Tropicalsenior

When I was little we used to absolutely love that type of margarine. We have to take turns being the one that could squish the capsule. Let's face it, growing up on a farm in Nebraska there wasn't much other entertainment. The second reason was there was plenty of Cream and if she didn't buy the margarine one of us had to churn the butter, that nasty fresh cream butter. That was a lot less entertaining.

Do you usually make this in your 6 quart IP? It might need a shorter cooking time in the smaller one.

My favorite style of spanakopita. Kind of a pain to make but so easy to eat. And these look delicious.

I've never had anything explode in my microwave but if you have an hour or two I will tell you about when my pressure cooker exploded. Not one surface in the kitchen was spared.

Funny story but also kind of sad. I have a friend that that happened to and now he won't heat water in the microwave to make tea because he is convinced that all the radiation from the microwave is trapped in the water and if he drinks the water from the microwave he will get cancer. He's about 200 lb overweight, smokes like a chimney, and drinks like a fish and he's worried about water from the microwave.

I've always used full power, too. This last microwave that I've had is the only one that has a specific button for melting butter. In fact till today I didn't even know that butter exploded. I never heard of such a thing. I did have a neighbor that set her brand new microwave on fire by melting butter when microwaves were something new. I asked her how in the world she did it and she said that she set it for 5 minutes. As far as I know she never bought another microwave, thank God.

Interesting that your camote is nice and orange. The camote that we get here in Costa Rica is a very pale yellow and not very sweet.

It's just a habit but I've always cut butter into small chunks before melting it in the microwave. It melts in about half the time and I've never had an explosion yet.

Welcome. If you want to learn you have come to the right place. The best to find out about Asian cooking is to dig into the forum archives. There is a wealth of knowledge. This place is also full of people that are willing to help and will share recipes if you ask. The best way to start learning is to just jump in and start participating.

An ordinary woodworking rasp perhaps, but this is a microplane rasp. Clearly marked microplane and it is stainless steel. I've used it for over 20 years and not a trace of rust. I checked online and unfortunately microplane no longer makes woodworking microplanes. They say because of production problems but they are probably making way more profit on the ones that they make for the kitchen.

I have one of those and about the only thing that I use it for is parmesan. That is, when I can find a good chunk of Parmesan.

And then the price went up 10 times over.

I used to have a paddle type and I didn't find it any easier to hold onto than the skinny ones. I wound up giving it away. These are the ones that I have presently. The one that I use most is the one on the right. I probably had it 20 years and I purloined it from my husband's woodworking kit. It's just an ordinary woodworking rasp. My other favorite one might work better for you as you can hold it in your hand to grate things. It's perfect for parmesan cheese, small amounts of carrot or other vegetables. It's just a tiny box grater with a microplane face. The face measures four and a half inches by 2 in. It doesn't have any brand name on it and it is just something that I picked up at the grocery store.

Gorgeous! So happy to see you cooking again. I hope that 2024 is much better for you.

No, we just need one like @Ann_T. And one that isn't 5,000 Mi away.

Happy New Year to you Robert. May the coming year bring you as much happiness and encouragement as you give us every day. Thank you.

Just took out a loaf of bread. It's kind of lopsided, but it's a taste that counts. Right?

First bake of the year. Mexican style pulled pork with refried beans and cheddar cheese filling. Also two small plain ones for ham sandwiches tomorrow.

OMG! Been there done that too many times.

There is a lot of local cheese and it is on the order of the queso Fresca that you would find in Mexico. There are two dairies in Costa Rica that make cheddar and swiss type cheeses but they are way overpriced and you might as well be eating greasy rubber. Imported cheeses are very expensive except for the Walmart brand and these are good for cooking. When I want an eating cheese I splurge and buy an imported cheese. I've been here over 30 years so I'm pretty experienced in making do with what I can find.

I agree but living in Costa Rica, Beggars can't be choosers. You take what you can get.

I really have to agree. I live in Costa Rica where in order to buy a really good block of cheese I would have to refinance my car. So I buy good packaged grated cheese. It suits my needs for cooking. Once in awhile I splurge and buy a block of eating cheese. If I really must grate cheese, I have an old box grater that works just fine.

Would love to have that glove, but, I kid you not $13.99 FREE Returns $27.65 Shipping & Import Fees Deposit to Costa Rica Details

I couldn't agree more. My best microplane is one that I snitched from my husband about 20 years ago. I still have it and it works beautifully. If you want the very best quality microplanes at a reasonable price, look in a woodworking catalog.

@liuzhou thank you so much for this series. I am enjoying it immensely. I found it very interesting to read your opinion of Cantonese food. I was recently reading this thread. they talk about the fact that 99% of the early immigrants to the West were Cantonese or Toisanese which would explain why there are so many bad Chinese restaurants in the Americas. Cantonese I am beginning to understand but what is Toisanese?