Darienne

I admit it is mostly curiosity on my part, having worked as a researcher for many years. OTOH, a can is something you can keep for long periods on the shelf to make something in just a few minutes when you are tired, preoccupied, out of ingredients, with downed power lines (and a generator), etc. We are starting an emergency food storage and so canned meat is of some interest to me.

Yes, we have Costco (and Walmarts and now Target and no doubt a few others), but these Canadian stores don't carry all the same stock as in the USA. I'll look for canned chicken next time in. Thanks, Lindag

Thanks for the head's-up on the kitchen table topic, Heidi. Went there and re-read the posts. (Obviously not a morning to accomplish much.) We now have a dining room but not a real dining room table...DH is planning to build one...I hope we live that long. Our make-shift table is an old workshop table, will seat 10 easily...DH has big ideas ...and has 8 chairs around it (10 chairs second hand from St. V d P). Often has some current bumpf on it like food shopping flyers or suchlike, but basically has a table cloth (long piece of hemmed material) covered at one end with a piece of some coordinating material so that I don't have to wash that honking big piece of cloth every meal we do eat there. Centerpiece is Southwest terra cotta dancing dogs?/jackals?/bears?/? with large chunk of turquoise hanging around the neck of one of the critters, sitting on a terra-cotta tile. I love it.

Host Note: This post and the 10 following were moved here from the Soup Topic Just spent Sunday am re-reading this soup from page 1. Wonderful recipes and have saved several of them to try. We are great Soup for Supper eaters (alternating mostly with Salad for Supper) and one cannot have too many soups to enjoy. A question from the Eight Can Taco Soup: 1 (12.5 oz.) can white chicken breast, drainedI don't think I've ever seen such a thing in Canada. Is it a regular item in most USA grocery stores?

My Mother's take on Thousand Island Dressing was to mix Miracle Whip with Heinz Chili sauce.

What about visiting the restaurant, The Curious Kumquat, of former eGullet member Ron in Silver City? We'd love to be able to do that. Say hello from all of us who remember gfron.

Kerry said it faster than I could. I have a lot of recycled Pyrex and it all works well.

Cardamom. That and Thyme are my go-to favorites. Well, not together...

Oster 2609 250-Watt Variable Speed Hand Blender, White with Sterling Silver This is my stick blender. Has only two speeds. Is the cheapest in their line. It has the detachable shaft which is wonderful...just toss it over into the sink. It has done yeoman service for years now. But the reviews on Amazon.com are very mixed. There seems to be that luck factor with small appliances. We'd had a mixture of very good...and very bad over the last 53 years.

Rose Levy Barenbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible, Cranberry Galette. Delicious. Perfect.

I know nothing of the Cuisinart processors, but my DH bought me a 7-cup Kitchen-aid which I would gladly toss for a better one.

I have an Oster stick blender. In fact, I had owned it for several years and never used it. Also have a blender, hand and stand mixer and food processor all this time all of which I did use. Then, one day, I used the stick blender to do some eggs for scrambled...and as they say...the rest was history. Of course, it won't work for large quantities, but I find myself using it regularly now. Can't speak for any other stick blender and this one is quite old.

Love Onion Bhajia so much and the local Indian restaurants do not serve them. (And the restaurants are v-e-r-y expensive.)

Speaking of canned asparagus...it's all I knew of asparagus...drizzled with Miracle Whip mixed with chili sauce...until after I was married. Who knew? City girl raised in an apartment building.

These stories are wonderful to read. My grandparents were Canadian Polish Jews. My Bubbi died when I was only 7 and so although I ate her food, I have little memory of it all. I remember the extra oven which above the burners. That was so different to me. And I remember lighting the candles on Friday night. My strongest grandparent food memory was my Poppa giving me a bowl of fresh pumpernickel chunks (when pumpernickel was really pumpernickel) in cottage cheese and sour cream (ditto for sour cream), salted and peppered. Pure ambrosia.

Macaroon cookies with chocolate ganache topping: http://mostlyfoodstuffs.blogspot.ca/2011/03/macaroons-with-chocolate-ganache-and.html by eG's Deena. Love these cookies.

Wow! Who knew? Wot larks!

I'll make one of our favorite cookies: Fanny Farmer's Viennese Crescents make with ground pecans. Only not in crescents and with minimal rolled in sugar part rather either dunked in chocolate or embroidered with chocolate. Oh my.

Wow! Wow! Amazing. Stupendous. Just keep it coming, basquecook and we'll all keep watching and reading.

BUT how does it taste? We have tried various things instead of regular pasta...and I just don't find them the same. In my case, I'll just have real pasta every now and then, instead of any of the other noodles or vegetables instead. So far...

BeeZee: good point and one I had totally forgotten about. I don't like drinking water and probably don't get enough. No, I know I don't drink enough..I can tolerate it with lime juice squirted into it, but am often too lazy and procrastinating to do anything positive about it. You really touched a sore spot for me. Thanks.

When I was a little girl, eons ago, I always wanted my Mother to cut my sandwiches into boats (triangles, of course) which she refused to do. Mama wasn't much fun. Ever. Now I am very old and the only sandwich I eat pretty much is grilled cheese, which my DH is in charge of, and he always cuts mine into boats. You are never too old to have a happy childhood. :wub:

I just wish my DH would agree to eat spaghetti more often. It's very carb-heavy and he's a carb-caring person. lol

We eat our heavy meal at noon and light one at supper because 'it's good for you' and besides we like it that way. We eat salad every second night...I mean the entire meal is salads...because 'it's good for you' and besides we like it that way. Well...sometimes we have been known to stretch out to every third night, but only in the cold months. We eat very little meat for the same reasons...which you either accept or negate...and besides I was raised by a vegetarian Mother eating a steak EVERY NIGHT for dinner, cooked to shoe leather, and I won't touch steak and found out sometime in the 20s that eating red meat at supper gives me nightmares...and not eating red meat at supper gives me a peaceful sleep. And so it goes. Oops. Not the 1920s; rather in my 20s. Just about as long ago...

I think perhaps some of the brands of cookies mentioned are not available where we live. Don't know. Asked my DH if we had a ready made cookie we liked. He said he liked Dad's Oatmeal. I reminded him he hasn't had one in over two decades at least and that they might well have changed the formula by now. Then he remembered that when we are on the road, we often pick up lunch salads at Subway...there's one at every exit...and that we like their double fudge and macadamia cookies. Wicked, but tasty.