We've talked about getting cast iron fry pans for awhile. Today Pam used a couple of coupons plus an "after Christmas" kitchen utensils sale to buy an 8" and 12" pan for $25 total. I just seasoned the 12" and the 8" is now in the oven for an hour for its turn. I'll use it tomorrow to fry my BACON and breakfast eggs. I'll let you know how it goes.
Getting these pans has us thinking again about induction cooking. Induction ranges are really expensive but for $40 you can buy a single induction burner that sits on the counter.
If/when we redo MoHo's kitchen we may opt for a 3 burner induction range with a convection oven.
After the 8" pan is done seasoning I'm going to make snickerdoodles. I had been restricting myself to one "cheat" per week but with the more demanding workouts at the gym I think I can afford two cookies per night.
I'll probably take some to the office Wednesday.
This morning I went to the coffee shop in Veneta for the first time in almost two months. Marsha was there and we talked. She has a successful custom bakery business she runs out of their home and I've taken full advantage of her expertise as I learn to bake. This morning I asked her about making petit fours and she gave me several good tips.
Marsha had to run home to get a cake she'd made to deliver to someone and stopped back in and gave me several piping bags and a dozen plastic tips. She uses stainless steel tips and has had these sitting in a drawer for a long time, and after our conversation decided I should have them.
This afternoon Pam dug out some graham crackers from the pantry. Tomorrow I'll make some icing and practice piping onto the crackers using various tips to see what kind of results I can get.
The plan is to make petit fours the end of next week. Marsha said the trick is to make the flat pound cake, cut it in half horizontally, and then put in the jam filling before reassembling it. (I'm going to use raspberry.) Then (and here's the trick) put it in the freezer. Once it's frozen solid it's a lot easier to cut into 1" squares. She said I'll get nice sharp corners when it's frozen. Then put on the ganache before it melts and decorate as soon as the ganache hardens.
Pics if/when it happens.
We're almost sure Buddy's problem is an allergic reaction to something, we just don't know what. He is SO congested, sneezes all the time, and flings snot all over when he does. After changing his bedding out twice we're now putting him on a different food. The poor guy is miserable. In the morning, when it's worst, he comes over and paws my knee like he does when he needs to go out. I think it's his way of saying, "Please fix this."
Pitiful.
OK, the last sheet of snickerdoodles is in the oven and it's almost an hour past my bedtime. As soon as they come out I'm turning in.
The plan is to be at Jerry's Home Improvement early to pick up ten 10'x4" round posts. I've got about half the post holes dug for the 8' deer fence that will surround the veggie garden. The PVC-and-netting frames I made last year for the raised beds worked OK at keeping the deer and critters out but Pam found they were a hassle to remove and replace. A deer fence with a gate will do the trick and be much easier for her to deal with.
So posts and a few bags of cement will keep me busy for most of the morning.
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