[Italiancook]

I appreciate you sharing your Ankarsrum Mixer adventures with us, BakerAunt. I seriously considered one a few years ago but didn't buy. I really want a product with a paper instruction booklet. I didn't want to have to watch a bunch of You-Tube videos in order to learn how to use it. I also decided against it, because my perception at the time was that it'd work best for 2 or more bread loaves. Usually, I make only one. In addition, I wasn't convinced it'd work on one batch of cookies or one cake better than my Kitchen-Aid. So I'm reading everything you type on this topic with interest. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I admire that when you wanted cookies for tea, you baked a fresh batch. I'd no longer do that, but I still like to have cookies at-the-ready. So I prepare the dough in advance and freeze it in cookie shape. If the cookie has a lot of fat, think chocolate chip cookies, I scoop them out with a round scooper. I don't take the time to roll them into a complete ball. I don't object to having a flat side.

I place these dough balls on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. I flash freeze them on the pan for 1 hour. Then I place a tea-time serving plus one or two for my husband in Kroger sandwich bags. (Kroger brand cheaper than national brand.) I put the sandwich bags inside a Ziplock gallon freezer bag & freeze. I write the baking time and temp on the Ziplock bag. My experience is that frozen cookies will bake completely from frozen at the upper baking limit on the recipe. But you'd need to experiment with your oven, since ovens vary.

For less fat cookies, such as anything with oatmeal, I scoop them out onto the waxed paper. Then I use the bottom of the small, round cylinder of my Cuisinart food processor to gently, slightly press each cookie ball to form a cookie shape. Because, less fat means the frozen cookie will bake up round, not flat if they're not flattened a little. I don't completely flatten the cookie. Maybe only half-way or less. That way, the cookie will rise a little and still be a flat cookie shap when baked from frozen.

I bought two 1/8 sheet pans from Williams-Sonoma (Gold Touch, but I think they're now branded as W-S.) They're non-stick. When I need a cookie or two, I pull out a sandwich bag from the Ziploc freezer bag & place them on the 1/8 sheet pan. I take them out and place on pan at the same time I start preheating the oven. I don't recall having ever greased a pan for this, but maybe I have. I think that if the recipe had called for a greased pan, I'd grease the tea-time cookie sheet. The 1/8 sheet pan holds 4 cookies -- 5 if I don't mind they run together. If a recipe wanted a grease pan, I would have written that on the Ziploc bag.

I no longer make a normal batch of cookies just to have in the house. Too much temptation & too much working making and baking them all in one day. I make a batch, follow the protocol I've stated here & freeze all except what we'll eat in a day or two. Been doing this for ages, and my "future self," as you once said, thanks me everytime.

[Italiancook]

In addition to baking for the neighbors, I think Annie deserves a special meal. I vote for chicken and wafffles.

I hope Scott fully recovers quickly.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, so you could enjoy your vacation, I searched for a collapsible fine mesh collander for you. I found the following one at Sur la Table:
https://www.surlatable.com/product/sur-la-table-collapsible-colander-steamer/9021668

The reviews don't mention size of holes in relation to farro, but they don't look fine mesh to me. Below is what I do whenever I need to strain chicken broth:

I line the collander with cheese cloth to make sure nothing unwanted seeps through the holes. I don't own a fine mesh collander. The cheesecloth catches all the bones, veggies & debris such as peppercorns. I buy cheesecloth at a local grocery store, but I imagine it's available online. One package of it isn't very much cloth, so I always have 3 or 4 packages in the kitchen. If you took it on a trip, you'd also need to pack clean scissors to cut it. I use my kitchen sheers.

The following online stores did NOT have a collapsible collander: Lehman's, Vermont Country Store, Williams-Sonoma -- at least it didn't pop-up for me.

[Italiancook]

You all probably know about this, but it was news to me when I saw it on the Jazzy Vegetarian this week. The host made a 1-ingredient frosting. When she pulled the cake out of the oven, she put chocolate chips on top. She used an offset spatula to spread them all over the top as they melted.

Tonight, I made my easy brownie recipe. They're cakey brownies. Once out of the oven, I spread 1/3 cup Ghiradelli chocolate chips on top of the 8"x8" brownies.. It didn't take long for them to melt as I spread them around. What a great timesaver! The bonus was that the chocolate seeped into the natural pores of the brownies. When cooled, they tasted like fudgey brownies, not cakey brownies.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Joan and BakerAunt for weighing in on the banana shortage at my store. Mike, I appreciate the good information you posted on bananas.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I believe Kroger is one of the groceries you shop. If so, does your Kroger have a banana shortage? My online Kroger has a limit of 2 bunches of bananas. The site says there's a shortage. Last year, I read two or three articles about an upcoming banana shortage because of disease. The articles didn't lead me to believe it'd happen this soon. Do you or any other posters know anything about this?

Joan, with all your friends giving you bananas for bread, I'm thinking there's no banana shortage in your area. Is that right or wrong?

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike. No matter how many times I say I'm going to get there, I'm just not in the modern age when I need or want something new. I never think about searching the internet for it. I just call around to local stores, and if none of them have it, I scratch it off my list of needs/wants. So thanks for your research, Mike, and for telling me the words you used to search.

[Italiancook]

Sorry I took so long to respond to your gracious photo of how your bird feeders are attached, Mike. I've been investigating where I might buy that set-up & wanted to respond after I found it. No such luck. Instead, I'm going to show your photo to my yard man. I believe he has the skills and tools to fabricate one for me. Thanks for letting me see yours.

[Italiancook]

Lovely deck, Mike. Are your bird feeders attached to the deck rail? If so, how? Or, are they on poles in the ground?

[Italiancook]

It's interesting, this discussion on spices. Recently, I heard a cooking show host say that as long as spices smell potent, they're good even if expired. This host did say, however, that if they're expired, she uses more than the recipe calls for. Sorry, I don't recall which cooking show host.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I've mulled over your squirrel feeder idea. I already have many gray squirrels. I'm hoping the red squirrel was just yard-hopping and that there aren't anymore of them. Too destructive to suit me. I'm afraid that if I put out a squirrel feeder that I'd soon have every squirrel in the county! Thanks for the suggestion, though. Next week, I'm going to call my retired tree man. I'm going to ask him if there's a humane way to shoo red squirrels from my yard/trees. I have an oak tree & a black walnut -- squirrel magnets. Several years ago, Mike gave us some information on selling black walnut trees to a tree company. The circumference on mine is smaller than what that company wants. Plus, I'm attached to that tree now and don't want to lose it.

[Italiancook]

Joan, your cakes always look lovely. What type of frosting did you use on the coconut cake? It's so shiny and lovely.

[Italiancook]

For the first time, I have a red squirrel -- a young red squirrel -- roaming the trees. He/she has eaten all the leaves off two branches facing my window. It appears he taunts me to stop him. He or she stares at me while shoving leaves into his mouth. First of all, I never before knew squirrels eat leaves. The usual cadre of grey squirrels don't decimate my trees' branches. Second, as far as I know, there aren't any seeds in these leaves. So this red squirrel made me wonder:

I haven't read anything about any of you gardeners having problems with squirrels eating your crops. Are squirrels -- red or gray -- a problem in your gardens?

[Italiancook]

Oh BakerAunt, so sorry to hear of your power outages. I'm so glad you had two twin mattress pads and the coolers to save your food. I had 6 trees near power lines felled in January. When the heavy storms rolled in here, I was thankful that those trees are gone.

Not trying to make light of your inconvenience, BakerAunt, but your outages remind me of Hurricane Ike. I no longer recall which State that hurricane hit, but its winds made their way up here. Massive power outage. The electric crews weren't here to repair the lines. They were all in the South, in that hurricane's State. Consequently, we were without electricity for 5 full days!

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