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Making sure there's only as much light as you need is why we went with 3 banks of lights that can be controlled separately, the inner bank is over the island and is the one we use the most when working in the kitchen, the two outer banks are together. The under-counter lights are on an infrared sensor, so they come on automatically in the morning and evening. (Lights in most of the rooms, including the master suite, are also on sensors, we had one of the first home automation systems installed in Lincoln NE, back in 1996.)
We have a 48" dual fuel range and went with a full-sized range hood with two lights and warming lamps. We almost never use the warming lamps, though. When you turn the fan all the way up, it has a pretty strong draw.
I definitely recommend going with the best range hood you can. Make sure it's properly vented to the outside.
Good range hoods have grease baffles that you can take off and clean. We just throw them in the dishwasher every year or so. There are services that can clean the vent tubing if it get clogged. I checked ours a few years ago using a fiber optic inspection system, it looks fairly clean up there. (Much better than the dryer vent, which I just cleaned out with the big wet/dry vacuum.)
As to grease in the vent being a fire hazard, just don't do anything stupid. If you're flaming something, turn the vent fan off for a few minutes. My older son tend to over-do it when flaming things, he's been known to set off the smoke detector in the butler's pantry just outside the kitchen a few times, I think I've done it just once in 22 years.
We've had two cold spells but it was in the 50's again today.
We had creamed tuna on biscuits tonight, our older cat loves it, too.
These days they have fixtures that look like fluorescent lights but are actually LEDs. When we repaired the ceiling in the master closet last fall, we put one in there. It's very energy efficient and seems to be a bit brighter as well.
Under cabinet lights are OK but only light a fairly small area. They can also affect how you organize your counter space, both because of shadows and the heat they generate.
Our kitchen is quite large (17 x 18) and has 3 rows of fluorescent fixtures behind diffuser panels, when all 3 are on we refer it to as lighting the kitchen up for surgery. We also have under-cabinet lights on all 3 counters and above the desk area, though that one seldom gets used these days. There's also a spotlight above the main sink and two spotlights that are part of the exhaust fan.
In a galley kitchen I'd think about possibly putting in track lights along the ceiling, you can adjust where they point as you figure out where you really need light. And they make LED bulbs for those too now.
I made a batch of custard today.
Assuming your filling started with fresh blueberries from your yard, you may need to adjust the amount of thickener you're using, as fresh berries tend to be a lot juicier than ones that have been frozen before used in a pie filling or even ones bought at the store.
I'm making a batch of honey wheat bread today. (I might make another one tomorrow, I've got a lot of milk to use up, and the bread freezes well.)
Happy New Year to you, Cass, and it's great to see you posting.
December 30, 2018 at 4:15 pm in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of December 30, 2018? #14432The downside of having had duck for Christmas dinner is that there weren't many leftovers. I did get several quarts of duck stock for the freezer to replace some of what we lost when the freezer died a few months back.
No apology needed, the microwave oven has a proper place in the kitchen, and not just for leftovers.
December 28, 2018 at 8:09 pm in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of December 23, 2018? #14419After having both sons here for a week, we've got a lot of leftovers, so we'll be in leftover mode probably until the new year.
One of the presents I got from my older son is a Meater+ wireless meat thermometer.
You stick it in the meat and it send data to your phone via bluetooth.
It can monitor both the temperature in the meat and in your oven, so you can see the oven temp moving up and down (the hysteresis effect) and the meat temperature as it approaches your target temperature. It can even give you an estimate for when the target temperature will be reached, including allowing for carryover. (For example if you set it to 150, it might have you take the meat out at 147 knowing that carryover heat will bring the center up to 150 over the next few minutes.)
I haven't used it yet, I also got an immersion circulating heater, we used that on the duck legs.
December 26, 2018 at 3:41 pm in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of December 23, 2018? #14407I never bother with butter for stuffing, I use the Pepperidge Farms herb cubes, add some onion and celery that had been boiled in stock for a while and raisins that had been moistened so they plumped up. I also added half a Granny Smith apple to the stuffing I made yesterday.
Whether or not the upper element comes on during a preheat cycle seems to be something of a fad. There was a time when most electric ovens did that, then for a long time only the bottom element came on during preheat, more recently it seemed like both elements are coming on again.
Best to check the manual for your specific model.
The 'cold oven' method of baking bread seemed to be assuming that only the lower element would come on, which more closely mimics the action in a gas oven, I think.
December 25, 2018 at 2:14 pm in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of December 23, 2018? #14392I helped my wife make a trifle today, using the King Arthur recipe for pastry cream.
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