Deryn

Now wondering if I should open mine up when I get home to see if there is any evidence this may be about to happen to it too. If it has not yet happened, the recommendation would be to ? ... wrap the wires with something else? spray it with ? ... silicone? Or just stop using it? It is also out of warranty. I haven't got it here to look at it right now.

He's a keeper, Kerry! Meant to say too that the grapes look much better this time, cut in half. Were they more edible?

Huiray - I loved your post too. Interesting that while most western kids were growing up years ago on a diet of the 'new fangled' canned and packaged foods, you were inundated with fresh foods of all kinds. I am jealous - of everything except perhaps the pig's brains. I have no idea why I love good and different foods now since I am the product of the canned era and a not terrific cook for a mother. She tried to be honest but though I do remember things I liked from my childhood, they were few and far between. I am not sure I would have known that restaurants existed during my early childhood in Toronto - except for the one day each year (after the Eisteffod - a mini Welsh 'festival' where each of us would participate in some contest and often won a dollar or two - Mom made breads or cookies, Dad wrote bad poetry, and we kids sang or painted). On that day, my parents would take us to a steak house (El something or other), supposedly to celebrate our prowess. Liver - I hated it. My mother made us eat it once a week. Dr. Spock (or whoever told her that we needed the iron), I don't like you very much. Very overcooked. Dislike it to this day - although I know now it can be cooked much better. Because of my experience though, I don't think any of my kids ever even had a taste of it. My father hated peanut butter. Said it causes cancer - and apparently it can actually if you get some made with bad peanut toxins - but also because he didn't grow up with peanut butter in the UK. He also didn't understand Kraft Dinner. I only got to eat those two items when Dad was away (which was rarely) or if I went to supper at a friend's house. I love fish and seafood. I fed it to my kids often. My boys would order (adult portions of) lobster and shrimp whenever we went out. Expensive kids. I guess I should be thrilled then that my daughter's first grade teacher apparently told her charges that fish scream when they die - because from that point on till today (and she is 31 now) she has refused to eat any and all seafood or fish. So yes, on days when I wanted to serve that for my husband and myself, I resorted to the 'cook two meals' strategy. Wasn't worth fighting about after a long day at work, etc. One last anecdote - My father was very adamant that we did not eat Christmas dinner (or open gifts which we could not do till after dinner) till we had gone to church late on Christmas morning. That wasn't too bad but it meant that we usually ate mid-afternoon and the gifts got opened around dinner time which is a hardship for a child. However, one Christmas, after church, my father decided we would visit a Polish family we knew nearby before going home. We kids had to watch theirs play with their toys, and their mother make perogies - for hours and hours. They had already eaten when we arrived so all we had to eat was a few Christmas cookies and a candycane or two. Finally, we fell asleep on the floor and my parents trundled us home and put us in bed. Christmas dinner happened on Boxing Day afternoon that year, as did unwrapping the gifts. I remember hating it all at the time .. but it does make for a story now so all is not lost. I refused to put my kids through that though, even if my father was there for the day and insisted on having his sherry and stollen for hours - they at least got to open their gifts early in the day and I got up at 3 a.m. if need be to put the turkey in the oven so we could eat at midday. (p.s. At this point in my life, I now prefer Xmas dinner later in the day myself.)

I love how those gummy spiders look! Bet those would be a hit with kids. I will need to find some - more fun than bears. Hope there was no mess to clean up after all.

Uh oh. Another kitchen gadget. Thanks (not) for the heads-up that this is coming down the pipe soon. On the other hand, if, for instance, one is making ravioli, one must still make the dough and the filling so all this does is put them together in perfectly identical,'ticky-tacky boxes'. I am sure it has some uses for some people who are finicky about the 'look' of a particular prepared foodstuff - and that may include chocolate makers who want/need their products to look professionally made (albeit right now very slowly and one by one as far as I can tell) - but, while the concept is intriguing to me in general terms, I am not sure Foodini will go on the top of my 'must have' list right now. Hmmm though ... a strawberry tasting fish ... or a fish tasting strawberry ... those may have potential.

Thank you very much, Takadi. That article is superb. I think I get it now!

Do you mean sugared blackberries (using a beaten egg white to adhere sanding or other coarse sugar to the berry and setting them to dry with a crisp-ish shell)? Or something less fragile/perishable? The former is easy but since blackberries are juicy I am not sure how one accomplishes the latter unless one just incorporates blackberry juice or crushed blackberries in some kind of hard candy preparation? Kerry Beal might be able to come up with a freeze-dried, chocolate dipped version too.

I have several memories that are 'food-related' from my childhood. My first memory is of, before I could walk on my own, being encouraged to stand and hold the playpen rail and inch my way around it to pick up morsels of cheddar cheese. At home, my father always brought a dictionary to the table and required us (from probably age 3 or 4 on) to spell the names of all the foods on our plate before we were allowed to eat it. Once we got good at that, he would open the dictionary to a random page and select 'words of the day' for us to spell and use in a sentence before the fork hit the plate. I also often sat there long after everyone else had left the table. I loved vegetables of all kinds (although many of them were canned and grey looking back in those days) so they were quickly downed but I usually left the meat, especially if it was fatty - and was not allowed to leave until the plate was clean. Fatty meat, to this day, does not appeal to me - and even bacon must be cooked to a crisp before I will eat it. At my grandparents' house when we went to visit (from Toronto to New York), I rarely remember 'supper' with the adults. The grown-ups always had 'cocktail hour' with nibbles before their dinner, but, we kids were usually made to sit down by the fireplace to eat 'milk-toast' before being ushered off to bed. I didn't like milk so I gobbled up the toast as fast as I could before it got soggy. On the other hand, the only place I ever had meringues or lobster was there too - generally at lunch, which was for us kids the largest meal of the day - and it was great fun to be taken to the market to pick out the lobsters. My aunt (who lived with my grandparents) built a cinder block 'cookout shack' and would take us kids down the back garden to have burnt marshmallows on sticks whenever we visited. My grandfather loved burnt toast and (despite being a very educated, cultured gentleman) to lick the ice cream cartons. Once in a while he would spread the carton flat on his plate, and hand each of us a spoon and let us have a taste of the sticky remains. He grew asparagus and strawberries in a stacked circle behind the house and I loved to sneak strawberries before they were quite ripe - and had many a stomach ache as a result. My grandmother used to know someone at Lord & Taylors in Westchester and so another special treat was to be taken for lunch (all dressed up) at the Bird Cage. I also recall well being taken back to Britain when I was 8 (my father was Welsh and I was born in England but left as a baby and I don't remember the milk rations that were the reason we supposedly left). On that trip we were exposed to what to me then were many strange foods - cold toast kept in a rack, orange squash (I fell in love), many different kinds of penny candies (different in each of England, Wales and Scotland), haggis, bubble and squeak, faggots and peas, lava bread, welsh cakes, cockles, and squab are some I remember.

What exactly was wrong with the artichoke bottoms, Kerry? Were they too oily and/or thick and didn't dry completely or don't you think they would rehydrate well? Or did you just hope they would taste good dried but they didn't? Congratulations on the 100 bark package order. Perhaps the FD ice cream bark will become your 'signature' item!

Sorry, Susanne .. I should have spelled it out at least once in the post. TMX = Thermomix

It suddenly occurred to me that there may be a way to make this in my TMX, so I went searching. Sure enough it seems that 250 grams white chocolate for 35 min, Varoma temp at SPD 1 might also get close to doing the trick. The following TMX recipe from a very reliable TMX recipe 'artist' is where I got those settings: http://tenina.com/recipes/caramelised-white-chocolate-bark

You could start a mincemeat factory? Glad you got your 200 grams and thank you for the ride along with you as you rendered it.

I just looked up Dulcey and see that Valrhona Inc. is in Brooklyn, GlorifiedRice. Address: Valrhona Inc. 222 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 522-7001 Maybe you could call them and they would send you a sample? Or they might suggest where you could find a sample in your area. The stuff is so good it may be worth a try.

Yes, they were indeed oval. Strange there was no mention of Valrhona or Dulcey (just the Douce and percentage) on the package at all - but you may be (probably are) right, Chocolat. Thanks. They were truly delicious. I figured you are supposed to use them for making other things but I don't think I can be blamed for just eating them out of the package on a road trip.

According to someone high up in the 'bank', if you vote (and presumably vote correctly), then you are entitled to a celebration dinner of fried chicken.

I am definitely going to be watching this thread. Pictures please if you try this and are successful. I normally only eat dark chocolate but that was before I found out this stuff existed. Recently I was at Grace in the Kitchen (a favorite kitchen/cheese store in Kanata) and while wandering around I picked up a sample of a disc of light brown, caramelly-looking chocolate and fell in love. I bought a whole bag - labelled Douce (32% I think) - from some French producer - very expensive - but OH so good - too good! I am pretty sure they were not from Valrhona. Threw away the bag when I finished it unfortunately - may have to phone the store and see if they know the distributor - a Canadian company which starts with O. Kerry do you know that company by any chance? I want more but if there is a way to make these at home or something equivalent, I may just give it a shot soon.

It is possible the cream cheese will still be found. I was just talking to someone at HarvestRight who may know where it is!

How about a cheesy cauliflower casserole, to which you could also add some ground meat if the cheese wasn't sufficient protein for you. I am not sure that cabbage rolls would be considered a 'casserole' by all people but they certainly are a one-dish meal. I make them with ground pork, rice, cabbage leaves, seasoning, canned whole tomatoes with the juice (crushed as I put them in the pot), and a twist which I think may be Polish (we had a Polish househelper when I was a kid and this recipe was learned from her by my mother) - sauerkraut. I love the tangy flavour but most don't use the sauerkraut so if sauerkraut is not to your taste then leave it out. You can also use/add some V8 juice if there is insufficient liquid or you want a bit more taste. I cook them in a large pot (and they are better the 2nd day), but, some people roll them smaller than I do and place them in a casserole dish to bake. And some use hamburger or a mix of pork and hamburger. A friend of my mother's often made a chicken, broccoli, cheese and noodle casserole when we went to visit for lunch. Don't have a recipe but it seems easy to experiment with something along that line till you find what suits you. Lastly, I have many times made my own replica 'mushroom soup from a can' base from scratch (white sauce plus sautéed mushrooms and a bit of worchestershire sauce and/or sherry) to add to old standbys such as tuna casserole and green bean casserole - since I do not like the canned stuff.

Thanks, Kerry. Yes, I am. Looking forward to getting my FD'er complete with starter cream cheese treat, Matt. Not to worry though, Chocolat. I will send the 'bonus' back to you if I am so lucky as to receive it (after I sneak a little taste).

What kind of melon rind? Watermelon (just the white part)? Having never tasted yucca blossoms (and I am unlikely to ever have access to them), I have no idea whether the taste is similar to that of a watermelon (or other type of melon) rind. I will try out your recipe but unfortunately I can't do so right now since I am down south and most of my cooking equipment/gadgetry (including ice cream maker) is already up north. I know that doesn't help you right now so I hope others are able to test it for you more quickly.

They keep pretty well in the freezer. My dog doesn't complain (although I personally think that, with the salt solution ice glaze and the brine in the meat, there is a lot of salt added). And when it comes to value for money, I do wonder if the ice doesn't weigh more than a plastic wrap might.

I don't know the answer to your specific question, but, if your relatives can obtain the perishable ingredients (just the egg and butter) over there, maybe what you could do is send the rest of the ingredients and the recipe as a 'kit', perhaps even in a pan the right size for the recipe? Otherwise, though it is not a great idea to send perishable (particularly chocolate) items through the mail during the summer, we are moving into fall now so perhaps they would survive if you sent the pre-made bars by the fastest way you can find. And Hello .. welcome to the eGullet forums. Do you live in Canada (home of the Nanaimo bar)?

From my childhood (my mother made this), fast and simple but tasty, and I have no idea if there is a name for it other than Sausage and Olive casserole. Pork sausages (spicy or not, out of casing, browned, in pieces) with egg noodles, green pimento stuffed olives, onions and tomato paste are the main components.

I should have known that Anson Mills would be very familiar to you, gfron. A bit off topic, but, I have tried neither the benne nor the mesquite flour, and would love to hear your comments/comparison some time. Yes, the fiddly detail work in laying out a book is time consuming and patience straining. I haven't done a cookbook but I have created/set up a self-published book which also included many pictures and disparate blocks of text to organize. Glad to hear you are making so much progress - the finish line is in sight!

I have found that a lot of pre-cooked bacon has little flavour, and doesn't even have that salt kick one craves when one eats bacon. And I guess because it was already cooked so crispy it didn't have much water to lose so there was little concentration of flavour during the FD process. Thanks, Chocolot - good to know. I will try cooking bacon that I know I like and then FD'ing it (when I get my machine) to see if that makes a great difference.