snowangel

Although not at all what was originally requested in the least, the Cook's Illustrated recipe for thin and crispy choc. chip cookies is a current favorite in our house. I modify and don't use chocolate chips, I chop up chocolate instead to make smaller pieces, because I make these cookies a lot smaller than they suggest. When I make them, they are not much bigger than a quarter, you can eat them by the handful, and they dunk better (coffee, milk, liqueuer, whatever) than any other cookie, soaking up the liquid without leaving chunks in the beverage of choice (important quality of a good dunker, in my opinion). They are also good in the morning in a bowl with cream (like cereal), and they make a good addition (slightly crushed, added at the last minute) to home-made vanilla or coffee ice cream. I like a cookie that can multi-task.

Since my folks were both in grad school at the same time, there was almost no money. Every so often, my folks would get day old raised donuts, split them in half, lightly butter each half, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and put under the broiler. When this was breakfast, my sister and I thought we were royalty.

I often add diced water chestnuts to stuffing to "lighten it up" -- they don't lose their crunch and can prevent stuffing from becoming a congealed mass.

Part of expiration date has to do with how the item is stored. I never store eggs or milk in the door of the fridge. They go toward the back, where the temp is more controlled and consistent. Some things are obviously bad (veggies) based on appearance, some based on smell, and some things you can't tell based on either of these criteria. If you aren't comfortable with it, toss it. I do remember, however, cleaning out the fridge at work after Diana was born. There was an unopened tub of Philly cream cheese that had expired before I was even pregnant with her (and I had a 4 month maternity leave). The tub was shaped like a baseball! And, someone had the nerve to suggest we open the tub to see "make sure it wasn't edible." Yikes!

The females in our house love anchovies. On pizza, on salads, in salad dressings, in pasta sauces, and more. I generally buy the ones packed in oil because they are readily available. The ones I get come in small jars and I think they are from Spain; they are cheaper, firmer and seem to have better texture than the ones in the little rectangular pull-top tins. However, a close friend called today and said that she has received a lovely gift basket filled with all sorts of expensive treats (olive oil, vinegars, etc.) and it includes a tin (she said it was rather "large" -- I'm not sure what that means, but she did indicate it's bigger than a can of tuna but shorter than a can of soup) of salt packed anchovies, which she will more than gladly donate to our household. So, once I get this can, just what do I do? Can I assume that they are ready to be used once the salt is wiped/rinsed (which?) off? How does one store these? I don't need recipes, I need to know how to treat these wonderful little fish.

Diana got a hankering for corn bread this weekend. She also pulled out "The Bread Baker's Apprentice," and decided to make the corn bread recipe in this book. Everyone adored it, and it set a new and different standard. It uses polenta (soaked overnight in buttermilk), has corn (not creamed), and is topped with crumbled bacon. The cornbread was great, and anything with bacon is an instant hit here. She used bacon ends from our wonderful local butcher/smokehouse.

My kids and I spend a lot of the summer sitting under the pergola in our backyard admiring the beautiful wisteria and eating popsicles, and we all agreed that the tupperware ones in Rachel's post (the ice tups set; I pilfered 5 sets from my grandmother's house when she died) had the best shape and "mouthfeel." After all, who can argue with kids (6, 8, 11, and 44 years of age). We also really liked making them with Jello instant pudding (because it's faster and summer is short) and favored a chocolate fudge/pistachio ripple). Diana is wondering what cream or 1/2 and 1/2 would do to jello instant pudding???

My daughter, Diana (at age 12), is fairly accomplished in the kitchen. She is not afraid to pull out a cookbook and tackle just about anything, and is not afraid to make substitutions. Nor is she afraid to take a stab at something she has eaten in a restaurant or a friend's house. I think what I am most proud of is her ability to look in the fridge, freezer and cupboards and whether I have just been to the grocery or we are scraping the bottom of the shelves, she can see a meal. I know I posted in a thread about our greatest accomplishments about a meal she made for our anniversary. And, just a week or two ago, she helped me (actually, she did 90% of the work) stock the freezer in preparation for our kitchen-less period (remodeling). She made stock, pasta casseroles, cookie dough, etc., browned ground chuck and froze it for crock-pot chili, made refried beans, etc. With the exception of the cheese for pasta casseroles and ground chuck, she scrounged everything else from fridge, cupboard and freezer. All at age 12! She really got going on this when I was working outside the home. She and I had precious little time together, and after we'd gotten the two little ones in bed, she and I would do as much as we could to prep dinner for the next night. It was our time together, and I sought her input as much as possible, and pretty soon she started coming up with ideas. I'll never forget going to turn her reading light off one night. She had fallen asleep with Marcella Hazan. Peter, at age 6, is starting to help a lot more in the kitchen. He rolls out a respectable pie crust, whips up mean scrambled eggs, etc. Start them early with helping in the kitchen, and expose them to a wide variety of food at a very early age. My kids were eating table food (and not modified for kid taste, except probably a little less hot pepper spice) from the time they were about 6 months old. I maintain that everyone should know how to cook, type and sew on a button. Yes, Nick, kids are great.

Diana and Peter often make this for lunch. Since one likes it wetter and one likes it cheesier, one likes it spicer, they make it in small bowls -- not a casserole dish. This is a very easy dish for kids to make. Make a few small dishes varying the proportions of things and see which you like better.

We make these all the time in the summer. I use jello instant pudding, and yes, I do put it in the Donvier until it is very cold and thickened before packing it into the nifty tupperware popsicle things I found in my grandmother's basement when we were cleaning out her house. They are nice because the top of each popsicle holder has a tight seal. I also wack them on the counter several times before putting them in the freezer to get out any air bubbles. And, the narrow shape (compared to using dixie cups) is easier for kids to get their mouths around. You will have less muddying of the two kinds of pudding if you get them nice and cold and close to frozen before you pack them in the popsicle containers. Only whole milk. It makes a difference. I don't mess around with cooked pudding because they are faster with instant, and somehow, that taste that is present in instant pudding just seems more authentic. And, I put them in our deep freezer, not the fridge freezer. It is colder, and doesn't get opened nearly as often.

Periodically my neighbors, who immigrated from Mexico about 2 years ago, have these great parties. They will butcher a pig, the band plays, and kids of all ages (infant to age 80) sing and dance far into the night. The next morning, the mom always makes chilaquiles, using the leftover tortillas, any vegetables, green sauce, pork, etc. She indicated (her English and my Spanish are equally abyssmal) the only thing she purchases specifically for this is queso (she prefers manchego). I have gathered from her that chaquiles in her house, and a quick and easy meal, and a great way to use up stuff. I have started making them on a regular basis, and as my neighbor indicated, if she is not making them to use stuff up, she favors the style described by Jaymes. It is a favorite of my children. I have easy access to great mexican cheese, tortillas, etc. So, today, when I went to store to pick these up, I decided to have lunch in their "deli" area, and settled on enchiladas. They were fabulous, but bearing little resemblence to the overstuffed ones one gets in most "american mexican" restaurants. Corn tortillas that had been fried/heated in sauce (I got 1/2 order of red, 1/2 order of green). I thing there was a smattering of cheese in them, and they were topped with more cheese, but the tortillas took center stage. I can only imagine that this is a traditional dish in some region of Mexico, and probably more street or home fare than fancy fare. Does one of our wise women -- Jaymes, Toby, StellaB -- care to comment on enchiladas?

Isn't tortilla soup sort of like chicken soup -- a bazillion variations on a theme? Jaymes, any thoughts?

This is an interesting article on the making of "artisan" butter: http://www.citypages.com/databank/23/1119/...rticle10396.asp

Too bad you can't include butter from Hope Creamery in your tasting. They are located just over an hour south of the Twin Cities, and get their cream from local farmers. They ship no further than the Twin Cities (to insure freshness), and the wrappers are all dated. Several local chefs did blind taste tests of butter (imported, small batch U. S. creameries, and the local biggie -- Land O' Lakes), and Hope won, hands down. Available at my local grocery for $2.99/lb salted or unsalted. I often catch Peter on the counter eating butter (he does use a spoon, not fingers). I had a friend who did a summer stint at Land O Lakes, and their cream is trucked in from all over the U. S. Interesting that at the groceries in the Twin Cities (home of LOL), salted is more expensive than unsalted. Some of the big batch butter companies also package under more than one label. They have a room filled with different brand boxes!

Yes, when I was working outside the home, the crock pot often took the arsenic out of the "arsenic hour" (that hour when you arrive home with three kids in tow, everyone exhausted, and everyone wanting some piece of mommy). And, I will admit that during those times, I also used the bread machine. I think the aromas had as much to do with removing the stress of those evenings. And, yes to the Herdez products. A cheap pork roast, a chopped up onion, and a jar or a couple of cans of salsa verde or cesara made many a very happy meal, and with outstanding and easy left-overs.

I know that when I've made caramel in the past, one of these sugars boils up much higher in the pan than the other (although the quantity and temperature are the same), I just can't remember which one, which leads me to believe that there is some chemical difference between beet and cane. I know that I also read about this in some cooking booklet I have, but that is packed away (remodelling) right now, so can't check.

Rachel, glad things are looking up. Problems here have prevented me from being kitchenless for a couple more days, but I do want to thank you for your "dinner without a regular kitchen" suggestions. Diana (12) was home from school last Friday (parent-teacher conferences), and she got to work. She made a ton of chicken stock, 6 pasta casseroles, cooked beans and ground chuck so we can make chili in the crock pot, mini-pizza crusts, cookie dough. She was busy!

They yellowing could have less to do with temperatures than the amount of light the plant is getting. Days are shorter, and the sun is at a much lower angle. Try a different window?

If spoilage is the reason, I would suspect the sugar in the corn.

I favor a Haralson apple -- tart and very crisp. I think the texture of the apple is very important. I make dressing similar to the one FG suggested. Whether I put raisins or some other dried fruit depends on what (if any) I have.

The larb of my childhood, eaten in northern Thailand was made with raw pork, hand chopped, by a little old Thai woman squatting on the floor (the pork, however, was on a cutting board).

I think I want both chocolate and curry, not sure in what order. But, both washed down with beer. I think beer is my favorite accompiment for both chocolate and curry (Indian or Thai).

And, if you grew up in Thailand, as I did, it takes on yet another meaning. But, as one who makes one's own curry paste, I do appreciate what spices and herbs in a mixture of one's own, as opposed to a pre-packaged blend, can do. I, too, am hungry.

I have yet to go to an exhibit that wasn't heavily funded by sponsors. Who were the sponsors of this exhibit?

One with a self-cleaning floor.