Darienne

Hello there, PanaCan, Strange...I was just thinking about you today...missing your posts and wondering what you were up to...and here you are with wonderful goodies as usual. I would love to visit you and your family in Ecuador and redo that trail of outdoor food trucks you did the last time. And taste some of your wonderful goodies which you bake every day. That cake for the 90-year old lady is wonderful.

I am the world's worst (or second worst at best) cookie maker, but I just might gear up to making some. My all time favorites are shortbread cookies of all kinds, including Fanny Farmer's Viennese Crescents made with pecans and then chocolate drizzled or dipped. And my friend, Tobe, who refuses to make cookies any more gave me her Mother's famous and delicious shortbread cookies which I might go for again. And why? A new-to-me stove whose oven does not go wonky and burn stuff... :wub: Hooray!

I know this is very, very early for such a topic, but what the heck? The box is under the tree. My old food processor, limping along with a broken switch for 4 years now, gave up the ghost this morning shredding potatoes for Potato Kugel. I haven't made a Potato Kugel in 20 years. Why? I don't know. But Smitten Kitchen posted a recipe this week and there I was shredding the potatoes by hand. Rats. DH went into town this afternoon and bought me a brand new 12-cup Cuisinart Elite Food Processor with more bells and whistles, and now I have to watch a video before I use it. And so it starts... Oh, the Kugel was delicious. I'll make it again soon.

Thanks for the dishwater site, Barrytm. I was so surprised reading about all the smell problems folks had. Asked DH, who installed the Bosch himself, whether he had used the "High Loop" technique which seemed to help some of the smell problems in the posts you sent us to. Yes, it's in the installation instructions to use this high loop technique, which he did, and therefore...no smell ever. Really. Who knew? Good luck Chris_S.

We have a Bosch Ascenta. Three years old I think. No problems. Very quiet. No smell ever (so far anyway). I clean the trap regularly but seldom find anything.

Maybe there should be a topic on "I will never again....but I know I will..." (And I see that I started this topic years ago.) A couple of weeks ago I made Mr. Kim's (Kim Shook) wonderful Apple Cake. It is a winner. We began to eat half...and I went to freeze the other half for the visitors this weekend. My first American Thanksgiving celebrated in Canada with South African expats. So I looked for it a few days ago. The cellar freezer. Nope. OK. The kitchen fridge freezer. Nope. I wouldn't put it into the dog freezer, would I? Check it out. Nope. There's not enough room left in the garage fridge freezer...I know there isn't. OK. Check it out. Nope. No cake anywhere to be seen. Gave up. Started a new dessert. Then this morning I went into the covered bin where I keep dates and coconut and cried cranberries and nuts and so on and so forth and there...sitting in it's wrappers was the cake. None the worse for wear as far as I can see. But still. I wish I could say that I will never do this again, but as I keep on getting older I fear that I will. Next time it might be meat...which would be toast after a week and a half at room temperature. Now I feel better.

There is truly nothing better than a good croissant. Never to be found where I live. And no, I have never made one and am unlikely ever to do so. Yours, RichardJones, look scrumptious.

Not that we are feeding the down and out, but I do always send home the leftovers with these folks. And strangely enough, a friend told me just yesterday about the turkey breasts from Costco. And the best part of the turkey to me is the dark meat...and I don't know about our friends. So thanks for the idea...but it ain't gonna fly.

Our entire Thanksgiving is new in one sense: celebrating the American Thanksgiving in Ontario. We've had American Thanksgiving in the States before, but never in Canada...where we have already celebrated our Canadian Thanksgiving with the traditional turkey, stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, mashed potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, peas, artisan bread, and I can't recall the dessert. So why another celebration? Well, our Canadian Thanksgiving invitees, South African emigres, never showed up...Annette fell ill...and now they are coming for American Thanksgiving...mostly because Annette works full time and hates cooking and has her 99-year old Father, Carl, living with her which is increasingly more exhausting and difficult. And yes, of course, Carl is coming. He loves to come to the farm and still eats like a farmhand and is as skinny as ever...if not more so. He is amazing. (Might add...so are the two Border Colllies coming who terrorize our huge brutes each time. ) And so the menu is old: the above, nothing unusual, and the dessert is my go-to simple one-egg lemon cheese pie tarted up with a chocolate ganache on top. We were just going to serve a regular meal...lasagna, Moussaka, Bobotie (thanks John) or something...but Annette was so forlorn and insistent about the turkey, that I gave in and said: fine, turkey it is. I think I'll make some more of the wonderful Apple Cider Salted Caramels (Smitten Kitchen) with added walnuts and dipped in chocolate. That will make our guests ecstatic. Us too. ps. I am NOT crazy about turkey and now we have to have it again during the Christmas week when our friends (above) come for their Christmas dinner.

caroled: what's this? All that good stuff and no photos?????

I'm with those above who asked for another salad. Otherwise it sounds wonderful. And ambitious. And yes, I'd love to come. :wub:

Dear RWood...that's amazing. Kudos to you.

Sorry about that. I am no expert in things caramel or otherwise. I seem to recall making the caramel more or less chewy under Kerry's advice for my own purposes. Maybe later today Kerry will see your post and propose an answer. Kerry, or one of the other savants.

Kerry Beal did a whole section on Caramel in 2006 in "Confectionery 101". That's the caramel I use. Plus there are many topics on caramel if you search using that word.

Can you provide a URL to your Flikr page?

Thanks, Kim Shook, for the Apple Cake recipe. Wonderful. Delicious. DH loved it. Took two pieces. It's not even cold yet and he was into it. Small changes: used double walnut instead of pecan and shredded coconut. (The thingy in the center is, of course, the chimney stack from an Angel Food cake pan. Still too warm to completely decant.)

So much for promises made to myself not to purchase any more cookbooks. But then I'll bet that many of us have made the same vow...and subsequently broken it. Borrowed Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express from the library and was so pleased with it, that I bought it. So now I have my own copy. But no more...do you hear me?...no more buying cookbooks.

Timely updating of this thread. Last week made some Apple Cider Salted Caramels...to die for...and began wrapping them in the familiar LorAnn Confectionery Twisting Wax Papers. A couple of dozen wrappings into the job and I decided I could not bear the job. So tempered some chocolate and dipped them all. End of problem. I will never wrap naked caramels again.

HBK could use Canadian pennies. They are no longer in circulation. Hmmm...I might think that one over.

Well, Kim, it's my photo and my name and my avatar graphic so it must be me. Yes, I do remember now. And that apple cake looks incredible and who needs apple recipes more than I do? Sorry about Mr. Kim's finger.

Of course, the first I had to do was to go back and look at your dog. (It's a dog person thing...as all dog persons know.) You and your gang are doing one incredible job and I am so impressed with your hard work and ingenuity. We do have some points in common in our kitchen living: galley kitchen (would never have another kind), diy (Ed built the entire thing from what was an apiary), done on the cheap/inexpensive, big fridge in the garage...however big one in the kitchen too. But then DH has remodeled/renovated the ENTIRE house. Don't ask. I have some extras which you might consider at some point: very shallow cupboard built into the wall interior, perfect for spices. A wood floor...I'd die before I ever had anything else in my kitchen again. But then we have a 'Century' farmhouse and all the floors are original and/or new pine planking. Distressed the natural way...large dogs and careless humans. White ceiling, cupboards, counter and walls with colorful accents. Huge windows. Lots of light. I am obsessed with light...always have been. Again, well done so far and all best in the rest.

Wish it were MY recipe. It's simply a copy-cat recipe and I can't even find the original site anymore. I just have the recipe from somewhere....????

From Kim: Darienne – do you remember these cookies? They are from David Lebovitz’s blog. You made them at some point and I was fascinated with the idea of them. I made mine with those ‘smokehouse’ almonds. The original recipe calls for just using the almonds ground, but I added chopped almonds and this time I added one whole almond on top. They are truly unusual and delicious cookies. I think Jessica ate a half dozen before I could get them in the bag for the freezer! Sorry Kim. I have no memory of making them. But then I have become a bear of very little memory. They do look good though...maybe I should make them.

My DH has this dry cracking hands problem worse in the winter. Might add that he NEVER texts at all. He uses heavy-duty Rubbermaid gloves when he has to get his hands wet in the kitchen. I'm going to look into some of the products mentioned above for him. I've seen Bag Balm in the store but never bought it. I'm pretty old also but have never had this problem although I have dry skin and ironically, he has oily skin.

Oh yes, Shelby...when it's no longer fun...it's really no longer fun!