anothersplash's Profile

My microplane and saladspinner.

Although not really a gadget, I'm in love with my (two months) new panasonic rice cooker that I've been using at least four times a week as steamer and slow
cooker- and a couple of times even as rice cooker. My best $50 dollar expenditure of 2009 and possibly 2008.

We usually car camp the first night, arrive late and then heat up a packaged cheese fondue in a regular teflon camping pan. Bread, fondue and wine. Perfect first night. It's pretty much tradition for us these days.

I've made it with success twice as afternoon snack with coffee when guests are over. Both little kids and adults had seconds- and it's pretty guilt free and doable for visiting diabetics with a sweet tooth.

I use milk plus a tablespoon of vinegar rather then buttermilk.

The second time I doubled or tripled the berries and used defrosted frozen strawberries. This did increase the cooking time a lot lot but worked out really well.

I also don't exactly see it as a desert type thing but then again, I'm not so much into cake as desert anyway. Cake and afternoon coffee goes hand in hand for me.

I actually just printed out Heidi's Health Cookie Recipe and am planning on trying it this weekend.

I used to refuse to cook meat or let it into my house but I've mellowed with age.

My father has diabetes and firmly believes he can only control it with meat and salads and alcohol. Since my parents visit 6 weeks at a time, I now have meat in my fridge when they visit. He's pretty much the only one I would do this for- and that's mostly because I want him to continue visiting.

That said, it's still kind of weird and uncomfortable. I just keep reminding myself that I often eat in restaurants that prepare meat in the same kitchen- and probably use the same utensils on my food as the meat food. Writing this, I realize that I have an issue with meat cooties. I'm 38 years old. Super pathetic :)

I bought the book a couple of weeks ago and have only had the chance to browse it but this also made a deep impression on me!

This and adding boiling water to a pan in the oven when baking stuff that needs to rise.

And I agree, I prefer cookwise to bakewise but then again, I haven't spent much time with basewise.

To me, Bakewise feels kind of like a publisher's assignment whereas cookwise feels passionate.

Using *not* ultra pasteurized milk, I have made ricotta three times and a rubber ball once using Rickis 30 minute Mozzerella package and recipe.

According to my web search, I'm not the only one having issues.

One suggestion is to let it sit for 30 minutes to get more acidic and then test a small sample to make sure it's acidic enough to heat and then stretch. The testing a sample seems like a really good idea- especially after creating my unedible rubber ball.

The insides are great and super easy but the tempering is a bear.

My first batch tempered well- but it was thick and I wanted to thin it out and my brain was multitasking a toddler and an infant so I added some whipping cream.

HAH.

I will be making truffles this week. My melted chocolate totally seized.

I then did my second batch of tempered chocolate. My sample didn't firm up so I know I screwed up. But I had used all my chocolate so couldn't restart the tempering. Anyway, I covered half my patties with fudgy stuff for tomorrow and will keep them very cold.

Tomorrow I will try again. I'll also look for a 2nd hand tempering machine on Craigslist.

Sheeesh. What a day. They taste great though.

Oh, the only solution I could find to thinning the chocolate is cocoa butter. I have no idea if WF or the like even sell this.

If the purpose of baking or dry-pan-frying nuts is to bring out their flavor, does it make sense to do so with items that will be baked anyway? For example, pecan pie, almond biscotti etc.