Baldur

A good proportion of the 'players' are children, and there are adults, some of whom are quite talented.
There are those here who produce one brilliant piece after another, a tall order when you look at the simple components they have to work with.

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A belated Happy New Year to you all. Going back to #5344, Dragon was wondering what the zeros decade was called. I have seen it referred to as 'the noughties'.

We had full house here on Boxing Day and very pleasant it was too ... three of spouse's sisters + two brothers-in-law ... and they all stayed overnight. Roll on the next family gathering.

AuntieB

Happy New Year all!
Auntie B is back from her trip to Branson where as I went for a few days of exciting concerts. Wish I could remember the performances but the bartender at my hotel was very liberal with the Cuba Libres he prepared for me.
Remember to send me your requests for advice in the coming year and your Auntie B will solve all your problems.

AuntieB

Here's a topical letter from my mailbag:

Dear Auntie B,
I'm confused as to what to call the past decade, and the upcoming one too.
It was easy with the 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s, then we hit a wall.
I don't want to continue not knowing what to say until the 20s roll around.
your faithful fan,
Dateless

Gentlest Listener,
Auntie B understands your dilemna. There has been no uniform catchphrase to use.
I would recommend combining 'the aughts' with the first 2 years of the century, the 20s and start referring to them as the 'twaughts'.
Please be ever so careful with your pronunciation.
In a couple years I will begin using 'the twenteens'. Following that will be 'the twentytwentys' , twentythirtys' etc etc.
Just using the 20s, 30s etc would confuse things with the previous century.
Do let me know how things turn out as I really do care.
Auntie B

marius

AuntieB, so glad to have you back. Don't need to ask how it was in Missouri in regards to weather because I know. This is the only Christmas season I can ever recall where we've had snow on the ground, this deep and for this long a time.

The only question I have for you is if you know whether or not the Earl of Baldwick is going to tell us about jalapeno poppers?

Oh wait - there is one more thing, do you know where Robin is? Have not heard much from her lately. Am imagining a Basque has caught her attention. That, or else the day shift has not settled in with her yet.

sincerely,
marius

AuntieB

marius, my nephew kept you waiting a while but did answer the question in comment #5392.
Auntie B loves jalepeno poppers also, the cream cheese inside does a good job at muting the spiciness.

Baldur

Baldur thinks Robin is still a bit out of sorts with changing shifts, her sleep schedule is probably all upset.

sheftali52

Auntie B is back! Oh Auntie B, please tell us that you did NOT throw your room keys at any of the performers while you were in Branson. Especially Wayne Newton. Tsk.

marius

Ahh, AuntieB, thanks re the jalapeno poppers. Thought I'd read all Baldur's updates! Was a great day with R's family, but ... kind of wore me out. Turns out the one avacado I bought, almost hard as a brick, did rather soften (put it overnight by some aging apples). Got lots of compliments on the guacamole. Son-in-law was surprised to hear that aging fruits can help ripen avacadoes and now marius' is wondering ... did I make it up? At any rate, it was soft enough to "work" but I prefer them squishier. (Is that a word?)

Baldur, wherever Robin is, she is missed. I'm starting to think of Robblimericks ... yes ... (giggle and snort) it's late. This one is off to dreamland. Hope everyone had a lovely New Year's ... and welcome to Baldur's new friend on TD!

AuntieB

Auntie B honestly remembers nothing about my stay.
I do have quite the collection of toupees however.
I found them mixed in with my laundry when I unpacked.

sheftali52

Toupees, Auntie B? Tsk--you really should avoid the booze when you're in Branson!

Dragon

I actually do have a recipe for Jalapeno poppers made at home (this surprises me that Dragon - the queen of 'Just take it out of the box and follow the directions - has a recipe while Baldur uses store bought, him being the king of 'Wonderful homemade recipes for all occasions.) I couldn't find one simple recipe on my recipes website so I just sort of comebined the elements of the one's I liked best. It goes something like this:

Dragon's Jalapeno Poppers

Cut the tops off of your Jalapenos (I usually use 10-12) and remove the seeds (save the tops)
In a bowl mix together Cream Cheese and a liberal amount of fresh chopped Cilantro. When well mixed place this in a piping bag.
Fill the Jalapenos with the cream cheese mixture and replace the tops (if you overfill the jalapenos a little the cheese tends to hold the top on)
Beat an egg (or 2 if needed) and dip the stuffed jalapenos in it then roll them in bread crumbs.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes.
Be careful when eating as the cheese gets quite hot.


Also something to note, we learned this summer that red jalapenos are much hotter than green ones. The green ones are picked early and ripen off the vine while the red ones are ripened on the vine and picked after allowing a much higher level of capsacin (which is what make peppers hot) to accumulate in the pepper. We learned this by buying red ones on a whim and then promptly crying out with our mouths on fire, which prompted us to look up the preceding info on the internet. The green ones (minus seeds) do provide a nice kick, if you like very hot the reds are the way to go.

Baldur

Robert is in charge of making the poppers since he goes to the big box wholesale club and buys them in a rather huge package. He also purchases the mozzarella sticks.
In general Baldur does not prepare things that need to be deep fried, even putting a half inch of oil in a skillet goes against my self imposed rules.
Dragon, your recipe for baked Jalapeno Poppers is perfect, thank you.

I will order something deep-fried when we go out to eat, but only rarely.
That gives me my recommended minimum requirement of grease.

General at home I use olive oil, though we do have real butter at the table.
Baldur believes that margerine and shortening are truly evil and much worse in the longrun than the moderate use of butter.

Baldur

Margerine and shortening are produce through a process called hydrogenation. Vegetable oils are bombarded with hydrogen and pairs of hydrogen atoms attach to some of the fatty acid molecules causing the substance to change from a liquid to a semisolid state at room temperature.
This, when combined with flour in baked goods creates a superior texture.
Being much cheaper than animal fats like butter these engineered products are widely used in the food industry

Baldur

Now these fats are only partially hydrogenized, and are commonly known as trans-fats. They have serious health consequences in humans.
As they break down and enter the body they increase the amount of bad cholesterol and decrease the amount of good cholesterol.
This greatly enhances the risk of heart disease.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenation


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat

Baldur

produce + d = produced

Baldur

My version here is an oversimplification, but in essence eating butter in moderation is less harmful than eating hydrogenated fats.

sheftali52

Baldur, thanks for pointing out the downsides of margarine. Sheftali used margarine for years before realizing how much better butter is when used in moderation. Now, I keep a butter bell on the counter, and that has worked very well. Also, I've become a huge fan of olive oil over the years--a good thing for our health. Of course, it didn't hurt to live in Greece for two years and get bombarded with some really good olive oil. I think that's where I developed a liking for the stuff.

Dragon

I do use margarine but I only use Becel which is non-hydrogenated and as such has no trans-fats. I also love olive oil for cooking and very much prefer it to margarine or regular cooking oil.

I had to cobble together that Jalapeno popper recipe out of several precisely because I don't like deep frying things. We really do enjoy it and in the summer when we can find fairly fresh peppers at the farmers market we'll do it 2 or 3 times.

Dragon

Thank you Baldur for the comments on Trans-fats and Hydrogenation. In recents years it has become mandatory in Canada for food products to clearly label when they contain trans-fats. This does make them easier to avoid. Personally I think they should be outlawed altogether. Food manufacturers always go off the deep end when this is suggested but the Dutch have outlawed them for years and their food industry seems to have adjusted just fine.