[skeptic7]

I'm not cooking or baking anything. I'm visiting my father and he insists on doing all the cooking. I was trying to get a plumber to come while I was visiting. I thought there were lots of plumbing that needed to be fixed especially as my father and his friend are enthusiastic amateur plumbers -- but they have more enthusiasm than skill. The kitchen sink had drained very slowly on my last two visits. The upstairs bathtub drain is locked open, the shower head is ancient lacking a top cap, the toilet rocks -- Dad and his friend installed it, the downstairs bathtub overflow drain lacks a rubber gasket. The plumbers came and Dad drove them out screaming that everything was fine. The kitchen sink at that time was taking hours to drain. It had been bad when i arrived three days before, and the enzyme treatments I had tried didn't help, and Dad tried using a plunger which made it almost completely plugged.
Since it was Dad's house, the plumbers couldn't do anything without his permission.
i had tried cleaning out the P trap under the sink on Monday and then running a snake down the pipes. there was some debris in the P trap but not enough to be responsible for the slowness. I couldn't get the snake to go more than a foot or so into the pipe. This didn't fix the problem and the sink continued to drain very very slowly.
However on Wednesday since Dad had driven the plumbers away and I was desperate i tried snaking the drain again, and again and again. I finally got the snake to go further down and I twirled it around and withdrew it. I fastened every thing back up and tested it. Didn't work. Took the P trap apart again and tried with the snake and tried and tried. This was a drum snake with a handle and a crank to go around. Still didn't work. i read the directions again and started twisting the snake around and pushing into the drain at the same time, and tried again. finally the snake went down and down. i twirled the snake around and push it in. finally there was about 6 feet of snake down the pipe and twirling and pushing wouldn't make it go any further. i rotated the snake and pulled it up and rotated some more. This time when I put everything together the water drained straight down quickly with a nice whirlpool affect.
Now the rest of the plumbing problems are still unfixed and beyond my expertise. Dad is almost completely deaf so I can see why he doesn't call plumbers on his own. However I want to use the bathtubs when I visit without worrying about water leaking everywhere.

[skeptic7]

I don't think I ever particularly wanted clear broth. I tried skimming the broth while it was cooking once to remove the solids and decided this was too boring to try again. I still have the skimmer thing.

[skeptic7]

I have never cooked with a tomatillo either. I should make a point of trying it this summer.

[skeptic7]

I guessed it, but will have to google for more information. I can't visualize it.

[skeptic7]

I guessed correctly.

[skeptic7]

I don't really like the idea of storing unshelled eggs so long. I like to think of the shell as protecting the eggs until I am ready to eat it.

[skeptic7]

Somehow I didn't notice that Fat Tuesday was the last Tuesday until two days later. I had dreams of baking a King Cake or Cinnamon Rolls or something else deliciously decedent. As it was I had a dental appointment and just warmed up leftovers.
Now its the Easter Season I'll have to look up my Hot Cross Bun recipes. The best recipes take a lot of time and kneading.

[skeptic7]

Congratulations. Do you like the way the microwave treated the kale?

[skeptic7]

The pie sounds very tasty. Does it look anything like a mincemeat pie?

[skeptic7]

I looked up "chiffonade" on the internet. I wasn't sure of the word.

[skeptic7]

I did a soup last Sunday which was very different from Mike's. It took much less effort and was only a single stage process. I cooked it in the slow cooker overnight. This was a lentil and vegetable soup based very loosely on Cook's Illustrated recipe.
I wanted to try something a little different so I used parsnip and fennel as well as carrots and onions. I used Trader Joe's Tomato Sauce -- this was an accident I was looking for a can of salt free diced tomatoes, and I seasoned with a teaspoon of whole cumin and a teaspoon of whole coriander. This turned out thick and rich and tasty after being cooked overnight.
By itself its a little too spicy but goes well with grilled cheese sandwiches.

[skeptic7]

I did a Rosemary Focaccio bread on Monday. My Rosemary went through the mild winter very well, although one variety is notably paler in color. This one has also been flowering which I hope is not a reaction to stress.
I gave it to a friend and have not heard back on how well she liked it. Focaccio is my "not much kneading" bread since it is so well hydrated. It does need kneading to prevent wet and dry spots in the dough. This time I patted the focaccio into the pan, let it rest for around an hour, then sprinkled on the rosemary and pushed the foccaio into the corners of the pan. I had to oil the top of the dough to prevent my hands from sticking, but doing it this way, pushing the rosemary into the top of the dough kept the rosemary from falling out after it was baked. I let the dough rise for another couple of hours before baking.

[skeptic7]

Missed this.

[skeptic7]

Mike;
I eat a lot of cold pizza for lunch particularly on hot days. I can make a 10 inch pizza, eat a quarter fresh and cut the rest up. 2 pieces fit into a sandwich box and makes a nice lunch either cold or microwaved luke warm until the cheese is just barely melted. If either of you enjoy left over pizza, making pizza is totall worthwhile for two people -- or you could just refrigerate an unbaked pizza and cook it for another meal.

[skeptic7]

Muffin recipes seem to suffer from ingredient creep -- they were originally a type of plain bread then gradually more sugar and fruit and butter were added to the recipes. I hated when Martha Stewart started popularizing recipes that started with creaming butter and sugar together instead of using melted butter. I always thought creaming butter and sugar was reserved for cakes, while muffins were meant to be thrown together quickly.
Joy of Cooking 's muffin recipe has 1 3/4 cup flour to 1/4 cup sugar which always seemed plenty sweet to me.

[Author]

Posts