snowangel

1. The Farm Journal "Let's Start to Cook." My very first cookbook, aimed at kids. Circa 1966. It was a from-scratch book aimed at kids, complete with diagrams of where the meat comes from on different animals. 2. The Farm Journal "Best Ever Pie Cookbook." Enough said. I'm a pie, not a cake person. 3. The Farm Journal "Freezing and Canning Cookbook." Enough said. These Farm Journal Cookbooks are from my grandmother, and they are worthy of shelf space. All sorts of wisdom from all sorts of farm wives -- no waste from what they harvested. And, a kid's cookbook that didn't talk down to the kids. 4. The masterful "Modern Art of Chinese Cooking" by the late and great Barbara Tropp. Full of technique and drawings. I own many other Asian cookbooks, but this is the most stained and for cook reason. 5. Maida Heatter's Great Book of Cookies. No one does a better job of tellng you just how the dough should be, or what the cookies should be like when they are done and ready to be pulled from the oven. This represents the most stained and well-used books on my shelves. The ones I can't be without. The ones that taught me how to cook (and take a deer from animal to well-labeled packages of meat). (Oh, and there's my book on butchering vensioon, but it's not a recipe book).

There were some really ripe mangos at the grocery store, so the other night I did the pork with mango, coconut and lime. But, in my case, it was chicken thighs because they were super inexpensive. This is a really, really nice dish with either pork or chicken thighs. I sure wish my venison was fatty enough to do the rendang.

While the choice of french toast, waffles and pancakes leads me to waffles, my very favorite breakfast is leftover Thai Curry over rice. Or smoked butt. My fav is savory. If it has to be sweet, it had better be tart!

I think the spiced nuts will make it into the next package. Brilliant idea. I have several bags of nuts -- cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds. I think I'll do them mixed, and include a baggie of dried fruit. I do know, from past experience, that the nuts can be a mix!

For her birthday, I sent a disposable foil tin of Scotheroos (some sort of bar that features rice crispies, corn syrup, peanut butter and chocolate (in addition to our friend cash) and long with the chips for the frosting, along with a tubiee thing (don't think the tubiees in Miss Congeniality but rather the write on the cake thing) along with candles. Other treats that have been popular have been the Trader Joe's Antioxidant fruit and nub mix. Tomorrow's package features light bulbs (which apparently aren't available in Tacoma), microwave popcorn, a couple of Indian vacuum packed entrees, a bag of goldfish, some cranberry/pecan Lenox Biscotti (from Dorie's book), and some peanut butter cookies (from frozen nuggets that were from a school fund-raiser. Thank heavens for a backdoor neighbor who is a postmaster. He brings me the flat rate boxes, and as long as I go on-line and print the postage, it is cheaper, and I bring them over to him, and he mails them! Oh, the other inclusion. The new Purex 3 in 1 washer/dryer sheets. A very economical and packaging friendly way to do laundry. The final bit of packaging to keep the cookies safe was a 2-week old edition of People which I my neighbor passed along. Now that we're entering November weather (never mind that it's still mid-Oct. ), I'll contemplate bread and cheese, which she would love. She loves mail, and especially packages, now that we've reached and era that is beyong the weekly letter, although we do that. I remember well when someone our family knew when I was a frosh at St. Olaf was coming to the States from Thailand. My folks would set up a cassette recorder (remember those?) with a blank tape and record a dinner conversation between Mom, Dad and Sister. I lived on those. Edited to add: Yes, she really is 19. Heidi si 15 (yikes) and Peter is almost 14 (double yikes as my baby is growing up!)

Since I'm not much of a baker, I'm not going to page through 45 pages for an answer to my question. If I want to make some lemony Lenox Biscotti, she mentions rubbing the zest into sugar. Do I microplane it? Rub it in and not remove it? I'm going for serious lemony for a friend who is a serious lemon fiend. Oh, and when I've made these before, they spread like crazy when I bake them. Should they? Should I make my dough "bricks" higher and narrower? Or, is really thin and wide the way they should be?

Waffles, hands down, with my homemade raspberry or chokecherry syrup. Bacon or sausage on the side, naturally. I do pancakes up at the cabin, generally when we have freshly picked blueberries.

According to Son Peter (at the time, age 4), "because the make your sciences run." Works for me. Helps if you inhale the spicy scent.

I'm not thinking just about Holdays right now. I've got a child (acutally, Diana, age 19, is not exactly a child) 1/2 way across the country in Tacoma, WA. She loves packages. Back when I moved from Bangkok to St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN in 1975, a care package was the weekly onion-skin blue aerogram. But, any recommendations on what to send her? She's not a particularly big sweet eater, but sweets aren't out of the mix. What mails well, besides money and light bulbs (like you can't buy them in Tacoma???) While I know I could buy all sorts of packaged crap, I figure that if Peter, Heidi and I make stuff, it will taste more of love.

We had enough frost last night to virtually kill the tomato plants. So, having checked the weather yesterday afternoon, I harvested what looked good (I'm glad I visited my back-door neighbor and harvested some basil; some of which is sitting in a vase, some of which got tied to a clothes hanger and is drying). So, the plants went today. Time to rake leaves, compost, and wait for the seed catalogues, and perhaps to put the gardening books on the bedside. It was a long summer, in terms of days, but a short one for us in what was probably one of the coolest summers in recorded history. Accompany what with very little rain (once a month, and several inches when it did finally rain) did not make for a very happy garden. Edited to add: I'm going to miss my dirt manicure, as I do miss early daylight. (HOST'S NOTE: Because of the popularity of gardening here, and the growing size of this single topic, we've switched to a yearly gardening topic. 2010 can be found here.)

Actually, it's not that messed up. I have a friend whose family owns an apple orchard. U Pick 'Em comes with a couple of problems most of us don't think about. 1. Liability insurance! 2. Waste. If you pick your own, and decide, after taking a bite, you don't like the apple, it's on the ground which is a huge problem at the end of apple season. Don't like the look of the apple? It is a second? It is on the ground. An employee (usually a high school or college age relative) is (probably paid under the table) and sorts them as picked as firsts or seconds. 3. Damage to trees. They are not for climbing on. 4. Got to provide a toilet. Your employees at a regular orchard are probably your relatives and you can just let them use your toilet. U Pick Em places are largely entertainment farms. There is more to it than meets the eye!

Steven: Stupid question. Do you have more than one bento box? Can you run them through the dishwasher? If Young Master Peter doesn't eat all of his lunch/snack, I assume that what he didn't eat comes home (from reports at the top of the page). Do you prep the night before or the morning of? And, does anyone have any idea for a bento box for an almost 14-year old Older Master Peter? The one that Chris referenced is too big. It can't look dorky.

Tofu, well, you can freeze it, but it won't be the same. I wouldn't ever freeze tofu again (been there, done that). It gets very "curdy." Why not freeze the Ma Po and add the tofu when you reheat it?

The first thing I think of when I think anything pork shoulder related is Carnitas!

I take them out to the garden to snip basil, chives, etc. (season permitting!). Oh, yes and to everything everyone else has said. I also love that screwdriver thingie at the bottom of the handle. Tightens loose knob screws, and does a mighty fine job of prying the lid of of a can of Lyle's. I'm lost without my kitchen shears. (They also make a great gift.)

If they are going to shut down Gourmet, they'd better remove this from their website. Note, the link will probably only work for as long as it takes someone to figure out it is still up!

At our former house, we had an idea set-up, which we have been unable to replicate here because our yard is so shady. We had three chicken wire rounds (we didn't bother with a wood frame) -- one for new stuff, which would get turned into the second bin, and finally into the third bin, by which point it was ready to use. One year, I planted some morning glories around the base of one of them, and they self-seeded every year after that! We included all manners of kitchen vegetable scraps (except corn cobs -- they just take too long to compost), egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. Although we never bag lawn clippings, our next door neighbor did, and added that to the pile. I did not compost tomato plants (disease prone) and if I was including brussels sprouts stems, I made sure to cut them up first. Any extra potting soil (from annuals planted in pots) was added to the compost, and if it was extremely dry, we made sure to water it.

When I've had an exceptional restaurant experience, I make a note of the names of everyone involved and send a handwritten note to the GM after the meal. One that mentions everyone involved and can be posted. Praise is a good thing. (Note: exceptional experiences are also accompanied by an exceptional tip.)

If you could get him interested in cooking, I'm sure it would be a big help to your sister, too, and perhaps a boost for him! If his mom is too tired to shop, times have probably been tough for him, too. One of the things I did when I worked outside the home was to keep a list of 10 dishes that were fast and easy that everyone liked. I kept the list on the fridge, and every time I grocery shopped was to make sure that I had all of the ingredients on hand for at least five of these dishes. I also learned to double the recipes for those that would freeze well. And, for folks who don't like to cook, or are health or ability challenged, things like frozen or fridge pizza dough, pre-cut broccoli, pre-mined garlic, frozen chopped onions, etc. can make a difference between eating fast food or eating something healthier. Those frozen steam them vegetables are pretty good and easy to do (and because there is air in the package, they don't get all crumbled up. There is definitely a time and place for convenience.

In terms of freezer foods, you might find this topic helpful. (I also posted in this topic about quick and easy things to fix because after I had my babies, I could never remember to pull something out of the freezer!) You mention that your sister hates to grocery shop. There are two supermarket chains in the Twin Cities who deliver groceries. Is something like that available in your sister's city/town?

Chris, I think those shrimp fritters look wonderful -- to me, they don't look malformed, they just look like they have nice meaty parts and lovely crispy bits. Not to digress, but your Thai basil looks beautiful. The stuff I grow here has such tiny leaves. What variety are you growing? What's your secret?

I use it in rubs all of the time. One summer, I took some up to the cabin. For dinner, we scrounged (we stayed later than we thought), and pasta with ragu (using leftover meat) was on the menu. We had a baguette (not a crusty one) and the kids wanted garlic bread. We had butter, and garlic granules. Mixed them up, spread on the split loaf, added some salt, and voila! It was great. I'd never think of not stocking them up at the cabin. The nearest market is 30 long miles, one way (long because most of it is a gravel logging road).

I usually buy eggs at Costco (cheaper, and Costco is only 1/4 mile further than my local supermarket) -- they only carry extra-large. Very high turnover. If I buy eggs at the supermarket, I get large because they are fresher and at a better price point. Oh, and when my grandmother raised chickens for eggs, there was a size range.

Number one on the list is leftover Thai curry over rice (nuked ). Number two would be cold cereal with milk. I drink the leftover milk, since we can't have cats (allergies).

Wonder how they'd work as a quick-pickled veg?