MaryIsobel

We are just getting into berry season here and it is a huge industry in this area - a lot is grown for commercial purposes ie. frozen berries, jams, jellies, etc. There are still plenty available at u-picks, farm stands and local farmer's markets. Strawberries are the current crop, soon to be followed by raspberries, then blueberries which last well into fall. Then, around the beginning of October, cranberries are harvested.

Hot milk cake is my go-to for the base of so many desserts - love the way you've topped yours.

I've made copycat crunch wraps using the sheet pan method when our son-in-laws come over to help with yard/pasture work. Fairly easy to put together and satisfies the gullets of two 30-year-old, extremely active yound men. Never thought of riffing on the original but that will be a fun experiment.

I liked her. I am drawn to people who don't give a flying fig what other people think but still come across as kind and compassionate. She did that with "a little bit of sass."

That looks fabulous. My husband would love that - I am not at all interested in food of any kind until about 11:00 am, at which time, I usually have yogurt and fruit and nuts or ryee toast with peanut butter or sometimes leftovers

I freeze cooked rice in one cup portions, so on the lowest of low days, I nuke a bag of rice. Depending on the level of ennui, I may only add butter and salt and pepper. If I have a bit more interest in eating, I will throw in a handful of frozen shrimp (thawed obviously) and maybe some green onions and a handful of frozen peas, some ginger garlic and soy sauce.

I am at my best in the morning, so I have learned to get up and get'er done. I usually hit the proverbial wall around 2 in the afternoon so I do my errands, housework and shopping first thing. Come 2:00, I have what I call my matinee; basically a toes up, on the deck in nice weather or inside if the weather is not so great. I read, or watch a movie, do crosswords and usually end up dozing off for a bit.

How did you like the N/A gin? - I have been looking into the N/A spirits but haven't bought any yet. And thank you once again for showing me a place that I will never likely visit as much as I would love to,

I don't blame you one bit - yuk!

Dream fridge for sure - especially around the holidays. My husband call our fridge door shelves "condiment hell." He can never find things but I can - and I consider the fridge my territory.

I made a batch of 2 dozen or so today. I broke 2 yolks while trying to separate 4 eggs but perservered. They turned out well, I did most with striping the piping bag with blue food colouring and sprinkled a few with blue sanding sugar, Note to everyone - a "blue theme" is tough to adhere to as far as food is concerned! I've asked "She Who Is To Be Obeyed" (my other daughter who is hosting the shower) which version she likes best. With my permission, my husband ate the two deformed ones and declared them "perfect." to be honest he is not very particular

We grew up in a world of strange, just accepted information. Go outside on a cold day with wet hair? You will get pnumonia. Sit on cold cement? You will get hemorroids. The best one was when my husband was about 6 he developed a stye and his mother asked "have you been peeing on the side of the road? Funny thing is that both of our mothers were nurses!

All looks lovely - I love rhubarb. Is lunch your main meal of the day? Just asking because I have neither the will nor the inclination to make a lunch like that followed by dinner. As we get older, I find that we don't care for nor have the appetite for a heavy dinner so Iam trying to lean toward a filling lunch. Problem with that is that my husband is usually involved in a project and is reluctant to stop for lunch but then he is tired when it comes to dinner.

I just bought his for my daughter's bridal shower. I would have preferred a glass dome but this is what she requested. It's multi tasker; cake dome, footed bowl or charcuterie platter.

That is right up my alley - will put on the list or next week. I love lemon with pasta.

It's actually a relatively useless corner as it is under the microwave shelf which is 12" off the counter.

I have always called it a footed cake dome. Mine appears to be the same as the one in your photo. With mine, you can flip the base upide down and the knob on the top of the dome fits into the depression in the stand and becomes a footed bowl. I use it this way for salad for a crowd or trifle. We quite often have muffins or quick bread, so I keep a few days worth under the dome which slides into a corner on the counter top.

English coastal cheddar is one of my favourite cheeses. So much so that when I have some in the fridge, I rarely open the fridge without breaking off a little chunk to nibble on.

My husband grew up in Ontario and they called them crayfish - but his parents told him that they were not edible - maybe because of the water? Like I said, when I was a kid we called them mudbugs and they were again, not considered edible.

My husband has been saying lately that he would love to try crayfish/crawdads/mudbugs. They are not easy to come by here - I have never seen them for sale. We had planned on taking a cruise out of New Orleans and spending a couple days before and after. Now, he that shall not be named is making us reconsider contributing to the economy in the US. When I was a kid, we used to catch mudbugs in the creek on our property but never considered eating them. We would catch them, put them in a bucket of water and then let them go back in the creek at the end of fthe day. I guess we didn't know that they were edible.

I always feel a bit victorious when I scrabble something together with leftovers; some times I win, sometimes I lose - yours looks very good.

We have replaced our appliances; stove, dishwasher, toaster oven, microwave, washer, dryer in the last 10 years, The only thing tht won't die is our fridge. I'd love to replace it with a french door fridge but the damn thing will not die and I can't replace it without feeling guilty as it works just fine. I would like a french door fridge with ice and water.

They do stay very white, so you make a good point. Thank you.

I want to make meringue kisses as a gluten free option for my daughter's bridal shower. My idea was to make them white with either blue sanding sugar or edible glitter. My problem is that I don't know when or how to add the sugar/glitter to the meringues. I am thinking that if I were to put the sanding sugar before baking, after an hour in the oven that the sugar might caramelize. I think the edible glitter will work on the baked cupcakes. I might buy a couple of meringues to experiment with. My other option would be to stripe the inside of the piping with blue food colouring. ince "Something blue before I do" is the shower theme."

Thank you for sharing your first solo venture. I am in awe that you can drive, park and maintain that rig all on your own - not sure I could do that. Whenever my husband and I go on a long trip in the RV - the night before we will be home I pack an "evacuation bag" - electronic devices, medications etc. When we get home, we plug the RV in, take our evacuation bag in the house and call it a day. We start the cleaning process once we've had a good night's sleep in our own bed!