Ladybug

Actually, I never refrigerate maple syrup - and it never molds, granulates, or turns. I should mention that I usually go through a bottle (about 12 oz) every two weeks and I'm very careful that I never touch the inside of the lid or the rim of the bottle. My mother, on the other hand, can't seem to keep her syrup from getting moldy unless she keeps hers in the fridge. However, she has a teenage son who regularly gets his mitts into it . . . and I suspect that's the difference.

You could warm the milk first, then froth it . . . just a thought. I have a cheap "frother" which is basically a glass beaker with a frother attachment on the top. It looks something like a french press. You push the little screen/frother attachment up and down quickly and it "froths" the milk. It's very cheesy - but it does froth milk. I warm the milk first because cold froth on hot beverages seems wrong. My kids like to drink steamers and I mostly use it for that.

Oxo has a great garlic press and it's cheap - about ten bucks. When I use a garlic press, I use this one. (Sometimes I chop by hand.) It has an ingenious cleaning thingie on it with no separate pieces to keep track of. I am not convinced that hand chopping is better than using a garlic press - so I just use whatever is most convenient at the time.

I like the fudge mint covered Oreos. I like them at room temperature. I chew off all the fudgy mint coating first. Then I pry off the top cookie and eat it. Next, I lick the cream off and finally, eat the remaining cookie. I like making my junk food LAST! Of course, I can't manage to eat like that in public. It's too embarrassing. In public, I'd rather not eat the Oreo. I have specific ways I like to eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups too - and Kit Kats - and Almond Joys - and just about any other treat too.

About 50.

When I was pregnant with my first, I craved North Carolina BBQ and Chili Cheese flavored Fritos . . . and I couldn't get either in Turkey. My friends tried to approximate it for me by making me Sloppy Joes. It wasn't the same, but I felt all warm and fuzzy because they tried so hard!

I wouldn't recommend using a food processor or mixer - blending for just a split second too long can ruin a pie crust. It's much harder to miss the cue to stop mixing when you're mixing by hand. It's entirely POSSIBLE to use a food processor - but I've tried it many times and only on one occasion can I honestly say my pie crust turned out well when using the food processor.

Try Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible. Her instructions may seem a bit too detailed, to the point of being anal, but if you follow them to the letter, you're guaranteed a perfect pie crust. I love this book. I love all of Beranbaum's books. She's quite simply meticulous. I admire that.

I can't read about Kool-Aid without recording my Kool-Aid Coupon Triumph of the Decade. Woo woo! I personally don't drink Kool-Aid and don't approve of it. I might make it for my kids a couple times a year because THEY like it - but I teach Sunday School and all those sweet little yammers love the vile stuff. Anyway, I found Kool-Aid (only the pink lemonade flavor) for 10 cents a pack, but at the end of the aisle were coupons for $1 off the purchase of 10 packs. My lightning-fast mathematical brain figured out that meant the Kool-Aid was free. I "bought" about 6 boxes of the stuff - I think that's about 450 packs of Kool-Aid. I gave a lot away and I STILL have Kool-Aid, two years later. The kids at Sunday School are sick of pink lemonade flavored Kool-Aid, but I just drop in a bit of food coloring to make it (ACK!) blue and they swear it tastes better.

I made Larb for the first time last week - and I've got to say, I just can't get past that fish sauce. I only used a couple of tablespoons and the stench of it nearly knocked me off my feet. I thought I had just ruined dinner. Fortunately, the fish sauce blended in/cooked out somewhat, so the dish was edible - but I won't be making anything again with fish sauce. I could taste fish sauce all evening. Gah!

The only reason I can think of for attempting such a thing is to prevent the potatoes from absorbing any water as they cook. Hmmmmm. Might be an interesting experiment with the right sort of plastic, but I'd add the cream afterwards.

I tried some Steak and Onion "flavoured" chips once. I enjoyed them very much. I rarely buy chips, though, because it's just too easy to eat a whole bag. Actually, I never eat a whole bag - I lick the powder off of each chip and throw the soggy remains out. Once, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaars ago, I bought a bag of Doritos for a night at home and licked every chip while watching a video. My husband came in later and grabbed the bag of chips (licked chips) and ate about 10 of them before he said, "Hey. What's wrong with these?" Feel free to assume that he is no "supertaster." Hee hee! Oh, and I really didn't notice he was eating them until he asked that question. He's never believed that, but it's true.

Clearly, this is all a matter of opinion. I bought some Herdez salsa after reading here how great it was. I didn't think it was that great. My favorite, as of now, is Ro Tel Pico de Gallo Salsa. It's ingredient list isn't as pristine as Herdez's salsa, but I think it tastes better. Why? I like recognizable chunks of vegetables in my salsa - the bigger the better. The Ro Tel brand had more chunks. Also, the Herdez stuff came in a can and I can detect a metallic flavor in their salsa that must come from being tinned. Ro Tel's stuff is in a glass jar. I make salsa that is far, far better than jarred/tinned salsa. But I'm also a sucker for convenience. Oh, and hey! I like to hear specifics too!

Not preheating the oven.

Jaymes, are enchiladas ever made with flour tortillas?

Stellabella, actually the girl who won first prize for her dirt cake is the pastor's daughter-in-law. But I really don't think that had anything to do with it! The pastor didn't vote. But I think a couple of family members did . . . Hey! You're making me feel better! I never thought of that! Nepotism sounds a lot better than my dessert being unappreciated. Either way, I still got a kick in the pants when I probably needed it most. Now I humbly present my desserts.

Well, I know my pie was not the problem. One of the judges of the contest was a general's aide and award winning Army chef. The other four judges were all Shake and Bake sort of people. The army chef told me afterwards that HE had voted for my pie, but there were 5 judges - and the rest all rated my pie second. It obviously could not have been horrid or I wouldn't have won second place. It was a small consolation. I wondered if perhaps I should have made a chocolate dessert? Perhaps that is more universallly appealing? Well, it's a moot point now, and I really can't hold any grudges.

My mother was fond of making 1)tuna noodle casserole with raw diced onions stirred in 2)slimy okra (like booger soup) 3)fried bologna 4)fried onions 5)mashed turnips 6)fried salmon balls (NOT what you're thinking!) 7)lasagna with cottage cheese She used convenience foods at times - boxed macaroni and cheese, boxed cake mixes and pudding mixes, etc. She went through a phase where she thought my brother and I needed nutrition so she force-fed us Brewer's yeast. Groan!! She did, and still does, make wonderful cookies, fudge, and biscuits. I miss her cooking - well, some of it.

Elizabeth11, is that the chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cook's Illustrated?

Last spring, our church had a "Spring Fling" with all sorts of games, entertainment, and even a baking contest. I entered the baking contest and (blush, blush) figured I'd win because I'd seen what most people brought to potlucks at church. I brought a beautiful Key Lime Pie, completely from scratch (of course!) topped with billowy clouds of lightly sweetened whipped cream piped into sweet little rosettes, etc. I spent some serious TIME on this pie. I wanted to bring something "worthy." Well! Guess what won first place? My lovely homemade-never-been-near-a-box pie? NO! First place went to a newlywed who made . . . dirt cake! Yes - it was made with boxed mix, boxed pudding and Cool Whip and festooned with gummy worms. It even came in a luvly luvly disposable foil pan. ACK! I did win second place. I slunk away, feeling that I'd probably gotten what I'd deserved. My dessert was superior, but perhaps I'd needed that swift kick in the pants to remind me that I was not hot snot on a silver platter - just a cold booger on a toothpick. Ha! I think I've learned not to be so snooty about having higher food standards, but I haven't yet been able to wrap my brain around the concept of making food to fit the audience. The last potluck we had at church, I made a wonderful recipe I'd recently discovered - Spicy Sichuan Noodles - and had to take 75 percent of it home with me. The people who brought KFC didn't even have a single crumb left in the bottom of their bucket of chicken. The best thing about this whole story is that I feel I've evolved from feeling superior because my food was better to feeling ignorant about what most people really like to eat. Now I'm on the lookout for recipes I can bring to potlucks (that people will actually EAT) without succumbing to StoveTop stuffing and Campbell's soup recipes. I still do have SOME standards. A short disclaimer lest I still sound uppity: Compared to y'all, what I know about cooking wouldn't fill a gnat's ear. Anybody else have a funny story?

Sfroth: Actually, you CAN put Revere Ware in the oven. I've had my set of Revere Ware for almost 12 years now and have popped it into the oven whenever necessary with no ill effects. It's just hard to remember to USE A POTHOLDER when getting it out! Those lovely cool handles don't stay cool in the oven. I guess old habits die hard. I'm wondering why people buy pans that you have to use a potholder for all the time. It's an irritating extra thing to do, in my opinion. Maybe the pans/pots are otherwise so good, people are willing to put up with a bit of inconvenience? Not I, said the fly.