Darienne

Thanks, Beanie. Now I know more than I did in the beginning, but I don't see myself using this product in the near future. But you never know...

Thanks, gap. That's a good start for me.

I know, I know, it's very early to mention the word "Christmas" or whatever holiday one celebrates at the end of December. I am partial to the Solstice myself, and we always have a Solstice celebration, and so far it has worked. Still, confectionery partner, Barbara, and I have to make goodies for a Christmas festival which is held in mid-November. Presumably folks are not buying for gifts, but rather for immediate consumption, but with a Christmas theme. So, I know from previous posts that hard tack lollies are good for a month and that chocolate covered (but not immersed) turtles are two weeks. I tried to find the earlier posts, but gave up after a while. Immersed in chocolate turtles are good for, if I recall, a bit longer than just coated. I need a bit of a chart. Answers to any or all of the following will be gratefully received. And I am sure others might well add other confections. I have hardly scratched the surface. How long ahead of time for presentation/selling/donation/etc can the following be made: * marshmallows, undipped * marshmallows, dipped in chocolate * candied ginger, dipped in chocolate * peanut/nut brittle * chocolate-coated toffee * chocolate-coated pretzels * candied nuts * candied nuts, dipped in chocolate * nougat, undipped * nougat, dipped in chocolate * caramels dipped in chocolate Thanks.

A new and stupid mistake. Using the Kevlar oven mitts when the fingers were wet. Guess what? They don't work when they are wet. I was taking out of the oven something wet and sloppy...mind, and so I held on and wailed and got it up onto the stove top before rushing over to the cold water tap. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

I need a bigger counter space to take all that plus work on it. Both my food processor and stand mixer are in a large armoire type thingy in our breezeway. The scale is inside a kitchen cupboard and the vita-mix, which DH picked up at our local transfer station (aka dump) is in the garage awaiting our attention...

We save the plastic caps that come on dairy products...but only the ones which fit nicely onto our hummingbird feeders. And we have well over a dozen. Oh, the caps are for cleaning and storage purposes. Ed has take on the job of chief hummingbird caretaker and he takes it very seriously. We use more sugar in the spring, summer and fall than seems seemly. We have more hummingbirds each year that you could ever imagine in this northern clime and considering that our flower garden is laughable and almost-non-existent after 15 years of benign neglect, I can't figure out why we have been 'picked' for home base. Sitting outside almost anywhere in the 'back yard'is an amazing experience, and can be unnerving for those who are not at home with being constantly whizzed past by many little feathery bodies. I think the ultimate experience is catching and taking one of the little guys out of the sun room in your hands. They go limp when you touch them and you can feel NOTHING in your cupped hands. And all this from a few dairy container caps.

Love sesame seeds, sesame candies, sesame oil, both toasted and now untoasted, tahini, hummus, halvah... One year, at Chinese New Year's, my friend who gives a big feast each yea, was given the usual boxes of New Year's candies, and in one, only one, was a compartment of chewy candies, with NO seeds, but the distinct smoky toasted sesame flavor. No one else liked them, so of course I ate them all. Tried everywhere to find out what the candies were and how to make them, with no luck. Tried on eGullet too under Chinese candy. Maybe I'll post my question again...might be some new members there who would know. (Maybe not. My question was the 3rd last post.)

I never noticed that there were recipes...will return to the website. Thanks.

Apologies, must have missed that. Any chance you can post a picture? I'm confused that an unrefined sesame oil should be so clear. Hmmmm my mistake also. When I actually poured some out for the photograph, I realized that it was more amber than I had thought at first tiny pouring.

Ditto to all of that. I wash up my dishes as I go so I don't have a big pile to wash at the end. But like you, I just shove all my peelings and cores off to the side of the cutting board. But it's all clean, right? So no problem. Right? Oh, and Anna, I do the thing with the broom too. But not just in the kitchen. As I noted far above in the posts, my kitchen always looks as if a tornado went through it when I am cooking. DH often points this out. So many of us are in the boat, or kitchen, so to speak. However, framed on my kitchen wall is the following that my departed Mother said long ago about my kitchen habits, and keep in mind, my Mother had little or no sense of humor or whimsy...she was dead serious: Keeping a dirty kitchen is better than living a life of thievery and killing What more is there to say?

Thanks for the suggestion, but DH wants a couple more, that's why I am chasing this one down.

Ah! The simple uncomplicated joys of second-hand shopping!

When I was a little girl, my Aunt Eileen made butter balls with a cross hatch design on them. I was enchanted by the process and loved to go to her house to watch her make the butter balls.

Very sad to report that Amazon does not carry very much in its Canadian version, and no kitchen stuff. Had I but known when I was in Moab... I will look at the Oxo chuan, but seeing as Ed does most of the lifting part of the cooking, he may prefer the stainless steel one. Thanks all.

This sesame oil IS unrefined. Strange that the directions on the clear, untoasted, unrefined, bland taste, etc sesame oil say to keep it in the fridge after opening...while the toasted, pungent, etc sesame oil says not to put it in the fridge.

Thanks all. Turns out Ed has not been looking in his twice weekly visits to the second hand stores looking for some other bits and bobs. We do see the occasional used wok so we might well see the wok spatula. Plus we are heading out for a major tour of Markham (north of Toronto) which is predominantly Chinese very soon. Thanks again. Who knew?

This stainless steel utensil with missing handle came into our lives at some point during the last 50 years...well, March 2010 will be 50 years for us...probably from a second hand outlet. It's DH's favorite. Good for taking Chinese dishes from the pan to the dish. DH would like to find/buy another one, with handle, but so far I have been unable to find one anywhere online, in catalogs, etc. Can someone help? (This sounds like a job for Wonder Ginger Lady, Andie )

Hi Jenni, Clear: I should have specified both untoasted and colorless, like water, that kind of clear. The bottle says: 'medium heat', thus not for deep frying.

Ed loves spicy things and although I would doubt that I could get gochugaru locally, I see that according to Wikipedia regular chili powder would make a suitable substitute. Thanks.

The sesame oil is completely clear. Uncolored. Expeller pressed. Unrefined. 100% sesame oil. Company: Spectrum. Imported by Hain Celestial, British Columbia. Refrigerate after opening. www.spectrumorganics.com. I'll look it up. http://www.spectrumorganics.com/?id=6#p65 No idea of where it comes from...

Thanks Tim. We eat a lot of roasted vegetables, summer and winter varieties. Will try it next time. Maybe a smallish amount first time round. The DH is pretty easy going as to foods...but not completely.

I googled the completely unknown 'Bibimbap' to find out what it is and while it does look good, I am without the requisite stone bowl. It's true, I was looking for something which wasn't Asian...like salad dressings, etc. Humdrum, perhaps, but useful.

Gotcha. Thanks.

I bought it to make a version of Halvah which was a disaster...mine, only mine, no doubt...which ended up in the trash. Now I have a goodly number of halvah recipes to try, not to mention a gift of Israeli halvah coming from Ilana (Lior), and a nearly full bottle of sesame oil left. It's not familiar dark amber, pungent Asian sesame oil which one uses in Chinese cooking. You could never mistake it for that sesame oil. However, the label on the side says: 'adds potent flavour to your Asian dishes'. I tasted it and it's quite bland although definitely 'sesame' and clear in color. It says 'medium heat'. What else can I use it for? Salad dressing? Other? Thanks.

Thank you,jk1002. I had found the Wikipedia article before but was in no mood to plow through it and you sent me back. I read it this time properly. However...do you use to thicken anything? Or is it mostly used commercially in large manufacturing situations? And what exactly is 'molten' ice cream? Do you make it? Buy it? As one question leads to another..........