Darienne

Sometimes a large bottle of vodka will have two teensy bottles, either of vodka or something else, hanging around its neck. DH will buy this. The little bottles are just big enough to store little bits of other liquids. (Remember that in Ontario, a bottle of vodka, cheapest kind, starts at $52.00 I can hear the American gasps. You cannot get single distilled vodka in Ontario, only triple.)

from Wikipedia Question: if the halvah contains dairy, then it can be eaten with dairy dishes but not meat according to dietary laws. Well, yes. But Israeli halvah...the kind we are trying to make...does not contain any milk, but does contain saponaria. Can't yet get any ingredient equivalent for this. It makes me wonder if the recipe for halvah with egg white is aiming at this. OK. From Eclectic Recipes website: (I trust that I have done the above quotes and provenance correctly.)

Ilana. Thanks. I already have the Eclectic recipe and thanks for it and the other one. As noted in last post, I'll do a water and sugar recipe next. And I'll search around again about the milk recipe to see what I can find. It must be that I cooked it on too high a heat. Also that I am probably too lazy to make something on low heat when I can do the sugar and water instead. Or as the DH pointed out...they didn't have condensed milk in the 'olden' days. Hmmm...they didn't have sugar either...but they had honey. But then honey is such an iffy thing. So much variety. I asked at our health food/bulk food store a couple of days ago and they keep only clover and buckwheat honey. This is a small town and there isn't the wide range of stuff you could get in Toronto. (I'd rather do without than go to Toronto any more than I have to. ) Onwards and upwards...

Stu first. OK. Thanks. Bits & Bobs: Caramel: I have made wonderful caramel a number of times. Use Kerry Beal's recipe which is adapted from L'Ecole Lenotre, Vol.2, posted in her 101 eG course. Caramel recipes don't start out with milk, do they? Halvah: Never thought of halvah in terms of caramel. Halvah is so flaky...but you could be right. Never thought about the "not starting the crystallization process too soon". Will think about it some...later in the day. Big Problem: cooking milk for such a long time and not over a very low heat. If I had not stirred it, the browned/aka slightly burnt part on the bottom of the pot would have simply gotten thicker and more burnt. Tahini: it was warm...50 degrees...not actually hot. Lord, it is all so confusing when you are the in middle of the muddle. What I shall do is try one or more of the sugar & water recipes and see what happens. I can't burn it the same way. I'll be baaaack. and thanks again

Thanks for the added advice. Freezing the half-baked biscotti might well be the answer. And I do store my nuts in the freezer normally...it's the mix of nuts and liquids I guess.

As noted above, first try at Halvah ended up in the trash (garbage for Canadians), Recipe called for flour base. Second try, base of condensed milk, now sealed, in the fridge for 36 hours to 'allow sugar crystals time to grow'. This recipe is one of the four passed on above by stuartlikesstrudel. As I began to make the halvah, in my usual half-informed way, I realized that the instructions called for boiling sugar, condensed milk and flavorings until the soft ball stage, but gave no directions as to heat, no stir or don't stir, no pot size...very little. So I stirred, as the milk browned heavily and merrily on the bottom of the pot. On and on. I had no idea of what to do. Perhaps I should have used a very low heat? I used medium. Perhaps I should not have stirred? It was too late for second thoughts. Then I heated the tahini to 50 degrees Celsius while it too browned quickly on the bottom. Mixed the two together as noted, beating as directed. Turned it out onto a silpat to 'knead until the mixture begins to set'. It was HOT. HOT!!! Who could knead such a hot mass? And it was setting like crazy. Tasted good. So I kneaded it as much as my hands would bear. Now it's in the fridge and I'll be back in 36 hours to report. Anyone care to comment on my errors? Etc? Next try will be the sugar based recipe with lemon juice, etc. I can't burn it at least.

Thanks Rena. Our weather is cool and always near 100% humidity. Thanks for the information. I will google freeze dried fruit powders... And Jaymes. Thanks again. Rum balls will be on the list this year. I am working with an experienced confection maker and she will no doubt have made rum balls before.

While looking for answers, I came upon the following: According to Natalie Haughton Food Editor of COOKIE CONFIDENTIAL. December 2006 Too bad.

I was just thinking about nuts in ice cream. Some of them seem to get softer in the frozen mixture. Would freezing the nuts in unbaked cookie and biscotti dough have the same effect? Or would the nut crisp up again when baked? Sorry I didn't think of this earlier.

Thanks, but what I meant is freezing the unbaked biscotti dough... And what I need most to know is how the freezing would affect the nut, if at all.

It appears that unbaked cookie dough freezes well and for quite a long time. No one spoke specifically about doughs with nuts in them, so I am wondering if you can freeze both cookie and biscotti batters with nuts in them. Thanks

Thanks Jaymes. I've never made a rum ball. Truth be told, I'm not even sure what a rum ball is, but I'll look up a recipe right away.

In the bad old days, before I took up my late life of cooking, I used to order muffins each August for our Dog Weekend. They came in these plastic flats which originally held cheap margarine by the 2-pounds. Oh, these are WONDERFUL storage containers, coveted by all. And shared with only a hand-picked few. Oops, I did not use the margarine.

Thanks Lisa. I think I'll make a chart of often made confections.

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.