Darienne

Good point. Thanks for the input, gfweb.

The cake looks lovely, Robin. Chocolate, pecans, espresso...all good things. And the chocolate is "GOOD" chocolate. Because friends know I work with chocolate, they often give me chocolate for presents...and then I give that 'chocolate' to someone who doesn't care. I invariably make my own birthday cake and last year our 50th wedding anniversary cake too. As you say, I get something I like that way. I wonder how many others make their own birthday cakes???

Interesting...normally we have always had to clean our coffee makers more often that we have so far with this new one. Twice since Christmas is quite a record. Maybe it's because it's new and maybe it's because of the filter. I'll see if I can get them locally. Thanks for your reply.

Now why didn't I think of that? Thank you muchly. I have watched some videos from time to time, but never thought of making a determined effort to look at one for each thing I wanted to know. Of course!. Thanks again. ps. Strangely enough I cannot seem to watch any of the US Food Network videos.

Our daughter gave us a Cuisinart coffee maker DCC-120 for Christmas and it came with a little filter doohickey. We have unfiltered, untreated, hard lime water to drink straight from our well...the rest of our water is salt treated or we'd be cleaning and replacing everything constantly, but to drink we have the real stuff. Needless to say, the little filter bit the dust quite early. Is it worth trying to find replacements? Order on line? Fuggadaboutit? Your take? (Right. We are fussy about HOW STRONG we make our coffee, and not about what it's made in. Right. Completely unsophisticated. )

Thanks Linda. Could you please tell me the Boston day & time? We have a new satellite provider and I still don't know the stations we get for PBS...arrghhh...but I'll go now and try to figure out where it comes from. Our provider provided about 5 different PBS stations...but we don't get them. And we haven't worked out our so-called favorites list...are there any favorites to have on television anymore?. I'll get back if I can figure it out. Thanks. ps. Don't bother, Linda. Apparently, for some reason which I'll never fathom, we, living in east central Ontario...that is, east of Toronto even...get our PBS from Seattle. I'll try the Seattle listings next. pps. No luck. Rats.

So a friend told me she had found a Mexican cooking show on the Food Network (Canada) and I thought. Oh boy! Just what I need. So I watched it. Marcela Valladolid. And boy was it awful. Meatloaf a la Mexican. This dish and that dish with a dash of "Mexican" spices or ingredients. But then the subtitle was: "A spin on American Classics". I didn't look at that part of the title obviously. Are there any useful Mexican/Hispanic/Latino type cooking shows on television either in the USA (which no doubt we Canucks cannot get) or in Canada? Right. Thanks.

Wonderful Kim...think of how frustrated a baker you would be if you didn't have a workplace to go to????

The salsa verde which you love...is it from Bayless' book? Or is it an old favorite of yours? Your own version of a recipe? Someone else's recipe?

Excellent point, Jaymes. Hey! If RLB can use a bread machine, I can use a crock-pot for sure.

My DH, Ed, did not like the lemon ice cream either. Made with only half & half and not much else except lemon juice & sugar, Ed complained noted that it tasted like sherbet. Ed is not a sherbet kind of guy. I can't see any reason why you can't use golden syrup in this recipe if that's what you are asking. It's only used as a doctor and you use only a little bit. No, if I understand correctly and you are asking about a doctor in this Tiramisu Ice Cream recipe, I would say don't use it. The recipe calls for so much liqueur that you don't need one. Your ice cream could turn out just too soft. Do get back on this. Thanks.

I am very disappointed to discover that The Sunset Cookbookcosts $32.00 on Amazon.ca (the Canadian end of the business). Also, exactly what is so 'western USA' about it? Does it have Tex/SoCal/Mex recipes in it?

Oops. That was the other thing I changed. I used a wing and a prayer and a crock-pot. Sorry.

Well, as usual I forgot the photo until I was part way through eating...not that it would have looked any different from the start. The potatoes are a recipe from one of those Southwestern MOR cookbooks which is neither here nor there, with changes of course. We both love it. I loved the meat and sauce. DH liked it, but at this point is rather more fond of commercial BBQ sauces /aka SUGAR. I might try melting some brown sugar and adding it to the leftover sauce and see if he prefers it. Pas moi. ps. Added a ton of brown sugar and some molasses. He likes it! What can I say? He was raised on sugar pie.

The Puerco Pibil marinated for about 5 hours in the fridge and then cooked in a slow cooker overnight. I just tasted it. OMIGAWD! :wub: I swear I have never tasted anything so enchanting, so good, so delicious. I am in Pibil Heaven. I'll try to get a photo of the lunch plate (although I am neither photographer or plating chef).

The recipe is in post #4, just above.

Lucky you. Well as it happens, I do have the beginnings of a calamondon bush...it's now 22" tall and if I live another 25 years it will probably have some oranges on it. Yes, I do have a second one, not quite so tall. They came from sprouting seeds from a friend's trees. There are just so many recipes for each dish that I find it overwhelming with each new dish. I wish I could find someone to take me in hand and teach me the basics of what I want to know. Thanks for all your help, Jaymes.

Hoo Boy! Some smashingly good Mexican dishes I hope!

Tomorrow is our 51st anniversary...OMG I cannot believe it...and I am making Puerco Pibil for our celebration lunch. First time. Found three recipes and after comparing them in each ingredient and amounts, went with the one from Robert Rodriguez, supposedly the one which is eaten by Johnny Depp's character in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". I actually followed the recipe very closely except that I used lime juice instead of vinegar, seeing as I used Seville oranges instead of plain undifferentiated orange juice. Oh well, I cannot recall ever following a recipe exactly...mostly I don't have some ingredient. Right. I also used a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg instead of cloves which I didn't have. I'd better stop here. It's marinating in the fridge right now.

Consider it done. Actually it is already done.

Lovely post, JC. I really enjoyed reading it.

Ditto for me. I'll ask our local Asian market.

Thanks chm. First guffaw of the day! ps. I still have trouble eating chicken, unless it's just breast meat. It's all those yucky bits.

That sounds delicious. I have never cooked brisket but you have me thinking that I will soon fix that gap in my cooking! DH, Ed, is the meat buyer in this family. I just asked him and he says he has never seen brisket in a local supermarket. I remember that my Bubi used to cook it. That's a long time ago. Anna, do you have it in your stores?

Thanks so much for this report, Kerry. I don't know how I missed it. I take it you enjoyed the food. And do they still have a market area? And what is 'csvarki'? I googled it and the first response was your eG post. The rest was not in English. Thanks.