Darienne

Went to the local library looking for Margaret Visser. Much Depends Upon Dinner. It was out. What I did find was also by Visser. The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities and Meaning of Table Manners. Absolutely fascinating. Mind-boggling. Am savoring each section of it. It's the kind of book that I would take in the car on a long trip to read out loud to my husband (who loves being read to anyway. He has heard the entire Andrew Shotts. Making Artisan Chocolates and Peter Greweling's Chocolates & Confections: formula, theory,and technique for the artisan confectioner, the last title lasting the entire journey from Utah to Ontario.) It's an excellent way to learn stuff.

I want a kitchen outlet in my city. And then I want to buy everything that Andie has. So there!

The floors tiled? Beautiful, but is that not very hard on the legs and feet? Just asking...

I'm with Andie on this one: pyrex, glass, plastic, metal, a one-cup with a wooden handle even. The plastic bag storage blows me away but I'm pretty good about storing them in sets. I have a couple of 2 Tablespoon measuring cups and those I treasure. Found them at the $ stores years ago; bought a number, gave them to friends, returned to buy them...they were gone and I never saw them again. Also, Canadians are at a certain disadvantage in that their butter comes in one solid block like lard and it's a pain to measure. So I have a tiny plastic-covered cheat sheet I made myself which is on the side of my fridge with a magnet backing with the weight in grams and ounces of volume measurements of butter. Now if only I could simply remember them without looking...just to make sure.

For the jars and suchlike one the counter, you might buy at carousel. I was lucky to find a mega-carousel at a second hand store which the store was using to sell their wares and bullied the man into selling it to me. His wife would never have sold it to me. As for the height of our counters. I should have added that the sink side of our gallery kitchen was left at the original height and Ed works on one of the two small spaces on that side. It was a very tall friend, years ago, who had her counters put up higher who gave me the courage to ask my own DH to lower ours. Go for it, tall ladies.

Our kitchen, built by DH into a large pre-existing room which was an apiary attached to an old farmhouse, is a small galley which was perfect...in my former life which ended about four years ago when I discovered 'cooking'. Now it's too d*amned small. However, DH has lowered all the prefab counters and the stove by a couple of inches for me because I have long arms and I'm not too tall (no rude jokes please; it's not really noticeable) and also he built in spot lights right where they are most needed. And he built me a table with a large marble inset which is even lower than the counters and it's perfect for me to work on. Dear DH. :wub:

Time for me to re-read Visser's book.

Good thought, sir. The oil: canola, half was brand new, the other half had been used to blister the last very large batch of Poblanos, plus one load of Won Tons. Can't recall anything else. Filtered through a coffee paper filter each use. Kept in the fridge in an air-tight bottle. However, 1. my first use Sunday in the Teflon pan produced the alarming blurps and bubbles. 2. I then dumped the hot oil into a trusted pan...no blurps or bubbles. 3. Then later back into the Teflon pan. Much reduced blurps and bubbles with a visible 'coating' of tiny bubbles on the pot interior. 4. Third heating in the Teflon pan...no blurps and almost no bubbles. If it had been a problem with moisture in the oil, would there not have been evidence in the 'trusted' pan? I could try phoning the company. As for Mjx's question: I know next to nothing about Teflon. And my pot is not a deep-fryer at all, but an inexpensive pressure cooker pressed into use as a fryer. When I bought it, I had no idea that it was Teflon coated and had I known, I still would have known nothing.

Nope. That one has something over its lid. You are right about one thing. I don't use teflon anywhere else in my life and I'm going to toss it. That's my gut reaction. Thanks for putting it all into perspective.

The pot looks pretty much like yours, thock, except that it is black on the outside and inside and doesn't have bumps on the inside. The bottom has black rings painted on it. I'll take photos if it is necessary after this post. OK. As noted, I dumped the hot oil into a trusted pot and continued the chile process without incident. Now I decided that perhaps I had not dried the pot inside properly after washing it (subsequently proved that I had). So I wiped it down very well with paper towels, poured the oil back into it, turned on the heat and watched. This time I had my DH as witness to my endeavor. The temperature of the oil climbed much higher this time before the bubbles and blurps really began. About 120 Celsius, but bubble and blurp it did. Not as much, not as violently. It was able to reach 175 Celsius without major incident. But as we examined the inner surface of the pot under the hot oil, it was covered with little air (?) bubbles. What all this means I do not know. Can compressed air be in the teflon coating? It was not in the oil. This I can vouch for. Why was it lessened the second time around? Will it be gone on the third try and if so, why? I remain confused. Oh...the pot does not have a heavy bottom, but is probably the same as the sides, about 3/8" DH says. Third time round...no bubbles. I still feel very queasy about it all.

Back in my olden days, I used to deep fry French Fries in my Mother's old cast aluminum pressure cooker. The pot was heavy and thick walled. And nice and deep. Of course, I got rid of it. What else? Now I have just purchased for $5 a never-been-used T-Fal Safe 2 pressure cooker from Kijiji,thinking I could use it in the same way as in days of yore, but for blistering Poblanos, deep frying Won Tons, etc. In went the oil, up went the heat, and then strange things happened. The oil bubbled like crazy at 100 degrees Celsius...not very hot even...and soon big blurps were happening in the oil. Something was not right. I quickly transferred the oil to a 'safe' and known pot and did the blistering. I've done something stupid, right? You can't deep fry in teflon (or whatever the coating is)? The pot needs some other kind of seasoning type use first? Toss it out? Help, please. And thanks. Needless to say, there was NO lid on the pot.

It appears that no one has listed Mark Bittman's books. I have most of them and return to them over and over for his thoughts and tips.

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?