Darienne

There. Just because I finally remembered to take a photo of something I made. Guess I'm not a true eGulleter yet.

Made Schiacciata con l'uva (Recipe #1) and either I made a gross error...immanently possible...or I am not in tune with this recipe. Not to mention baking it for twice as long as called for. Have to test the oven this morning. It is to me neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring. Too sweet to be a bread and not sweet enough to be a cake. The grapes taste just fine...it's the crumb. However, DH likes it and that's good enough for me. Fooey. Actually took a photo of the bread and cannot upload it on 'edit'.

I stand corrected, but only innocently at fault. I rechecked the article in alive, and it does say 'million' in the first figure. Now, you don't think that Reuters could be at fault??? An eighteen-fold increase over 30 years.

I'm not sure about the 'worthy' part exactly seeing as I am quite new to the whole realm of cookery, but I do like the Sainsbury cookbooks. I picked up a lot of them in a second hand store in Utah for mere pennies.

Our health food store gives out a magazine, alive. This issue features a new book: The Slow Food Story: Politics and Pleasure by Geoff Andrews, McGill-Queen's University Press, about the Slow Food association founded in Italy in 1986. Well worth reading I think. One statistic from the book: American expenditures on fast food rose from US $6 million dollars in 1970 to $110 BILLION in 2001.

Thanks, Lisa, but these ARE seedless.

We used to have breakfast every now and then at a little local...I do mean 'local'...diner. All local folks. The breakfasts were great, inexpensive, local eggs, homemade this and that. And the most delicious gigantic, moist, tasty Morning Glory Muffins. I loved them. I adored them. Got a few dozen every summer for the Dog Weekend folks. They were part of the local mythos. Come stay at McAuley's farm and eat these wonderful muffins. Oh, make sure you get those muffins again this year... Imagine my chagrin to find out they came from a tub of mix from a local distributor.

Wonderful. There is the pie which I considered making last fall when my neighbor/friend/landlady in Moab had such a crop of various kinds of seeded grapes, including Concord. DH would not consider eating a pie with crunchy seeds in it. Hey! He brings me coffee in bed every morning. He gets to pick what he wants to eat. Haven't quite decided which one to make but I need your advice on what booze to use? A wine? What about a liqueur? I have a goodly assortment of liqueurs. And always vodka is on hand. Thanks.Baroness

They looked lovely in their big clam-shell, all 2 liters of them. And I had never tried them before. A sort of Concord variety I thought. From Canada's grape and wine producing area. And no seeds. Two liters of tasteless grapes. DH said 'throw them out'. Any ideas for that many basically tasteless grapes? Should I make a grape juice? sherbet? rustic grape pie? ...or just toss them?

Calipoutine (Randi) sent me a wonderful bean salad recipe this summer. I've never really liked bean salads, but this one is a real winner. The dressing has no fat. Lots of sugar. I cut down the sugar by one cup. Still I can't imagine putting it on a green salad...maybe a rice salad or a pasta salad??? But you asked for no fat, and here is no fat. Sauce 3 cups white sugar 2 1/4 cups white vinegar 3/4 cup water 1 1/2 teaspoon salt Boil sauce and cool 1/2 hour. Pour sauce over bean mixture and let stand 24 hours

We buy only large and locally. Our small local grocery store became part of a chain a few years ago...in order to survive I guess. They were carrying a local farmer's eggs. Then they were told they could no longer carry those eggs but had to switch to the national (or whatever) brand. The clientele raised the roof and the chain headquarters backed down and we still buy Scully's eggs, large, there. AND there is SUCH a difference between Scully's eggs and all other grocery eggs. They are just as cheap, but I would buy them even if they cost more. Also, our dogs eat eggs for breakfast every fourth day.

Hello Jenni. I seem to be following you around this morning. So kadala is chickpeas, my favorite of all. Next we'll add this curry to our growing list. Thanks. ...maybe not for breakfast at this time...

Thanks, Jenni. A new word, jalebi, for me. Looked up the definition and some recipes. Do you eat them now, assuming you are not in Jodhpur anymore? Do you make them yourself, or are they something which one normally buys ready-made, or both? Find in an Asian marketplace? I think I'll try making some.

Sorry Ilana. My supply would not be more than 100. Good luck with your quest and good luck with the spoons themselves.

The cardboard is shiny gold on one side only, white on the reverse. Dimensions: 12.5 cm x 24 cm. Weight of 12 pieces: 212 gs. They would need wiping from the chocolate which came on them. I am not sure how many I have. I'll count them if Ilana thinks it's worthwhile. Naturally, they are free. I just save them because they are 'pretty' and I love gold anything.

Wal-Marts in Canada sells a one-pound chocolate bar which has a gold card base in it. I have a stack of them...but mailing them to Israel would no doubt be prohibitive. Good luck.

Just found this interesting recipe for ice cream in a library book, The Italian Cookbook by Fiona Biggs: Ricotta Ice Cream. The photo looks at first glance like Montelimar Nougat , and the ingredient list is bang on with nuts and fruit peels, etc. The recipe calls for the usual ingredients of an egg-based ice cream: sugar, egg yolks, vanilla,...but the base is ricotta cheese. The ricotta is not creamed nor whipped, just stirred in. And the mixture is simply poured into a loaf pan. My initial responses are to a) replace the eggs & cheese by whipped cream, pour into a loaf pan and freeze, decant and cover with a chocolate ganache for a bang-up dessert or b) replace the eggs and cheese by the Philadelphia style base and pour it into the Cuisinart Ice Cream maker, etc., or c) make the recipe as provided, but cream the ricotta. possible d) play it as it lays. The uncreamed, etc, ricotta cheese part does not appeal to me at first glance. Has anyone made this or a similar ice cream? Any responses to any of this, please? And thanks.

Hard to get excited about their list. Red peppers? Popcorn without butter? Yummmm My fave: a cup of decaf coffee with a jigger of vodka and Panama Jack in it. Substitute your favorite liqueur in the mix. The heat. Good. The booze. Good. The yummy taste. Very good. The only drawback is the intake of calories. Not good. For really really special occasions: The coffee goes into the blender and the booze is added. Froths it up real good.

Thanks to both of you for the information. As for Whole Foods...I actually meant the one in the Southwest...I don't know where else it is...and didn't even know there was a Whole Foods in Ontario. Could it be the same chain? I really liked the Whole Foods in Albuquerque, better than Trader Joe's. And as for a grocery store having a butcher...we are incredibly lucky where we live. We have a real live and wonderful butcher at our small local store. It's so small that it never ever carries eggplant. The butcher has a half-ownership of the store going way back and I guess that's why he's there. We treat him VERY well. So, we'll try the Longo's for fun anyway.

With the seasonal LCBO fat shiny handout is often a thinner one from Longo's. We have no Longo's in our area...east central Ontario...but DH and I are thinking about sussing out the one in Markham when we also look up the Pacific Mall there. Is Longo's like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or more like a Loblaws Superstore? I see they carry Western Family Brands although their website page is still under construction and thus gives no information. We used some Western Family products in Utah although they were nothing special at all. Just an inexpensive in-house brand with no distinguishing characteristics as far as I could see. Is it worth the trip?

That's interesting and unpleasant at the same time. I wonder why it overheated your motor and did not get to where you wanted it in the prescribed time. Do please try it again and let us know if a second batch is the same. Or perhaps someone else will try it. Also I am curious about the grittiness. It seems unlikely that DL would post a recipe which was gritty. You have pricked my curiosity.

I wonder who you are talking about in this quote? I have no sense of the physicality of stuff, of the laws that govern space and sharp instruments and fragile objects landing on hard surfaces and how heat travel and things like that. It's not that intellectually I cannot comprehend the laws...it's just that I can't seem to translate them into my extremities, as if my hands are not connected to my brain. Thus I am doomed forever to be over-represented in this eGullet thread.

I just received an email from my friend/former neighbor & landlady in Moab where DH and I lived for 6 months from fall 08 to spring 09. The Director of the Multicultural Center, where my friend volunteers with young Hispanic kids, was giving her yearly 'we must eat healthy snacks' lectures, and then she added...except for the delicious things that Denny's next door neighbor makes. That was me and the kids called me the Candy Lady. Talk about a wonderful reputation! It doesn't come much better than that.

OK. We live in a region in Ontario where there are NO decent, nay even acceptable, Chinese restaurants. So last fall I began back making Chinese food, heavy on the Szechwan style. Now I am hardly an excellent cook or an excellent Chinese food cook, but my DH thinks I am the most brilliant Chinese food cook and he can't believe that he is getting to eat my wonderful cooking so often. He is my sous-chef. Nothing is too much trouble for him. Just as long as I keep on turning out these wonderful dishes. You can't ask for more than that. A small good but intensely felt reputation.

What would be the thinking behind that? I store mine standing, loosely rolled in a large cardboard oats container. Perhaps they would 'warp' or develop a bump/ridge near the lower edge. Think of what happens to a rolled-up rug stored on one end for a while. You could be right but I really can't see it happening inside the cardboard cylinder box. Maybe they are just covering the bases...