Tropicalsenior

Thank you so much. It comes just in time for my weekly shopping trip and I can gets some fresh yogurt. Their butter chicken recipe also looks very interesting. Looks like it's Indian food this weekend.

It sounds just like what I have been looking for. Would you be willing to share a recipe, please?

I will admit that your fish and chips always look beautiful. Someday you are going to have to post your recipe for beer batter.

Here again we have different cultures, different solutions. Beef fat is totally unavailable. The only breed of cattle they have here is the type of Brahma that has no fat and no marbling. I don't deep fry because good cooking oil is so expensive and my only other choices are lard and palm oil which I refuse to use. So I'm left with the oven roasting or stir fry. Come to think of it, I haven't had good fish and chips for over 30 years.

Just out of curiosity, is butter not available at all in China?

The trick is parboiling them in a little bit of soda. Check with mr. Google, there are a lot of references about the effect of crisping and Browning. Yeah, if you're deep frying your potatoes (which I never do) I can see not using the soy sauce. But please check out the effect of the baking soda. It really does make a difference. I've been fighting with these ugly potatoes here in Costa Rica for 30 years and have learned a few things over the years that do help.

All the potatoes here in Costa Rica are hopeless for frying but I finally figured out a way to do it. I cut them in wedges and boil them until they are just about done. I add about half a teaspoon of baking soda to the water. Then I drain them and let them thoroughly dry. I stir fry them in about 2 tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of oil. Last night, on a hunch, I added a teaspoon of dark soy sauce to the butter and oil and it took them right over the top. Dark and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and just the right amount of salt. I wish that I had taken a picture.

Hardly, I've been in their home in Hunts Point in the Seattle area. I'm surprised that they could even find each other in it. I'm just surprised that they've stayed married as long as they did.

That is the whole thing in a nutshell in order to stay sane in retirement. When we retired to Costa Rica, it was our first year of living completely together. We lived in a little tiny condo and almost didn't make it. Then we got a bigger house and he had his woodshop and studio and I had my sewing room and kitchen. We had separate reading areas, separate televisions, and even separate bedrooms and we were never more together than we were from then on. It is a big mistake to downsize to a little bitty condo or apartment where you are on top of each other all the time.

My husband was such a packrat that I refused to have a 'kitchen drawer'. I have a small basket on top of the counter and at the end of the week it is gone through and everything goes back to its place. If it doesn't have a place it gets pitched. I didn't dare let him cook anything in the kitchen because it took an act of Congress to clean up after him. Having worked in restaurants for years, I am a person with a place for everything and everything in its place and even though things had been in the same place for 20 years he never could find them. Then again, on the plus side, I never cooked anything, from a humble fried egg to a Sumptuous prime rib that he didn't thank me for it and compliment it. I will never again complain about his annoying little quirks without remembering all the good that overshadowed them.

I've heard it said that when you move you unpack 90% of everything in the first 10 days. The other 10% can take 10 years. If it has been more than 10 years it is time to buy a new one.

Don't worry. Now that you've replaced it with two new beautiful, expensive copies, you'll find it. And probably it will be in the first place that you looked.

OMG, been there done that so many times I can't even count the times. Nowadays I could put it down to old age dementia, but if that's the case, I've had old age dementia for 40 years. Take heart, you will eventually find them in the most illogical place possible and take my word for it, it's not going to get better. By the way, you might check the freezer. Last week that is where I finally found my car keys.

Sad. Having worked in the restaurant business I know that the more beautifuly the food is arranged on the plate, the more the fingers have tiptoed through the food before it arrived at the table.

Thank you. I found the recipe and this looks like it will be a great site for the instant pot.

That looks beautiful. Do you have a recipe or a source that you would share, please?

I have made this several times now. A few times with good steak and sometimes with some pretty tough meat. Hearing Costa Rica it is hard to get good meat. The cut that I like best for it is called giba. It is the hump of the Brahma cattle that they have here. I have found out that the secret to this dish is low, slow browning. I use a cast iron skillet and brown it for about 45 minutes. Then I followed the directions to the letter. The only concession to seasonings that I make is if it isn't salty enough, I add a little dark soy sauce at the end. I'll probably never make beef stew any other way.

I looked it up on the internet and it actually isn't blood. It is this.

Those both look so good! Did you make them? And if so, would you share some recipes?

I'm not even going there. I don't really care for rabbit but in some recipes it might be necessary. This is my favorite recipe for rabbit. Elephant Stew 1 elephant salt and pepper to taste 2 rabbits (optional) brown gravy Cut elephant into bite sized pieces. This should take about two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over a kerosene fire at 465 degrees for about 4 weeks. This will serve about 3,800 people. If more are expected, two rabbits may be added, but do this only if necessary as most people do not like to find hare in their stew.

I'm not even going there.

I just got that complete aversion to anything with blood and then to combine it with head cheese...uh uh, no. You can have my share, thank you, Duvel.

Yuck!!!

I've got the same one and it weighs a ton. A year ago, I fell down and badly injured my upper left arm. I had it in a sling for over 3 months and for about 2 months more I still couldn't lift anything. The monster sat across the kitchen from my only grounded outlet that I could use for it. No way to leave it there because that was the one that I use for every other appliance that I have. I went through bread withdrawal like crazy because that was the beginning of our pandemic and not only could I not drive one armed I couldn't get anywhere to buy decent bread. About once a week I would go over and lift up the monster to see if I could carry it yet and when I did, I knew I was on the road to recovery. I have since had a grounded outlet put in the counter where it sits. I will never again be completely without my KitchenAid.

My grandmother was about four foot nine and weighed about 85 pounds. She had eight kids and every week she would bake 10 loaves of bread to feed her family. Mealtime at her house was pretty bland. Almost everything was boiled and sometimes fried, but, boy, could she bake! And she made barrels of sauerkraut. Dreaded nasty rotten sauerkraut!