snowangel

Jennifer, we had a few of those same shaped light fixtures in our former (circa 1950 1.5 story house) and they looked, well, quite industrial and cheap. I love the color and sure wished I'd known that color was available -- I love it!

I've made mayo in the blender, with the immersion blender, the mixer and the food processor, and the only failure I had was with the food processor...

Ellen, a final question from moi. You've talked uptopic rather extensively about "wrapping your head" around your weight loss plan. Has this gotten easier over time? Do you think that your healthier eating has yet become a habit?

Randi, Cook's Illustrated/the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook has a great scalloped potato recipe that call for cooking the potatoe slices in the liquid before baking to get them going more quickly. Cook 'til almost tender and then dump the whole nine yards in the baking dish and stick in the oven. Works like a charm.

I've never been able to have only one Manhatten! I love congee. You can toss almost any leftover in (early or late in the process, depending on the leftover. Cheap, as well. I rank it up with frittata as a "clean out the fridge" make-over meal. BTW, how salty is that better than boullion stuff?

More details on your congee, please! Oh, and the dim sum looked wonderful. I've been trying to talk my family into doing dim sum on Easter, but no, we hafve to go to a relative's house. (This relative can't cook, and we will eat off flimsy paper plates perched on our laps.)

Funny that you mention this, as a friend got so pissed off about it that she pitched the thing. She got a Benriner and has been much, much happier with it. I'm about to get a Benriner, I think. I have one of the cheapo plastic ones, and I hate it.

Which recipes have you tried?

Thanks for the report, Chris. Do you attribute the better and faster kneading solely to the power, or do you think that the spiral dough blade helped, too?

Janet, I have an oatmeal cookie recipe that calls for toasting oats in browned butter. These are the best ever.

In addition to what's been mentioned, interesting varieties of honey.

Two more suggestions, Wendy. Posole or carnitas!

I do not want a cake-like brownie. If I want cake, I'll eat cake. I'm really partial to a gooey brownie, but I love the edge/crispy bits. To that end, I espied with interest this new item: the Bakers Edge pan. Anyone tried one? My go-to brownies are from Maida Heatter's cookbooks. The Heath Bar Brownies make me weak in the knees. Note to self -- add Heath Bars to the grocery list!

Chris, are you tearing the slices up into smaller pieces? Overloading the food processor? I find that if I tear the dried or stale bread up into maybe 1" x 1" chunks (not precise_, and don't have too many (a bit lower than the top of the blade plastic thingie), I do get a bit of dust, but not much.

One of the things I've noticed about these multi-purpose "slow cookers/deep fryers" is that none of them seem to have the number of watts necessary for a deep fryer to have any sort of recovery time. So, why are all home (countertop) deep fryers so wimpy? Quite frankly, I'm just as happy using my LC dutch oven for most of these tasks -- slow cooking, deep frying, etc.

They were giving out samples at Costco a couple of months ago, and I didn't like them either. At all. The crust, the sauce, everything. And, there was too much stuff on them. Soggy and greasy, and it had been cooked in a convection oven.

You don't mention what in what area of the US to which you will be moving, but if there's a Sur La Table in the area, that's probably where I'd register because it would make exchanges and returns easy. Another place to consider is Bed Bath and Beyond, which also carries linene (sheets and towels). And, if I were registering today (instead of the 25+ years ago!), I'd do a lot more research on what I wanted. You are right not to want "kits!" I'd go and hold the knives and pots and pans and pretend to cook with them so I could be very specific about what I wanted -- I love the eclectic mix of pots, pans and knives that I have -- in a wide variety of brands. But, if I were registering again, a basic assortment of pots and pans, some bakeware, a cast-iron enameled dutch oven, a food processor, stand mixer, kitchen scale and an imersion blender. There are all sorts of topics in this forum on individual products. Just search on "food processors" (use the search button in the upper right corner and search in this forum using that as the title) and you'll find a wealth of information on everything from food processors to stand mixers to knives to Le Creuset. And, don't forget to check out some of the courses in EgCI -- if you scroll almost a third of the way down the index, you'll see some courses on kitchen equipment -- scales, cookware and knives. Good luck and happy shopping!

Thanks, Ron, for all you have done. And, BTW, it's really much easier to use the KA food grinder if you put the KA on the floor and sit on a chair. Less of that "arms in the air" upper body workout!

This is reminding me of microwave pressure cookers. I had one for years, that I loved (it was made by Nordicware), but it bit the dust at some point (because of a kid artware project). I'm wondering how different the Cook-Zen thing is? If you go to ebay and search for microwave pressure cookers, you'll see a bunch of them, all for far less than $55.00!

Thanks, guppymo, for the tutorial. I loves these "wraps', and I have seen this same mix, off and on, at my local market. Off to shop tomorrow!

Hmmm. Seems no one is able to guess! So, a hint. We move to a coast of the USA! And, it's an area that I don't think has seen any snow this winter (or perhaps any winter!).

Chris, please do post as how the baker likes the new mixer. I still have my almost-30 year old Hobart KA, and the thing is going strong. A few years ago, my friends started "updating" and got newer KA's, and they have many regrets about getting rid of their trusty Hobarts, but the one you just got looks like a cut above most of the KA's out there. I'll be most curious as to how your wife likes the dough hook -- it looks as tho it's a different shape than the old hooks.

Rebecca, ask and you shall receive! You folks are so good at guessing that I'm almost hesitant to give any clues, but a couple of photos will do. No more clues. This blog starts on Monday, March 19 and goes for a week. Enjoy! Edited to correct starting date of blog!

Dejah, there is a recipe for bao in In the Vietnamese Kitchen, but the dough does not call for yeast, just baking powder for leavening (and it also calls for milk). I'm interested to hear about any experiences with this dough. The Chinese bao dough I've made calls for yeast.

Perhaps it's the diagram of the proposed galley kitchen that I'm having trouble with, because I can't seem to figure out where the sink and the range (or stovetop are). I have a galley kitchen which I love, but I can stand at the stove, and reach the fridge and the sink, plus I can gate it off to keep the disabled child away from the fridge and the hot stove when I'm cooking. Is this a totally enclosed kitchen? Or does it open to another space without door?