Hello all...I'm back again after finally having computer repaired with new hard drive, some lost data including recipes, and a new router after many internet cutoffs. So glad to be able to sit in my own chair again. I also was studying hard for a Spanish road theory test which I was able to pass without errors, so that's a lot off my mind now too.

Kudos to all the lovely dinners and photos in the last and this thread. I've missed so much here.
Congratulations to Ashley for her graduation, Annie & Elery and Kathleen for your anniversaries, Moe for his birthday.
Lou I'm so impressed with your bear....is that photo really taken in your yard? Or was that in a zoo!

Did I see Jimtex as well here....greetings to my old swap partner and hoping to see more of you.

Kathleen your tables are lovely and I also love your veranda, with white wicker seats. It looks like the perfect place to sit on a warm evening, or for lunch and dinner.

Since I was "in school" over the past five weeks I wasn't doing anything in the kitchen worth writing about: deli food, including roast chickens, prepared pastas and sauces, salads and packaged frozen fish in sauce. We also went out several times.

The tennis club where I have Pilates classes has expanded into a new building where there is a great restaurant overlooking the tennis courts, and the three course dinner prepared by a German chef is just 10 Euros including wine, coffee and dessert. (Think a little over 10 dollars each.)
So that's our favourite place at the moment, and today we were there again as I got home very late. As temperatures here are high 35C (95F), we started off with a chilled gazpacho, then Wolf had Frikadellen...a sort of German meatball with German potato salad while I had a Wiener Schnitzel with German pan-fried potatoes (not diet food) and a good salad.
Finished off with vanilla ice cream with cherry sauce and strong cafes cortado.
A few days ago my friend Anne was here from England and we took her there for the daily special, roast pork with gravy.
Two desserts out, a strawberry cake with coffee downtown and the one on the right which is the Spanish version of molten lava cake, here called chocolate fondant.
Our dinner today in the bottom three photos.

I hope to be cooking something myself in the next days. With this heat I think there will be a few salads on the menu, perhaps a Niçoise which we both love.

SharonCb

Sharon :
Glad to see you up and running. Great food and Photo's.

If you keep at it, you will be as good as me.lol !!!~~~
That " Frikadellen " sounds like something that should
be Beeped !!!
I'll take the Roast Pork, haven't had that for awhile.

Have all kinds of Roasts in the freezer but I have to wait for the gang to come up.
Too much to cook, just for me.

The Bear was laying on the driveway, watching me eat Pizza.

You should be able to start eating again.
If you keep going you won't have a shadow.
LOU

Annie, no fish stock this time and I wasted two heads from the freezer besides the one from last week's snapper. For many years, I have had what I call my "summer kitchen" in our back yard with a butcher block table, hose, extension cord and rocking chair but this was its first home invasion. LOL

Sharon, that veal looks wonderful.

Since we strolled way off the path of our usual diet last weekend, we hopped back on for the rest of the week, starting with TuesdayÂs dinner being an old-fashioned "diet plate" of all kinds of fresh fruits, a scoop of cottage cheese in the center, and crackers. I should have taken a photo because it was so pretty.

Wednesday, we had Mulligatawny soup with a spinach, watercress and mushroom salad with leftover homemade buttermilk dressing from Sunday.

Last nightÂs was a basic beef and broccoli stir-fry served over red and brown rice.

Tonight will be something with the remainder of the rice, pineapple, and spinach.

Didn't have much time , so I made another Steak, with
Home Fries.
This one was 1 1/2 inches thick, it was too big, so I cut off a piece for tommorrow.
Lou

Lou, if we don't see you posting for the next few days, we'll know you ate your steak outside and shared it with one of the bears. :)

Sloppy photo but made the rice into stuffed Vidalia onions, the spinach into stuffed tomatoes (although the tomato part is mostly hidden) topped with grated Piave cheese, and the rest of the pineapple into kabobs of pork tenderloin with a brown sugar and sherry glaze.

Ruthanna; I don't feed them anymore.
My gamewarden friend said, we had to quit.
They were getting to friendly.
But we put some food out when we are trapping them.

Would you share some of your Kabobs. Haven't had them for a while.
When I built my BIL's restaurant, we had to check out the Barbecue, to be sure it was working OK.
So we marinated about 3 pounds of cubed Pork tenders, in Wine, Garlic, Seasonings and Parsley.

Then did just about what you did in the Photo.
The Barbecue worked fine. Burp !!!

Of course we had to keep testing it, to be sure.
LOU

It's reassuring to see that my friends are eating so well. Everything looks delicious.

A couple of recent threads got me thinking about Italian sausage with peppers and onions.

One thread discussed various types of sausage. Upon closer checking at my nearest supermarket, I found they had three types; sweet, hot and fennel. I bought the fennel because I like fennel in Italian sausage and I knew I could add red pepper flakes in the cooking.

The other thread, which was on the subject of smoking meat, told about the chemical changes as pork is cooked long and low. I started thinking of Italian sausage as a "cut" of meat, not as a processed product. After all, it is raw pork. That made me realize how important it is to cook that kink of sausage long and low. It isn't the same as cooking a hot dog or knockwurst, which just needs to get thoroughly heated and maybe charred a bit. The peppers and onions turn out well when done long and low with the sausage, olive oil and seasonings.

Jim

Jim :
I'm glad you reminded me. !!!
That's one of my favorites.
Haven't had it for some time.
Great Photo !
Lou

I've been ordering out and/or skipping dinner and letting the family nuke leftovers more than normal. There's another lobster dinner that's been on my mind, but I didn't get to it in time to take advantage of the 5.99/lb any size sale. Oh well. Tonight was turkey burgers, a RR recipe. I thought I went easy on the curry, but I guess I didn't. I actually loved it (with Major Grey's chutney), DW forced one down, not sure what the kids ate. Cereal?

FOAS, $5.99 a pound? Wow, that's unheard of here. Of course, we're a long way from anywhere a lobster might be.

SharonCB, I'm glad to see you back and posting pictures. So, did you pass that class and now you can drive all around?
ruthanna, too bad about the fish stock, but I'll bet the raccoons appreciate your cooking! (grin) Your kabobs look delicious too.

Jim, your sausage looks perfect to me.

Here it's been crazy busy, so I don't even remember what I've eaten most of the time. Elery and I did have asparagus omelettes and bagels with Habanero Gold one day:

I also tried the Portuguese beans that Ann T made, from the David Leite cookbook. Elery loved them, they were way too spicy for me, I'll leave out the crushed red pepper next time, I think:

With it I made a buttermilk and double corn cornbread with bacon, from Peter Reinhart. He seldom steers me wrong, but I was disappointed in the cornbread, it was too dense and didn't have enough cornmeal flavor, not bad but just kind of "eh". Not worth it for something that you have to start buttermilk and cornmeal the night before so you have to remember to start it in advance:

tomorrow night I'm going to the ex's house for a birthday party for Ashley, so I made her a cake. I used some transfers which I've never done before, they looked kind of neat, I think:

Annie

OMG Ruthanna! I am LOLing about your fish heads in the crockpot. Well, at least your house doesn't smell! LOLOL!

Sharon - great photos as always and nice to see you back.

FOAS, I missed the $5.99 lb lobster special too... too busy doing other stuff I think and I just forgot. Sigh. And its funny, I can't stand to listen to RR, but I do like most of her recipes. I will have to look for the turkey burger one, I love Major Greys too.

Dinner last night was a Rotisserie Chicken with Ina's Satay - it was excellent and just what we needed after several days of upper 80's and humid. Just too darn hot to cook. I was going to make Sugar Snaps as a side but they were $5.29/lb! So I opten for broccoli, just steamed. Couscpous and cucumber salad rounded out the meal with a blueberry summer tart for dessert.

Alexa

Hi Everyone:
I see the good food and Photo's are still coming.

Jim :
It's all your fault !!! With the Sausage.

A friend brought me over, two Zuccini's and your Sausage was stuck in my mind.

So this is the windup.

Zuccini, Sausage , Red and Green Peppers, Tomatos, Onions
and all the good Spices.
Have a good one.
Lou

Sharon, nice to see you back. I've missed your posts and pictures. I've had computer problems for the last 6 weeks or so finally bought a new one on the weekend. I don't think I've lost anything important except for my Contact list.

I've come back here a few times to look at your Schnitzel and Jim's Italian Sausage. Both are really appealing.

Ann

Lou,

I was thinking of you when I posted that sausage pic. I did it on purpose! I knew the reaction it would get from you. Sure enough, you got busy in the kitchen and I have to say your result is exquisite. I need to remember to make that dish with summer squash. I'm salivating at the thought of it.

Jim

Jim:
Thanks !!! But I'll get even, somehow.
Can't think right now.

Ann:
I'll send you my Email address if you lost it.
You may want to tell me something ???
Lou

Last night I made Frikadeller (Danish meatballs) with gravy, new potatoes, and fresh broccoli. The recipe was good and made a lot of flattened meatballs, so I froze several meals worth. My dill weed was too, too old and did not add any dill flavor to the gravy. :o( Pan frying batches of the meatballs was time consuming and messy, so I will go back to oven baking them. Have yet to meet a meatball I didn't love!

Teresa

Teresa, are your Danish Meatballs similar to Swedish Meatballs? Please share your recipe. I've met a few meatballs I haven't loved. Usually they are coated in a sweet sauce, like ketchup or jelly. But I've yet to meet a meatball simmered in gravy or a good Italian tomato sauce that I didn't like.

Haven't been doing anything special around here lately. Last night we had penne in a tomato sauce seasoned with fresh garlic and fresh basil with sauted Italian sausage and black olives.

I also made Vanilla Poppy Seed Loafs early this week that were a big hit. I found the idea for this loaf on another blog. I made a number of changes but if you would like to see the original recipe it can be found here.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Vanilla Poppy Seed Loaf
=======================

Adapted from The Girl that Ate Everything Blog

3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
3/8 cup cooking oil
2-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups milk
1-1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix all together dry ingredients. Mix the eggs, butter/oil, eggs, milk and vanilla together. Add to dry ingredients and stir to mix. Do not over mix. Pour into muffin cups and/or loaf buttered loaf pans. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes for muffins and 30 to 35 minutes for mini loaf pans. Large loafs will take 50 to 60 m and less for smaller pans.

Warm Butter Glaze

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add sugars and butter to small sauce pan. Add water. Cook over low heat until sugars melt. Do not bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Poke holes in muffins/loaves. Spoon the warm butter glaze over cakes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thibeault's Table

Those sausage dinners look good Jim and Lou. I love the pepper, onion and zucchini mixture, which is also used a lot here in Spanish cooking.

Annie that cake is a winner. I think that's also the first paisley cake I've seen. Belated greetings to Ashley.

Beautiful poppyseed cake Ann.

Today I had a "driving lesson" in the city and like yesterday's "lesson" it was h@ll. Been driving since I was 16 but that city is no place for a sane person to take a car. :-)
Don't think I did well with the steep hills, crazy traffic and heat. Made me nervous. So when I finally got home (I have to do this again tomorrow and the next days) I made a cool Salade Niçoise, we sat outside to eat on the patio and I had two full glasses of wine! Felt better after that and a few soothing words from Wolf.
Can't believe I'm going through all this, and they say the driving test with the examiner fails most people.

SharonCb

Here is the recipe I used as best I can remember it:

Frickadeller

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used fresh not dried)
1/8 t. allspice (I used more like 1/4 t.)
salt and pepper
oil for frying

I mixed the meatball ingredients in my KA mixer: egg, crumbs, milk, onions, seasonings mixed briefly, then the ground meat added in clumps, alternating the beef and pork. Mixed just enough to blend all well.

Take 1" round balls of mixture, flatten slightly, fry in a large skillet in a small amount of oil. Fry in batches, drain on paper towels.

For brown gravy:
2 TB of fat from the pan
2 TB butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup sour cream
1-2 t. dill weed

Heat fat and butter in skillet that meatballs were cooked in. Add in flour, cook to brown; stir and scrape bottom of skillet to get up all the "brown bits" in the bottom of the pan. Slowly add stock and stir and scrape. Cook about 10 minutes until gravy is thick. Season with salt, pepper, and dill weed. Taste for seasoning. Lower heat and stir in sour cream, blending well. Put the meatballs back in the gravy and heat on low. Do not let boil.

Serve over noodles, rice, or potatoes.

That should be Frikadeller, also seen as Frikadellen and Frikadelle.

Frikadella/Frikadellen - Sharon and Teresa, you both refer to them as meatballs. My mom always made "Frikadellen" more like hamburgers, served on their own, no gravy. IIRC correctly she soaked stale bread in water, then mixed with ground beef, onions and spices. I'll have to ask her what spices or if I'm missing anything. I guess shape is a technicality, but you've got me going down memory lane. It's been MANY years now. I always loved them. My sister, not so much. I guess that's why they grew out of favor at home.

FOAS ...the Frikadellen we get in the neighbourhood Austrian restaurant as well as the ones Wolf had at the German restaurant at the tennis club all seem to look like flattened meatballs, or small hamburger patties, definitely not ball shaped, and it's true they are served without sauce, which I think is a bit of a shame. I would love them with gravy.

I've also bought them at the German deli here when I needed something quick for lunch. But sometimes they were too hard and dry, so I really prefer my own homemade meatballs or hamburger patties. The same I guess by another name, and I prefer them with a homemade tomato sauce or gravy.

SharonCb

oh that Vanilla Poppyseed loaf looks amazing. I am going to have to make it once I wade through Banana Ocean here. And meatballs - probably the frickin ones - are now on my short list. They look great!

tonight is a nod to Jim - Schwein Schnitzel, Spetzle and broccoli with the left over cucumber salad.

Alexa

Sharon:
I found these growing out front.
Not flowers but I thought you would like to see them.
They tasted better that the store bought.

Someone Posted about Wild Rasberries but I forget who ?

I'll send some over to you, with my Grandson. Sure !!!

He traveling to Europe, touring for a month.
I was supposed to go with him but wasn't sure about
flying 10 hours, with the leg problem.
I wanted to go to Badolato, Italy, my namesake town,
to see if any relatives were still around.

It would have been great to see you.
Lou

Last night Elery made pasta. Well, you know how I feel about pasta, but he made a whole wheat penne pasta with three peppers (red, yellow and orange), some eggplant, fresh tomatoes, a bunch of fresh herbs. It was really very nice, he called it pasta e melanzana and something else I didn't catch.

I was hungry, we had to go pick up my Jeep from David's where it was getting a tune up and we stopped to buy paint because we're painting the house so it was late and I didn't take pictures.

Ah well.

Annie

Wow Lou,
those strawberries are almost too pretty to be real! Mine aren't nearly so perfect:

Jo

Mine are perfect -

Jo:
Your's are just as pretty. My Photo was closer and made them look good.
Only problem is there are not too many of them.
Are your's wild ?
Lou

Nope. I decided to put some domestic strawberries in my planters. But they are so good...

Shaun! Your strawberries are beautiful!!

What's for dinner? For me it was a nap! No pressing deadlines, no people, no meetings, no pressure, no empty larder. I have a bunch of stuff needs cooking, but, boy, did that nap feel good. So dinner is LaBrea Bakery wholegrain bread, Saint Albray cheese, and mesclun with grape tomatoes and a little Trader Joe's champagne pear vinaigrette. Nothing cooked (at least by me) at all, but a lovely little prep-free picnic anyway.

Asked mom, and yeah her Frikadellen were really basic. Her only "secret" was to soak the bread in beef broth rather than just water. Steppin' it up a notch, huh? LOL.

Tonight was shrimp parm. It's against my imaginary diet, but it's been a while, I was at a loss for quick ideas, wife loves it. Can't beat that combo.

Saturday night, we went out for dinner and after seeing Sharon CbÂs schnitzel photo all week, there wasnÂt any choice for me but veal.

Featured vegetable this week was fresh peas in the shell so had some with mint and grilled the other half of the pork tenderloin.

I made the rest into pea paste and pea pesto to freeze but kept out some pesto as a pasta sauce.

DH wanted fruit platters again the day we went out for a big lunch.

IÂm off to the farmers market this morning to see what looks good. The only thing planned is meatloaf, after reading through that thread, and a couple of kiffles for tonightÂs teatime.

FOAS:
Ruthana:

That's real down home cooking.
I sampled both !!!
Lou

FOAS,

That shrimp looks amazing! Care to share the process/recipe?

Thanks! I wing it so always different but the basics are the same: Simply layer spaghetti mixed with a bit of tomato sauce, more sauce, sauteed shrimp, mozzarella and parm regg. Throw it under the broiler.

I was particularly happy with how it came out last night, so I'll note these changes for next time:

Generally I mix crushed and diced tomatoes for a thicker sauce. Last night I used just petite diced, two cans. Strained the liquid to mix with the spaghetti, topped with the solids. This kept the meal feeling lighter and fresher than the puree that comes with crushed.

I generally coat the shrimp with corn starch but I couldn't find it (?!) so I used Wondra instead and I liked it. Season the starch however you like, I enjoyed last night's paprika and cayenne.

YUM! Thanks FOAS......who I definitely am putting in the really good cook camp!

FOAS:
Didn't have time to do the Shrimp Parm.

So I made a quickie tonight ( again )

Pepper and Egg Omelet, with Ball Park Franks.
LOU

Mom and her little one were here for Dinner but didn't like the Omelet.
So I put out some corn for them.

The Baby couldn't eat the corn so, she nibbled on the plants. Have to get out the wooden spoon.

Shhhh!! Don't tell John. It was a busy day, so I didn't get to the chutney for the tacos, but it was still a good day for Fusion. The spices for the dry rub for the tritip were in a blog I was reading, and sounded intriguing enough to try: cinnamon, chili powder, dry mustard, turmeric, and granulated garlic. My chili and mustard are past their prime, but not funky (I still have to replace a lot of spices and have been keeping the bottles as place holders). I figured it couldn't hurt, and used extra. The heat brought them back pretty well. I cooked the meat in the crockpot on a bed of basil and tarragon that were getting limp, and I threw in an onion around the sides for moisture.

Dinner, lacking the chutney, was sliced tritip and Vietnamese noodle salad burritos with avocado, wrapped in honey habañero mustard on whole wheat tortillas. The salad was a leftover from Whole Foods lunch yesterday. It was better in the burrito. :) Sides of tiny heirloom tomatoes and raw English peas. The meat is a little strange tasting by itself, but is absolutely amazing playing off the other flavors! That's a revelation to me, how it can be so different in context. I hope it goes well with the chutney if I get it made tomorrow. REALLY yummy, if irreproducable, dinner. Watermelon later for the sweet.

Did another Quick Meal tonight.

Chicken Cicciatore Stew ???

I did it in half time. While the Chicken was browning in the Skillet,
I Nuked all the vegetables to 3/4 done. Potatoes, Celery, Onions, Tomato's, Carrots and Red Bell Pepper.

Plllog:
I stole tomato's from your platter, to put in the stew.

Put all this into the Skillet with the Chicken, added some
water and 3 tbl.spoons of my famous Pasta Sauce.
Sprinkled Old Bay, Garlic & Onion Powder, Parsley Flakes,
Salt and Pepper and some Basil.
Simmered for about 20 minutes, ate it in 10 minutes.
No Ediquette, there was no one here.

Last night it was Fish and Fennel Soup for dinner.

I'm showing the mis en place because it looks better than the finished soup. :-) The ingredients are ocean perch, fennel bulb, fennel fronds, onion, dashi no moto and white wine.

Here's the soup. I've done better with this soup before. I was a bit careless, using some fennel fronds which were too coarse and tough and overcooking the soup after adding the fish. Oh well...

I think soup is not the easiest thing to photograph even if it is prepared well. got any tips on soup photography? Ann? Sharon?

Jim

Jim :
That soup looks good.

You guys are better that I am, with Photo's.
But as an observer,
I think you could have more of the good ingredients showing.
Prop some of the fish up, with the Fennel Fronds.

I have a tip. Soup Photo's look great on cold days.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Last time I tried to give a tip I caught it from about 15 members.
Lou

"Last time I tried to give a tip I caught it from about 15 members."

Don't exaggerate, It was only 14 members.

(Just kidding. I don't remember such a thing ever happening. LOL)

Your tip about propping stuff up is good. I could have used that idea when I was trying to photograph the lobster bisque.

Jim

Jim:
You had to mention that Lobster Bisque again.
I'll get to it one day.
I have 2 other things to make first.

Here is a good soup for a hot day !!!

Chicken Wedding Soup. The color is too light.
Lou

Jim :
I said " You had to mention Lobster Bisque again "

Sorry, I forgot to put in LOL !!!

The Ocean Perch is about the size I use for the Fish Puffs.

I always nuke the long cooking Veggies first, in something
that don't take long to cook.

Think I'll put that in Tips.
Lou

Ruthanna and Plllog...love the look of all your fresh veggies and salads. We've had some warm weather here and it brings on the urge to make some of the same.

Lou lovely deer pics. I like the comfort food you prepare, especially that Wedding Soup.

Jimster I can imagine your soup tasted good. You asked for tips about photographing soup.

I guess I would have more or a stronger light, with a white cardboard reflector on the side closest to the camera, to lighten up the near side.

Maybe fill the bowl a little more so the contents aren't so low down and are up closer to the light.

Another trick you could try, to keep the solid bits of the soup visible, is to put a small upturned bowl...or even a piece of a hard bread roll...inside the soup bowl, fill up the bowl with liquid to cover the 'platform' and then pile the solid bits on the bread or whatever you used, so the bits are visible over the level of the liquid. Keep green bits as fresh looking as possible. Arrange them so they don't look sad and droopy.

Of course that's only when you are wanting to make a showcase photo of the soup, as for a blog or a recipe illustration, not when you're making a quick snapshot of your lunch.

Be careful when photographing soup or other liquids not to get too much light reflecting over the surface so it looks like a sheet of white. Move closer and up a little with the camera, or move to another angle, so you are partially looking down into the depth of the bowl and can see the colour and the contents with only a small amount of reflection.

Well our meals are in deli mode at the moment as I'm still taking daily road tests for my Spanish driver's licence, and preparing our house for my sister's first visit to our house next month. So until mid July I will be making much use of our local deli, frozen fish, quick salads and lunches out. The other day we had a simple chicken ragout over rice at the tennis club where I go for Pilates. Really inexpensive and fast. They also have the best coffee there, so we never miss out on a cafe cortado afterward.

SharonCb

Thanks, Sharon. Our family has always loved vegetables so I enjoy preparing them.

The season for fire company barbecues, church festivals and community fairs and events is now in full swing. We attend a lot of them so their offerings will become our dinner for quite a few nights this summer.

Last night, we had our first garden leaf lettuce of the year with mustard buttermilk dressing, carrot-ginger soup and sliced steak on toast.

Our co-op was laying almost a thousand pounds of mulch for one of our members this weekend so I made strawberry streusel muffins to keep the crew going. The strawberries have been terrific this year.

It all looks stunning. I'm really glad the guys are adding their pictures to the bunch. I don't know why you didn't before, but I like it!

I thought of you a great deal this weekend Sharon. I made "coffee everything". And every time I did, I thought about cafe cortado. It kept popping in my head. Does that happen to y'all? You think of GardenWeb/THS people when you aren't here? I made tuiles with coffee and almonds, cappucino brownies, chicory ice cream, and a really complex (loved that recipe!) hot fudge sauce that was mocha and cinnamon. So you were in my mind a lot :)

I finally had pork stroganoff. It was my version, so I can't claim a recipe, but the fact you all have talked about it before jogged my mind. Thanks! It was really good. Served it over rice and had carrots cut on the diagonal and glazed them with a sort of salted caramel glaze. I've never really cut carrots that way, but I will from now on, each bite covers the tongue all at one time. I'm really glad to be having it all again for lunch today. Can I eat it now even though it's only 8AM here? And for dessert was a dark chocolate cheesecake, had to use up some cottage cheese and cream cheese. Maybe others come up with healthy ideas, but mine turned to dessert.

;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Can you tell I was reading this cookbook?

Thanks for the tips on soup photography, Sharon. I understand the reasons for each one and will take them to heart on my next attempt. Lou, did you notice she agrees with you about propping up the solids? That wouldn't be considered deceitful in any way would it? ;-)

ruthanna, everything in your pics inspires me to cook. I want to reach into my computer screen and snatch a couple of those muffins.

rob333, cutting carrots on the diagonal gives them a natural, attractive shape with no extra effort expended. I had not consciously thought about how it improves mouth feel but I think you are right about that. It's not something a lot of people would think about. Did you roll the carrot a quarter turn on the cutting board with each cut so the pieces aren't like slabs?

Jim

I didn't, but I was looking for slabs. I will next time. Thanks for the tip Jim!

Ruthanna: Sharon :
Your making me Hungry!!! I didn't eat breakfast yet.

Rob:
Chocolate CheeseCake is healthy . You could have sent me some
Sharon :
Thanks for your Photo Tutorials. I'll comment in WFD 308.
I don't want to get beaten twice. LOL !!!
Lou, ILU