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General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks (Read 15875 times)

Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #75 - Aug 31^st, 2013 at 3:25am	Print Post
	If spouse and offspring approve, it is a winner! The sausage I made needs work. Skywise says it tastes like pork, not sausage so I need to find a way to fix that without loading it up with "stuff" he isn't supposed to eat.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #76 - Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 4:29pm	Print Post
	Skywise and I ran some more tests on the sausage yesterday and decided that a touch of salt was needed so last night I added about three shakes of the salt shaker to the sausage for the pizza. Skywise pronounced it much improved so the next batch I make up will have as little salt as I can get away with in it. In other news, I've been sitting here with my price list and project calculator and I've figured out how much the base cabinets for my work station are going to cost: $262.00 plus sales tax. I found the best price at Home Depot so they'll be getting my money and before the end of the month, I hope. I haven't calculated the cost of the "countertop" yet because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to have to do it. I'll need to get the base cabinets and crawl all over them with a tape measure, pencil, paper and my "thinking cap" to figure that out.� I "do" know that I'm going to cover it with heatproof ceramic tiles which will give me a nonporous, heatproof, three feet by four feet working surface which I am REALLY looking forward to having! And finally, I'm getting the cookbooks corralled in the new bookcase. I still have one shelf to finish but I can do that "whenever." The important thing is getting the cookbooks under control and where I can find them!!
	« Last Edit: Sep 11^th, 2013 at 9:49pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #77 - Sep 5^th, 2013 at 6:26pm	Print Post
	sigh This time next year, I'll be "putting up" tomatoes unless something drastic happens. Guess I'd better pick up a copy of "Ball's Blue Book" next time I'm in Walmart. Lucky for me there are a couple of hundred -- at least -- glass canning jars up at the Guest House.
	« Last Edit: Sep 5^th, 2013 at 6:27pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #78 - Sep 11^th, 2013 at 9:56pm	Print Post
	I just wrote a review of "500 15-Minute Low Sodium Recipes" for amazon. I got the book today and almost every recipe I've checked will have to be reworked before I can use it. The author has done great work but his problem is congestive heart failure which while it also requires a low sodium diet, the medications involved are different. Specifically, no potassium restrictions. The man loves "no salt added" products most of which we can't use due to Skywise's meds. Soooooo....... Penth is gonna have to rework/refigure the recipes before I can use them to make sure my beloved doesn't OD on potassium! I don't know exactly what would happen in that instance and I don't want to find out!!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #79 - Sep 14^th, 2013 at 12:42am	Print Post
	I swear! Frequently and at length!! Keeping excess potassium out of his diet is harder than getting rid of the sodium!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #80 - Sep 14^th, 2013 at 7:14pm	Print Post
	Skywise told me yesterday that the only food he "trusts" now is mine... No pressure!! Post # 30201
	« Last Edit: Sep 14^th, 2013 at 7:18pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #81 - Sep 16^th, 2013 at 7:08pm	Print Post
	I picked up a copy of the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. A quick skim of the contents confirms that I will be able to can my own tomato sauce and diced tomatoes without ANY added salt whatsoever. From that I can make my own no salt added ketchup and if eventually necessary, pizza sauce and tomato based pasta sauces. So now, growing my own tomatoes -- and I will need a LOT of them! -- next year has become a priority. So has devising a way to keep tomato stealing critters out of them! I'm having the distinct feeling that building a greenhouse of some sort is going to be necessary. Better see what books I have on the subject.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #82 - Sep 21^st, 2013 at 12:40am	Print Post
	I got a new cookbook in the mail today. "Sober Celebrations: Lively Entertaining Without the Spirits" by Liz Scott. Neither Skywise nor I drink and most books of this type assume that you do which is fine but I made the decision a long time ago not to drink, socially or otherwise. Way too many alcoholics in my immediate bloodline. She's also written a recipe book of alcohol free drinks ["Zero-Proof Cocktails" which I have] and another cookbook [The Sober Kitchen] which I may get as well. One thing I like about the recipes in this book is that although she hasn't included the nutritional breakdown of each recipe, she frequently says "salt and pepper to taste" in them. And we all know that "salt to taste" around here is as little as I can get away with!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #83 - Sep 21^st, 2013 at 6:27pm	Print Post
	..... I had no idea how many cookbooks I had until I started rounding them up and I KNOW that I have about 6 or 7 volumes of the Betty Crocker series (that came out in the 60's - 70's) that I haven't tracked down yet. My little bookcase is getting full...


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #84 - Sep 30^th, 2013 at 9:05pm	Print Post
	Penthesilea wrote on Sep 11^th, 2013 at 9:56pm: I just wrote a review of "500 15-Minute Low Sodium Recipes" for amazon. I got the book today and almost every recipe I've checked will have to be reworked before I can use it. The author has done great work but his problem is congestive heart failure which while it also requires a low sodium diet, the medications involved are different. Specifically, no potassium restrictions. The man loves "no salt added" products most of which we can't use due to Skywise's meds. Soooooo....... Penth is gonna have to rework/refigure the recipes before I can use them to make sure my beloved doesn't OD on potassium! I don't know exactly what would happen in that instance and I don't want to find out!! I found out what can happen: cardiac irregularity leading to cardiac arrest leading to.... death. 'Nuf said!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #85 - Oct 2^nd, 2013 at 5:56pm	Print Post
	I finally got my cookbook stand assembled after much trial and error -- about equal amounts of both -- although I haven't stained or finished it yet. I need to cover a visible dent and I want to use a small wooden star cutout and that will need to be applied before I start putting on stain. So right now, the stand is sitting on a storage unit next to the cookbook bookcase. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to leave it on the workstation when I wasn't using it when I saw SunLord very vigorously rubbing his head against it and thereby scooting it dangerously close to the edge of the workstation. So a place was made for it on top of the storage unit (where I have been keeping the binder with my master cookbook in it) and there it now sits with cookbook on it. Cutting and mounting the top of the workstation will be my next project.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #86 - Oct 4^th, 2013 at 6:14pm	Print Post
	I just discovered a source for heat resistant quilted batting (silver on one side) fabric and heat resistant batting without fabric. This opens up whole new avenues of "kitchen personalization" and my little brain is chuckling fiendishly. Gonna get the projects I already have in the pipeline done and then get into more "trouble..."


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #87 - Oct 5^th, 2013 at 10:12pm	Print Post
	Okay, once I get the top cut to size and some 1 inch, size 10 wood screws, we can put the top on the workstation and I can start looking at heatproof/waterproof ceramic tiles. Plain white is my "default" choice but I'd like to see what else is available before I commit. There are three home improvement stores (Home Depot, Menards and Lowes) within easy driving distance of each other and I'll be hitting all three unless I find something I ADORE before I make it to them all.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #88 - Oct 5^th, 2013 at 10:41pm	Print Post
	Okay. I've gone crazy. Skywise watches "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS every chance he gets. I knew that they had a website but I decided to see if Amazon had any of their cookbooks.... Now that the dust has cleared I can report that I've ordered "America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook" and pre-ordered "The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook: 2001 to 2014" and wait there's more! I also got "Copycat.com's Dining Out at Home 2" since I have her first book and there's some interesting stuff in the second one. DAMN! It is dangerous for me to go near Amazon's cookbook list!
	« Last Edit: Oct 5^th, 2013 at 10:42pm by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #89 - Oct 6^th, 2013 at 12:07pm	Print Post
	I LOVE America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country, so that only makes Skywise even cooler in my opinion! I watch it twice on Saturdays, on PBS out of Boston at 4 my time and out of Seattle at 7 my time. I've learned a LOT from that show and although I can't purchase a lot of the gadgets, etc, I drool over them! Y'all are lucky. I can't buy anything that isn't "essential" for a while until I finish paying off the computer. POUTS! I'd love to have their complete collection when it comes out. AAAH!!!

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #90 - Oct 6^th, 2013 at 4:23pm	Print Post
	I hear you. That "complete" collection book is as much for Skywise as it is for me. And don't worry, I expect that it will be around for a while and after it's released there will likely be vendors selling it at a discounted price once you have the computer paid off. I've been "bad" what with the cookbooks, dress fabric and Vampire Barbie so I'm gonna have to be really good for a while!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #91 - Oct 7^th, 2013 at 3:06am	Print Post
	The top is on the workstation, thanks to Skywise who got it fastened on due his superior eyesight and the fact that he can get down on his knees and shift his legs around without excruciating pain. I tried but between my eyes (not being able to see what I was doing) and my knees/legs (unable to get into the cabinets to put in the screws) I couldn't get it done. All that remains are the interior shelves, the hardware for the drawers and doors and the tiles for the countertop. I'm not sure how I'm going to do the border going down the "long" sides, I'll have to see what's available but I set up a short "serving line" on it tonight and it really did cut down on the congestion around the stove when it came time for everyone to get their food. [Note: We fill our plates in the kitchen and scatter which given that the living room and dining room are one big room and very little separates the kitchen from it, we aren't separated all that much.] I anticipate a much easier time serving on Thanksgiving when I always make a lot more food than usual!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #92 - Oct 7^th, 2013 at 6:02pm	Print Post
	Barring something unforeseen, we'll be heading for Greenwood in the morning to hit the home improvement stores. I've got a pretty good idea of how I want to do the borders on the workstation top so I'll pick up what I need for that and check out which store has ceramic tile like I want and how much do they want for a box of 12. I already know which store has the best selection of shelving so I'll check on sizes and prices on that while I'm there checking out the tiles. With any kind of luck, the workstation could be done -- or as done as it's gonna get before spring -- in the next couple of weeks.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #93 - Oct 8^th, 2013 at 2:42am	Print Post
	Moonie says that the workstation is one of the best ideas I've ever had. She used it to make a sandwich this afternoon and to shred cheese for tonight's pizzas while I made the dough. It certainly speeds things up in the kitchen.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #94 - Oct 8^th, 2013 at 5:00pm	Print Post
	VICTORY!!! So we started hitting the Home Improvement stores bright and early. The first one (Lowes) had nothing that inspired, so we stopped at Chick-fil-A to eat and then went to Menards which is about a block and a half from the Chick-fil-A. There we hit paydirt. I got what "should" be enough shelving to fit out the workstation but the REAL find was the countertop material. It's 3/8 inch thick, white with black veins and....... it's MARBLE! To make it cooler -- and affordable -- it was ON SALE! I needed 12 tiles measuring 12 x 12 inches so I got 3 packages of 5 tiles. I spend a bit more than I'd planned but with the marble and some of the shelving on sale, I made out like a bandit. So iz happy and I'll be figuring out how to best install this beautiful material.....


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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #95 - Oct 8^th, 2013 at 5:28pm	Print Post
	Penth, that sounds gorgeous! I want to see pics of the countertop when it's finished, that's going to be beautiful!

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #96 - Oct 8^th, 2013 at 5:51pm	Print Post
	You will have them. Current plans call for the "long" sides of the workstation to be edged with wood painted black which should go nicely with the black veins in the marble. NOW to figure out the best way to do it without grout lines since adding them would necessitate cutting the tiles and we'd rather not do that. The base will have to be SERIOUSLY waterproofed, methinks and I'll have to find out the best way to do that.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #97 - Oct 8^th, 2013 at 6:51pm	Print Post
	SunLord jumped up on the workstation and was inspecting the marble. I don't think that he knew quite what to make of it. I've got it safely stowed away until we need it. Dang! Those boxes are heavy! Post # 30,430
	« Last Edit: Oct 8^th, 2013 at 6:51pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #98 - Oct 11^th, 2013 at 4:06pm	Print Post
	I've been availing myself of USPS tracking and two of my cookbooks will be delivered today and the third "should" arrive tomorrow. My humongous George Foreman Grill [which I'm getting for free!] hasn't shipped yet but it should arrive early next week. Tuesday probably.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #99 - Oct 12^th, 2013 at 7:31pm	Print Post
	Before I get to "Adventures in Marble Tile Return" my copy of "The Complete American's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001 -2014" has arrived. I don't think it's going to fit in my cookbook bookcase. It is HUGE and if it does fit, it's going on the bottom cause it's HEAVY! (Hardcover, 917 pages) It should keep me occupied for a while. Now, to the adventure. So we get to Menard's, load the box into a cart 'cause the darn thing is HEAVY and head inside. We're directed to the returns counter and that part goes off without a hitch. Our next stop is the ceramic tile department where, last we saw, a very large stack of boxed tiles was sitting. We get there and find...... Empty space. Even the tiles they had out for display were gone. So we start searching for something we can use to finish the workstation. We need two tiles, 12 x 12 x 3/8 inches. A nice young man comes to our assistance and after some checking to see if there was more in the back or at another store, he reported that the tile has been discontinued and is sold out. "Plan B ACTIVATE!" After some hunting we find two styles of marble "floor tile" that are the right size -- one style is pinkish and patterned like the white we already have and the other is black and white "speckled". Since the wooden pieces I'll be finishing it off with will be painted black (surprise! surprise!) we choose the black/white tiles. We've put them in the middle of the workstation -- fortunately we needed only 2 tiles -- and it looks like we designed it that way. Crisis averted! I need tea. And a cookie......�
	« Last Edit: Oct 12^th, 2013 at 7:33pm by Penthesilea »

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