Gotten any fun stuff lately?

[Maison Rustique]

I should probably get one of those since it is just me now. My Weber is getting old and it is pretty rare I ever use it for enough to actually fill it up. The critters knock off the ash tray at the bottom and play with it all the time so it gets pretty banged up. At the least I guess I should replace that!

[blue_dolphin]

If you’ve seen the “Cooking with Six Seasons of Pasta” topic, you’ll know that I’ve been cooking a lot of pasta lately. With all the talk of impending tariffs on Italian pasta, I decided to try out a more local source, Etto, manufactured a few hours from me in Paso Robles, CA. I ordered a few shapes from them but it’s also available at Whole Foods. 

 

And for holiday stocking stuffers, I got their novelty dog and cat shapes, Fido and Figaro:

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by blue_dolphin
Typo (log)

[ElsieD]

Love the cat and dog shapes!

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

Love the cat and dog shapes!

Me, too!  I bought 3 bags of each for little gifts!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On 11/25/2025 at 2:24 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

I didn’t take photos of everything since they were mostly just as pictured in my previous post but I liked this little card with serving suggestions for the Effie's biscuits. 

They’re on sale this week at Whole Foods so I might pick up the flavors I didn’t get in this gift package. 
 

 

My almond Effie's arrived a couple days ago but I just had the first one tonight.  Very good I thought.  Not too sweet, pleasant texture, nice flavor.

 

[Maison Rustique]

Back in the early 80s when we got married, we got one of these Oster Kitchen Centers. I used it a lot but decided I needed "fancy" stuff so got separate appliances for all the functions. I got rid of the Oster. I have an acquaintance in this area who cooks a lot of Asian food and she uses and loves her Oster Kitchen Center. Every time I've seen her photos, I think wistfully of the one I had. Well, lo and behold, my neighbor posted in the local Buy Nothing group that she had one to give away. So, I jumped on it. It has been sitting in her garage for a long while, so I'm gradually getting it cleaned up. And then I'll try everything to make sure I like it before I get rid of the separate blender, Cuisinart, etc. I have such limited counter space at the new house that I hope it will work out better for me. The day after she brought it over, she brought me the manual and about 6 little cookbooklets that use the various functions. I haven't really looked at them yet, but know I'll have fun looking at all the old recipes. This is not my photo--grabbed this one from eBay. This looks slightly different, as mine has a food grinder attachment and the 2 glass mixing bowls

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Maison Rustique (log)

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Maison Rustique said:

Back in the early 80s when we got married, we got one of these Oster Kitchen Centers.

I had one of those, too. It was my first appliance purchase for my post-college apartment and I used it for years. I was especially fond of the little one-cup mini blend jars that I used to chop nuts, grind spices and coffee beans and blend up small amounts of sauces.  As I recall, the mixer wasn’t the best at handling stiff doughs and that’s what pushed me to get a KitchenAid stand mixer. 

[ElsieD]

I had one of those too but for the life of me, I can't remember why I got rid of it.