When we drive to visit our son and family in Pittsburgh I tend to stop at Stover Company in Cheswick to buy flour and couverture grade chocolate, but that's nearly at the western end of PA. I've never ordered from them online, their shipping prices are high, but that's not unusual any more. I ordered a 25 pound bag of BRM semolina online, shipping was almost as expensive as the flour itself, but still less per pound than what it costs locally.
Amazon collects their annual fee for Prime memberships (which is going up soon if it hasn't already) but I'm not sure how much of that they share with their 3rd party vendors, and I've gotten some things on Prime that couldn't possibly have made much profit for the 3rd party vendor. (Amazon charges them for the space they take up in an Amazon warehouse, too.)
BTW, Amazon is apparently going to start tagging which of their vendors are 'small businesses', though I don't know how they determine that.
Walmart, at least for now (and by me) offers free shipping for $40 and up which pretty good. They are scared to death of Amazon. But they also let various vendors sell through their website so I've seen ridiculous things like $49 for a 5lb bag of KAB white whole wheat. Same thing happens on Amazon.
I have two 25lb bags of flour I bought from Central Milling. The shipping was $35 and the flour was $35 so it was still less expensive than buying at the local grocery store. The bakery I was baking for used their flour and it was pretty nice.
There is a place I just discovered down in Pennsylvania and I may try them next but I have a good amount of flour for the next few months.
I went to the Bob's Red Mill site last week to place an order and was disappointed to see that BRM no longer offers free shipping for orders over $59. The offer never included the 25 lb. bags, but it was still good, since I could purchase by the case, and I would regularly stock up, as I last did February 24. They use UPS, and I suspect that a rise in delivery rates has made any free shipping (I would have been fine with their increasing the minimum) prohibitive.
I ended up taking my business to Walmart.com where I could get free shipping on a two-pack of BRM quinoa, and I could also find a vendor that sells black beans, which BRM stopped selling, and that also sells sunflower seeds at a better price.
I found a cup of Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal in the pantry and wanted to use it up, so on Tuesday morning, I did a riff on the Bob's Favorite Scottish Oatcakes (recipe from the package not the website, which had too much water). I made about a 2/3 recipe, estimating proportions rather than trying to figure out straight percentages. I increased the cane sugar to 1 tsp., as when I last baked them, I thought them too plain. I replaced the 4 Tbs of butter with 2 Tbs. avocado oil, mixed with 1 Tbs. buttermilk. I went ahead and mixed in 2 Tbs. of water (might have used another tsp.). I rolled out the somewhat dry dough 1/4-inch thick and cut with a 2-inch round biscuit cutter. That made 15. I baked for 25 minutes on the slightly above center rack at 325F. I had one with tea in the afternoon, and I have improved on the original recipe. They are a cracker, with just a slight sweetness.
On Tuesday evening, I baked the Blood Orange Loaf Cake recipe from the Nordic Ware site. I followed the recipe, except that I reduced the sugar in the cake from 1 1/4 cups to 1 cup, as the warm cake gets brushed with a blood orange juice combined with 1/3 cup sugar, and tomorrow I will glaze it. However, I will only make a half recipe of the glaze.
The NH Sheep and Wool Festival is at the fairgrounds in Deerfield, which is about 30 minutes east of Manchester. It is Sat and Sun, May 14 and 15, the weekend after Maryland Sheep and Wool. The NH festival has about 100 vendors, whereas MD has almost 400. In addition to yarn, a huge variety of agricultural related goods are sold - food such as honey, lamb (and there are food trucks and traditional 'fair food'), equipment and tools for spinning and weaving, pottery, jewelry, clothing, sheep, alpacas, llamas, goats (and spring babies), and more. There are also usually a petting zoo, sheep shearing, herding demonstrations, etc. My favorite thing at the NH show is the food truck Moon and Stars, selling delicious arepas! It's a great way for a family to spend the day!
I was quite sick after my first booster, 2 days in bed, but for this second booster I have just a sore upper arm. My husband just came home from several days in the ER and hospital, not Covid (had to have 2 different tests, both negative before they would admit him). I work for my sister's business, Ellen's Halfpintfarm - she hand dyes fine yarns and sells them along with fiber arts accessories. I need to stay healthy so I can help her. We'll be at MD, then NH, and ME in June for festivals, so I need to stay healthy.
YES!! We are so excited, leaving here Wednesday the 4th. We are in the Main Building, booth A12, right next to the side door to the outside stage, so we should have pretty good (for that building!) air circulation. That is across the aisle from where we had been for years, until our last festival in 2019. I got my second booster a couple days ago, and plan to wear a mask, at least part of the time, since 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. is a long time to have on a mask
We had to close the windows because a neighbor fired up his wood fireplace, and the whole neighborhood reeks of wood smoke.
I guess people don't understand that some of us cannot tolerate wood smoke. When we were building our house, both the architect and the builder kept asking if we wanted to include a fireplace. They said it would increase the retail value of the house. We said by the time we sell the house (or more likely, our kids do), we won't care if the retail value is a little higher. That was 26 years ago.
We had a fireplace in our old house, never used it in 15 years.
I'm making Moomies buns (slider size) for supper tonight, it's 80 and I'm going to use the grill for burgers.
I baked Pecan, Orange, and Cranberry Muffins on Saturday morning. I adapted the recipe from the little baking book, Muffin Magic.â My version uses buttermilk (but I used leftover kefir this time), with adjustment of baking powder and baking soda, and this time I used all whole wheat flour. I still have some wonderful Cara Cara oranges, so I used the zest and juice instead of the Fiori di Sicilia I substituted last time. I made six large rather than twelve small muffins. I will freeze most of these for fast breakfasts.
I had some fresh bread with a little butter (and one slice with some honey), plus a salad.
That pizza sounds so good, Chocomouse.
Dinner on Friday was Salmon patties, accompanied by a stir-fry that I made with sauteed carrots, celery, red bell pepper, sliced mushrooms, and garlic and combined with cooked farro (1/2 cup dry cooked in 1 3/4 Cups water with 3/4 tsp. of Penzey's chicken base).
Because weâve had long days at work and I had a 6:00pm meeting on Tuesday (my day off), I made tuna and white bean salad. I will finish this off tonight with a wedge salad from work - the lid popped so we couldnât sell it - it was made fresh this morning.
On Easter, I made deviled eggs to take to lunch with my manager and her mom. I FINALLY found the answer to cooking and shelling hard boiled eggs - Kenji Alt-Lopezâs article on Serious Eats https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs - I boiled them, but have now bought an insert so I can steam the eggs the next time. I watched them carefully because of my wonky stove and followed directions exactly. Cooked for 11 minutes, shocked in ice water for 15 and refrigerated overnight. I peeled 12 eggs in less than 10 minutes and the only egg that wasnât perfect was the one that cracked in the pan. The whites were tender as well - Iâm sold.
Because weâve had long days at work and I had a 6:00pm meeting on Tuesday (my day off), I made tuna and white bean salad. I will finish this off tonight with a wedge salad from work - the lid popped so we couldnât sell it - it was made fresh this morning.
On Easter, I made deviled eggs to take to lunch with my manager and her mom. I FINALLY found the answer to cooking and shelling hard boiled eggs - Kenji Alt-Lopezâs article on Serious Eats https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs - I boiled them, but have now bought an insert so I can steam the eggs the next time. I watched them carefully because of my wonky stove and followed directions exactly. Cooked for 11 minutes, shocked in ice water for 15 and refrigerated overnight. I peeled 12 eggs in less than 10 minutes and the only egg that wasnât perfect was the one that cracked in the pan. The whites were tender as well - Iâm sold.
When we talked to the happy couple over Skype on Easter, they told us that they forgot about freezing the cake before they left for their honeymoon. So, a week later, when they returned, it was still in the box in the refrigerator. They said that it was still delicious and ate the rest of it.
I knew this cake lasted well four or five days (the longest I've ever had it in the house before it was completely devoured), but now I know it can go longer.
