MayaOnFiya's Profile

This recipe makes wonderful salty-sweet crunchy cookies that really highlight the cinnamon flavor:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/12/serious-cookies-swiss-cinnamon-crisps-recipe.html

Give them a try -- they're pretty spectacular.

I've also seen them at Monterey Market in Berkeley, but they come and go. You can buy them from RipetoYou.com, but they're craaaazy expensive. Delicious though. The RtY people were really nice and tossed a few bergamots in free of charge with an order of mine last year when I asked about them.

I've had three (three!) compact fridges die in five years in my tiny rental kitchen. One was the Magic Chef 10 cu ft. When the old fridge dies my landlord always buys the least expensive thing on the market which isn't such a bad thing generally, but seems to be a risky strategy with these compact fridges. My bad experiences with the cheap brands suggests this is an item where a fancier maker may buy you significantly better quality. I do love the small size and energy efficiency of the compacts though.

ALL the windows in my apartment are like this, which on one hand is wonderful since they're so pretty, but has been a bit of a nightmare as far as shades/curtains/etc go. I've settled on roman shades, with individual shades for each window. I mounted mine above the window for complicated and stupid reasons and I definitely recommend NOT doing that. Mount them on the windows themselves.

I've been wanting to make bitters for the longest time, and it seems like most of the basic recipes involve immense amounts of dried citrus peel. For example:

http://www.chow.com/recipes/12038

Did anyone else catch the reference to homemade buddha's hand bitters in the NYTimes a few weeks ago? But no recipe! Heart breaking. My buddha's hand tree is full of ripe fruit at the moment so I was thinking of trying to wing a version using the basic recipe in the link above. Anyone have any words of wisdom for me?

We make a fantastic spiced quince jam from Christine Ferber's "Mes Confitures". I love that book so much -- it's completely transformed how I make jam. The quince recipe is a bit involved, but worth every second. I also like quince slices poached in a simple vanilla syrup over yogurt.

I'm no expert just an occasional jam maker, but it seems to me that the rubber ring Weck jars would be safer than any jar that has a clasping mechanism keeping the lid down on the jar (Ball, Fido, etc). With the Wecks only the vacuum seal from heat treating the packed jars keeps the glass lid on, so if there's a bad seal or if beasties start to grow inside you'll notice it right away because the lid will be loose. Those little clips are temporary -- you take them off after the hot jars have cooled down.

That said, I've used all three kinds of jars (metal bands, hinged clasps and Wecks) and I've never had sealing or contamination trouble with any of them -- so I say use the kind that appeals to you the most!

@gourmandizzy
Re: round v. oval, I like to use my big oval dutch oven for browning or braising game birds, pork loins, pot roast...anything with an oblong shape. Also, the oval shape is just pretty. :)

Staub has a great outlet next to their factory in Turckheim, Alsace if you find yourself in the neighborhood and don't mind toting giant pieces of cast iron cookware in your luggage.

Wine rack is from Ikea, I believe.

I've made a very simple rhubarb tart a lot this spring where the key is maceration. I slice the rhubarb into thin rounds on the diagonal, toss with sugar and a scraped vanilla pod and let it sit for an hour or more (i.e. when we're making and eating dinner). Arrange the drained fruit on thawed puff pastry sheets, bake until the pastry is browned, then glaze with the reduced syrup from the maceration. It's fantastically good. I stole the idea from a similar rhubarb citrus tart in Gourmet a few months back.