[skeptic7]

I did Mapo Tofu based more or less on the recipe in Splendid Table. I'm deliberately making a fairly mild recipe. I've tried the recipe with real Szechwan peppers and chili oil and it was much too spicy for me. I did boil the Tofu before adding it to the meat sauce and that made it much firmer and get it from breaking apart as I stifrred it.

[skeptic7]

I hope the Ankarsrum works out well, I've admired the way it works.

[skeptic7]

I did potato rolls with raisins and orange peel on Monday. This is the same recipe I did on Xmas day but I needed another batch to give to friends who were out of town and to eat myself. I celebrated Xmas day with pancakes and plenty of maple syrup.
This was made with help of my Kitchen Aid mixer. I find its much less messy than kneading by hand.

[skeptic7]

I remember getting HoneyCrisps in Virginia ages ago and being very impressed by the sweetness and flavor. They were almost too sweet for my taste. There were other varieties I preferred. I have been seeing more and more HoneyCrisps in the supermarket and other HoneyCrisp knockoffs. I'll avoid HoneyCrisps except in the late fall after reading this article.

[skeptic7]

I have actually been cooking this week. Last month aside from Thanksgiving, I've been living off of chicken soup. Chicken soup in crock pots, chicken soup in pressure cooker, chicken soup with Turnips and Ginger and chicken soup with carrots and celery. Chicken soup with crackers, chicken soup with bagel chips, chicken soup with rice. I was trying to drown a cold in chicken soup but the cold just kept hanging on.
So this week I branched out to curried pumpkin soup with chickpeas, chicken thighs deboned and fried in a skillet, and the star of the show, roasted chicken thighs with glutinous rice. See the recipe in Woks for Life. I'd forgotten how much time it takes to cook. I still have 1/2 pumpkin in the refrigerator as I got tired of cutting up pumpkin and decided I didn't really need a double batch of pumpkin soup. The chicken with glutinous rice stuffing wasn't as glamorous as the picture and I didn't have time to cook some green vegetable to go with it.
Also I have another pot of chicken soup in the slow cooker.

A cooking success is that I canned 6 pints of Chocomouse's maple syrup in pint containers. I had to use a hot water bath for 5 pints as the "easy" method didn't work for them. But this was the project I most wanted to accomplish this week so I am congratulating myself. I think the last time I had one pint that wouldn't seal so I marked it for immediate consumption and lots of pancakes.

[skeptic7]

Mike;
Do you do single or double crust pot pies? My chicken pot pies only have a top crust because it is easier. I think I was trying to reduce either fat or flour when I started doing that and just continued out of laziness. They do sound good.

[skeptic7]

I did an Apple Slab pie and two loaves of pumpkin cornmeal for Thanksgiving. The Apple Slab was made with a fellow Thanksgiving guest in mind as she likes pie crust much more than the filling. This uses 4 cups of flour as opposed to a round pie that uses three cups.
The pumpkin cornmeal bread is me going back to my old favorite cornmeal whole wheat recipe. I was visiting friends for the first time in 4 years for Thanksgiving.
I followed King Arthur Flour recipe for. Apple Slab but didn't frost it. I found it rather boring with only cinnamon as a spice. Next time I'm going to use more and different spices in the pie, or make apple-raisin, or apple-cranberry filling.

[skeptic7]

I woke up to snow today, it isn't that much, just an inch or so. I guess I should go out and shovel sometime and brush off my car.

[skeptic7]

I had a Banh Mi sandwich locally which was very good. Now that I have refamiliarized myself with the sandwich, I understand why you are devoting your time to it. Are you making the pate and headcheese found in a traditional sandwich? I've made the pickled carrots and radishes before but I have to buy the first two ingredients. I think I've only ever bought the Banh Mi sandwiches, but I've used the pickled vegetables with roast pork sandwiches.

[skeptic7]

I did a pepperoni, tomato, sweet red pepper pizza with three cheese topping yesterday. Most of its in the refrigerator for snacking over the next two or three days.

[skeptic7]

I'm not sure this would work for a normal bread dough. It would probably work for the high hydration doughs used for no-knead bread but I can't see this mixing dry spots in the dough the way a more vigourous kneading method would.

[skeptic7]

I mixed up Potato Raisin Rolls yesterday and will be baking today. I finished up computer learning last weekend and now will have time to do some fun baking. Well that is if I can find flour. I was at the grocery store(s) yesterday and they didn't have 5lb KAF all-purpose. They did have 10lb and organic but not 5lb. I want to make some pepperoni pizza and I already bought 2 lbs of beef pepperoni. Last time I froze this in packages of 15 slices which is not enough. I think I need 22 or 24 slices to completely cover a 9x13 pizza.

[skeptic7]

Congratulations Joan!!

[skeptic7]

I like cakey, unfrosted brownies. I made more Bao today. Turned out nicely.

[skeptic7]

I did tomato, and pepperoni pizza yesterday. Unlike the last time I tried it, I had no problems with the dough, or the tomato and managed to locate my cheese cutter. Its so nice when everything works well.
I also made the Taiwanes Bao without problem.
The difficulty occurred with the beef and turnip soup. I found out that a pressure cooker can boil dry even with the lid on -- I thought it wouldn't lose enough water from the vent -- I was wrong. I was listening for the pressure cooker to start rocking and whistling as it got up to temperature. I only noticed something wrong when I could smell the burned soup. I think I rescued most of the soup by adding more water, but it has a decidedly smoky taste.
Next time I'll be a little more careful .

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