Thanks for the Crepes

No, @KennethTis not alone in his appreciation. Thanks @liuzhoufor all you do to bring us the enchanting tales of your experiences in China!

Jo, You need to buy a carabiner or two. They are large easy open, easy close clips that hook onto the strong loops most backpacks have. (Mine has three of these woven nylon loops.) Plastic grocery bags can then be clipped onto the load on your back, making it easier to carry. It leaves your arms free to swing with your gait and saves that biting pain that can come from trying to carry grocery bags long distances in your hands. Carabiners are used mostly by rock climbers so are sold in sporting goods stores, but I know you can find stuff online when you can't get it within walking distance locally. They are cheap, light aluminum, and I guarantee you will think this one of the best purchases you ever made. I too am often frustrated by "out of stock" designation on grocery deliveries. It was no exception today, but at least I was able to get what I needed to make what I had committed to for the dishes for a Thanksgiving invite from my sister. I will be bringing the infamous green bean casserole with French's onions and lima beans for the eldest niece that loves them as much as I do. I am so looking forward to some of my sister's bread. She is a master at breadmaking, and it will be lovely to spend time with my family and see Sis's new horse. I am so looking forward to this!

I was tempted to ask about churchkhela when you first posted a photo of it. It looked to me like brilliantly colored wax-coated dried fruit, but I let it pass. This time, I found a video of it being made and it seems quite a production. Very interesting account of your travels in Georgia, @shain! Thank you. Here is the second part of the video. I can't understand what these ladies are saying, but it seems important that the mixture they are cooking and stirring not run over the pot. This makes me wonder why they have filled their pot to the very brim? I would want a larger pot or a smaller amount of candy mixture myself.

I will let @JoNorvelleWalkerexplain better later, 'cause I do not have one, but it's a contraption (kind of expensive) that can dispense stuff like whipped cream. I think it works on pressure and injected gas cartridges under even more pressure. Those who have them do a lot of interesting things with them. I really don't understand how they work either, so it would be good to get a knowledgeable explanation.

I took everything out of my freezer today, chipped two inches of ice out of the bottom shelf and only put back the things I know I will eat. That amounted to only a little over half of what was in there, but I know where everything is and can get to it when I want it. Why do I insist on cramming my freezer so full of stuff I can't find anything? I must have pitched 20 carefully individually-portioned, various kinds of frozen rice since from the last time I cleaned out the freezer. I found a stash of homemade blueberry pancakes that had gotten buried, so rewarded myself with some of them for dinner.

I too have a problem managing fresh produce for just myself. I used up the last of the heart of Romaine lettuce from my last grocery order yesterday, but threw out for collection tomorrow most of a head of cauliflower. Tonight's dinner was inspired by @CantCookStillTry and @liuzhou's descriptions of stuffed hot peppers. I took the last four large jalapenos, split lengthwise and hollowed out, being careful to use gloves and a melon baller this time. Stuffed with lightly cooked hot pork sausage and minced onion mixed with cream cheese and baked for 20 minutes in the CSO. This was a very tasty meal and another way I can persuade myself to eat meat. It's low carb too for those of you observing that. I promptly ruined that aspect by having a nice stack of homemade blueberry pancakes from the freezer for dessert, though.

I made the prune cake I grew up with yesterday. It's kind of an unusual recipe that I'm pretty sure we got off the Sunsweet prunes container. It's made with buttermilk in both the cake and the glaze and the cake is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and contains chopped walnuts. The cake is moist to start with and then you poke it all over while still hot with a skewer and pour on a glaze, so it comes out really moist and good. Not much of a flashy looker, but I have never served this to anyone who didn't love it, including prune haters. The glaze is weird. It has butter, sugar, a weench of corn syrup and baking soda. If you make this cake, use a much larger pan than you think you will need for the glaze. The soda makes it foam up during the boiling to four times the size! I guess this brings a lightness to what would otherwise be a heavy glaze that allows it to penetrate the cake. I cut the sugar way down, as usual from the original recipe, and I think I will cut it even further next time. This was made in the CSO in the smallest of my French White Corning ware casserole dishes. We used to always make this in a Bundt pan, and while my Bundt pan fits in the CSO, I just think a full recipe would've risen too near the top elements. So I cut the recipe in half which is perfect for me cooking for just myself. It's so good I grabbed a small piece as soon as I woke up.

The eyes on the lollipops are especially good! They seem shiny and the little white dots on the sides of the pupil make it look like reflected light. Great work.

Believe it or not, things used to be even worse before this lady, Temple Grandin, started advocating for more humane treatment of animals for slaughter. Her work in best practices in Big Ag has improved things. They are still bad, but she has helped. I've seen the the HBO "Temple Grandin" movie and it is interesting and award winning. She's autistic, but has managed to get some pretty advanced degrees. A really interesting woman. If you are interested, there is a lot of stuff about her and her work on YouTube. And yes the hormones including adrenaline released during extreme stress definitely affect the quality of the meat, so it is much to our advantage to reduce trauma to our meat animals.

Oh it can definitely be done, is worthwhile, and is delicious! Thank you for the Alton video about the displacement admonition with water and to @curls for her wise advice on the same matter. Perhaps if we had done that beforehand, the experiences would have been much less iffy and scary. Still worth doing if you have help and plenty of folks to eat up that delicious turkey, though. This method has ALWAYS resulted in the most delicious turkey I have ever experienced and this is with Big Ag farm raised and frozen specimens.

I was so proud of myself when I bought some stainless steel knives, all one piece, blade and handle. The handle is hollow and rounded, quite bulbous. I gloated, that my great grand nieces and nephews will inherit these beauties. I got them home and into use, and the handles that were so comfortable in my hand refused to say balanced on the edge of a plate. They are somewhat like this and these. Mine are non-serrated and with even more bulbous and rounded handles than those I could find to show you. They are very nice knives, that should last virtually forever. I use them now to cut pies and quiches or other tasks in the kitchen. They just make a big mess trying to use them in the dining room. They will roll off the plate onto the table at no provocation, and I can see how they would wind up on the floor easily too, it one were unfamiliar with them, but unlike the ones quiet1 mentioned, the handles are very, very comfortable in the hand, which is what led me to purchase them along with the durable one-piece construction from stainless steel. Don't be fooled like I was.

Go for it! I've deep fried a turkey twice, and they have been the most delicious way I have ever had turkey prepared. I've always done it in the backyard on a borrowed turkey fryer propane rig with a huge aluminum pot. My turkeys were a bit larger than the 12 pounder referenced in the Serious Eats article. These efforts were inspired by a party I was invited to that featured deep fried turkey and it made me re-examine my indifference to this bird. You can buy the gallons of oil you will need in huge containers around this time of year, and the peanut/soy blend is going to save you some money. The first time I did this, I sprung for pure peanut oil and ended up paying more for the oil than for the turkey. Both work equally well, and I'm not really sure what the hype about pure peanut oil is except maybe if your going to go to all the trouble, then get the most expensive? Just be extremely careful. I did not allow pets or children out in the cooking area, and think that is wise. The oil boiled over onto the grass both times when the turkey was lowered into the oil. No one was hurt, but I can most definitely see how that could happen. Our pot was big enough that the spilled oil came nowhere close to the propane burner underneath. We monitored oil temp with a candy/frying thermometer the whole time. With a massive, 18 pound turkey going into the oil, the temp will fall dramatically, but it will come back up quickly. We only cooked the 18 pounder about 35 minutes and it was done to the bone, with crispy skin and very moist flesh, even the breast. Isn't that amazing compared to the time that it takes to roast a bird that size to dry mediocrity? I highly recommend this method with abundant caution. We also used the owner's pot and rig to boil twenty lobsters for a Christmas party years ago. Very nice piece of equipment. I have seen an account on this forum from a respected member who cooked a turkey this way inside her home. Despite her success, I have to say from my experience with the method, this is definitely something that must be done outdoors and with all the care for safety you can muster. Stand as far back as possible from your frying rig while lowering your turkey and wear boots rather than sandals.

McDonald's sausage has gotten better in the later years. It used to be horrible, but at least in my local outlet it is more meaty instead of the soy crap they used to serve. If you haven't tried it again in decades, like I hadn't, you might want to give it another shot. Of course with free range hogs and the authentication of the origin of your available sausage, you might be better off sticking to your current path. Just sayin' McDonalds seems to have cleaned up its act lately on the sausage offered on its breakfast sandwiches. It sure needed to. I remember when the sausage was abominable too. Of course the price has increased quite dramatically as well. McD's is no longer a cheap place to eat.

A friend, who lives a few blocks up the streets from me has lotus plants in an artificial pond she got from a nursery in Apex, NC. She got the lotus plants there too, and they are so very beautiful. I do not know how these plants might fare further north where it gets a lot colder. I love the flowers. So pretty! I have to say that the lotus root we get here is canned and pretty bad, like the canned water chestnuts that are widely available. I once got fresh water chestnuts at the pan-Asian grocer that went out of business near my home, and they have put me off the canned ones forever. I will say, that if you're in my area, we can get jicama here and it is a good substitute for fresh water chestnut, that has only been available to me once in my long life.

Well ... electronic ovens do not like and cannot withstand high heat conditions. Yours is electronic, right, Jo? Course the oven could be spot on, and you can blame it on yourself as you have done, but I'm extremely suspecting of electronic appliances, cuz I hate them for the overpriced and short-lived things that they are. 😝

Maybe reduce the budget for flatware a winch and buy something that doesn't invite theft? Then increase the budget for fresh flowers in the restaurant and on the tables a little? That would be more memorable to some patrons, like me. You can still buy substantial flatware that your patrons will be pleased with. I just think maybe this area is not where you might express your creativity most effectively. Now dishes and serving boards for charcuterie is a different matter. Investment in that area will be memorable with folks who eat at your restaurant, I think.

I have some pieces exactly like that and I always reserved them for my husband. Now, with him in the nursing home, they are not used. These are the ones I like. I first ran across them in restaurants and liked them so much I had to buy some. I have other forks, but when these are expended, I make it a point to run the dishwasher. Men will happily eat with them too, but I am a woman. My linked pieces are plenty substantial, but not as heavy as the ones lindag links to and that my husband preferred. I will also be one to say that it is about the food. The cutlery should be a support to that and not a distraction, if you ask me, and certainly not a pretty irritation.

Well, it certainly looks delicious. I guess it could have raw dough in the center, but it doesn't appear to.

I think it's a marketing plan to overprice their sandwiches, for which they never intend to have a plan for execution to provide product that equals the value of what they extract from the consumer. They seem to be very good at that. I'd have to call it fraud if under oath. At least you got the drink coozie, @kayb. I remember when Arby's actually used to be good when they sliced deli meats in front of you for your sandwich, and offered an honest product.

First, I have to say that I am so enjoying your fascinating travel report! Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us. Second, I still need to know more about this image. It actually looks like an organic fruit is inside a 14K golden cage designed to look like an organic structure. Is this a trick of the light in the photograph, or is this actually what this plant looks like in real life, with perhaps more of a straw like cage instead of the golden jewelry it appears to be? Sorry to keep at it after kayb asked you already, but there appears to be another fruit below and to the right in the image that seems more like a tomatillo or gooseberry. Either way, beautiful, beautiful image!

Welcome to eG forums, happyaccident! I know it can be awkward to talk about the compromises and challenges life throws at us, especially with strangers. Still it would be helpful to our ability to give advice if you would let us know what your limitations are. I broke my left hip in early November of 2017 and after surgery and a short stay in a skilled nursing facility where my husband still is after his stroke that paralyzed his right side in 2016. I was released about a month after my accident back to my home where I live alone and could not afford any outside aid. I have just recently graduated to walking a little bit after spending close to a year in a wheelchair and then using crutches to get up and down stairs. I managed to cook for myself, get the dishes washed, do my laundry without being able to walk for that long. It wasn't fun, but it is doable. I found my biggest challenge with cooking and eating was the difficulty of carrying things around, like from the refrigerator to the prep area to the stove to the table. Also, once your hands get dirty or even wet, you do not want to use them to propel your wheelchair. So I might have some useful information if any of those things apply to you. Lots of our members are older and are experiencing reduced hand strength or reduced strength in general. I've learned to open stubborn jar lids on my own instead of carrying them to my husband, who was much stronger than me. I've seen a lot of accounts of gadgets and appliances that help older folks cope in the kitchen on this forum. There are some very knowledgeable people on this forum who are glad to help with problems or questions about anything culinary. Jump in and tell us what you're cooking and how we can help with any challenges you're facing.

Kim, If you are proofing so much dough for say, your church bake sales or something, that you actually need a proofing room then the heater might be your best solution. If you just need to proof some yeast dough for a couple loaves of bread, I use my microwave. First I boil two cups of water in a Pyrex measuring cup. Then move it off to a corner in the back of the microwave cavity. Add your bowl of dough and let it rise. Reboil the water while shaping dough into a couple loaves, which will also fit into the "proofing box" microwave with the Pyrex cup full of hot water. I try to keep the hot water cup from actually touching the metal bowl or pans. Water holds a lot of heat and releases it slowly over time, plus the moist environment from the steam is good for yeast growth too. An idea, anyway.

Hi Jack! Do you catch your own fish and cook them when you camp out? They always taste best that way, I think.

TJ's has recalled some Carnita Burritos for possible Salmonella/Listeria contamination. They are doing this as a precaution, and to me, that just ups the reputation of TJs. I really feel they look out for their consumers much better than other alternatives for food shopping with both value and wholesomeness.

I have food now! It cost $28 to get it delivered through InstaCart from Food Lion, but I have food now. So I had a great big chef salad with a couple of boiled eggs, shredded cheddar, Romaine hearts, spring mix, Campari tomatoes, cucumbers and shaved carrot. I mixed the veggies up with an Italian style dressing before topping it with the proteins, and it was very good .... After I removed the roast beef I also tried to use for a protein element. I had placed some sliced up roast beef that came in my order around the perimeter of the salad. I did this after forcing myself to eat the protein and lettuce components of a sandwich I made yesterday. The brand of this roast beef is "Taste of Inspirations" available at Food Lion. The first time I tasted it, they were giving free samples at my local Food Lion, and I was with my husband. We both liked it a lot. It was cooked rare and tasted very fresh and good. I bought some and we both enjoyed it, in spite of it being very expensive for SV beef round. This time the order came with some roast beef that was still a little pink, but mostly grey and not fresh-tasting at all. I did force myself to eat a little yesterday out of the sandwich I'd made, but just couldn't get this $8.99 a pound stuff down today. I picked it off the salad's perimeter after choking down a few bites. Garbage disposal ate it along with the eggshells, and I enjoyed my salad after that. I also ate a Greek yogurt flavored with peaches for dessert to make up for some of the protein and B12. It is weird, because I used to be able to enjoy substandard meats. I still enjoy meats, but what comes to mind in the meat department is a charcoal grilled steak. I know that meat is a good source of protein and Vitamin B12, one of the best, but I am getting to the point that I can rarely choke it down unless it is perfect and very, very fresh. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to still get the nutrition meat provides without actually having to choke down meat you do not like? There is also an issue with me that cooking meat in an oven splatters fat and meat junk everywhere, causing a huge cleaning issue as opposed to cooking veggies. Same thing with sauteeing on the the stove top. I just about hate cooking meat except for charcoal outside. You can boil it and not make a huge mess, but then it is boiled meat. Meh. I use eggs, cheeses, including cottage cheese, which I like, yogurt, beans, and some nuts to make up for the lack of nutrients I miss by my unwillingness to deal with cooking meat. I also like seafood, which often doesn't suffer the degradation that meat does by boiling or gently sauteeing it. Does anyone have any suggestions to get protein and B12 without dealing with meat every day? I appreciate any input.