Darienne

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.

Once again I find myself back here. This morning I made DL's Buttercrunch Toffee as an inclusion to be put into vanilla ice cream. p.200, The Perfect Scoop. And once again (and again and again) I forgot to put in the soda and the vanilla at the end of the cooking process. I had them RIGHT beside the burner. I have not one, but two, blue stick'ems on the adjacent page with notes in LARGE PRINTING: DO NOT FORGET THE SODA & VANILLA. and once again...well, you know. (It doesn't ruin the outcome...but it doesn't help it either.) So I have come up with yet another aide memoire. I have cut out a section of Staples white mailing labels, leaving on the protective backing, written on each label: Soda & Vanilla, and intend to stick a label on my backing sheet each time I make the toffee. The labels will be kept in the DL book. ...could use a larger label and darker printing. I will be grateful for any additional ideas.... (Mock-up)

Scrapple you say? I will NEVER forget the time that folks from Delaware brought scrapple to the Dog Weekend. The dogs...under the table...ate very well. Never eat anything which is gray and rectangular.

Interesting about the gravy. I've had Poutine twice in my life and both times it was excellent. Wicked to the core, but so tasty. We were eating lunch at a local fish place in Peterpatch where we always go and I decided to go for their Poutine. Mirroring your experience, Anna N, the French fries were their usual and just fine...but the gravy was horrendous. I couldn't believe anyone could serve such wretched gravy, but they do and apparently other folks like it. Curious.

Looked up travertine flooring to make sure I knew what it was and read the pros and cons of the material. Nowhere did it say anything about my first concern...comfort. Last winter we rented a home in Utah with wonderful terra cotta ceramic tiles on the kitchen floor. Within a few days of candy making, my back was aching. We then covered all the surfaces where we stood: the sink, stove and table with cheap grey foam-backed mats which we had brought from house for the dogs in case the floors had no rugs. Relief from pain?...almost immediate. Styling and beauty?...ugly as sin. No tiled floors for me...ever. We have pine planks in our kitchen. And do they look wonderful and distressed.

Shelby, it grows like a weed here (east central Ontario) with NO attention. Our house is over 100 years old and there are about 5 patches of rhubarb on the hill above the house. I'll bet they are also 100 years old. I've never paid any attention to them and cut them every year. Oh yes, and there's snow on the ground today and it's really cold.

Interesting. First time I had ever heard of such an item.

I have a brand new Cuisinart and it's not a commercial one. It's SOO heavy and SOOO complicated with SOOO many extra pieces of this and that and it won't fit into my cupboard as the old one did in just one space. This one takes three spaces. Yeah...I'm just ranting because it seems like a good chance to do to.

...as if it is not already bad enough that so much extra virgin olive oil isn't.

Add me to the above list.

Just a second opinion on boiled peanuts: Cherokee, North Carolina, and we thought they were awful and that probably someone made them taste good...but we never tried again. I'd be happy to try your 'Crack peanuts' sometime.

Just to finish up this thread. We've decided not to buy a blender dedicated to shakes/smoothies at all for the time being. The big blender works very well and now that I know about leaving it on longer, I find that it does a perfectly adequate job. The main reason I would NEED a smaller blender is for travelling and mostly our travelling involves living in a condo at our destination...and our level of condo, while fairly well equipped, does not include a blender...so we'd be bringing the large blender anyway. ...or that's how I've worked it out to date... Thanks so much for all the information. I'll act on it when the time for buying a smaller appliance comes around. (Not to mention the incredible cost of the dental work we are having done right now.... )

Like Tere, I have no advice. Just all best wishes, Darienne

A few questions: - do you have pantry bugs, like ants? - you are in danger of losing your "Canadian" status, calling Kraft Dinnner (KD) mac and cheese. Can you buy KD in Ambato? Is it the same formula if you can? - is your jello drink actually Jello? - are you going to fall into an exhausted heap when your blog is finished?

Cast iron sounds good...I'll try that the next time the Pannukakku is just for us. But I am thinking of the dish as part of a brunch/breakfast for a group. One recipe's worth (as printed) serves 3 and yesterday, we were five. Thus, two metal 9"X13"s. (Have to refigure the amounts obviously. Next...)

The first time I didn't put the blueberries in, TFTC,...I simply forgot to. And was pleased with the results. I see that there are a myriad of recipes online. I'll stick with my one until I really feel it's under my belt. A question from me: I've made it in pyrex and I've made it in metal. The above are in metal of course. (Don't really know what metal it is....?) Is it my imagination or do they rise better in the metal? Not as good a presentation as the glass...but then rise is what I am after. Partly because folks are so surprised when they first see them. And we serve them out of our kitchen. I never learned to serve from the dining table really. Also: what about making the batter and keeping it in the fridge overnight? I am not at my swiftest before breakfast...which I am making. And, as far as I can read, keeping pancake batter overnight in the fridge is a contested issue.