Norm Matthews

You can also soften flour by adding an instant flour such as Wondra to AP flour in a ratio of about 1 part Wondra to about 4 parts AP flour.

High protein flour gives a better rise when used in a yeast recipe. Low protein flour gives cakes a more tender texture. How you mix the ingredients and in what order makes a difference too.

My Korean ex and her mother used Kadoya in our restaurant and at home. I don't recall any other brand in any Korean home I visited. It's what I use too. I have not tried any other kind... yet.

We have enjoyed toasted or roasted okra a few times. Maybe they call them okra chips.

As Darch says, there is such a thing as too sharp. You want a little 'tooth' to the blade. If it cuts what you need to cut, it's time to stop sharpening. I actually use a canoe shaped stone like my mom used 70 years ago and find it does as good and as quick a job as any thing else I've tired.

I was trying to decide between chili or tacos until I saw Mmmmpomps tacos. Then I saw that my son had put tortillas on the shopping list so that settled it. We had tacos for dinner tonight.

Where I lived before I moved back to KC, a store briefly had them in an olive bar and I really liked them. I had not had any for about three years since that store discontinued the olive bar and then I moved. Recently a store near me started an olive bar and I tried some of theirs. They were not as good as I remembered from before.

As with a stew, tomato sauce flavors become more concentrated as the sauce thickens and like a stew, the flavors marry and mature, usually tasting better still the next day. Quicker cooked tomato sauces (with in season fresh tomatoes) have a lighter, fresher taste.

Ragu type sauces that are thick, dense and smooth are slowly cooked for longer periods of time while Puttanesca type sauces that are cooked over higher heat for shorter periods of time (with fresh, not canned tomatoes for example) tend to produce more tomatoey, lighter, summery type sauces.

http://community.kingarthurflour.com/node/5754 This is a very popular burger bun recipe at King Arthur's Community

Cassie brought home some mini pita rounds from the store so I made a Tzatziki sauce to go with them, stir fried some broccoli slaw then tossed it with a reduction of soy with brown sugar and also made a Honey Garlic Chicken. We also had rice but it isn't pictured.

I tried a new recipe called Vaca Frita or Cuban Shredded Beef. It turned out to be pretty much the cuban beef version of carnitas. Charlie even got out some soft tortillas and put some in a wrap. I winged a dressing with some pineapple flavored balsamic vinegar, Framboise, some lime juice, honey, salt, and olive oil.

I remembered something. I always use wax paper under a box grater to catch the grated material so i can transfer it without making as big a mess.

That corn soup looks great but no cooking here today. The kids were gone at lunchtime and will be going out again tonight so I got some Croissants, Deli cold cuts and cheeses, and Panera soups (Potato and tomato) so everyone can have whatever whenever. There is enough for tomorrow too.

Thanks. She is very good. My cakes usually look like they came from Pisa.

I don't remember what mom made but it was undoubtedly a box mix. Cassie ( my soon to be DIL) makes cakes for people for special occasions. Here is the one she made for my birthday a few months ago. Maybe it counts since I think I am entering my second childhood. Knife, spoon, carrots, mushrooms & peas are all edible.

Tomatoes of course plus pears and peaches. Also just about anything at the Farmer's market.

The picture didn't turn out very well but it is Cod poached in wine with mushrooms, shallots and coconut milk. We also had cornbread, hash browns and peas.

We seldom have fish so I was looking at some recipes and found two. This is one of them. I think I will do the other one tomorrow. This one is Asian themed. Pan Glazed Salmon, laver, kimchi, rice and a salad.

Just remember that there are thousands of varieties of yeast. What is indigenous to your area might or might not be the same kind on the grapes that makes good bread for La Brea Bakery. Also there are some California red grapes that won't grow in Canada and some native American grapes that don't make good wine.

No. With wild yeast, it's a coin toss whether you will get a good yeast for bread or not. It might be amazing, it might be awful. There are thousands of different varieties. What makes good wine might not be good for bread. A little cultured bread yeast will be a better bet. It will revert to wild in a week or two.

The BBQ sauces I like are more like tangy steak sauces than the sweet sauces most people attribute to BBQ. Many serious BBQ smokers only use sauce as a light finishing baste or as a table sauce if at all. What gives BBQ sauces a bad name are the kind that you find in places like McD's and other places that think dousing anything in tomatoey sticky sweet stuff qualifies it as BBQ.

That white film on the skin of things like plums, grapes and cabbage is wild yeast. When it is fed, grown, and kept alive in a batter of flour and water, it is sour dough yeast. Cultured yeast are strains that are developed to promote certain characteristics like rapid rising in breads or to promote the best fermentation results in beer or wine. Cultured yeast will quickly revert back to its wild state if fed and grown in sour dough like conditions. Heat kills yeast, cold inhibits it.

This is the best BBQ sauce I have ever had and it can only be got through mail order http://www.horizonbbqsmokersstore.com/servlet/the-300/Horizon-Original-BBQ-Sauce/Detail Some history: When Oklahoma Joe sold his renowned smoker company to CharBroil, they closed the company and put it out of business and OK Joe moved to Texas. A few years later his brother who was also in the original company opened Horizon Smokers and offers the same commercial, competition and back yard smokers and the same sauce also sold by the company but now it is called Horizon BBQ sauce. When it had beed sold under the Oklahoma Joe name, it had won Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ contest: Best Sauce in the World, American Royal International Sauce Contest: Best Sauce on the Planet, and Memphis in May BBQ World Championship: Best Sauce in the World. The original rib rub recipe is also excellent and can be found on the web in several places. Here is one link http://www.food.com/recipe/oklahoma-joes-rib-rub-118966

Clementines are good in a salad.