[skeptic7]

My father's water heater is leaking. Its probably 14 years old and 2 years past warranty. I have gotten estimates from two people for replacing it with another electrical water heater. I am just so frustrated I want to just to stop getting estimates and pay for a new heater. The higher bidder has better reviews on Yelp and BBB.
Even the better water heaters have only a 6 year warranty.
I'm not actually doing without hot water. I turn on the supply and get water to wash dishes or take a shower and then turn off the supply to the hot water heater so it doesn't leak anymore. I clean up the leaks with a shop-vac.
After dealing with this I am going to have to get a new oven. My father's oven won't set at over 350 degrees. If I push the button to change the temperature it only goes down and not up.

[skeptic7]

Love this website. I'd like to try some of the frosting recipes. Cakes are something that needs to be shared so I'll have to wait until social gatherings are safer.

[skeptic7]

When I lived in an apartment, I kept a rosemary in a pot for three or four years. When I got a house I planted it outside on the South Side of the house. The house is in northern Virginia and it did well enough outside for a number of years in that location. Other rosemary plants -- children of the original were planted on the east side of the house and tended to die back during cold winters.

[skeptic7]

Baker Aunt; you might have to use something like those small right angle brass pieces from the hard ware store to repair the cabinets. If they are just stapled together the staples won't hold under normal pressure and they aren't thick enough for screws. Its not as elegant but I like cabinets that have solid pieces of wood as glue/screw blocks where the sides and edges meet.

[skeptic7]

Its like the people who have one little shelf for their books. Or have a whole book case with a couple of books and then some "decorative objects".
What I don't like is open storage in kitchen design magazines. Everything that isn't used daily would soon be covered with dust or grease. A commercial kitchen can get away with hanging pots on racks since they use everything all the time.

[skeptic7]

Aaron;
I use regular milk powder, but I dissolve it in liquid and scald when making yeast breads. I do mainly whole wheat breads, and scalding the milk makes a difference in the rise. It doesn't seem to matter as much whether the milk is scalded in all white flour breads.
Chocomouse;
I can get regular milk powder in the health food stores and not in envelopes. I use this for soups and yogurt and cookies.

BakerAunt;
sorry about your cabinets. Is it the sides that are seperating from each other, or is it one side and the bottom?

[skeptic7]

I bought a scale at a thrift store so I can attempt using weight based recipes, but I'll probably write down the volume for my own use. This is a big batteryless analog scale so its probably not very accurate. It will give me a starting point and most recipes have to be individually customized for the cook and the locale.
I was so happy when I found a part rye bread recipe that was old enough to be in cups and not grams/ounces two years ago. I wanted to experiment with rye but not enough to buy a scale. This was Brody's pumpkin rye recipe. Rye bread is complicated and uses different techniques than whole wheat.
I'm still not in a place to do much baking and the weather is just perfect to bake.

[skeptic7]

I think the chocolatines look great. I wish I was close enough to eat them. My trouble with making chocolate sticks is that they are such a convenient size to snack on. I made a batch for pan au chocolat and ate more than half.

[skeptic7]

My dream house would have a pantry with a hatch into the kitchen to keep extra pots and pans and cookie sheets, the sort of equipment that you don't want to get rid of but only use very occasionally like a turkey pan. I don't want a kitchen as a potemkin village where its made to look at but not use. I can see having two kitchens so mundane matters like cooking supper won't get in the way of very interesting projects.

[skeptic7]

I've had the honeynut at the farmer's market. They look like a minature butternut squash about the size of a softball. Very sweet and tasty.

[skeptic7]

For apple pie, it depends on whether one particular friend who is allergic to many spices will be around. If he is going to be eating it, then I just use cinnamon and sugar. If its left up to me I have cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
I know one person who dislikes cloves and I might leave them out for his sake if he is expected.

[skeptic7]

Looks nice. I read the Fleischmann's yeast version of the recipe. Did you let it rise on a floured towel and then just flop it on a baking sheet? I always distrusted the no-knead high hydration doughs, since I couldn't see how they avoided having parts of the dough being too dry and other parts being too wet. How did you avoid this?

[skeptic7]

The apple galette looks wonderful. I wish I was there to eat it too. A glass of milk and a little cheddar cheese would go so well with the apple galette. Did you sprinkle it with sugar?

[skeptic7]

I now have my maple syrup! It was waiting for me when I got back to my father's house in Kentucky. I had a whole week to organize things in Virginia and to see the Dentist and visit friends. Most of the time I spend only a day or sometimes two at my own home and barely have enough time to sort the mail and pay bills. This time my great achievement was to prune the bush back so it didn't block the front door.

[skeptic7]

I am sorry for your tomatoes but that is a very cute picture. How did you manage to shoot it. I never tried to feed tomatoes to my rabbit when I had one. There is a lot of reports of squirrels eating tomatoes around here and chipmunks too, but we had enough rain. Perhaps they like tomatoes when its hot?

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