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The paper bags they're using here have handles that rip too easily. I have an Ikea blue and white striped cotton bag that I take to the farmer's market that I need to get back in the habit of using for the grocery store, during the early part of the pandemic they weren't allowing bringing in bags.
They say paper bags are bad for the water supply, plastic ones are bad for the landfills and wind up alongside roads and in trees.
I would like to try one of those mesh French bags, but I don't think I trust the ones from China to be sturdy.
One of the real challenges for new bread bakers is becoming confident with the basics. I know someone who tried to make a complicated whole grain bread for her first bread, her results were less than what she was hoping for, though to me that was not unexpected and it took her a while to get up the courage to try again.
When she did try again, I suggested she try PaddyL's 'Clonmel Kitchen Double Crusty Bread', (recipe in the favorites tab here), and it was much more successful.
We had someone from Brazil staying with us for a while, I had him make the Austrian Malt bread while I watched, and he was pleased with the result. That recipe is also in the favorites tab here.
My son took up baking during the pandemic and was using the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day book, which produces fairly good breads without huge investments in time. He's kind of backed off a bit since then, but he's also found a really good and fairly new bakery, their eclairs are some of the best I've had.
There are sources that claim that 25 million trees are cut down every year to make chopsticks.
I would not recommend trying to carry an eating knife on board an airplane, I had security almost take my finger nail clipper two years ago.
The fryer is a common source of cross-contamination. Few restaurants maintain separate fryers for different types of food to avoid cross-contamination. I've heard of some restaurants that maintain a gluten-free area of the kitchen, with separate appliances, but even that's no guarantee against cross-contamination.
With my wife's garlic allergy, even the grill isn't safe unless it's been scrubbed down. There's a PepperJax near us (cheese steaks), they use garlic in their seasoning salt, but will scrape down and wash the grill, re-glove and use clean utensils if I order something for my wife there. It probably isn't 100% secure against cross-contamination, but it is sufficient for her needs.
Welcome back!
I have a chess book with the title "Every great player was once a beginner".
That's true in baking as well, in fact there are so many aspects of baking I don't know well that I often feel like a beginner.
We try not to be judgemental here, there are many ways to bake a good loaf of bread, and what works for one person might not work for another.
And we can offer a lot of suggestions, but don't be surprised if some of the suggestions seem contradictory. We've all had our failures in the kitchen, too.
As the regulars here know well, I'm an engineer by training, and I tend to be rather experimental about my baking, trying various things to see which work better for me. Some I keep using, others I don't.
Supper tonight was cheese tortellini from Costco, in a sauce made from diced tomatoes, tomato paste and some sauteed mushrooms.
I like the 11 strand braid that the Challah Prince taught, but it takes forever to roll out 11 strands and by then I'm ready for a rest, which of course you can't do right then.
I've seen a 13 strand braid, but haven't tried it, I think I've also seen references to a 15 strand braid.
The Challah Prince's recipes use egg yolk rather than whole egg, it makes for a somewhat darker finish, I think I prefer the whole egg one. I've started putting a pinch of salt in egg before using it as a wash, I think it helps break up the viscosity of the egg and make it spread more evenly.
When we were at Disney World a few years ago, when we'd tell the server that Diane had a garlic allergy, one of the chefs would come out and discuss options with her. Obviously the Disney folks take food allergies seriously!
Cats and dogs both have excellent hearing and senses of smell. If we open a can of tuna fish, our cat shows up in the kitchen within minutes, she loves the water the tuna is packed in.
My son has 4 cats now, and all they have to do is shake the treat container slightly and all 4 will show up, including the one who mostly hides out in the basement.
When our granddaughter was here for the holidays, she was going through cat withdrawal because our cat wouldn't sit on her lap. I think she just wouldn't sit still long enough in the right chair. The cat finally did climb up on our son's lap once, but only after he had sat in Diane's recliner for an hour or so. (She generally won't climb up on my lap unless she either wants to be fed or Diane is unavailable, like after she's gone to bed, since this cat is not allowed in the bedroom.)
When they got home, David told us that our granddaughter spent the first several hours curled up with several of their cats.
A close friend and my brother-in-law both have an olive oil allergy, that's something that shows up in a lot of foods, and cross-contamination in a restaurant kitchen is always an issue.
We went to one of those Brazilian barbecue restaurants shortly after it opened here, and though we had called in two days ahead of time when we got there the staff had no information on what items on the menu had either garlic or olive oil in them. :sigh: We haven't been back. There's an excellent one near where our son lives in Pittsburgh, not only is their salad and hot foods bar much better and their selection of barbecued meats wider, the staff knows their menu and its ingredients very well.
We've got a Texas Road House near us, their steaks are good but I've had better restaurant steaks, and the place is incredibly noisy.
We've never had a dog, so I've never had to consider making dog treats, I wonder what changes would have to be made to recipes to make them more dog-friendly and safe? (Obviously, no raisins, maybe lower in salt and sugars? I know cats don't have taste buds that sense sweetness, do dogs?)
There's a vendor at the Sunday farmer's market who specializes in dog treats and has had allowed people to nibble on them as well. I've not tried one.
If it has candied orange or lemon peel, my wife won't eat it. Even zest is something she avoids. She's also not fond of rose water, orange blossom water or anything involving pistachio. That limits my baking experimentation quite a bit, especially around the holidays.
We got a panettone as a present a few years ago, but it was one of the mass-produced ones and not very good, it struck me as being a cross between bread and fruitcake with the worst aspects of both. I think we ate about a third of it. Some day I'd like to try a really good panettone, but making one seems like a lot of work.
My son sent me something on this place when he was here, because our 50 year old KA was making a lot of grinding noises when Diane was mixing cookie doughs.
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