Darienne

Life is so full of co-incidences. I have a bookmark in that very recipe in Recchuiti. I've used that technique on a variety of nuts and nibs before. I do like his book. Thanks, JAZ

The International School of Sugarcraft Books One for Beginners and Two for Advanced. Principal teacher: Nicholas Lodge.

Thanks for all the ideas. Once again, I forgot to check 'watch this topic' and wondered why no one responded. Idiote. I love the idea of the orange zest and dried cranberries. I think I would go with nuts. But then anything with orange and cranberries is in with me. Toffee almonds I assume are candied almonds? I found a recipe online called 'Three Chocolate Bark with Spiced Pecans and Dried Cherries' by Emeril Lagasse which sounds good. Also a very fruit laden bark in a local chain grocery store handout. The photo entices. And the 'Aztec Chocolate Bark' also online in 'Simply Recipes'. I've only made very plain barks in the past. Have these wonderful little red and green plastic tubs with lids which I bought last year in a Moab dollar type store, and the tubs make the most beautiful bark tablets. First found the 'tablet' idea in Andrew Shotts' Making Artisan Chocolates, my very first chocolate cookbook purchase. I place the tablets on a piece of gold cardboard and they wrap beautifully.

Reminds me of the first time I chocolate-dipped nougat...before I knew about wafer paper. Looked like little arms calling for help, poking up from the chocolate chunks.

All of what you say is true. It is only just so good and no better. But the better that it is is so much further ahead than if we were without it. One thing DH says is that having this new device has made him think about the stove and what is going on with it. That's all to the good. For it's not thinking about what one is doing that is the main problem. I do live a very 'thoughtful' life...years of having to do it. DH does not. We are better off with it. But thanks for the thoughts. Can you name one foolproof safety device in the world? But does that it make it sensible to ignore the imperfect ones that exist?

Time to bring back this wonderful thread. What new and unusual barks have eGulleters been making? Or old. Old is good too. I need to make some dark chocolate and milk chocolates barks in the next two days. I found a lovely Aztec bark recipe online which I am going to try, but am open to suggestions...well, no bacon please...these are for friends and acquaintances.

Sorry Steve, read the answers out of sync.

Excellent point. It just hit me...if we dust toffee with cocoa to make sure the chocolate adheres...what about rolling the ginger lightly in a cornstarch/confectioner's sugar mixture? Might that help?

Sacre bleu. I think not. Give me Heinz or give me nothing at all!

No answer from me, but rather an additional similar problem which may fit in. I have dipped the 'cubed-comes-in-syrup-which -you-have-to -drain -well -and -pat -dry' ginger in tempered chocolate and all was well. This year I had to double dip each piece as I was getting those nasty little leaks also. Chocolate temper was perfect and ginger was also room temperature. 67 degrees or so. My decision was 'never again'. Back to candying my own ginger, rolling in sugar and then dipping. NO LEAKING THERE. Count me in for needing advice please.

DH, Ed, is French-Canadian and Oddawa by birth on his Mother's side and here is his version of the tourtiere. Two made each Christmas: one for the Christmas Eve party we regularly attend and one for us. His family call him 'Eddie-Paul', but I can't do the accent in typing. (Copied straight from a messy, stained old recipe card) Fry and mix together 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb ground pork. Boil, mash & add 1 medium potato. Chop/dice, fry & add 1 medium onion. Add salt, pepper, allspice to taste. Mix all & place in pie shell (lard & 7-Up). cover with pastry & bake in oven 450 degrees for 10 minutes & 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Serve with ketchup. Lots of ketchup.

Loved the video. DH peels hard-boiled eggs for the dogs every third day for their breakfasts. He'll love the video also. In fact, he often puts baking soda into the water just because of the 'pain in the *ss' quality of peeling eggs. But he has never tried the blow it out the end trick. As for me? When I do the dogs' eggs, I make them scrambled eggs which they love. Why he does the hard-boiled thing is beyond me. They could eat them raw, but omigawd it's hard to be there while they do it.

Might we please have a picture of stacking wine glasses. This I cannot quite get my mind around. Thanks. I do have one rather neat container, a small Rubbermaid Roughneck which fits into a bottom cupboard shelf and contains all the small plastic containers and their lids. This way I don't have to be too careful about putting them away in neat piles...well, I can't get DH to do it anyway...and they are quite accessible this way. In the garage, I have a large Roughneck container with mismatched, singles, orphans, etc of plastic containers...some very nice, indeed,...and these go to other people's homes with no returns, please.

We've now cooked with the Stove Guard for a week and a half and no problems. We have turned the unit off to cook a roast...and then turned it back on again. It wouldn't work if one person in the house didn't have an attentive mind. That's true. You might forget to turn it back on again and then... Repeat of last message: I have yet to read the manual. Haven't gotten very far in phoning senior organizations, but it's a promise I have made to myself and I will. The unit is a bit limited in some ways. Its field of detection is somewhat limited, but I think we can reposition the sensor somewhat to cover a greater field. Tomorrow... It's a great beginning though and one can only imagine that with the entry into seniorhood of the millions of Baby Boomers (DH and I are War Babies) that there will be great strides in this area.

What a hoot. Also looked up The Original Road Kill Cookbook. We actually killed our first deer ever in Indiana last May and I was so grateful to be traveling in a one-ton van. Also that Indiana deer are not as large as Ontario deer.

All sorts of useful and good replies. And right! I would not want to travel with Tri2Cook. Maybe once, maybe 30 years ago, but not now. We used to do Santa Fe from Peterborough ON in 2 1/2 days. Them were the good young days. We do Moab in 4-5 days now. And we have two large lame dogs with us. And we travel only major freeways. With lots of stops for doggy breaks and walks. And DH hates to wait for breakfast in a regular restaurant as he wants to get going on the road ASAP. And we travel in pretty straight lines. And DH hates to go far off the Interstate for ANYTHING. So all we hit are fast food places. Sometimes it's hard enough to find a grocery store. We all have our 'things'. Mostly what I am after is eating in the motel room, on the road, at the rest stops if it is warm enough...that sort of thing. We are not vegetarians...although we were for 30 years...but almost, so vegetables are the main thing. Not to mention feeding dogs who eat raw on the road. A bit of a challenge. We do have a little kettle for making coffee or soup. But there are no Trader Joe's in Kansas. I do find that raw almonds work better than mixed nuts which have a higher 'yummy' factor. 70% chocolate discourages munching also. Speaking of good food: Moab is not a place to go for that. Red rocks, yes. Good restaurants, no.

Methinks the girl is flaming brilliant!

Ooo. Is my face red?

Bacon? This one shocks me. I'd really like to understand just how bacon is criminally under-appreciated. Or even just under-appreciated?

Just reading the thread about Hershey's latest ventures started by The Unknown Cook inspired me to start a thread about AVOIDING fast foods while on the road. DH and I travel from Ontario to Utah and back once a year, passing a gazillion fast food joints where the meals are close to the freeways, lots of parking, convenient, cheap, fast, passably clean washrooms, etc, etc. We try as much as possible NOT to eat in fast food places. And when we do, it's salads and wraps mostly...with the occasional burger. Mea culpa. We avoid these places at breakfast by: bringing a toaster oven, granola, bowls and cutlery, buying milk and fruit locally, etc. Lunch by tortillas with hummus for one. Or the salad bar in a local grocery. Avoid on the road snacking by taking premade little dark chocolate and raw almond cups. It's amazing how little chocolate will satisfy the need for 'something'. We have a plug-in fridge of course which can plug into the cigarette lighter or an electrical outlet. And so on. We are always open to clever ideas on how to improve our eating on our travels. All ideas are welcome here.

We rarely eat fast foods, but I am indebted to you, Unknown Cook, for posting all this information. I've wanted to see the Supersize Me movie and here it is on eGullet. Thanks. We travel a lot across the USA every year, and try very hard not to eat in fast food joints which are, of course, nearest to the freeways, convenient, fast, etc, etc. Taking snacks of plain chocolate with lots of raw almonds in it helps immensely. Actually that would make a good eG topic. How do you keep from eating fast foods while you are traveling...

Yesterday I dipped 8,000 pieces of ginger. Well, maybe I exaggerate a tad, but if I never dip another piece of ginger... Still to make is the Enstrom copycat chocolate-coated toffee with partner, Barbara, on Candy Day which got snowed out last week. (I didn't think anyone would want to see a photo of 8,000 pieces of chocolate dipped ginger. Now to package it all up. )

Dear DooDad, Please come and live at my house for a while and 'disallow' my DH from putting knives in the sink. Thank you, Darienne

Brief background: two itchy dogs who are being put on special elimination diets for a while to try to isolate the problems, if any, with foods. They eat raw, pulped vegetables, very little grain of any kind. OK. The guys get a couple of tablespoons of yogurt every morning along with their breakfast and DH bought some goat milk and some goat yogurt this morning so I can begin to make goat yogurt regularly. Never made goat yogurt before. The only tidbit I have come up with is that regular yogurt makers..of which I have none...are too hot for the 'delicate' nature of goat milk. I was simply going to make it in a large wide-mouth thermos. The texture doesn't matter...DH has promised not to kvetch about the yogurt quality this go round, but I could use some help. Thanks.

Looked them up online and found them at the nearest Kitchen store. Will look at them next Friday when we are off to Toronto. Thanks.