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Darienne

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Posts posted by Darienne

  1. On 7/14/2022 at 4:20 PM, lindag said:

    I've made @mgaretz's cabbage soup and it is really a revelation.  I make it often.

    The recipe please.  I can't seem to find  it.  Thanks.  We love cabbage soup.  n n

  2. Don't know how I missed this topic.  We bought our Breville toaster oven in 2017 and it just died last week.  I loved it to pieces.  Used it all the time for almost everything under the sun that I could cook.  And now we've bought two lemons....money returned now....Brevilles both of which were terrible and didn't match the temperature anywhere...did not heat up, did not hold the heat....useless.  And both from the same store...Canadian Tire....

     

    Now what?  Help!!!!

    • Like 1

  3. Twice in two days Ed brought home a Breville toaster oven, the same model we've had for years since 2017 to be exact.  It's not an air fryer or a steam oven....it just is a small oven.  

     

    Twice in a row, from Canadian Tire, the Brevilles have been basically garbage....the pre-warming bell rang out that the temperature was 390....and both my oven thermometer and my friend's oven thermometer said...I don't think so....it's more like 225 degrees.   That's two duds from one store.

     

    What should we buy now?  I'm desperate without my toaster oven for small cakes and brownies and you name it.  That Breville performed like a champion for 7 years.  And then, of course, it didn't.  

     

    Should we buy a Breville from some other store?  Assuming we can find another store in our small city which carries them.  They certainly are not expensive but they do outcost many other brands,  like Black and Decker and also they are big enough to fit a 12" x 9" pan, just  what I need...or an 8" cake or a regular pizza.  

     

    Give me your best shot please. 

     

    DSC04121.thumb.JPG.0ed723447cce6f32077068d4ab748d4e.JPGphoto from box

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  4. 3 minutes ago, chromedome said:

    Taylor Farms' "Mexican Street Corn" salad kits are being recalled for salmonella. Currently known to impact provinces from Ontario east, though that could change pending further updates.

    https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/taylor-farms-brand-mexican-style-street-corn-chopped-salad-kit-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

    Seems to me that the words "salad kit" are a giveaway.  Certainly keeps us from buying ready-to-eat processed foods, were we so inclined.  

    • Like 2
  5. We have an old Breville toaster oven which has given us yeoman service.  It's basically pretty dirty inside I think...I am a terrible house keeper and have a wonderful cleaning lady who is not only beautiful, but a total delight and the same age as our youngest and she loves to clean...but I've never asked her to clean the toaster oven.  And besides it's on its last legs and slowly dying the deaths of a thousand cuts.  Sorry.

    • Like 1
  6. Does anyone have any idea of why recently we can buy 5 or 6 avocados for such a low price in Ontario grocery stores?  As low as $1.99.  I love avocados and have been eating one a day for weeks now.  And wondering when this bounty will end.  

     

    Or is there something I should know about avocados which I obviously don't?

  7. 2 hours ago, chromedome said:

    You can check on Facebook for a local Buy Nothing group page, and join/participate that way. I was a bit surprised that you can't just participate through the website, but (shrug) it's their party, they can force the app if they want to.

    I make a very deliberate practice of not installing any app unless I have an absolute need of it and there's no workaround, but there is a local group on Facebook so I've applied to it and will at least lurk for a while and see how active it is.

    Facebook must be where I found it. As far as I know I've not installed any apps in our computer life which is very basic.  And I can't do Zoom on my desk computer.  And our cell phones are the most basic you can buy and you cannot even text on them.   We really have not joined the computer generation.  

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  8. 10 hours ago, Alex said:

     

    I looked at the website, and it sounded like a great idea. Unfortunately, most of the reviews of the app said that it was extremely buggy, and that it continually pestered the user for a paid upgrade. It sounds like your experience has been different.

    Completely different.  Perhaps it has something to do with the locale.  My district is almost completely rural...maybe that makes a big difference.  I've yet to see anything commercial or inappropriate posted on it.  And a couple of young women administer the posts.  It seems that most of the items are baby clothes, oddments of furniture no longer wanted, Christmas items (I contributed big time in this one), paving blocks....  I've gotten empty cottage cheese size plastic containers needed to store homemade chicken broth in the dog freezer when our wonderful little Mandy wouldn't drink water but would certainly drink the broth in great quantities.  I think that's about as exciting as it has gotten for us.

  9. 26 minutes ago, Smithy said:

    What do you like to use for freezing small portions when you have too much of something? All too often, I freeze things like excess broth in quart-sized containers, and still can't use it all. I need to cultivate more small-sized containers, or invest in a few extra ice cube trays.

    I think this forum is at least all over Canada and the USA: buynothingproject.org  It's where I live and I do belong to the local chapter.  So when you need something like....small sized cottage cheese containers....or whatever...you ask on the forum and if someone in your area has them, then Bob's your Uncle.  I've received wonderful things using this forum...and also given our own things away to someone who is only too pleased to get them...like our collection of Chinese dishes and bowls no longer in use because we don't entertain any more.  

     

    (I was about to thank you for pointing me in the direction of this thread...and then discovered that I already belonged.  Duh.)

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  10. 1 hour ago, Shel_B said:

    Hi, all.  It's been a few years since I've posted here, although I've been logging on and reading a few threads and posts.

     

    And, dear sir, you have been sorely missed.  

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  11. 4 hours ago, chromedome said:

    I usually keep a box on hand for odd uses. Not typically to make up a portion of mashed per the instructions, though I'll do that occasionally.

     

     

     

    Sorry about the hands.  I know whereof you speak.

     

    Seeing as we are both Canadians and shopping at basically the same stores, could  you please tell me of at least one acceptable brand of boxed potato that I can have Ed buy for us.  And where in the store might Ed find such an item?  Thanks in advance.  And please.

     

    • Like 1
  12. 1 hour ago, MaryIsobel said:

     I too was going to suggest dehydrated potatoes - either flakes or slices. I do believe that they are the best of commercially dehydrated veg. The flakes, as mentioned are great for thickening soups but I also use them, often when camping, when I know that what I have planned for dinner (eg. sausages and grilled veg) is something that my husband would liked to have with mashed potatoes. I'm not a huge fan of mashed potatoes but I doctor the flakes up a bit with sour cream, sometimes a bit of cheese and I cam make just one portion for him and he's a "happy camper." Again while camping, I rehydrate the slices for passable breakfast potatoes or grill them quickly as a side. 

    This entire thread has been most useful to me.  I've never bought a potato which wasn't in some more traditional potato format really and now can see how useful the dehydrated forms might be, particularly for mashed potatoes...which are not a favorite of mine.  I always thought that buying boxed potatoes was a cop out and now I see how wrong and judgemental I was being.  Thank you all.  

    • Like 4
  13. Ed and I love French Fries which is the main reason we bought one.   The fry trucks in my area...East Central Ontario...leave at Canadian Thanksgiving - October - and don't open again until May 24th weekend, Queen Victoria's birthday (it's a Canadian thing).  We have a wonderful one just outside our local library branch.  

     

    So on occasion, Ed will stop and buy a big order of fries at a restaurant and bring them home for lunch.  Putting them in the microwave, as we all know, is the kiss of death.  So next time, they go into the air fryer.  And yes, I've now used it once in about 8 months.  Our son came last summer and used it a lot but neglected to show me how and I'm very slow about working new items into my repertoire. 

     

    Otherwise I have no idea what I would use one for.  My oven and my wonderful, but now dying, Breville toaster oven do all the rest.   

  14. On 10/16/2023 at 3:25 PM, TdeV said:

    I really, really enjoyed reading Consider the Fork: History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson ©2012. Synopsis from google books here as follows:

    Award-winning food writer Bee Wilson's secret history of kitchens, showing how new technologies - from the fork to the microwave and beyond - have fundamentally shaped how and what we eat.
    Since prehistory, humans have braved sharp knives, fire, and grindstones to transform raw ingredients into something delicious--or at least edible. But these tools have also transformed how we consume, and how we think about, our food. In Consider the Fork, award-winning food writer Bee Wilson takes readers on a wonderful and witty tour of the evolution of cooking around the world, revealing the hidden history of objects we often take for granted. Technology in the kitchen does not just mean the Pacojets and sous-vide machines of the modern kitchen, but also the humbler tools of everyday cooking and eating: a wooden spoon and a skillet, chopsticks and forks. Blending history, science, and personal anecdotes, Wilson reveals how our culinary tools and tricks came to be and how their influence has shaped food culture today. The story of how we have tamed fire and ice and wielded whisks, spoons, and graters, all for the sake of putting food in our mouths, Consider the Fork is truly a book to savor.

     

    Reading it right now, as we speak.  

    • Like 2
  15. On 12/22/2023 at 7:54 AM, Darienne said:

    Ed brought home a package of Kumatos and I'll try them out today.  First to find out how to skin a tomato.  Thanks, @ElsieD and the others who have helped.

    The Kumato tomatoes are delicious and I'm so glad that we now have them.  I'm also using bottled Mutti Passata and it tastes good...skinless and strained.  

    • Like 1
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