Darienne

Just to give you an idea of how old I am...although why I would want to do that I don't know...I had Pez candy when it wasn't available in North America. My aunt, who was secretary to the Director of the ILO (International Labor Office) was stationed in Switzerland during WWII and after, and sent them to me from Europe in the 40s. What if I had kept the containers????

Oddly enough, we were just mentioning Ikea this morning as we contemplated our next move...

Hello Mitch, Just found this thread and am delighted. Reason #1 is the set of photos of your kitchen...which is the same shape as my kitchen, only much better filled and organized obviously. Later today, DH and I will sit and review all your photos and see if we can replicate some of your space solutions in our own house. (Size and shape of the kitchen are my 'fault'. Fifteen years ago when the kitchen was carved out of space, I did not like cooking and it was sufficient. Now, alas, it is not, and my kitchen is in the kitchen, breezeway, garage, studio, and living room. Oops. Forgot, in the cellar too.) Thanks again.

You are a good grandson.

Oh for a gas stove. We live far outside the gas lines here. Strange, you are the only person I have heard from who uses the oil method. I guess everyone else is cooking with gas.

Sounds like a fine basic recipe except that I would probably mix the pork with beef. And use either fresh or canned tomatoes. And I just made it using pulled pork and pulled beef chopped up after being frozen in great honking packages. (Pulled meat being good for all kinds of emergencies Our basic problem is that we eat 'dinner' at noon and that leaves all sorts of weekdays in chaos at the last minute with my having run out of time to get anything made. And so on. ) The one thing I don't get is the hard taco thingy. Don't they just break while you are eating them and then the stuff falls all over the place??? Oh, I also add a dollop of cocoa usually. I have really no idea why. And I do love Picadillo de la Costa with all the fruit in it. DH likes it better without fruit, although I refuse to leave out the raisins.

We have a propane barbecue but don't use it all that much. We did at first...but then... It's really a summer thing for us. And not often. It has a side burner but I've not had much practice in using it. Right now I wouldn't cook outside for anything. I'll try it again.

Is each rolatini just one piece of eggplant? Was it enormous? Sliced how? Looks wonderful. I am crazy for eggplant.

It's way past the middle of January and it's 12 below Fahrenheit (-25 C) where we live so it's obviously time to get back to making ice cream. DL's Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream with Butter Pecans. (Made with Half&Half and cornstarch.) Delicious. And then to gild the lily, topped with homemade Magic Shell. It's for kids, but I love it. ps. Has anyone ever tried making ice cream with DL's inclusion of Dark Chocolate Truffles? I have some incredibly delicious Raspberry ganache in the fridge (made with more booze than I ever imagined could go into a ganache) and will incorporate some into the Butterscotch ice cream in one small section to see how it might work.

Hmmm...why not put it in your electric grinder and then just add it to your regular salt stash?

Try it on the top of chocolate bark, or chocolate-dipped toffee.

Check out Canadian Tire in Peterborough - they carry an amazing amount of kitchen/cleaning stuff. Find the largest CT - I can't remember what street it is on but there's a Sobey's next door or very near if I remember correctly. CTC is on Lansdowne and I'll try it next time. Sobey's didn't have one or the Superstore or HH or the local kitchenware store. Should have looked at CTC first.

Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I did find 'roasting' the peppers in oil worked better than the under-the-electric-oven's-broiler method.

Can't resist. Just how many servant girls do you have?

There are so many recipes for Picadillo, I was wondering who had a favorite combination. For years, I made it combining two recipes from Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, 'Picadillo' and 'Picadillo de la Costa'. Mine was called 'Picadillo de la Cabana' (We live in Cavan and that was the best I could do. Yes, I know, very silly.) Yesterday's version was without fruit except for the raisins and apples.

Just made my very first Chiles Rellenos yesterday using the cheese-filled variant given by Rick Bayless in his online recipe. What fun! Took photos all along the way just for my own enjoyment and then forgot to photograph the finished product. For the first time every, a grocery in Peterpatch is carrying Poblanos. Not very big ones, but the real stuff anyway. Hooray! A question: I have never read of anyone using Bayless' method for roasting the chiles, but because I was going to fry the rellenos, I decided to try it. Plus I have only electric stove and oven and it's just not the same. The frying method worked well. Made a huge batch of Picadillo yesterday also, so if I can find the Poblanos again, I'll do them in the oven this time. Or use a dried chile...we can buy dried chiles in our local city. In the meantime...I am still floating...

No super market yet in Peterpatch, ON. We have a chain of Kitchen Stuff Plus about one hour from home. I'll try there next time I have to go that far for something. The joys and sorrows of living in a small city area.

We sterilize our dish sponges in the microwave every other day when we are being good...which sometimes we are not...like in the dead of winter because we keep the microwave in the garage. When the sponge is retired from sanitary-type duty, one corner is cut off very noticeably, said mutilated sponge is then kept in a different place and does floor duty, etc. We have dogs. Say no more. And so it goes as we buy new ones for the sink duty. Ed likes big ones...I like smaller ones. However, I am looking for one of those soap filled scrub brushes to use. No luck so far in our local kitchen stores, etc.

Years ago, in another gustatory lifetime, I ordered Dr. Mercola's cook book, Just What the Doctor Ordered. Two carob recipes were quite satisfactory, even delicious at that non-chocolate time, 'I Can't Believe it's not Chocolate' and 'Carob Protein Bar'. I still have the book and have been known to root around in it...but not make anything.

Ditto for posting when I think of the useless gadgets. In the interim, I could not live without my spoon rests, but they are all silicone. ps. Got one and it embarrasses me: The Magic Bullet. Useless little twit of a thing.

Oh. Holy. Cats. I made this tonight with an admittedly sad 1/2 bunch of broccoli from my CSA. Wow. Wow. Did not blow me out of the water, it blew me out of the universe. This soup is phenomenal. PHENOMENAL. Spectacular would not be an overstatement. I tossed in a (very) small crushed clove of garlic, and since I didn't have goat cheese like Gordo suggested, I used some feta. I used *too* much feta, but it was still..........phenomenal. I could not believe such flavor came from such sad broccoli and water. Even when I got to the end, and it was cold and had too much feta flavor, I kept scooping up little tastes, because the broccoli flavor was so vibrant. Wow. The dregs (that had too much feta *mental note, light hand on the feta*) got spooned over the dogs' dinners, and they loved it too. All 3 of us almost ate the paint off the bowls. Thank you RaRoOb for sharing this. I'd have never believed it was so amazing. I'd have paid big bucks for this soup in a restaurant. BIG bucks, and been happy. OK. Ya got me. I'll do it. Watched the video. Lovely. The man can be enchanting.

Twice DH and I have been to a Chinese New Year at the home of a friend who is married to a Chinese man originally from Hong Kong. Besides all kinds of candies in red containers, the dinner was multi-coursed, with one dish being removed for another. I seem to recall: Lion Head meatballs, some kind of spare ribs, an entire fish (you are supposed to serve it with head, tail, etc),rice...can't recall the other dishes, only that there were several. Dessert was Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice Cake. All in all, it was an incredible feast.

Why is it better? Can you please tell me?

Ditto for me on the soft boiled eggs and add to that head cheese and almost everything else with jellied meat of any kind.

Question from a pork newbie: What exactly does one use pork stock for which isn't exotic to your average unsophisticated cook? For instance, I've never heard of tonkotsu soup before. Thanks.