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Post by greenbeing on Mar 6, 2006 23:42:43 GMT -5
when my d/h asked me to marry him ( well,,,,, actually it was: "do you want to live together?" i said no,, been there, done that,, he then said " wanna get married?" my response was : "do i have to learn to cook? and can we get a second golden retriever?" I'll have to remember that question if a guy ever asks me to marry him  Do I have to learn to cook? Whenever my mom would tell me I needed to learn, I'd always tell her that if I got married, I'd make sure he knew how to cook. I always thought cool whip was whipped cream... Just sort of... fake? Like butter and margarine? Interchangeable? Good to know there's a difference! I recently found out there's a difference between baking soda and baking powder. I didn't know there was something other than the little yellow Arm N Hammer box. One day in college, I'd just got home, had only about two hours of sleep, wanted to go straight to bed, and my mom was making roast pork, and as any proper Czech person knows, the only proper side dish for a roast pork is a dumpling. But she said she didn't have time to make one, and if I wanted one, I'd darn well better make it myself. For some reason, my mom always complained about making dumplings, so I thought they would be uberly hard to make, so I panicked and begged her not to leave, begged her to stay and walk me through, but she didn't. She left me. I was only half-done when she came home, so I said, does this look right? She said, looks okay, so I stopped kneading it, covered it, and went to take a nap. One, I'd used the yellow box, and should have used the other one. (I still don't know which one's which.) Two, I'd been so tired, I'd forgotten I was only half-done kneading it... But on the bright side, my mom never asked me to make a dumpling again! --GB Oh, and when I cook, I always make enough for about three days of meals. That way I only have to cook about once a week. Great hint, Inuvik! |
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Post by hoosier on Mar 8, 2006 18:08:52 GMT -5
Spring is almost here and everyone is anticipating putting in their gardens. Can hardly wait for those snow peas, fresh tomatoes, green onion, cukes and zukes! Everything tastes 100% better when it is right out of the garden!
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Post by inuvik on Mar 8, 2006 18:23:14 GMT -5
Spring is almost here and everyone is anticipating putting in their gardens. Can hardly wait for those snow peas, fresh tomatoes, green onion, cukes and zukes! Everything tastes 100% better when it is right out of the garden! ALMOST makes me want to cook--but not quite!  |
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Post by Dreamfire on Mar 9, 2006 3:55:25 GMT -5
We have just finished summer here in Australia. The veggiepatch is giving up its last tomatoes and corn, the zuccinni have sneaked to hide and g rown the size of cows! The pumkin is still working its weigh up and we've finished the lettuce and basil. My DH does a wonderful barbie of an evening and the weather is the best. COme on over if you are in the neighbourhood.
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Post by dogma on Mar 9, 2006 8:20:43 GMT -5
We have just finished summer here in Australia. The veggiepatch is giving up its last tomatoes and corn, the zuccinni have sneaked to hide and g rown the size of cows! The pumkin is still working its weigh up and we've finished the lettuce and basil. My DH does a wonderful barbie of an evening and the weather is the best. COme on over if you are in the neighbourhood. what's for desert? i'll bring a salad,, see ya soon,,, |
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Post by greenbeing on May 6, 2006 10:50:43 GMT -5
What a good suggestion, bjobsessed! I'll move them over here, where we can drool to our heart's content!
--GBMaybe we should start a smore thread so this one can get totally back on track. I've never been pregnant, but I sure wouldn't want to be insensitive to one!  If you don't have graham crackers, how do you make s'mores??? One of life's little delicacies... --GB Could someone enllighten me as to what a S'more is? I first came across this word when I watched Dark Angel and never ever found out what they were?? N First you start with a marshmallow, a fire, and a stick. Let the fire die down to coals, unless you're one of those wacky people who like them charred, and slow-roast it, turning and turning until it's lightly brown and sliding off the end of the stick. Remove from stick, placing between two graham cracker halves and a bit of chocolate. The chocolate will start to melt, the graham crackers will leave your hands (almost) clean, and the marshmallow will be gooey and sticky and melty inside, and lightly crispy and chewy outside. Now I must have a fire when I get home (S'mores are most of the reason I got a house with a fireplace!), and yuuuuumm. My mum and I found a variation on the theme, we use Hershey's with Almonds for a change sometimes. Yyyuuuuummm! --GB That sounds delicious! There must be something we can use instead of graham crackers. (where does the name come from? It sounds like it's from 'I want some more'). I think it is from Some-More. I would guess you can use all sorts of cookie-type things. Graham crackers are halfway between a cookie and a cracker. Have you heard of Golden Grahams cereal? I dunno what else a "graham" would be... Lightly sweetened, crispy, flat thing. Wait, do ya'll have cookies? Or are they biscuits? And a cracker here is a saltine, which you don't want to use with marshmallows, as you put them in soup. I've never thought of someone not knowing what a s'more is... You must try them! You can even make them in the microwave, but that's not quite as good. You don't get the roasted, crispiness. I think you need a lightly honey-flavored cookie-thing. My grandma sometimes uses them in pie crusts. I just never thought they wouldn't be universal... When my friend here at work was preggie, she often brought marshmallows and graham crackers and chocolate, and we made them in the microwave for a snack after dinner. Or, my sis used to turn on the stove, as they had a gas stove, and roast them in the kitchen. But we grew up making them on camping trips. They're such a part of our culture, we even have a lot of ornaments made in their likeness! I think Hallmark did that several years. Smiling Smores Skiing and such. (Say that ten times fast...) Good luck! Keep us posted! Yum! --GB Okay, ya'll have me truely curious, so now I'm doing research on... you guessed it, graham crackers. I'd only been vaguely aware, thanks to books and the BBC, that Americans eat weirdly-named foods. But... We have S'mores, so there! And if at all humanly possible, I want to spread the love, so this might clear things up. Or not."For years now the Graham cracker issue has always raised its head in relation to one subject; Cheesecake. Cheesecakes demand a base of crushed biscuits bound together with some form of butter or margarine. In the UK the Digestive reigns supreme as the biscuit of choice for battering into little bits with a rolling pin. Sometimes the Gingernut offers itself up, but its hard work battering them flat so usually the Digestive takes over next time round. Should your recipe be of transatlantic origin, however, and you'll be advised to use the Graham Cracker. Now straight off your going to be thinking 'am I supposed to of heard of that?', and 'aren't crackers something that keeps cheese company, and maybe the odd grape?'. To be fair there is the occasional American who wonders what a Digestive is. So this week we are going to take the world's leading Graham Cracker and put it head to head with the world's leading Digestive. Nabisco takes on McVities. Well only metaphorically you understand as Nabisco actually has a very large shareholding in United Biscuits who operate McVities. Still this is all about the biscuits not who owns who. Down to business. The Graham Cracker according to the picture on the pack is square, and is having what appears to some form of jam being spread upon it. Right away we troubled by this challenger to the Digestive, not only is the wrong shape but it appears to be in some way dependent on jam in order to go about its business. Ok the Digestive is no stranger to the odd topping but it doesn't like to shout about it. It turns out that the Nabisco Graham Cracker is part of a whole range that inevitably includes cinnamon, apple and chocolate versions. With this in mind it was a bit of a surprise to find that the crackers inside the cardboard box were rectangular not square. They do break obligingly into two down a baked in perforation. A second line running at 90 degrees allows the square to broken in half once more. It has to said that at first glance and given their seemingly low density I was thinking 'Crispbread' not 'biscuit'. So with cup of tea at the ready, and entirely jamless I set about my first Graham cracker ever. Light and crispy, and with out so much of a whiff of hamster bedding, the taste put me in mind of, well.. , oh alright... , a Digestive. Don't misunderstand me, it's certainly not just like one, far from it. Yet if a Digestive were ever to get a Ryvita into trouble, possibly at a wild party behind the cheese board, then the resulting progeny may well end growing up to look a lot like Graham Crackers. In fact the flavour was remarkably complex, with a slight spicy finish possibly due to the bran in the Graham flour and molasses in the recipe. The edges of the Graham cracker also present another problem. They are open on all sides implying that each cracker has been cut cleanly from a larger sheet. Although I only checked 29 of them I couldn't find a baked over end. So either there is some amazing process that produces a continuous plane of Graham Cracker (this is unlikely, as it would cover the earth or space or something (and the oven would need to hover I think (and fly around like Luke Skywalker's sand speeder ( and there would have to another upside down and underneath to bake the bottom (actually they would be more like grills than ovens) ) ) ) or maybe they simply cut the edges off and discard them, which is both wasteful and unsatisfying. If you know anything about this please get in touch as I'm going to have trouble sleeping at nights now I have thought of it. So a Digestive it is not, though both Wifey and I were shocked at how much we liked them, and actually how relatively wholesome they were given they are from the same stable as the Oreo. As for who Graham was? The Graham cracker, precedes the Digestive by some 100 years and were invented by Sylvester Graham a Presbyterian minister in 1829. He was an early advocate of health food and invented his own coarsely ground wheat flour for its high fiber content. The flour nicknamed "graham flour" after Minister Graham, is main ingredient in Graham Crackers. Right thats cleared it up for me at least. " --NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com What the heck is a digestive? I admit, I'm that "occasional American" who is clueless.
Here's another comparative, from wikipedia:Digestive biscuits and Graham crackers These two items are fairly different, but are used similarly (e.g. to make crumb crusts for a cheesecake). Graham crackers are sweeter, and are available in different flavors (e.g. cinnamon, chocolate). Digestive biscuits are richer, and while slightly sweet, are often used eaten with cheese. They are also available coated on one side with milk or dark chocolate. And here's a recipe, as I found one site that said there's nothing quite like Graham Crackers in Australia, so one lady resorted to making her own, so she could make s'mores for her daughter. Enterprising, that's what that is.Homemade Graham Crackers: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour 1/2 cup light rye flour (rye flour can be found in health food stores) 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pea-size bits 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoon molasses 1/4 cup cold water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Graham Crackers: In a food processor or the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the cold butter and mix or process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the honey, molasses, water, and vanilla. Mix until the dough comes together in a ball. Between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap, roll the dough 1/2-inch thick. Chill for 1 hour, until firm. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly flour the dough and roll 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife or cookie cutter, cut into 2-inch squares. Arrange the crackers on nonstick or parchment lined cookie sheets. With a fork, prick several holes in each cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan. Yield: 48 crackers --from foodnetwork.com If you're really... desperate... insane... bored... creative... you can make your own marshmallows, too.
--GB
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Post by greenbeing on May 6, 2006 10:56:04 GMT -5
All you oz girls must let us know if you make your own graham crackers. I wonder if there's any way to send you some? I missed all this yesterday. Been a busy couple of days. Now that I'm finally over my horror of half of the world never having a s'more before, I must know: have you ever roasted marshmallows? Is this universal? Or am I once again living in my own little world? (My mom got me this sign for my birthday last year, thought it was hilarious, actually, I think my dad picked it out... It says: I live in my own little world, but it's okay, they know me here. I'd never realized until then that my reality isn't exactly the reality of anyone else. But it's okay, they know me here And I have roasted marshmallows and melty gooey chocolate and graham crackers!) --GB First you start with a marshmallow, a fire, and a stick. Let the fire die down to coals, unless you're one of those wacky people who like them charred, --GB I am one of those wacky people. I haven't had one in forever, but all this talk is making me want one. I usually catch the marshmellow on fire and let it burn itself out. I wonder if you could do it on a gas stove? I am one of those wacky people. I haven't had one in forever, but all this talk is making me want one. I usually catch the marshmellow on fire and let it burn itself out. I wonder if you could do it on a gas stove? My sister has done it on a gas stove, so yes, you can. I bet you could grill them, too, if you were desperate... Or, if you like them charred, just take a match and light one ;D My cousin has managed quite well over a candle, but I tried that with a toothpick, mini marshmallows, and a candle, and it mostly ended up orange scented, which was an odd, intriguing, and not altogether unpleasant experience, but warning you to be careful what sort of scented candle you use, as I'm sure pine or something wouldn't go over too well... I guess the candle thing works better if you're not too much of a marshmallow perfectionist: I won't let them get at all charred, just lightly browned, chewy and gooey. So it takes longer. Word of caution: when I've seen people light them on fire, they tend to then wave the marshmallow and stick around, often causing the marshmallow to fly off. I would recommend extreme caution when doing this in-doors, as you could launch an explosive marshmallow at the living room drapes... Oh! There's this new invention, haven't tried it yet, but I do have one. It's a marshmallow grill. Forgot all about it. It's oil based, you light it, and then can roast marshmallows in the off-season, or if you don't have a fireplace. My mom got it at Target, I think... Try small appliances. Fondue pots and toasters and marshmallow roasters. --GB No worries about waving a flaming marshmellow. I've never done that. The marshmellow grill sounds interesting though. I'll have to look for one. Wow, we seem to have opened a can of worms with the graham crackers issue! I'm intrigued. I can't imagine anything that we have that sounds similar but I'll look in the supermarket next time I go. We don't have Digestives here either but I used to live in England so I know what they are. As for roasting marshmellows over a camping fire, we definitely do that! I can't wait to have a go at S'mores though! Word of caution: when I've seen people light them on fire, they tend to then wave the marshmallow and stick around, often causing the marshmallow to fly off. I would recommend extreme caution when doing this in-doors, as you could launch an explosive marshmallow at the living room drapes... Oh! There's this new invention, haven't tried it yet, but I do have one. It's a marshmallow grill. Forgot all about it. It's oil based, you light it, and then can roast marshmallows in the off-season, or if you don't have a fireplace. My mom got it at Target, I think... Try small appliances. Fondue pots and toasters and marshmallow roasters. --GB Karma to you GB for starting my day with a laugh. Between lawn slugs and marshmallow roasters you always have a great story. I bet the neighbors talk about you. And one other thought. They took B/J off because not enough people watched , yet marshmallow roasters are mass produced! And who, besides GB, would ever think to buy one? Not that one has anything to do with the other. And how did this thread go from Baby announcements to marshmallow roasters? And how did this thread go from Baby announcements to marshmallow roasters? Just when I'm about to start singing the praises of Toasted Marshmallow Jelly Bellies, Mary pulls us back on topic! Wow, we seem to have opened a can of worms with the graham crackers issue! I'm intrigued. I can't imagine anything that we have that sounds similar but I'll look in the supermarket next time I go. We don't have Digestives here either but I used to live in England so I know what they are. Hi Chocky Just thought I'd let you know there is somewhere we can purchase American goods. It's called USA Foods and its in Bentleigh Victoria. The web address is www.usafoods.com.au. I developed a taste for Smucker's Grape Jelly (jam) when I was holidaying in Canada and bought some from the website when I got home. I checked for Graham Crackers, but all they have at the moment are honey flavoured ones. As for Digestives, I've seen the McVittie's in Coles and Woolies from time to time, normally around the imported produce sections. Hope this helps. Wow, we seem to have opened a can of worms with the graham crackers issue! I'm intrigued. ... As for roasting marshmellows over a camping fire, we definitely do that! I can't wait to have a go at S'mores though! Yes, but a can of worms is much less appetizing than a s'more. And I'm relieved that roasting marshmallows over a campfire is universal! Rducasey, my neighbors probably talk ABOUT me, but they don't talk to me ;D (Okay, so I work nights, but what could that possibly have to do with anything? I'm sure I just plain worry them.) And if anyone wants the exact progression of this conversation, an American mentioned graham crackers were better at settling the stomach than saltines, and Australian mentioned, what is a graham cracker, and I panicked. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm very sorry. It was all my fault! I just couldn't imagine a world without s'mores! Oh the horror! I don't remember who mentioned it, but the honey flavored ones are normal. That's like original flavor or something. The best kind for s'mores! And just to get back on track, my sister is pregnant with her third child. Her dog is very depressed. --GB |
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Post by bjobsessed on May 6, 2006 10:59:25 GMT -5
Karma to you GB for beating me to the punch! Was going to do it later cause I have to leave soon. While I'm out, I'm going to get some smore poptarts. ;D Good job.  |
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Post by Chocky on May 12, 2006 7:16:27 GMT -5
to bjfan4eva, thanks for the link to the American foods shop. I will get some graham crackers and try the real thing.
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Post by mlm828 on Jun 5, 2008 16:10:44 GMT -5
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Post by Chris on Jun 5, 2008 16:48:18 GMT -5
I cook out of necessity and certainly not because I like it - or because I'm good at it.  My "deal breaker" would be cooking something that required me to do several things at a time. Or something that would have to cook for several hours in advance before you could use it in your recipe.  I'm not sure either if I would appreciate it if someone handed me something they just shot and told me to cook it. You know, plucking off the feathers or skin it and then remove entrails etc. Way too messy for me. - Chris |
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Post by Colorado girl on Jun 5, 2008 17:45:22 GMT -5
I enjoy cooking only when I have plenty of time. I have baked and the last two or three years cooked the entire Thanksgiving dinner. My deal breaker is when the recipe is too complicated or has ingredients that I am not familiar with. I would not know how to substitute things. I am fairly good at cooking Mexican food. My latest dish is chicken Enchiladas using the roasted whole chicken at the grocery store. I can't make them very often as I can't stop eating them!!!
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Post by mlm828 on Jun 5, 2008 18:12:12 GMT -5
My latest dish is chicken Enchiladas using the roasted whole chicken at the grocery store. I can't make them very often as I can't stop eating them!!! Can you share the recipe? Please? My "deal-breaker" is the "recipe-within-a-recipe." For example, I've read three fourths of a recipe and and the next instruction is something like "Prepare Incredibly Complicated Sauce, p. 236." I don't even bother turning to page 236, I just look for another recipe! |
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Post by Dreamfire on Jun 5, 2008 21:30:23 GMT -5
I am an all or nothing girl in myheart and I like to cook gourmet meals that people take photos of and drool over and talk about years. Now before you go thinking I have a huge head, this is what I like , not what always happens. My family has had to endure soime pretty yukky failures. Luckily my hubby is a rough and ready off the cuff basic cook who manages to save my more imaginative endeavours. Every year at Christmas we have a turkey bake off, he does one baby turkey and I do another. After the third year he decided to chuck in his attempts and copy my now famous leek and mushroom stuffing. The next year I did goose. It was two hours late and awful - thank goodness there was so much other food! Our last foray into the world of fun cooking was a five course meal of lime and pepper calamari, artichokes with white truffle sauce, red thair chicken curry and beef wellington followed by cprepes with mascapone cheese and carmelised berries with drambui and creme. I'm ready to design a meal around your favourites if anyone wants to visit. ;D Oh the thing that chucks me out of a recipe? Mmm, I'm with MLM, recipe within a recipe if I'd known how to make it I wouldn't be needing a book woud I?  N PS What's your favourite food? |
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Post by bjobsessed on Jun 5, 2008 21:33:25 GMT -5
I just plain hate cooking but I love eating. My favourite food is perogie pizza. Really yummy!
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Do I have to learn to cook? Whenever my mom would tell me I needed to learn, I'd always tell her that if I got married, I'd make sure he knew how to cook.
