[Italiancook]

What wonderful memories you're making with Violet, Aaron. She'll share those memories with her children and grandchildren . . . a long way off.

[Italiancook]

Len, I'm glad you're finding good uses for your new dutch oven.

I'm just amazed, BakerAunt, that I've never seen specialty food at my T.J. Maxx. I usually go to the cooking and baking item area first! I'll let you know what I find after my "kick-in" period after my vaccine. I buy almost all my picture frames at T.J. Maxx.

[Italiancook]

I have T.J. Maxx & Aldi's, BakerAunt. I've never been inside Aldi's. I'll have to look better at T.J. Maxx, because I've never seen food there. I haven't had The Vaccine yet, but it's scheduled. After the 2 week kick-in period, I'm going to roam around the area. I want to find out who's still in business.

[Italiancook]

I've read a couple of articles that said there's a shortage of bread again. I wonder if this means we're going to have the same problem we had last year -- a shortage of bread-baking ingredients.

[Italiancook]

Spaghetti is not fettuccini . . . nor is it linguini. I planned Fettuccini Alfredo for dinner. When I went to my small stack of flat pasta boxes, I discovered I didn't have fettuccini. I also didn't have linguini, which I've used in a pinch for Alfredo. I decided to make Spaghetti Alfredo. Bad idea. It had all the ingredients of Alfredo, but didn't taste like it. The sauce clings to the flat pastas, which are wider than spaghetti, but it doesn't cling as tastily to spaghetti.

We had it with cucumber salad and, a dense loaf of bread from the freezer. I had taken out the bread at 6:30 A.M., so it was thawed. I put the bread in an 180* oven for five minutes or so to bring it back to life.

In addition to stores in my area having empty pasta shelves, I've read two articles that say there's a pasta shortage. So I have no hope of buying fettuccini or linguini this fall. Maybe in the spring.

[Italiancook]

I baked KAF Easy Cinnamon Bread. I don't know if this is still on the KABC website. This bread uses yeast and baking powder. Since I try not to eat baking powder, I used the mixture of baking soda with cream of tartar. I worried that the bread wouldn't rise, because of the time it took to mix, add cinnamon chips & put the sticky, dense dough into the pan. I thought I may have deactivated the baking soda. But it rose just fine.

This recipe calls for 1 rise only. I did that once. Next time, I forgot that rise and went from mixer to pan to oven. I prefer the bread without the rise. It's denser & more cinnamon-y. Now, I never let it rise in the bowl.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, have you ever heard the saying, "can't see the forest for the trees." I always have frozen corn in the freezer and didn't even think of it when going through my canned corn debate. To-date, I've only used frozen corn in soups. Now, I'll venture out on your suggestion. Thanks!

[Italiancook]

I baked a Sara Moulton dessert biscuit recipe. On the show I saw, she called it "Shortbread." On the Internet, it's called "Cream Biscuits," because the fat is heavy cream. My husband had purchased a pint of frozen, sliced strawberries, so lunch was Strawberry Shortcake.

[Italiancook]

Yesterday, I made Beef Burgundy with a Sicilian wine, since Burgundy is impossible to find. We had it for dinner, over mashed potatoes, with canned corn and cucumber/tomato marinated salad. I hesitated a long time before choosing corn. I only had 2 cans of corn. Last year, it was in short supply. With the aluminum can shortage, it may be in shorter supply this year. I wasn't sure it was wise to pare down my corn stock to only 1 can. But I ended up using it. The supply dilemma made me feel like the corn was the most expensive part of the meal, not the beef.

[Italiancook]

chocomouse, you're fortunate to find cavitappi in the store. Pasta shelves here are empty. Fortunately, I have enough stored pasta to last us until next year. Hopefully, by then the shortage of pasta (and all things) will be over.

BakerAunt, thanks for posting the fish & chips w/tartar sauce recipe. I've been waiting for it. I plan to make this as soon as I find frozen cod. The pandemic drove the grocery store's fresh fish counter out of business.

[Italiancook]

I don't think I'd like a pizza crust with 2 eggs and milk.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for the flavored chips link.

I also appreciate your information on the rolling pin, BakerAunt. It remined me that Lehman's has a non-tapered rolling pin, among others. lehmans.com I just purchased their "Classic Baker's Pin". It's longer at 19-3/8", but it's made in the USA, and I've never had a Lehman's product disappoint me.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, chocomouse, for the thread info. I'm too tired now to search for it but will do so tomorrow.

I baked KABC Onion Buns for the freezer. I have a ham shank in the fridge waiting for a cool, rainy day. I made the onion buns so we can have leftover ham sandwiches. This is the second time I've made these. I think I need to investigate rolling pins. The only one I have is a newlywed gift. It's okay for pie crusts, but lousy for rolling a 17" x 12" rectangle. A while back, I purchased a marble rolling pin for its weight. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for me! I gave it to a male neighbor who bakes.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, the crystals are smaller than the Pearl Sugar.

Thanks for telling me about Crystallized Sugar, chocomouse. I do admire you for making your own cinnamon chips. I imagine they taste better than purchased chips. Do you put cocoa in them? I bought some caramel chips from the store, since technically/medically, I shouldn't be eating chocolate or cocoa. Before I used them I read the ingredient list and found it includes cocoa. I used them, because giving up chocolate in any form is just plain not do-able for me.

[Italiancook]

This evening, I baked cinnamon muffins. I used my go-to muffin recipe and added 1/3 cup cinnamon chips with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. I taste-tested three for my dinner. The rest are for a couple breakfasts and the freezer.

For the first time, I used KABC Sparkling Sugar, and I don't "get" the purpose of it. Yes, it looks shiny in the jar, but when I sprinkled it on top of the muffin batter, I couldn't see the sugar. Baked, I still couldn't see the sugar. It didn't make the top of my muffins sparkle. Yes, it added a sweet taste, but it didn't look any different than granulated sugar. Do any of you know what this Sparkling Sugar is used on?

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