[Italiancook]

For the first time in 22 months, I went into a retail store . . . wearing 2 masks and gloves. To my pleasant surprise, all the employees wore masks. I had arranged by phone with two departments for my items to be ready for pick-up. In one area, I had to chose from seven items for a gift. Total time in the store: 19 minutes.

I hope that store has a lot of brave customers, because the ordeal will keep me away for the rest of this year.

But I do have plans to buy a refrigerator and stove and throw rugs all in one day, when I recover from today's ordeal.

[Italiancook]

I wanted to make a cake that requires only a hand-held mixer. Then it dawned on me: My 20-year-old hand mixer bit the dust while making mashed potatoes a few weeks ago. I had thought I'd buy the KitchenAid battery-operated mixer, but I wanted to think about it more. I never moved forward with the purchase and forgot it completely. I don't often use a hand mixer. Today, I decided not to spend the $99 or so on the KitchenAid. I ended up buying a Cuisinart hand mixer, although I was tempted by the much less expensive Hamilton Beach that has a storage container. I probably would have purchased the Hamilton Beach, but most of the reviews were part of a promotion. I wasn't sure what that means, so I passed. Does anyone know what it means when reviews are part of a promotion?

[Italiancook]

I baked cinnamon muffins for breakfast and the freezer.

[Italiancook]

Your bread looks delicious, Mike! It's helpful when you post the measurements. Thanks.

[Italiancook]

I baked banana spice bread today. I used my grandmother's banana bread recipe and added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon allspice.

[Italiancook]

I went back to the 1970s and baked a Piecake for the first time since that era. I used a can of cherry pie filling. Recipe calls for 1 teaspoon cinnamon. I was careful to level off the cinnamon, but we still couldn't taste much of the pie filling. Nevertheless, we enjoyed all the cake. It's not something I'll make again, because it's heavy on sugar with the pie filling. I used half white splenda with the sugar. The cake doesn't taste overly sweet, but I know it's caloric from the pie filling and white sugar. Of course, that never bothers me when I make Texas Chocolate Cake!

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for letting us know Aldi's has Italian pasta. I'm still not in the protected range after The Vaccine, so I'll ask my husband to stop by there and see if there's any at our Aldi's.

[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.

[Author]

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