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Giapponese (giap-pon-ese-e)

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That sounds like my pigeon Italian. If I don't know the right word, I just add a vowel on the end. It's amazing how often it works.

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... on the end of an English word, that is.

Baldur

It's amazing how Radio Baldur goes on even when Baldur isn't present.

I made a second Wacky Cake today, this time following a hunch I had to change the flavor.
When Baldur was but a boy his mother would sometimes make gingerbread (cake, not cookies) from a boxed mix. The brand name was 'Dromedary' (as in Camel) and indeed it is still available in some markets. It was a very dark brown moist cake.
When I made 'Wacky Cake' a few days ago subbing carob powder for the cocoa I was reminded of it.
Baldur really hates using mixes and prefers to cook by scratch whenever possible.
So today when making the cake I went with the carob again but added these ingredients when sifting the other dry ingredients together:
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a couple grinds of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of dry English mustard

It came out amazingly close to the cake Baldur remembers. It is exact colorwise and in terms of moistness.
Next time I will slightly increase the ginger and cloves.

Always add a little bit of the hot spices when baking spicebreads, gingerbread is meant to bite back. It was never meant to be a namby-pamby sweet (+10 points just because nobody uses 'namby-pamby' as much as they really should).

Baldur

On the subject of not using mixes I had a friend drop in on me one afternoon while I was preparing dinner.
He caught me peeling potatoes and found it a rather old fashioned thing for me to be doing. Even more so when he learned that I intended to mash them.
'Why not just buy the instant?"
Heavens, I admit to having used instant at times, but I do try to avoid it.
Baldur in fact strives to leave a few lumps in his mashed potatoes just to verify their authenticity.
I also warm the milk and melt the butter in a wee saucepan, admittingly a bit of an obsessive idea. It never made sense to add cold items into a dish you are trying to serve hot.

Baldur

Judy, one of the other cooks at the nursing home I worked at ages ago cornered me one day and was not too happy.
We served breakfast to the residents in the dining room and sent them maple syrup for their pancakes in little pitchers, one pitcher per table.
They would pass around the pitcher amongst themselves.
She had just learned that Baldur warmed the maple syrup on the stove before sending it out. The residents liked having warm syrup on their pancakes and were no longer happy when she sent out cold maple syrup on her days to make breakfast. Poor Judy.
She would have had a bird if she ever learned that I warmed the cream to pour on their oatmeal too.

Baldur

The way our shifts worked is that Baldur cooked Breakfast and Lunch 5 days a week. Judy cooked Supper 3 nights a week and made Breakfast and Lunch on my 2 days off. Patricia came in and made Supper the other 4 nights.
We tried to do prep work for each other whenever feasible. I loved getting their desserts made, especially when I found out Judy was serving canned pudding. Dear Lord, can you imagine?

Baldur

I would make a large pan of Tapioca, and a small pan of a sugar-free equivalent.
Some days she would have baked apples and I would have them all cored and peeled down to the shoulder level. Once I dropped in and she was using canned apple pie filling with added raisins and cinnamon in lieu (+maybe 2 points) of actual baked apples. sigh.

lilalee

Canned pudding? Yuk!

Baldur

She actually was a good cook, just liked to take shortcuts.

Patricia was also quite good, and I trusted her much more to do the right thing. She wouldn't dream of using a shortcut unless it was a dire emergency.
Her soups were amazing. The first time she had to make 'Cream of Brocolli' she confessed to never having made it before. She checked the cookbooks and made the best version I had ever had; she had saved Baldur a bowl of it for his opinion.

lilalee

One summer I worked at a country club here in town. My job was taking care of the ladies, and their locker room for the Jamie Farr Golf Tournament. Well sometimes I was asked to work in the kitchen on busy nights. They advertised, real mash potatoes!! The potatoes came in a bucket of liquid, already peeled and cooked. They would microwave them, then mash them, and serve! I did taste, and of course they tasted like instant!

Baldur

I loved to bake cookies and especially loved to make hundreds of cookies that looked identical. It became a point of pride to make my cookies look mass produced. I had an array of small ice cream dishers (scoops) that I used to portion the dough so that they were all precisely the same size.
In his spare time Baldur always baked, and stowed away the cookies arranged neatly in wax paper lined plastic resealable containers in the freezer. Each labeled and dated.
Often we had parties or even meetings that required cookies and coffee, sometimes with very little advance notice given.
Having all sorts of cookies ready to go made life so much easier.

Baldur

Oh, I've run into pre-peeled potatoes, not a good thing at all. The preservative they add to the water to keep them from darkening imparts an odd taste even though the vendors insist it does not.

lilalee

I was going to comment on the instant potatoes, that the only thing I do use them for is potatoe soup. My guys love potatoe soup, and I have to say, the instant potatoes I add after the soup is almost done. They do add something, maybe a little thickness.

Baldur

One of the things I do use are canned beans. Being a vegetarian I get most of my protein from them. Sometimes it just takes so long to boil them that I cannot justify the fuel cost.
If I need a half cup of kidney beans and I weigh that against boiling them for 2 hours it's better to open a can.
But then I end up using no added salt because they are rife with sodium.

Baldur

I prefer homemade jellies and preserves but usually only make the quince jelly myself as it's a great way to use the quince from my garden.
I buy the other jellies at the farmer's market. It feels good to know it's helping somebody feed their family locally.

Baldur

Baldur still has enough honey from his beekeeping days to last for years and years.
Hopefully I'll get back into raising them again, it was fascinating.
Problemous, but fascinating.

Funny how things change.
I remember being young and terrified of stinging insects.
Then after the beekeeping course I would walk through beeyards with thousands flying about.

Baldur

Well it's bedtime for Baldur, have a great evening Lilalee and all of my silent listeners too.

"All Baldur, All the Time.'

lilalee

Good night, Baldur. I love beans, kidney, black beans, right out of the can! I soak too, but mostly for soups. Salads, I use canned.

Robindcr8l

Had to chime in with my baked potato soup recipe. I'm from Idaho, so ought to know good potato soup when I taste it. This turns out delicious. I'm including the bacon here, but, Baldur, I hate bacon and always omit it from this recipe, so let me assure you it is scrumpdilyicious (10 points for creativity)even as a vegetarian dish!
A baked potato soup with butter, green onions, bacon, cheddar cheese sour cream, and seasonings.
INGREDIENTS:
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
7 cups milk
4 large baking potatoes, baked, cooled, peeled and cubed, about 4 cups
4 green onions, thinly sliced
10 to 12 strips bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled
1 1/4 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
PREPARATION:
In a large Dutch oven or stockpot over low heat, melt butter. Stir in flour; stir until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly, until sauce has thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until soup begins to bubble. Reduce heat; simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; stir until cheese is melted. Serve baked potato soup immediately.
This baked potato soup recipe serves 6 to 8.

I know it's not exactly soup weather, but we like this so well I even serve it in the summer once in awhile!