Darienne

I am gearing up to making my own Bomba Calabrese but in the meantime, I opened the second bottle of the Alessia brand which DH bought me last week. Of course, I've noshed down the first. I dumped the contents of the bottle into a sieve and just let it drain for a few minutes. I was stunned to measure the oil collected. The entire contents measure 314 ml and the oil was 80 ml. A quarter of this expensive little goodie is oil. Not pleased.

Hello Charlie and welcome to eGullet. It's a great place to be and the members are so friendly and willing to share recipes and help. Although I've never really eaten much in the way of Spanish food, I've certainly enjoyed foods from Mexico which came from Spain and from the Arabs and so on going back. The history of food interests me greatly and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for us to try.

http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/summer-tomato-pudding%C2'> For those of us who don't have the book but love the looks of this tomato dish.

Neither DH nor I could taste anything unusual in our ice cream, so I really have nothing to say about it. The xanthan gum was certainly not fresh...and I didn't look it up for particulars...just made the stuff. Mr. Geek suggested using it to keep the apple bits from getting icy...and they didn't get icy. I was concerned about how the pie crust pieces might turn out in a frozen mix, but they did not get too hard at all. Looked up Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream. Have you eaten their ice cream? It's especially good? August each year brings our Annual Dog Weekend for which I make 6 ice creams to be served. I thought I might use the Apple Pie Ice Cream as a new flavor. Otherwise my ice cream life seems very settled and I am not experimenting with new flavors very often.

New flavor today: Apple Pie Ice Cream from the Ice Cream Geek's blog http://www.icecreamgeek.com/.%C2'> Brilliant. We had it for lunch today and loved it. Of course, I used my own ice cream base and subbed Granny Smith apples for the prescribed Delicious...which I don't like. I did follow the directions which suggested adding xanthan gum to the mix, a first for me.

75%! Your enthusiasm, commitment and tenacity...and no doubt a few more good qualities...are really admirable.

JohnT's and Kerry's desserts brought back an old memory of my M-i-L's Christmas dessert: Lemon Brisk. Why 'Brisk' I cannot say and my M-i-L is long passed away. The 60s was the first decade of ou long marriage and I don't really remember any desserts I made. I couldn't cook when I got married amd my DH had to teach me how. I made the Lemon Brisk dessert for Christmas a few years ago for fun and then we all pretty much gagged over the sugary content. BTW, I still have the recipe if anyone wants it.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Lemon Meringue Pie. Date Squares. Mince Meat Tarts.

Exactly: they stop carrying the thing you like best. Exactly: why would you think you need to check. The 'marinated' bit is written down in red ink this time. However, I am pretty pleased with my own attempt to marinate the water-based ones.

If you weren't so far away, I'd trade you my 7 quart Cuisinart for your 4.5 quart KA. The big monster is very heavy. I don't need anything that big. Don't double recipes very often. My DH bought it for me and I hardly ever use it for those reasons. Good luck.

Thanks Sylvia...I suppose my face ought to be red, but it isn't. I'll look next time I go into the city with DH. Shouldn't send a man to do a woman's work. And I can't really complain...and don't about it...because DH does most of the grocery shopping. And if Costco is exhonerated in this case, they still are guilty in others.

OK. I am furious. Costco has done it again. Recently at Costco, the folks who offer samples of products had samples of Kirkland's Artichoke Hearts. Tried 'em, loved 'em, bought 'em, and ate 'em at home. I had fallen into artichoke love. Bought the double pak twice more and this week DH bought another double set for the house. Last night I opened the jar, full of anticipation, and discovered to my horror, the artichokes were no longer in oil, with vinegar and spices et all, but were simply dumped into water. Why O why do they do this to us all the time? Makes me so mad. (Well, of course, I know the answer to my question....I just wanted to rant a bit.) Found a recipe for marinated artichokes, cooked up the solution, poured out the water, poured in the marinade...but it's not the same. And I'm still annoyed. So there.

Coconut Impossible Pie? I had never heard of this before and looked it up. Very interesting. However, I would be delighted to have the Master's recipe for this. (This, of course, means you, Kerry Beal.)

Interesting...we all live by such different schedules. BTW, we did have 'Dessert as Dinner' last night and it WAS chocolate cake. So there. Broke our own rule.

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.