belladonnis

I like salty sweets but I cant say Ive gone that far! But I do put a little salt on my apple cobbler, apple pie and my pancakes. It makes the taste richer......I think.....My exhusband liked ritz crackers, cream cheese and peppermint together, the soft kind of peppermint. I always thought that was strange, he got my mom hooked on it. I always liked mine with olives.

marius

Oh Bella, my Dad would love you! Once I tell him about salt on apple cobbler and apple pie I'm sure he'll be in heaven! I've never seen him salt dessert, but that's probably because he hasn't thought of it ... yet! : )

marius

And, I should be asleep but took a nap today. It went for three and a half hours. I could not wake up. Think this is due to the weird sleep when I was sick for all that time. At any rate, I'm just tapping my feet to Leon Redbone wondering where the radio magician is?

marius

Since Radio Magician does not appear to be around, my mind has gone into nosy mode. Yes, I like to know things. For instance I would like to know how Baldur and Robert met. How long have they been together? How does Robert's family admire Sir Baldur who says things like "methinks" and "whilst?"

marius

I would also like to know if there are squash in Baldur's garden. Squash seems a very New England kind of thing.

I would also like to know why I don't have a corn bread recipe to try yet?

And, perhaps the above comment belongs in the new recipe section, but I started here so here I stay. Although this next thought may belong in solosater's "dry socket, fluorescent" thread ... nevertheless, I think anything can properly belong in Baldur Radio. (I've misplaced your manual Baldur so can't check the rules right now.)

My question to others is about cooking, baking or otherwise preparing food. Can you tell the mood of the person who fixed your food when you taste it?

Can't say that I can do that, but there are times when I've tasted food that I "know" whoever made it was in heaven when they were cooking. I SWEAR a person can taste the love, good mood, whatever, in the food.

I know when I make any food and I am NOT in a good place, later on I can taste that bad feeling in the food. Of course, there is a possibility that I'm just making this up in my head but I've been observing it for many years now. One night we ate a friend's home. The husband does all the cooking. He is from France and his food is ALWAYS divine, but this particular evening it wasn't merely sublime, it was WAAAAAY beyond that.

It was like a Babbette's Feast, if anyone saw that movie. Everyone was in a good mood once we all arrived, but as the meal went on, people became happier and lighter and it was as if we were all truly, and I do mean truly, partaking of something divine. The glow of pure joy coming from everyone there was so palpable I felt like I could take a handfull of it, put it in a jar and carry it home with me.

Later in the evening I managed to pull the chef, Andre, aside and I said, "Andre, you were in a VERY good mood when you cooked tonight, weren't you?" He looked quite surprised. I said, "I don't mean that you were just merely happy, or feeling good, I mean that when you cooked for us tonight you were in a kind of 'zone,' a peace or deep satisfaction. Yes?"

The poor guy seemed really puzzled and then slowly I could see his face change. He said, "Now that you mention it, I was. I really had a lot of fun making dinner tonight, but you know me, I always like to cook ... but yes, now that you've brought it up ... I WAS enjoying cooking more than normal tonight. How did you know?"

I told him, "I could taste it."

Has this happened to anyone else?

belladonnis

I think my cooking taste better when I am in a good mood, because I take more care in how I prepare it. I love to have friends over for dinner.
I have a really good recipe for Mexican cornbread. I will have to find it and post it. I also need to call my ex sister-in-law because she has a cornbread recipe with broccolli in it that is really good.
Since you mentioned squash, it is one of my favorite vegetables. My mom can make a squash casserole that is out of this world. I will have to post that recipe as well. Have you ever tried fried candied sweet potatoes? Another excellent salty sweet!

Dragon

Marius, here’s a corn bread recipe for you. It’s from a cook book I just got today so I haven’t tried it out yet but I love corn bread so I’m itching to. This is from a book specializing in dinners for 2 so it may not be a large recipe. I’ll put this into Robin’s favourite recipes thread too.

Spicy Southern Cornbread
½ cup Grated jalapeno Monterey Jack Cheese
½ cup Yellow cornmeal
1 tsp Granulated Sugar
½ tsp Chilli powder
¼ tsp Baking powder
¼ tsp Salt

1 Large egg, fork beaten
1/3 cup Buttermilk (or soured milk)

Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Make a well in centre.

Whisk egg and buttermilk in small bowl. Add to well. Stir until just moistened. Heat 2 cup baking dish in 450 F oven for 3 minutes. Remove from oven. Spray with cooking spray. Pour batter into baking dish. Bake for about 15 minutes until firm and wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Serve immediately. Cuts into 4 wedges.

Dragon

I must note that I am a notorius salt fan. I too will eat salt straight. I prefer Montreal Steak Spice as it not only has salt (which is the best part) but also has yummy spices and garlic and stuff. (I am sure Baldur is cringing as he reads this, I believe he avoids salt whenever possible)

belladonnis

My grandma was and excellent cook and she could make the best cakes and pies. Her best were her coconut cake and chocolate pies! So yummy!

She also made, what she called a butter roll. She made it with homemade biscuit dough, butter, sugar, cinnamon and milk. But Im not sure if it was plain milk or buttermilk. I know buttermilk sounds strange but she did put coffee in her corn flakes. All I know is that her bitter roll was awesome! I think my mother has it written down how she made it. It wasnt from a recipe as far as I know, just something she would throw together with her left over biscuit dough. I so miss her. I wish my girls could have known her!

marius

All this squash, sweet potato and corn bread talk is getting me in the mood for fall - and that is quite miraculous and I never look forward to fall.

Anyway, thanks for the cornbread recipe, Dragon. Adding it to my collection and will let you know when we try it. Like the jalapeno Jack Cheese in it. Mmmm.

And belladonnis, you wrote: "I think my cooking tastes better when I am in a good mood, because I take more care in how I prepare it."

See - you said what I'm talking about. When you put care (love) into something it shows up in the final product!

belladonnis

Opps i called it bitter its BUTTER!

marius

belladonnis, all those recipes sound yummy. Bitter rolls even sounded good the way you described them, however anything with butter in it gets a 5 star vote from me! I also like salty and sweet together.

And Dragon, perhaps Baldur does not eat salt because of palette preferences or dietary restriction. Either way, I can't fathom he would object to your salty delights! Some of us are salt people, some aren't. : )

marius

Did I mention we also put salt on our oatmeal? Yep, a bit of milk, a bit of butter and a generous sprinkle of salt. When I'd stay overnight at other kid's homes, lots of times there'd be oatmeal for breakfast. These kids would always pile theirs high with sugar, mounds of sugar. The first time I saw that I thought it was the strangest thing. As more time passed, I realized my family was the only one I knew that salted their oatmeal.

belladonnis

Try your oatmeal with brown sugar and salt! Thats how I fix mine all the time. One spoonfull of brown sugar and one pack of salt maybe one and a half! Lol salty sweet! We have a great cafateria where I work. They make all kinds of breakfast foods including my oatmeal. For lunch you can choose from burgers to good southern cooking. If thats not what you want just go to the chinese or mexican side!

belladonnis

I know we have been talking food all night but I have to give praise to my girls they brought home their progress reports today and they both had straight A's. Zoe has worked so hard so I have to say how proud I am of her and her sis.

belladonnis

The time is late
My bed wont wait
So to post i must refrain
In dreams I'll drift
These talks I'll miss
Untill we meet again!

Good night and good dreams to all!

Baldur

Good morning, did I ever miss a lot.

The gardens here do have a squash and pumpkin field, though they have not done very well at all this year. Summer started with a month of rain and no sun at all. The vines appreciate the water but without sunny days just won't grow.
By mid July the sun kicked in and the rain vanished for a month, but by then everything was stunted.
Things improved in August but there is almost nothing to show for it.
We have 2 tiny pumpkins and one small oval squash which should be a Blue Hubbard. It's far from blue and no warts have developed yet.
C'est la Vie.

Baldur uses salt where he must, but tries to not use it when he can.
So many things we eat have hidden salt quantities that it's prudent to try to reduce ones intake elsewhere.

I made a pot of marinara sauce yesterday and eggplant parmigiani. Marinara can be made saltless if you make it spicy enough. With hot pepper flakes it is similar to an Arabiatta sauce, which Baldur loves.
Robert however does not like spicy food. The marinara is for both of us so I reign in the peppers and add some salt.

Baldur uses coarse kosher salt in his cooking. That way it's more obvious how much I'm adding when grabbing a pinch out of my salt coconut.

Salt coconut you ask?
You will all no doubt need this explained.

Locally we have a chain of stores called 'Ocean State Job Lot', they sell all sorts of odd things. Nationally (in the USA) there is a similar chain called 'Big Lots- which is similar.
At Job Lot you can find big discounts on things that may have been discontinued by the manufacturer, or are surplus in one way or another. In any case everything is far less expensive than anywhere else.
A couple years ago they were selling natural sea salt from Tahiti packaged in small boxes made from coconuts, The coconut shell had the coir fibres polished off and was buffed until it had a shiny surface. A section on top of the shell was neatly sawn off and re-attached with a rustic hinge made with some sort of thin natural fibre rope. The shell was stuffed with a small bag of their sustainably harvested salt.
Baldur bought several to give as gifts and kept one for the kitchens here.
The salt is long since gone and they no longer carry it but I refill the coconut with kosher salt and leave it on the shelf above the stove.

Baldur gave one such coconut to a couple of friends who live over at Bear Ridge (I've stayed at their lovely home on many occasions when travelling in that direction).
They have never broken the beautiful red wax seal to open it because it is quite attractive as an objet d'art. I admit I tried to carefully open mine as to not harm the seal but it shattered into a hundred pieces and had to be discarded.
They have their coconut sitting proudly on their mantelpiece as a pice of sculpture.

Baldur does salt his oatmeal, which I believe is a Scottish custom.
I cook it in milk (rice milk actually) and serve it with a sprinkling of salt and additional milk.
Robert heaps on the sugar.

Well Baldur needs to shower with his new Bedouin soap and get dressed for breakfast. Later I will answer about how Robert and I met.

Have a great day.

Baldur

+e = piece

Baldur

Baldur recently puchased a bar of homemade soap off of Etsy.com. It was sold as a shaving and shampoo bar but the scent was so marvelous that whilst shampooing my hair in the shower I decided to use it everywhere.
The scent is called Bedouin, it is a mixture of Sandalwood, almond and cinnamon. It contains no animal products and is predominantly olive oil based.

marius

Well that is very nice to know, but how did you and Robert meet? (giggle)

I apologize now, to anyone and everone, for the times I have, and will, come across as abrupt. It is a problem I have - am actually abrupt at times. (Inconsiderate might be another descriptive word but I'm trying to be gentle with myself.)

Maybe it won't bother any of you and in written word it's hard sometimes to know how one comes across ... but I laughed when I saw that I'd written something like, "WHERE IS MY CORNBREAD RECIPE!!????"

At least (tiny voice here) that's how it came across to me when I re-read it.
So thank you Dragon for filling that wish of mine so quickly, and with a recipe you've not even tried yet! You all are so kind on TD!

And, dear Baldur, I LOVE soaps and such, but can only do mildly scented. That soap sounds almost mild, is it? Always happy to know about cool products, just don't want to have to get them at Walmart. (giggle) I had a nap ... I'm giggly.