Arey

My mother spent the last ten years of her life living with me. She would frequently caution me against picking any parsley from the front row of parsley in my herb bed since as she put it, that was where my Boston Terrier Brian "wee-wee-ed" After both my Bostons had passed away, and I'd gotten a Burmese Cat (closest thing to a Boston I could find that used a litter box), my mother would would feed Chips on the kitchen counters, and no matter how often I would point out to her that Chips' standard route was - into the utility room - use his litter box - out of the utility room and into the kitchen and - up onto the kitchen counter to see what goodies my mother had for him, she would not stop feeding him on the counter. No matter how often I pointed out to her that after using his litter box, he didn't wipe his feet, she persisted in feeding him on the counters. Chips and Mother are long gone, and my current cat, while still a kitten, learned that cats found on kitchen counters had better stay out of sight for the remainder of the day. Actually my mother was not an excellent cook, she wasn't even a good cook, but with the exception of Chips, she was a tiger for hygiene in the kitchen.

Thank you both for your responses. I'll keep on with my policy of keeping it refrigerated, and after this batch is gone, not even keep it for a week.Next time I make it, I'll freeze more, and only keep some refrigerated for a day or two. I've been trying to convince myself to buy a mini-food processor, and just make pesto the day I want to have penne with pesto. I've researched this issue intensively on the web, and was surprised to see how many people are still saying its perfectly safe to keep garlic cloves in oil for weeks. I also tried calling the FDA this morning, and should they ever want to issue a warning about being "on hold" for over an hour and a half since it can cause hand cramps and stiff elbows they can use me as an example. MaxH - I read the same book, as a result of which I always wash new jeans twice, never graft tomato plants to jimson weed rootstocks, and can't see the name Huckabee without thinking of hogs.

I made a batch of pesto last week, from my bumper basil crop. I have a recipe which I print out when making pesto. Not so much to follow but as a reminder of all the ingredients. I freeze some when it's still a thick paste and before I add the cheese. The remainder I refrigerate with a thin layer of olive oil on top. The recipe I use to remind me of the ingredients says I can keep it up to 3 weeks in an air tight container as long as I keep a thin layer of oil on top. Another recipe says I can keep it up to two weeks. However, there's raw garlic in pesto, and it's in an anaerobic environment so what's to prevent botulism from developing in it? One web page I read says to only keep it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

As a result of reading this thread, I cleaned my stove and range hood. I mean really cleaned them, I even changed the filter in the hood.. Tomorrow, I'm going to do the kitchen floor, and on Sunday I'll take down the 51 mugs hanging on pegs on the fascia above my wall cabinets and run them through the dishwasher. I realize this won't make me a better cook, but at least I'll be a more hygienic one.

Medieval theologians would have enjoyed this topic. It's become the egullet equivalent of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Only now it's how many plastic produce bags can you take before it's theft, how many free samples can you take before it's gluttony or greed, and how many shitake stems can you break off and discard before it's.... (I can't figure out which produce shopping sin this is, but it must be one). I would ocasionally take a produce bag at the produce store and put it in my pocket to use at my fishmongers, but I always told the cashier at the produce store I had done it, and she would always say it was alright, but when I think about it. she really wasn't in a position to excuse (should I say absolve) what I had done. I shall spend the remainder of this evening reading The Divine Comedy to determine exactly where my grocery shopping sins where will get me. I've always sort of hoped I'd end up at the lust level. But it's not likely unless my passion for cheese counts as lust. AND I WILL NEVER AGAIN TAKE A PRODUCE BAG AT THE PRODUCE STORE WITHOUT PUTTING PRODUCE IN IT.

When I was growing up in the 40s we'd sometimes have salt mackerel and scrambled eggs for Sunday breakfast. I always liked it, but eventually we never had it anymore. When I asked her why we never had it anymore, her response was "Because we don't have to".

I don't think the plastic bags qualify as theft, but I'm not sure about the plastic containers. Neither of them are as bad as taking a handful of nuts from the bulk nut bins and eating them as you shop. That's definitely theft.

My fish monger and I have a great relationship. It took years to establish, but we're at the stage where he not only tells me what I'd like, but also what I shouldn't buy that particular day. Just today, I asked if he'd reccommend the red snapper filets, and his answer was yes, but if I wanted one, he'd filet a whole fish and sell me one of the filets, and he didn't take a fish off the ice on the fish counter. he went into the ice locker and brought out a whole one, and cut a filet for me. But, he's put his store up for sale. I asked him, "If you sell, where will I go to buy fish?" He said he's sure that whoever buys it will continue it as a seafood store. He told me he's been doing it for 31 years, and wants to do something else. I can understand that. After 31 years of being up to your elbows in fish guts and shrimp shells you might feel it's time to do something else. His two brothers also work in the shop and they plan on being truck drivers, they've already got their licenses. My butcher also sold his business several years ago but it was too a young butcher working for him, so that wasn't too bad. Parenthetically speaking (the new butcher was the son of my barber and he and sold his barber shop to a young woman who talks on her cell phone while cutting hair (yes it's a very inbred island, you only have to look at the public works dept. employees to see that)). So, who do you hope never ever retires, and which food store's "For Sale" sign would most distress you?

And as any driver of a 2008 -2009 Hyundai Elantra could tell you; try not to spill anything you're drinking into your cupholder. As the recall notice I , and many others got recently explains, if you spill something into the central console cupholder the liquid could leak down into the weight classification system connector. The contaminated connector could cause the front passenger airbag to deploy no matter what the weight of the passenger.

I think its also to make the nutritional information on the label less alarming to people who actually check the nutritional information. I was looking at a 1 lb.package of kielbasa and the nutritional information made it look like kielbasa was downright good for you, assuming , of course, that you believed the label which said that the average serving size was 2 oz. and the 1 lb. package would make 8 servings. Lays is much more realistic on one of their bags of Lay's Classic potato chips. Next to the information on one serving (16 chips) they list the nutritional values for the whole bag. As for cheese, the reccommended serving, 1 oz., is about what I eat while assembling a plate of cheese and crackers for a snack.

I no longer buy Ortiz anchovies. I can't justify the expenditure, and I got tired of all those little forks cluttering up my kitchen's miscellaneous little gadgets drawer. The only store in my area that carried them, a very pricey organic and health foods market has stopped carrying them because of the price.

After watching the second installment which I had recorded on my DVR I came to the conclusion that this show approaches America's Worse Cook from the wrong end. At the end of each installment they should eliminate the best or most promising competitor. They could give him/her a paid tuition to their favorite culinary school and tell them they show promise and they should develop their skills. Then they should continue to eliminate the promising cooks until they end up with the most absolute awful cooks in the USA. For instance the guy they eliminated last night who has never learned that you peel onions becore slicing or dicing (the non-peeling of garlic I'm ignoring since I notice that often chefs do or don't peel garlic depending on what they're going to do with it), would be a finalist in my concept. Then starting from the bottom, having determined who are the absolute worse cooks in America,they start all over from the bottom up, in which they take people who's cooking isn't fit to throw into a chum pot when fishing, and turn them into cooks who Sara Moulton asks for cooking hints, Lydia Bastinich wouldn't allow into her restaurants because their standards are too high, and Jacques Pepin regrets that he never had the opportunity to introduce them to Julia.

I honestly think that the Foolproof Vinaigrette recipe in the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated is one of the silliest things I've read in years. My own recipe, based on Julia Child's, is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Put the vinegar in a jar, add salt and pepper and a generous dollop (the test kitchen, to the best of my knowledge has never defined a dollop) and shake well. Add the oil, and shake well again. If the mustard isn't included, you'll have to shake vigrorously before using since it will separate quickly. I do not understand the point of wanting a vinaigrette that can sit for an hour and a half without separating. Who dresses their salads an hour and a half in advance. I only do it when I'm making a beef salad and plan on letting it sit in the refridgerator overnight. Puttiong mayo in a vinaigrette? For heavens sake If a vinaigrette does separate, the solution is to pick up the bottle and shake it some more, If the test kitchen ever did descend to making their vinaigrette in a bottle and not using mayo I wouldn't be at all surprised if somewheres in the article they point out that 5 tasters liked it best when shaken with the left hand, six tasters liked it better when shaken with the right hand, but the majority thought it was best when held in either hand while using an abdominal belt vibrator, except for one or two who thought the vibrator made it taste like mothballs from their grandmother's cedar chest.

Since you only cook for them twice a month, why don't you come up with six basic menus for the meat, potato and vegetables. Then get creative with the salads and deserts. No matter what you do, you're going to get complaints. I worked in a Social Security district office for over 34 years, and my aged mother lived with me for the last 10 years of her life (or as I think of them the lost 10 years of my life). People are going to complain. No matter how old , frail, and feeble they are, as long as they can make someone else unhappy, they can assure themselves that they haven't totally lost it.

I would suggest that you just give them what they want. Dull, plain, boring food. The same four or five menus (keep notes on what gets the least complaints) over and over and over. Or as Robert Heinlein wrote years ago " Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig".

You can use a stewing hen if you can find one. In the Philadelphia area I'd try the Italian Market, Reading Terminal, Chinatown or any Asian supermarket. Years ago some egg farmers would sell their hens that were no longer productive but even in the sixties that practice was being driven extinct by all the regulations, and laws on the county, state and federal level. ed. for spelling

Salade de Limace

Here's a pic of some lamb's quarters I picked up from this Saturday. I know the usual greens treatment -- EVOO/garlic/lemon. What else can I do with them? Ideas appreciated. Nice to see you blogging again. Those are the biggest lambs quarters I've seen. I like them when they're still small with a faint rosy blush and look like they've been dusted with flour. I only use them for salads, although I've read that it can be boiled for a dish of greens. Only young plants are edible. Once they mature and go to seed they're not worth eating. I haven't had a problem with them in my garden since I found out the young leaves are edible.

Usually the bottles have a "best by" date on them. I use wheat germ for a couple of bread recipes and always ended up throwing some out so I started sprinkling a couple of spoonsfull on my cereal every morning, and now I never have to throw any out.

My glasses;Bifocals that is. Anytime I'm done cooking but have to go wash my glasses before I sit down to eat means the kitchen is a greasy sticky mess.

On page 13 of The Way To Cook, Julia Child has a whole section devoted to "The Leek And Potato Soup Family". Her basic formula, leeks, potatoes , water and salt is very good, and she offers suggestions on how to make it even better.

I use disposable powdered gloves from CVS which come in small, medium or large. I primarily use them for handling raw meat such as chicken or hamburger, or when making them meatloaf. This time of year I also wear playtex gloves when doing the dishes, and I rub on eucerin moisturizing cream before putting on the gloves for dishwashing. Despite this I still have cracked fingertips and cracked and bleeding hands all winter. Squeezing lemons and cleaning spinach this time of year is an ordeal. For Christmas I was given a moistering hand soap with the following ingredients - water, decyl & lauryl glucosides(natural coconut, corn starch& sugar soap blend), coco betaine (coconut oil moisturizer)sucrose ester (sugar moistirizer) soy protein, coco glucoside & glyceryl oleate (natural sunflower & coconut oil soap blend) honey glucose (sugar) ginger oil, neroli oil, grapefruit oil, lemongrass oil, lavendar oil, orange oil, lemon oil, lime oil, hyssop oil, eucalyptus oil, ylang ylang oi, rose oil, boronia oil, rosewood oil,bergamont oil, clove oil, pimento leaf oil, clary sage oil. nutmeg oil, litsea cubeba oil, vegetable glycerin, betaine (sugar beet, citric acid, glucose oxidase,& lactoperoxidase (natural preservative. I'm not all that impressed with it as a hand soap, but I can't help wondering if it wouldn't taste good sprayed on grilled chicken breast or grilled fish.

Recently I decided it was time to replace my wire salad spinner because I was tired of sitting there refastening the triangular pieces fastened to the rim of the basket, and if you don't refasten them correctly the basket doesn't close properly. After extensive searching of the internet, and even a trip to the local Walmart (and I hate going to big box stores) I finally located one of these on a website selling "antique" kitchen equipment. It even had the red rubber covers on the handles/feet. But, it was badly rusted, and worse yet, they wanted $55.00 for it.So I went down to the hardware store, bought a cheap pair of needle nosed pliers, gave them a good washing and drying and put them in, my small kitchen utensil drawer along with a nice new spanking clean phillips #2 screwdriver ( I don't like using toolbox tools on kitchen items, if you saw my toolbox, you'd know why).

Does anyone know where on the internet to find wire baskets like this one? I bought this one years ago (while the original French Series was running) and would like to buy a new one. Is there any place on the internet where I can buy one. It's becomming a drag to have to sit there with a pair of pliers reassembling it. http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1197389867/gallery_7869_302_428359.jpg