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Missed this one too

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I stir fry asparagus. Break it up into 2-3 inch pieces and stir fry with a little oil. Well with me its more of a braise. I add a little garlic or ginger for flavor. Heat oil until hot, add asparagus, stir around a bit and then add some water and cover the pan. Stir occasionally but mainly let it cook till its at the texture you want. The first frying in hot oil acts sort of the same way blanching does and improves the flavor and color in a way that boiling won't.

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Oven thermometers are wonderful. I was told to get one after a cake domed up when I was trying to bake it. I found that oven ran 25 degrees too high. My current oven says its finished preheating when its about 50 degrees off -- it will eventually reach the proper temperature if you wait long enough.

I baked an apple slab pie last Tuesday with Winesaps and Gold Rush apples which had spent the winter in my refrigerator. The apple slab has more pie crust than a round pie and I was hankering for the crust.

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I did individual chicken pot pies last night to use up some leftover pie dough. I keep forgetting how time consuming this is to cut up the celery and carrots and onions even when the pie dough is ready. But it tastes so good, even when you have other things that should be done.

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I baked whole wheat English Muffins Sunday morning and took them to Maryland Sheep and Wool to share some with chocomouse. She was in a little booth in the big barn selling yarn and crochet hooks.
I also baked some pumpkin cranberry quick bread to share with my other friends. Chocomouse was being good and avoiding sugar so she didn't want to taste any. I was sharing food with people since I had done so very little knitting this year. I only had one simple hat to show off.

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I got it!

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When I was making fat-free biscotti, I used to beat the egg yolks with sugar until fluffy, and serately beat the egg whites until fluffy then I would gently fold the flour into the yolks by thirds, alternating with the egg whites. This made them lighter and fluffier and less hard.
If you are adding oil to biscotti, you can add it to the egg yolk and beat it till fluffy. Start by beating the egg yolks until fluffy and then add a little oil at a time.
One of the reasons I went over to doing full butter biscotti was because it was so much easier. I could do everything in one bowl with a good mixer.

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Chocomouse;
I hope to be at Sheep and Wool on Saturday. I'll stop by and see you in the morning. I will be broke this year due to attic insulation, car repairs and dental bills but I will look forward to meeting friends and eating lamb sandwiches.

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Chocomouse;
Are you still going to Maryland Sheep and Wool? What is the name of your booth? Unless something drastic happens I will be there and would like to meet.

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I wish I was baking. I'm spending my spare time sealing holes in my attic prior to filling it with insulation. This was all suppose to be done on the first week in April. I had the insulation removed and called the Electrician in to install a new bathroom fan and secure the junction boxes. However we quarrelled about how to vent the fan so I had to look for someone else to do that, and I decided I didnt trust the insulation people to seal all the holes in the attic prior to putting in new insulation so I am doing that myself.
I have made a couple of pizzas but that isn't the same as Easter baking. I make those to eat not to give away and not as part of a long tradition. I did make a cheese bread that I will mention in a seperate thread.

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BakerAunt; The chocolate sounds wonderful. Its a gift, that shouldn't count right?

I was too busy to do much cooking but I did a cheese pizza on Friday. Had three types of cheese, mozarella, provolone, and cheddar.
I haven't made any Hot Cross Buns yet, it doesn't seem like I have any time. None of the quicker versions taste acceptable so its going to be the full time consuming long rising and kneading version or nothing.

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I did a lot of coooking that week but have just gotten around to mentioning it.
Whole wheat focaccio with rosemary -- I had to buy the rosemary my inside plants are all small and I didn't want to cut them -- on Monday as a gift. A double batch of gingerbread on Tuesday, and sugarless carrot bread on Friday.

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I have been doing some baking for the last month but didn't have time to write a message.

I also have been doing experiments on bao -- steamed Chinese buns. Does this count as baking? Its a yeast bread but steamed not baked.

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Lead Free solder didn't come into use until fairly late like 1960's. I had two manual bread buckets of 1930's vintage that I had to stop using. You can get kits to test for lead in the paint section of a hardware store.
I handed my bread buckets over to the thrift store and they sold them as antiques.

Copper is lined with tin to prevent the food from being in contact with the copper. Pewter might have appreciable lead content. I think modern pewter is lead free but antiques might be dangerous. I don't think anyone uses brass or bronze for cooking

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Chocomouse;
Congratulations on a sucessful English muffin. My English muffins never had big holes but I always baked them. Laurel's Kitchen cookbook claimed that the big holes could be produced by kneading so much the gluten was weakened and then the normal holes would combine to be extra large. I never kneaded that much so I can support this idea. I don't think big holes are very important, just put more butter and jelly on top.
Its possible that English muffins originally were suppose to come out slightly gummy and undercooked since they are almost always supposed to be toasted again before eating.

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