What's the most unusual thing you use for wall decor?
2 years ago
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What is the most challenging thing you ever baked/cooked?
Comments (47)When I was a teenager, I made a "Spanische Windtorte." The picture of it was so pretty, and it sounded wonderful. It is an Austrian dessert composed of meringue filled with cream. You pipe meringue in a close spiral and bake it for the bottom, easy enough. Then you have to pipe and bake many rings, which you layer up from the bottom and glue with unbaked meringue to form a round box. Then you do another close spiral for a lid. The inside is filled with whipped cream flavored with cognac and fresh strawberries. After carefully placing the "lid" on top, the outside is decorated with piped whipped cream and candied violets. It wasn't that it was difficult, exactly, it's just that it was seriously time consuming, handling the brittle meringue rings was troublesome, and decorating had to be very quick so that one could serve the dessert before the inside cream began to melt. I had to make my own candied violets as well, which didn't help. It was very pretty, but when it came to eating it you might do just as well with a bowl of strawberries & whipped cream by crumbling a few meringue cookies on top. All that work and so little gustatory umph....See MoreWhat's the most unusual fresh vegetable or fruit that you eat?
Comments (38)Oh my, I eat so many Asian vegetables that many people might find unusual. Bok choy, gai lan, gobo root, mizuna, gai choy, yu choy,shingiku,winter melon and others I don't know the names of. Jessy,I love Shiso (Perilla) too, and copied your recipe to try it out. When I make tempura, the Shiso leaves make an interesting and attractive tempura. I like seaweed too, the crisp Nori sheets, the Wakame, and also Hijiki. Not too many people I know (who aren't Japanese) have had Hijiki. One buys it dried and I have found that the Japanese brands are of better quality than some less expensive, non-Japanese brands I have bought in Chinese markets. I don't use a recipe, since I have been making it for years, but I found this one on the net, and the proportions sound about right. My only quibble with the recipe is the part about soaking it for 30 minutes. In my opinion, that would make it far too squishy. I soak it for about 10 minutes, and then rinse it repeatedly to make sure it's clean of sand and grit. It will soak up plenty of moisture from the other ingredients and still retain a bit of crunch. NGREDIENTS * 30g dried hijiki * 1 piece abura-age (thin fried bean curd) * 1 small carrot * 150ml dashi * 2 tbsp sugar * 1 tbsp sake * 2 tbsp soy sauce Hijiki no nimono HOW TO COOK Rinse the hijiki well until the water runs clear, then soak in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Put the fried bean curd in a sieve and pour boiling water over it, to remove excess oil. Cut in half lengthways and then into strips. Cut the carrot into fine strips. Place the hijiki, fried bean curd and carrot in a pan, then add the dashi, sugar and sake, and bring to the boil. Cut out a round of cooking foil slightly smaller than the diameter of the pan, and cover the hijiki with it. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce, then simmer again until the hijiki absorbs the broth. I love fiddleheads, but can get them only rarely around here. But there is a bracken fern that grows in areas on the coast that is very good to eat. You pick the fern shoots in the Spring when they are still quite tightly curled up. I use a good number of edible flowers in salads. Right now I've got alyssum, roses, nasturtiums, and pansies. I can't think of a fruit I would consider unusual, maybe Lychees? I do have a penchant for Moroccan preserved lemons....See MoreDo you just decorate with things you love?
Comments (33)Ahhh-- I agree with all of you! I see that we are coming from many different backgrounds and budgets, which definitely affects things, I think. My DH and I do not have generational items. If I had 6 BARNS full of stuff, I'd never have to buy anything again. :) Both of our mothers are still alive. The only family items I have are a side table, a set of my husband's childhood books, and my grandfather's painting. Those will never leave this home! We also have 5 young children. Their "stuff" is in most rooms, so, for example, even the board books don't look elegant in the living room, I have no intention of moving them or giving them away. I also try to limit the amount of toys they have, and buy beautiful ones (like a handmade wooden dollhouse instead of a plastic one). DH and I are not collectors, other than his few boxes of comics. I do not have many knick-knacks at all. People gave some to me, but I got rid of them in my 20s. They held no real meaning to me and I see knick-knacks as mostly clutter, which I do not like. I am going to get a few as I now have a few places which need them (built-ins in the DR), but I am going to take my time. I am also not one to follow trends. While I do appreciate modern style, I think one must have a lot of time and money to keep up with the latest, and I have neither. I tend to buy only vintage or antique, save for items like bookcases. (Too hard to find the right size for my room, and too $ most of the time.) Ditto for sofas, because my DH would not like that! My major items (furniture) will like stay around for a long time, because they are styles I have loved for ages. It's more the few details . . .purchased when I needed "something" (we still do not have proper end tables-- never have!). I also very much agree with limiting the time of the "hunt." I want to be done. I guess this is actually more the point of my question! Sometimes, I look for things to match instead of focusing on what I love. Now, when I see something I love, I am just going to get it, and worry about where to put it later. I find that since I tend to be loyal to my tastes, I will likely love it forever. Case in point: I was looking for lamps for my mantle. I found lamps that would go, but they were verging on tacky, even though from the '20s. My DD took one look at them (online) and said, "Those are UGLY!" She was right . .I thought, I am going to go just by my instinct (heart) instead of my mind. I am going to get things I LOVE for little things, too, whereas I was normally 100% functional in those areas. I am not talking about replacing what we have, but rather, when I need something, it will only be with what I LOVE. We do not have room for many decorative items, so I will bring in things that make me smile with function. If I had the $, I think I would be done looking, on the whole. I see plenty of things I do love, but they are way beyond my tiny budget!...See MoreWhat is the most heinous thing that you've found....
Comments (38)When my son was about 7 they made Thanksgiving turkeys out of potatoes, with toothpicks for legs etc, in Beaver Scouts. It decorated the table for Thanksgiving Day and then it disappeared. I never thought anymore about it. Fast forward to mid-winter...every time I went into his room there was this horrid smell yet I couldnt find anything...until one day I went to clean out his chest of drawers cause they were all in a jumble. As I opened the last drawer, which held his seldom used summer clothes (remember this is mid-winter)the smell which had been lurking in the background became overwhelming ..lo and behold..as I was taking out the clothes I also encountered a slimey mass with a couple of toothpicks...not a pleasant experience..but at least I knew where the smell was coming from...lol He had wanted to keep it for next thanksgiving and said he put it there so he would remember where it was...lol...See More- 2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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