Slow Lorus's Profile

I prefer to use fresh but whenever a recipe calls for a citrus juice but not the zest, I hate to waste anything so I zest the fruit and freeze it. I saved an empty container from one of these: Dorot Chopped Basil Tray

I pack the fresh zest right into it and each little square it makes 1 tsp perfectly. Then it's ready for when I don't have any fresh citrus in the house or when a recipe calls for the zest and no juice.

I also would never put a good tomato in the refrigerator but I'll qualify that I pretty much only eat tomatoes when they're in season. A beautiful fat heirloom tomato fresh off the vine should never ever go in the fridge. Refrigerating one would definitely be a mistake.

But I don't think throwing some basic supermarket roma or hydroponic tomato in there is going to "ruin" them. Taste and texture are already compromised in those tomatoes so a few days in the fridge doesn't make much of a difference in that department but it does, however, completely extend its shelf-life which can be really important for budgets and busy schedules.

This reminds me of that part in One Hundred Years of Solitude where the townspeople, suffering from sleeplessness lose their ability to remember the names of the most basic things (e.g. - cow, window) and must affix notes to everything to remind themselves.

Then, with further lack of sleep, they forget how to read.

@Lazy_Lurker: Amazon has 'em.

The most basic ones as well as some sturdier ones from Lodge:
Nylon Pan Scrapers
Lodge Pan Scrapers for Cast Iron

This one is my favorite though (but it's spendier):
iSi Scraper

I've never seen old antique crocks "for a song." Every crock I've seen of any substantial size has been well over $50 and depending on age and condition $100 and upwards. I'd love a giant crock like that and would love to know which flea markets and thrift stores I should be hitting up to find these at a bargain!

I have some yorkshire pudding pans but no muffin top pan. Do you think they would work?

Like Emma, if the mushrooms are already packaged I keep them that way. For wild mushrooms we've picked or bulk from the store we put them in unglazed terracotta containers and store it in the fridge.

I have a large Romertopf for the mushrooming season when we come home with pounds of mushrooms and a smaller crock for winter months. I picked this up when I noticed that some grocers keep their mushrooms on unglazed clay saucers (the kind used under flowerpots) and they're always in great condition. The terracotta seems to absorb and whisk away any unnecessary moisture but you can also wet the clay down if the mushrooms start to dry out. The mushrooms are good for a few weeks this way.

I want to make this with some Canal House Pimentón Fried Eggs served on top! No doubt, this'll be brunch for us soon.

I also grew up in a household where all creaming of butter and sugar was done by hand. With a wooden spoon. No one had any troubles and I still do it by hand up at the family cabin. Like everyone has said, the butter just needs to be at room temperature.

BTW, I've had my Danish dough whisk for 6 or 7 years now and I love it. I picked it up at a thriftstore thinking I might use it once or twice. But I find myself reaching for it all the time. It's good for all sorts of batters and doughs. I never thought to use it for creaming though. Maybe it's because I have my trusty stand mixer but I'm filing LorentzenL's excellent tip away for sure.

Well, if the meal was so delicious and the host or establishment neglected to provide me with a French sauce spoon then I'm mopping away. I have lamented, many a time, in various situations on the scarcity of sauce spoons. They're just asking me to lick my plate.