Toliver

Here in southern California a Berliner or Berlin doughnut is a glazed doughnut (without a hole) usually covered in a chocolate glaze or frosting and filled with vanilla custard. If you Google it, you can see it is also used to describe pastries with a jam or jelly filling. Your pastries look delicious!

Yes, this. If a grape disease sweeps through the vineyards of Napa, all of the plants will succumb. Bye bye wine. It was sort of the same with avocados. There was one "Mother" tree (that gave us Haas avocados...not those "fake" Bacon avocado pretenders ) and all Haas trees were propagated from this Mother tree. That tree died a couple years ago. Which means all future Haas trees have to come from a 2nd generation (or further down the genealogical line) tree. Who knows what changes will manifest in these new Haas? And you can riff off this discussion and talk about bananas and the fungus that's killing the current banana species off. The bananas our grandchildren will be eating will be a different banana than what you and I eat today. It's happened before and will continue happening unless planting methods change.

Two found this morning with well known names: "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood: Stories and Recipes to Share with Family and Friends" Kindle Edition $2.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and scroll down to see some of the recipes. Also, there's a recipe from this cookbook included on this cookbook's Amazon info page. David Rosengarten's "It's All American Food: The Best Recipes for More than 400 New American Classics" Kindle Edition $2.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and scroll down to see quite a few recipes from this cookbook. I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

One Christmas my mom gave all of us these jar openers (click). The little hook (see the third picture on the linked-to page) pries the lid open enough to break the pressure seal, then the jar opens easily. I also save the big blue rubber bands that they put on bunches of asparagus in the grocery stores. When you have a jar you can't open, wrap the rubber band along the edge of the jar lid. This will give you a good grip and the jar should open easily. Regarding appliances, I've posted about this before but my mom always bought the extended warranties for her appliances. We told her she was wasting her money. She told us the technicians they send out to repair the appliances these days don't have a clue as how to fix appliances anymore. They just tell their bosses "Send out a new dishwasher" and she gets a new dishwasher. Maybe she knew what she was doing.

The article from NPR: "We Drink Basically The Same Wine As Ancient Romans — And That's Not So Great" The issue is that grape growers have kept the grapes in a sort of "time freeze". The way the plants are propagated doesn't allow the grapes to naturally evolve which could change how they combat pests & disease and interact with the environment. On the other hand, growing a successful grape year after year and making wine from it that sells means you don't want an evolving plant. You want the same thing year after year. Is it possible to grow both kinds of grapes or is cross-pollination an issue? It seems unnatural to drink wine from a grape Caesar enjoyed so many years ago. What do you think?

"Amazon to shutdown U.S. restaurant delivery service" At least they know when to give up the ghost, so to speak.

Now I think I have seen just about everything: "Kraft introduces 'Salad Frosting' to help trick your kids into eating more vegetables" Kids aren't stupid and they know what Ranch dressing tastes like. It's a one-time gimmick and you're back at square one.

In my homemade coleslaw, I confess l use the "Angel Hair" shredded cabbage from the grocery store. The cabbage is sliced quite thin and makes the slaw less "chewy".

"Tyson Foods, Inc. Recalls Ready-To-Eat Chicken Fritter Products due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination" For specific products/product codes, see the article. There's also a PDF file embedded in the article where you can see the labels of the products.

Some sale-priced cookbooks I found this morning: "River Cottage Every Day" Kindle Edition $1.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and then scroll down to see a couple of recipes from the cookbook. "The Mexican Slow Cooker: Recipes for Mole, Enchiladas, Carnitas, Chile Verde Pork, and More Favorites" Kindle Edition $1.99US A Kindle Single-ish cookbook...146 pages...55 recipes. "The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook" Kindle Edition $2.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and then scroll down to see a couple of recipes from the cookbook. Top Chef favorite Dale Talde's"Asian-American: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from the Philippines to Brooklyn" Kindle Edition $2.99US A couple of cookbooks at slightly more than the regular sale price... Darina Allen's "Simply Delicious the Classic Collection: 100 timeless, tried & tested recipes" Kindle Edition $3.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and then scroll down to see a couple of recipes from the cookbook. "The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook" Kindle Edition $3.99US I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

More finds from this afternoon: Martha Stewart's current PBS series is "Martha Stewart's Cooking School". Instead of publishing one cookbook for the series containing all of the season's recipes, she's publishing cookbooks for each lesson covered in the series. There are currently multiple "Cooking Lessons" ecookbooks in the Kindle store but most are a little bit out of "sale-price" range and won't be posted by me until they come down in price. Here's one that is a little more expensive than my usual listings (the other "Cooking Lessons" ecookbooks are priced higher): "Stocks & Soups: Martha Stewart's Cooking School, Lesson 1: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook" Kindle Edition with Audio/Video $3.99US From the Amazon info page for this ecookbook: "Due to large size of this book, please connect your device to WiFi to download. Kindle Edition with Audio/Video: Audio/Video content is available on Fire tablets (except Kindle Fire 1st Generation) and iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices." "The Hard Times Kitchen: Homestyle Recipes for a Small Budget" Kindle Edition $2.99US Kindle Single-ish...just over 100 pages long. Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes and scroll down to see a couple of recipes. "Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen" Kindle Edition $1.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary. edited to add: Note that the Martha Stewart Cooking Lessons cookbooks are quite lengthy...about 500 pages, and they do cover a lot of basic cooking territory which more advanced readers/cooks might find too pedestrian.

Today, June 5th, is National Ketchup Day according to this article: "Ed Sheeran thinks this ketchup is perfect" My computer won't take me to the linked page selling his special ketchup due to its lack of privacy control. My loss.

A new month bringing some new sale items (and old sale items that I won't bother reposting): "Whole Beast Butchery: The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb, and Pork" Kindle Edition $2.99US A how-to book. "Carla Hall's Soul Food" Kindle Edition $2.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. BBC personality & host "Rachel Khoo's Kitchen Notebook: Over 100 Delicious Recipes from My Personal Cookbook" Kindle Edition $2.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. "Mastering the Grill: The Owner's Manual for Outdoor Cooking" Kindle Edition $2.99US Another "how-to" but with recipes. Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. Not a cookbook but essays... A historical look at France and its gastronomy: "A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment" Kindle Edition $1.99US "Eggs: Martha Stewart's Cooking School, Lesson 2: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook" Kindle Edition with Audio/Video $.99US From the Amazon info page for this cookbook - "NOTE: Due to large size of this book, please connect your device to WiFi to download. Kindle Edition with Audio/Video: Audio/Video content is available on Fire tablets (except Kindle Fire 1st Generation) and iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices." Slightly more expensive... Essays and recipes: Shauna Niequist's "Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes" Kindle Edition $3.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of essays & recipes. "Golden: Sweet & Savory Baked Delights from the Ovens of London¿s Honey & Co." Kindle Edition $3.99US The restaurant cookbook was recently posted. This is their desserts. Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. Georgia Freedman's "Cooking South of the Clouds: Recipes and stories from China's Yunnan province" Kindle Edition $3.99US I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

"Perdue Foods LLC Recalls Perdue Simply Smart Organics Poultry Products Due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination"

I read online that a lot of sea salt now contains micro-plastic. The recommendation was to purchase the Pink Himalayan Sea Salt since it's not likely to contain the micro-plastics (that is, until we start getting micro-plastic in our rain ).

My first response to the original question is "Ewww.no." But in the comments section of you linked-to article, one person does bring up an exception which I also thought of: The Master Sauce has been discussed in the Chinese forum before. It is reboiled for each use. It is filtered/strained after use and then stored in the refrigerator. If it doesn't get used shortly, it gets frozen and then eventually thawed for its next use. More of the original spices are added after a couple of uses of the sauce to reinvigorate it. So what's the difference in doing the same thing to pasta water?

I found this video on YouTube where they make homemade rice noodles while making a dim sum recipe: Video They start with 100% rice to make the batter so there's no wheat "contamination". It's a similar method to what Martin Yan (mentioned in my previous post) did on his show. He used a bamboo steamer lined with banana leaves as the cooking surface for the rice noodles. In the video above, they use a cloth for a cooking surface and also use a small cake pan (9x9-ish or so) to cook the noodles in. You can probably lightly brush the finished noodles with oil (so they don't stick together) for storing in the refrigerator for later use.

David, I agree completely with you. Why use a grill if you're going to wrap the item to be grilled completely in foil? I think the point of using the grill is to add an extra layer of goodness (smoke, char, whatever) to what you're cooking. Otherwise, go use your kitchen oven for the foil packet.

I have a dear friend who also prefers hardback books as opposed to ebooks. She has lined every room of her condo with book shelves and has stacks of books piled on almost every flat surface. She really could use an ereader but refuses. She also happens to be a member of BookCrossings.com (click). It's a web site that encourages readers to leave books for others to find. Sort of like a Johnny Appleseed to encourage people to read. Members can print out bookplates/bookmarks and tuck them inside the book explaining to who ever finds the book that the book is free and that they can, in turn, leave the book somewhere for others to find when they're done reading it. There's more involved but it's a little too complicated to go into. My friend was, at one time, the number 1 "read'em and leave 'em" BookCrossing members in the state of California. It was after seeing inside her condo that I made the decision to never buy hardback books again, if I could help it.

Host's note: this post and the ensuing discussion were moved from the Crazy Good e-Book Bargains topic. Hardback copies are a thing of the past for me. I have no room for anymore physical books in my apartment. I will make an exception for hardback books that won't make it into the ebook world because they're too old (for example, I recently bought a used copy of Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise"). I bought an Amazon Fire 10 and read my ecookbooks on it. The photos in the cookbooks look great and because it's a larger tablet, it makes it easier to read them (as opposed to reading them on my Kindle Papaerwhite which doesn't offer color). The other nice thing is wherever I go, all of my ebooks go with me so if I get bored of one book, I can quickly switch to something else to read.

I think I posted this cookbook a few pages ago (Amazon says I have already purchased it). I always keep an eye on the Amazon cookbook pages since, like Ina Garten, Lidia's books are rarely discounted. If the price gets close to sale-price territory I will pay the few extra dollars and buy it. That's how I got Emeril's "Delmonico" cookbook a while ago...not sale-priced but cheaper than usual...so the deal was done. Edited to add a cookbook that was posted quite some time ago but will post it again since it's the 40th anniversary edition and it's on sale: "The Moosewood Cookbook: 40th Anniversary Edition" Kindle Edition $2.99US No list of recipes but if you use the "Look Inside" feature you can see a listing of recipes in the first chapter. I don't normally post "healthy" cookbooks, but because it's a restaurant of note, I am posting it. I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

I found a few on sale and a couple that were priced just a wee bit more but may be of interest: From the Amazon info page for this next cookbook: Named Cookbook of the Year by the Sunday Times (UK) Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards Cookery Book of the Year 2015 The Guild of Food Writer's (UK) Award Winner for Best First Book "Honey & Co.'s food--taking its cue from generations of dedicated home cooks--captures everything that is generous, hearty, and delicious in the Middle East."--Yotam Ottolenghi Itamar Srulovich & Sarit Packer's "Honey & Co.: The Cookbook" Kindle Edition $2.99US It's a well-received restaurant in Britain. "The Texas Food Bible: From Legendary Dishes to New Classics" Kindle Edition $1.99US "The New Wine Rules: A Genuinely Helpful Guide to Everything You Need to Know" Kindle Edition $1.99US The cookbooks that are a little more expensive: "Martha Stewart's Cooking School (Enhanced Edition): Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook" Kindle Edition with Audio/Video) $4.99US Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's "Lidia's Commonsense Italian Cooking: 150 Delicious and Simple Recipes Anyone Can Master" Kindle Edition $5.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. Lidia's cookbooks are rarely marked down in price which is why I am posting this cookbook. I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

"Aldi recalls flour after E. coli sickens 17 people in 8 states including N.J., Pa., N.Y." You can read more on the CDC (click) web site. Note that the product code for the flour is in the first link.

From various emails...some have been posted before: "Simply Salads: More than 100 Creative Recipes You Can Make in Minutes from Prepackaged Greens" Kindle Edition $1.99US A slightly higher price: Alison Roman's "Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes" Kindle Edition $3.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the listing of recipes. The previously posted cookbooks: "Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream: The Art and Science of the Scoop" Kindle Edition $2.99US Nigella Lawson's "Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes" Kindle Edition $1.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and scroll down to see a recipe. A slightly higher price: Yotam Ottolenghi's "Sweet: Desserts from London's Ottolenghi" Kindle Edition $3.99US Use the "Look Inside" feature and scroll down to see some recipes. I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

Cantankerous and a disdain for mediocrity and weak scotch...what's not to love?