Darienne

Best I can say, CD, is thanks so much for keeping me (us) up to date on all these problems. You are a brick. If we ever get east again....

Just remembered one thing. Not too exciting...but did the trick in our house. When our three were young and my Mother and Father lived in our city also, I would pick up my Mother in the morning and bring her to the house. Oh boy! She always brought hamburger buns and those American cheese slices and for lunch when the kids were home from school...we lived just a few houses away...I would put the buns and cheese under the broiler and the cheese would puff way up. They really loved that. (You have to remember that we are Canadians and we had only one TV station and only a black and white television. My kids are now 61 and 56, older than many of you.)

I don't know why...but I just don't really like winter squashes. Every year I make some kind of squash soup and eat it once and think how delicious. But I don't want to eat it a second time. Not at all.

Sometimes you really have to wonder....

We have thousands of mushrooms on the farm, but the only ones I would feel confident to eat are the morels and the puffballs. The rest remain unidentified by bone fide experts and thus uneaten. I don't need an expert for morels or puffballs. I've already told the story of this year's puffball crop. Eight lovely looking balls...3 given away...5 straight to the bin..well, over the side into a ditch on our land. But as noted elsewhere, we are having another bumper crop of wild grapes and several friends have been harvesting them. I'm not making any more jelly...still have some left from three years ago...and one of aforementioned friends has now gifted us with several jars. However, I did taste the grapes a couple of days ago and was pleasantly surprised at how much sweeter...well, less excruciatingly tart...they had become. I think we'll gather some and make some grape juice in a couple of weeks. Maybe even after the first frost. We do have 2 apple trees in the back yard. The Northern Spy is dying and gave up only one apple this year, but the Mac produced another bumper crop. Am giving them away like mad, including to a neighbor who feeds them to her Black Angus cattle. And still we have at least 19 trees on the property (counted by the previous owner going back at least 26 years) and many of them are producing great quantities of apples...most of them not incredibly tasty. Here's the bounty on the ground of one tree which sometimes tastes very good...but mostly is fairly bland with a heavy peel. The dogs munch on them on the way by on our daily walk. There are still many dozens left on the tree.

Although I have long given up on the idea of becoming a chocolatier, I do use Lindt almost exclusively now in my chocolate work. It's so easy to get in Ontario. (Not where I live, alas.) Friends who live in Mississauga pick it up for me regularly and another friend who travels the 401 picks it up in Ajax which is very close to Whitby. A local bulk food store carries Belcolade and I'd use that if my friends were unable to help me.

Welcome Jade to eGullet from yet another living in Ontario. Near Peterborough. We know the Whitby/Oshawa area fairly well and have friends living in Whitby. I can't call myself an Ontarian ... I'm a born Quebecoise from Montreal. We don't barbecue but we do eat a lot of chocolate. I had once hoped to become a chocolatier, but realized I had left it too late in my own life so now I just use a lot of this in as many ways as I can find. Hope you enjoy your membership in eGullet. It has meant the world to me.

I have one...here it is standing in a glass so that I can photograph it...but alas...there is no name on it.

Don't own a traditional teapot that's under 70 years old and it sure didn't come with a metal mesh filter. We have a fairly new teapot for Chinese tea...I'll see if it fits... By gosh, it does...and it was also sitting on the same shelf as the Chinese tea pot and accessories...tea (in bags), little Chinese tea cups, etc. Duh.... Thanks.

Found this little metal mesh filter in a high up cupboard this morning. I've never seen it before (I think). Ed says he's never seen it either. It's approximately 2 1/2 " tall and almost 3 " at the upper diameter. It looks to be reasonable quality. It would not fit our coffee maker.

And me also.

A terrible shock. It wasn't that long ago that he and I were exchanging posts about the Cook Offs. Lovely obituary, @Smithy.

It turns off the electrical connection to the stove if no one is moving in front of the stove for more than the number of minutes to which the stove guard is set. So, the other day, when Mr. Ed went out and left the empty frying pan on high...yes, he did...the entire stove would have shut down after whatever number of minutes we decide to set the unit to. Factory setting is 5 minutes...but I think we'll go for 2 or 3. Also...JoNorvelle...don't forget we live in Canada where the cost of just about everything can easily be double.

We had already purchased one of these: https://www.amazon.ca/Fiberglass-Emergency-Suppression-Retardant-Fireplace/dp/B07KP5RD9Y but it wasn't used for the two frying pan fires. But I knew it was there. Needless to say, we have fire extinguishers all over the house and fire and CO detectors. We lost our first dear Rottie many years ago because we didn't have a CO detector in the cellar of the farm when we first moved in and the hot water heater was improperly installed. Oh, and illegally. Our house was a money pit without one straight edge in it anywhere. And why did we buy it? Do you have an hour or so? Our stove guard can be set anywhere from 1 minute to temporarily off. And it takes a key to change the setting. I will have the key. The guards are mostly used in institutions for the elderly (which we now are.)

We've had two close calls with kitchen fires over the last month or so. Never again. And we are the folks who have lived through two major house fires. So I've ordered a Cookstop stove guard. https://stoveguardintl.com/about-us-1/ We had one years ago but then it stopped working. Had it repaired once. And then finally gave up. But now the situation has become dire. And we are back with this safety feature. These units are easily plugged into electric stoves and there are also units for propane and gas stoves which take a professional to install. Let's hope that's the end of fires for us.

Tend to use ice cream as a special tip for help. Or chocolate-coated, almond-topped toffee also. So many younger folks don't seem to cook that homemade items are always welcomed. But as noted by Heidi, covid19 has disrupted much of normal life.

It's apparent from the long list of recalls over the past years, that the majority of them are in partly or completely "prepared" foods...foods that scratch cooks don't usually buy. Families with two working parents would buy these foods to "save" time and energy.

Sure you will. We all will.

I would be using only enough in one place to spread only so far. (Actually, I make the apple leather on cookie sheets in the oven.)

I just eyeball it pretty much. And I often put chopped walnuts in the 'glop' which makes getting a level playing surface even more difficult. I've never found that it mattered much in the end.

Sorry Heidi...I just loathe Nutella...and went off the deep end...and love Gianduja. I wish I knew what Nutella tasted like about 30 years ago. It might have been wonderful. I really do know where you are coming from and you have always been way ahead of me in the culinary. ❤️

Please, don't use Nutella. Use Gianduja somehow. From Wikipedia: Gianduia is denser than Nutella, with a more delicate taste, and the main difference is that we use up to 55 per cent of premium local hazelnuts, sugar and cocoa. No other ingredients, no palm oil, no preservers.” ... Gianduia remains a niche artisan product.

I really enjoyed that trip, Shai. I would have loved to visit Greece. My first undergrad degree...believe it or not...was in Ancient Greek. The language of Homer might not have been too useful in the marketplace... Thanks again.

My favorite vegetable. Ed eats them under slight duress.

Is this Greek Halva?