Darienne

A dear friend who makes doggy cakes sent me a link and asked me if I knew what I thought the topping was. Go to bottom of the web page, lower right hand side and click on "Cupcakes". Unfortunately, I'm not much of a baker. I thought it might be a piped meringue of some sort. Experienced baker, Kerry Beal, thinks it's butter cream. Any other ideas? Thanks.

Your second hand stores are much better than our second hand stores in Peterborough. I think I have found decent cookbooks two or three times only in many visits. Mostly microwave and low fat stuff. Lucky ladies. Soon we head to the land of incredible second hand stores...Moab, UT. But no lunches out. Dreadful restaurants.

There have been many good salad recipes on eGullet this summer, ones which don't need fragile greens, which guys would like. I'd do some of those: Naturally, I can't find anything when I want it...however, I do have several salads downloaded and can send them to you if you like. What Would Cathy Eathas some of these salads and others on it and is a wonderful source for hearty salads. Corn is good always. Have a great weekend! Bring booze. Then no one will care about the food.

My sincere apologies to everyone to whom I sent the recipe to make this cake. I started to make it today and soon realized that I used a different cake recipe for the actual cake, one that is richer. The correct recipe is taken from Greg Case & Keri Fisher, One Cake, One Hundred Desserts: Learn One Foolproof Cake Recipe and Make One Hundred Desserts It does make a difference. Please PM or email me if you need some further information. Sorry

Thanks Robyn. Well, we are about to see. I'll mix the whole thing and put half into the fridge and bake it later. The cooking life for me is just one long experiment.

Thought hard to come up with a useful topic title. This doesn't quite do it. I am making tiny corn muffins for the weekend. I have only ONE pan. The mixture is enough for two pans so I can use only half of it at a time. It calls for only ONE EGG. So I made the liquid portion and divided it into halves. And divided the dry portion into halves. Then I mixed half the batter and baked it. Then I mixed the other half of the batter after the first ones were done, and backed it. The reason I did it as noted above is because: I don't know if you can leave a mixed batter sitting around for close to half an hour. The corn bread batter quickly gets so thick and expands, that I don't know if you need to bake it within a certain time frame. I am about to embark on a second batch, so if some brilliant person comes up with the answer soon, I'll either do the same method again...or mix it all at once and let the batter sit there waiting for the second batch. Yeah, I am using a mix: Martha White's Self-rising Corn Meal Mix, the end of the bag brought home from Moab a year and a half ago. No, you can't get it here. The past few days have been chaotic...you don't want to know...and I am so far behind, that I decided to do one thing on the quick. Besides, Ed loves this mix.

I would say immediately about removing doors: DON'T DO IT!!!!

Hi Linda...they look lovely. I'm curious and don't own the book. Just what were the vegetables in the enchiladas? Thanks. So sad...we don't have tomatillos in the frozen north, but soon, oh so soon, we are off to Moab again and then there'll be tomatillos to play with. My friend/was-next-door-neighbor/was-landlady volunteers at the Multicultural Center and I am the "Candy Lady". I'll bet I can find a willing Mom there to teach me a thing or two.

Oh my! Those cakes are wonderful! What a good Mommy you are!!!

What Wendy's is good for: if we are stuck in town and didn't bring anything with us to eat...we head to Wendy's. I get a baked potato with a pat of butter and DH gets said potato and a bowl of chili. Period.

Watched the video twice to get the sense of it completely. Obviously they are cutting two different confections. What would they do next with the first cut caramel pieces? Line them up again to enrobe them? I make small batches of same. Now confectionery partner, Barbara, and I use the two funny Perfect Brownie pans and end up with 36 squares which we leave more or less together and then spread the chocolate on them and then the nuts, etc. This is no problem with such small batches. (We don't sell stuff...just give it away so we don't eat it all ourselves). Seems to me not to be all that useful with the Savage roller if next you are going to enrobe the caramel and put nuts on top of that with such a huge batch. Then you have to crack the chocolate at least. Someone please correct my misunderstandings.

And there are so many wonderful and quick pestos to make. That's my favorite...pasta tossed with basil and parsley pesto. And because I can't get into town without a planned visit, I usually use walnuts or almonds instead of pine nuts...not to mention the prohibitive cost thereof.

I have lived through tile floors in my long married life, but a wood floor is best. Doesn't show dirt until it's REALLY dirty. I don't like the fan over the stove. Yucky and so fast. Also, I hate the word 'skanky'.

In the last few days I have made DL's Buttercrunch Toffee in vanilla, Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, and yesterday, the Aztec 'Hot' Chocolate Ice Cream. I'd already made the 'Hot' Chocolate twice, but using canned chipotles in adobo sauce. This time I had ground Chipotle powder. Now keeping in mind that I live in the frozen north and am growing my first crop of jalapenos this year...I don't have all that much experience with chiles. So when DL said...use the smaller amount of chile powder in the ice cream unless you know the strength of your chile powder. So I don't know how I would go about 'knowing' the strength of the powder and put in 2 instead of 3 TBSP. It's hot. Way hot. Way hot enough. Maybe even too way hot enough. But delicious. Also made my first cajeta, in the oven in a foil-covered dish set in a bain marie...no chance of exploding cans...following a recipe by his nibs DL which is online and he adapted from his own recipe in the Perfect Scoop. The only dulce de leche we can get in my small town is made by La Paila (Argentina) or Hershey and I have tasted the Argentinian one and find it too sweet to bear. Mine was very nice, if I do say so myself. I'm going to try the real McCoy when we get to Moab. Next for DL's Raspberry Ice Cream...

I am a total novice at making Mexican food, but my favorite cookbook, purchased in 1967 and falling apart, is The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz. I also have Rick Bayless, the Mexican Kitchen.

Gosh, I have that book too. Now you have galvanized me into action, LindaK. I bought it mainly for the gelato and sorbet recipes and have tried a couple. A severe case of too many cookbooks purchased at once.

Thank you for this post. I'm going to make sure Mr. Casual, my DH, reads it. I am paranoid about food going bad and now I feel a bit more vindicated.

I'm in. For one thing, I promised ElsieD that if she went, I would go. Do give me some sort of job to do, Kerry.

Gotcha!

Fascinating little video. What a delight to watch a professional do his thing. How on earth does that bunch of steel bits and bobs turn out a cruller? I love crullers. The bakery in the Kroger's in Moab has little to recommend it, but this incredible bakery where the croissants are to die for. Lots of Europeans visit Moab and stop by the Kroger's to pick up a lunch to take out into the wilderness of various kings.

In Moab, Utah, at the Multicultural Center, the kids call me the Candy Lady because I make various kinds of lollipops and candies for them. That makes me feel very good. :wub: We are heading back to Moab at the end of September. Yay!!!

OK. Looked them both up and the semi-freddo apparently is 'half cold'. Is a chiboust also cold? Semi-freddo is Italian. While chiboust is French.

Interesting thread. I really have no concept of a 'Semi-freddo' at this point but make a frozen dessert that might qualify. Research is called for. As for the 'heavy' French style custard ice creams...why make them in this style only? Try making the Philadelphia style ice cream or even ice cream with a corn starch base and no heavy cream even. Much lighter...but still acceptable to me. Fewer calories, less expensive, less 'heavy' eggy taste, more showcasing of the flavor, etc. What more could you ask for?

Hi Ruth, Could you explain what this means, please? Sorry, somehow I can't figure it out. Good ideas about breaking. Will try it next. The brownie pans satisfy my lazy instincts.

Yes, I have. Friends think that because I work with chocolate that I am a chocoholic. Well, I do like chocolate, but I am in no way a 'chocoholic'. And of course, gifts are often then chocolate...unfortunately chocolate that I, the non-chocoholic, would not want to eat. Oh well...if that's the worst thing that ever happens...