Darienne

Too much sugar in your recipe, I fear. If you have one suitable, don't hesitate to send it to me, Deryn.

We are a couple of old duffers and eat in an old-fashioned way re the time factor. Our biggest meal is at noon (when you still need more energy for the rest of the workday) and our supper is either soup or a salad (when you are going to go to bed soon and don't need any extra energy or calories for that matter). It suits us both fine...but then we are both retired. What we seldom eat is a regular North American diet. You know, a slab of meat, potatoes and some vegetables on the side. Then we have our tradition of 'Dessert as Dinner' when we eat only a dessert for our supper. However, this dessert must include dairy, fruit, grain, etc...sort of a balanced dessert. This is not chocolate cake!

Did some more searching online last night and still have found only the one chunky-type Bomba Calabrese. There are at least 8 brands of Bomba Calabrese available and probably a lot more I didn't find. The one that DH and I really liked is made by Gigi and is distributed in Canada by Gigi Importing in Brampton, ON, a small city just west of Toronto. On further tasting (generously) the Alessia brand of Bomba I have to say, and with the agreement of DH, it is not nearly as zippy as the Gigi and it has too much oil in it. I drained some of the oil out of it and at the risk of encountering derision from purists, I am going to mix in a bit of Sambal Oelek to see if that can zip it up a bit. Added: read the ingredients carefully this time around and the Alessia contains...gasp...soybean oil and not olive oil. Some things are not to be endured....

Alas. DH spent a goodly time in Peterborough's Super Store today looking for Allessia La Bomba Hot Antipasto Spread with no luck. Then he found it in the local FreshCo. Not quite the same...not as nippy...but still good. I'm not complaining. No useful recipes have come my way. I found one online which is chunky and I guess I could make it and process it.

About the Haweaters Festival...Aug 2-3. Are the Hawberries actually edible by then? Ours, in east central Ontario, are not ripened yet. Now, I've never eaten one and don't know that I will...but they are all gobbled up quite nicely by the local feathered folk.

I like the idea of the rajas sent through the blender and will try that one. As you say, it could be topping to a lot of different dishes. Thanks.

Thanks eGer's. I'm still working on the recipe idea...

Thanks Kerry, I'll look for it. We have no Loblaws in Peterpatch, but we do have Superstore, so maybe they will carry it.

A friend recently gifted me with a small jar of this incredible Bomba Calabrese. I thought I'd died and gone to spicy heaven. :wub: This particular brand is made by Gigi and is a product of Italy. The ingredients are: eggplant, pepper, hot chili peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, sunflower oil, olive oil, spices and salt. It is also not in chunks or pieces, but is easily spreadable. I found a few recipes for Bomba Calabrese online, but would like to try one that someone from eG recommends if possible. Barring that, I will make one of the found recipes and blenderize it perhaps. And also try to locate the product locally. I've contacted the distributor but not heard back yet. Thanks for any help.

Oscar is 9 1/2" tall and 8" at his widest.

As I have reported on eG, with each year adding one year, it's almost 8 years since I discovered "COOKING" ...as compared to just having to cook meals...and over 55 years married. The biggest mistake I made kitchen-wise was ridding myself of all the stuff I inherited from my Mother when my parents moved to San Diego in the early 60s. Thus almost nothing I own and cherish goes back in ownership more than 8 years, although much of this is much older in years. My best purchases have been from 2nd hand stores in Utah during our stays there. My first real purchase was the ice cream machine at Wabi Sabi, our favorite 2nd hand store, 7 years ago for $5, followed by a number of stainless steel frying pans and pots with heavy bottoms, made in Japan and Korea. Wonderful items. And second-hand Pyrex ware, complete with borosilicate...much work to clean up, but well-used since. An all-metal (you remember metal?) reversible waffle iron, General Electric made in the USA...now that's old. Purchased new in Utah: two sets of rainbow-colored acrylic bowls from a condo-owner and a set of stainless steel mixing bowls with wonderful rubber bottoms which (gasp) with considerable use have not even begun to separate from the bowls. Purchased in Canada: my wonderful Trudeau spatulas, my Paderno pots and a used acrylic yellow tool turntable which I coerced this dear old gentleman, who was minding the store while his wife stepped out, into selling to me, knowing full well that he'd be in trouble as soon as said wife saw what he had done. It was a 'store container', not to be sold. To finish up, and sorry for the length of this but you did ask, is Oscar, a rare Ditmar Urbach Czechoslovakia Art Deco Pottery Toucan pitcher, who oversees the entire kitchen. Oscar predates my birth and comes from my parents' house and I will treasure him forever.

A lot is forgiven for muffins...and cakes and ice cream and butterscotch dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with almonds...and so on and so on.

When we are in our 'other' home in Utah, we go to yard sales and second-hand stores with regularity. Great fun. However, at home...not so much. If at all. But yesterday, I had a sudden urge to stop at a local yard sale. No reason. And then I saw them and fell in love and had to take them home. I cook a lot of Mexican food and every August we host the Dog Weekend and much food is eaten. These will come in handy, and in the meantime, have a place of honor on the dining room table.

No idea Shel_B, but I too am curious about this. It was only blueberries and almond milk? Nothing else at all?

My answer to this problem is to box the offending confection and tie with knot and bow. That will keep me out of the stuff until it can be delivered to always grateful friends and acquaintances. Leave it unsecured...and I am lost

Would it be possible to ask once again for that Summer Torte recipe. Is it already posted somewhere in eG? Thanks.

You said you wanted to stay away from plastic, but in our farmhouse cellar, where much is stored, I don't feel I have many alternatives. Flours, sugar, and many other things are stored in Rubbermaid bins of various sizes. For example, we buy sugar in mammoth Costco bags...we have a flock of hummingbirds which we feed every summer...and the bag goes into an 18 gallon (US) bin. I've never had any troubles with them over the past twenty years so for me it's a viable answer.

We've had 55 years of nothing but chest freezers and still own two large ones...one for us and one for the dogs plus a few bits and bobs of human stuff, like the ice creams. I'd kill for an upright freezer...but these old...and I do mean old...chest freezers just keep on keeping on so this is probably unlikely to be until we have to sell the farm and move into the city. I hope.

Never used them in the first place. All our pans are heavy stainless steel with extra heavy bottoms, purchased at second-hand stores. Mostly from Korea and Japan. Dates them, doesn't it?

What a wonderful trip you had and such sumptuous food layouts. As Sylvia says: Yum. And thanks for going to all the trouble of sharing your trip, your food and your friends with us. I really enjoyed reading it all. We travel through Indiana twice a year at least and I had no idea of the delights which we knew nothing about.

And, we, your loyal fans are delighted to read the news and to follow along on your adventures. :wub:

Ah, car snacks. Well, yes, on our long trips...Nova Scotia and back or Utah and back...there are always car snacks. Usually I make them in tiny muffin pans. Plain dark chocolate with raw almonds in them. Tastes good, keeps you going, but not so delicious that you eat more than necessary. Mixed nuts (no salt...salt makes them too tasty). Coffee stops along the way. The trick, as noted, is to make the car snacks tasty, but not too tasty or we'd eat too much.

We eat chip wagon French Fries in the car. DH eats them while he drives, and I eat them and feed bits to the two pups in the back of the car or van, depending upon which vehicle we are in. I have napkins, salt and pepper in each vehicle to refresh the fries as we go along. When we are on the road for long trips, we might eat in the van when it's too hot to leave the dogs in the van because the sun is too high and there's no shady parking. DH eats in the car when I'm not with him. He gets a coffee and a muffin at McDonald's which he splits with the dogs...the muffin is shared...not the coffee of course. When we are together, it's Starbucks coffees in the car. Most American coffee on the road is dreadful. (Sorry, but it's true. I once talked to a lady server in a Colorado Starbucks and noted that Americans are supposed to be the great coffee drinkers of the world but how Canadian coffee is much better no matter where you go. 'Yes', she said, 'most American coffee is like weak weasel p*ss'. Never forgot that one.)

weinoo reminded me of one of my old favorites...can you get it anywhere now?...real pumpernickel. :wub: From my childhood in Montreal, of course.

Brussels Sprouts seem to qualify as tiny cabbages and they are delicious roasted. (DH drowns his in a curry sauce to block out the taste...)