Darienne

Sorry Kim, I have no answer to your question...but rather another question to add: how can you tell if the carrots you buy are going to be sweet, blah, or even bitter?

Just hit me...what is food-grade rubber?????

Sad about Northern Spys. Haven't seen them in a grocery store in our area anyway forever. OTOH, we have our very own Northern Spy tree in our back yard. Alas, it is not faring well. Along with the thriving Mac. And we have no idea how old the trees are. Ditto for all the trees on the farm (which originally was two 50-acre farms). Another apple I miss is the Russet. eGers have posted that they can get them somewhere, but that where is not my where.

December's issue of Consumer Reports: When Recalls Fail by Rachel Rabkin Peachman. Tainted Food. The Department of Agriculture can't force recalls of contaminate meat, leaving that to the companies themselves. As a result food can be sold even after it has been linked to illness. And so it goes. I haven't had time to read it all, but I am thoroughly sickened by as much as I have read. Added: I'm reading some of the text out loud to Ed in horror and he says...."I wonder what we're (Canada) like..."

What an abundance! I love basil. Ed is more of an oregano kind of person. Sorry. No ideas past what you suggest.

Not sure what icon to put up for your post. It's true. NB is not a known tourist destination really. For us it's on the way to NS where our son lives...something to get through. Sorry. But then I expect that Manitoba, and even more Saskatchewan, feel exactly the same way. As for tourism to Canada...American friends always tell me how exciting and wonderful their trips to Toronto have been. I go to Toronto only when forced at knife-point, and not a small knife, a big knife like the one Crocodile Dundee pulls out in NY.

Ah yes. Beans. In my case it has to be white navy beans and it has to be the recipe which Ed's Mom used. And so it is. And it's good.

Another welcome to eGullet. A good place to be for cooks.

How does one get listeria from an apple???

Now, if only this wonderment could somehow spill over into the majority of American cheeses which some of us are not fond of. Us being we cheese-proud Canucks for a start.

Imagine the length of the total recall in stores. It's all a bit much.

Summer we do salads two nights in a row and then one night vegetables or soup. Winter we do the opposites and the salad is a more traditional one rather than 6 different salads as in the summer, that is: bean salad, tabbouleh, cucumber salad, tri-pepper salad, potato salad, plus romaine and tomatoes. Apparently we are still working on summer because Ed bought 3 more English cucumbers yesterday and is set to prepare the potatoes for another refill of that one. Then no more please. The freezer is already full of soups. Oh, we eat our 'dinner' at noon...like farmers or day laborers. Which I guess we are.

This would be my answer also...but then I live in East Central Ontario, not noted for its food or its diversity of cuisines.

What on earth were you making? Oh, I mean besides a monumental mess...

Husband Ed who always looks at the flyers each week has been looking for an electric can opener on sale at Home Hardware or Canadian Tire, etc, and has just announced that it's very curious, but there has not been one electric can opener on sale for weeks now. That is strange...everything else seems to have its turn on sale...but not electric can openers. He feels it's because they are all so imperfect that no one wants to advertise them. Any thoughts?

Our neighbors across the road the Jammie Guys, Cheryl and Chris (we call them collectively the Jammie Guys because they've named their farm "Jammies till noon") have turned a Buckthorn wilderness into an amazing farm in only a few years. Last week they gifted most of the neighborhood with excess vegetables and I'm delighted to say we were first in line. Two Butternut squashes, now Butternut Squash soup, and a gazillion little mild peppers, which are now Tri-Pepper Salad based on the recipe from My Recipes with some alterations...sorry, I never have the ingredients called for...and most importantly, Leslie's Red Pepper Soup from Epicurious. My first ever pepper soup and it's one of those...I thought I'd died and gone to heaven...moments. Of course I had to make some changes, but the basic soup of peppers...which I've never had before. Yummm. (This is only a couple of the vegetables gifted.)

We can but laugh. Otherwise we'd all be in tears constantly at the chaos of our lives.

Try living in or outside of a small east central Ontario town where the vast...and I do mean vast...majority are Caucasian and also basically fairly uninteresting. We've had Poblanos now for about maybe 5 years. Before that...only Jalapenos. And we now have flour tortillas also. And friends who came up every year from Delaware and New Jersey (Dog Weekend) would bring me piloncillo and just about everything else Hispanic for cooking. We still don't have tomatillos...ever...although no doubt you can get them in Toronto, particularly in Kensington Market. I'd rather do without almost everything than drive into Toronto. We have one decent Mexican restaurant in our city and apparently they'll make Chile Rellenos for you if you ask way ahead of time. They also serve small portions with fancy little squiggles on the plate...you know...plating...which doesn't interest me at all. Run of the mill Mexican is unreal. No pork on the menu. Ever. No pork. Just chicken and beef. And dull, dull, dull. Sorry, I am ranting now. I'll quit.

I'm with you. Pure Canuck from Montreal, if you please, am I. We have spent many, many months of our lives in the Southwest of the USA, Moab Utah being our home away from home. Each time we go to a Mexican , I say to myself, for heaven's sake order something different this time....and then each time I order Chile Rellenos. Can't get the right chiles in my area to make them...lucky now to get Poblanos...and besides they are too darned much work. I do have a Chile Relleno Casserole (I can hear the boos from here) which I love and make regularly.

I have no authority whatsoever. I've never eaten one like this. And where is this restaurant whose menu you post?

The Apple Chips turned out to be more trouble than the dehydrated slices and so I've turned back to making the slices. I was wondering how on earth we were going to eat all those apple slices when the problem was suddenly solved. I began to give away bags of them. To the garage guys, to the vet techs. The response has been overwhelming. Folks just LOVE them. I shall give away more. And to my great surprise, the garage owner, a somewhat laconic type, phoned me this evening to find out how to make them. And one of the vet techs is trying to keep her weight down and thinks they are wonderful. A new gift to give. Hooray!

Now multiply that amount by a gazillion and you have it! We have two large freezers plus two fridge freezers. The second freezer is nominally for the dogs (100 pounds each and they eat real food) and a second fridge because our son lived with us for a few years. And everything is full, full, full. I have threatened dire consequences if Ed brings home on more 'good buy'. Like the huge Christmas turkey which is in there, taking up much room...etc...etc.... (just ranting....)

We are 'blessed"(?) once again with a surfeit of apples on our Mac and more than we expected on the Northern Spy. Both trees are in our designated back yard. We have at least another 20 apple trees on our 100 acres. Some you wouldn't want to eat. Some are delicious. They come from the other farmhouse on the second of what was originally two 50-acre parcels. OK. So we've given away tons of them. Made apple sauce (Arey's Mother's friend's cake to come), apple juice, apple leather, dried apple slices...oh let this be over...but it ain't. Just found a recipe for Apple Chips and that's next. All the problems of Apple Leather and Dried Apple Slices gone in the blink of an eye. Let the making of the chips begin. (No, I don't like making pies. I'm not adept at pastry.)

Just found a recipe for Apple Chips and I think that's my next foray. No work at all. And no checking back and forth either.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to @dcarch, @teonzo and @Toliver. Showed the videos to Ed and he said...sure we can make one of those. And I thought two sticks for the sides and a third one to pull across. Where has my brain been? Back to apple leather...