Darienne

I agree with gfweb. Should add that you can ask on eGullet and there you WILL find out what is shoddy and what is not. Let's hear it for the eG members!

It is very frustrating and annoying. Annoying when it doesn't send you into a rant about how things 'used to be' in the kitchen appliance realm. Things I inherited from my Mother have lasted for decades. That was before the time of plastic gears. New things bought in the past couple of decades are toast. Replaced over and over. Aarrghhh!

Gosh, just have to share that I am having 1 1/2 plain baked potatoes for lunch today at Wendy's. Living the good life... Correction: we actually had fish and chips at a local Captain George. It doesn't compare with the exotic nature of Anna and Kerry's luncheon, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Hi CKatCook. Should add that the book is inexpensive: USA: $16.95 and Canada: $18.95. We are almost out of Citrus-Seed-Fruit Bars, p.62 and so this time I'll make a double batch. They are definitely the favorite and interestingly enough, the lowest in calories at 105 per bar. The entire ingredient list is as follows: pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, orange zest, lemon zest, orange juice, lemon juice, chia seeds, dried apricots, figs &/or dates, sea salt. Of course you could make them subbing a number of ingredients or leaving them out. Next time, I'm going to add finely chopped nuts to my take. Saulbury does list variations for this bar using nuts. Now, if my food processor can't handle one batch of this mixture, it sure as shootin' ain't gonna handle two. I think I'll pulse the seeds and nuts separately and put them into a bowl. Then pulse the fig/date combo separately and then using hands, mix it all together. I was already using my hands for the final mixing. Couldn't possibly use a spoon. I will also make something new this time. (Have to say that I don't like the 'fudgy' consistency at breakfast. ) (Oh, but they are fine later in the day.)

Our daughter's BF is a terrific cook, from Grenada originally. He always cooks something when he comes to our house and often with dried fish, in his case King Mackerel. I couldn't tell you the names of any dishes he cooks.

Hi Elsie, Did you buy them online or locally in your city.

Back to making power bars. Report on the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars, p. 110. They tasted pretty good but the texture was not really suitable. Made them again today, and again I didn't like the texture. Too oily. Next time I'll cut down on the coconut oil called for. You can't just grab one of them when they are oily in your hands. I said I would make the Mega Marathon Bars. Sorry, I didn't. I made another batch of the Citrus-Seed-Fruit Bars because I really like them and they were all gone. This time I used half figs/half dates. They were fine. My food processor will work if I am very careful about ;what I put into it. Not a good way to have to make things, but then I'm not ready to invest in a bigger more powerful machine at this point.

Have to admit that I'd shove a wooden shim under the offending leg.

Ed presumed from what you said that it was a leveling foot, but OTOH, if all the feet protrude the same distance from the legs, then they are likely not leveling feet (as noted by dcarch) and the problem may be some warpage in the table. Or the possibility that the floor is not level? Hey! I'm just the messenger and I solve all my problems with Gorilla tape.

DH, Ed, who can fix anything in the world, advises as follows: - turn table upside down - clean out gunk as best you can using a solvent and rags...depends upon nature of the gunk what you use. First try would would probably be lacquer thinner... - if you can see a join or crack between leg and foot, use something sharp to get as much of the gunk out of there - wipe dry and get WD40 into crack - try to unscrew (counterclockwise) by hand and if that fails, tape the foot with duct tape (gorilla is best) and 4 or 5 times around and use large vise grips to unscrew it. - if all of that fails, take off the tape, and use a butane torch on the leg and with something insulated, try again to unscrew the foot. The butane torch will cause expansion to the leg but not as much to the foot which is in it. All of this assumes that there is some evidence of thread on those feet which extend further from the leg. (he quit talking here and went to shove the walk...) If you can't get the foot off, then you're on your own from here. Sorry. My answer would be to do the thing about the plastic with the divot and something rubbery to help keep it from slipping at all. Good luck.

Thank you Anna, (and Kerry) for our weekly fix. What would the rest of us, living in the restaurant boonies, do without something to dream about? That chocolate dessert looks delicious. We had guests for lunch yesterday and I did serve Dark Chocolate Ice Cream for dessert . Our male guest had never had homemade ice cream before and chocolate is his favorite flavor and he was most appreciative.

I always make my own birthday cake and I think this year it might just be rajoress's pick. Found it on Google. Wonderful cake! Will add some Grand Marnier to one of the fillings. Might sub something for the white chocolate...don't know. Thanks Rajoress.

Like Huiray, we eat soup all year long. Supper is usually an alternating menu of soup or salad, interspersed with "Dessert as Supper" and popcorn with orange juleps. DH made his very first potato soup and we had it last night. Best potato soup I've ever eaten. The man is a soup genius.

Oops. DH reminded me that he adds green pepper to his sauce. And it's not even on the recipe. Says next time, he'll consider using Poblanos. We've been able to get them now for over two years.

DH, Ed, makes our spaghetti sauce and trust me, it's not fancy. The completely stained old recipe card actually calls for Mazola oil...it's that old. It calls for ground beef, tomato paste, canned stewed tomatoes, sugar (which we omit), nutmeg, pepper, salt, Parmesan cheese, onion, celery, garlic, parsley, mushrooms, oregano. The beef and vegetables are fried first. It sits and simmers for a long time. I have been known to add basil when he's not watching. That's it. Nothing fancy. Nothing even intriguing. It has suited us for decades...54 years in less than a month. And then we argue over how al dente the pasta is. And compromise. Maybe that's the secret to our long-lasting marriage. Oh, and he usually makes enough to freeze for a very long time.

Back to work. Ed is afraid we'll be inundated by power bars with no one to eat them. Not a problem. I'll freeze some of the already made ones. Have to replace the Citrus-Seed-Fruit Bars because I've eaten them all for breakfasts. Each recipe makes only a very limited amount and so far I am not doubling/tripling anything. This time around I had the called-for chia seeds and used them. Next time I'll use half figs I think. They are cooling in the garage currently. Today I tried the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars, p. 110, 271 calories per bar, 12 servings. Ran out of chocolate protein powder and so it was mostly vanilla and not sweet enough really. Plonked in a whack of sugar (don't tell on me please. I was a tad distracted at the time and just reached for the nearest sweetener. This whole thing of protein powders, whey and non-whey, sweetened and unsweetened I think will have to be considered before I opt for one of the recipes based on one of these.) Didn't have liquid Stevia for the 'icing', but subbed (allowed) maple syrup instead. Ooops. Just realized I was supposed to reduced the amount of milk called for. But it didn't matter anyway. What have I learned? My food processor, a Kitchen Aid, which replaced a larger Cuisinart when it finally gave up the ghost, is neither large enough nor powerful enough to do this kind of work. The other thing, which I think I mentioned earlier is that I don't like nuts and seeds as finely ground as some of the recipes call for. I like recognizable little chunks to chomp on in my bars. I'll report back on the taste of the chocolate/peanut butter ones. The mixture tasted good and so did the 'icing'. Next time I think I'll go for the Mega Marathon Bars (the names get a bit repetitious and meaningless), p. 98, because it appears to be the only recipe which calls for egg and flour. The accompanying blurb says they are perfect for book clubs, knitting circles and Ultimate Frisbee, none of which I belong to. Alas. Forgot to note that I added ground cardamom to the Citrus-etc bars.

Not a complicated recipe, but delicious and my favorite out of my new cookbook so far. Citrus-Seed-Fruit Bars from Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook. For anyone who ever wanted to make a protein/power/energy/granola/etc bar at home.

My Father loved Oka and Limburger cheese. My Mother kept it between the sets of windows out in the Utility Room.

And I'm not exciting. We often have a fruit salad for dinner. We enhance it with a bit of orange juice, that's all. Into a bowl with some granola or toasted nuts on top. Any combination of fresh and frozen fruits we have on hand, but always a banana for some sweetness.

7. Citrus-Seed-Fruit Bars, p. 62. Had only ground Chia seeds, so I simply upped the sunflower seeds. Absolutely scrumptious. Lowest caloric value of the bars so far and a fairly large bar for only 105 calories. My one problem was that my food processor refused to mix the batter but simply whirled around below the batter which clung to the walls. Not insurmountable. And I'm just thrilled with the bars.

Two goals: First one to get back to having folks over for lunch, with or without dogs. Family health problems have put us behind in our usual lunching custom. Second one and more interesting perhaps is to make all the recipes in my latest purchase: Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook. Camilla V. Saulsbury. To date, I've made about 6 or 7 with delicious results. I've also begun an eG topic," Power Hungry": making the bars from recipe #1. So far, it's been fun. Just finished making: Citrus-Seed-Fruit Bars. They just might be the best one yet.

Cookbooks now at 185. First cookbook purchased, 2nd hand or new since December 2012. And a winner: Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook. Camilla V. Saulsbury. Have now made about 6 or 7 of her recipes with delicious success and have committed myself to making all the recipes in the book. To that end I have started a eG thread also: "Power Hungry": making the bars from recipe #1.

6. Must-Have -Chocolate Raw Bars. Now these are truly delicious. Of course, I did make some small changes to the recipe. It called for pulsing the oats and nuts (I subbed pecans for cashews: don't have cashews: Ed has a weakness for them) "until very finely chopped (but not a paste)". Nope. After feeling that the Chocolate Hemp bars were too finely chopped for my taste, I simply chopped the pecans with a hand food chopper...the kind you hammer down on a central chopping pusher. The oats had been leftover from a previous pulsing I think. Heated the dates in the microwave. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. Both of us loved them. Best so far, especially with the small chunks of pecan which are very satisfying. Don't know about eating them for breakfast. Oh, forgot. Added a second tablespoon of melted coconut oil because mixing the 'batter' was a bit of a chore seeing as I didn't want the nuts finely chopped. Well, I'm keeping up my end of my bargain so far.

BeeZee, too bad about the sugar in the date paste. I do find that a short stay in the microwave softens the dates enough. Yep, Ed will eat almost anything coated in chocolate. Had it occur to me this morning, as I was eating a Chocolate Hemp Protein Bar for breakfast...this bar has no crunch to it. Although I really like the bars, I guess I like crunch in the morning. The recipe calls for seeds only except for the one variation: Cashew-Coconut Protein Bars. Cashews are fine, but they are not my favorite. I could either sub walnuts or filberts or almonds...or just leave the recipe as is and go back to the plan of making the next recipe in my plan: Must-Have Chocolate Raw Bars...which call for cashews or hazelnuts or almonds. I'll buy some hazelnuts and go for the Raw Gianduja Bars, p.139.

Stoned Wheat Thins originated in Canada. They are available in some places in the States also. We have bought them in Utah for years but haven't been back since the Canadian formula changed. So I can't say about the current state of the cracker in the USA.