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I was given three pieces of chocolate by my neighbor, who stopped in Mexico (don't know where) on a cruise. I happen to work where there are a significant number of Hispanics working, quite a few of them from Mexico. I asked three of them about this chocolate, and none of them could help me, though one said he'd ask his wife. I shaved a bit off the end of one of these and tasted it. It was unsweetened. My neighbor says it's for hot chocolate, but had no idea how to use it. Has anyone ever seen such a critter?

It was a year ago, last month, but that's ok. Thanks for the info and the link to your blog post. I'll have to read it later. The spill prevention idea is a good one, and one I'll have to adopt because I'm a big klutz. I agree that the newer stuff seems to scratch more easily. I have been picking up old(er) Pyrex at thrift stores and yard sales, but sometimes it's hard to determine what's "old enough." I've pretty much narrowed down that if it has the all-smalls "pyrex" on it, it's not old enough. But some of the all-caps PYREX might not be, either. I wish shipping from Europe was cheaper. <sigh> ETA: Do you happen to have a list of the marks and what years they were used somewhere on your blog?

Well, Dave, I'm glad you saw this thread. I REALLY like my board. My SO is a tool and die maker, and he always says "cheap ain't good and good ain't cheap" and is a fan of having the right tools to do the job. Well, this board is certainly well worth the cost, and I think it's going to be a wonderful tool that I can pass on down the generations. Thank you for the excellent board. And it's pretty, too!

I got my beautiful new BoardSMITH board yesterday. It's awesome. 18" x 24" maple. Smooth as a baby's butt. I've used it, and nary a mark on it, so far. This might even prompt me to keep my counter cleaned off, which would be quite a feat! It's got feet, and frankly, I'm glad. That way, I can lift it up if I need to move it, without having to dig my fingers under it. Tracy

I'm giving homemade vanilla extract that I started last year, but there's not a lot of it, so I'll have to supplement with something else. Haven't figured out what, just yet, though.

I don't know. I like mine, but then I bought them about 15-20 years ago (my how time flies). My only regret was that I didn't get a longer chef's knife. I wish mine was about 2-3 inches longer.

Maybe that was part of my problem. I haven't read the smoking thread (but I will, now) and the smoker instructions didn't say anything about pre-heating the thing, but DUH, I should have guessed.

I smoked one (19.75 lbs before I took out the giblets) that was pre-basted, so I didn't brine it. I put it on around 4:30, and it hit 160 right around 8:30. It did not carry over, though, so I stuck it in the oven until it hit 165. At that, it still had what looked like raw breast and leg meat and pink juices. And I'm not talking about just pink meat, but raw-looking meat. Not the same things. I've oven-roasted birds to 160 and let them carry over to 165 before, so I'm not sure what I did wrong. I stuck the bird back in the oven at low heat for a while just to be on the safe side. Also, next time, I need to use more chips. The bird was only slightly smoky. :-( It was only for me and my partner, so not a big deal, and all in all, not bad for a first time smoking anything, but it looks like I need to do a lot more to get used to this. Aw shucky-darn.

I've gotten a number of good things over the years from thrift shops, yard/garage sales, and from Freecycle. To name just a few, I got a Kitchen Aid K45 made by Hobart from someone on Freecycle. I spent about $50 on getting it tuned up, and bought a whisk for it. I got a pouring shield, NIB, from a yard sale for it. Don't remember how much that was. I got a full set of stamped knives with a block for $5 a number of years ago. The chef's knife is pretty long, and I use it more than my Henckels chef, which is a couple of inches shorter than it. I got a 27" square, one-inch thick slab of granite for $5 a couple of years ago. It currently sits on the kitchen table and is AWESOME for pastry. I also got two marble-topped end tables for the marble before that for $5 for the set. They currently house my indoors-for-the-winter bay laurels and aloes and other succulents, although I originally intended to use them for what I'm using the huge slab for. I scored a West Bend breadmaker like the one I own for my neighbor from a thrift shop. $3.00 for that. I've gotten a thick copper bowl (10" diameter), a set of two nesting copper bowls (7" and 8" diameters), and a flat-bottomed copper bowl over the years from thrifts or yard sales, but I don't remember how much I paid for them. Not more than $3 for either the single pieces or the set, I'm sure. I also got a thick copper-I-think stock-pot-shaped pot for $20 at a rummage sale. I have yet to clean it up or figure out what I want to do with it. I got two dough bowls for $1 each a couple of years ago, and although some idiot painted them, I am working on sanding the paint off so I can use them. I got 3-4 dozen old Mason jars at a yard sale this year for $5 for the lot. Some have cracks or chips, but will still be good for dry goods storage. My dad gave me a set of wooden salad bowls and the large bowl that goes with it. I'm not sure what wood they're made out of, but I LOVE them. He also gave me the rice bowls and chopsticks that he got for my grandparents when he was in Japan in the 60's. My grandparents gave me a bunch of cast iron before they died, including a huge Vollrath skillet, an aebelskiver pan and a chicken fryer that they'd had since my dad was small. They also gave me a bunch of linen calendar towels, which I haven't used, but are so neat, and some china, which sits packed away, at the moment. We have a store called Cargo Largo, here, that sells salvage. I got a bunch of CrushGrind pepper mills, the type with the glass reservoir and the grinder on top, for $3 each. I gave several away, and kept the rest for salt, pepper, and spices, as well as for insurance, in case any of the ones in use get destroyed. I also got a new Presto pressure canner for less than $40. I've gotten a number of other things, over the years, including all my linen napkins, tablecloths, and towels, at thrift stores and yard sales, but my all-time favorite find was a British Berkefeld Big Berkey at a Goodwill store, with four 9" filters, for $3.00. But recently, I got a Pampered Chef apple peeler, corer, slicer from a thrift shop for $5, a Pampered Chef stoneware loaf pan that looks like it's never been used for $3.50, and a Catskill Craftsmen pastry board, similarly unused, for $5. I also got a neat little wooden spoon for fifty cents. I've no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it's very smooth, and while the bowl is very thick, it holds a tablespoon.

cteavin, I don't think it will hurt you to keep the lid off, or on, as you choose. As for your second question, I've been in the habit, in the last few years, of using just the bones, skin and incidental meat of whatever animal I'm using (chicken, turkey, pork or beef), and NOT adding vegetables. I've also made stock from bones only (well, as much as I could, by not using meaty bones), and while that doesn't have much flavor, it does have a lot of body. It's more neutral, which makes it useful for a wider variety of things. Experiment! See what you like.

Andie, that sounds cool. I'll have to try that, even though I'm not much for Bloody Marys. Kouign Aman, I'm thinking coffee or ice cream, but I'm not too sure, yet.

Well, I tried some of the vanilla that I started around this time last year in a little milk. I also mixed some Kirkland brand I still have and compared. It all smells good. The Tahitian/Madagascan blend in a blend of rums is not as spectacular as I would have hoped, but it's good. The completely Madagascan stuff rivals the Kirkland. It was done with vodka. I also had started some cinnamon (actually cassia) extract and cocoa nib extracts last year. 8 oz of vodka to 3 6" sticks of cassia and so many cocoa nibs to one of those little single-serving-size bottles of vodka. The cinnamon tastes a bit of red hots, but not entirely. It's got some complexity to it. I haven't tasted the cocoa nib, yet. I also started new extracts tonight, mostly following Andie's Everclear method. I started an all-Madagascan (5 7" beans), an all-Tahitian (7 5" beans), and a combination of the two (can't remember the ratio, although it's written on the jar lid). I cut the beans into 1/8" pieces with kitchen shears and covered them with 1/4 c. 190-proof Everclear in a 1-quart Mason jar. I started some anise extract in a pint jar with 1/4 each anise seeds and 190-proof Everclear, and did the same with cocoa nibs in another pint jar. I started some Ceylon cinnamon extract in a quart jar (4 sticks in vodka), cassia in a quart jar (4 sticks in vodka), and a combination of 2 sticks of Ceylon combined with the 3 sticks of cassia that came out of the cinnamon extract I tasted tonight. In a week or so, I'll top the vanillas, anise and cocoa nib jars with vodka, then just leave them in the back of the pantry to make themselves. I plan on giving my SO's sisters 2-oz. bottles of the vanillas for Christmas, this year. I'll then top those bottles off with some more vodka, even the one started with rum. I'm evilly thinking of peppercorns, tien tsin peppers, and would like other ideas, if anyone has them. I realize this is not on the track of vanilla extract, but as they say (don't they?) homemade vanilla extract is the gateway drug of homemade extracts...

Yeah, that's one, and then they also have strips with thiourea, which is bitter, and sodium benzoate, which can taste any number of different ways, depending on who you are. I'm going to order a vial of each of these strips from Amazon and test both me and my SO. I'm also going to mix up some liquids to taste (from some experiment I found online, can't remember the link): 1/2 tsp vinegar in 2 tbsp water 1/2 tsp sugar in 2 tbsp water 1/8 tsp table salt in 2 tbsp water to see what we taste. Should be an interesting experiment. I plan to subject all his family and mine to the same "torture" test, to see what everyone tastes, and 'cause I'm evil.

Lilija, thank you! janeer, I think they're both sour, but with the caveat that the white part of limes can be bitter, too, IMO.

Oh, thank you, Andie!

Hope this doesn't derail this topic excessively, but I'm wondering how you all store your reduced vinegars, if you don't use them immediately. I reduced some balsamic vinegar, and I don't know whether it should be stored in the fridge, or whether pantry storage at room temperature will suffice. I know room temp is ok for unreduced vinegar, but...

Ooh, now THAT appeals to my engineer-nature! Numerical scores are awesome. I also found some test strips on Amazon that can be used to see what people can taste, as far as bitter tastes are concerned.

Hmm. Interesting. I think I'll try that experiment I talked about above on both of us and see if he's a non-taster. I thought he might be a super-taster, since some things I love, he absolutely despises and thinks are "bitter." I'll have to do some research on non-tasters. Thanks!

Tonic water, not club soda. Ah, right, club soda didn't quite sound right. Thanks!

Hmmm. Looks like I'll just have to minimize sour things, for him, and see if I still get the "bitter" complaints. I really wish I could get him to be more helpfully descriptive, but he loses patience with it. He tells me our "body chemistry" is different, thus we taste differently. I guess, in a way, he's right. I'm not sure that he can't taste bitter at all, but that it's a confusion. Maybe I'll get some club soda (that's the stuff with quinine, isn't it?) and citric acid, and do a taste test on us both. That way, maybe I can understand better what things taste like to him and maybe give him a reference to use to explain how things taste to him when they don't taste good to him.

My SO continually confuses bitter with sour. In other words, when he says something tastes bitter, and I taste NO hint of bitter, I will often dig for more info. Invariably, he says that it tastes like some food item that is typically sour. For instance, he tasted some cheese, last night, that I thought he might like, but he turned up his nose, saying it was bitter. I probed, and he said it tasted like there was buttermilk in it. Now, this cheese does have a sour tang to it, but not overly so. He also thinks that whole wheat pasta or whole wheat bread tastes bitter, even when it doesn't taste sour to me. Has anyone else ever run into someone who mistakenly calls sour tastes bitter, or confuses tastes in other ways than that? It's terribly frustrating to me to have him misidentify tastes, because then I don't minimize or eliminate the REAL problem, and am mislead to eliminate other things that might not actually be offensive to him. Tracy

Beau, If you can find a can cooler (huggie, whatever you want to call it) made out of neoprene, you can probably make it fit the bottle with judicious use of a pair of scissors and some Shoe Goo. I use two, stacked, on my Klean Kanteens to help protect them from dents. I imagine that it would also protect the glass loads better than duct tape.

Me, too. I generally eat breakfast at work, but by that time, I've been up for at least an hour. I admit that part of my problem is that I'm just not organized enough in the warmer months to eat breakfast at home (which for me would be cold cereal), but at least in the colder months, I make oatmeal for myself and my partner every morning, whether he likes it or not.

I've got about 14 Roma plants started, and some Rutgers Select tomatoes. I've also started some hybrid jalapenos, just because I had the seeds, even though I don't like planting hybrids. I was too late starting my onions, so I'll be buying those as plants. I'd like to start some broccoli, too. I still have yet to plan the layout. I have 6 3x3 boxes and 6 3x2 boxes. I'm planning on 6 more 3x3 boxes. I trellis any climbers or indeterminate tomatoes. I have a permanent bed dedicated to herbs: Munstead and Provence lavenders, oregano, Minus, creeping white and common thyme, sage, and garlic. I also have a Roman chamomile in there, but I'm going to move him. He likes to lay all over everyone else, so I'm going to plant him out by the back property line where he can do as he pleases. I've also got some potted herbs: stevia, regular and prostrate rosemary, catnip, apple mint, spearmint, chocolate mint, peppermint, lemon balm, chives and garlic chives. The chives have come back, but not the garlic chives, and I'm not sure the mints survived the winter out on the deck. The stevia and rosemaries came inside over the winter.

I fix that problem as a host by being the first one to use my lovely linen napkins for something messy, so the guests don't feel guilty. (edited to fix issue with not having quoted what I wanted to quote )