Marlene

Almost the only thing I use my iPad for is kitchen work. Recipes, food mags,food writers, that sort of thing. I started using it as an e-book and very quickly went back to my kindle.

I usually use just plain long grain rice.

I've always been hesitant to do this with the ZojiRushi I've got. Not a problem for you? Can you share the recipe? I've never found it a problem at all Sometimes I also add a couple of T of toasted slivered almonds at the end as well.

There's a parmesan rice pilaf that I make in my rice cooker that uses chicken stock and is really awesome.

I can't keep chicken stock on hand either and I make it 24 quarts at a time! I am in the process of clearing out my freezer at home because none of it can be moved West of course. Some of it will come up to the cottage, thankfully, but we'll be eating a lot of meat over the next two months.

Stay far far away from GE Profile. Kitchen aid has just come out with a double oven range both in smoothtop and dual fuel. I have the smoothtop one at the cottage and I really like it. I had the Kenmore double oven but in smoothtop. It's a good range and the ovens are good as well.

Cilantro, thyme, parsley, chives, rosemary. Most fresh veg including broccoli, asparagus, green beans. Squash. Lemons. Limes. Frozen corn and peas are ok.

Ditto Marlene for the generator. Very important to service your generator regularly. I can't give you the exact info here, but you must run it every so often and take care of the gas in it...DH could tell you in a minute but he's not here so I can't ask...or it may not run when you need it. Seriously. Our generator starts up every Friday at noon and does a test run to make sure it is still working. It runs on propane and the propane company is very good about coming out every month to service it.

Can I just mention that it's the heaviest set of books I've ever received?

We don't really live in earthquake territory, but tornadoes have been known to rip through cottage country. There was one 5 or 6 years ago, and you can still see the damage on some of the properties on the lake. More common, are lengthy power outages. Often after a storm, you can't get out for several days as trees tend to fall down over the road. A couple of years ago, we were up at the cottage over Christmas and the power was out for six days. We were unable to get out for three of those days, due to downed trees. Back then we had a small generator so we were able to keep the fridges going, but cooking on the stove was out as was running the pump for the well. We heated water on the oil stove and we did all our cooking outside either on the bbq or the coleman stove. Temperatures were at average, -30 celcius the entire week. We also had six guests that week, I have an extra freezer, here which is always well stocked with meat and frozen veg. My pantry always has canned soup, canned tomatoes and other canned goods. Not only in case of tornadoes, but going to town is at least a two hour process. My husband insists on stocking up on toilet paper because, well you know, if the big one hits, you're going to need it. Or so he says. We keep several battery powered lanterns around, and a ton of extra batteries, and at the time had two induction burners that could be run from the generator. We've since upgraded the generator to a very large one that runs the whole cottage including the stove, so we don't have to worry as much. So a generator tops my list of essentials for the aftermath, and a stocked freezer and pantry. If I've got meat and frozen veg and rice, we're going to be pretty good for a few weeks if needed. And even though we have a well, we always have a substantial amount of bottled water on hand because my son and I drink a lot of it.

Sorry, my mistake. I just spoke to him. It was Amazon.com.

Not that I know of!

Amazon.ca. And now that I think about it, he might have ordered in January for my birthday in May. I'll have to ask him. But I do have it!

My husband ordered mine for Christmas last year, in November. It arrived early this week. I'm in Canada.

This is an interesting topic, as currently almost all the houses I've seen in Calgary have full gas ranges including gas ovens. I have a dual fuel range at home and an electric smoothtop range at the cottage. Both have pros and cons, but having once been an avid gas fan, I'm more ambivalent about gas these days. I like my smoothtop range just fine at the cottage, and now, when I'm looking at houses, I'm less concerned about whether they have gas cooktops. I am pretty sure I don't want a gas oven though. I really like my convection ovens.

David, a little veg oil on the sides of the racks will make them glide smoothly. I don't have anything that I want to die at least not yet. I'm betting once I buy a house in Calgary, there'll be all kinds of appliances I want to die a quick death though. I'm really going to miss this kitchen.

I take prescription strength Zantac on an as needed basis. As soon as I feel it coming on, I take one. Seems to work.

If you're baking baguettes or other crusty breads, brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt before baking.

I use a small plastic spray bottle (similar to the ones you use to mist plants with). Pop it in the dishwasher after use. I get them at home depot and they're a lot cheaper than those misto things.

Ok let's try this again. We're moving to Calgary in the spring. We'll be heading out for a house hunting trip in two weeks. We're thinking NW or SW quadrants and would love to know if there are any good butchers in Calgary and great produce stores, bakeries etc.

I use macgourmet as well which I have on my computer and my iPad. For recipes from magazines I generally see if they are online and if so I use the text clip feature rather than the import feature to clip my recipes into the software. I can sync my ipad and computer software and I use the iPad in the kitchen. for random recipes I can't find online, I'll scan them in, then follow the same procedure so that all of my recipes reside in MacGourmet

I make pork stock all the time. I use the feet and tails and I also use fresh pork hocks. I leave the skin on. I roast them before making the stock as I generally prefer roasted stocks. Unlike Dave, I do use the usual carrots and onions. I never use celery in any of my stocks. Pork stock, like beef, takes longer than a chicken stock. I tend to simmer it overnight, strain in the morning and chill for a day or so, then defat and reduce somewhat. I use pork stock for things like pork gravy, baked beans, making a cream sauce for pork chops that would usually call for chicken stock. That sort of thing.

not me, although I have to admit that one would be fun to do.

Yep. This recipe at Epicurious is a nice change from the usual bechamel technique. You blanch broccoli florets (seems like thinly sliced stems would work, too), then mix them with cream and Dijon-style mustard. The topping is a combination of sauteed onion, garlic and bread crumbs, to which you add dry and Dijon mustards. Once that's cool, add some parmesan cheese and use it to top the broccoli. Pop it in the oven until the cheese browns. This is the recipe I use most often,

Absolutely