Darienne

Pardon my question, but are the scallops sitting on raw bacon slices? I would guess not. What is the meat? Really enjoying your blog as usual.

Where we live in the4 Great Frozen North, the only fresh Mexican/Southwestern chiles we can get are Jalapenos or Poblanos. And the Poblanos for only a couple of years now...and they are labelled "Hot". How would Poblanos fit into your recipe, Jaymes? (We can't get fresh tomatillos ever but I grow them every summer now and keep them frozen until needed.)

Thanks all. I suspect we are talking 'urban myth'.

Sorry. Somehow the address dropped off. The address dropped off again and I did preview the post this time. I don't understand why. I'll pm you the recipe.

That's the site of our favorite green chile recipe. Yes, it has tomatillos in it. Is this a problem? Our own eG's Andiesenji's favorite recipe.

I always used a muffin pan.

Fascinating, both food and scenery. Thanks.

What is a goose-neck spatula please?

I agree with DiggingDogFarm that making one's own chicken broth is always better. But I am stunned that he can buy 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters for $6.90...that 69 cents a pound. Sometimes where we live in Ontario, Canada, they are on sale for a dollar a pound, but usually they cost $1.70 a pound. (DH reminds me that we could buy chicken leg quarters in Utah for 70 cents a pound.)

Just finished reading In The Kitchen, by Monica Ali, finalist for the Man Booker Prize. Just grabbed it off the shelf in the library without looking at more than the photo of the kitchen on the front cover. No idea of what it was about except that it was fiction, a kitchen was featured, and it almost won a prestigious British literary prize and was nominated for two American literary prizes. It features a top British chef working as executive chef in a posh hotel with a restaurant and his very complicated life. Sorry to say, I really didn't like it very much...but I really enjoyed the parts about the hotel kitchen and the cooking. His life left me a bit cold.

And wild rice which the Canadian aboriginal peoples harvested from the lakes.

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my first post. I creamed the butter and sugar by hand mixer and then mixed the flour in by hand. Two processes in one batch of cookies. And my friend pronounced my cookies as excellent. She doesn't have time to make cookies this year and so maybe she was just being a tad kind. Don't know. I'll pm you the recipe.

A friend recently gave me her Mother's wonderful shortbread cookie recipe and advised me that that the sugar and butter had to be creamed by hand and then the flour mixed in by hand also...or else the cookies would not be the same as her Mother's were. Could this be true? And why should it be so? BTW, I creamed by hand mixer and mixed by hand and the shortbreads were exquisite.

Have you found that IR thermometers are reasonably accurate (with fresh batteries)? I have been wondering. Yesterday I tested, and both IR and non-IR gave approximately the same reading. Other times they have been too far apart for comfort. I am new to using IR and am still not confident enough in the accuracy. But they certainly are convenient, especially when testing two different mixtures at the same time and when one of them is tempered chocolate (it's difficult to remember that I mustn't dip a regular thermometer into some liquid and then into tempered chocolate). First low battery/low inaccurate reading for me, so I can't really comment.

As for the accuracy of IR thermometers... Confectionery partner Barbara and I were making toffee last week and using my IR thermometer. Strangely the batch was beginning to burn but didn't register the required temperature on my thermometer. Barbara brought out her thermometer and it registered much hotter than mine...which would explain the slight burning smell. (The toffee was scrumptious anyway.) Then Barbara noticed that my battery was signaling 'low'. Aha! So that was the reason. New battery in. Thermometer back in the running...

An early Christmas gift...totally unexpected. Today confectionery partner, Barbara, and I got together to make Copy-cat Enstrom toffee, covered in chocolate, sprinkled with almonds (both sides. Yum) for holiday gifts to give away. This is the first time we have both been well, without family complications, etc, etc for months now. Barbara gave me this wonderful cake plate and server.

Ingredients in the Ziplock bags sounds good. Monday is Toffee day and I think I'll measure out the ingredients before partner Barbara gets here. We have quite a lot to accomplish and I could do this tomorrow. Laughed when I found an old eG topic which I started on whether I could double or triple my toffee recipe. Had completely forgotten about that one.

Made the Orange Cookies Dipped in Chocolate for the neighbors up the road. Beauties. And yummy too. Made the glace orange bits first (thanks to first eG mentor Andiesenji)

Our Christmas meal is very simple: traditional roasted turkey with stuffing and gravy, cranberry sauce (for me only), Brussels Sprouts (for me only), mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. Salad, rolls. And for dessert which only Ed and I will eat, Margarita Pie, a departure from the norm. I do the Christmas dessert and DH takes primary care of the rest with me working as sous-chef. Oh, Tortiere too made by DH. Then daughter's BF, from Grenada, will cook us some wonderful Grenadian dishes which we'll have. He always cooks when he comes. He's a born cook. And amazing to watch. He cooks every day for the homeless Caribbean men where he lives. Then on the 27th, friends from South Africa will come for a meal. Daughter and Dad. He's 98 and loves to come to the farm. There will be 4 people and 4 dogs. (Oops.) Margarita pie for sure...she adores it and gets to take home the rest of it, supposedly sharing it with Dad (although I know for a fact, she ate it all last time). Dinner will probably be lasagna and Tortiere.

So, this is nothing to brag about, but it is sort of funny. The second half of the can of canned chicken breast, opened three nights ago, got put by DH into the fridge straight in the bowl, uncovered, in which it sat. He took the chicken out last night and remarked that somewhat dried out, it tasted better and more like chicken than it had when freshly opened. It gets added to tonight's salad supper.

Mostly Enstrom copycat toffee coated in bittersweet chocolate. Confectionery partner and Barbara will begin next week. Also two new recipes I found on this Toronto site, www.closetcooking.com/‎ , shortbreads, one based on orange and the other on lime. Oh, and chocolate-dipped ginger slices. That should do it.

Worked up my courage. Looks like canned tuna chunks. Has the texture of canned tuna chunks. Tastes very reminiscent of chicken. Going to put it into tonight's salad.

Found Kirkland canned chicken breast packed in water in our local Costco. 354 grams per can, with recipes taped to the top of the pile. Product of the USA, prepared for the Canadian market. Haven't worked up the courage to open a can yet.

Thanks Judiu, The DH is going to Costco this afternoon and I have him prepped to look for canned meats and suchlike.

Suddenly Dejah, I have this vague memory of a can...no, wait it was a ham maybe... As for the weather, Liuzhou...we lose our power quite often out here in the country in the winter especially. Trees across the road loaded with ice pull all the wires down with them. And it can be up to 5 days or so to have it restored. Ice Storm '98, some folks in Ontario and Quebec were weeks without power. The devastation was incredible and if you didn't have stored food, you would have been lost. We were very lucky and missed it all in our area. ps. I loathe canned meat except for Hereford Corned Beef, a leftover from childhood.