Darienne

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have just reminded me that I can actually GET a Buddha's Hand with any luck this year. I had completely forgotten about them and couldn't get one the last time we were in the Southwest because it was too late in the winter. No idea of what I am going to do with one...but I'll get one from Albuquerque if I can.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I am can help you better. The world of cooking and baking is still relatively new to me and although I feel free to add nuts to just about everything, I still don't mess around with the eggs or oil or flour. The muffins IMO are quite moist, but I wouldn't call them greasy. But then, last week I made some carrot muffins last which I plus others...who may or may not have been being kind...considered delectable and a friend...who, I might say, delights just ever so slightly in putting me down...said they seemed a bit greasy to her. Who knows? Not sure about cutting down by 1/3 in the butter. I could certainly cut down on the sugar next time...but then the DH loved them as sweet as they were. And definitely add nuts to them. Walnuts being the best to me in this case.

I don't know about the Wasabi part, but I am definitely trying the rest of this recipe...a king of Oriental Pulled Pork.

I can almost taste it. Looks lovely.

Twelve large muffins. They are SO good. I had eaten a similar muffin a couple of years ago at a friend's house and always wanted to try making them. And so I did. I used a large naval orange.

DH and the roofer just declared these the BEST MUFFINS EVER! Can't get much more praise than that. Recipe comes from Cadbury, an eGulleter and is here: Orange Muffins The only changes I made were to add 1 cup of chopped walnuts and use AP flour with the additions to make it 'self-raising'. DH likes nuts added to everything that man or womankind could add them to. Moi aussi.

Now THAT'S an apple pie!

Lovely meal. How I envy you both. Haven't had an onion bhaji for decades, but I have never forgotten them either.

How does the powdered buttermilk fare against the fresh? The usual?

Of course I could always give them to the pups, but I do have a lovely basic cake recipe which calls for 3 large eggs and 3 large egg yolks. It comes from One Cake, One Hundred Desserts .

If I am out of milk, I'll use half half&half and half water. It seems to work just fine. No one has complained so far. White/bechamel sauce always brings back memories of Grade 7 in Intermediate School and the Home Ec teacher, Miss Hutchinson. Won't tell you what we called her behind her back. Not a nice lady, but then who would want to teach classes of 11 and 12 year old girls over and over. White sauce was the FIRST thing we learned and woe betide the girl whose sauce had lumps in it. No electric mixers either.

Beautiful work, Kerry. And beautiful packaging too. I love the idea of crunchy frogs. Seems to bring a Monty Python memory which won't come to the surface.

Must have been a curry sort of night last night. We had a coconut milk curry with roasted vegetables and rice

I don't suppose there's a chance it is galangal?

Should be fine. Just remember to thaw and bring the batter close to room temperature before baking. Even more reliable if you use double-acting baking powder. Baking powder is formulated to start rising immediately when the mixture is moistened. Double-acting will have a second rising-powder reaction when heat is added. Brilliant idea. Now why have I never thought of that? (no answer, please) I have whipped up two batches of muffins...chopping nuts, shredding carrots, etc...in the last few days to give to our stalwart outdoor renovation workers...it's cold in east central Ontario...and it would have been handy if the muffin batter had already been frozen in papers as my own days are full of massive confusion right now. Thank you muchly, minas6907.

Biggest problem making confections!!! Not the sugar, not the butter, not the mixture, nor the heat, nor anything like that. It's the insatiable mouth of the confectioner. Been there, Done that. Etc.

Thanks to this topic I have learned a lot about roasting root vegetables which I am doing as we speak. No longer just tossed in oil and into the pan, but seasoned with whatever ahead of time. Makes a difference for certain. See...I can learn... Thanks again all.

I vote for the freezer. For one thing, no one can get into them easily if they are packaged and frozen...(and hidden under something else preferably).

My best tip is my cheat sheet for measuring butter. Canadian butter comes in one pound blocks...not in sticks...and so getting the correct amount needed for a recipe can be a pain. American butter comes in convenient sticks. On my fridge I have a small printed paper with the weight equivalents of 1 Tablespoon, 2 Tablespoons, etc. to one cup, covered in MacTac, with a tiny earth magnet taped to the back. One quick look tells me how many ounces of butter I need and weighing a small chunk of butter is much simpler than jamming it into a measuring cup. (I have the equivalents written down because I can no longer remember much of anything. )

That sounds a little like what I do, although I'm particularly big on time lines; on a single page, I make one for each thing I'm preparing, which really helps pinpoint potential conflicts ahead of time, and really reduces the chance of unpleasant drama when coordinating a dinner party. I'm with the planners and the mise-ers. All the dishes and potentially problematic ingredients... have to buy them, find them, thaw them, grate them, etc...go down on paper and also the steps to set the table. Ed and I cook Chinese food together. He does the mises according to a printed step-by-step plan per dish I made for him and then I step in, like the chef , and cook everything at the last minute. But then I have always lived by the list.

Now I am confused. I can't find any food references to 'macheteros'. What is 'eating short Macheteros'? Surely you are not munching on Machete wielders. My foolish error. Should have reread your first Guabo reference. The aril and seed do look a bit like Shmoos. I had a book about Shmoos when I was a kid...many long years ago...and they would just keel over and die from delight if they thought you wanted to eat them. Included were recipes for cooking Shmoos.

Fascinating as always, PanaCan. Do you eat the arils with your fingers? from a bowl? take the seeds out first?

Patrickamory, thanks so much for the revised recipe and photo. I am going to make this for our Annual Chinese Feast this year. Looks great!

Good point. Stop kidding oneself about having self control. Just get it outta here! (Or wrap it up and knot the ribbon. Actually just wrapped today's output.) As for devouring food literature. It's cookbooks for me. Just have a wonderful time looking at the photos and dreaming of time to make whatever it is. Perhaps I should get some Mexican cookbooks and learn Spanish. I also have a lot of enjoyment following eG threads and posting on them.

I make a lot of confections and chocolate dipped goodies, both for friends and folks who are good to us (vets, carpenters, butcher, etc, etc), and for charities. I might keep a very few for us, but the rule is that as soon as it is ready...it goes right into presentation boxes, tied (knotted too) with ribbon. And Dejah, if you are there, thanks again for the hot water tip. Haven't had one cup of insipid herbal tea since the day you posted that advice. Either lime or lemon juice goes into my hot water. I just reread your post and noticed the thermos part which I hadn't taken in. Brilliant. That's next. (Right. Some of them are not insipid, to me the ones full of taste are terrible. Have yet to find one I could tolerate.) ps. Just reread the 'don't buy it or make it' phrase in Margaret Pilgrim's post. Some of us JUST HAVE TO MAKE STUFF. Making it is more important than eating it. Really. I'm serious. Never buy the stuff I make anyway.