Darienne

I'm still following this thread religiously and drooling over some of the prizes that folks have nabbed. We are back in the land of what USED to be second hand heaven at a store named Wabi Sabi and I see from rereading my past posts what wonderful things I have found over the years. No more. The store had a new board of directors and the prices are jacked way up and the selection has fallen tremendously. From what I can gather, some of the locals are non too pleased. All we have bought this year are a few drinking glasses which were missing from the rented house. Haven't even been tempted. Quel dommage.

Excellent point, Edward J. I was willing to forgo all illustrations, a lovely accompaniment to recipes...but you have named one thing which I really didn't even notice. Thank you.

...But this publication date is 2011 and it's huge... 890pages...and contains 2,000 recipes. Surely it then stands as the best buy with the best content??? The New Best Recipes is 2004. I'm just asking...

It may be that I have missed it in the topics, but I can't find any reference to the 2011 publication of Cook's Illustrated Cookbook: 2,000 Recipes from 20 Years of America's Most Trusted Food Magazine. It appears to retail in the USA for $40 but is available on Amazon for far less than that. Obviously lots of recipes with interesting notes also. I always love the notes and explanations. Back home in Canada my library doesn't carry Cook's Illustrated and the larger city library has only a few issues. I've borrowed it from the local library in Utah and am thinking about buying it. Any thoughts, please ?

Tri2Cook, I think I like this better. Good for you.

Hmmm....I have a container of all-purpose tomato sauce in the freezer as we speak and I shall look for no-cook Barilla lasagna noodles in my favorite Moab grocery store. Time for lasagna! (DH makes the tomato sauce in this household and holds off on the ingredients which would make it suitable for only one dish. Into the freezer it goes in containers. The only problem there is to keep him from filling the entire freezer at one go. Thus it gets defrosted and turned into spaghetti sauce, lasagna sauce, Mexican meatball sauce, Moussaka sauce, etc....yes, I know it make be 'tacky' but it keeps us going.)

I am curious about this one also. I've seen them but never tried them.

To have orange tape, which is not only visible, but actually sticks to cold plastic seems to me a great boon. Please post the source of this tape and I will send for some today! Pronto! I take very good care of our freezer contents but it is a major pain to keep it up. Anything which helps is to be invited in. Thanks, Andie.

Had to save your photo in order to look at it, but it was worth the trouble.

Ed, he-who-does-all-that-kind-of-buying, goes with Consumer Reports which gave the best rating to the Bosch. We bought one a few years ago and have had absolutely no problems with it.

In this case, guilt is highly overrated. Making puff pastry from scratch? Not in this lifetime...

dcarch's post reminded me of our own annual Dog Weekend at the farm. As the weekend grew, folks complained about the dishwashing problem and asked me to buy throwaway plates and cutlery so no one had to do any dishes. Well, I bought plastic plates and so on, very inexpensive...and now years later we are still using them, yes, and washing them. I simply could not throw them out. Besides the green element involved...I hate eating from a foam or paper plate and I absolutely refused to buy plastic cutlery. We have enough extra cutlery after 55 years of marriage to feed an army. Not matching...but who cares.

Forgot to add that we have an electric smart meter...thanks Ontario Hydro...so it means that we don't use the dishwasher except in off-peak hours. That's a nuisance, but it does save us money.

Deryn, I have to say that I loved your post. Mine could be the same, only backwards for some of the stuff. Right now we are in Moab Utah where the garbage is collected from in front of your house once a week and there are NO regulations about what you put in the container. Recycling is a personal decision completely because you have to take the stuff up to the recycling station yourself and without a vehicle you can't do it. And they take very little of what we recycle at home in Ontario. But then Moab is two hours from anywhere else and it would cost too much to truck the stuff out. You are asked to donate money to use the recycling station. I think most of the women..women...who sort the stuff are volunteers. Moab is a strange mixture of aging hippies, and those who are definitely NOT hippies and tourists. At home, we have no garbage pick-up but have to take our garbage to a transfer station...the garbage goes somewhere else...I don't know where...Michigan probably. You are allowed two bags per week, with stick on tags presented to you by the county. In the transfer station, they pretty much don't care to follow the regs. It's the old country vs city thing. But they are strict about allowing only township folks to bring their garbage there. But then...they know you anyway. And we bring them candy every now and then. And they give the dogs who visit little dog biscuits which makes it very popular. Folks call the place the Cavan Mall because you can leave useable stuff there and take whatever you can find...which is sometimes quite astonishing...like a working electric organ. Visiting friends ask to go there with us. We compost carefully on the farm, but then we don't waste much. The county picks up papers, cardboard and assorted cans, pop cans, tetra paks, egg cartons, etc...but woe betide you if you put anything into your recycling box which doesn't belong there. They'll pick it out and leave it in your box. Must cost a fortune in man hours to pre-sort the stuff on the road. The contractor who lived in our house many decades ago used the old derelict house in the back 40 as a dumping ground. It would cost us thousands to get it cleaned out. It's all different everywhere, isn't it?

Andie...that pie sounds heavenly. I can't make it in Moab, but it will first on the list in Cavan when we return home. ...could ask my Moab chums...none of whom 'bake' ...if anyone has a largish pie pan or even better, one with a removable bottom. But really it's OK. I have two Margarita pies to make this week and a Chinese feast to put on the next...so I don't lack for things to do.

...still waiting for Andie's almond/apricot recipe... A wonderful combination, almonds and apricots, and I can make anything from dried apricots. See fresh ones so seldom in our neck of the woods, even when in season.

"No one brought a thing"...ChocoMom, you have got to find a new bunch of friends!

Just scrolled back in this thread to see if I had posted in it and indeed I had in 2011. Here we are back in Moab and nothing has changed. It's the land of red rocks, blue skies, much sun (although not this year, alas) and really dreadful restaurant fish and chips.

We had grilled salmon with lime and baked potatoes (made by DH). And for dessert, Millionaire's Shortbread Bars, an experiment from a couple of days ago which probably won't be repeated.

No recipes here, I'm sorry to say, but I am now also awaiting the brilliant ideas to pour in. For my DH, there cannot be too many nuts in cakes, muffins, cookies, ice cream, etc, etc, and a good pie recipe will be much appreciated. :wub:

What is this urge in us to confess our stupidity? It has hit me again. A couple of days ago I threw a bunch of semi-dried figs into my food processor to make them into a more or less puree. Of course, they were hard to get out of the processor. But why did I swipe around the bottom of said processor with my finger? Right. The edge of the food processor blade is alarming sharp and now, days later, I am still suffering from that cut finger tip. Stupid, stupid, stupid. :wacko:

Tri2Cook, I think you are correct. I'm thinking about mac and cheese and chili but I'm not coming up with anything. Besides we had chili for lunch today and once a week is enough. Let us know if you do both of them together and if it could work.

Somewhere on eGullet in the last two days or so, someone mentioned Macaroni and Cheese and so that's what we are having for New Year's. DH will make it with his Mom's old recipe. Yum. A good way to welcome 2015.