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 Saturday at 04:35 PM 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 Sunday at 12:09 PM 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.

[Maison Rustique]

Reporting back that my Effie's Homemade Gruyere Biscuits arrived and I tore into them immediately. I could easily sit and eat the entire box with nothing on them. They are so peppery and so good. I can taste a hint of gruyere, but the pepper seems stronger to me. They will be so good with a nice brie or other mild soft cheese. If I can hold out long enough to get cheese. LOL!

[BeeZee]

My sister had brought over some Hachiya persimmons at Thanksgiving, I had only had Fuyu variety previously. It's pretty obvious when they aren't ripe enough, as I'm finding out. Those tannins!

[TdeV]

1 minute ago, BeeZee said:

My sister had brought over some Hachiya persimmons at Thanksgiving, I had only had Fuyu variety previously. It's pretty obvious when they aren't ripe enough, as I'm finding out. Those tannins!

 

You might leave the persimmons on a counter. If you get impatient put one where it gets a little sun.

When it starts to look like a wet paper bag (very soggy), scrape out the contents into a bowl and add a little cream or ice cream.

Absolutely nothing else is required.

😋

[AlaMoi]

nadda' cooking thing . . . but . . .

got a Shark robot vacuum doohickey at the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

we have a shaggy coated Huskie; he supplies our life with dog fur.... 

and that's the reason I 'invested' in an 'automatic dog fur cleaning machine'

 

the robot is currently "mapping" the house.  once it has a map, one can (supposedly) control where it goes and exclude rooms/areas/whatever from it's 'domain'

- alternately, tell it to 'launch' and go clean "Room X"

not yet sure what it's everyday-auto-schedule/routine is . . .'

 

the dog has his nose down and is following it around!  we suspected he would 'fear' it....  not even close....

'don't stand in front of the robot while mapping' . . . we'll soon see if doggy legs are a blocking issue . . .

 

as a geek, and a programmer, I'm impressed . . . 

 

stay tuned . . . film at eleven