chezcherie

flexible cutting mats. chop, carry and funnel into the pan. lather, rinse, repeat.

i'm doing it now. favorite auntie on hospice care. i'm close to her, but not particularly close with her family. and yet, i am cooking every day, to make sure there is something comforting and home-cooked in that fridge. just feels right. may or may not be as much comfort to them as it is to me...

yogurt is a good idea--tartness without added acidity! thanks for all of these, folks!

excellent stealth camera work, undercover agent heidih.

i love them in orrechiette. the way they nestle inside the hollows of the pasta...don't need a lot to play hide and seek with them that way. i do it very simply, with goat cheese or ricotta salata. little lemon zest, maybe. very early spring. might just have to go grab some from the great little produce market that has the really fresh ones!

she's getting me her list, but it sounds like pretty much any acidic ingredients are on it. it's a toughie, huh? thanks for putting your mind to this, JAZ. hoping to hear from the rest of you, too...

i was asked a question today that has me utterly stumped. someone with a bladder infirmity tells me that she is supposed to avoid all acid-based foods--vinegar, lemon juice, hot sauce (because of the vinegar content), and was looking for advice on what she could use for salad dressing. wow. i'm usually pretty adept at suggesting work-arounds, but this one has me scratching my head. this woman is providing excellent hospice care to my favorite auntie, and i sure would like to help her out on this small thing.so i turn to the collective brilliance of eG...tia!

there seems to be a lot of interest in you salvaging this item, fat guy... if you get it clean enough that it doesn't skeeve you out, but not clean enough to put food directly on, you might consider cutting a couple sushi mats to line the inside surfaces. more esthetically pleasing than paper towels, perhaps--although that would probably be my solution.

oooh, heidih--you and those photos just took me back 40 years! i used to ride my bike from redondo beach up to annie's stand as a moony-eyed teenager, to buy those fragrant sweet peas and (nonfragrant but glorious) poppies. i'd get some peas in the pod as a snack, and a basket of berries, of course. i remember "annie" burning the ends of the poppies so they would last longer. i'd ride back along the beautiful coastline, with my bike basket full of blossoms, feeling like a maiden in some romantic film. completely coincidentally, my now-husband of 31 years grew up on the peninsula, and when clearing out his parents house after their recent deaths, we learned to our great surprise that his mother's mother left her teaching job in pasadena when many of her students were interned during the war, and lived in poston internment camp for several years! we found calendars, newpapers and other ephemera from her days at poston, which none of his siblings had ever known about. she was a middle-aged white woman, but she felt so strongly that her students were being treated so harshly, that she went to teach in th

try a few plates of coffee grounds. my condolences on the smell and the beef. and perhaps the husband.

kitty litter.

she was one of the primary inspirations for me when i went to culinary school (at age 40), and one of the reasons i elected to become a ccp (certified culinary professional). she was a big proponent of that designation, awarded by iacp (international association of culinary professionals). she may not have liked the term "chef" applied to her, but she accepted the role of culinary professional with pleasure. and she was a great mentor to women in the field, including many chefs.

janeer, i think you misunderstood andiesenji's post. i believe she wasn't saying that the plug of cream was a bad thing, at all. she was relating an explanation given to her by someone who used to work at a well-regarded local dairy as to why they started putting carrageenan into the cream. enough people must have complained...which is indeed a pity. i like the local cream, even with the irish moss/carrageenan addition, but i'd like it even better without it!

always trust andiesenji to come up with a plausible answer. thanks as always! one of the things i loved about that cream was that the cream rose to the top of the cream! to me, that was evidence of its non-ultrapasteurized and non homoginized (is that a word?) nature. it seems to me that the cream does now pour more smoothly, without the "ploof" as the wodge of cream dislodges from the neck of the plastic bottle. pity that they may have elected to fix a problem that, for me anyway, didn't exist. it's still my go-to cream. with or without the seaweed.

This is true, carageenan is not a health issue. A taste issue, perhaps, but not a serious health issue. my understanding is that carrageenan is derived from seaweed. i can detect no difference in the taste of the heavy cream, but perhaps a slight thickening of what i recall to be a thick product to begin with. i'm not concerned with the health issue--hell, the stuff is probably good for ya. i'm just interested in why it's in there, when i think until recently it was not. that cream was pretty much perfect the way it was--tasted like dairy, which in my opinion the ultrapasteurized stuff does not, whipped beautifully and was great for sauces. why add seaweed, i wonder? seems like an odd dairy ingredient, no?

i thought i posted earlier today, but must have failed to click "add reply". this thread caused me to go check my container of trader joe's heavy cream (pasteurized, but not ultrapasteurized). indeed, it contains carrageenan. i don't think this was the case in years past. still, it's my favorite cream. i think i will email to ask why the additive now?

i was surprised when i checked my bottle of Trader Joe's Heavy Cream (pasteurized, but not ultrapasteurized). Contains carrageenan. Still my favorite, but that was surprising.

i write trader joe's cookbooks. tj is notorious for discontinuing great stuff. therefore, i hoard tons of tj's stuff. in fact, i exhort readers to hoard their favorites, too. with trader joe's, it's a matter of self-preservation.

gasp! andiesenjie says the (CI/ATK) emperor has no clothes! i agree. while it's usually interesting reading, i frequently disagree with their conclusions, both on the "best way" to make a dish, and on equipment. i know there are a lot of ardent fans out there, but i really take what they proclaim with a (hand-harvested) grain of (sea)salt. to stay on topic, i use KAs in my cooking school. one was purchased about 25 years ago, and i'm pretty sure it has metal guts. i use that one for dough kneading. the other is of more recent vintage, and i use it for the lighter stuff. i also love the charles van over book, and use my cuisinart for that.

i do a feta-egg-cream mixture, stuff them and roast them. the custard puffs a bit, and i chiffonade some basil on top when they come out. nice little appetizer poppers.

when i had to wear white coats, i swore by zout. (now i wear burgundy coats--no wine stains there!)

andiesenji to the rescue once again! as always, you've got a sensible and delicious-sounding solution. i bow in your general direction.

wow...just received my order of this aged sherry vinegar. to my palate, it is harsher than the don bruno. i think i have some manchego in the cheese case, so i'm gonna try that pairing, but the initial taste is pretty rough!

i would think if you are quadrupling the recipe, you shouldn't need to 4x the cream of tartar. i'd try the same amount as a 1x recipe, or maybe a tiny bit more, but not 1/2 tsp. good luck!

i tried to order one, kind of as a joke for my bro-in-law. worst website EVER...intended to get the "two-for-one" special, and ended up with SIX!!!!! repeatedly tried cancelling, on the phone (good luck!) and by repeated emails, and finally by refusing the delivery when it was shipped. eventually got my card credited back, but it was a bit of a nightmare. be very careful if you order online!