Shel_B

<LOL> Your comment brought back a memory of my childhood. In grade school, we had to wear dog tags due, of course, to the perceived threats of attack by our cold war enemies. I used my tags as you did yours - it was as much for identification as it was a simple tool. http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/that-time-american-school-kids-were-given-dog-tags-beca-508802138

I have been using the same technique for decades. Sometimes, if a knife isn't handy, I may use a coin. Also, gently tapping the rim of a jar against the counter can help break the seal. As noted, it's helpful to really clean the lids well.

I use them in peanut sauce and in sesame sauce, both of which I use frequently on cold noodle dishes. I sometimes use them in lieu of cayenne pepper, and have used them mixed with black, green, and white peppercorns to give an added dimensionality to a number of dishes.

I just had to Google leftover pizza ... http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2014/01/leftover-pizza-waffle-iron-delicious-crispy-gooey-cheese-stuffed-snack.html http://allrecipes.com/recipe/leftover-pizza-breakfast-casserole/

Chocolate coated Havanna alfajores from Argentina. Mmmmm!

Found this thread while looking for something else ginger related. I've been making peanut sauce with fresh ginger. I buy it fresh and keep it in a sealed zip bag in the fridge. I don't keep it a very long time before it gets used up. I grate it with one of two Microplanes that I have, and the results are just perfect. First, I peel the skin exposing as much ginger as needed and then just grate away. I cannot image grating frozen ginger and getting a better result. Rotuts, and others, what do you experience when grating fresh ginger that makes it inferior to frozen?

Agreed. Much prefer the HTML page, for several reasons ...

I don't mind seeing pics of the restaurant - it's sometimes helpful if you've not been to the place before. And it's definitely helpful to have a page for the address, phone, hours of operation, and maybe directions or a map. The directions and map came in handy when Toots and I went to a new place up in Lake Tahoe last month on our vacation. Pictures of the place were also welcome as I was looking for a certain atmosphere and setting, as well as good food and service.

I agree with your comments about this site. Irritating ... the music is distracting as are the images moving around the page. I like a simple, direct site, easy to read, and with nice sized, contrasty type. However, there is a direct link to the dinner menu: www.morimotorestaurant.com/dinner.pdf

What constitutes "occasional use?" Once a week, once a month ....?

What machines have a blade that falls off into the food?

In the past, I had a small Cuisinart and a small Kitchenaid, neither of which lasted very long. However, I was using them for grinding/chopping small amounts of meat, and I suppose that taxed their motors and construction. So I understand your concern. My needs now are less strenuous, and use would not be as frequent (I was grinding meat every day), so maybe these smaller machines would suffice. Should I decide on one of these, the question is which brand and model would be best, would be the most durable. I hadn't thought about using an immersion blender for the tasks mentioned in my original post, so maybe that's a better way to go <shrug>

http://www.costco.com/.product.100082950.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-itempageVerticalRight-_-ClickEV&cm_vc=itempageVerticalRight

I never said anything about making peanut butter.

I put together what I called a Mid-America Salad. Maybe it's a little too fancy for what you're doing, but I'll include the recipe and technique here on the chance it might be "inspirational." I wrote this recipe up for a dear friend of mine, so the instructions and commentary were for her - and now they're for you. I also remember salads with Green Goddess dressing. Back around 1980, I made a dinner for some friends and the theme, such as it was, was to use as much canned food as possible - canned, condensed soup, canned ravioli, bottled salad dressing, etc. Shel’s Mid-America Salad with Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing Some iceberg lettuce wedges fresh tomato wedges rinsed, drained, and dried red kidney beans (optional) thin slices of red onion (optional) a few thick sliced bacon slices (optional) 1 Tbs best quality mayonnaise 1 Tbs good quality sour cream 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice or about 1 Tbs lemon zest, or combination About 1 cup or more rich buttermilk 4 ounces Maytag or similar blue cheese (Maytag Blue is a Mid-American blue cheese) ½ tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher salt dash or two of dry mustard (optional) Divide the blue cheese into three pieces. Take one piece and chop it very fine. Take another piece and chop it medium fine, and chop or crumble the third piece in larger chunks. If using bacon, lay the bacon strips on a roasting rack over a cookie sheet and bake in a 350-degree oven until crisp, about 20-25 minutes. Remove when cooked to your liking, and set on several layers of paper towels to compete draining and to cool further. Cover with a few more layers of paper towels, and pat bacon dry, letting the towels absorb as much grease as possible. You can also put the bacon into a cold oven, and the slower heating will render a little more fat. Put the mayo, sour cream, and the very fine pieces of blue cheese together, along with the salt, into an appropriately sized glass or stainless steel bowl (preferably one that comes with a tight fitting lid, but you can use plastic wrap to cover - try not to use plastic bowls as plastic can sometimes impart a taste to whatever has been stored in it, especially if you’re going to be storing the dressing overnight or for a couple of days) Using a fork or small whisk, mix together well. If you like you can put the mixture and about ½ cup of buttermilk in a blender or food processor for a few twirls or pulses to incorporate and smooth the mixture, but it’s not really necessary to do that, plus it makes more mess to clean up. When all of the above is nicely combined (don’t over mix) add the rest of the blue cheese and optional dry mustard (start with just a pinch or two) and gently mix together very well by hand. Add more buttermilk a little at a time, mixing well with each addition. When you get the taste and texture to your liking (you may want to add a little more salt, a pinch or two more of dry mustard) cover the bowl and refrigerate at least four hours or, better yet, over night or a couple of days to let the flavors meld. The mixture may thicken up a bit when refrigerated, especially over night, so don’t be afraid to make it a little thinner than you may ultimately prefer. Before using, let the dressing warm a little, stir the mixture, adjust seasoning, maybe add more buttermilk, mayo, or sour cream to adjust taste/texture, and dollop on the wedges of iceberg lettuce with nicely sized wedges of fresh tomatoes and the optional drained and dried canned kidney beans and a few slices of red onion. If using, break up and crumble some bacon over the salad. When eating the salad, close your eyes and it will be easy to imagine that you’re in a diner in Omaha, Nebraska <LOL> Notes: You might want to seed the tomato wedges depending on how moist and runny the tomatoes are. My preference is for thick sliced bacon. Niman Ranch bacon can be had in 1/8-inch or so slices. You can sometimes find slab bacon which you or the butcher can cut for you to whatever thickness you like. The Niman Ranch product is fine.

Based on what I've been playing around with in the kitchen these days, I think my next purchase will be a mini food processor. I'm mostly looking to make some sauces (like peanut sauce) and dressings using fruits and vegetables, maybe chopping and pureeing garlic .... essentially, simple little tasks. I understand that most of these are not very powerful, but for my purposes such a processor should be fine. What do the cognoscenti recommend?

I talked to the car owner yesterday evening and she gave me some apple slices that she dried. They were pretty good and quite flavorful. The apples came from a tree in her back yard. I didn't ask her what type they were, but they looked like Gravenstein to me. When I came to California in 1967, I discovered sun dried tomatoes on a ranch up in Napa. These tomatoes were dried in small flats on the roof of the barn and ranch house. Never having had (or heard of) sun dried tomatoes before, these were quite a treat, on several levels. We humans are pretty resiliant. Toots' early years were spent on her grandfather's plantation in the jungle of Paraguay, and to hear about what she ate and how she lived made me realize how strong we can be.

It has been suggested that I use a torch for some of my cooking, but I haven't been interested in adding another piece of kitchen gadgetry to my limited storage space, nor do I know what I might use it for, or how often I'd use it. However, in another thread here this morning http://forums.egullet.org/topic/149530-that-darn-skin-–-peppers-tomatoes-etc/ - post #5 - a new-to-me use for the torch was suggested. So, what do you use a torch for, and what torch do you use? How often do you use your torch? What should one look for if buying a torch for cooking purposes? Do you get a fuel taste on the food when using the torch? Thanks!

http://www.templeofthai.com/food/fresh_curry_paste/

I couldn't find the first recipe, however, the Steamed Lemon Chicken sounds great. I've saved that one. There is another of his recipes that sounds good - the Ma Po Tofu, which is a dish I like quite a bit when in the mood for it. Don't care much for deep fried fish dishes. Thanks! ETA: OK, I found the first recipe. Thanks!

I'll have to look into that. I love lemon juice on my baked potatoes, and Toots loves potatoes in most any form. This might be something that would work well for us. Thanks!

I'm not sure ...with a chicken stuffed with lots of lemon, the lemon might be a main ingredient, but a few slices of lemon placed on a chicken breast might be considered an enhancer. That's the only example I can think of off hand. Or think of 40 Garlic Chicken, where the bird is cooked surrounded with lots of garlic - enrobed in garlic the way I make it - the garlic would be a main ingredient as opposed to some garlic spread under the skin of a breast. Overall, however, the line might not be clear, so I imagine that it's as much opinion and preference as an absolute. As for your fish example, I suppose I could go either way with that one (which seems somewhat at odds with my stuffed chicken example, doesn't it?). ETA: Hmm, perhaps I could make a 40 Lemon Chicken ... ?

Obviously, this technique is used elsewhere, wino ...

While on a walk through Berkeley yesterday, I saw a tray of sliced apples drying on the package shelf behind the rear seat of a car parked in the sun. Seems like it might be a good way to dry fruit if the weather's right. Anyone ever try this? Any thoughts about a downside to this technique?

Lemon is a favorite flavor here, and it would be great if I could get some fresh ideas about how to use lemon in savory dishes. Apart from pasta dishes, and using lemons as an "enhancer" for many dishes, are there any dishes that might feature lemon as a main ingredient? Thanks!