[Mike Nolan]

I can definitely tell the difference between artificial vanilla and real vanilla.

[Mike Nolan]

Tonight we had baby artichokes with a variety of dips, plus cheese souffle with mushroom sauce and a flan for dessert. I really nailed the caramel sauce on the flan!

[Mike Nolan]

We went out for lunch as the dough was bulk proofing, so it got a 3rd long rise rather than just 2 rises and it came out with a rustic exterior. I suspect the interior is going to have a lot of holes, too. But I"m sure it'll taste great.

This evening I made a batch of gluten-free Brazilian cheese rolls (they're made with tapioca flour) and we ate them with some left over marinara.

[Mike Nolan]

Our granddaughter has been visiting us for the last two weeks, today she helped me make a batch of chocolates, squeezing a pastry bag filled with tempered chocolate into molds. She did very well!

I'll post some pictures in the next day or two. They need to firm up for a few hours before we unmold them.

[Mike Nolan]

Last night we had Steak Diane with corn on the cob.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making Vienna bread today.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making another batch of Vienna bread with first clear flour today. I'll make 2 loaves and put 1 1/2 of them in the freezer, so it'll take several weeks to see if there's any pattern on how fast it molds.

[Mike Nolan]

My son was telling me about some triple-fried potatoes at Morimoto's restaurant in Orlando. Basically they're pomme frites (twice-fried potatoes) fried a third time in duck fat and then served with a Peking duck sauce.

[Mike Nolan]

We had 5 cheese tortollini from Costco on Saturday, with sauce made from the tomatoes I got at the farmer's market a few weeks back.

[Mike Nolan]

I suspect the wood chips may be fine, just dampen them a bit.

I've looked at a smoker a few times, I figure I'd probably use it once or twice a year, at best.

[Mike Nolan]

I made honey wheat bread Saturday.

[Mike Nolan]

I used my modifications to Darina Allen's Irish Apple Cake with some big peaches from Costco, made a great late breakfast. I'll post a picture later today.

[Mike Nolan]

Gee, are the vegetables still edible after having been sprayed by skunk?

[Mike Nolan]

Looks like it's an issue with the plugin that generates the like button. I changed some settings, but that didn't seem to fix the problem, so I've disabled the like button for now. :sigh:

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

According to a number of sources, a lot of what is being sold as Wagyu or Kobe beef isn't. I've had both at places that I'm pretty sure were serving the real thing, I don't honestly think it's worth the price.

But I'm not convinced that Prime is that much better tasting than Choice, either.

My mother liked her beef on the tough side, she said if you didn't have to put some effort into cutting it, how did you know you were eating it?

I fixed the link up-thread.

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