Darienne

Two days ago I forgot to take care of the sample turtle lollipops I had made for the regional Turtle Trauma Center. Left them out uncovered all night on a plate. Very bad. Very stupid. Fortunately, only 6 pops. Not the 200 they want. So in the morning I had sticky turtles. Put them on a grid up in front of a fan. Boy, that sure didn't work. Of course not, idiote. Tried a dehydrator next. Where was my brain? Then into the fridge. Wait a second...you can't put hard candy into a fridge. Last step was to immerse each pop into granulated sugar. They were by then so wet and sticky that each pop was immersed three times before the sugar stopped going transparent in just a few seconds. OK. Into little plastic bags and into an air-tight container. Well, duh. Too bad you didn't do this in the first place. This morning, the final coat of white sugar is still mostly visible. It worked well enough. I know what I was supposed to do. I know in my limited way how hygroscopic ingredients work. What I don't know is how to fix a mistake. Is there a way?

So then I realized that the fridge was not an answer...too much humidity. Looked all through eGullet for answers. Lots of answers to prevent hygroscopic problems...but none as to whether you could reverse the problem once encountered. Finally dipped the pops in sugar...three times...then bagged them and put them into an airtight container (where they belonged in the first place). Tomorrow morning, I'll unveil the lollies and see what state they are in.

I'm with Pistolabella...Roasted ratatouille. I made it in a pot for years until one day I roasted it instead. Love it this way. In fact we had it for lunch today. Jaymes' Calabacitas sounds great. I might just make it for the sake of making it. But lazy as I am, I'll probably just roast everything which is roastable.

You'd be surprised at how those turtles pick up after a lick or two. As for the humidity...like a great big stupid, I left the pops out over night and now I have sticky turtles. I've had them in front of a fan for several hours now and that is having no drying effect on them. Perhaps I'll try a dehydrator next? Does this make sense? Or should I just scratch them? It's only 6 lollies.

It seems to me that part of good cooking habits is to make the procedures into 'habits'. Never, ever taste from the spoon you are cooking with. Then you don't have to keep track of who is going to eat your food. An easy answer to the problem is a container full of teaspoons designated for tasting only sitting near where the cook is working. One taste and into the sink they go. And make sure the spoon bowl is down and the handle up. I took some cooking classes recently and was stunned to see the spoon container with the bowl pointed up. I think this is particularly important for folks who work with chocolate. It's so tempting to lick the spoon, lick your fingers, etc. You must be ruthless about NEVER doing this. (Well, IMH (or not so H)O.)

I found the one reference (Item #33) to cutting everything in one's hand in the other topic. I don't do it and can't do it, but don't consider it a horrific habit. Our daughter's BF is from a Caribbean island, from a small village...they probably didn't have cutting boards...and he learned to cook from his Grandmother and she cut everything in her hand with a paring knife. He is one amazing cook. He cooks every day for the homeless and down and out islanders in Toronto. In fact, he's downright awesome to watch. I sous-chef for him when they visit and he does most of the cooking for us. I think he lives to cook. Horrific habit? Never!!!

Absolutely mind blowing.

Busy with lollipops again. This time for the local Turtle Trauma Centre which rescues and saves injured turtles. Like all non-profit organizations, they need funds, so I thought this might be a good way to help. Ed made the molds for me and today...after so many incredibly hot and humid days...the first batch was made.

Ice pops..well in my world anyway. And not your boring, sugary, Kool-Aid North American ice pops, but fruity, complex, interesting, textured, etc ice pops from India, Mexico, Central and South America, and so on.

Great writing. Great photos. I loved the photo of the Lobster Bar...it looked like a jewellery (Canadian and Australian spelling? Canadian anyway) counter. And your fridge is a hoot. And your partner is a living breathing angel. Mine waits in the car, listening to the radio mostly and making sure the dogs are OK. Can't complain. Coffee in bed every morning at 6:30 am makes up for a lot! Good blog. Carry on...

First fresh corn today. Only in grocery stores so far in our area. Not the best...but also not the worst. Loved it anyhow.

Yummm. Thanks, Andie. This woman cannot have too many eggplants. (Actually we had Szechuan Eggplant as one of the lunch dishes.)

I LOVE eggplants and make cutlets for moussaka and parmiagano, and I roast them in Ratatouille and I also make marinated eggplants as a salad side dish. And Szechuan eggplant. However, if I were you, I would give them to an eggplant loving friend and be done with it. I always peel mine except for cutlets. DH does not like the peel.

Gosh, I never think of taking photos at meals. Lunch is our dinner and we eat our most photographic meal then. Today was Puerco Pibil with Creamed Poblano Rajas. Dessert was Paletas de Coco Rapidas. Yummy. Puerco Pibil recipe is from Roberto Rodriguez and Paletas from Fany Gerson, Paletas.

Your friend obviously planted her seeds from you in good time. I have a friend nearby and when I last saw her plants in June, they were way ahead of mine. Next year I'll get it straight. Our south face is our front yard. And I have to put all plants outside the fenced in yard. Our male Rotti will water anything which stands up more than 2". Unless I can put the plants high enough to discourage him. Bought the two pups a wading pool which they think is a great huge drinking bowl even while visiting dogs cavort in it. Next year it becomes a plant container and maybe I could put it up on blocks on a piece of plywood.

Thanks both Andie and PanaCan. I have a few tomatillos which fit into Andie's category The plugs were planted late and furthermore in two batches. Still I am faithfully watering them every night and watching them grow. They are doing pretty well, but then it's been hot for days, which is unusual, with more to come. They are probably sufficiently confused to think that they are living in a more southerly growing zone.

Great finding this topic. I am making my first raspberry liqueur following a recipe in an 80s book. It does call for a pinch of tarragon or cloves and seeing as I don't have tarragon and couldn't find the cloves the other day when I was looking for it, I guess the only addition to the mix was lime or lemon zest. I forgot to write down which zest I used and now I can't remember. And vodka. It has now sat for one month and the recipe calls for three months of steeping before the sugar is added. Then it sits for 3 weeks. Oh well, it's just the first try. We live in hope. Oh, used fresh-picked raspberries.

How does one know when the tomatillos are ready to harvest? Thanks.

Never even heard of such a thing. Give us at least a hint of where you live, please.

Received my copy of Fany Gerson's Paletas and made my first paletas: "paletas de coco rapidas" . A bit soft...new to us freezer may be able to be adjusted...a bit too sweet for me...I'm not much for sweet, my DH is not too much for tangy...I like lime: he likes sweet cream. However, still delicious. It's a very sweet, creamy pop. Contains coconut milk, condensed milk, & half and half. No water or juice. Might explain why it is so sweet and not frozen very hard. Next I'll try the lime which is condensed, half& half, but with a good wallop of lime juice too. Should freeze more solidly.

First popsicles from Paletas : Paletas de coco rapidas (Quick Coconut Ice Pops). Delicious. They are a bit soft I think. I'll see if this freezer (new to us) can be made colder. Also it's very, very hot and very, very humid. My mold produces very small pops. I might consider getting some larger ones. The little ones are good for boozy ones I think (yet to be made). ( I am no photographer and I don't have a macro lens [i think}) Think I'll try the Lior's "Pom/Vodka" ones next. Two of my favorite health beverages.

That ice cream sounds very unusual. Was the flavor intense? How did you estimate how much candy to use? Welcome to eGullet, Carro-atyoursenses.

One more for us: Fany Gerson. Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice & Aguas Frescas.

Looks delicious. And you said: "I think with my taste to day, I would go with unsweetened coconut in the topping". Interesting thought. Could start a topic about whose taste has changed in which way. Using less sugar in recipes? Less salt? Less butter? chocolate of a higher percentage cacao?

Thanks Peter. Looked Honibe up online and see that I can buy them at our local bulk food store. Will get some this week to try. They might well make a nice little gift for American friends who are saying...well, what can you bring that's Canadian?