Darienne

In the little crossroads town near to us there is still a butcher in the local chain grocery store. Dave. And why does this tiny store still have a butcher? Well, Dave owns the building. And Alas! He retires in May and then there will be no butcher again. Ever.

Thanks for sending me back to my own childhood. Whippets they were called, made by Viau Montreal. So luscious. And of course we had a perfectly revolting way of eating them too. Cookie base, jam, marshmallow and the entire dunked in chocolate. Here's Wikipedia's page on the confection. Great fun!

Don't know if the lunch confiscation thingy has hit Canada or not. We have no grandkids. Our furkids do eat fresh raw meat and bones twice a day all of which is carefully kept in the fridge. I'm late in this topic but wanted to add that ever since I read the earlier stuff on the 'pink slime', we have asked our butcher to grind a specific roast for us for hamburger (while we diddle and dawdle about which grinder to buy... ) I don't use hamburger meat for much. Never liked the texture much.

Do you mean as in roll the shortbread into a pan and cut it in the pan before baking it? Then it would rise upwards? I am not what anyone would call a seasoned cookie maker. DL has a chocolate cookie which I've made to make ice cream sandwiches. Maybe it would work under marshmallows?? The recipe calls for cutting cookie rounds, but I just rolled it across a half-sheet and scored the dough into rectangles. It made perfect rectangles and it didn't rise too much. It's all an experiment to me. I love short-bread cookies beyond belief but can't see the purpose of using them with marshmallows and chocolate. Perhaps I am missing something here??

Actually, Wednesday is National (USA) Pie/Pi Day. But it's also the day we are going to make something delicious in the confectionery arena. We meet at least once a month, but now we haven't done anything since...let's see...early November what with our being away and Barbara having to move two daughters in two different cities and March break and my right hip and so on and so on. Sorry about that. National Ice Cream Day is the third Sunday in July and National Lollipops Day is July 20th... Omigosh, March 14 is National White Day in Japan and some other Oriental countries and gifts include marshmallows (white). Who knew?

Sister-in-Law and husband are coming on Thursday for a visit. She asked: what would you like from Ottawa and I said: Jewish pumpernickel and/or Montreal bagels and she said: where's a Jewish bakery? and I said: I don't know any more (it's been 40 years since we lived in Ottawa). And then I said: I'll ask on eGullet. Someone will know. OK. Who knows? Thanks.

This sounds like fun and delicious. Confectionery partner Barbara and I are still pondering what to do this Wednesday. This might be it. Orange marshmallow I think. Dark chocolate. I'll watch this thread for a shortbread solution. Or maybe Margarita flavored marshmallows... (current obsession, Margarita ingredients together)

Dear Chocolate Doctor, If your chocolates look like a dog's breakfast...and I make two of the real thing every morning and sometimes they look pretty gut-wrenching...I can't imagine what my chocolates look like. (Note that I never post photos of finished chocolates. ) Yours truly,

Really enjoyed watching your video. And ditto for the mixer.

Homemade marshmallows, orange, raspberry.

In our house we already celebrate national ice cream day and national lollipop day...we'll add national pi/pie day this year. I have to think about it. Wonder if empanadas would qualify. They are little pies, after all.

Chocoera and Minas both, beautiful work.

Thank you for all that good information. Would that we never have to use it. We have lived through two house fires, our last one in 1995. None of this information appears to have been well known in our area back then. I guess we were just lucky. Both fires were at the end of the house farthest away from the kitchen. I would not wish a house firs on anyone. Thanks again.

Lunch today for DH and me: defrosted Jasmine rice with sour cream (bought by mistake instead of cottage cheese), citron syrup (from the candied Buddha's Hand I made in Moab, UT), and pecan pieces, sprinkled over with cinnamon & sugar (mixture made for tortilla roll-ups). Zapped in the microwave. Delicious. :wub: Must cook and freeze some more rice.

There is also a process from David Lebovitz by which you put the condensed milk in a pie plate, covered and in a bain marie, into the oven. Less to be concerned about.

And some chopped nuts of your favorite kind. I have a container of frozen rice in the freezer. Maybe for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, and of course, we have maple syrup from our next door neighbors.

Avocados in provincial East Central Ontario seem mostly to come in two varieties...either rock hard or 'gosh, I would have thrown that one away' 'why isn't it on for half price'? I've yet to see an overripe avocado on for a reduced price. Fact of life here. Instead of throwing the past their prime ones out, I make guacamole and freeze it in small bags. It freezes very well and thaws equally well and at the price we have to pay, I can't afford to throw these little gems out.

Right away, I'm adding some kind of chile powder, ancho or chipotle, to the mix.

Hi Lebowits. A good idea to try the ganache at the chocolate conference. (Wish I could ever get to one.) Hi Tikidoc. I can get the powder in the Toronto area so I might to buy some. Let us know the results of your experiments with it.

Muffins. Canadians seem to be the chief muffin eaters in the world. My favourite is Orange muffins made from the entire orange. Muffins freeze well. Empanadas of almost any kind would be my other thought right away. Good luck.

Soon I will no longer have an excess of applesauce in the freezer. Between making PanaCan's apple cake and the Aplets, suggested by Sylvia Lovegren, I have used up quite a lot of applesauce in the last two weeks. Made a second batch of PanaCan's cake and it made 24 large muffins. Added 25% to the raisins and walnuts. Here's another batch of the Aplets: the divided pan in the making is half with pecans and half with walnuts. The finished photo are what's left of the pecans. Most tasters had no preference as to nut, but I liked the walnuts better. The pecans are for my confectionery partner who is allergic to walnuts...that's if there is even one left by the next time I see her. They are extremely delicious. Can't eat just one!

The husband of a friend with whom I took a class in Mexican cooking made wooden tortilla presses for us all, copying the wooden one our teacher had brought back with her from Mexico. But these ones are lovely! He's a wood worker and couldn't just fasten together a few boards...these are works of art. (Haven't used it yet. )

That which is old is new again...?

Are the "parts" by volume or weight? What are the right and wrong kinds of rice? I'd like to try this one. Probably add cardamom. And some nuts. DH would eat nuts in an omelet I think. Our current 'go-to' dessert is an open faced apple tart, courtesy of Mark Bittman, the Minimalist. Any kind of fruit pretty much would do I think. Whipped up pretty quickly. So far, only apple, and with old-age cheddar (we're Canadians).

And so I shall. For a Gourdpatch meeting on Monday. Sounds wonderful. The trick in this house is to make the dessert or confection...and then get it out of the house quickly!!!