Baldur

You may find cream cheese in the icebox here in the weeks leading up to the holidays. It gets used in cheesecake and for breakfast when we are likely to have overnight guests.
After that it is off the shopping list, the biggest dietary temptation that is here on an everyday basis is ice cream. Beyond that many items are blacklisted.
Potato chips and the like are also seldom seen here as I have no trouble going through the largest bag in an afternoon. It's better not to have them within reach.

marius

Recipes where I've substituted cream cheese milk for real milk include: quiche, pancakes, waffles, cakes, breads, rolls, dumplings, casseroles, soups, and of course - macaroni and cheese.

I'm a decent cook but if there is any significant difference between the cream cheese substitute or real milk, I can't detect it - at least not in baking. You can tell the difference is you taste it straight - tastes like cream cheese in water. : )

marius

Oh my - I'm afraid you and I are the same with potato chips. Spouse buys the baked kind and I say, "Those are not even real chips!"

One reason we run out of milk is because I love it and drink it all. Usually a glass in the morning and often at night. Spouse on the other hand eats all the ice cream before I have a chance to think about if I want some or not.

marius

It's good to have our host back on air. Methinks some of us (not me of course) have taken a good deal of Baldur air time. Haven't heard complaints but have missed your commentary. (or is it commentaries?)

Baldur

The piracy of this station hasn't been unwelcome, Baldur has been quite busy during the daylight hours and has relished he quiet time afterwards.
I have been hauling wheelbarrows full of soil down the street, splitting stone with a chisel & mallet,and then stacking and restacking it to fit the pieces together. During the whole procedure there has been a never-ending line of spectators questioning every little detail.
By the time the sun goes down Baldur is quite exhausted.

It was all I could do this evening to make peanut/sesame noodles for myself and creamed chicken with roasted red peppers over farfalle pasta for Robert.

marius

Sound like Baldur needs some down time, perhaps a glass of something, seated comfortably in the room where there are beads and satyrs. byw, does that room have a fireplace? sounds like it would. : )

marius

Well - I am tired. Did not mean the *glass* would be seated comfortably, although am sure that would be nice too.

Marius is headed to dreamland. Yes, a tad early but it seems a multitude of brain cells have already headed out to roost.

Sweet dreams to all.

marius

Great hearing from our host again ... and he gets 50+ points for checking in with us, even though very tired.

belladonnis

Hello everyone! Bauldr or all, have you ever heard of Kefir? It is a fermented mlik culture that is like yougurt on steroids, as my friend likes to call it. He gave me some and I am now growing my own. Its a great probiotic that is suppose to have great health benefits.......any way. I was wondring if you had heard of it and you know of any recipies for it that might be good or any good webs that may have some. We are going to try our first fruit smothie with it tonight.

Hope all are well!

Baldur

I've had Kefir but never cooked with it, actually the stuff I had wasn't plain, it had pureed raspberries in it. So it was actually rather like a smoothie.

Baldur would boil some peeled potatoes, cut them into chunks while still hot, pour warm Kefir over them and sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs (parsley, chives, perhaps dill).
It would make a nice peasant style soup in wide shallow bowls with crusty bread on the side.

Baldur

marius, there is indeed a fireplace in the living room. That room also happens to be the most beaded and satyred.

Currently Baldur is trying to rework an old table lamp into something rather Steampunk for said room

Baldur

Baldur is also attempting to ignore an antique lamp base on eBay because
A. he is unemployed and shouldn't buy home decor
B. he has too many lamps already
and
C , Robert will remind him of both A. And B.

Baldur

This has been brought up here at least once before.
Baldur is obsessed with lamps. There are too many lamps already in each room.
Even my closets have lamps, albeit (no points) they are not connected to a power source.
My favorite are old lamps, metal is great but pottery always turns my eye.
Often I will buy old lamps, take them apart and reassemble them with different components. It's an odd calling.

Baldur

My first love was an odd Art Deco floor lamp that had a trough-like top the contained a pair if short fluorescent tubes. What caught Baldur's eye was a certain pair of banged up brass discs near the top of the pole supporting the ugly trough.
Maybe I could straighten them out with hammering
Maybe I could replace the trough with something more esthetically pleasing

A friend ,Frank, came to the rescue. He had aquired a few plexi-glass discs that were about the same diameter as the abused brass ones. He showed them to me and a new plan was instantly devised for the lamp.
I polished the base, and pole segments until they gleamed.
The plexiglass discs had some scuffs and scratches so I used sandpaper and abraded (+6 points) the surface. They went from being crystal clear and scratched to having a translucent satin finish.
We rewired the lamp, replacing the discs in the process.
Then we added a 4" brass adapter ring to hold a glass shade and a new socket to hold a regular incandescant bulb.

Now it was just a matter of finding the right shade

Baldur

the-e +at =that
if -i +o =of

Baldur

Nothing seemed appropriate.
This was the early 1980s and the internet was not an option.
What I could find locally or in catalogs for glass globes were just not right.

Then in a junk store it appeared.
A small beat up 1950s gooseneck desk lamp with a truncated conical brass shade.
The interior of the shade had a white enamel surface, it was pierced overall with random tiny holes that made it glow like a starry firmament when lit from within.
Sure enough the shade would work with a 4" fitter.
That was a beautiful lamp.

Baldur

The new shade let some of the light spill down through the new plexiglass Saturn rings, it also throw light across the ceiling.
The holes in the shade made it dazzling.

It was one of the things that couldn't come with me to Chez Baldur, it is currently at Chez Frank.
Luckily Frank's home is a huge Victorian multistory home. There is lots of space.

Baldur

throw -o +e =threw

sheftali52

Oh Baldur, Sheftali endorses your love of lamps. A few years ago, Sheftali was meandering through a local antique shop, and there, in all its gaudy glory, was the most magnificent old table lamp. Sheftali admired it that day, oohing and aahing over the solid brass body parts, the glass table, the pattern inlaid in the glass, the claw feet, and the exquisite cloth lampshade that was lined inside. I walked around that gaudy marvel, lifted it to see how heavy it was (very), and came back several times to admire it before leaving that day. The price tag was more than Sheftali had ever paid for a lamp of any age, and it seemed a passing fancy. Also, Sheftali's taste had never veered towards anything the least bit gaudy before. Well, a few months later, Sheftali visited that antique store again, and the gaudy lamp was still there! It was obviously a sign that Sheftali was meant to have that lamp. It now graces her home office, a beautiful if gaudy part of Sheftali's eclectic decor. On the other hand, Sheftali's family room sports a couple lamps of southwestern origin, of angular metal welds and sharply angled lampshades. Who says lamps should be merely functional???

Baldur

I bought a pair of lamps 10 years ago, from a catalog. Rarely do I buy anything brand new but these were pretty amazing.
They are porcelain and ginger jar shaped. Oh, and they are rather large.
The finish is a rather dull black but they are covered in vertical rows of Chinese calligraphy. Mostly in a dull metallic gold but with the occasional red charachter thrown in.
They came with white 'pagoda' shaped silk shades that were not only dreadful but also inappropriate.
They were immediately swapped for parchment shades that were almost conical and somewhat wider than the originals. The Baldur noticed the shades howvered a bit too high above the lamp so I replaced the harps with new shorter ones.

Robert didn't care much for the lamps. One was kept in the guest room and the other in the family room.
Then one day he was leafing through one of the many catalogs that arrive in the mail and saw the lamps. He also saw what I had paid for them which apparently raised his esteem for them.
They were not outrageously expensive but he thought them suddenly elegant and extravagent. Sigh.