Deryn

The etiquette I grew up with was to always offer extras to the guest first. Of course, they had a Canadian guest, so that person would also have politely declined I am sure. So, perhaps a better question would be ... who actually ate the extras? (Kerry posted while I was writing this but I will leave it in anyway). Love the chocolate display of the day, Kerry - especially the shell design ones!

No knowing how much sugar is too much sugar for you, I am not sure what I would be recommending/looking for but how about a 'mug cake' like this one? (disclaimer - I haven't tried it and I did find others with lower sugar content - as low as 2 tbsp. but this one is definitely higher fiber which has to be a good thing, right?) http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-recipe-doctor/2009/05/5-minute-chocolate-mug-cake-makeover.html

Oh .. I don't know about that. There are loads of recipes for chocolate cake with flour (grain), milk (dairy - both in the cake and in the decadent icing) and a smattering of fruit (filling? accompaniment?) in the mix. And chocolate is a vital nutrient!

Hilarious stuff. And right on the money as far as I am concerned. Thanks for posting the link, GR.

I rarely eat breakfast at all, at least in the morning when most people eat it. I am told that is bad (and it may well be) but a) I have to take some pills that cannot be taken within at least an hour before eating and by the time that hour has passed I am not hungry and b) I too have a problem with sweet stuff (or tea) in the morning. Perhaps this is a remnant from when I was pregnant (millions of years ago) where I spent a total of 27 months (a full 3 pregnancies) puking my guts (pardon the graphic expression but it really was like that) out all day, but eating anything in the morning was particularly distressing to my system. Seems to me that before that time, I ate on a fairly 'normal/average schedule' as that is how I was raised. At any rate, I seem to usually have my 'first meal of the day' (to 'break my fast') mid-afternoon. Again, I am sure that is absolutely not recommended by health and nutritional experts anywhere, but, it is what it is - and I have also found I have much more energy before I eat than afterward (even lettuce or pure protein causes a degree of lethargy for me). Since I eat mid-afternoon, bacon and eggs or gooey sweet foods rarely seem to occur to me as the appropriate fare (though I too don't have a problem with sweeter stuff or other breakfast foods in the evening - and often love poached eggs on dry toast then or even a waffle, with or without syrup). Unless I stay up very late though, since I don't eat first till the afternoon, I often only have 2 meals a day, if that much. And those meals will consist of whatever I am in the mood for (eating and/or cooking). I didn't raise my family that way though - they were all fed 3 meals a day in fairly conventional style (whether I also ate them or not - I always sat with them). And if I have houseguests, I pretend I am 'normal' and prepare foods and try to eat at least a little bit with them 3 times a day. Being on my own leaves me with a lot more flexibility to just eat when I am hungry and being the undisciplined person that I am, I take full advantage of that. Perhaps not ideal or recommended, but, it suits me. I just wish eating this way would help me lose or keep off weight but unfortunately it doesn't, even if my calorie consumption is, I think, much lower than when I was cooking for a busy family - probably because I no longer have to rush around in the kitchen preparing and cleaning up after meals 3 times a day.

A pack of the mini-liners will cost you a buck or so for at least 50. Just buy some and try them out. You absolutely do NOT need them but if you insist on using some, they are cheap and easy to find. See the little jagged folds on the sides? Those expand to accommodate whatever amount of batter you put in them or scrunch up to fit a slightly smaller cup. That is the way they work. Nothing complicated about them. I doubt every manufacturer would have their own liners since this system has worked for cupcake/muffin/mini-meatloaf makers the world over for as long as liners have existed (which was before I was born as far as I know). You would not probably want to try to cram a large size into a small cup, but, though it would result in a much lower profile, you could put a smaller size into a larger cup (though I am not sure why you would do so unless you were desperate or wanted to make something very shallow). If you want parchment, then buy your own non-coated parchment paper and make your own. We are talking something that takes a few seconds, not hours. You don't have to fuss over them - just try not to have too many folds that the batter can get behind or it will be harder to have them come out easily without bits falling off as you release the contents from the paper.

Go to the baking section in the grocery store, Shel. You should see 2 sizes of muffin/cupcake baking cups. Or, make your own from parchment paper - just a cut or two to get the right size and a few folds once you put it in the hole to smooth it out a bit. At Michael's you may find the 'parchment' liners - very expensive comparatively but you can find them. They were a fad at one time - not so sure about that now though. That said, that looks like a non-stick pan and they really work quite well. If you are worried about something sticking, butter/spray them a bit first.

Welcome to eGullet, harrisgo! And to our world of freeze-dryer owners! Did your loads actually dry, and dry properly? If so, I would not worry immediately about whether the pressure gauge indicates below 500 mtorr or not - since 500 mtorr usually kicks off the reverse cycle anyway. On the other hand, if your oil is milky, I would try changing it completely as that is usually an indication that there is water in the oil. If there is no oil spray, it probably is not 'leaking'. You did check to be sure that the drain valve was completely closed too? Also, does your pump settle down into a constant hum once it has started up? (I suppose there is a possibility you have a pump problem but I don't know enough about those to answer that.) While I hope that the more 'technical' members here will pipe up soon to help you more than I can, I also suggest you give HR a call and ask them what they think/how to resolve the problem if there really is one.

You must be deeking north of the border more often than you will admit, rotuts. You have picked up a Canadian eh!

Only if they are made with real butter.

I used to think that labelling all GMO foods might be a good idea however I now think that may not be necessary at all. Non-GMO food (organic or not certified as such) producers usually already voluntarily label their products since it is in their interest to stand out from the fast-growing, madding crowd of GMO products. There are major costs for us all if the government demands that GMO products are all labelled as such. I love statistics (not). My dog probably makes up for 10 of me when it comes to chicken consumption. His intake (and believe me, he inhales the stuff) is probably in the 500-700 lb range per annum. Mine - maybe 1 or 2. Beef - so rare around here that I would probably put our total consumption of that meat at less than 3 lbs per year between the 2 of us. Pork/pork products - dog doesn't eat any these days, but I may buy (which doesn't necessarily mean I consume) less than 10 lbs a year. Fish (if you include seafood/crustaceans - and their shells - which I do not actually eat but I do pay for) is maybe about 30 lbs a year. Relatively speaking though my fish consumption has gone up and everything else has fallen off like a boulder from a cliff lately. That said though, I am thinking that I should start buying foie gras - humanely raised, of course. If they decide to further tax sugary drinks (which I don't consume anyway), they should remove all taxes everywhere (from all levels of government) from all foods deemed 'healthy'.

Conventional Cooking Top Active Mode Test Procedure The current active mode test procedure for conventional cooking tops involves heating an aluminum test block on each surface unit of the cooking top. Two aluminum test blocks, of different diameters, are specified for testing different size surface units. The small test block (6.25 inches diameter) is used for electric surface units with diameters of 7 inches or less, and the large test block (9 inches diameter) is used for electric surface units with diameters greater than 7 inches and all gas surface units. Once the initial test and ambient conditions are met, the surface unit is turned to its maximum energy input setting. After the test block temperature increases by 144 degrees Fahrenheit (°F), the surface unit input rate is immediately reduced to 25 percent ± 5 percent of the maximum energy input rate for 15 ± 0.1 minutes. The efficiency of the surface unit is calculated as the ratio of the energy transferred to the test block (based on its temperature rise) to the energy consumed by the cooking top during the test. The cooking top cooking efficiency is calculated as the average efficiency of the surface units on the cooking top. The current active mode test procedure is compatible with gas cooking tops and electric cooking tops with electric resistance heating elements (i.e., electric resistance heating under a smooth ceramic surface and open coil electric resistance heating). Test Block Construction Induction cooking products are compatible with only ferromagnetic cooking vessels because the high magnetic permeability of these vessels concentrates the induced current near the surface of the metal, increasing resistance and thus heating. Aluminum is not a ferromagnetic metal—its lower magnetic permeability allows the magnetic field to penetrate further into the material so that the induced current flows with little resistance, and thus does not heat up when it encounters an oscillating magnetic field. Therefore, the aluminum test blocks currently required by Appendix I are not appropriate for testing induction cooking products. As part of the January 2013 NOPR, DOE conducted testing to investigate potential substitute test blocks for testing induction cooking products. DOE conducted tests using the same basic test method specified in Appendix I, as described above, using carbon steel, carbon steel hybrid, and stainless steel hybrid test blocks. 78 FR 6232, 6235 (Jan. 30, 2013). Table III.1 describes the construction of the current aluminum test blocks and the three substitute test blocks. Table III.1 Test Block Composition Descriptions Test Block Classification Test Block Composition (Component and Material) Aluminum One solid aluminum alloy 6061 block Carbon Steel One solid carbon steel alloy 1018 block Carbon Steel Hybrid Carbon steel alloy 1018 base + Aluminum alloy 6061 body Stainless Steel Hybrid Stainless steel alloy 430 base + Aluminum alloy 6061 body 18 I was able to read the entire document without issue. The above (quoted for cdh) is a section from same sort of describing the test procedure they apparently used - despite an induction stovetop not being a 'conventional' one as yet. Changes were made to the 'test block' so it could be used on an induction cooktop. However ... do I much care what the Dept. of Energy says? Ummm, not so much. First - I don't tend to 'cook' aluminum and ferrous iron blocks, etc. for dinner much these days. They are a bit heavy in the stomach. Second - I didn't buy my induction cooktops to save energy. I bought them because - a) they heat up much faster b) they heat more consistently c) they are safer overall. (Sorry - copy/paste didn't retain the table formatting at the end of the above quote.)

Probably many will disagree with me but frankly that article is a waste of time to read. Either that or it is hilarious - still trying to decide which. I guess some people just have too much time on their hands, and too much steak money to burn. 50 steaks to figure this out? And the best part .. is only the first bite? Has this guy ever gone camping?

I would have the opposite problem. I would devour the crusts and leave the middles.

I agree, Anna (and with you too, Kerry). I used to eat with my father occasionally at his retirement home. It was hit and miss as to freshness and quality (and definitely a miss on seasoning). I took him out to his favorite pub as often as I could to make sure he actually continued to eat, and eat well. I drew the line (on joining him for din-din) though when he went into the Perley nursing facility - the meals were designed to a) make sure no one wanted to eat them and b) to make sure they got nothing but bland, colourless, non-plentiful mush if they did deign to eat. No wonder I was told that the Ontario stats say that from the time someone enters a nursing home, the average life expectancy is 2 months. They all want out. He lasted 5 months before it all killed him - and that was with me bringing him at least one meal a day. On another note, thanks so much for the pics of the lemon balm, angelica and spearmint. I want those in my back yard.

Can you get whipping cream and buttermilk? If so, you can make your own crème fraiche. 1 cup cream mixed with 2 tablespoons of buttermilk, set on a counter in a covered glass jar for 8-24 hours should do it.

I would probably casually walk around the kitchen making sure there was nothing the fly could fall in or land on that would cause an immediate health hazard (i.e. all pots and open ingredients were covered). Then, since a good offense is often the best defense, I might actually ask the inspector what more he would like me to do in the moment given the awkwardness of the situation with him/her on site and/or if he minded if I got the bug zapper or swatter out.

And here I thought that food was fueling this site. Learn something new every day here. I do hope you cook, eat or otherwise are interested in food, Dude. Otherwise, you may not find as many chatters about your subject as you might want here.

Popular doesn't always mean top notch cooking. Popular can just mean 'cheap'. Perhaps it is 'popular' with younger people who either don't know the difference between plastic cheese and real cheese (and who happily tolerate lazy and incompetent servers - especially if the reason is they are friends and they are chatting with them) or they don't much care about the quality of the food as they are not 'gourmet' eaters yet. A lot of cars in the parking lot (even great looking cars) these days doesn't tell you who the primary clientele is. You have to walk in the door on a busy day to see who is really their primary customer. A diner usually is reasonably priced - and not an upscale place. Granted that is no excuse for shoddy service (although it may explain the cheese thing), but, I doubt you are going to get the cream of the crop servers either when you pay minimum wage if not less. And since it is summer break for most schools, perhaps these were students without much or any experience acting as servers. Why didn't you tell the management that 'cheddar' implies real, not plastic, cheese? If they are going to serve the plastic stuff, they should fix the menu to say 'American cheese' (which, to my mind, is a misnomer still but at least it is a commonly understood term) as anything else is misleading.

I am way too practical and unscientific I guess. I thought there might be way this would be useful to me in my real world everyday life - but whether what they supposedly find is true or not, it would seem rather silly of me to try to make an appetizer of poorer quality or less interesting solely to make the main course be perceived as better (than it is). Seems not of applicable interest to most home cooks. I strive for excellence with all courses and though I may fail sometimes on one or the other, the one thing I do know is how to up the ante on the course I think I didn't do as well in preparing - with the use of plating techniques. On the other hand, I suppose if I go to a restaurant I will now be aware and may start noticing if I think they are trying to fool me into thinking their mains are better by feeding me a lousy appetizer - or vice versa.

I have been meaning to thank you for all these pictures of the Lebanon bologna. It doesn't look like bologna I am used to seeing - it looks more like summer sausage to me. I dislike (with a passion) the bologna that I always see in grocery stores (a pasty, homogenized, overgrown hotdog-like mass) and so while I have read your previous conversations about the sweet and the savoury versions, I just could not imagine liking either of them (and definitely not the sweet kind). I do like summer sausage on occasion however so this stuff looks decidedly more palatable than I imagined. Thanks for educating me. hmm Czech ... cabbage roll maker? (p.s. nope .. I cheated and found what looks a lot like it maybe? http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1407158/koolatron-total-chef-czech-cooker.jsp?skuId=koolatron+total+chef+czech+cooker&search=koolatron+total+chef+czech+cooker&submit-search=web-ta-keyword - Koolatron Total Chef Czech Cooker?)

I can vouch (from personal experience) for the fact that plating (or even just a mix of vibrant colours on the plate) often makes a big difference to the perception of taste and expectations that the next course will be as good or even better than the last. A good appetizer/first course has often worked in my favour when I know the rest of the meal (or just the next course) was not up to the standards I would have liked. So, while that article was interesting and I 'get' what they are saying, I don't think it always holds true. Expectations of the cook (based on prior experience or reputation), the restaurant/home and other circumstances surrounding the whole meal (probably including how much wine people have had before that main course arrives! and is it a casual barbeque with family or a formal dinner at the White House) may not make this always the case 'in real life'.

I too wondered what it was, but was embarrassed to ask. I think I was just hoping that andiesenji would post to tell us as whatever it is, she probably has 6 of them. Good things come to those who wait?

I think I saw some Pringles ads where people were using them to pretend to be duck-billed platypus-ses or something that resembled that strange animal - perhaps as they danced around performing some strange medieval rite. Can't quite recall the details but that scene didn't exactly send me rushing for my car keys to go buy some.

Oh good .. another gadget junkie then? You will fit right in here. You may want to read our thread about home freeze-drying! That is a 'gadget' you may find it difficult to live without - I did. And I got there after getting the chamber vacuum. It is a sickness. Kerry Beal may also get you thinking about chocolate making with the new EZTemper thread. And we have at least several combi oven fanatics here. And a number who have adapted lab appliances of various kinds for home use I believe - in their attempts to play with MC techniques. BBQs, smokers, searz-alls, you name it - we discuss it and some of us drool over the pages as we do. I will warn you though, if you succumb to all the enthusiasm about each new fun appliance, no kitchen will ever be large enough. (Don't) ask me how I know. That said, most of us love good old-fashioned cooking too, with conventional appliances.