Gotten any fun stuff lately?

[Laurentius]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

bought it after using my brother's Nutri-Bullet and found that it was more powerful and just all around better than the bullet. 

 

So it's fair to say... you bit the bullet?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Almost every day I get fun stuff to evaluate, although some of the fun stuff is more fun than others.  I just finished a review of a new West Bend 5 cubic foot chest freezer:

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

What a joy.  I'd never had a chest freezer before.  Amazing, when you lift the lid of a chest freezer the contents don't go spilling out onto the floor.  I relocated my blast freezer to the dining room, and set up the West Bend in the living room where the blast freezer used to be.  The West Bend easily held all the food from my ice bound freezer in the kitchen with oodles of space to spare.

 

I've now been able to defrost both the kitchen freezer and the blast freezer.  The blast freezer is not recommended to be run continuously, though I confess I had been using the blast freezer as an overflow freezer from the kitchen.  If there is a power interruption the blast freezer does not automatically restart.  The West Bend will.

 

Meanwhile I have high hopes for a new nugget ice maker that's on the way.  Considering the current Excessive Heat Watch the ice maker can't get here soon enough!

 

 

[Shel_B]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

What a joy.  I'd never had a chest freezer before.  Amazing, when you lift the lid of a chest freezer the contents don't go spilling out onto the floor.  I relocated my blast freezer to the dining room, and set up the West Bend in the living room where the blast freezer used to be.  The West Bend easily held all the food from my ice bound freezer in the kitchen with oodles of space to spare.

What is a "blast freezer?"  And, I hope you don't mind my asking, why do you have freezers in your dining and living rooms?

Edited June 18 by Shel_B (log)

[Laurentius]

Ok, so I had a Magic Bullet for a time (maybe I still do, somewhere).  While it's certainly not a Vita-Mix, I thought it was OK for light smoothies and passable for processing small volumes of softer veggies.  The blade was very lightweight.

 

My big problem with the MB was the cheapa$$ zippered bag it came with.  Made storage completely unmanageable.

[liuzhou]

This joy to behold is my new 30cm cast iron griddle.

 

 

It came with a pile of tools, all of which I already have and a pair of premature baby-sized heat resistant gloves. Ah well.

 

 

 

Happy  griddling shall ensue.

 

 

Edited July 15 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

I brought this back from a recent trip to Indonesia:

This is a cobek (pronounced cho-bek) and ulekan - a mortar and pestle style used there, parts of Malaysia and Singapore.

 

Like practically everything there, it was really cheap - about $6 - even though it is hand cut, solid stone.

[rotuts]

@KennethT

 

nice !  be careful with it 

 

the enamel on your teeth might not be a fan

 

over time .

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@KennethT

 

nice !  be careful with it 

 

the enamel on your teeth might not be a fan

 

over time .

You don't eat it...

[rotuts]

indeed you dont.

 

but you do eat some very fine dust 

 

possibly  from the grinding,.

[KennethT]

11 minutes ago, rotuts said:

indeed you dont.

 

but you do eat some very fine dust 

 

possibly  from the grinding,.

before use, it needs to get thoroughly cleaned and seasoned as you would with any mortar/pestle.  So far, I've given it a VERY thorough wash, and ground some kosher salt into powder a few times.  The first time, the salt turned grey - obviously lots of stone in there.  By the last time, the salt stayed white.  For some reason, many people grind kencur - sand ginger - which I also happened to bring home more of, as part of the "seasoning" process.  I don't know why they say to grind that - it's kind of like ginger, but we'll see.

[rotuts]

the issue w M & P's  is

 

if both components are not perfectly smooth 

 

think polished marble , perhaps 

 

the grinding will result in material from the unit , in the food .

 

its dose dependent in that case .  

 

perfectly smooth marble probably does not grind , but crushes .

 

I didn't meat for you not to enjoy the unit 

 

after all , you might not be using it 6 times a day.

 

enjoy

[Tropicalsenior]

I think what he is referring to is that mortar and pestles of this type need to be seasoned. There's a good article here on that.

[rotuts]

im hopefully that misrepresent the use , and care , of a M&P .

 

if the M&P is perfectly smooth , of a very hard material .  

 

it does not do its job by abrasion , but my pounding .

 

thus very little , is any , material from the M&P will be ground off in each use .

 

If the M&P does its work by grinding , ie either one or both units are of the same material

 

and rough , some material will be ground d off into the food .

 

that's it .   

[Tropicalsenior]

5 minutes ago, rotuts said:

some material will be ground d off into the food .

Although I don't use one, this style of stone grinder is popular all through Central and South America. If anyone gets a new one they do season them with rice. However most of them have been handed down through the families for Generations. I've never heard of anybody having any bad effects from sand in their food or chipped teeth from particles of stone.

[rotuts]

in those cases 

 

the issue is enable damage

 

when they are much much older .

 

the a cumulative issue .

 

I regret bringing this up 

 

if you use a M&P  that grinds , gets both parts as smooth as possible first.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

4 minutes ago, rotuts said:

if you use a M&P  that grinds , gets both parts as smooth as possible first

And don't just buy a cheap import. Make sure the one that you get is a hard Stone, because the softer the stone, the more grit that winds up in your food. Buying a traditional one at the source as @KennethT did is always the best idea.

[KennethT]

55 minutes ago, rotuts said:

in those cases 

 

the issue is enable damage

 

when they are much much older .

 

the a cumulative issue .

 

I regret bringing this up 

 

if you use a M&P  that grinds , gets both parts as smooth as possible first.

 

 

Gotcha - thanks for the warning - I didn't originally understand but I get it now.  You're right - this M&P is different from, say, a Thai style which is meant for pounding.  This one is kind of like grinding, but the action is more smooshing than grinding.  You also want to make sure you have mushy food between the M & P, to minimize the amount of stone that comes off.  Also, once the food becomes like a paste, it's also a lubricant so the stone doesn't rub on stone so much.

 

In general, it seems that, over time, the stone does wear down a bit to become smooth, but they're usually replaced after heavy usage several times a day for 20+ years.  So I'm sure the average Indonesian diet has a (slightly) higher mineral content than a western one, but considering my typical usage (maybe 1-2x per week?), I can't imagine it having any noticeable change or affect for me.

[rotuts]

@KennethT

 

thank you for 'a repost '

 

again , I did not mean to imply anything about M&P's  use

 

given that 

 

im interested in how smooth the M&P was when you got it , compared to others you considered.

 

as in most things , the item made with better materials and properly crafted 

 

is what's your after .    

 

Id love to see more detail of the M&T   after you break it in .

 

looks like quite the item , and onlyavialable locally.

 

congratulations.

[Laurentius]

2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I've never heard of anybody having any bad effects from sand in their food

 

Nor should you.  It's not much different from taking a sip of water from a glacier-fed stream--a little rock flour.

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

@KennethT

 

thank you for 'a repost '

 

again , I did not mean to imply anything about M&P's  use

 

given that 

 

im interested in how smooth the M&P was when you got it , compared to others you considered.

 

as in most things , the item made with better materials and properly crafted 

 

is what's your after .    

 

Id love to see more detail of the M&T   after you break it in .

 

looks like quite the item , and onlyavialable locally.

 

congratulations.

This type of M & P is not smooth by design.  While the stone is not nearly as porous as a Mexican molcajete made from lava rock, it is relatively rough compared to a super smooth Thai m&p.  But, a rough Thai m/p is a problem due to the percussive action possibly breaking off a chip of the stone, the act of grinding with this is relatively gentle so at least I won't break a tooth on a rock chip!

[weinoo]

Decided to give a few La Boîte spice and herb blends a try:

 

 

Probably enabled by the review of Lior Lev Sercarz's newish schwarma place, on St. Marks Place.

 

Spice Brothers

Quote

Mr. Lev Sercarz also made a line of off-the-rack spices that ordinary people could buy. Some of these did more for my enjoyment of life than just about any restaurant in town. The cardamom and star anise in the blend he calls Reims gave contours and shading to my poached apricots, and even made me enthusiastic about oatmeal. Lula, a green powder ground from seaweed, fennel, coriander seeds and who knows what else, made the simplest things — grilled porgy, buttermilk salad dressing, potato chips — at least three times more interesting. Microtonal composers and experimental jazz players are sometimes said to explore the notes between the notes. Mr. Lev Sercarz’s blends work in much the same way. The spices he buys, the way he grinds and measures and combines them, can make you taste the flavors between the flavors.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

21 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Decided to give a few La Boîte spice and herb blends a try:

They sound excellent.  I hope you’ll share how you use them.  I'm really bad at using spice blends, whether they’re gifts or stuff I purchased myself. 

[weinoo]

29 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

They sound excellent.  I hope you’ll share how you use them.  I'm really bad at using spice blends, whether they’re gifts or stuff I purchased myself. 

 

First one I tried was the Za'atar. 

 

 

For pita crisps. These are prior to baking, at 300℉, for about 10 minutes. Quite good.

[KennethT]

15 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

First one I tried was the Za'atar. 

 

 

For pita crisps. These are prior to baking, at 300℉, for about 10 minutes. Quite good.

What is the texture of the za'atar like?  I remember the one that my wife brought home from Israel was almost damp still - the herbs weren't completely dried.  It was amazing.

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, KennethT said:

What is the texture of the za'atar like?  I remember the one that my wife brought home from Israel was almost damp still - the herbs weren't completely dried.  It was amazing.

 

A little finer ground (and a tiny bit clumpy, yes) then za'atar I've gotten from places like Kalustyan's.  A friend brought me some back from Israel a few years ago, and its texture was much more "rustic."

Edited Saturday at 04:38 PM by weinoo (log)