ElsieD

If you do a search on Smitten Kitchen's site, she has an excellent hot chocolate mix recipe. I made it one year to give out to family as small Christmas gifts.

It's in my "to make" file. Do you think cutting back on the sugar is a good idea?

Just looked the recipe up. The reviews suggested cutting back on the sugar. Did you? The recipe looks good.

Dumb question, maybe, but I thought those cookies are super crispy? If so, the ice cream would have to be frozen really hard, or else the ice cream would squish out? Or are the cookies thin enough that they "snap"? I've got my eye on making that recipe as well. I am a sucker for all things ginger.

I just printed out the chart and wow! Temperatures for tempering chocolate, dark milk and white. That is one of the things I was hoping to do with it, especially since it will hold the chocolate in temper. Also given are temperatures for making caramel which will simplify making my salted caramel ice cream. Etc. Etc. Etc. Thank you so much!

If you PM me an email address, I will forward them to you. It included poached eggs😁 and hollandaise. What they sent me had just been sent to testek this morning from Breville. It also has troubleshooting tips and the like. The chef there, Yan, is really helpful. He said that if I had trouble with a recipe I could call him and he will help me. He also suggested I use sous vide tables for some applications. Off the top of my head, yogurt comes to mind although making yogurt in the IP is dead easy and works every time. That said, I will likely do a batch just to see how it works out. Once I get it and start using it, I'll check with you on the temperatures. And thank you for the link in your post.

I ordered the Control Freak and it will arrive tomorrow. Yan also forwarded a few recipes which will give me a start at knowing what temperature to cook a few things. I'd like to say I'm taking one for the team but that would be overstating things.😁 I sure am excited.

Yan from Testek called me this morning. They ship the control freak with an adapter. He says the only drawback is that there may be problems using the "fast" mode but says that is not a big deal. He also said a 72 hour short rib that he cooked sous vide on the control freak turned out really well. My husband says to go ahead and get one but I'm still wavering. Poached eggs cooked on the control freak look really nice........

Makes sense. I decided to write to them to ask about the 15 amp one. If I hear anything back, I'll post it here. Meanwhile, hubby and I are having a discussion on the merits of buying one.

I used to have quite a few of their books. Then one day I took a closer look at them and realized that the same recipe will show up in a number of their books. In other words, they peddle the same recipe multiple times. Buyer beware.

As Rob said, Testek is clearing out the 20amp Canadian version. It only uses 1800 watts but requires a 20 amp plugin for some reason - probably Canadian regulations. Canada apparently is getting a 15 amp one.  Did they say when this auspicious event might happen?

@CanadianHomeChef I took a walk up to my favourite kitchen store this afternoon and the owner comes up to me and says " I looked into the control freak for your husband". Me, trying to look and sound casual, but inwardly hopping up and down with glee "I didn't realize he was thinking of buying one". The owner says "Oops." I came home and re-read this thread and watched the videos. I now have a couple of questions Early on, you said that someone was clearing them out. Who is this and what us/was the price? It was also stated that there was some thought that the reason for the clear-out was that a model for a 15 amp plug was becoming available. Anything new to add? And finally, what are the dimensions of this thing? Thanks!

As my late father in law used to say, two visits in one.

@teonzo I have eaten at Atelier and it is an amazing experience. They do not have menus there, instead everyone gets the same food, consisting of a number of courses. I'll be curious to see what the book it about.

Any recommendations? No chickpeas or green peppers, please.

Thank you. I now have Deep Run Roots.

I checked amazon.ca and they have the Sweetzel wafers. It comes in a 2 x 16 oz. package for $69.59!!!!!!!

https://www.eater.com/2018/9/12/17851754/cooking-light-ending-print-magazine I don't know anything about Eating Well magazine but I have subscribed to Cooking Light for many years and have really enjoyed it. Does anyone know anything about Eating Well?

My word, that's ugly.

@JAZ I would keep the "beans and grains" separate as well as the side dishes. I think it makes them easier to find. Plus if you want to make say a grain dish but can't decide on which grain to cook, it can get frustrating to have to look up each grain in the index and then finding the recipe in the book. Much easier to just be able to look through a chapter.

Amen.

Thank you. I sprung for the apple book.

Looks good. Love spuds, any kind, cooked any which way. Were those deep fried and then mixed with the other ingredients?

Interesting, and thank you. I order quite a bit from Amazon, but I'd never give up my Costco membership. I've been a customer of Costco's long enough to know what they carry and will always shop there first. Stores that I don't shop at much any more are the three major stores in our area. Since a Farm Boy (US folk think of a quasi Trader Joe's) moved in around the corner, they too get a lot of my business. I don't much like shopping other than for food so Amazon fills that need nicely.

I have had candy cane beets that were striped red all the way through when cooked and they are delicious but I haven't had much luck with them this year, even when buying from different vendors. I wonder if the very hot summer we had had anything to do with it. We like the yellow beets also, so I think I'll stick with them. For some reason John does not like red beets. He says they are too "strong" tasting. Me, I love them all.