blue_dolphin

Excellent point. I should have thought of that! Ditto on the smartphone as they can do many of the same things. I've been such a voice-recognition-phobe that I haven't explored that option.

Interesting. Alexa and I haven't come to swear words yet. Then again, my expectations are low - I'm the one always screaming, "SPEAK TO AN AGENT" into every automated phone system

I can see how that would be annoying. Mine aren't really in hearing range of each other so I haven't had that problem yet. You may not need to actually put the device in the kitchen - I only have 2 duplex outlets in the kitchen and wouldn't want to dedicate one for this I put one Dot in the family room, where it's about 15 feet away from the kitchen, but Alexa can hear me (and vice versa) quite well. I put the other Dot in the master bathroom and I can ask Alexa to change the music without getting out from under the covers in the adjacent bedroom, about 17 feet away.

I picked up some Italian pasta at Trader Joe's yesterday and following up on a pasta cooking concern mentioned by @Thanks for the Crepes, I cooked up a serving for my breakfast this morning: Sauced with the last of some Mushroom Bourguignon, doctored with a spoon of sour cream into a sorta-Stroganoff.

I've had the same problem with pastas. There was one where the ruffly edge was thinner than the flat part of the noodle and broke off into tiny half-moon shapes before the rest of the noodle was done. I decided I should check these out before cooking up new recipes so I cooked up a serving. Happily, this particular gigli seems to be OK. They are a fairly small shape, smaller than others that have given me that problem: They retained their shape well after cooking: And on the plate with a mushroom sauce:

I'm wondering Alexa users are using it for kitchen or cooking-related tasks. I couldn't find a dedicated thread but found some comments from other threads: I am new to the Alexa party and jumped in late last year after Alexa got the Sonos skill, enabling me to control my sound system. I was mostly interested in being able to do that in the kitchen, so when I'm listening to a podcast and some noisy appliance makes me miss a sentence, I can just tell Alexa to "rewind 10 sec" and I can catch up. I paid $25 for a Dot, with a coupon from Sonos. After trying it out for a while, I spent $30 for a second Dot over the holidays. I already have speakers in every room, so I didn't need an Echo. I absolutely love using it to set timers - so much easier to use voice than need to dry off my hands to push timer buttons or fiddle with my phone. Unlike a timer, I don't have a display to check but Alexa will gladly tell me that I have 7 min left on the oven timer, 30 min on the laundry timer and 12 min on my dough timer and when time is up, she tells me which timer is up. For me, it's worth the $25 just as a multi-channel timer. I wish Alexa had a good measurement conversion skill so I could ask how much a tablespoon of something weighs in grams - she does OK with some things but not others. I also wish it had the ability to group devices so I'd be able to have the timer I set in the kitchen go off on the other Dot on the other end of the house. How about you? How are you using Alexa? Successes? Failures? What would you like to see added? Host's note: this topic was originally titled "Using Alexa in the Kitchen" but renamed when it quickly morphed into a broader range of speakers.

I'd suggest trying the same sideways arrangement that @Okanagancook suggested. I have mine in a similar corner (photo in this post upthread) and there is ample room for me to reach between the oven and the wall outlet so I would think you could access that switch OK. I'm OK with putting baby in the a corner but as my most used appliance she's earned a spot on the counter for sure !

I see more new Oreos are on the way this year. Two new flavors were reportedly released on Jan 1: Hazelnut Chocolate (looks like a vanilla cookie with a Nutella-like artificially flavored creme filling) and Hot and Spicy Cinnamon (looks like a chocolate cookie with bright red cinnamon candy filling) In May, 3 of the customer-proposed flavors from last year's "My Creation Contest" will be released: Cherry Cola Oreos Kettle Corn Oreos Piña Colada Oreo Thins News articles also report that Peeps will return for Easter and Firework Oreo will be back for July Fourth.

Trader Joe's sells something called "Soft Baked Snickerdoodles" but I have never tried them.

Three shapes of Italian pasta priced at $2.69/500g pkg. I haven't tried them yet, but they look good. I particularly like the look of the little ridges on the orecchiette as it looks like it might help prevent them from nesting together so much.

On the left, we have Oeufs à la Bourguignonne inspired by Mastering the Art of French Cooking but using leftover Mushroom Bourguignon from a different book. On the right is the Turnip Salad with Yogurt, Herbs & Poppy Seeds from Six Seasons. This did not turn out to be my favorite turnip salad nor a particularly good pairing with the oeufs but I very much like the idea of slicing the turnips vertically so you get a bit of stem on a lot of the pieces and soaking them in ice water to crisp them up. So I learned something, and that's good.

Well, if your distant, dumb friend is really set on the idea, Google could lead them to several recipes that put cheese either in the roll, under the sausage or on top of the rolls or both so it does seem to work. I was introduced to sausage rolls by a coworker from the UK who always brought them to our holiday pot-luck lunches so the non-cheese version is the only one I would call a sausage roll, particularly at this time of year. If you happen to be in the position of introducing anyone to the sausage roll, I strongly suggest you consider the power you wield and remember the power of tradition

The nice thing about sprout salads is that they are such good keepers. Yesterday, I had to dispose of 2 bags of sad green slime that never got a chance to become salads from the bottom of the vegetable drawer while the sprouts were still perky as ever! And I would disagree with respect to your creativity - you seem to have been pouring quite a bit of it into the Modernist Breads lately, while still posting a variety of interesting meals.

Raw Brussels Sprouts with Lemon, Anchovy, Walnuts & Pecorino from Six Seasons And I kicked up a serving of yesterday's potato & leek soup by blending in a big spoonful of the vinegary, garlicky, spicy, horseradish-y Cocktail Tomatoes from Deep Run Roots.

Wow, six years of dealing with that - what a pity it took so long. I know a lot of places have tried to replace those packets because they make such an awful mess when people step on them but this is something else entirely!

I haven't tried them, but that's what I thought of when I saw the description. I'll have to take a look and see if they could be broken up to use for some crunch on salads or soups. Or I could just get myself some of those Pik-Nik Shoestring Potatoes if they are still around!

Do you think you will explore opportunities for a more local Dolci di Franci in Miami?

The liner does seem like a brilliant idea. The step of transferring a wet loaf into a hot cast iron pot seems to present the biggest no-knead challenge to new bakers.

I buy it to avoid hard water build-up in the cats' drinking fountains and to make somewhat clear ice cubes for cocktails. Hadn't thought about the steam oven and steam mop but will consider that.

Over in the Soup topic, @Darienne complimented my dishes and to avoid going off topic over there, I'll reply here... Thank you! They were my grandmother's wedding dishes. A Staffordshire flow blue pattern named Watteau. The shallow soup bowls are a nice size - not too big. In addition to the bowls, there are dinner plates, luncheon plates and salad plates. Sadly, just a few cups and saucers and a number of serving pieces. I wish I had more of these dishes but I'll enjoy the ones I have!

Potage Parmentier (Potato & Leek Soup) from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So simple and delicious.

@Smokeydoke: 1. Thanks for the French 75 mention - I am sipping one now so you're helping me use up leftover bubbles....not that it's ever a problem! 2. I have a bottle of the Clear Creek Kirschwasser that I've only used for cheese fondue and baking but it seems like very nice stuff so I'm also curious about the "horrible for drinking" thing. I guess I should do my own research and try it

I was paging through Six Seasons, with an eye towards healthy, vegetable options to try in the new year when I spied a note under a recipe for Frico in the basic intro section, suggesting they be offered as a snack with Champagne. I just happened to have a big wedge of Parmesan AND some leftover bubbles in the fridge. Excellent snack. Obviously I still need to work on the vegetable thing !

Just wanted to report in on the sausage rolls that I made from the link that @Anna N shared just upthread here. I posted a photo over in the savory baking thread here and have since had an opportunity to bake them directly from frozen in the CSO. Steam-bake @ 400°F for 20 min worked very well and I believe they were more evenly browned than when I cooked off a second batch (again from frozen) on convect-bake @ 400°F, which required a few more minutes. In both cases, the temp of the sausage meat in the middle of the little rolls was 200°F or a bit higher so I assume they were safely cooked. In my opinion, they are OK at RT, but much better warm. If you use the CSO, you could always have a small plate ready "on time" and then cook up more when late comers arrive. I believe they should reheat very well in the CSO but sadly, (or perhaps happily for my waistline ) Trader Joe's puff pastry is sold out for the year at my local stores so I can't conduct further experiments!

I know that people began receiving this message in 2017, as soon as 10Speed released the errata, so I'm assuming it will be along fairly soon. Sweet was the cookbook for Dec in a couple of Facebook cookbook groups and Helen was very active in helping people troubleshoot and correct these errors.