Darienne

Gosh, I should be following this topic more carefully. You know, I don't think I ever need a new cookbook. I'm getting almost every new recipe from the internet, viz: today's lunch:Polish Cabbage-Potato-Casserole from About.com. It was called 'comfort' food and man, it was. I can also imagine this in the winter. A new dish on our roster. (We did quadrupled the cheese...DH's order and next time we use a sharper cheese.)

My last batch of salted caramel sauce separated in the fridge and I particularly like Jim D's response above. I'll just carry on as if nothing has happened and not change anything.

Let us know how they turn out, JohnT, please.

Never heard of this one before, so thank you, Katie Meadow. I think we are going to have to try this one immediately. (As for the mango tree...not in the far frozen north where we dwell.)

I saw the topic...'The chocolate fairy came'...and thought: why that topic is meant for me. It's not Valrona, but it is a new chocolate maker in Canada, just outside of Ottawa, Hummingbird Chocolate. Yesterday was my birthday, 75 to be exact (although I'll be d*mned if I know how I got here from 23) and my sister-in-law and her husband, playing chocolate fairy, sent DH and me a package of Hummingbird chocolate bars which just blew me away. We are starting in on the tasting with great enthusiasm. Oh, DH's birthday is on the 25th.

Thank you, Concordal. Went to the cupboard and sure enough, Kirkland Pure Vanilla Extract with water listed as an ingredient. (Yes, I trusted your word...I just had to see it for myself.) A second bottle of pure vanilla extract from Singing Dog (loved the name because our studio is Singing Dogs Studio) also contained water. Who knew? Who checked ingredients on pure vanilla extract I ask? Well, now we know.

Nyleve Baar's solution is mine also...except that I have hemmed mine myself. (Not bragging...I'd rather have someone else do the work.) Our dining room table is also very long...in fact it's 4'x8'...and if they make tablecloths for that size table, I suspect they would not be in my snack bracket. I'll go with you next time, Nyleve.

They are in every local Chinese restaurant in our area...and invariably they are awful. We've tasted good ones in Toronto, where the 'real' Chinese restaurants are and they are delicious as noted by heidih above. But alas, I have never made them or even found a recipe for them.

(Had no internet from June 6 until yesterday) Finally found a recipe which I can handle...that is I don't screw it up every second time and can't figure out why...and which DH says: yes, this one is satisfactory. Salted Caramel Sauce from Lick Your Plate. I'd give the site but I can't find it online. I know that's where I found it. It's simple. It's only sugar, butter, cream and salt. I don't ruin it every second time. All is good.

I see that this topic fell into the nether regions but here I am, novice caramel sauce maker, having tried two recipes which DH, caramel sauce lover, is not fussy about . I'm not fussy about caramel sauce period. So my next step is to try the Really Nice recipe posted by Marlene. Marlene, did the sauce work out for you?

Now that is an awesome cake!

Welcome Spork to the group. It's a good one and as Smithy says more than willing to help. I still find myself intimidated after being on eGullet for 8 years, but I just let it happen and get on with it. The folks here are nice folks.

Jaymes. Absolutely. Cuba is in NM. Just a slight mix-up on my part. We always go through the corner of CO (and thus Cortez) from Moab to get to NM and down to Albuquerque and so to home. We always go to Gallup on our way to Moab to get supplies for the coming year for our artisan business (see avatar photo). And of course El Bruno's now has a restaurant in A also. I wonder if the quality is as good in this second outlet. So often it seems that expanding is the first step towards lessening of quality. Here I am remembering a wonderful hole in the wall...the ladies' bathroom still had a bathtub in it...Mexican restaurant in A we used to eat at each year which then moved to a much larger venue and down went the quality (and I can't recall its name). The road from Gallup to Shiprock couldn't be straighter or more uninteresting if it tried...but such an improvement. And nowhere to eat along its length for sure.

Amazing blog. Thank you so much for taking the time to post all the photos with explanations. All best to the family.

Decades of taboulleh salad here. Soaked only. (Tons of mint and no tomatoes to continue an old argument from elsewhere on eGullet.)

Gotcha Jaymes. Been offline for a while now and have now read the OP. As for excellent eateries in Moab? We've spent a total of at least two full years in Moab and I'll be darned if I know what that eatery could be. Obviously some people like the restaurants which are in Moab...but then some people also like Taco Bell. Nope. Moab is a restaurant wasteland as far as we are concerned. Mostly Sysco backed judging from the cardboard boxes at the local recycling depot. Miguel's Baja Grill is the only restaurant we've never tried. Some speak highly of it and I do think that it might be the one mentioned in your post. It's not open for lunch which is our normal dinner eating time so we've passed it by. Mi Vida is often touted as excellent but we found it expensive, pretentious and mediocre. The view is nice... Good luck on your trip. If you pass through Cuba, CO, go to El Bruno's. Now that's good. In Shiprock, we always stop in the fairgrounds and get a couple of Navajo Fry Bread, hold the toppings... Nothing spectacular, but then we live in the far frozen north.

Greetings François Sinclair-Lamontagne and I, like many others, look forward to your contributions on eGullet. Just thought that I'd mention that I am a native born Montréalaise although I've now lived in Ontario for the past 50 years. (yes, I am old. )

Your job sounds fascinating. I look forward to reading your posts.

Thanks a bunch guy....now I've spent a whole passel of hours watching more interesting videos and not getting my work done.... Seriously though...thanks. The videos were mesmerizing.

We have always used the same brand of Stevia: Now. It's now called Better Stevia. I have no idea of whether it's better or not. It's a strange beast at best. Tastes terrible on some stuff...to me but not to DH, namely my homemade granola. But then DH has a sweeter tooth than I do. OTOH, I put it on my popcorn along with olive oil, pepper, salt, and ground chipotle. Ed would not touch this. When I cooked with Stevia, it was always with coconut oil and carob powder (yes, it was another lifetime). Somehow the carob negated the taste which I didn't like about Stevia. So it's personal taste, plus brand of Stevia, plus what you are combining it with.... which doesn't give any answers, does it?

Elsie, I have a very old cook book by Dr. Mercola, 'Just What the Doctor Ordered' (no idea of the date...first thing I ever ordered on line) and it has some stevia dessert recipes. I actually made some of them in an earlier life and they weren't too bad. I could send you some of the recipes if you like.

Howdy, TC. And welcome. Not sure how many of us already on eGullet are the pros. I certainly am not one. But I am an inveterate ice cream maker. Would love to share some of your more successful ice cream recipes.

Tri2Cook says it all and so well.

Thank you Andie and palo. Good to know.

So it is turning into 'ONE OF THOSE MORNINGS'. I then forgot to put the dasher into the ice cream mixture, leaving me with a ICE-100 bowl full of frozen mixture. And the toffee was so hard that I had to use a hammer on it. And then I saw two dog hairs disappear into the ice cream mixture. (That's OK. My overnight guest is a two-dog person also, with said dogs, and she has just lived through a week of unbelievable heck fighting with hospital administrators over her 100-year old Father who is in ER, since Sunday, with a broken pelvis and they wanted to send him home today. The entire story would make you weep. No, I am not kidding.) OK. Deep breaths. Calm down.