Darienne

A friend gave me this mysterious packet today with a stick of cinnamon (cassia) and three chocolates in it. I bit into one of the 'bonbons', only it wasn't soft at all. It was a hard ball of unsweetened chocolate which reminded me of the texture of Mexican chocolate. Much searching later...I came up with some websites which featured these tea chocolate balls and how to use them. http://caribbean-feast.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&products_id=17 http://jamaicanaturally.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/chocolate-tea-from-our-own-cocoa/ But has anyone any experience making this chocolate tea? Thanks.

It does and where is Humbers? I can google it and hope it's not too near Toronto or west of. ps. I cannot believe the heck I just went through to finally find out that Humbers is in Brampton. No way.

Wonderful. A good read and I enjoyed it immensely. Two questions: Mole Dulce / Mole Tlacuitapa: animal crackers? Do you actually mean those kiddy cookies? You mention lots of pork bits like feet and so on, and also suckling pigs. However, unless I missed it, there is no mention of pork butts or larger cuts of pork being used. Thanks again for such a lesson.

Had to Google three words that time. Needless to say, Richter's doesn't carry the two herbs. We have a very, very small Mexican/Hispanic/Latino population in Canada and thus it's hard to get most things. And furthermore, I have just been informed that I am too late to grow a number of things unless I buy them in plant form. Richter's does carry Mexican oregano and Tomatillos in plant form, but all the rest is seeds. As Sparrowgrass would know, we can't put anything in the ground here until June 1st. Oh well, next year....

Ya got me. Spicy garlicky cashew chicken is on this week's menu!!!

Here is where to look. A very excellent eG topic on the subject.

Well, I am the Mother and we had Mexican food which I made. And I was quite happy at that.

Chile Peppers: Hot Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and Gourmets (Brooklyn Botanic Garden Handbooks)ed. Beth Hanson. Not listed on Amazon. Does anyone know it? Should I buy it? Richter's carries it.

For me, Chris has said it all and clearly. I don't always do it by a long shot, but it works best when I do.

Yes, this has happened to me in a way. My Mother and Father moved to California when I was about 25 and thus I came into all Mother's kitchen and dining room stuff. I hated cooking...as said before...until about 4 years ago now...and so what I did was to give much of it away and generally rid myself of all of it over the years as I gave up on my ever using it. An old stand mixer, a meat grinder, several original Salton trays, crystal, Wedgewood, Royal Doulton, mixing bowls, Pyrex, grill, pots and pans, and on and on and on. Andie would have loved to have a lot of it as it went back to the early 30s. And now I have spent the last four years re-accumulating all the tools I need to cook and bake. Oh, and now I have a deliberately small galley kitchen which means that my stuff is stored in the kitchen, my studio, the breezeway, the cellar, the living room and the garage.

You, sir, have nothing to be humble about. You are a genius and I salute you. Wow! I am so liking what you can do.

I keep dogs for that purpose. Our two year old, Kyra, is johnny on the spot for that one.

The Mexican oregano is a good idea. Mediterranean oregano, Mexican oregano, and marjoram Too bad you can't order from Rancho Gordo up there. He's got a Mexican oregano that's the best I've ever tasted: Rancho Gordo Oregano Indio That stuff is fantastic. Got it. The Mexican oregano. Had forgotten all about it. Thanks.

Thanks for the information. I do have some nice terra cotta pieces that I got at the Cavan Mall (aka the transfer station/ aka the dump) last year and I'll plant the herbs in those.

Am about to put in an Mexican ingredient order for seeds with Richter's, an excellent herb and vegetable greenhouse located in Ontario. Ed is going to rototill a patch of the old gourd patch for me and Ms Black Thumb will see what she can get. My order: Epazote, Anaheim, Poblano, De Arbol, Pasilla, Serrano, and Tomatillo. Have I forgotten anything? (If I can make it there, I'll buy plug paks for the Tomatillo, the only plugs offered of the above list.) They have no beans which are meant to be cooked from dry, only wax beans and such. Can you get beans across the Canadian border with no problems? Can I plant pinto beans which I can buy at the bulk food store? I seem to recall doing just that a couple of decades ago. Thanks.

I/we do mise en place for some things: Ed does the mise ('meezes' as he calls them) when we do Chinese food. Each dish lined up on the counter to the right of the stove and then I basically saunter in and cook them all in a few minutes. And confectionery partner and I do mise for making candies of various sorts. God help you if the needed ingredient is not measured and handy in some candies at just the right moment. Hmmm....I suppose I do the mise when I am cooking or baking toute seule. I have a habit of leaving out the vanilla or forgetting to add things in the correct sequence, and having them all measured ahead of time and in a correct order helps a lot with that. The old steel trap mind of yore is gone forever.

Ours is from Zellers...a sort of K-Mart equivalent and because our kitchen is a galley kitchen, it covers the floor between the work counter and the sink. I would kill for a Gel-Pro or something, but it's out of my snack bracket with so many other things to buy during our 17 year renovation project... Oh...it does make it a bit of a pain to sweep the floor. The floors are wood and I wouldn't have anything else (as discussed in one of FG's other kitchen topics.)

One battery analog clock on the wall. One clock on the microwave never set because DH constantly hits the wrong buttons and 'unsets' the clock anyway.

Catching up on my eG reading today. Boy, you really know how to hurt a girl!

Go for it. Toot your own horn. Put together that list. NOW! Please.

We have a very good Ontario herb and vegetable source, Richter's, which could be worked into our visit to Toronto this Saturday. I don't have a current catalog (I'm not very good at online catalogs...you can't flip through them) but I've already found Epazote, Tomatillos, Anaheims (they don't carry Poblanos) and other chiles. A small garden is in order. I have a black thumb but last summer I did grow some tomatoes, Habaneros, Jalapenos and a few other things.

EN. Thanks. Homework for the weekend. Will there be a test?

Quoted from Acid and Alkaline Diet Tips "Foods such as orange juice and lemon juice are acidic in their natural state but turn alkaline after they have been metabolized in the body. As such, for dietetic purposes they are usually considered to be alkaline forming foods despite being acidic prior to consumption. Most fruits are alkaline except a few that include cranberries, plums and prunes. These fruits are classified as acidic because they contain acids the body can't metabolize." It was just that I seemed to recall from somewhere way back that although lemon juice was nominally acidic that it's reaction on the body was alkaline. Don't ask me how. Maybe the above is an answer. Maybe it's a different case when bladder problems are involved. ?

Good one. Thanks.

Chef Eddy's blog I follow faithfully and yesterday he published a recipe for Arlettes. They looked wonderful. However, the recipe was not written for beginners such as I. All the ingredients were noted 'as needed' and the baking time 'until the bottom side has caramelized. Flip over and bake...' OK. So now I know exactly what to do and not do the next time. Still, although the results don't look like Chef Eddy's, the DH pronounced them crispy and delicious.