt out, ruining your plate. Heinz’s current bottle is squeezable and it relocates the dispenser to the bottom, but its valve is so tight that a heap of ketchup still comes out with each squeeze. I compared the Heinz squeezable bottle with the cylindrical, fine-tipped sort that adorn many a diner and picnic table. I could get that generic bottle to output 30 times less condiment per squeeze, and in a fine line instead of a wide dollop. Today’s bottle might be good for a fry-dipping excursion, but it releases too much ketchup to dress a burger or hot dog. The earlier, cheaper packaging technology seems superior. So why would Heinz deploy a worse—or at least less flexible—design? Daniel Johnson, the chair of packaging science at Rochester Institute of Technology, assured me that big companies such as Kraft Heinz put lots of R&D behind their packaging. The ketchup bottle would have been subject to focus-group studies of usage preferences, bottle-holding habits, and more. A Heinz spokesperson told me, “We’ve found that our consumers prefer a dollop to top a burger or for dipping.” That would explain why the bottle works the way it does, but it can’t stop me from lamenting such a one-note use of our nation’s favorite condiment. Invest in a cheap, picnic-type bottle and dispense from the brand-name bottle into it for a more versatile squeeze.

I know that @Ann_Thas quite a bit of experience cooking with spot prawns and probably has some good suggestions. Despite living near the docks and able to purchase spot prawns fresh most years, I rarely do. My husband really doesn't like them that much and so we only have them occasionally. When we get them fresh, we cook them right away - just steamed/poached/boiled, heads and all, maybe with some lemon zest, garlic, bay leaf. I know if we want to keep them, we need to remove the heads because of the enzymes. https://skipperotto.com/live-spot-prawn/ Since yours are frozen @KennethT, I'm guessing the heads have already been removed? We can get them in local stores, head removed, fresh or cooked but they tend to be pretty pricey. I know that @Ann_T has purchased from Walcan and I see they have a short video on cooking them, but these are fresh and with heads: https://shop.walcan.com/pages/recipes More good info from Walcan: https://shop.walcan.com/pages/bc-spot-prawns

Was it good? 😺 I mentioned Abkhazi because I think you cook Georgian food, don't you?

Are you going to talk more about the British Empire and its influence on food in Britain? Since I mentioned The Empress Hotel in Victoria, I was reminded of The Bengal Lounge which was located at the side of that hotel and was one of my favourite spots at one time. It was cheesy, a terrible play on Queen Victoria, Empress of India. It had a crappy curry buffet, a tiger skin on the wall and huge punkah fans on the ceiling. And yet, it had some appeal. It was over the top, but in a humorous way. Some may have seen it as politically incorrect, with its play on colonialism. But it was a great place to take friends when you wanted to spread out a bit and be able to talk. Big comfortable furniture before it became slightly shabby around the edges. Now closed. https://www.tourismvictoria.com/blog/whats-next-fairmont-empress

Or people who visit Victoria, BC. Though they may also have seen too much DA and the like. 😀 It's pretty hard to avoid afternoon teas in Victoria, it seems you're always tripping over people heading to tea in one place or another. I have no idea how many teas and teahouses there are, but it's quite a big part of the city's marketing. I lived in Victoria for almost 20 years (and still visit there) and never went for tea, though I walked to and from work near the downtown area and tourists would often stop me and ask where to go. It does depend on budget. The Empress Hotel had the best-known and most highly regarded afternoon tea for a long time, but it's a tad pricey. $89 Cdn (about $75 US) or $122 (about $100 US) and up for the Champagne Tea. Places like Butchart Gardens are a deal at $42.50 but they've likely already charged you $36 to walk through the gardens. To be fair, most people who did go for afternoon tea at various places really did seem to enjoy them. The food was usually rated very highly and it was considered a special occasion for many folks. The one place I might go to for tea would be the Teahouse at Abkhazi Garden, because it has such a colourful history with an exiled Georgian prince, Nicholas Abkhazi, and his wife, the worldly Marjorie Pemberton-Carter, both of whom were in internment camps in WW II. The gardens form a unique little spot and I'm glad it was saved by The Land Conservancy. Then again, instead of afternoon tea, I might opt for the Georgian food on the lunch menu! (I'd invite @JoNorvelleWalker!) 🙂 Well heck, I'd invite any of you, hahahaha. 😄

Any chance of a better photo of the business end of that implement or a description of it? I'm having a hard time seeing what exactly is located there? Is that a sharp blade?

Something to do with shellfish?

With herbs, perhaps?

I fondly remember this one with Rob Connoley ( @gfron1) back in his Curious Kumquat days. A travelling pop-up!

@Shelby, how are the peonies coming along this year?

Yes. Absolutely. ❤️

I'm truly sorry to hear this, @liuzhou. I hope her passing was peaceful. I'm sure it's a huge loss to you and your family.

We installed a fairly basic and inexpensive Brita under-sink system in our Arizona house a few years ago and we really liked it. It had a separate small faucet which didn't provide great water flow but was fine for our purposes. I'm really glad that I bought extra filters when I bought the system though, because apparently it's hard or impossible to find one of the required replacement filters these days. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brita-Redi-Twist-2-Stage-Drinking-Water-Filtration-System-WFUSS323/204644565 Most of the low reviews are due to difficulty finding one of the two replacement filters, so whatever system you choose, make sure to buy some extras and/or get some reassurance that you'll be able to find replacements. Home Depot sells a couple of other systems that get pretty good reviews.

Ooohhh, that looks GOOD!

I don't like mint juleps either. Not at all. Something about that combo just tastes off to me. But I do like Mojitos, which also have mint and can look very pretty. Would that be an OK substitute? Or maybe make a Mint Julep Cake? Not sure if this would be great or not - and even the recipe author said she might do the frosting differently. But I kinda liked the idea.

@ElsieD, can you give me an idea of how much of the MacLaren's you use for your halved recipe? I suspect you'd use less per weight than you would with the regular grated cheddar, if that makes sense. 😃

Ooooh, I love MacLaren's cheese, your recipe sounds really good and I will have to try it! 🙂