Darienne

Thanks so much for all the information, fellow eGer's. Wonderful photos, dcarch.

The rotting pulp sounds revolting...but I'll do it. And are they delicious? And did you just eat them as is? And as for bonking you on the head...think of those poor people living under Osage Orange trees.

I've never tasted one. Yet. Didn't even know we had any Butternut trees. We seem to have at least three. Actually I am risking the dreaded descent of ORCA (Otonabee Regional Conservation Authority) by posting anything about our Butternut trees. They are now an endangered species in my region and subject to a lot of governmental regulations. Fortunately ours are old, not near any buildings, not planted or chopped down or in any way harmed or modified by us...or it's off to Butternut Jail I believe. (Try Googling Ontario Butternut trees if you think I'm kidding.) Neil Young, yes, THE Neil Young owned two properties around the corner from us and although the first one sold quickly, the second one, a piece of land only, was a couple of years in the selling. Apparently it has four Butternut trees on it, and so building a house on it becomes a real problem. Who knew? Come up in the spring and the morels are yours (assuming we have any this coming year...we never had anything like this spring's crop before. But then we have never had such a year for berries...countered by such a year of no apples.)

Has anyone on the forum ever collected and eaten Butternuts?. I now am the proud owner of (currently) 38 Butternuts. They are all falls unfortunately. We can't get up 20 feet to pick them off the tree. Now what to do? I've read up about them online, but as most folks start to dry them in the sunshine...and we've had rain, rain, rain mostly...I am wondering if I could put the nut plus husk in the oven at the lowest temperature in the same way as I dehydrate apple slices, apple leather, etc, to start them off? Would that safely dry out the husks so that I could remove them more easily? This tree is very old and the lower half of it is quite dead and so I am prepared to have collected a number of blanks, but if I understand correctly, you must remove the green husks first before you test the shells in water. (I could add that we had a season of Morels this past spring which was incredible. Gave them all away to a Morel lover friend.)

I'm no expert on this one...but the entire frying process and subsequent eating part for me must be exactly as both your Mother and you have made them. No reheating in the oven. For me they would be ruined. Sorry. I guess that's why I don't make them very often.

Found today on Well Done Why Airplane food tastes bad.

Glad you are well. One of the saddest sentences from your post: "Less sure about some of the doctors. Some were nice, but the guy in charge of my case was an arrogant prick, who misdiagnosed several times". Because of my own physical ailments...what the heck! I'm 76...I've joined 3 major forums in the past two years...two for getting off medications and one for ahem...women's problems. The same thing I read over and over and over and over...you get my drift...is the horrible, arrogant, condescending, uneducated, lacking in ethical standards, lacking in intellectual curiosity...oh I could go on and on and on. Was it always like this? I don't seem to recall the doctors of my youth being like that...but then I was a youth. And we really didn't expect to live forever without pain and discomfort. It is just about the worst part of being ill. I could bore you with my own journey but that's the one thing which keeps on being brought home to me. Oh, and I forget to damn the pharmaceutical industry which has lately been called, with good reason, the equivalent of the mafia. Rant over.

Can you toast them or some further form of cooking? This is why I really don't like making cookies. I think they are little evil pats of dough waiting to humiliate me in one way or another.

OK. I'll play. My DH who is not only a terrific (If somewhat short-tempered) short-order cook, which I don't want to do ever, but also is my faithful sous chef and does my chopping when I need something chopped which is constantly, and also prepares the 'mises' when we make Chinese food. I love my new Breville Toaster Oven and the Black and Decker programmable coffee maker, but my DH is best of all.

We can't get Anaheims in the far frozen north outside of Toronto (if they can get them in Toronto??? I don't know), but I could do this with Poblanos except that I would seed them first. Every now and then, Poblanos are hotter than expected. I can buy Poblanos in my near-by city. In one grocery store only. They are called "Hot Peppers' there. I told them...but they didn't care. They are still hot peppers. Or I could stuff my own version of Picadillo into them. (I call it Picadillo de la Cabana...can't make a tilde. No, don't tell me how. I live in Cavan Township, hence the name. Silly. I know, but I don't care. It's a combination of Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz's "Picadillo" and "Picadillo de la costa". The book, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, 1967, is in utter tatters) Then top them with Mozzarella with Hot Peppers. Can't ever find Pepperjack. Or Monterey Jack if I can find it. I don't live in a cosmopolitan area. I'm going to do it. Thanks, TFTC.

The websites turn up on one's FB timeline or in the email list several times a week. Once a week is more than enough for me. I have other online commitments and sometimes end up plowing through endless unwanted stuff trying to find the posts I need to interact with ...a situation I'm dealing with as we speak. I've dropped websites because they just keep on bombarding me with posts or emails.

I would like recipes to be more informative about the size of ingredients...3 onions or 4 eggplants...I'd prefer weights. But then American sources don't do weights. The other reason I have left some websites is the frequency of the downloads...just too often for my taste.

DH came home from shopping today and said "Look what I found". Scotch-Brite Stay Clean Scrub Sponges. Complete with Use and Care instructions. Clean in the dishwasher or by boiling. Not in the microwave. And not for aquarium use. How do they rate for nasty colonies of baddies?

I'm way behind in this one obviously. I have a Canadian Tire Mastercraft Laser gun type thermometer and I'm a happy camper with it. Learned of this one from the indomitable Kerry Beal.

I stand corrected gladly. Any time.

Road food? Not much in Canada. And minimal where I live...East Central Ontario. I envy the choice that Americans have. And many other places in the world also. Here we have mostly Chip Wagons (chips are French Fries) which offer other hamburger/hotdog/ etc type stuff but that's about it. I know that Toronto has quite a lot to offer in the downtown area. First tastes of B-B-Q'd pork in Ohio, and also delicious but so dangerous to the unaccustomed stomach, Funnel Cakes. Navajo Fry Bread in the flea market in Shiprock, NM. Those are the ones which spring to my mind (or taste buds.

Ah! Cochinita Pibil. A McAuley family favorite. How wonderful.

Welcome CCST to the forum. Sometimes I feel as if that might well be my nickname. Basically only learned to 'cook' in my mid-60s and still have so much to learn. I love the fact that your intro was funny. There is not enough gentle funniness in our world. Thank you.

True words. A lot of work. However, every time we can eat in a Hispanic-type restaurant which serves them...that's my dish. And in east central Ontario...there ain't none really nohow. I will add that in the city nearest to us, only one store carries Poblanos and they are noted as 'hot' peppers, and you can't buy tomatillos at all.

I've not heard of post-frying stuffing.

So about these sponges...I am prepared to use new sponges every week if that's what it takes. This is for only our home...not for a commercial establishment. Have to say that no one, including guests, of which there are many in the summer, has ever gotten ill in our 'germ-ridden' house. My question: are we then to simply use said sponges...two a week...without attempting to cleanse them in any way during said week? Thanks.

Iowa Dee came up first with my idea. Fruit Leather. We had more apples last year...this year we have almost none...and I ended up mixing applesauce with almond slices and made lots of fruit leather. And in the oven which holds so much more than my hobby-type dehydrator. Can you make fig leather?

Did you eat the chicken? Did you get sick? If folks from Guatemala or Nicaragua or etc, etc, can drink the water and not get sick, does this not say more about us than it does about them?

"We therefore rather suggest a regular (and easily affordable) replacement of kitchen sponges, for example, on a weekly basis. " OK. That did it for me. One of the few sentences in the article I could really relate to. Depressing as all get out. Thanks, Lisa for posting it though.

We don't think of Poblanos as hot peppers and usually they are not...but once, several years ago I spent almost 24 hours in agony after cutting some Poblanos. I tried everything...nothing worked. Never before or since. So evidently, they can be very hot and alas! Elsie, yours were.