austramerica
-
Posts
49 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by austramerica
-
-
-
We just had a groovy one after lunch today while watching the snow and accidents down the road:
a box of chocolate chip cookies topped with ice cream...not really ice cream cookies but similar. Ice cream cookies has cookie on top and at the bottom and ice cream in the middle. This is just one cookie topped with ice cream. No mess dripping on the side...and you can have any flavour you want.
-
Yep! I got mine at Trader Joe's too.
-
Freshly baked bread...it's a tradition! Even if you cannot make the dough for the first time, store-bought will be fine. We have half-baked dough at the supermarket nowadays that you can buy and bring home and put in your oven -- for the heck of it. Roast chicken can't be beaten if you have another oven. I have a twin oven when we first moved in here so I did both.
The smell of freshly baking bread is a strong welcome to anyone coming inside the house.
Just my millionth cent's worth...
austramerica
-
The World According to Women
If you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front of him and never say its not quite as good as his mothers
...then buy a dog.
If you want someone always willing to go out, at any hour, for as long and wherever you want ..
...then buy a dog.
If you want someone who will never touch the remote, doesn't care about football, and can sit next to you as you watch romantic movies. ..
...then buy a dog.
If you want someone who is content to get on your bed just to warm your feet and whom you can push off if he snores ...
...then buy a dog!
If you want someone who never criticizes what you do, doesn't care if you are pretty or ugly, fat or thin, young or old, who acts as if every word you say is especially worthy of listening to, and loves you unconditionally, perpetually ...
...then buy a dog.
BUT, on the other hand, if you want someone who will never come when you call, ignores you totally when you come home, leaves hair all over the place, walks all over you, runs around all night and only comes home to eat and sleep, and acts as if your entire existence is solely to ensure his happiness .,
...then buy a cat!
Now be honest, you thought I was gonna say... marry a man, didn't you?
Okay, Okay, it all makes sense now...
I never looked at it this way before:
MEN tal illness
MEN strual cramps
MEN tal breakdown
MEN opause
GUY necologist
AND
When we have REAL trouble, it's a
HIS terectomy
Ever notice how all of women's problems start with MEN?
Note: This is just a tongue-in-cheek joke...so please don't shoot the messenger...
austramerica
-
The first time I visited my now husband's house, the first thing I noticed was the dirty kitchen. That was over 36 years ago now..short of booking into a hotel, I stayed that night as he has a visitor's room. Four children and many years later, he still delights in telling his friends that the first thing I said that next morning was "I don't cook in a dirty kitchen!" and he was that short of throwing me out of his house.
I don't mind other people's dirty kitchen, couldn't make a comment of how they live either, but my kitchen gets the clean-up, tidy up and disinfected before and after cooking.
I love cleaning...as well as love cooking...actually.
-
What I made yesterday -- mini blueberry muffins
-
Maine Lobsters...I crave for Maine Lobsters -- right now!!!
-
I do live here in extreme weather circumstances but I grow my own vegetables in the garden...though bugger if I know why my green peas never reached my kitchen. Carrots, tomatoes, corn, sunflowers for the seeds, gherkins...as long as I have more space left at the back where the sun shines, I put some sort of vegetables. Then I have my sort of herb garden in pots at the patio during warm weather and just inside my kitchenette during the cold seasons. I also have key limes and lemons in largist pot with a wheelie underneath so I can easily wheel them out to the deck after the frost had passed. There's nothing like fresh herbs within easy reach...
austramerica
-
This may have been answered before, but I did not see it, so I want to ask why "chefs on tv" put salt in the water before cooking pasta?
The salt serves two purposes: first, to add flavor to the pasta (or rather, to enhance the already-present flavor) and the second, to (marginally) increase the boiling-point of the water. The first is the more important function, IMO. I don't add a "handful," though, more like a few large pinches (I suppose it comes out to around a tablespoon of salt to a few quarts of water). If your pasta came out salty, you just added too much salt. I'm sure there are more meaningful recommendations of exactly how much to add out there, so I would definitely start with someone's hard-and-fast numbers and adjust them to suit your tastes. You definitely should not end up with salty pasta.
The oil is put in on the theory that it prevents the pasta from sticking to itself. Bupkis, I say. If the pasta is sticking to itself, you are not using enough water. Of course, I am far from an expert on these matters, but that has been my experience, and I make a lot of pasta!
Have you tried it without, or just stuck with tradition? I'd give it a try without and see if it makes a difference for you.Edited to clarify and expand.
-
This may have been answered before, but I did not see it, so I want to ask why "chefs on tv" put salt in the water before cooking pasta? I grew up with my mom and elder relations putting cooking oil in the water and that had been what I was doing ever since. Every time I watch a tv show where the chef is italian, they throw a handful of salt in the water. I did it once and it turned my spaghetti salty. I was so embarassed because I've never had salty spaghetti before and at that time, we were having some visitors and it was too late to cook another batch...
I don't understand what went wrong...? Can someone more smarter than me explain the difference, why some cooks uses oil and some uses salt? I know my mom said use oil so the spaghetti do not stick together as they cook, but salt?
Thanks for any explanation..
austramerica
-
It is my soon-to-be daughter-in-law who is a Chinese/Malaysian (not me) but we sort of observe the 15-day Chinese New Year. This year, I had invited some neighbours for an afternoon of wonton-making. It was fun and we'd love to do it again during the summer....
austramerica
-
Since sonny brat came home for his Spring break, with all the stuff he emptied on my laundry door, it was such a hectic day with him also bringing over an old high school friend over. So for a quickie, we just had some simple pizza roll out of pita bread with capsicums, cheese, pepperoni, tomato paste, mushrooms, practically put anything we like in the bread, rolled it up and squashed the whole thing in my panini maker. While they were munching on them rolled up garbage, I made some mini blueberry muffins for dessert with ice cream. They all thought it was yummy, when all I wanted to do was take a photo of them pigging out .... too bad!! as soon as I got my camera out, they disappeared...out of sight!!
-
I've been sorely tempted to crochet a scarf out of dog fur for my sister in law, because of the very reasons you describe.
That said, my husband's aunt thought my non-dramatic and very un-problematic husband was faking his soy allergy. She made him deviled eggs with soy mayonaise. On the bright side, she offered to pay the hospital bill. So it's probably not a plan of attack for everyone
-
A few weeks ago, we had two visitors. One will eat anything and would love to have some of my home cooked meals as his wife cannot (wouldn't???) cook even if her life depends on it. He loves visiting us because I love cooking -- even on short notice practically. If only we live next door...
Anyway, the other guy who came with him was not only picky with his food, he also think that he get sick with most food that he eats. So to cut a story short, two days before they are due to arrive, I called him up and asked him what food he is allergic to. Cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, etc. He said he reads everything on the label to check if they have onion powder...and all sorts of things. I told him that I cook my own broth so he need not worry about having all those nasty things he thinks the store bought ones have.
On the day that they are supposed to come, I cooked my broth -- with all the things that he said he doesn't like in it.
Then I sieved it all so it'll look like clear broth. I serve that clear soup with just one meatball in the centre. He had it, he think it was the ant's pants!!! He loved it. I did not say anything to anyone. I was waiting for him to fall down dead in front of me practically, as Mike, the other guy said that if he eat something bad for him, he is known to just collapse. Well...dinner happened, chit-chat in front of the tv, etc., before going to bed. I was awake almost all night from what I did!!! Nothing happened...in fact he was even able to attend the seminar they needed to attend here in Missouri (they are from Florida).Weekend came...and went. I called up Mike to ask how Gene was doing lately. Had he suffered any maladies lately? I must have asked so many questions that Mike (he is an attorney) suspected that I must have done something wrong...legal eagle mind he has...
...so I 'fessed up and told him. He said Gene is OK, well, was OK last time he saw him, which was yesterday actually... In short, sometimes it is all in the mind...you think you will get sick, then you do because you are feeding that negative thought to happen. And so it does.
austramerica
-
What an ordeal!!! I was crying my eyes out laughing...thanks for the laughs...
Cheers,
austramerica
-
...forget to put my ground almond in when I make my next Friands....
how duff!!!
austramerica
-
Hi....
I am looking for a recipe for Pecan Toffee Crown? Anyone heard of this or even tried it? Can someone direct me to where I can get this recipe?
Thanks...
austramerica
P.S. I came here this afternoon to see if someone noticed my post?
-
Hi...I am just new to this group...
I am on the last leg of reading Legend and Legacy by Robert J. Serling. It is about the story of Boeing and its people.
Cheers,
austramerica
Where and how do you store your rice?
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Rice are like flours. You have to store it in a tightly covered containers. Clear plastic containers will do, but sometimes small bugs can still get into it, that is why we have to wash the rice twice (at least in my culture...)
If you are going to store rice or flour in an ordinary the pantry (or outside the fridge) make sure you also have a open cupful of apple cider vinegar with a drop of dishwashing liquid in the same cabinet (or pantry) where you store your rice or flour. This is one way of keeping those flying bugs away from your pantry, away from your flour or rice. Make sure you also change that mixture once or twice a week.
Just my two cents.