Baldur

A couple years ago they sold sea salt from Tahiti. It was packaged in a polished coconut shell that had been cut apart as to have a neat little lid. Said lid was hinged in place with a bit of raffia. The box had a neat small exotic paper label which was attached with a blob of red sealing wax.
The whole thing was marvelously tribal and elegant.
All for $1! I bought several, keeping one for Boughbreak and giving the others away as gifts.
My coconut has long since been depleted of it's original contents and been refilled with kosher salt. It sits on top of my stove and is used daily.
The one that was mailed off to Bear Ridge ( a friend's home in Western Massachusetts) has remained an objet d'arte on his mantelpiece, it's seal never broken.

Baldur

Baldur was lucky to purchase his salt coconuts when he did as they have never reappeared in the store again.

I can also regularly (as it appears to be a staple item) purchase Pear's Soap (from England) for a mere Yankee dollar.
This is a clear glycerin bar that I've always enjoyed using at even higher prices.

Baldur

They have all sorts of jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades and the like.
Occasionally they carry a Scottish brand called 'Robertsons'.
When they pile up the cases of Robertson's marmalades Baldur rummages through them all. Whilst most of it is of the Seville orange, or lemon type, there will always be a smaller amount of crystalized ginger root marmalade hidden amidst the others.
I cannot believe they would let any of this escape their country, certainly there must be some shady dealing involved.
But nonetheless whatever gets as far as Woonsocket gets carried off into the woods to Boughbreak.

AuntieB

Has anyone noticed that it has become near impossible to find the Velveeta with the bits of hot pepper molded into it?
That was my favorite for midnight microwave nachos, and alas I just can't find it anymore

Hazer

Crystallized ginger root marmalade...I don't think I've had any of that since I was a child and hadn't developed a taste for ginger yet. But now that you mention it Baldur, I must see if I can find some. I'm sure my husband would quite enjoy it, as would I.

Auntie B there seems to be no shortage of said cheese up here in Canada. At least not in western Canada, not so sure about out east.

Hazer

Baldur is it Robertson's that puts out the the tiny jars of jams and jellies found in gift trays or baskets? If so that would be where I remember the ginger marmalade from. My father used to receive one of those trays for Christmas occasionally. I remember there was a gooseberry jam included as well that was very tasty.

Baldur

It wouldn't surprise me if they did but I've not run across any of their gift baskets. The only one's I've seen have featured US brands, namely Harry & David, Knott's Berry Farm and Trappist.
Oddly the Trappist jam-making monks are not far from here in Massachusetts, we can find their products everywhere.
At Ocean State Job Lot I can get Robertson's marmalades for $2 and change, at the regular groceries the price is about $4.

Qsilv

Love marius' duck-recognition -- I've noticed that minds are weird like that. Some mornings I wake up and just... know... and it's tactile... as in, I even kind of suspect that I know!

I had a cell-phone that was utterly beyond me. It'd been explained and demonstrated to me two or three times and I was sooo not getting it. I treated the damned thing like a Fisher-Price toy. Accepted calls, made a very few, handed it to someone else to pop in new numbers, NEVER texted, and god help me if it turned itself off for my having failed to recharge it in time. Weeks... nay, months!... went by.

One morning I woke up, lay there in early sunlight for a little while, organizing my day, my life, the universe... (I love morning!) ...and suddenly thought about that @#$%phone... and... yep... it was all there, in my head, clear clear clear...!

Fished out the verdamt thing... opened it up (a task in itself) ...and... experimented. Like, for an hour. Hells bells I even knew how to type on it AND shift into numbers mode, punctuation and special characters.. ALL of it.

WHERE did that come from??? LOL

Qsilv

Robertson's makes THE loveliest Golden Shred and Thick Cut marmalades! Also lemon curd, and oh yummmm the ginger! Baldur, that price is terrific... more like 5 bucks here (and... sigh... it IS worth it).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson's

Qsilv

http://www.kuehne.de/en/

Q has a German partner who goes into terminal sulk mode over American sauerkraut. Inspects every can/jar's list of ingredients to make sure it does NOT include vinegar. It's spozed to be made JUST with salt (well, you can add caraway, onions, apples etc) over a period of weeks. No cheating with vinegar!

But believe me, this is not something you want going on in your kitchen. Even a porch is iffy. Basements or outside sheds are where you want this concoction to brew.

Then you rinse it down to your desired saltiness quotient.
(yeah, well.. Q tends not to rinse it at all... but...)

There's a huge crockery jar for making fermented tutti-frutti, too... but that's another story...

Baldur

I heartily agree that it should not contain vinegar, if it does it becomes something along the lines of krautsalat. This is also wonderful, but it is not sauerkraut.
Baldur has more than once had a crock of rumtopf (tutti-fruity) macerating on the counter. It's really time that I do it again.

Qsilv

laughing here..... ! 'Rumtopf' ..yep, Baldur, you're unbeatable --and a dear.

Qsilv

(pssst... quark? sweet german variant?)

Baldur

isn't quark similar to sour cream or creme fraiche?

Baldur

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(cheese)

Qsilv

hmmm... interesting article, nice point re casein precipitation (Q loves wikipedia) but the quark I've had in Germany really doesn't taste like yogurt here, not even the sweetened yogurt. Qvark's way more delicate, no tang and yet not screamingly sweet... it IS somewhat firm, or at least has lovely body. Did I mention addictive... sigh. Yes, I think you're on the right track with creme fraiche, but again it's just not sour. And the sweetness has a mellow quality, almost vanilla but not... well I suppose it's the lactose, the natural milk sugar, concentrated. Mascarpone has about the right texture but ...mmm... too buttery a flavor (superb in squash soup tho!)

aarrgh.. enough of this... I'm about to go hoover 1000 calories...! ;>

marius

Catching up ...

lynnspotter, thanks for your kind words and YES, there IS always Hope!!!

Robin, LOL the used-flower story. It's a classic. Still laughing about the engineer/geek stories you and Dragon told. Love quirky stories about quirky folk!

Qsilv and Baldur .... oh the talk about foods and they WAY you two talk about it ... Ahhhh!

Qsilv, love the story about your cell phone, how the mind doesn't know things and then suddenly it does. Most mysterious!

marius

And now, the story of the cranky ankle. Once upon a time there was a gal named marius. She got a nasty sinus infection and eventually antibiotics. A few days ago a hip joint began to hurt. Marius had never had any kind of hip pain before but since she has a wild history of reacting to medications she decided to read the info sheet that came with the antibiotics. It said you should call your doctor if you get "joint pain." This seemed peculiar, impossible really and something that would only happen in the rarest of circumstances, so just to experiment marius cut her dose by a third and the hip pain was gone the next day. Thinking it a fluke, marius resumed the antibiotic regimine and woke the next morning with a sore ankle. Okay, maybe slept weird on it, that happens. But no, today marius is hobbling on the cranky ankle and she is not taking any more of these pills! Not sure about any of you, but this is the oddest reaction to medications I've ever had. Generally they cause insomnia, digestive problems, itching, blurry eyes, weird tastes in the mouth, even ringing in ears ... but nothing ever remotely like this. As the cranky ankle seems a tad better, am thinking twas indeed the nasty pills. Oh well ... could be worse! -The End

Yes, that is your bed time story. G'night all. : )

Robindcr8l

Marius, I have never heard of joint pain as a side effect of medication, but if it's listed, I guess I can't argue that. If it persists, though, or continues to move, or you get other symptoms with it like numbness or tingling, I do think you should contact your doctor. Also, can't remember if I already suggested this to you, or perhaps your doctor has, but you should try to double your water intake when you are having sinus problems. The better hydrated you are, the thinner those secretions will become, which will in turn make them drain more easily, instead of just staying in the sinus and growing more bacteria. Also, for whatever reason, antibiotics are much more effective when taken with 12 oz of water. That's a big glass of water with every dose. Water, it seems, has magic qualities. And you know how I love magic!

Now that's all from nurse Robin. Must try to get a better night's sleep tonight than last night. Stupidly offered to dog-sit for a friend's schnauzer. Cutest little thing, but she lives in a single-pet home. Now she finds herself living with 2 other dogs and 2 cats. Very overstimulating. So she went to bed and was quiet until 1am. Not sure what triggered the barking spell, but suspect it was a cat trying to sneak past her out the doggie door. Anyway, that 1am barking was not the last of it. But hopefully they've all learned their lessons and will be quiet tonight. I start the new job tomorrow, and must have no cobwebs on the brain.

Good night.

marius

Why thank you Nurse Robin! Guess what, the ankle is about 99% normal, can walk without a limp and gonna try easy yoga in just a bit. But, fyi, the antibiotic is Cephalexin, three doses of 500mg a day. The printout says: "CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE if you experience vaginal irritation of discharge, mood or mental changes, or joint pain." (Sorry Baldur.) But, isn't *that* the oddest combo of side effects!

Have always had more water when sinus problems come up but did not know to take more water same time as antibiotic. THANKS for that too!

Wow, sorry about the schnauzer problems. Hope you got better sleep last night and that there were no cobwebs on the brain for start of new job. Can't wait to hear that it is indeed a good fit ... of course, might be hard to know about that on the first day! Best wishes and rooting for ya!