Shel_B

They are made with a different glass than the older Pyrex and there have been numerous reports of the dishes shattering. The packaging label on the new dishes STRONGLY caution about the glass shattering. IOW, new Pyrex ain't as good as the older glass and dishes, IMHO. http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/pyrex.asp http://www.techfragments.com/1608/exploding-pyrex-cookware/

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/miu-france/professional-stainless-steel-mandoline-p114711?src=dtw_pro_mandoline&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=

This Thanksgiving has shown me that I can make use of another casserole or baking dish, and I want to get a 9 x 13 inch dish. There are some sales around for stoneware, and some for enameled cast iron. I have some old Corningware dishes that seem to be just fine for my current needs. For the new dish, what material might be best - enameled cast iron, glass, stoneware, or Corningware? What are the pros and cons of these materials? I definitely don't want metal, have no problem shopping garage sales or thrift shops, and I don't want the new Pyrex glass ...

What is your water : rice ratio? I'm assuming that you essentially added rice to water and cooked as above. Did you do anything more to the rice in the way of prep or cooking? Thanks!

I have no favorite apps for the kitchen, however, maybe this is worth a look since you specifically requested a volume to weight conversions: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blogspot.asifrc.Converter&hl=en It might be helpful if we knew what operating system you have.

Well, I can only tell you our experience. Yes, mice can squeeze through small openings, that's why we used appropriately-sized grates over openings, and, of course, made sure they were well secured. I'm sure you're correct about the points you make - I certainly agree with just about all of them, yet following Vector Control's suggestions, our rodent problem was eliminated. It's entirely possible some mice starved to death having been caught in the crawl space under the house, yet upon examining that area three or four times, we found no dead rodents. <shrug>

I'm a big fan of calling in a reputable pest control company to deal with mice problems, too. Sorry, we didn't call a pest control company, we called the county's pest abatement arm, Vector Control. They did nothing to kill the mice, rather, the fellow who came out examined the house and the environment, and showed us ways to prevent the mice from getting into the house. In our case that involved brush removal, trimming trees, putting appropriate screens over potential entrances, filling cracks in the foundation, and so on. We used no poisons to eliminate the problem, rather, we prevented the problem by making repairs and adjustments to the environment.

We had a problem with mice about a year ago, and all the tricks and suggestions noted above were ones we tried. Finally, we called the vector control office at the county. and they sent a guy out to assess our situation. The assessment included a thorough examination of the house and surrounding area, and we got a report on what to do to eliminate the problem. Since then, no more mice ... try calling your county vector control office. It may be called something else in NYC, like pest abatement ... or?

I received the Bineshii rice today. First, I'd like to say how happy I am with their service. I ordered through Amazon and the rice was sent the next day, and arrived but a few days later. A nice, quick, efficient ordering process. Bineshii charged a fair price for shipping and handling unlike some places that charge as much as twice the Bineshii shipping price. Upon opening the Priority Mail carton, I was surprised by the strong and wonderfully vegetal aroma of the rice that came through the two plastic bags in which it was packed. The aroma was more intense than the Canadian rice I bought a few weeks ago, although it, too, was fairly aromatic. The grains of the Bineshii rice are longer by about 1/3 than the Canadian rice, although there are some shorter and broken pieces evident, and the grains look a little smother and shinier. I can see no broken pieces in the Canadian rice package, but then I can only see the rice's top layer in the bags. The cooking instructions for the two rices are different. The Canadian rice recommends a 3:1 water:rice ratio with a 30-minute cooking time while the Bineshii rice recommends a 6-8:1 ratio of water:rice and a 17 - 22 minute cooking time. Clearly some experimentation is in order. I suspect I'll have some fun cooking these rices and comparing their flavors. I have a few recipe ideas I want to try out, but won't have time to do any rice cooking until after the holiday. Happy Holiday, everyone! Edited for grammar, punctuation, and clarity.

The yams will be baked, and they may have a bit of caramelized flavor to them - haven't decided yet. I was thinking that the ghee would be a good choice in that case, but not too sure otherwise. The butter will be incorporated into the yams, along with some toasted, candied pecans.

For Thanksgiving dinner I'm making Garnet yams with lavender infused butter. However, I have a jar of ghee that I bought a while back, and it's quite a bit richer tasting than the butter I plan to use. Do you think the ghee may be too intense for this dish? The butter I plan to use is Kerrygold, which has a higher fat content than standard supermarket butter.

As mentioned above, we ate a lot of canned vegetables, although not a great variety. I never had canned spinach, but I tried canned asparagus (Yecch!) and, strangely, canned carrot (OMG! Save me from this horror!) juice. I do believe it was the worst thing I've ever put to my lips. If spinach is any worse than that most awful rust-colored-liquid-they-called-carrot-juice, then you have my deepest sympathies.

weinoo's post brought back some strong memories. I grew up in the same general area as weinoo, and my maternal grandparents lived in The Bronx. We lived with them for a while, after the war - I guess I should say WWII - until we bought a house in Queens. Grandpa Jack was a produce man. He worked in produce literally since the day he stepped of the boat from Ellis Island. Eventually he had a few small stores, the kind with the produce lined up outside the store in boxes and bins. He had a great reputation as an excellent produce man and a good worker. He'd get up at 2:00am and head for the produce market where he'd buy his fruits and vegetables for the day. Farmers would save Jack the good stuff, but it always helped to get to the market early. Now, with all this great produce in her life, you'd think my mother would be serving fresh produce at every meal, but that wasn't the case. Most of our vegetables came from a can, and when I was big enough, I'd open the cans with the Swing-Away can opener attached to the wall of the pantry cabinet. I loved going to Grandpa's store, walking around amongst those colorful produce items, and getting a grapefruit-sized Florida orange as a treat. The grandparents didn't have a car, so Jack got around by subway, and that made his coming to visit difficult and time consuming. But, whenever Jack would visit, he'd have two big paper bags filled with produce, including my favorite grapefruit oranges. We'd enjoy lots of fresh produce for a week or so, until we'd have to go back to cans. It turns out that Jack knew a grower in Florida - they were friends somehow - who would provide Jack with these super oranges. It turns out that a lot of Jack's customers liked and wanted them, too. I never saw such oranges anywhere else but at Grandpa Jack's store, or in those big paper bags stuffed with fresh, seasonal produce that he'd bring on his infrequent visits.

What constitutes "upper level stuff?"

And I'm looking forward to learning more, too ...

<LOL> Reading this thread got me to thinking I should try some of this Bineshii to compare with the rice I got a few weeks ago, and that made me realize it would be a nice holiday gift for some friends, and I bought a couple of pounds, also.

I find louis kemp to be far better quality/taste then any other brands ive tried. Im picky about paying $6/lb for fake crab meat when i can sometimes get real lump crabmeat for $9/lb. I have bought frozen before and noticed when thawed it was dry and somewhat freezer burned. Even louis kemp has on the label for best quality do not freeze, and most other brands that are frozen will say on the label do not refreeze. In my experience imatation crab is a product that doesnt freeze well. Sure its safe to eat, but not the best taste/texture. Its already bad enough its fake and doesnt even come close to real crab, then you go and freeze it. this site needs a facepalm smiley. Thanks so much for your comments. Here's your smiley:

I read your post in the Dinner section last night, and it gave me the idea to cook up some rice. I blended a local brown rice (Massa Organics) with some hand parched Canadian wild rice, and baked it in the oven. I used the leftover mushroom broth I made last week, and took your idea of adding black beans. A nice combination. Thanks for posting your pics and story.

When I was looking for something like that, I discovered the wide range of sizes they come in. Be sure to check the size before buying, especially when buying on line.

That's a great idea, and it gives me some additional ideas as well. Thanks!

The stuff I bought contained Pollack as the first ingredient followed by Bream. The ingredient list looked a bit better than the other pkgs, but I'll look for an even better quality. Thanks!

The package I got was in the frozen section, and, after reading your post, I checked to see it the pkg said not to freeze. It didn't. Why Louis Kemp?

A few weeks ago I hit the big Asian market in my area, and with plenty of time to look around and shop, I found things I ordinarily don't look for. I found a couple of types of frozen, imitation crab by some different producers. I chose the one with an ingredient list that was most acceptable to me. I had some in a salad this morning for breakfast, and was a little disappointed by the dryness of the "krab" pieces. That brought up a few questions: Are most brands pretty similar in their ingredient list, or are there some that are outstanding in some way? Is there some way of knowing, by the ingredient list, if the product will be dry or moist? From what I gathered, the ingredients aren't too bad for a processed food, but I couldn't help but wonder if I'm missing something. While it ain't health food, is there anything of a "bad" nature I should be aware of, both in the ingredients and the processing process? All the videos I watched made it seem that this stuff is just fine and dandy. Any comments you have on this product would be welcome. How do you use it?

I have a dedicated baking pan filled with salt, with a rack to keep the potato off the bottom. The potato is only partially covered in salt but I turn the potato when I pierce it at thirty minutes. The skin comes out quite crispy. I am tempted to try baking this way after removing the skin, as suggested by Lisa Shock. Thanks for your response. While I like the skin, I also like 'taters sans skin, so Lisa's technique certainly seems worth trying.

From the makers of Havanna brand alfajores: Hi Shel, Glad to hear you received them quickly! Best way for long storage (up to 6 months) is the freezer. Just make sure to leave them on the shelf for enough hours for them to unfreeze completely. Refrigerator is not recommended at all. They will also last on the shelf, you can safely consume them up to 10~15 days (not more than that, please) after expiry date. It will be greatly appreciated if you leave a comment in the Testimonials section of our website: www.alfajores-havanna.com/testimonios