TeakettleSlim

Somewhere between 4-6.

I like the lemons in the pot! Hattiali gbop Assam for me today. It's always one Assam or another in the morning unless something has gone horribly wrong.

We got 3 kinds of brats from the butcher: packer brats (with cheddar and sauerkraut inside), green chile cheddar brats, and portabella jack. And we'll be making buffalo chicken dip, sweet potato fries, and possibly deviled eggs. Just 3 1/2 of us, so nothing too ambitious. I don't even care about the game, but I've been looking forward to the chicken dip for months now.

Thank you, Andie! I thought it sounded like it should be doable, just wasn't sure of the particulars.

The meyer lemon tree in my backyard is laden with fruit...around 40 of them. Was really looking forward to having my way with them over the next few weeks. But there was a hard freeze, and my marmalade dreams are fading. What do you think, can I stick them in the freezer whole and thaw/ prep for marmalade later?

Saving the Season had a recipe for an all-bergamot marmalade recently. A lot of water is used to keep the flavor under control. http://www.savingtheseason.com/journal/bergamot-marmalade.html

Made a buche de Noel this year-- only my aecond time, and I encountered a problem I don't remember from last time I made it. Perhaps it was my filling (orange white chocolate cream cheese frosting)-- too soft? But I got that sucker rolled up and then had a bit of a crisis trying to get it in rolled-up form from parchment to serving tray where I was going to finish decorating it. I tried to slide it-- no go. then tried to roll it on over-- no. It sort of unrolled, filling came squishing out, and the roll transformed into a sort of inelegant fold. I managed to pull it all together, it ended up looking more like a half-decomposed log covered in snow. But it was reasonably delicious so no one minded. But for next time-- how do you get it transferred from one surface to another? Was it just my icing that messed me up?

Curls, the peppery gingerbread is excellent. Wonderful flavor, they cut out nicely and keep well. But yes, the garam masala ones were the favorites in the end. Such a nice chew, and the spice complemented the frosting so well. Not as pretty, but addictive. Here's the recipe for those-- I just subbed 1 Tbs garam masala for the spices : http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/soft-gingersnaps-with-white-chocolate-cream-cheese-frosting/

I got a Thermapen! Plus the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and various cookie cutters.

Sorry if that photo was larger than necessary. I've not got too much experience with uploads here yet.

Finally, here's the pic of the peppery gingerbread, since emmalish expressed an interest. Not a great picture (goofy background, but it was better than the brown table), but you get the idea. I used the Williams-Sonoma cutters that press a design into the dough. The garam masala gingersnaps with white chocolate cream cheese icing were not as pretty, but delicious enough that they were devoured and will be going into a second production run today or tomorrow. Also did some peppermint mocha shortbreads.

So far I've made peppermint chocolate crinkle cookies (from Vanilla Garlic blog), cranberry and white chocolate biscotti (from Gourmet). I've got a batch of peppery bourbon gingersnap dough chilling in the fridge (recipe from Food52). I'll try to post pics of those when I finally make them-- so pretty once the glaze is on. Also plan to make some "nut gems"-- a family recipe sort of like shortbread, sort of like wedding cookies. My favorite. Considering more biscotti, and the advisability of making soft ginger snaps but with garam masala spice.

After living here for a year now and not really having much new to contribute to this list, finally I can add a recent discovery of ours: The Sausage Shop Meat Market. It's a deli counter with a couple of picnic tables outside, very no-frills, but fantastic, well-priced sandwiches. The real reason to go, though, is the sausages. I don't think I've ever seen so many kinds of freshly made sausage in one place before. Most are raw, so would be a problem for visitors to try, but there are some portable smoked beef sticks that would make a nice road snack. It's worth popping in to just stand there and gawk at the case.

Thank you, Heidi! I had searched, but not hard enough, it would seem.

Okay, I'm about to try it! Was looking at my pressure canner manual, though, and for chicken stock it advises a mere 10 minutes at 15 lbs pressure. &roid reports having cooked it 2 hours. I sense a disparity here. Any further guidelines on how long I should pressurecook it? I could always open it up after it cooks 10 minutes and see wht I've got, but the cool down time with the huge cooker is not insignificant.

Thank you, &roid! I have a chicken carcass sitting in my fridge right now that really needs something done with it. Had previously seen references to the pressure cooker method, but no details. My pressure cooker is a gigantic canning cooker, though (I used to make batches of stock to can, but in the current house I haven't got anywhere to store the jars, so that project is on hold). Wonder if covering the carcass with water would lead to there being too much water? About how much water would you say you use? I suppose I could break up the carcass a bit so it won't stick up out of the water too much. Hmm.

Having recently moved to Arizona, I have a newfound appreciation for green chiles. I totally understand wanting to find a way to share them with the uninitiated. I've been trying to figure out how to get some frozen chiles to friends in Tennessee. However, I would strongly advise against canning a restaurant product, or even your own recipe if it hasn't been developed and tested specifically for safe canning. Chiles are low acid, which becomes a botulism risk in an airless environment like a canning jar. Usually such stews are thick, too, which prevents thorough heat penetration during canning. You'd really have to pressure can the bejesus out of it to get it anywhere in the vicinity of safe, and even then, there would be no way to guarantee it. Please visit the University of Georgia site for a guide to safe canning: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/ The Harvest forum over at gardenweb also has a lot of helpful, canning-wise folks on it, too, and perhaps one of them might have a safe recipe you could make to share the chile joy. Or at least they could explain a lot more specifically than I have what the issues are with canning a product like prepared chili. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/harvest

Listed in order of increasing desperation/laziness: 1. Chocolate pudding. The kind with just milk, cornstarch, chocolate, a little sugar, vanilla. I don't wait for it to cool. 2. The thing where you toss raspberries (usually frozen) with sour cream, top with brown sugar, and run it under the broiler. I think I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. 3. Dried apricot + square of chocolate. Shove the chocolate into the apricot. Eat. Repeat.

Well, this is a simple one, but we used to get vanilla coke at the drug store soda fountain-- I don't know how much vanilla they added, but it was much better than the manufactured Vanilla Coke. Also chocolate coke, as described by Jaymes.

You can use it to candy flowers (mix with water). Like egg white, but without the salmonella risk. I did some pansies this way once-- the flowers can dry and hold their shape very nicely. They lasted a long while.

I have a 1.5 year-old, too, who so far enjoys many varied foods and who I'd just as soon keep on that track as much as possible. I understand why they need to offer certain bland items for the many picky eaters out there, but why not ALSO offer a couple of healthy, child-sized versions of some adult mains? After all, they already have everything on hand for those. The kids' menu mac and cheese in particular makes me weep-- it isn't hard to whip up and freeze a simple mac and cheese using real cheese, but in most restaurants it's the powered nasty stuff. So I just make my own and bring it with us, which will work for the foreseeable future. If they want to sell me theirs, they can trying making an edible version. Until then, we're brown-bagging it.

I was given a Zoku popsicle maker a couple of months ago-- I haven't done anything too daring yet, but have already become a little too fond of coffee popsicles. Also made some with leftover blackberry chipotle syrup-- just mixed it with milk until it tasted right. It was good. Not as good as the coffee, though.

Ok, I'll own up to it: I like Mrs. Butterworth's. Maple is good when we're out, or when I'm eating with the in-laws, who might mock my true preferences. If I have some appropritely loosely-set preserves on hand, I might use them, too. But when I need really soul-satisfying comfort-food pancakes, it's Mrs. Butterworth. I blame my mother (maple syrup never crossed our threshold: too expensive).

Thank you, everyone! I'll definitely be trying some of these...meatballs and dumplings definitely on the menu now! Got a question about the pesto, heidih. Have you used them in this way yourself? Incredulous tone because last year I tried making a soup with them, and they were too fibrous to work in that application. Not tough, but...well, there were long fibers that the blender couldn't blend away. (Hence my thinking of papermaking).

I'm finally doing the major weeding out of my garden that I've been putting off for 5 years. The garlic chives have taken over wherever the oregano hasn't gotten to first. I know I can use them in eggs, stir-frys, compound butter. But I have a lot. Like, I've already pulled up probably a pound of them and am not even a quarter of the way through. I'm moving to another state in a couple of weeks (hence the desperate last-minute attempt at landscaping before we try to sell this place), so freezing them is not worth doing at this point. Any suggestions for creative culinary uses? Or maybe I should just make paper with them.