Darienne

Happy Birthday, EN. Your cake looks and sounds delicious.

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent such great replies.

We are on our second Champion. I mean over many decades. Very expensive to buy, particularly in Canada, but well worth the money. We mostly use it for pulping green vegetables for our dogs, but it does yeomen service for apple juice and so many other things. Thanks for the thoughts of the frozen apples. Makes sense.

Lucky Ashen if she can get Russets. Used to be my favorite. Haven't seen one in a couple of decades. Never heard of most of the apples named in this topic. I can name an apple I don't like: Delicious. Our two best apple trees are the Mackintosh and the Northern Spy :wub: , right in the backyard. No spraying nor nothing. Our farm is the old "Salter place" and our farmhouse is the second house on the property and it's 100 years old in 2014. We have 19 apple trees on our property and the only ones I can name are the two in our back yard. We have been making apple juice for a few years now. And I am about to start the process once again. Oops. Sorry. East Central Ontario.

And how long do they last PtheE? Our cellar is almost the same as our house heatwise. Our garage is unheated...but warmer than the outside air. Oh, that is in the winter, which it is not. NOT WINTER. NOT.

In a box? With holes? Wrapped separately? Not wrapped?

How exactly?

OK. Here's the gist of the situation. - we have a really heavily laden Macintosh this year - we want to make juice again and freeze it for the coming year - DH has NO time right now to stop and help - I can wash, peel, and cut the apples into chunks - I cannot core or juice the apples - DH will be able to work with the apples in 2 weeks - no, we have no help available, even for trading free apples My proposal is to wash, peel and chunk the apples, put them into plastic bags and toss them in the freezer for two weeks. Is this sensible? Useful? Stupid? (Found no useful info on Google in a modicum of tries) Thanks.

Time to trade us both and the hand mixers in on new models I fear.

Laugh for the morning... 1) not really and 2) no way

I googled Rendang and it sounds very delicious. Can you share your recipe, please? Thanks.

I'd like that recipe!!! Please. I really need some chicken recipes. I am not fond of chicken, but it's always safe to serve. So many people it seems no longer want to eat beef...and never did eat pork anyway. Thanks.

TheCulinaryLibrary said on 23 September 2011 "No matter how lovingly cooked and wonderful smelling something is when I freeze it, it always has that unloved, abandoned, frozen-hearted feel when thawed." This in response to my question about unexpected guests and what to feed them. I often feel exactly the same way. Family eats reheated thawed dishes...company doesn't. Well, not until I am satisfied with what I am able to freeze, thaw and reheat. So, this time the question is: what are your best finished dishes, casseroles, curries, chiles, meats, etc which not only FREEZE the best, but also THAW and REHEAT the best?

Never heard of them or seen one, but it does look like a very handy piece of kitchenware. Will look them up... ps. Roughly half hour later: OK. Who knows where to get one in Canada? pps. Found one on Amazon.ca

Thanks Pierogi. Yet another sad kitchen story. What to do? I think in the end, I'll simply stick with the ugly cracked old Sunbeam, which doesn't work well, but works. When it dies, I'll revisit the issue. (She shakes her head in sorrow.)

Terrific pain the last time I worked with Poblanos without gloves. Hours of agony. A first for Poblanos. No one answered my ps question. I tried googling it in a dozen different ways and couldn't make Google answer my question. I want to know. They can't have latex gloves in deepest inner Mexico. And they certainly didn't have them before quite recently when they do have them. How did they survive the procedure. Please.

You hit it right on the head. I can't seem to get my DH to see this, but I feel it deeply inside. And no, I will not serve frozen pizza any more. Not in this life. Unless it's for teenagers. Those days are long gone. Put that together with the astounding number of folks in Canada...maybe we just pick people who are this way ...who don't do spicy / hot / exotic / foreign / etc and Houston, we have a bit of a problem. Or maybe too many of our friends are as old as we are and by this time have developed all kinds of digestive problems. We are lucky? And maybe many Canadians are not exposed to 'foreign' cuisines. It's only recently that we could buy so many of the ingredients needed. Or maybe I am too new to cooking and have not assimilated so many of the basic recipes and concepts. Not that I can't do it, but that I can't do it blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back. And the thought of serving my cooked food to friends throws me. My DH keeps after me to serve Chinese food. He thinks mine is the best he has ever tasted. Ever. Seriously. And so, this morning, we are going to sit down and figure this one out for future reference. I should add that he does the mises for me and all I have to do is to cook it ( :laugh: ). Right. And I might add that I have typed out the most clear-cut step by step instructions for said mises for each dish. As noted in my last post. This thread has been an unexpected learning lesson for me. Thanks. CulinaryLibrary: I read your statement out loud to my DH and I said: a great statement. It just resonates. That's the word: 'resonates'. How I feel too.

Lovely Minas6907. Good going.

Thanks Snadra. Lots of good ideas. Added to the growing list. This has been a bit of a learning experience for me...with the realization that I don't really feel at home with a lot of basic North American/Aussie dishes. For instance I have still never cooked a pork chop in my life. And I've never roasted a chicken. Much to learn. DH did much of the basic cooking for years as I a) avoided cooking as much as possible and when I cooked b) cooked almost exclusively from non-North American sources. Odd. Oh well, just think of all the challenges left to me to try. At this rate, I'll have to live for half of forever.

On what? She can't eat gluten...and that is completely legit.

Thanks Andie. I found a local store which handles Waring and I shall think on it.

I need a place to rant. November of 2008 I bought through Amazon the Cuisinart 9-speed, so top rated by everyone. I have never mistreated it and it has increasingly made weird noises. Well, just now it quit. Over guacamole. So what did I do? Well, we never discarded our ugly, old...very, very old...antediluvian almost...cracked, 3-speed Sunbeam. Two beaters, no whip. Found it in the back of the cellar. Plugged it in. Works like a charm. I know it's at least 40 years old. DH says the best plan is to buy a Canadian Tire cheapie and just be prepared to throw it away in a couple of years. No rant, no tears, minimal money lost. Any more useful, and less cranky, thoughts on the subject? Thanks.

Shelby. Slow cooker pork? I guess so! Love it! On a bun. With fried onions. And this really neat Tex-Mex potato recipe I found. Or Mexican rice. Cole slaw. Love pulled pork. Am working on a house BBQ sauce, but usually use leftover Puerco Pibil sauce. Perhaps more Canadians have no experience with southwest or Mexican food. I was talking to the owner/chef of a recently opened Mexican restaurant. "Where are the pork dishes?" I asked. "You can't sell pork in Peterborough. They won't touch it". He answered. "Just beef and chicken". No fish either. (Except fish and chips.) Kouign. And conversation. Yes. Lemon with chicken is a good idea. I think I was thrown by having one after another suggestion thrown. And when I said "salmon with lime" and she said she didn't like salmon...I just said. Fine. Steamed chicken and stir fry. The problem was that I was by then really tired and pretty stressed, and what I was looking for is the answer to that problem. I have learned a lot this time around. Thanks.

I love Mexican food (and Indian and Thai and Sichuan and you name it in the hot/spicy/exotic variety). It doesn't have to be either hot or spicy...but much of North American cooking has little interest for us. And although I did as little cooking as possible for most of my life, we never ate a quote/unquote conventional diet. Perhaps this thread was prompted by that strange and not very satisfying dinner arrangement last weekend in which everything I suggested was vetoed for some reason. Our guests kept saying they ate a lot of chicken and vegetables with no spices and so that's what we gave them. But I am not at my best with just chicken and vegetables I fear. Maybe I just need some chicken recipes on hand... Oh well, I learned a lot in this thread thanks to all of you.

No, not tired...old and tired. If I waited until I wasn't tired, I'd have no life at all!