[Mike Nolan]

One of the items I ordered the first time was a set of tools that was missing one item. I emailed them on Wednesday evening (Christmas day) and by noon on Thursday the replacement was ready to be shipped direct to my son's house in Pittsburgh (he's leaving in a few days), so they get an A+ from me on service.

I was interested in some of the Fiesta items they have. We have a large collection of classic Fiesta, some of it dates back to my wife's grandmother. Some years ago there was an antique store in Lincoln that closed and sold out their inventory at an auction. It was a HUGE sale, and by the end of the afternoon, most of the dealers attending were out of cash, so we were picking up real bargains in the remaining Fiesta, like a stack of a dozen bread plates for $5.

[Mike Nolan]

We're being careful not making or ordering big quantities of food yet, the part for the big fridge won't be installed until January 2nd.

[Mike Nolan]

Diane made oatmeal-date-raisin cookies today. I think she and our son are planning to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over the weekend. (Or they may be hoping I make them.)

[Mike Nolan]

Made more bagels today.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Mike Nolan]

I think we're having some of the chili tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

We had more of the trifle this evening, finishing off the one I posted the picture of and starting on the other one. It was better today because the ladyfingers had softened due to soaking up moisture from the pastry cream. That's why it is best to make it a day ahead.

[Mike Nolan]

The cinnamon roll croissants came out great. I cut the triangles for the cinnamon rolls, spread a compound butter (plant butter, sugar and cinnamon) on it, then rolled them up and let them proof for 2 hours before baking.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Mike Nolan]

Tonight is 'assemble the trifle' night, I made the pastry cream earlier today, made the ladyfingers the other day and the other ingredients (angel food cake, strawberry jello, fruits) need to be prepped. Cool Whip is in the fridge.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a dozen cinnamon croissants with half of the second batch of laminated dough, I may make plain croissants with the other half tomorrow.

[Mike Nolan]

Tonight is oyster stew and chili night, with cinnamon croissants.

[Mike Nolan]

We had smoked pork chops and salad for dinner tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

I made the detrempte for another batch of laminated dough, this one will use plant butter instead of butter, it'll be interesting to see how that affect the lamination and baking.

[Mike Nolan]

I wound up with about 80 ladyfingers. The piping on the first tray shown below was not perfect, but I got better later on. Fortunately, the batter is pretty forgiving.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making ladyfingers tonight, because I can't find any soft ones in town. (They're usually in the freezer section.) I can find hard ones, but they don't taste the same, even if you soak in something to soften them.

We'll use them in a trifle for Christmas.

[Mike Nolan]

We both had leftovers this evening, clearing out some fridge space since the part for the big fridge didn't arrive this week.

[Author]

Posts