Darienne

Lovely looking, but I can't quite follow it: is that dark chocolate around the white interior? Where is the while chocolate and where is the cinnamon marshmallow? Thanks.

Every second night we eat salad for supper. I make quite a number of other salads...many of which I have found on eG...but our 'greens' salad which is part of every salad meal has the following unsophisticated dressing. Mostly. 2 T olive oil 2 T lemon juice a dollop of minced garlic, a dollop of L&P, salt & pepper. End of story. (Most vinegars don't agree with me too well and my GERD. Lemon juice is not a problem at all.)

Made a mixed North American / Mexican dinner last night. Pulled beef on a bun (Jewish guest, but not Kosher exactly) with Rajas con crema (my first) and a recipe called Southwest Potatoes (from one of those endless Tex/Mex cookbooks of little repute) with Mark Bittman's Mexican Tofu Pudding for dessert. Two notes: - the Southwest potatoes are very 'Mexican' and just about the best potato recipe I have ever tasted. - Bittman's tofu recipe is great, BUT if you ever make it, DON'T use the amount of cinnamon prescribed in the written recipe. Experienced cooks will know it's too much. I wrote Bittman and received a reply from one of his staff that the testing kitchen liked the huge amount of cinnamon. I adore cinnamon, but too much is still too much. Of course, I was probably using the fake cinnamon, cassia, and maybe Bittman was using real cinnamon which I guess I haven't seen here for many a year. No photos. Our guest would have thought I was crazy. ps. I used homemade crema from heavy cream. Very nice. Slowly it all starts to come together. Also put Jaymes' salsa in the potatoes.

And my question, which was tacked onto Fat Guy's question remains unsolved: my mystery Chinese candy, which IS NOT White Rabbit candy, which I have both eaten and made, but rather tastes of roasted sesame oil. I have not seen it since and our local Asian market man cannot identify it either.

I'm not sure where it came from, but we have one of the pretty gold filter thingies that HeidiH and others are talking about. I don't use it for the same reason we quit using the French press. Although the coffee tastes better without the paper filter, the filter filters out a lot of the oil which reacts badly with my internal GERD-prone person. The oil is yummy but very hard on the digestive system...or so I've heard.

Andie does have a wonderful blog and the stories and photos are so much fun and contain so much information. Check out Andie's blog.

Good going, Robin. They're lovely. I went to Kijiji and found a brand new pressure cooker which the seller said had sat on her cupboard for a couple of years. Still in the box, with manual, etc. Know the syndrome only too well. Folks give you stuff you simply cannot work into your life. So the lady has $5, and I have what I want: not a pressure cooker per se, but rather a tall, straight-sided pot heavy pot in which to deep fry stuff. That's what I used my Mother's pressure cooker for.

For Canadians only: Kerry can answer this one better than I can, but I do recall that some Canadian/US border crossings are a total pain at which to try to register Canadian items while crossing into the USA. So if this particular border crossing falls into that category, then it is better to register items in the city in which you live. Which in Peterborough is also a nuisance because you have to bring said item(s) downtown with you and also, and most importantly, MAKE SURE SOMEONE IS MANNING THE OFFICE THAT DAY. Hard to believe, but true.

Thanks all for the replies.

Thanks Jaymes. I think I'll try this one soon.

Now this is a friend indeed!!! I'll get back to you.

My wonderful and generous NJ friend who brought me a care package of Hispanic type ingredients last August included a few bottles of Goya Sofrito, a tomato cooking base, and also several frozen packs of her own Sofrito which she uses in her Mexican dishes. Her Sofrito is green, not red. I found two mentions of 'sofrito' in the Mexican Cooking posts. Does anyone use it? How do you use it? Do you make it? It can be both green and red? How does it stand in the hierarchy of Mexican cooking? Is it like 'Velveeta' instead of Cheddar cheese in North American cooking? (sorry, I hate Velveeta) Any information is welcomed. Thanks. ps. I might also mention that she smuggled about a gallon of Sangria across the border also. Got to be crazy! I'm not sure she even realized that you simply CAN'T do those sorts of things.

And I am confirmed for the Friday outing. Is there a photo of the master's masterpiece? I'd like to go to a Mexican bodega/mercado in Buffalo and shall set about finding one. Anyone know of one off-hand?

And so you should be!! Mine looked as if the dog had already played with them.

Perhaps I could do it more easily because I am a newish 'cook', but I finally sat down and inputted a comprehensive list of the main dishes we eat under specific headings such as 'Mexican', 'Chinese', etc. It's on the refrigerator for consideration.

Thanks Calipoutine, We usually do cross at Port Huron, but it might be easier to stop in Imlay city to buy them. I am not at my best in border crossings ...we had a really unpleasant one once... and I'd rather just get it over with when we are so near. My friend who works at Kroger's said she'd make sure they had a goodly supply when we crossed. Have frozen Poblanos a couple of times now with good results.

Absolutely wonderful, SherylD. I bet your son loved his cake.

Meant to ask before. Do you mean an electric deep fryer? I don't own one, but I do see them sometimes at the second hand stores. Or I could buy a new one. Is it worth it? I am now frying won tons, spring rolls, Chiles Rellenos and now we are discussing peeling Poblanos. I know this topic probably belongs in Consumers, but maybe I can be humored briefly.

Growing peppers where I live is not too useful. If you look at a map of Ontario, you can see that it encompasses several growing zones. We are not in one of the warmer ones. Last year I did grow Habaneros and Jalapenos and this year I'm going to try Poblanos, etc, if I can get the seeds. I do not have a green thumb, but I am willing to try. Couldn't possibly grow enough tho...

I'm a fairly new 'cook' but I find I am still following my old patterns which are somewhat from the hip, I guess. This morning I made a poppy seed coffee cake, putting together two recipes and making small loaf muffins instead of a cake. Then I made notes about what I did wrong and what I did right for next time. So I'm right there with the recipe...but working slightly out in space for one so lacking in knowledge. The errors are teaching me big time!

I didn't realize that you could buy the peppers in Michigan. Will stop on our way home from Utah next time and load up. I have a young friend who works at a Krogers in Imlay City and I could check with her first. Could stop in Lansing, Flint... You must be in heaven being back in SoCal. You can buy all the ingredients you need for Mexican food every day!

OK. The tabletop full of chiles are now all quickly deep fried to blister the skins, set on paper towels to drain, dish towel over them, and peeled. They are ready for the next steps. Some will be frozen whole for Chiles Rellenos, no seeding or de-veining until later thawed for use. Others will be opened, seeded & de-veined, and cut into strips for Rajas, etc. Then some will be used today in my own version of enchiladas and others will be frozen on half-sheets and then bagged. Questions: - is it better to peel them hot, medium or cold? DH helped me, peeling by hand. I peeled using a sharp knife. We came out about even. - thought I had a couple of other questions but my mind is blank. All feedback is appreciated. - this summer, I will try blistering the chiles outside on the B-B-Q or its side burner. What a learning experience this has all been.

My thoughts exactly. The poblanos are from Mexico. Does that mean they have no 'season', but will come all year round, like oranges or avocados? That would be great. I don't really feel like buying them out and leaving none for others. And if there is a 'better' season for them, like there is for tomatoes, then I would buy more then. What kind of peppers are you talking about? You don't mention charring or peeling or deseeding. As for putting the peppers into a plastic bag after charring/roasting/frying someone...maybe Bayless?...says NO! Just cover them with a towel. The plastic bag will continue the cooking process and you don't want that. Last week I had that experience with a couple of poblanos that couldn't be used for stuffing...they were just too soft. No problem, as you know. Yumm. Down to pepper and enchilda work for today. (Aside: today I finally figured out how to multiquote. Took only 2 1/2 years! )

Ditto pour moi.

Googled 'charla'. Talk, speech, chat. Could you give me a little more info about this, Jaymes, please?