JoNorvelleWalker

@CanadianHomeChef when you started your seeds, did you use the extension arms or not?

I tried a new tack. Rather than place my order late in the evening for the last delivery, I placed my order before bed for delivery in the morning. Everything was in stock, and nothing I ordered required weighing. The recent issue of the local paper has a letter to the editor decrying the construction of our new Whole Foods because of the adverse effect amazon has on local businesses. The author said she is not calling for a boycott but asks to consider shopping choices. I infer she is probably not someone who hikes in the rain to buy her food.

What is MAAS?

My DARTO pans are in the oven for their fourth layer. Just for fun I glanced over at my Lodge pan and it's rusted. I bought the Lodge for baking bread in the CSO and it was well seasoned until I made a Georgian recipe. The entropy of the universe is not decreasing. I now bake bread in the CSO on a 1/2 inch sheet of 316L stainless steel.

I wouldn't say I use a lot of plastic wrap. And often as not I reuse the pieces. Consider that the 7500 lets me cut a sheet only as large as needed and I can operate it with one hand. The downside is that if I were to use the ice cream freezer I would have to move the 7500.

I've never seen free shipping on the website? And I have a shipment coming as we speak. And yes, King Arthur has a storefront but it is a bit of a hike for most of us.

I could arrange a blanket of CO2 but at this point I don't feel up to it.

High smoke point oil should be smoking before you add the food. I'm guessing about 525-550F.

I returned to my DARTO pan project today. Much Barkeeper's Friend, steel wool, and elbow grease and the pans looked pretty good, if I don't mind saying so myself. After washing I dried them carefully and left them upside to evaporate the last trace of moisture before seasoning. It crossed my mind to take a picture but when I returned to the kitchen the pans were all rusted, and not a little. Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes, that's all it took. Some effort later I had them mostly shined up. The pans looked pretty good again but even so the oil towel came up orange. Am I doing something wrong? I'm beginning to think stainless steel was invented for a reason.

Oh, from looking at the picture I don't think your temperature was high enough. (But I'm no expert.)

I have a wok that I've seasoned but I still love (and use) my WS stainless one...

I am a bit disappointed as the height to the light bar is only about ten and a half inches. If I buy (they could jolly well have included them) a pair of extension arms that only adds another seven. Some of what I read led me to expect two sets of arms in the box but I received only one. The picture on the experimental pod shows a pineapple. Here are some of their other suggestions: https://www.clickandgrow.com/blogs/news/35309188-smart-herb-garden-now-grows-anything-you-want Should one weary of peas and pine spruce the list includes tobacco and opium poppy.

I used to, and by "used to" I mean maybe forty five years ago, make a dish called mont blanc. Pureed candied chestnuts, with as I recall whipped cream. For me, of all the things there are to eat, chestnuts have sort of lost their charm.

Also 14 inches. I leave mine out.

My unit came today. Was as expected except I can't quite envision growing their spruce tree pods. Price is now $60 more than what I paid two days ago. There is a 20 percent off sale that lasts for a (very) few more hours and I may order some spare parts. If nothing else the Click and Grow looks nice. Edit: most of their stuff is sold out so I am spared for now.

I have a stainless steel William Sonoma stir-fry pan (eg. wok) that I got on closeout for about $30. It has become possibly my most used cooking vessel. Sticking has not been a problem. If I don't use it everyday I believe I can say without exaggeration I use it at least every third day for something. Last night for mushrooms.

How could I pass it up? Many thanks for all the work you do to add value to @rotuts stock portfolio.

Probably, I would think.

I don't cook with pepper either, if not for the same reasons. I don't feel that cooking does any favors for it's flavor. But if I do cook with pepper it is freshly ground white pepper. With maybe a pinch of nutmeg added.

Tonight is planned for pizza. Mushroom pizza for a change. Last night was faux chicken cacciatore, faux in that the chicken was steam baked in the CSO, sautéed mushrooms then added. Before that I'd finished up a serious creuset of black beans, beef chuck, sausage, and red wine. A favorite dish I do about once a year. Recent dinners include: Black beans with stale bread. Black beans with baked potato. Black beans with rice. Black beans with baked potato. (Some days I lack inspiration.) Black beans with polenta. Black beans with fresh bread. Black beans with stale bread.

Some people favor a pepper spray... But seriously I'm with you on the pepper. I've heard people say pepper adds only heat, though I suspect they lack the ability to smell it. My grinder stays close to the table however. Lovely pasta by the way.

Almost forgot: there is progress! The big orange sign in the wetlands that says Construction, Plan Alternate Route...is now covered in black plastic.

That is horrible. On a lesser note I had given one of my chocolate bars to a kind patron. He is an artist and his wife is a baker and craftsperson. They do their parts for keeping our lobby decorated and our circ numbers high. Last night he apologized that he did not realize I had made it. He said it looked too perfect not to be commercial. One of my colleagues must have set him straight. Fortunately he had not thrown it away.

This evening I brought one of my Darto pans to the local hardware store for advice on how to shine it up. The clerk took it into the women's room with a can of Barkeeper's Friend. As much as I love Jeff Bezos I would not have expected that kind of service.

Tonight we're supposed to get another inch or so of rain. Mindful of the Flood Watch, I decided today was about as good a time to go grocery shopping as any. It was a grueling trip: full backpack, four shopping bags, up hill both ways in the dark. OK, I exaggerate, only coming back was in the dark. The wetlands were covered in inches of water and muck. (Maybe why they call them wetlands?) Which was more of a pain because I had to hold the bags up higher to keep them dry. The journey was even more adventuresome because I had taken one of my new Darto steel pans over to the hardware store for suggestions on how to prepare the surface. Thankfully steel pans are not as heavy as cast iron.