Darienne

We live in the middle of nowhere, east central Ontario, and it's always a production of some sort to go to town. We try to do it as little as possible. To that end, I have a computer-generated grocery list (with a modified one for Utah), hangs on the fridge in 6 or so layers, with a red marker and things to be purchased get circled in red. Oh yes, it's a huge list. Five columns, 8 point, broken down into main food groups and also specialty stores. Changes are made quite regularly to the saved list and extra bits are written in for the week. He who lives by the list... That's me. Works tho... Hmmm...could add that Peterpatch has mostly chain grocery stores with very few and very small specialty stores. Nothing like Philadelphia or Chicago or Toronto.

We have this wonderful dentist who has been babysitting my broken molar now for a few months as piece after piece breaks off and he smooths the jagged edges and will not accept any money at all. (Yes, it's slated to be pulled at the end of September now, but this is small town Canada.) The receptionist tells me his favorite of all time is anything with peanut butter and chocolate together, so today I made him (and his staff) Anita Chu's (aka eG's Pastry Girl) Peanut-Butter Balls from Field Guide to Candy. Easy to make. Delicious. I did make them smaller than the recipe called for and I feel that was a good decision. Means a bit more chocolate per portion of peanut butter filling. Could add that we are doing some serious house renovations (over my dead body...my body lost) and the permit issuers, the ones who were good to us ( as opposed to the others) and the drafts-person, will get Enstrom Copycat Chocolate Coated Toffee next. How to make and keep friends...

So glad to read a happy ending to your story, kayb. We are cooking this weekend for a couple...the wife is seriously gluten affected. I didn't ask for medical particulars as in whether it is an intolerance, an allergic reaction, etc. Her husband says gluten makes all her cells swell, including the ones in her brain and the result is terrible for a period. She is fine with bananas, raspberries, whipping cream, chocolate and Chambord (dessert), so not all is lost for her.

My usual, thrifty, but lazy, response to vegetable excesses is to peel, slice, roast in olive oil, and stick into the freezer for later use in stews, soups, enchiladas, casseroles, etc.

Interesting thought... I wonder if there's evidence to support that. I feel like the US has pretty diverse eating habits. We're a wealthy nation with much available in our markets and representation in our country from other cultures all over the world. To follow that up: When I was born some 70 years ago and then growing up, I do not recall any instances of children allergic to peanuts or much of anything else. And there was scarcely any asthma compared to our own children's generation...we had two asthmatic kids of three in a family which had never had any incidence of asthma ever...and then today's children who have many allergies and asthma and autism, etc. DH was a high school teacher who saw puffers galore in every class. Not drawing any conclusions...can't..just wonderin about it all. In light of dcarch's question about diversity and Jaymes response...my generation, war babies, grew up on a much more limited diet than today's children. What does that signify? If any?

Meat loaf. Not usually something to crow over. However, this recipe posted on EatNopales blog was, in the words of my DH, the very best meat loaf he had tasted in his entire life. Thank you, EN. Have to love a good meat loaf recipe. Recipe Here

We love a good Hot & Sour Soup...but only if it's good.

Interesting introduction, nolnacs. Why Italian when you get a chance. No rush. And as for Chinese food, it's no more difficult than any other cuisine and probably less than some. The secret is in the mises.

Hooray for EN!!! Loved every minute of it. :wub: And thanks again for the meat loaf recipe. I am going to post it in Recipes that Rock in 2011.

Very distressing. Gave me the early morning willies. I would assume that the new one will not have any useful qualities of the older ones. If you read the Consumer Report issues, this current one and the earlier one, Jan 2011, you will get quite an insight into the situation. Re-quoting from my earlier post from that Jan issue: 'Glass shards flew across the kitchen, including "multiple large glass fragments" and hundreds of "microscopic shards penetrated her face and eyes, causing serious injury and loss of vision"...'. p. 47 Aarrgghhh.

Any thoughts on the word 'tuna' for a cactus fruit? Took a while to even get 'tuna' out of the fish arena. Por favor.

A tasty lunch with companions RG and EN. That would be a treat like few others. And think how much I would learn.

October 2011 Consumer Reports update on glass measuring cups, bowls and baking dishes with the rather distressing title "Shattered Glass". It appears that the manufacturers, such as Pyrex and Anchor Hocking, are still blaming consumer misuse of the products upon all accidents.

DH grills salmon with lime. Of course, I swear I could go for lime with pretty much anything.

Made the EatNopales Meat Loaf today. DH said, and I quote: 'That's the best meatloaf I have ever tasted'. :wub: Quoting from EN: ***I do all that grating and chopping of the veggies beforehand because I don’t know how to get my Kitchen Aid Food Processor to successfully puree the raw veggies (particularly the carrot) if I don’t. If you have tips, let me know!" I simply dropped large pieces of the various vegetables into the food processor, added the eggs and buzzed it until it was pretty well pureed in my estimation. No work. None. The meatloaf is fantastic. (DH just filched another piece and again extolled its virtues.)

Hi Trev, where did you get your cactus to start? As for tomatillos...mine are getting there. They were planted late and so not too many have been harvested. It is now a race with the frost I guess. Question: I should be nipping off all flowers and buds at this point? Should have started doing so back when?

EN, your blog is fascinating. And I really do appreciate the fact that you are giving North American familiar equivalents to your Spanish or Nahuatl terms. It makes it easier to read through your text smoothly...and then go to Wikipedia or somewhere to get the full story on the unfamiliar terms.

Hi Elsie, I went to Amazon.com to read the reviews...although I would buy it on Amazon.ca. There are some complaints about the recipes and the format, but overwhelmingly the reviews are positive. You get it and tell me how you like it. Have enjoyed using DL's Perfect Scoop, but mostly for the flavor angle. Once I discovered making ice cream with cornstarch (Mark Bittman), I pretty much stick with that, with my own tweaking. Am trying to gear up to paulraphael's level of expertise using his ingredients.

Thanks Heidi. I did find some pies through that thread but the pie is not for me, but for Barbara and this is how she would want it. Peanut butter pie does not really interest me at all, but I made Ed and me a small pie-let with the leftovers. Added a tad of Panama Jack to our ganache.

Perhaps my ice cream and frozen treats library needs this title.

Ditto on missing posts from Rob. Very talented and funny guy. Glad I could be of service in your afternoon snack search.

Beautifully executed, Genkinaonna

My confectionery partner, birthday Barbara, has this thing about Peanut Butter Pie. Two years ago I downloaded a bunch of recipes and made her the one with the most peanut butter: from Canadian Living. . My note to myself was that I found the filling 'boring' using plan peanut butter (no salt, no sugar, unspecified natural brand). Apparently everyone else liked it or was being polite. DH in town this week picked me up one after another SMOOTH peanut natural butters. 3. THEY WERE ALL GRITTY. They will be eaten, but not in this pie. So...broke down today and bought a jar of Kraft Smooth. Oh, it's smooth alright. I was afraid that it might be overly sweet, but I had no idea that it would taste mostly like a weird Crisco. Can't believe that we EVER ate this stuff. End of rant. Now on to make the pie.

I freeze stock in ice cube trays...I have extra and use them just for that. Then it's easy to get as much or little as I want (or DH who is the resident soup maker).

The only kind of nopales that we can get in the far frozen north, and then only when friends bring them in from NJ, are either canned or in jars. Are they worth eating at all? Or are they about the same as canned versus fresh asparagus?