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How does one make blender pastry cream, @JoNorvelleWalker?

Seemed like satire to me. 🙄

Yes. Send me a PM with your address.

Well, @dscheidt, it appears some sweet talking is in your future. 😀

Is that watermelon @DesertTinker? Looks lovely!

Me too, I took @Kim Shook's advice. Exactly right. What I did not understand previously was dumping the fruit into ice water afterwards.

Oh, I have been looking for something like this!

I was cooking dinner for outdoor diners and decided to raise/lower the temp by 5°. Instead of letting me do this, the machine started the descale cycle. I hit a few buttons to try to stop/cancel the descale cycle but was unable to. The program emptied tons of water into the oven (no tray at the bottom of the oven at the time). The way I got the machine to pay attention was by unplugging it. What a mess! The Descale light had been on for a while, but that automatic behaviour was preposterous.

Palo, this is a very provocative statement. Could you please expound?

Yes, if I'd spent $50 for a lifetime membership I would have thought that a good deal too. I keep trying out the free version because I *want* to want a subscription! 😄 But so far, no dice.

I have tried out the free version a few times. Generally my searches are not successful and then I write to "support" who inform me that what I'm looking for can't be done. An example is wanting to limit results based on type of cooking vessel (e.g. Instant Pot). I own a few hundred cookbooks, so this is a meaningful search criterion.

Calibre Companion is/was THE app to query the Calibre database (looking for a new book to read). A large upgrade was necessary and Chaley (original author) wanted to retire and found another guy to take over the app. But the new guy released a paid upgrade which failed to implement most Calibre Companion functions and was a total catastrophe. So, the new iphone app was utter trash and useless. Fortunately I immediately turned off upgrades to Samsung Android so I am still able to use the old Calibre Companion app there. You'd think I would have remembered that I learned not to be on the bleeding edge of (mostly Microsoft) software decades and decades ago!

You know, it will be no time at all when he'll be taller than you! 😄

Thankfully, I have my device set to my needing to confirm upgrades (very bad experience with Calibre Companion). So I'm usually behind the times when it comes to upgrades.

Please report other things you do with it!

Homemade pesto and rehydrated tomatoes (from neighbour's garden), Parmesan-Reggiano, Butterkäse, and fresh goat cheese. Rather a lot of cheese actually. Good reports from eaters.

Do you drink a lot of juice, Jo? Or mainly use the juicer to prepare your Mai Tai(s)?

Happy Birthday Gully. I love this place. Plums baked in port. And the best I could do for a candle on short notice. 😇

Me too!

My mother fed us wheat germ as a cereal when we were children - couldn't stand the stuff. Curiously, I just tasted it in a version of Muësli which I'm trying out. So far my favourite Muësli is Bob's Red Mill which doesn't have a preponderance of wheat germ. So I guess I still don't think much of the flavour. 🙄

I'm addicted to carbonated water. Surprisingly, I like it best without additives.

Also, has anyone cooked beans (e.g. Rancho Gordo) and then dehydrated them?

Can one put frozen stock into the IP, or should it be completely defrosted first?

@kayb @Okanagancook @andiesenjiand Everyone, Do you seed roma tomatoes or any other kind of tomato before dehydrating? It seems Mary T Bell recommended drying herbs (in this case basil) at a lower temperature (90°F/32°C) to keep more of the essential oils. My Anova Oven (with the door cracked open) has been at this for 18 hours and the basil is drier but not dry, i.e. still limp. Should I change strategy? Mary Bell also recommends taking all the fat out of ground meat with paper towels, removing all the fatty tissue from other meats and fish, as well as using zero fat yogurt, methinks because, in longterm shelf life, anything with fat might go rancid. I'm not planning on (ever) doing any backpacking with dehydrated foods, so do I need to adhere to these rules?

@kayb, up this thread a bit you mention dehydrating roma tomatoes. Do you skin them first?