Margaret Pilgrim

A wine cork works well as a cover for a spike ...

I swear by Bamix immersion blenders. Whereas recipes say to blend then strain, I find that straining is unnecessary when making a velvety soup or sauce. But to make mayo, I simply use a wire coil whisk in a French "working jar" It emulsifies into mayo in under a minute, cap with its lid. Rinse whisk and done..

We somehow acquired one of these. Pretty unbreakable. You can have one too as this one is on eBay now. $38.

I've never had a stand mixer. Some people bemoan having a deprived childhood. I have a deprived adulthood.

Taking a Labor Day holiday from the kitchen, tonight's plate is truly American. Mrs. Paul's fish sticks, Hellman's tartar sauce.steamed broccoli with Velveeta sauce, pan fried potatoes with off camera Del Monte catsup. Don't worry, I'll be back at work soon.

From Toliver's quote, " just pull some local permits to get certified by the Riverside County public health office." Maybe I'm just jaundiced by SF's legendary red tape, but this sounds fraught with gotchas.

Shain, thanks much for this. FWIW, I find a two tined fork, like a small carving set fork, invaluable for "fluffing" rice and pilaf-like foods.

The couscous pictured above is actually moghrabiah, Lebonese couscous. Slightly larger than Israeli. Cousins.

KISS. If there are no better (intelligible) instructions on the package, boil in salted water until tender. Husband said I could have let this boil a few more minutes, but it was not much more than al dente.

Beets with Momofuku ranch (Sarah Leah Chase's) Hungarian chicken, with Israeli couscous

Blistered shishitos, Maldon salt. Pasta with raw tomato sauce, Sungold cherry tomatoes courtesy of country neighbors.

That shouldn't exist here, as we respect and learn from others' taste and experience.

I dogsit....

Roasted or split and grilled Cornish hen with Cape Cod beach plum sauce.

Totally agree, and expand your list to include hand formed pastas, puff pastry and friends, croquembouche, ballotine of chicken, etc, etc. These are all flights of kitchen fancy, projects one undertakes for the "fun" of it. If they don't sound like fun, I'd steer clear.

Granted it's a surprise squelcher, but there's always the good, old, "If you could have anything in the world for your Birthday Dinner,..that I can create in a rental kitchen...what would it be?"

What would he order were you able to go out? That's a start...

Nice shape. Are they filled?

Combining last night's leftover grilled chicken and steamed rice, new egg, scallions, peas and scrap of bacon -> Fried Rice

I guess it would depend on the viewer. Some would be inspired to follow along. Others to say, "Screw it. I'll buy mine." In all events the video is a valuable anthropological document.

Totally agree. I don’t know Diane’s suggestions. My point was that newbies should not be discouraged by seemingly complicated versions from experts or food media. Again, JUST DO IT.

Returning to my KISS mantra, I think that ma=y food media publications make a simple family/village dish too complicated or at least too sophisticated. You moosh some corn porridge onto a carrier, a leaf or paper, add some savory stew or just cheese and seasoning, wrap it up and steam it. It isn't rocket science nor is it difficult nor does it require a village worth of mamas. So many of the internet food renditions are cute, but not necessarily more delicious, and certainly not more heart warming.

I'm in!

"Home did", as my Texas friend used to say, is way, way better than all but a very few even mamacita for sale versions. And, yes, tamale parties are legendary affairs and certainly wonderful comraderie. But give me a couple of quiet hours and the job is simpler if not social. Someone compared the process to a dumpling party. Save me from that also. .

It's definitely usable. The/your question was how to preserve it for winter/later use. My sick sense of humor emerging, you pass it on to a friend, like you do fruit cakes, who passes it on, and the end-guy carves it into a Martha Stewart Jack--o-lantern.