Darienne

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?

In hopes of sleeping better, etc, etc, I have currently given up gluten, dairy and now sugar. The gluten and dairy pose no problems...the sugar does. I am not happy using mannitol or erythritol or any of those artificial sweeteners...they give me severe digestive problems. But I can tolerate stevia very nicely. The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be much sweetened with this ingredient. I do have a carob/coconut oil/peanut butter/stevia candy of sorts. I don't really like it all that much, but it does work. That's about it. Has anyone any recipes for desserts using stevia? Thanks.

Where is the recipe, please.

Now that's a groaner for sure!

If I might go out on a bit of a tangent from bulgur. Made a quinoa salad and didn't like it much...but then as I said I don't like quinoa much. ...But that was before trying red quinoa...which I love. And am now using cooked red quinoa to make a Tabbouleh salad. Great taste and texture. Love it.

Don't know how I completely missed this wonderful thread...but have just spent half a morning reading it instead of working. Wonderful trip, great text, beautiful photos. Well done, Shai.

My goodness, JoNorvelle, I do think you need a restful vacation somewhere quiet with no sharp or pointed instruments and someone to make your Mai Tais and preferably wait upon you hand and foot and be responsible for turning on and off electrical appliances.

We've been buying Delissio frozen pizzas for a few years now. A couple in the freezer for emergencies, so to speak. Today Ed baked a Delissio Deluxe (much doctored, of course) and we both agreed that it seemed quite a bit smaller than we were accustomed to. We normally get two meals out of one pizza...but this time it was really not feasible. A first. It wouldn't be the first time a product was cheapened in some way. Has anyone else noticed that this brand of pizza has recently downsized its product?

What does work fine for us is potato soup, made both à la Martha Stewart with a lot of cream and also with no cream at all.

It was actually a semifreddo which started my love affair with cooking after decades of loathing to have to do it. A Chocolate-covered Banana Mousse Freeze. A recipe out of the local newspaper which called for a chocolate ganache. What's a ganache asked I? Never heard that word before. And so it began. My newly found love affair with dark chocolate. And also my endless changing of recipes by adding in this case raspberries and Chambord. And soon after I found and joined eGullet. I might just have to make one soon.