Darienne

OK. That hard. No, the montelimar would never shatter. Not shatterable, so to speak. Nor even breakable. Definitely cuttable.

How hard is hard? The Montelimar was soft enough to dip into chocolate, so I wouldn't have described it as a good 'chaw'. But I wouldn't call it 'soft' either. Hmmm...it was soft enough that one or two of the dipped pieces, being insufficiently dipped, developed little worms coming out of them. That's pretty soft, I think.

He took the words right out of my mouth.

I'm with OliverB 'Cut in half, remove pit, fill cavity with good olive oil (or avocado oil!), add salt. Use spoon to eat, maybe with some bread. And pepper. Still the best way to eat avocado IMO. '

We bought an inexpensive mandolin from Kitchen Stuff Plus in Ontario. It's their brand. Whatever that means. Amazingly it's solid metal through and through, and good enough for our home cooking. Actually DH prepares what he calls the 'mises', so who am I to quarrel? Second use, he took off the teeny tiny tip of his finger. Will he wear a glove? No. Is it a guy thing? He simply says he will not do it again.

Confectionery partner, Barbara, and I have made the Montelimar probably four times now. Each time was a fantastic success! Almost eerie. As in 'when will our luck run out?' However, we did heat the sugars to 155C/311F degrees each time with no problems of any kind. And we did use the entire list of inclusions except for the pears. And we did make it in both the summer and winter. No, I don't mean we are expert geniuses either. IMHO having two people working together makes life much easier, especially when making something like nougat which is so difficult to get out of the bowl with only two hands. I am lucky to have found someone with whom I can work so well. We have a confection date next Wednesday. Hmmmm...nougat sounds good.

Turron sounds so much like Torrone that I googled both words together. From Wikipedia: Turrón (Spanish), torró (Catalan), or torrone (Italian) is a nougat confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into either a rectangular tablet or a round cake. It is frequently consumed as a traditional Christmas dessert in Spain and Italy. There are also some varieties in Latin America and the Philippines. Greweling has a recipe for Torrone which I have never tried, but perhaps others have. I always have made the Montelimar version of nougat.

A bagel so near and dear to my heart. I am Montreal born and raised and although I haven't been to Montreal for quite a long time now...I still long for the bagels.

Welcome to eGullet, Berry Sweeet, and thank you for the information.

Now that's good.

I might mention that one of Santa's elves sent me a multi-tier stainless steel bamboo steamer. Was I surprised!!! To the very core. Some folks like to give surprises. Those folks are truly the very nicest folks! Now to find some ginger to steam. Oh. I know. I have already made a sponge cake in a steamer a la Chinois and now I have a proper steamer and will make another .

Interesting. After spending decades fighting with huge honking blocks of butter, I really prefer the American sticks.

I think he's safe - since he's starting out from France. Oops.

Lovely idea, but the first thing that hit me was...can you take all those items from the States to England? We live in Canada and travel often to the States and there are just some foods which the border guards will confiscate. You wouldn't want that to happen.

Hooray for you Stuartlikesstrudel making your first, but NOT your last, ice cream and hooray for ice cream, and hooray for Paulraphael, my ice mentor.

And another: Anita Chu. Field Guide to Canada: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable. Anita Chu aka PastryGirl. Great little book!

Interesting points, Ray. I did speak to the local distributor of the Stove Guard and he tells me the company is working on a gas version but that it will cost quite a bit more money. Yes, the guard is going to cause some problems for some people, that's for sure, but in many cases, the potential for stove fires...which turn into house fires...far outweighs the inconveniences. And you are so correct about the 'disconnect' factor. A friend of mine bought a whistling kettle because she had burned a non-whistling one and almost caused a kitchen fire. Then what did she do? Disconnected the whistle because it drove her crazy.

It's not the timer. It's the motion sensor which senses that there is NO motion in the area. We are buying one on Wednesday and I'll report back to this thread about it. Do look it up and read the literature on it. Very interesting and long overdue. As for the sensor, it radiates to 10 feet away from where it is placed, but can be positioned so that dogs and small children don't have to count as motion makers. We have two big dogs...and they are not the problem leaving the stove on and walking away. The default timer for no motion detected is one minute but it can be set to a much long time period. Then you can set it to override this 'motion/timer' setting and set the time for up to 99 minutes at which time it will turn off. This will not be useful for roasts...but...a kitchen not accidentally set on fire by a forgetful person is worth almost any amount of minor inconvenience. Hey! We don't cook many roasts...maybe one a year. Along with two turkeys perhaps. Helps to be virtual vegetarians. Might also note that we live in the country in the middle of nowhere without city water. 20 minutes from the nearest fire-station which brings a filled pumper truck and over 1/2 hour from the police or ambulance. It's a price we willingly pay. Sorry...I am starting to go on...

Mine was a gift from my confectionery partner, Barbara, and she said she bought it in the States. I wonder if they are available in Canada somewhere???

Has anyone ever heard of/ used this Stove Guard, an electronic timer/sensor which will turn off the stove burners when there is no one in the kitchen. They are designed for: o Alzheimer's, absent-minded or easily-distracted. o "Aging at Home" Seniors living independently. o People with home offices who get called away from the kitchen while cooking. o Parents with young children. o Families with teenagers cooking after school unsupervised. o Commuters who are rushed before going to work. o Everyday busy people with good memories & hectic schedules. They are well rated by Consumers...I have never seen them rated. Cost in Canadian $ - $395.00. Might be a good investment...

Just looking in. My favorite spatula is a heavy duty, one-piece, flat yellow silicon by Trudeau.

Fascinating reading, PrairieGirl. I do hope it all goes well. I emailed my Calgary friends and I trust they dropped in.

Perhaps Michael Smith has no ego and is interesting and informative, but I find the endlessly 'clever' camera angles too distracting to watch him at all. The camera thingy is on his 7 pm & 7:30 pm show every night. I have never found his Chef Abroad program (or programme) because the channel has so little to offer regularly. Crab, crab, crab...

You may be missing this particular show, but don't ever wish for what we get on the Canadian food channel. I've experienced both the American and the Canadian, and I'd pick the American every time. THAT'S how bad the Canadian is. Well, to me, anyway.

Lost my reply...darn. OK. Here goes again. The chocolate drink was homemade. The syrup was from BC, a sort of high class DaVinci syrup. The packaged hot chocolate mix was a brilliant concept with a dreadful execution. The 'chocolate' was awful. No one even tasted the commercial tiny marshmallows. However, I have been sussing out this 'hot chocolate on a stick' concept and here are a few URL's with different recipes for that. I am just printing out the URLs because I am out of time today... http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipe-review/recipe-review-hot-chocolate-on-a-stick-101625 http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2009/10/how-to-make-hot-chocolate-pods.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/02stuf.html http://giverslog.com/?p=3290