Darienne

Gotcha. I'll be back...

Send for the book on I.L.L. at your local library. My DH wanted the book so we bought it, but I can see no reason to own it...along with most self-help books. Excellent premise starts the self-help/acceptable diet/nutrition/etc book which then carries on for a few hundred pages. Most of them deserve a long article. I guess ya gotta make money. Furthermore, as soon as the author starts a) a website and more tellingly b) selling stuff and then c) a follow-up book...that's usually it for me. Gosh, that all sounds a bit harsh for me! Take the rant out of the above, please. I doubt we could get Barrimundi in Peterborough.

My warmest thanks to SpecialK for starting this thread, and to JohnRosevear for his suggestion for reading materials: Gary Taubes, Good Calories, Bad Calories. And to all the others for their contributions. The Taubes book is excellent. Pulls together lots of information read in other books over the years. Be forewarned that it is not a fast read and at the end of a long day is not as relaxing as a light murder mystery. But very worth the effort. DH, Ed is not reading it...he's in full renovation mode...but I am relaying all the information to him. Ed is an interesting example of someone who was a fat kid in the 1940s (yes we are THAT old), lost weight in his 30s, had his metabolism changed on him...I don't know why...and has NEVER put back any weight. This is an important book to read, not in terms of a so-called 'diet' book, which it covers, but as a blueprint to life. Have also joined the Primal Blueprint for what is of consideration to us. Thanks to the person who suggested that. I would also suggest two books in the same vein: Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival by T.S. Wiley and The Blue Zone: Lesson for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner. Any feedback positive or negative is welcomed.

The article jo-mel linked this topic to said: "White Rabbit candy, first produced in 1959 to mark the 10th anniversary of new China, is now a household name in China, and is sold to more than 50 countries and regions." Anita Chu (Pastry Girl) in her new candy book, Field Guide to Candy says: "White Rabbit Cream Candy was invented by Aipixi Candy Factory in 1943." And, thanks for asking, we are still feeling fine.

Thanks ManhattanLawyer. Mine are nothing extraordinary. They come from an old cookbook...my first and that's 50 years now...which lost its cover years ago. 2 cups flour 1 T sugar 1/2 t salt (I use less) 4 t baking powder 4 T cold butter 1/2- 1/3 c milk 1 egg, well beaten Melted butter, sugar Sift dry ingredients and cut in butter. Add milk to egg, then add to flour mixture, adding more milk if necessary. Knead lightly on floured surface. Form as you wish. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle on sugar. 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. I never put sugar on them. I usually add orange zest. We often eat them cut open horizontally into two each, with mixed berries and whipped cream. Dessert as supper we call it. It's not dessert after supper...it is supper. Or just plain with soup.

I think a number of dishes taste better the second day. My DH, Ed's Macaroni and Cheese dish always tastes better the second day. I have no informed idea why. Perhaps it dries out slightly and there are more crunchy chewy bits the next day. Cole Slaw is better. Of course, we always make enough to last several meals.

Two days ago the Red Roof still had a few rooms available as far as I could figure out. They just had only one room available for dogs on the ground floor. (I have basically no idea at present how far it is from anything. Just grab what you can when you have dogs.)

Do you suppose that you could turn a thinner coconut milk into the equivalent of a thicker coconut milk by adding coconut oil/butter?

Just found this topic and am very interested in it. My own ice cream making started with Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla and went from there, with the help of my ice cream mentor, paulraphael. Now I make mostly cornstarch-based ice creams and have just last week switched to using coconut cream instead of milk. OK. Now to follow the above advice and incorporate fruit seriously, not just as an inclusion. I opened a can of soursop with no idea of what I would find and it's not suitable for an inclusion, but could be further pulped (or not) and made into ice cream. Maybe. ...just deked into the kitchen for a further taste. It's a bit bland for an ice cream flavor. I also opened a can of attap (palm nuts) and think I'll go for vanilla ice cream with attap and nuts as inclusions this time around. I'm interested in whatever 'exotic' fruits folks have incorporated into ice cream. My favorite to date is candied kumquat bits.

Hmmmm...now that's a brilliant idea, freezing the coconut milk. I have been using it in a variety of ways recently, including ice cream. Put it into a creamed red bell pepper soup a couple of nights ago. Am still going to collect more varieties of cream and milk. Found another one in our bulk food store, but its brand name...already forgotten...put me off bothering. Not to mention that it was 3x the price I usually pay. ...might go back and get it next time anyway...

We have a new second-hand bookstore in the little town near us. Add two more cookbooks for me.

Just spent under half an hour watching both Jamie Oliver and Dean Ornish talk about obesity and heart disease, the lack of knowledge about food and cooking, etc. Well spent time. Thank you Moopheus.

Oh, oh. It's 2010. Just bought a bag of White Rabbit candy for the first time to try them and now find this topic. Mine are good to October 2010. Anyone hear of any contamination lately? I have a recipe to make it from Anita Chu's (Pastry Girl) Field Guide to Candy and will do so next week.

So many wonderful places to eat and wonderful things to eat. I guess my secret favorite would have to be the outdoor Navajo Flea Market in Shiprock where for $1.98 you can buy a Navajo Fry Bread deep fried in some strange 'cooking thing' full of boiling hot oil, topped with sugar or honey and cinnamon. We get one every year on our way from Moab to Gallup. Totally without nutritional value. Love it. Best Mexican food I ever ate was in a little place called Lucy's in Carlsbad which was gone the next time we went there.

How lovely those cookies look.

After recent buying binge, listed with fat from highest to lowest: 1. Savoy Coconut Cream : 1/2 c/ 90 g = 200 calories; fat 31%; coconut cream 70% & water, preservative (best for ice cream according to Mr. Minh) 2. Mae Ploy Coconut Milk: 1/3 c/80 g = 160 calories; fat 26%; coconut extract & water; preservative; mentioned on eGullet 3. Aroy-D Coconut Milk: 1/2 c/ 90 g = 170 calories; fat 26%; coconut milk (70%) & water; preservative 4. Phoenix Barge Coconut Cream: 1/3 c/ 80 g = 160 calories; fat 24%; coconut cream & water; no preservative 5. Phoenix Barge Coconut Milk: 1/3 c/ 80 g = 160 calories; fat 12%; coconut milk & water; no preservative 6. Globe Coconut Milk: 1/2 c/ 90 g = 40 calories; fat 5%; 1st ingredient water, then coconut milk (24%); preservative 7. Tomi Coconut Milk: 57 g = 167 calories; fat 5%; coconut milk & water (99.99%); preservative 8. Rooster ?: 1/2 cup = 100 calories; coconut milk (no % given); fat 5 gm - did not transcribe complete info before consumption OK. So it doesn't make any sense to me. How can #4 and #5 have the same caloric value with differing fat content? How can #6 and # 7 have the same fat content with such differing caloric values? No real need to answer. However, for those of you who like puzzles, am I missing something? Notice that storekeeper (Vietnamese) says #1, highest fat, is best for ice cream. I'll have to ask him again which # he said was best for curries. Then of course, there is KTC Pure Creamed Coconut, which gives no ingredient values. You mix 200 g with 450 ml for coconut cream and add an extra 150 ml for milk. Now to use them all... (I must have too much time on my hands. ) Oh, made ice cream using #3 (fat 26%) and #6 (fat 5%). Ed said it wasn't rich enough. So...that one is obvious.

Hooray, hooray. Today I bought a big bunch of kumquats in the local Asian store. First time I have seen kumquats in Peterborough in 30 years. Kumquat ice cream here we come. Well, vanilla with candied kumquat pulp in it. So good.

OK. Made the reservations for the weekend of the 6-7-8 at the Red Roof which takes dogs. Gasped at the rates. We usually travel west and south where the rates are MUCH, MUCH lower. Oh, the joys of living in the east??? You are correct about making reservations now. They had only one room available with what we needed. Plumbers and platers the receptionist said.

We can do the later weekend. Not as well, but it's doable. We wouldn't be staying in a hotel as we have to bring our two dogs. Don't worry, they won't interfere at all. We'll have to find a dog-friendly motel. And we can stay further afield if necessary. ps. If things are going to change, they should be settled ASAP so that we can book our accommodation. Thanks.

I didn't think of a tea ball. Good idea. I had an extra salt type shaker and thought that might work. But a tea ball might be better. Thanks.

The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession by Adam Leith Gollner...fascinating stories of fruits I have never heard of. Had no idea that there were so many different fruits in the world. This is the one food-oriented non-cookbook I am reading. I love reading cookbooks. I have a good number that I have not managed to read through from one end to another. And I borrow cookbooks from our two local libraries to thumb through them and read the stories about the food. I do love a cookbook with stories. Another thing I do is to read cookbooks from one end to the other to my DH on our long trips across the USA. That's a good way to assimilate the necessary information in a new field of endeavor for me. I have read to Ed the entirety of Andrew Garrison Shotts, Making Artisan Chocolates, my first real chocolate book, Michael Recchuiti Chocolate Obsession and Peter Greweling, Chocolates and Confections and that is one HUGE book. He likes to listen and I learn by reading.

Putting the squares into cocoa...bad idea. Too much gets on and too much work taking it off again. How exactly does one 'dust' with cocoa? Yes, to meet us and all the others...so exciting! I might even bring a box of finished Enstrom goodies. By then I would have it perfected for certain.!

Sorry, I did not get back at once. Just so overwhelmed by the fact that we might actually meet. 1. Yes. except that next time, I'll flip the entire thing, scored, before I break it to wipe it more easily. 2. I am going to this afternoon. 3. Yes 4. Finely chopped almonds. Don't have to be roasted or roasted slightly. Yes, I have made it a few times, and each time have done one additional mistake. * Earlier, we did not score it, but broke it after the chocolate was put on. The chocolate did not stay well. * Then we scored it, dusted with cocoa...Kerry's suggestion...and the chocolate stayed better.Then we broke it easily and some of the chocolate stayed and some didn't. Used too much cocoa on one side. Hard to remove excess 'dust' on such a big surface. * now I have scored it, broken it, and then discovered that flipping it and de-oiling it would have been better before I broke it...which it does very nicely. * now I am going to put it right into the cocoa, and then into a sieve with vigorous action. * then a sort of footing...not a really careful one as in truffles. * and then dipping. I haven't decided whether to go to the nut stage or not.

The most incredible news on a new topic from Lior (Ilana)Ilana in Madison. She will be in Madison Wisconsin in July/August. What if she could get a short flight to Ann Arbor and attend the Heartland Gathering? That would be wonderful!