Darienne

Nothing exotic in that market picture.

And so the local staff is overjoyed that you are back... :wub:

Welcome back, Anna and Kerry. Always enjoy your blogs. You purchased tomatillos? In Owen Sound?

Wonder why they picked the particular families. Virtuous Canadians have only a few cans of pop. ????

I'm with dcarch. DH has a favorite knife which he keeps urging me to use...it's so much better than the one I use, he says. BUT I can't handle the handle. It's just too big for my hand and that's that. I like my own two knives. And I don't want to switch.

I'm 1/3 of the way through Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss, Signal/McClelland & Stewart,/Random House, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-7710-5708-3 and I'm finding it fascinating. I just finished reading the section on sugar and now am on to fat. We don't eat a lot of processed food and never have. And we are both WWII babies so grew up before these foods existed. Kraft Dinner is the first processed food I can remember from my childhood. It's very packed with facts and figures and I just keep on saying...'Gosh, I didn't know that'. That is, when I'm not saying. 'OMG, I didn't know that' in a very discouraged or outraged tone. Not an encouraging book so far...

Thanks for finding that article on industrial hemp, Heidi. I shall save it. Our hemp is French in origin. It is not grown for the fiber as it has a very short staple. It's used for hemp seed as in granola, etc, and also for the oil which in this case is mostly for horses I believe. We have given it to the dogs. It may be for people also. I am no longer keeping up with the line. We live in an area which has a lot of horse farms although many of them are closing down because the government subsidy (who knew?) has been rescinded and horse racing is disappearing to a great extent. The production process is done a few miles from where we live by the farmer who cultivates the hemp. He also leases many other farm lands in our district. Its THC content is .00000000 I don't know when the zeros stop. You'd have to smoke an entire field to get high. No one would grow marijuana hemp in an industrial hemp area because the industrial hemp cross-pollinates and you'd lose the THC content. We had to be investigated by the RCMP before we were allowed to have hemp on our lands. The government agencies have the right to drive onto your property at any time without telling you to check on your crop. And they do. And also planes fly overhead to do this checking. Apparently pot has a different temperature than does industrial hemp. And even though our hemp has no THC to smoke, a USA government agency sterilizes the seed so it can't be grown. The hemp is being harvested right now with huge combines.

Well, our apple crop this year is a complete disaster. Our immediate backyard has two trees: a Mac and a Northern Spy. Thousands of wonderful blooms turned into thousands of tiny apples, all scabbed and horrible. Glad we don't rely on this crop for anything. Strange. Some years the apples are amazing and plentiful. Two years ago we had a gazillion apples and we spent days juicing them and cooking apple sauce. Then last year our two backyard trees had exactly 7 apples on them. And this year...total disaster. Our farm, when we moved here 18 years ago, had a total of 19 apple trees on it, all over the place. I think there are many more now and in fact this year one of them produced wonderful apples for the first time. (Apple pie was supper tonight.) Some of the apples are very old varieties which you can't find now. Always exciting. Not to mention finding bear scat on our perimeter path, full of chewed apple. Oh, we are a hemp farm, with our lands leased to a neighboring farmer.

Thank you Mitch. An early morning laugh. We used to shop together before DH retired. Now because I don't get much time alone...and I need time to be alone...he goes by himself. And besides, I hate shopping with him now as he is SOOOO slow as he looks at everything on the shelves for its unit price. And I argue that inexpensive (aka cheap) is not always a bargain. Does no good. Never did. He's a good guy...married 53 years now ...and I love that he does most of the shopping. He's not an impulse shopper so we don't end up with "canned curried octopus from North Korea". However, if I send him for something we haven't purchased before or for a long time, invariably he gets it wrong. But then, I am always very nice about it. We shop from a printed shopping list which we have compiled over the decades and which hangs on the side of the fridge with a red pen for circling items which are needed. Sure helps.

It looks stainless and seems to be the one to which gfweb is referring. I really like the double mesh and it's also very strong. Can't tell you how many strainers I've broken in a lifetime. Bought it at a restaurant supplier (Ontario).

http://www.amazon.com/Browne-Foodservice-9198-Medium-Strainer/dp/B000UBGE5E I have a couple of these now and really like them.

Hmmm...my Mother was an Ashkenazi Jew. Father mixture of French, Irish, etc. My cholesterol was the worst on a fairly high carb vegetarian diet. (I was making the most delicious bread and we were really eating it.) I've been on several statins...20 years ago...and they did NOTHING to alter my numbers. Something is gonna get ya in the end.

Eliminated supplement. Don't like bananas and don't eat them. I think the supplement should do it. Thanks.

Not sure to whom the various advices are given. I'll assume they are directed at me. - see my doctor. I have have him and a heart specialist. Not all doctors are equal. And we do eat simply and well. - yes, by all means, lose 20 pounds (and keep it off) - we do walk around the perimeter of the farm twice a day with the dogs. I can't always do two. Nothing to do with my heart. I'll go back to my actives when I am able. - don't eat licorice. Have no more than 2 drinks per WEEK. Don't smoke and never have. - my blood potassium is too high - my glucose is fine and so is my homocystein - the jury is still out about statins and my cholesterol levels are apparently genetic according to my GP - there are no others who salt my food. Thanks for all the advice. One of my best friends laughed at me once. His cholesterol was now under control and mine wasn't, not even on maximum dosage of a statin. In fact, I had to go off the statin because of rampant side effects. He was slim, played squash three times a week, etc, etc. Unfortunately he was also dead of a massive heart attack two days later. He was 56 then.

It would be nice to have a doctor with whom one could take up anything of a dietary or exercise nature. I wish. OK. Weinoo's post could not have been more timely for me. Just very recently I gave up my now 6-year passion making chocolates and other confections. Loved it. But it didn't fit into the new high...and I do mean high, very high...BP problem. Am now on two drugs, Mavik and Amlodipine. (Must check those names against the ones mentioned by Weinoo. Canadian and American names for the same drug often don't match.) And must read the rest of the article cited by Okanagancook. Mind you, it's pretty much the way we eat and have eaten for decades.) I know nothing of my Mother's heart. She lived till 97, demented for the last 10 years after lots of TIAs. My Father had high cholesterol...and so is mine...and no, I don't take Statins. He lived to 83, after a mild heart attack at 60, changed his life radically to basically the life DH and I have always led, and died of a non-heart-related problem. He could have lived much longer. I have no idea of whether he took statins or not. So where do I stand? And what on earth should I eat? We don't eat commercially prepared food...never have...and don't eat out much either. And now practically never. And yes, I could lose 20 pounds in my case. And the BP meds are not controlling my blood pressure very well. It's between 180/70-80 and 135/70-80. Diastolic never goes above 80. OK. Someone tell me what to change in my diet, besides giving up sugar completely. Thank you. I might have added that I have an excellent BP machine at home and take it a few times a day.

We've seen Foodsavers in thrift stores, but I never know how to tell whether they are worth buying or not. What do you look for when you go to buy one, please.

lindag, I'd love the Polish potato and cabbage soup. And thanks, Pastameshugana for the sweet potato soup. We'll try that one soon. Yesterday I was hit by the fall bug and made lentil and spinach soup. Died and gone to heaven. Love soup.

First thing I thought of was bacon and eggs, fried or scrambled. A useful start. My Father couldn't even make toast.

Roasted fall vegetables. Don't forget the Brussels Sprouts either.

Hmmm...I could probably live with a smear of mustard. DH would enjoy it. I gather that you are saying that you find that artisan bread freezes and thaws nicely. And also the garlic sausage too? We live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store, so there is no popping out for fresh stuff. I think I like this thread. Quick serving of food has always been a problem for me and I'm not an easy short order cook. In fact, Ed makes the grilled cheese sandwiches usually. We do have frozen home-cooked foods in the freezer, but as Anna says, they would take just too long to ready for eating.

My first pick would be the grilled cheese sandwich, already noted. Omit the mustard for me, please. Ingredients for a 21st century ploughman's lunch would be next: several kinds of cheese, a few kinds of breads/crackers, olives, other jarred/containered goodies like sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers, etc. Any made salads on hand: cole slaw, bean salads...I always have a supply of these long-keeping salads on hand. Canned meats/fish which you might keep. Apples for dessert. Small dark chocolate pieces. This would be my go to lunch at a moment.

Progressing in the opposite direction and giving up cook books. My chocolate and confectionery career, such as it was, is over (health reasons) and 27 books are now gone from my cookbook library.

We are both retired from outside jobs and so this is not a problem for us. Both brown-bagged it in the midst of others paying for lunches. Son Ken has always brown bagged it, again in the midst of the larger paying crew. What floored and dismayed me in the extreme: we used to stay in a quiet motel in Utah with a small kitchenette and I would make us a salad or something similar every day which we would eat sitting at a picnic table under the ramada. The next table was the motel cleaning staff with their young children eating from Taco Bell or McDonald's or some other chain, everyday. I was gobsmacked. And saddened.

I've been making plain chocolate magic shell for a few years now...can't recall where I got the recipe, but it's very simple. Basically 100 grams melted coconut oil and 150 grams melted chocolate. Add a dash of salt. (I also add chile pepper sometimes.) That's it. So starting from there to make butterscotch...

DH drinks cold water with every meal. I usually drink nothing. But what I absolutely love is hot Jasmine tea with our Chinese dishes. And wonder why I don't make it for non-Chinese food...