the polish chick's Profile

i used to work in an office where some of the women would bring in their about-to-expire yogurts to share because they were afraid of... i don't know? explosions? radioactivity? who the hell knows, it's yogurt! it's "off" by design!

then i'd watch them microwave chemical-laden dinners and eat that. if i had my choice, i'd always eat expired yogurt and never touch a plastic microwave dinner.

i'm not a fan of food paranoia, as my often irate comments prove, and i do wish people would use their common sense. also, to quote a brilliant poster from another thread, "grow an immune system already!"

i also have the lee valley microplane and i adore it. it zests citrus perfectly, it is fantastic for grating ginger (which i keep frozen whole so it doesn't dry out), mincing garlic, and grating nutmeg and hard cheeses. it's one of the best things i ever bought.

chinatown - i tend to bake everything with lovely coarse ground organic whole wheat red fife flour and my banana bread comes out beautiful. if you're nervous, just lower the amount of flour a little, because it can be drier (i had to in some recipes, but not in the banana bread b/c they're so moist). good luck!

wow. that is gorgeous. i suppose that with some woodworking skills and equipment, one could try for something similar.

you wrote "best buys for each category" and then showed us 3 bagged uprights and 1 canister. what gives? what happened to the rest of the categories?

haven't had one for a few years and the only thing i miss it for is milk-based things like homemade puddings and such. the microwave rocks for milk and chocolate.

i am, however, appalled that so many people use it to boil water for tea. not to sound like a total tea snob, but i've had tea with micro-boiled water and it is revolting. don't know why. that's why god made kettles.

it looks amazing and i'm sure to try it, although the anti-butter and anti-cheese comments put me off a bit - really, can we not be a wee bit more french in our approach to food? everything in moderation? down with the guilt?

are you kidding me? more relaxed affairs? i'm polish - christmas eve supper is THE traditional meal of the year - 12 spectacular courses of vegetarian (it's the catholic fasting thing) goodness. after which, back when we used to do presents, we'd open those up by the twinkling lights of the tree, then several glasses of wine and several tonnes of cookies. it's fun and warm and lovely, but relaxed? i think not. if you ordered pizza for christmas eve supper, the polish government would officially excommunicate you...or at least they should.

beautiful. and thank you for not once mentioning christmas shopping, focusing, rather, on all the loveliness of the season.

i've always had a soft spot in my heart for these, not only because they are lovely and homey, but because the diminutive of my name is also aga. thanks for the post!