snowangel

My AMCO mushroom, my AMCO tongs and a spatula thing I got years ago at Crate and Barrel. The mushroom. Smash garlic, use as a pestle, plus it looks pretty. The black one from Crate and Barrel is perfect for stirfrying and using in non-stick -- I've seen wooden ones, but none with the slots. This is my go to utensil for frying everything but eggs. But, the tongs. You ask why they are so special? See the locking mechanism? You don't need a second hand to lock the tongs; any counter or deck edge, or for that matter, the opening of a pocket works beautifully. I know I've seen similar ones under the Martha Stewart name at K-Mart, but they are crap -- shorter, lighter weight, and the "lips" of the tongs don't match up. Why has AMCO discontinued so many great products?

This time of year, Minnesota is provides a stark landscape. Dark, leaf-less trees, lots of white, all punctuated by the occasional cardinal or blue jay. The colors you have shown are so inviting and warming, it inspired me to spend a few kid and hubby-less days painting the bathrooms warm, inviting colors. Beautiful! Edited: the trees are leafless, not the other way around!

I have five jars of them. What do I do with them?

Since I am sans kids and hubby for a few days ( ), I had a very close friend over, and one of the dishes on the table was the Shrimp in Spicy Tamarind Sauce from "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen." I naturally made an entire recipe, and let me tell you, these, made a day ahead of time, in a bowl accompanied by a jigger of toothpicks makes a killer appetizer the next day.

About 4 years ago, we moved for the first time in almost 20 years. First up -- the grill, some charcoal and some soaked applewood and a smoked butt. (The oven didn't work). Made everyone smile to see me putting the grill in the right place and doing my signature dish on it.

This is exactly why I add some cornmeal -- to avoid the cakey texture.

Begging pardon, Steven, but I don't think Bisquick makes very good pancakes (it makes fine waffles, however), so do yourself and the family a favour if you want to use a mix and get something like the Hungry Jack buttermilk mix that requires you to add milk, eggs and oil. The mixes that don't require anything but milk are pretty crappy. But, I always do buttermilk pancakes. Don't worry, if you don't have buttermilk, you can just add lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk and let it set out for a few minutes. Or, you can add the acid to milk the night before and set it in the fridge. And, if I'm planning pancakes for the next morning, I go ahead and get the dry ingredients out and measured. My recipe is for Buttermilk pancakes is: 1 c. flour 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. baking powder 1 T. sugar 1-2 T. cornmeal 1 c. buttermilk 1 egg 2 T melted butter or oil Now, I usually double or triple this because the pancakes are good leftover, reheated in the trusty toaster oven for hungry teens. I think the cornmeal adds a very nice touch to the pancakes, giving them an extra nice textural touch. So, I have my dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the buttermilk. Whisk the egg(s) in the measuring cup you used for the milk. Then, rinse out the liquid measure quickly and zap the butter (or you can do this is a custard cup; I have kids who "love" to load up the dishwasher). Or, if I haven't planned ahead, I zap the butter in the bowl, add the milk and egg, and whisk to break up the egg and then add the dry ingredients. I use a whisk, and once whisked, I keep a rubber scraper handy for scraping out the bowl, breaking up large lumps of dry ingredients, etc. (BTW, young kids love watching the action of the acid and baking soda and the burbling). I actually use a "pitcher" -- it's a Tupperware mix and store (name ???; this is old): In the meantime, I have put my nice Lodge two-burner griddle on the stove and cranked it up. The griddle is very well seasoned, so I don't need to grease it, and have never had a problem with a pancake sticking. And, once it gets heated, even the part of the griddle between the two burners gets nice and hot, and I can get eight pancakes on the griddle. Since I'm cooking for anywhere from 5-8 people, a skillet just isn't big enough, and I only have one 14" skillet, anyway. I have had electric griddles in the past, and when the second one died a slow and painful death, I decided to go with something that had no cord, no heating element to burn out, and something that was much easier to store. So, I pour the batter out of my handy dandy pitcher (anyone who ever sees these should buy them -- I have 2-cup, 4-cup and 8-cup ones, and since the plastic is thinner than that of glass "batter bowls," there are virtually no drips on the counter). I'm not sure how much batter I pour, but my pancakes are about 4" in diameter, maybe a bit more. The batter is thicker than that of a crepe, so it doesn't run much when I pour it on the griddle. Now, if I'm making blueberry pancakes, they are usually berries from the freezer that we've picked the previous summer up at the cabin. I just sprinkle a few of them on each pancake, but since the berries are frozen, the second side takes a bit longer to cook. Like you, Steven, I don't necessarily rely on the bubble method to tell when to turn them over, I use the peek on the bottom of the first side. We serve these with butter and warm syrup. Currently, it's a choice of maple or chokecherry or gooseberry sauce (it was a bountiful fruit year at the cabin). Or, if it's mid-June, and we've got fresh local strawberries that we've picked, it's strawberries and whipped cream or creme fraiche. Oh, gotta have bacon or sausage on the side!

I'll ask a couple of friends if they know of this restaurant -- I've got a friend in restaurant food sales. But, a "don't miss" on the way to St. Cloud is McDonald's Meats -- just off Highway 10 in Clear Lake. Their bacon is some of the best in the state.

I added the goddess Maida Heatter's Pecan Passion bars to the line up this year. So popular I had to make another pan of them! However, if you are making these, do use a metal pan. The glass holds the heat long enough that the edge pieces could be crown busters!

Bumping this up, I bought some Ritz Snowflake crackers today. Why don't they make these all year long? The "indents" formed by the snowflake pattern make for a far superior Ritz, and one that can be easily broken into little triangles without the mess of crumbs. The other cracker that I've been enamoured of is Triscuit Thin Crisps. IMHO, they don't go stale nearly as fast, and , well, they are thin, crispy and triangular! I'm discovering that the shape and die imprints do make a difference. BTW, crushed crackers can sub for croutons (moment of desperation).

Maggie, I'll be making one more in right short order for a friend's birthday, and will post a tutorial, including measurements and photos, OK? It is 'da bomb, BTW, and Oh, So Simple and Useful. If you quilt your own fabric and have some batting on hand, the cost is next to nothing, except for thread!

Hie thyself to the library and check out Maida Heatter's "Brand New Book of Great Cookies" and make some Pecan Passion Bars, and up the pecans to 3 cups iinstead of 2 cups (result of not grabbing my reading glasses before I baked them. These are a turtles in a bar, and better than almost any pecan pie you'll ever have. Think Pecan Crack.

I've been on a roll. Never mind that the vest I'm knitting for my mother and the hat for Diana will be twofer gifts (show them the half-knitted thing this year as a gift, and give them the done deal next year ). But, as to the oven mitts: The one on the left is with two strands of worsted weight, the one on the right with one strand. Quite frankly, I like the one-strand better -- it leads to a more flexible oven mitt, although it is an oven mitt for a transfer, not something you'd want to stand and hold for an hour. I also made (but they are wrapped, and I'll be damned if I'm going to unwrap them...) some "trivets" out of the two strand method (bordering the varigated yarn with a solid color), and for those, the two strand method is a good thing. But, I did discover, by accident, that the two stranded mitts are quite water proof! One of the other things I discovered by trial and error is that I like the look of an oven mitt better when the top of the hand decrease is done by the knit X number of stitches, K2T (knit two together) than the method by doing the decreases on either sideof the mitten. Less of a pointy top. The other thing I made this year were some of these: I am showing something that I received many, many years ago, and have loved and used time and time again. What I made is wrapped, and I'm not about to unwrap it. It is a pie holder, and one that will work well for a round casserole dish. Made out of quited fabric, and this time around, I quilted my own fabric (machine, what a lot of spools of thread I used!). Basically, the "floor" of the carrier is a 14" circle. The "sides" are cut to match, with a hole in the top. Easier to finish the four sides of the "sides" is bias tape. The handles are also of quilted fabric. The one photoed had that ttwo sided pre-quilted fabric, and the interior was exposed for the handles. Wide bias binding for the "rim" of the "sides" and narrow bias binding was used for the "cincher" although ribbon would work quite well. Note that the giver of this gift even included the safety pin she used to thread the "cincher" through the bias sleeve. If anyone wants details on either of these projects, let me know. Unlike food gifts, these will hang around for a long time, and if one uses the nice bold colors I do, they won't get lost in a drawer! Edited to replace a photo with the correct one.

A new blog starts on Monday, December 24th. Our next blogger reported to me via a PM that Some photos: We're back in North America, and obviously, not for a snowy New England (or Minnesota) Christmas. Who and where?

Since your ham is smoked, don't overcook it (last Easter, my sister cooked a smoked ham for 5 hours at 350 degrees, then cranked up the heat to 450 for 45 minutes, resulting in ham floss!). I'd say 300 degrees for about 10 minutes per pound. And, before I soaked or boiled it, I'd sample it to see just how salty it is. Edited to add: I think the flavour of ham is best when it is warm, not piping hot.

I can dice and mince with the finest of them, but for the life of me, I can't seem to roll anything out to any shape other that resembles what it the shape should be. Doesn't matter whether it's rolling out dough for pies or quiche, or cookies, or a log (why are mine always square, not round)? If I start with a nice round disk, I end up with something that looks like a science experiment. Rounds turn into amoebas, square turn into something that is other-worldly. Peter's comment last time I rolled something out was "Mom, that looks like an amoeba with tumors!" In the meantime, I'm going to take that square log and make square cookies. Oh, and while we're at it. My pounded meat looks like hills and valleys.

Bruce, I quite frankly think of pat prik king muu bpaa as a jungle curry, and it is probably my favorite, so if you don't have access to long or snake beans, you need to think about setting in a few plants in the garden next summer. Oh, and yes, I have access to both grachai and greenpeppercorns (usually fresh, but if you can't find the former fresh, look for the jars of grachai in brine and follow Thompson's instructions). Tonight for dinner was a red curry with vension and potatoes. The kids really like potatoes in curry, and the biggest coup tonight was that the boy (now 12) cracked the coconut cream and got things rolling! But, your salad looks spectacular. Appears that I am going to be home alone (!!! ) for three or four days between Xmas and NY -- perhaps with my best friend coming over and spending the night for a women's get-together, and I'm thinking it's an idea opportunity for me to explore the salads in my copy of Thai Food. Any suggestions along this line are more than welcome!

All of this talk of cleaning! Like the guests are going to be looking for the dust monsters behind the bookcases. Cleaning should involve the "swhoosh" method -- shove it all into a box in the laundry room. I've entertained for years, and I've learned that the key is to not overextend in terms of meal or cleaning. To me, if the floors are presentable, and you have a beautifully set table (the latter items can be set out WAY in advance on a card table) and you seem relaxed, it doesn't matter how gourmet the meal. I guess somewhere along the way I learned it was less important to impress than that everyone feels welcome and has a great time. It's all about the memories, and no one is going to remember a forgotten appetizer, garnish, etc.

It's on the menu at our Christmas Eve dinner, as well. My mother-in-law is charge of it, and it comes ready to cook -- she actually nukes it to save on oven/stove space. It's served over boiled potatoes with a choice of bechamel sauce (the dijon in the sauce is a great idea) or melted butter. I add a good dusting of black pepper. One of my kids loves it, and the other two always take a bite. Yes, it really is quite good!

Somewhere on this website is a recipe for bacon candy. So the answer to your question is "Yes". ← Bacon Candy!

Bruce, let's see this "contraption" in action, please! I have very limited kitchen space, and the idea of multi-tasking equipment is big.

Ah, for me, it was a corpulent college professor with a penchant for putting his sweaty palm on the thighs of freshwomen that led to my Conrad aversion. But, the smells of a small house. When we put our former small house on the market at the worst time of year -- January -- 13" of snow followed by 20 below temps, we were desperate. The agent told us that if there were to be smells, they should be cinnamon or vanilla. On that fateful Friday, sure that no one was going to want to look at the house, I stuck a hunk of bacon in the oven to braise ala Molly. An hour later, the phone rings, and I turn the oven off, wipe up the water ick off the floor that the kids had tracked in, and pack the kids in the car. It was that day that we got three offers. Ah, the smells of a house and what beguiles or revolts.

This was on the table tonight, made with "eternal venison" (I have four milk crates of the stuff in the freezer!). This dish was a definite winner, and my parents, Paul and Diana (and I) pronounced it the best beef stew ever. I did up the quantity by a half, just to ensure leftovers for my breakfast. You are right, Bruce. So complex, for such a simple list of ingredients, and such a simple technique. I used a mixture of russet and yukon gold potatoes, because that was what I had on hand. ← Susan, I am glad that you liked the stew, and hope you are feeling better. What cut of “eternal venison” do you use for braising? ← Bruce, for this, I used some shoulder (see this for more details on how I decide what to use for what). But, my leftovers for breakfast and dinner. Oh, me, oh my. I think my braise ended up wetter than she indicated in the recipe was just fine with me. Sure did a nice job of helping clear out my "sciences" (sinuses). This just maybe Chinese penicillin.

To add to to what I've made so far: tacos with ground vension prik king curry (a Thai jungle curry with long beans and ground vension) a beyond awesome "beef" and potato curry from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook But, the more I look at the venison in the freezer (oh, me oh my, you're going to see a lot of it on the table in the next year!), I can't stress how much more I like the stuff that I butchered. As mentioned up-topic, one of my deer was professionally done, one by me. When I did it myself, BTW, I was ably assisted by a great book -- "Making the Most of Your Deer" by Dennis Walrod. He does a wonderful job of explaining how to field dress, break it down, how to cut the hunks o deer off the bones, etc., and even includes directions on how to make a candelabra out of the antlers! But, what I'm most loving about the vension I butchered myself is that I really marked the packages well. When I get them from the meat market, its pretty much stamps like chops, ground, steaks, roasts, stew, etc. When I did it myself, I was able to clearly mark whether the meat came from the neck (meltingly soft), neck (add "good for braise" to the label), big stew meat, little stew meat, kabobs, stir-fry, leg steaks, etc., etc. The meat from the shoulders seems to be the toughest. The leg breaks down into four parts (think Denver Leg). Parts of this are better suited to steaks and super tender than others. But, I've learned that even with vension, an extremely low braising temp can turn a leaner cut of meat into a work of art). In addition, by doing it myself, I was able to package the meat in quantities appropriate for my use. Before I butchered, I looked at some recipes I was interested in, and took note of how much our family eats at one time, and took note of what I would use for things I wanted leftovers of.

I peel, cut and core just like Sam does. One of the problems with those peeler/corer/slicer gizmo's is that I find that depending on the size of the apple, they often remove more of the apple with the peel than I like, and the slices are thinner than I like for many applications -- the thickness of the slice is not adjustable (at least on my gizmo).