kayb

Welcome! Will be looking forward to your posts. Tell us what you like to cook, and how you're using that marvelous cheese that you can get everywhere up there!

I'm with you, Shelby, and with Suzi, Heidi, et. al. I have no patience with trophy hunters. But game and fish comprised a good part of our diet while I was growing up, and I've seen Daddy pass up many a shot at a doe with a late fawn who might have been still nursing. We respected and cared for the animals we raised, and we respected and appreciated the fish, animals and birds we hunted. We also respected the land we farmed, and what it produced; I grew up feeling it was almost a sin to waste food. Not to get theological on everybody, but there's a school of thought that holds that God created everything and is part of everything, and that by honoring his creation, we are honoring God. Wasting it would be dishonoring God. I can go with that.

Yes, I'll freeze the baked goods; the candy will be fine, though I may stick it in the storage room fridge just to keep myself out of it. First, though, the Calvados. I really think it calls for that.

Yesterday, I made four applesauce cakes, and four dozen cheese wafers with bacon jam. The applesauce cakes are @Arey's recipe. I cut one today for quality control purposes; these things are good. Very moist, "cakier" than a typical fruitcake, with a lower ratio of candied fruit. I will tweak the recipe just a tad when I make four more; they want some salt, and some ginger and nutmeg along with the cinnamon would not go amiss. I may also make an excursion to the liquor store and get some Calvados to mist them with. They'll be a nice addition to the Christmas treat collections. Applesauce cake for breakfast? Yes, I think so! The cheese wafers are a savory shortbread cookie with lots of cheese, in this case extra sharp cheddar. I used the pestle from my mortar to flatten the cookies inside my smallest biscuit cutter, and make little "divots" in the center, where I put bacon jam. Except on the last dozen, because I ran through my half-pint of bacon jam I'd opened, and rummaging about the fridge, found some sweet onion marmelade. I'm going to make some more with blue cheese and put fig jam in the centers. The wafers are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and about 1/4 inch thick. Here is the "mixed" pan, filled and baked. Today will be cookies -- M&M dream bars, molasses spice cookies, maybe coconut macaroons, maybe chocolate stovetop cookies, maybe meringues, and the additional applesauce cakes. Then there'll be a candy day -- fudge, pralines, toffee -- next week, and somewhere in there, I'll make Chex mix. And the treat basket fillings will be completed, early!

And I will quote a dear friend: "The South imparts a graciousness to living that is absent elsewhere."

I didn't double, but I did use, well, a bit more than the cup called for. Because with nuts, like cheese, more is always better, yes?

Damn you. I do not NEED another cookbook. But I have one. 700 Jacques Pepin recipes? Who could resist?

May God give her comfort. I was always fond of her posts. I hate to hear this.

May well have. Didn't check in with me.

When I was a kid, we raised Herefords. They tended to dress out less than Angus of a comparable age (we generally killed steers as yearlings), but we thought the taste superior to Angus. And then we crossed Hereford and shorthorns and got some good beef, too. I had boss who, in a previous life, had been a west Texas cattle rancher. They raised a Charolais-longhorn cross. He swore by them. I think he just liked to show off how well he could rope.

I would note the No. 27 paella pan works not only quite well for paella for two (or one with a big appetite), but also works quite well for a deep dish pizza for two. I am astounded at how much easier the DARTO seasons than did my Lodge carbon steel pans, and they allegedly already had some seasoning. Born and bred Tennessee Vol that I am, I have to confess the Argentinians have my folks from South Pittsburg whipped in that category.

I sure hope they turn out well. Nos. 3 and 4 just went in the oven. I'm going to have to cut one for quality control tomorrow. Should have made a small one for that purpose, but I wasn't thinking, and made them in my 8 x 3 1/2 pans. They fill two of those perfectly, and take 90 minutes to bake. They certainly look nice on the exterior.

That glass wall is glorious! I would have a comfy armchair right in front of it, with a table for my book and my coffee. I might never leave the kitchen.

Excellent. Thank you.

I have just put two of @Arey's applesauce cakes in the oven. If these don't turn out better for me than did the white fruitcakes of a few years back, I'm done making fruitcake! However, if a taste-test of the batter is any indication, they should be excellent. Arey, I do not recall, and I did not copy the entire post with the recipe, just ingredients and instructions. Do you mist or drizzle yours with any sort of alcohol after baking? And do they need to be refrigerated/frozen, or will they keep, like most fruitcakes, nearly indefinitely in a tin?

Particularly seeing that the local pecans, I paid $7 for a quart zip-lock that holds a bit more than a pound. And they're big, pretty things; obviously the papershell variety. I miss having a pecan orchard where I can pick up my own. Used to do so in the parking lot of my office in Marion.

@Smithy....I have drawn a complete blank....what was the big yellow kitty's name?

Hush yo' mouf.

Have received my first cooking-oriented gift of the season -- two pounds of shelled pecan halves. A client has sent these annually for at least 15 years, and they are always appreciated, as my Christmas cooking and baking are fairly pecan-centric. The same day they arrived, I had purchased six pounds of fresh, shelled local pecans. I will have plenty for treats, baking, and to go in the freezer for all next year!

Glad to hear he is recovering. I feel certain several loaves of fresh bread will help immensely! In all seriousness, so glad you took him to ER and that medical intervention was so prompt! Best wishes for continued, and speedy, recovery.

I use mine for all my dairy products -- about 75cents a pound cheaper on butter, a buck a quart cheaper on half-and-half, 50 cents a half gallon less on whole milk. I buy flour and sugar there, consistently cheaper than Kroger. Mass-Market bar cheese is about 60-70 cents an eight-ounce bar less, and they have a small variety of "specialty" cheeses. I've been very pleased with all their sausages and cured meats. Oh, and I buy my frozen OJ concentrate there; 50 or 60 cents a can cheaper. Canned veggies about the same, and smaller selection. Vegetable oil and shortening cheaper. I like their Millwood brand cereals; they do a good raisin bran and good Cheerios.

You tagged me for six bucks on that one.

And I spit a mouthful of red wine all over the screen. Good 'un.

Meringue cookies.

Huh. Just looked at Breaking Breads, and it's back up to $9.99. I'm a US Prime member. Oh, well, didn't really need another bread book.