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Deryn

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Everything posted by Deryn

  1. just fyi Indianapolis is ~105 miles from Ft. Wayne. Chicago (not sure at what point but the airport isn't mid-city, though if you fly into Midway it would be closer than the Intl airport) seems to be well over 160 miles. That is if you drive of course .. if you fly in then I guess it doesn't much matter. Have a great time in NYC.
  2. Deryn

    Black Garlic

    Were you addressing something I said, DDF? I am a bit baffled since that study was not on the label of any black garlic product and, as far as I can tell was done at/by a university and I have no knowledge that it was sponsored by a food company (though I guess it could have been ... who knows). At any rate - you care about taste and a method for making it at home. So do I but I also care about a 'reason' (other than just taste) TO make it at home (and because for me that might determine what method I want to use). Different strokes for different folks. No one is wrong here.
  3. Deryn

    Black Garlic

    pbear posted this article link a couple of pages upthread: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270653619_Comprehensive_NMR_Analysis_of_Compositional_Changes_of_Black_Garlic_during_Thermal_Processing ,,, on and on and on .. it is a fairly comprehensive scientific article/examination with a load of graphs that are semi-interesting as well. But, the basic findings are there ARE changes, beginning with the changes to the allicin content of course however most seem to happen at or after the 5 day point, with most significant changes appearing between 5 and 25 days. I can't find it now (my eyes and brain go nuts trying to read some of these scientific analyses) but somewhere in that article I think there was mentioned something that is very nutritionally beneficial that does not seem to appear till towards the 25 day mark. Hat tip to pbear.
  4. Deryn

    Black Garlic

    But, perhaps it was worth repeating, DDF! Thanks for that quote from the CrockPot site - I didn't think to look there. Doh me. At any rate, 209 F = just over 98 C which is higher than Kerry (for instance) processed her garlic so I guess 'safe' is guaranteed .. but I would still want to set it to high I think so it would get past any danger zone as quickly as possible (but hey, I am not a food scientist so I am sure others can correct me there). That said, while I am sure the results must have the same taste and texture, etc. as the longer processed ones do (or some would definitely notice the difference and comment), the nutritional changes (which I also think should be considered if one eats black garlic often) may still warrant using the longer method (at least 30 days - or at least to the extent that Kerry took hers). 90 days may be overkill.
  5. Deryn

    Food Fraud

    Have read several articles recently about how grocery stores may distort 'best before' and 'expiry' dates by removing stickers and replacing them when the first noted one has been reached. Have caught them in the act myself. Not too long ago, while shopping for Naan bread, I noticed that a store was sloppy in pulling this little trick - they didn't remove the original sticker, just put a new one on top and it was not hard to see that they had changed it to indicate that the expiry date was now extended by a week. I brought this to the attention of the manager and he removed the offending items - but the very next week, I saw the same thing on the same breads! Not sure what one does in that case other than just not buy there any more - but, up here, the options for places to shop are limited. I never buy the 'marinated' salmon or meat offerings either since I am well aware they take proteins that are probably ready to 'go off' and hide that, extending the 'shelf life' with repackaging (and charging more than for fresh). Trust lost is very hard to earn back!
  6. What a comedy of errors. So sorry to hear about your trials - all because of a pothole. I wish for you to have a better trip to NYC.
  7. Deryn

    Black Garlic

    So, according the Dave's brief summary, it seems that the 3 day technique basically involves separating cloves from the bulb (but leaving the skins on), spritzing with a bit of water, wrapping in wet-ish paper towels and then in foil, placing the garlic in a crock pot with another wet paper towel (that he keeps wet for the duration), and turning it over once a day for the 3 days. Would be nice to get more specific instructions but at least the method is now uncovered to a certain extent. I would presume that he may also have to add some cover around the top to be sure it is well sealed. My only worry/question would be what temperature the crock pot maintains (for safety's sake more than for producing the blackness, etc.) but I have to guess that it would be set to its hottest temp. Do all crockpots maintain the same 'high' temp? p.s. Next time I am down south I may be tempted to buy this machine: Amazon link to 'Professional Black Garlic Fermenter' .. less than $120 in the US, but I think well over $500 CAD on Amazon's Canadian site last I looked!
  8. Deryn

    Black Garlic

    Yesterday I drove the long road to see if I could find any Christopher Ranch organic garlic at the grocery store. There were 3 packages, all very 'light' with streaks of black mold (hmm are they already 'black garlic'? just kidding), all containing 3 small bulbs, priced at $3.99 each. All the rest of the garlic around these parts is Chinese (and similarly sad looking right now though a bit less pricey). No thanks. I will wait. I really should have stuck some in the ground last fall and grown my own. As soon as I can get some decent garlic bulbs to plant (perhaps from the farm that Okanagancook linked) a garlic bed will be in my yard.
  9. Deryn

    Food Fraud

    Of course not. We should.
  10. Uh oh .. I missed it .. Happy Belated Birthday, Darienne ... and many, many more to come! And did you know that every smile takes a year off your age? You have a whole box of smiles there, I hope! And Happy Birthday to your husband as well. My dad would have been 99 tomorrow, and I just took some flowers today to a lady (who, by the way, is spry, still drives, very active socially and when I arrived to visit she had just taken a delicious looking currant bundt cake out of the oven) here in the Canso area who turns 89 on the 26th. You are very young yet! At any rate, suddenly I know all sorts of people with late June birthdays! That will help me remember yours next year!
  11. Oh dear. Hope they get there soon and that the damage is not too extensive. Sorry your trip has been marred but I hope the sales/interest in the EZTemper were worth this nuisance delay on your return.
  12. Deryn

    Muffins!

    If you substitute cocoa for chocolate I am pretty sure you will have to increase the fat. See this cocoa based chocolate muffin recipe: http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/03/01/chocolate-muffins/
  13. Deryn

    Food Fraud

    While technically it 'should' be easy, it is not always so easy (or cheap) to uncover, investigate, test for and prosecute.
  14. I am thinking we all need to buy fairly high sided blow up kiddie's swimming pools, buy a year's supply of chickens to freeze, fill up the pool with fresh cold water, put on our bathing suits, put the chickens in their wrappers in the pool, slit the packages open and roll the contents around in the pool for a while, remove from pool, hang up to dry on the clothesline, take a shower and put the suit in the washer. Take a good supply of large plastic bags out to the clothesline, open one under each chicken and with gloved hands knock them one by one into their respective bags. Once a year 'prep' (and if you rinse out the pool and leave it to air out in the sun for a while to 'sanitize', you can reuse it for the kids and grandkids on a hot summer's day in future).
  15. This is EXACTLY the problem though, dcarch. Simple and solidly built worked better, for much longer (and even with inflation, I hazard a guess, for a cheaper initial price as well). Period. Overly complicated devices that try to do too much (often straying from their original purpose - who really NEEDS a tv or computer inset into the front of the fridge?) and which use very intricate circuitry are definitely going to be more prone to 'error out' - and much more difficult to fix. I know that 'simple and solid' doesn't satisfy the need of today's jaded consumers to constantly be 'upgrading' one's designer look kitchens, nor the 'environmentalists' desire for everyone to use less electricity (though I hazard a semi-educated guess there is a lot more electricity used and pollution created as a result of modern materials including computer chips, etc. used to make these behemoths than there was in creating and disposing of the ones of yore) or the aim of corporations/engineers/marketers to keep their profits growing/jobs by always developing and pushing the next best, newest, 'simply complicated' thing on the market. Progress CAN be good for all, but, in this case, I don't think it has been particularly good for the masses or the environment (even if these new devices are supposedly energy efficient and provide, in some cases, a bit more 'convenience' for some).
  16. Tere, did you and your husband build all those raised beds yourselves? Wow ... what a magnificent garden!
  17. Thanks for taking us along on your Russian sojourn, chefmd. And thanks so much for taking all those pictures of the vegetables. I like meat but vegetables are so much more colourful and when included on the plate the meals look so much more appetizing to me for some reason. Sad that that market was so empty - I hope people are growing vegetables at home and aren't just going without when times are tough.
  18. If I still HAD a partner I would go back to off the grid living in a flash.
  19. We now live in a 'consumable society'. And we have been thoroughly 'consumed' by it and its real owners. I am thoroughly fed up with corporations that are fleecing us to death one way or another. Either the product they sell is junk (perhaps pretty and flashy but functionally junk and designed to/bound to fail within a certain amount of time) and must be replaced every few years or one cannot use the product without ongoing costs for (very expensive) basic supplies needed to make the product useful (toner cartridges, basic software, coffee pods, CO2 dispensers and flavourings, filters for icemakers and water dispensers, the list goes on and on). I try now only to purchase cheaper smaller appliances (well .. um except things like my freeze-dryer and chamber vac but they only require the occasional oil refill) that don't need 'extras' constantly fed to them in order to do the job they were designed to do and if they go belly up will not disrupt my world too much. Thank you, Instant Pot people! I have had enough fun out of that gadget now that it has paid for itself already anyway. We can thank the internet (and the rotten education system) for much of this as they constantly bombard us with and promote disposability and a 'designer based, keep up with the Joneses' mentality to the nth degree. People have totally bought into all this, especially since you can buy things on credit (or even better, take it home now, don't pay for two years) and never really deal with the true cost as you would when saving was the thing to do and cash was king back 30 or 40 years now. I am so tired of being asked if I want to buy an extended warranty on something that used to have a 3 year warranty (and outlived that on average by at least a year or so) and now has only 90 days ... and often can't make it that far without issues. Corporations know that people (believe me, they study our habits) will just go buy another x, y or z rather than going through the hassles involved in complaining or waiting for repairs even within the warranty period (after an hour on hold listening to elevator mus-ack and robot voices asking us to decide what foreign language we want to use and make 10 choices for a department to speak to and then punch in the serial number of the affected appliance along with the last 4 digits of your social and the password you had to spend 2 hours remembering ... we get to someone who says - after asking again for all the info you just gave the robot - ... cheerily, in very poor English, Hi I am John (obviously a pseudonym so we can never trace them back to India or Mexico) ... sure we will fix that .. just box it up in the original box with the original sales slip, pay for return shipping to us at our repair depot located in another country - plus include your authorization for a 'restocking' or added 'service' charge and we will be thrilled to take your junk back). I am limping along with x number of appliances bought within the past 5 or so years that no longer function as they were intended to though most (in my NS house) at least still work at least partially even if I cannot avail myself of all features (like the water/ice dispenser on the fridge, which works after a fashion though it is too cold no matter what temperature I tell it to set itself to hold). I cannot say the same about the ones in my NC house - there I have a 2 year old built in microwave that failed after less than a year, a cheapo microwave that didn't even last that long (and will be sent to the dump next trip), and a fairly new Maytag washer and dryer that both bit the biscuit within weeks of each other. Interesting .. and that Maytag man who used to be so bored when he had no calls is now too busy to come out to fix them. The fancy-dancy expensive computerized, quiet as a mouse, dishwasher worked for less than 2 months - and was used about 5 times - before it began leaking and clanking and finally (sadly but I am almost glad about this since it was no way to relax after dinner listening to the racket and cleaning up the puddles) ... it said ... nope .. no more .. and it is dead as a doornail. I got tired of complaining - it just raises my blood pressure. I refuse to call the repairman - I will just wait till I feel the proper life of the product has expired and then see what is on the market - and hope that sanity will return within that time frame, whatever it may be. On the bright side my 12 year old Jenn-air stove in NC happily goes on and on and my 'no bells and whistles' 8 or 9 year old 'doesn't have an icemaker' Samsung fridge (which still makes me smile when I walk past it - best fridge I ever bought) takes its lickings and keeps on ticking. I am afraid to buy a new vehicle either - I don't want all the computerized bells and whistles - I want basic (and very good) safety features and good leather seats but the dog doesn't much care about having a video going in the back seat, I can manage without nav, and I know how to drive (no accidents on the road in over 50 years driving now) defensively (and I do) so little cameras mounted everywhere and constant warning beeps when someone gets too near me are just unwanted and unneeded junk I can do without .. thanks. My 2006 Honda Ridgeline may not be quite as pretty any more but I don't even trust Honda to sell me (for twice the price I paid for this one) a vehicle that will last 10 years basically without a problem other than oil, a brake job, tires and gas costs. All I want is satellite radio and manual knobs .. not a 6 or 10 inch complicated screen and a million hard to read button labels or gestures to try to figure out on the fly ... and good rustproofing. I can cook on a camp stove or the charcoal barbeque or induction burners if I have to/want to. I can chop and peel things by hand. I 'can' wash clothes and dishes by hand too if I have to and let them air dry (or in the case of dishes, pick up an old fashioned dish towel) . If I sell this place I know people are going to want appliances here but I am not buying them new ones - they can replace them after I am gone if they want to. Refrigeration is more of an issue but a decent basic chest freezer with no computer chips in it should still stand the test of time, one hopes. Yes, I like 'convenience' but I have not forgotten how to do things the old fashioned way - and I have made sure that in most cases I have prepared myself so I could still do that if I had to. If everyone did that, we could (possibly) affect the corporations enough that they might go back to a more old fashioned quality standard. I would pay more to get any appliance that actually will perform as 'advertised' and last for a good number of years. There can be 'lemons' but I am tired of being the patsy that always seems to buy 'lemons' these days - I no longer believe it is just me - we are all targets. I want an old fashioned woodstove, an 'icebox', a root cellar and a passle of kids (well, on loan only ... so I can send them home after they do 'chores') to do the dishes! Getting off my soapbox now. Thanks, Jason .. that was cathartic! (p.s. Yes, I am kind of cranky about all this because I just spent over 20 hours in two weeks on the phone trying to find out why the cellphone I was forced to buy so I could still have one working in Canada when I left the States did NOT function at all from the border on - despite the fact that I was being charged as though it was. After at least 10 calls and 10 different people with 10 different skill sets and ideas about why this was happening it was decided that I was sold the WRONG phone even though the list of phones that function up here is published and this one on that list and now can't even exchange it for 3 months unless I want to drive 500 miles one way to do so at my expense ... without a cellphone in case anything untoward happens on the road! Apparently while they acknowledge THEY made the mistake, not me, they cannot and will not send me a new phone in the mail. Meanwhile, in the background these 'service reps' are apparently changing my plan willy-nilly and I keep getting emails saying my 'new feature' has been implemented and my bill is going UP and UP and UP for NO service!)
  20. What are these 'poultry stores' you talk of? I have never even heard of one, much less seen one, to my knowledge. The only thing they sell is poultry?
  21. Can't help with your issue but I am crossing my fingers and toes that you find things are better than you expect tomorrow when you check the ganache. And I will be interested in an answer from our experts in this department as well (I file all expert chocolate advice in my brain for future reference - I just KNOW someday the tips and tricks etc. will come in handy when I get properly into that addiction).
  22. Thanks, chefmd. I am seeing the vegetables begin to emerge as depicted in your most recent pictures. I think meat is good too but I guess I was missing the colour of vegetables in your earlier photos but thanks for explaining that often the Russian diner seeks more meat based dishes when going out for a meal. Makes sense.
  23. Spanish and Mexican (fresh) chorizo are totally different animals in my experience. One is cured and dried in casings, the other is often packed like hamburger and is 'fresh' as you know. I have used the Mexican version to make delicious stuffed poblanos (with corn, chorizo, rice, onions and a strong white cheese of some sort). I fry the chorizo till well browned and almost crispy, pour off as much fat as I can and mix with cooked rice, sautéed onions, fresh corn kernels - can use frozen if need be - and grated white cheese. I bake them in poblanos that have been charred, peeled and cleaned out. Yummy stuff. Spanish chorizo works well as a smoky and spicy ingredient in stuffed squid. Also yummy - and part of stuffings - but very different dishes.
  24. Rhetorical questions, Liuzhou. I have no quarrel with you or you posting the article. Sorry .. didn't mean for you to take it that way, believe me. I was merely giving my opinion of the way the article was written. I also question the idea that a 'suggestion' that people eat 50% less meat (and the supposed reasons why) will work and I worry that if that is the case, will they decide to 'enforce that' and how? The article first says 'plan' to get people to eat less meat and then implies that all this will be is a change to what may be like our western 'food pyramid' 'suggestions about what is good for you. Perhaps I jumped to conclusions there - you would know better - but 'freedom' is not always a word one associates with Chinese government, etc. Even here, if a 'suggestion' doesn't work to achieve whatever aims government might have, they often pursue other avenues (like laws and regulations and taxes, etc.) to get better results. I guess my point is - I don't think it is a well written article - it seems mostly slanted editorial to me more than 'reporting' much. I just can't see either how reducing people's meat consumption by 50% will fix obesity and diabetes or rid the world of pollution - air, water, etc. .. there is much more to it all than that.
  25. Liuzhou - Then what is it about meat that these 'experts' seem to think is causing obesity and diabetes? Why is meat the (current) culprit in 'public health'? And why talk about methane if there are few cows (although all animals emit some, cows are the most notorious 'producers' as far as I know). CO2 is probably not a major contributor to 'climate change' (despite 'experts' still spouting that it is) but in any event, plants produce more of that and environmentalists want lots of trees/plants for that very reason and bemoan the razing of the Amazon because millions of trees and jungle plants are being lost every day. Fertilizers and land clearing - well those are more about plants than animals - unless indirectly for animal feed (but those fertilizers may get into the meat too through feed - are they good for any of us?). Water usage, pollution .. serious issues .. the former more in some places than others, the latter everywhere, and especially in Chinese cities from what I understand - and to my mind those are really the issues we should all be addressing. But, those are inconvenient problems to solve because they require a buy-in by powerful corporations and governments, and not much they can directly blame or shame the 'people' for. Meat is not that caloric in the grand scheme of things - and supplies protein which is good and necessary for life. My thought is that they are feeding these animals corn and soy crops - and those feeds I believe may be contributing to obesity in an indirect form perhaps, and I suppose even to diabetes. However this article does not really say what it is about meat that supposedly is the problem - other than methane, CO2 and fertilizers. But if one reduces the amount of meat people eat they will eat more plants to make up for it. And plants require farming - and water, and land clearing and fertilizers. Merry go round. This article is just not well written - I think it rambles all over the place and doesn't really provide any proof about one of its leading premises - that obesity and diabetes are being caused by eating meat and that public health can be improved if everyone eats less meat. It is blatantly a propaganda tool for promoting the global warming/climate change 'message' - and more importantly ensuring that commoners know they are responsible for (and need to fix) all that. Nature has nothing to do with it at all of course, despite the fact that climate changes all the time, has since time immemorial and will continue to do so after we are gone. Mantra 'du jour' now is that only 'we' can save the earth (as though we were that powerful) if we eat less meat. Right. It's about money and control. Do you really believe that the powers that be that issue these statements (plans) saying that the people should do this or that, actually follow those 'rules' themselves? No, this is another of those ... do as I say, not as I do .. things. Maybe people should eat less meat but we need far more information than a general statement that says that the consumption per person is x amount - MANY people in China (and elsewhere) are probably still eating meager amounts of meat ... as you said, meat is status there .. so the more wealthy are probably consuming more of it on balance .. but why is that happening ... they got wealthy in recent years doing what? Reduce their incomes and they will eat less meat. Therefore if eating meat causes climate change, it follows that affluence probably causes climate change. Move them out of the cities and reduce pollution. Stop industry and commerce, ensure people are unemployed. Send them back to farm meager plots of land by hand and make them use handmade tools and no fertilizers and they will get more fit and lose weight. Let's go back in time. Sure, let's go back to primitive times ... without bathrooms they will pollute the waters even more, and with charcoal for cooking they will still pollute the air - but they will consume less meat and there will be fewer animals and less land clearing and .. and ... and ... and ... perhaps they will die off sooner again .. and when they do their carbon footprint goes down considerably. China tried a one child policy to reduce the population growth - now they have other problems as a result of that even if it did reduce growth for a while. And China's industrial growth has been unchecked for years too. These are complex issues - but commanding the people to eat less meat is probably not going to solve anything for anyone. That is why I said it is a giant experiment. Yes, I know some (perhaps even many) here will not agree with my view on this subject - but when an article like that is published, it really irks me. It is so illogical, badly written and see-through - and yet people buy it.
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