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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2014 15:14:39 GMT
We received several food items over the holidays. Various dark chocolate items, several loaves of breads, (lemon poppy seed, banana nut, cranberry nut). A couple of bottles of herbal vinegars. Two types of chutney, one a mango/habenero, the other a mirliton based chutney, the same one we received last year and loved. Several bottles of wine And, not a food item but, a $100.00 gift certificate to Whole Food Company (aka Whole Pay Check to those of us who cannot afford to shop at such food emporiums). So, today, my husband are going to go and cash in on this generous gift which was given to me by a neighbor whose animals I tend to 3 0r 4 times a year. I suspect that I am going to hit the cheese section as they do have a fabulous selection.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 28, 2014 15:58:08 GMT
I'm giving away a huge box of chocolates I received over Xmas. Not a nut or hard center in sight. I just don't like soft chockies.... My staff will pounce on them in no uncertain terms!
Have you got your snack ready for the nursing home Kerouac? Those Lauderee macaroons could go down well again.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2014 22:00:33 GMT
I think I might just give them a big bag of 200 or so individually wrapped chocolate squares that I bought when I was in the Alps earlier in the month. That way they can split them up any way they want and don't have to worry about them 'expiring' in a few days the way that macarons do.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2014 14:09:17 GMT
You can't go wrong with Swiss chocolate. Although, I know of several people who don't care for chocolate. My mother wasn't mad about it and would get a giant tin of Godiva chocolates every year from some friends. I would be the recipient of it, which was fine by me.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2014 16:31:48 GMT
Yes, I always get some chocolate for opening night presents. I put it in a jar in my kitchen and when I have enough I chop it up and make choolate chip cookies, which I then give away. I'm one of the .001% of women who don't crave chocolate, apparently.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2015 23:21:47 GMT
I am not a big chocolate eater, but I saw that all of the nursing home chocolate disappeared within two days, but that is perfectly fine, because I wanted them to take as much home as needed to their children and other family members.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 7, 2015 9:44:26 GMT
They must have appreciated your generosity Kerouac! I looked lovingly at my gifts of chocolate in their beautiful boxes then said farewell....gave both my house helpers the lot. I wonder if I would have done that if I had actually LIKED the chocs
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 7, 2015 17:27:13 GMT
I received lots of chocolates as gifts, we still have a large tin of Quality Streetwww.qualitystreetchocolates.com/We've had a tin every christmas since I can remember...my favourites are the green triangles (praline) We also had a large box of Lindt Swiss chocolates...they went very quickly as we all love Swiss chocolate I gave bottles of home made raspberry brandy and blueberry vodka as gifts this year.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 19:45:31 GMT
I love Lindt too. I think they may be my favorite. My Swiss friend sent me several bars and they are long gone...
The raspberry brandy sounds divine. Could you share the recipe for us Cheery? I would love to give it a go for future gifts.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 19:56:19 GMT
I don't know how cheery made her brandy, but I simply filled a jar with fresh cherries and brandy this past summer - cherry brandy! The cherries go into clafouti and on ice cream and the brandy...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 7, 2015 20:08:48 GMT
It's quite simple... Take a bottle f any rough old brandy that you may have lying around...I use odd ends of bottles Cram frozen raspberries into large jars (thoroughly cleaned and oven dried to sterilise them) pour over the brandy until the jar is almost full. Add sugar...I add about 2 tablespoonsfull of golden caster sugar..seal with an airtight lid. Label and pop the jars into a cool, dark cupboard. Every day gently turn the jar to mix in the sugar...it takes a few weeks to dissolve completely. Then forget about it for a year or so. Strain out the raspberries (I use muslin) and pour into glass bottles, test for sweetness and if necessary add more sugar....in which case you need to start turning again until the sugar is dissolved. Label and it's ready to go. Incidentally...the strained off raspberries are amazing with ice-cream.... ooh..jinxed. Lizzy and I must have posted at the same time
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 20:48:10 GMT
Thank you both!!! A whole year? Mon dieu. I best start moving on this!!!! Would cognac suffice? We have a couple of bottles of Courvoisier on hand and would love to use them for something like this.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 20:57:18 GMT
Same thing. Cognac = brandy.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 8, 2015 4:14:50 GMT
Cheery I quicker way to sterilize is to put the bottles in the microwave for a minute. But I'm thinking would this be necessary as alcohol sterilizers just about anything.... My mother always put the marmalade bottles in the oven before pouring in the hot contents. They did not have a microwave then.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 8, 2015 16:29:19 GMT
I guess I use the same method as when I'm sterilising jars for preserves...you're right of course I'm just a sucker for making a song-and-dance about everything
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2015 16:36:27 GMT
I've never heard of microwave sterilising - I don't think I'd trust it. A microwave will only heat water or food, not glass, so I don't think any germs would be destroyed.
(I've just read that the jars need to be filled with cold water which is then boiled in the microwave, and to be effective you should only do one jar at a time. No thanks, I'd rather do them all at once in the oven, like cheery).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2015 16:45:09 GMT
I wouldn't do the microwave thing either. I've always done it on the stovetop in a large pot.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2015 16:51:18 GMT
Yup, a large pot works great. Last year I heated the jars in the oven too much and one burst when filling. At least, within a pot of water, the temperature will not go above boiling point.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 10, 2015 13:58:57 GMT
Yes, one would have to fill the jars with a tablespoon of water for them to get hot- but I was thinking, the point of sterilising is to kill the germs. The microwaves will do this instantly without the glass having to even heat up....?No?? I think your jar burst because the temperatures were so different Lizzy. I believe you can actually let the bottles cool and they still remain sterilized.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2015 15:52:34 GMT
Nope, they don't work that way:
Microwave ovens use radio waves at a specifically set frequency to agitate water molecules in food. As these water molecules get increasingly agitated they begin to vibrate at the atomic level and generate heat. This heat is what actually cooks food in the oven.
Glass is inert and has no water molecules, hence dry jars will not heat up and not sterilize.
Yes, the jars were too hot, the jam was cooler, kapow! Won't make that mistake again.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 11, 2015 3:17:39 GMT
A lot of the glass canning jars I have couldn't go in a microwave as they have a metal hinge between the jar and the glass lid.
I once made cassis brandy, as people have described it.
I'm not particularly find of chocolate either, but chocolates to make a good gift as there is always someone who wants to eat them.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2015 19:50:55 GMT
I am not a big chocolate eater either and am consistently amazed how fast people jump on it, as though they are unable to control themselves.
I can't think of any food item that has that effect on me.
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Post by htmb on Jan 14, 2015 20:23:01 GMT
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Post by lola on Jan 14, 2015 21:27:15 GMT
Our daughters' first French teacher was from Geneva, and she did not hide her disdain for a birthday present of (originally Belgian) Godiva chocolate. Next time we went with Swiss, and she beamed upon them. Chocolate chauvinism. I don't have the palate to tell which is better.
Do you sip on the rasbperry brandy as a liqueur? That sounds fun, and more deluxe than my usual cranberry liqueur made with vodka.
I have a canner that's built upside down, the big part as a lid over a steaming base ~4" deep with a rack over the water. A big bonus in our muggy summers, I only have to bring a few inches of water to a boil, not a whole pot. I can set the jars on the rack to sterilize as the water heats.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2015 22:06:40 GMT
You're probably a closet sweet potato eater and just won't admit it. Yams are such an abject item to me that I have barely ever even tasted one. Since I bought the tons of Swiss chocolate on my trip to Annecy, I think I have managed to dispose of about 70% of it and should be able to jettison another 20% soon. In the meantime, I have sort of forced myself to eat 2 tablets of the stuff in about 8 weeks.
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Post by htmb on Jan 14, 2015 22:09:12 GMT
Yes, I knew that, Kerouac. That's why I chose to tease you about sweet potatoes. They're not a particular favorite of mine either.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2015 22:30:44 GMT
Nobody else in my family -- even my French mother! -- seemed to have a problem with sweet potatoes, so it took my very hard head to resist them totally.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2015 15:35:45 GMT
As for the leftover Swiss chocolate Kerouac, you have my address.....
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2015 1:59:30 GMT
Aside from the usual mini jars of lemon curd which I never shun at, this year we received two stunning relishes made from our lemons.
One a pomegranate, cranberry, Meyer lemon relish and another a rosemary garlic,Meyer lemon relish. Stunning.
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Post by htmb on Dec 29, 2015 4:34:02 GMT
Casimira, the relishes sound like real treats!
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