palo

^^ Lucky you!! p

I don't remember my elementary school lunches, but the high school lunches stuck in my mind. We had a small cafeteria with no more than two or three mains, but the starch was always french fries. The memorable thing was we would go up and order a 25 cent plate of fries and gravy OR a 20 cent plate OR a 15 cent plate OR 50 cent plate etc. Basically we counted our change and thats what we ordered. The cool thing was the lunch ladies just gave us the same amount unless we went for the 15 cent order or the 50 cent one. I often thought (later), that they judged how hungry we looked or did they need to get rid of their supply. This was back in the 60's at a private school, when times were more relaxed and the almighty dollar was just a flicker in the future. I'm sure some cafeterias sell by strict weight/volume...I wonder if that applies to bananas! p

As you already have a stove top pc, it makes the decision a little harder. I bought the Duo 60 as I felt you can always put a little less in a large pot, but you can never put more in a small pot. However my main concern was safety and convenience. As Andie has recounted her horror stories and my own childhood memories of parents fear of the utensil, I decided though perfectly safe when operated by a knowledgeable user, sometimes I don't fit that bill. Additionally the convenience of "set and forget" appealed to me in terms of "just getting the job done!" Just an aside, Anna you mentioned you have an induction cooktop, is it a cooktop (more than 1 burner) or a portable burner as I've seen in your Manitoulin blogs? p

Indeed soulless, not given to whims or flights of fancy. I have a gas cooktop, which I found a struggle to use, control and clean-up were my main difficulties. I purchased a 110 volt induction burner and those problems disappeared, but no oomph in the heat department. I then added a 220 volt burner and now I found what I wanted. I have since removed the grates and burners from my gas cooktop (and turned off the gas), placed a large phenolic cutting board over it and have my two induction burners on it. Granted I only have two burners instead of the four I had with gas, but I found this was the right choice for ME. p

Snacks aside, I dislike eating in a vehicle whether as the driver or a passenger. It's the discomfort and not enjoying the food as well as I could if I was at a table. Even while stopped, the lack of a "traditional" dining setting disturbs my enjoyment of the food. I also do not eat while standing in the kitchen, have to sit. Having said that, there are exceptions like time constraints that will force me to eat in the car. A whole new topic would be drive-through nightmares. p

I agree that the idea is unique, but the price is a bit high. It certainly adds to the unit's flexibility. p

Peppers and tomatoes (cherry) are good dried - I have some from going on two years ago - re-hydrate and use in sauces etc. If they are really dry they should keep unrefrigerated, mine have, just add water to make them pliable and flavourable again - depending on their final use I've used wine. I've also done jerky - fat does not dehydrate well so I used lean round steak - came out okay but the secret is in the marinate - I used a teriyaki base and it wasn't that great. The jerky I kept refrigerated as it was meat and you know what they say about meat. p

I usually mix rye/rum/vodka etc with coke/ginger ale/soda - the mix generally gives it the flavour. Manhattans are good with rye. Gin and tonic is a drink that I find goes down more slowly due to its relative bitterness as opposed to coke/ginger ale mixes. That being the case there's a lot to be said for rye/rum/vodka straight up or on the rocks, if you can manage to limit yourself to less than 4-5 oz. Again, I find it goes down too easily. p

Well IR thermometers give a digital readout to the degree, whereas thermal imaging cameras (the ones I have seen) display temperature ranges displayed in colour. One thing off the top of my head comes to mind though - fridge/freezer leakage (gasket/seal etc) or oven door leakage. Might be interesting in that respect. Another might be to detect hot spots in pot/skillet as it pre-heats. p

@ radtek: We have a frozen food purveyor up here in Ontario called M & M Meats which sell pre-cooked burgers, unfortunately they are similar to sausage rounds and not to my liking. @ Rerun: Not annoyed at all, I have frozen homemade burgers before and while the results were good, atm I'm just looking at convenience. I don't get overly hung up on the ingredients in prepackaged foods. p

^^ Might take me a while to drive there for breakfast, so l'll take a rain check! Yes the cooking grids impressed me the most about the stove as well as it's overall good looks, shame other manufacturers don't consider this in their design p

Very nice looking and a good price, being in the right place at the right time is an art! I especially like the burner grids, flat and close together, to eliminate the balancing act required by those common "spider" grills and small pots. p

Recently purchased two boxes of The Keg's frozen burgers. Very disappointed. First off The Keg is a fairly well-respected steakhouse chain, and these were fairly expensive for frozen burgers. The burgers right out of the box were grey, looked like freezer burn, this was new stock for the store. Cooked, they tasted like cardboard, the box suggested seasoning with their brand of spice. I returned them to the store - I didn't open the second box. Now before you think this is a rant against The Keg, it's not. I'm looking for suggestions for good frozen burgers in Ontario. I have had good experiences with President's Choice burgers and I've picked up a box of Webers (well-known local highway burger shack on the way to Muskoka) but not tried them yet. http:en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/webers p

@Kerry- "Stopped into one of the 'antique' shops - saw this neat rotisserie" Had one of those back in the day, can't recall how well it worked but it WAS well made. p

I've been using a Capresso model for over two years and it had become a little erratic - multiple button presses before it would begin to work. I use it to make a latte/cappuccino - basically I heat and foam the milk (whole) and then pour into cup and add two shots of espresso (Saeco Talea Ring Plus). So I thought I would look into another frother as the Capresso seemed like it was on its way out. After online research I decided on the Breville Milk Cafe. I have always been impressed with Breville products, this is my 6th Breville small appliance, and their manuals outshine most of the rest. I decided to purchase from Amazon Canada for the convenience. The price was just over $130, a little pricy as I had paid about $60 for the Capresso, but it had gone up to about $95, so I figured go for it. Well first use this morning - colour me IMPRESSED!!! First, time - less than 4 minutes with whole milk and max temperature, Capresso about 10 minutes for same amt. and no temp control on Capresso Second, foam quality - this is obviously subjective, but my preference is almost 100% foam - the Breville achieved this easily, Capresso not so much, The Breville comes with two frothing disks, I used the cappuccino disk. Ease of use - read over manual yesterday, first use this morning without reference to instructions, perfect! Added milk, pressed button, less than 4 minutes later, done. Multitasking - makes a variety of drinks, temperature control, much more versatile than the Capresso - doubt if I will take advantage of these options but thet're there. Value - to me yes, to others with different priorities, maybe not. Battery operated frothing wands go for maybe $20 - $30, if that works for you, why would you spend more? Anyone else have this product? Impressions? If you purchased a different product for this purpose, what made you make that choice? Breville Milk Cafe manual: http://www.breville.ca/media/mediaappearance/4537/BMF600XL_IB_F13_factory.pdf p

Thanks for the links to the manuals GlorifiedRice, my French is less than so-so, but I could get the general gist of what was being said or not said. I think this product escaped from their development lab when everyone was on holidays. Not something KitchenAid would be proud to have their name on. p

I would be interested in seeing the manual in order to check out what it can do. I tried their site but no info available. p

@AnnN: Please tell me more, I have a CSO and haven't tried the steam function as I thought it would make it soggy. p

Appreciate your giving the measurements in "metric" boilsover as for things like flour they are much more accurate than "cups" and easier to deal with for things like butter/yogurt etc. I googled "eggless brioche" and found that most posters found that the results were less brioche-like than they would have preferred. I will try this recipe when I get some eggs in. Any thoughts on freezing the dough at some point to make it more spontaneous as opposed the 24-48 first proof. Ideally l'd like to freeze after that time frame. @chris_s: l don't feel too bad about my hometown's lack of culinary delights seeing as how a city like Winnipeg has its own deficiencies. p

So by whatever method/recipe you have produced some great fried food. Now presuming we are working in our home kitchen, we will need to prepare our food in batches due to cooking appliance limitations. Now my question is, based on your experience, what is the best way to maintain the first batch while you produce the second/third batches? Keep in mind the goal is not just maintaining the temperature, but the crispy fried texture of that first batch. A second question might be, how do you reheat something like fried chicken to get as close as possible to the original? p

Consumer grade kettles will draw 1500 watts. Hats off to Andiesenji and rotuts who pointed out that it's the number of outlets on a circuit and the power draw of the total (they explained it better). I failed to point this out in my explanations. p

Corningware has a contact us page that you might try: http://www.worldkitchen.com/en/contactus It's not the same as talking to a "real" person and you might just get a "form" response, but it's a start. p

Watching water boil is just about as creative as I get. p

Again in my neck of the woods, white is 110v/15amp 14 guage, yellow is 110v/20amp 12 guage and red is 110v/20 amp 12 guage. Not sure about orange unless it's for 220v p

A thought about repair, your local library might be able to help for a nominal fee. p