Food Chat thread - for general convo by food forum regulars (quick, avocado)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Small kitchen! Uses up space that would otherwise be wasted.
Yes, anyway to reserve space, but I don't think I would really want all that stuff on my fridge. I know a lot of people do keep lots of stuff on the fridge and I think the spice idea is very clever, but I just don't like what appears to be clutter on the fridge. I used to feel differently. Guess I am just getting old.
I'm trying to figure out what to put in the smoker next. The weather is on the mend, I'm on the mend, and something must be on sale. A man's going to do what a man has to do. Will it be a rib roast, a Boston Butt, or some nice ribs? I need to make a trip out and there is no telling what I'll come home with. I was admiring a new pellet smoker yesterday at Rural King. Fire Engine Red too. Big pellet hopper... Lots of racks... Only thing missing was a rack setup to hang link sausage on for smoking and fish. Both need to be hung vertically according to those in my BBQ/Smoking forums and I agree. Need to take a second look at that beast.
Okay. I guess his might be the best place to drop this joke I just remembered last night.
A panda walked into a bar and grill and ordered a hamburger and fries. After he finished he pulled out a handgun, shot several of the customers and walked out the door.
A customer peeked up from under a table and remarked to the cashier, "Whoa, I didn't see that coming! What's the deal?"
The cashier replied, "You mean you don't know about the panda? He eats shoots and leaves."
We keep the small jars on 1 side of the fridge, the larger on the other, and we keep blends and things like pure chile powders in separate groups. The jars have taken over half of 1 of the fridge doors and cover pretty much the top part over the ice/water dispenser on the other side.
The links are to the places with best prices when I bought these back in 6/2017.
I made these for a little over 1/3 of what ready-made jars would cost. Personally, I don't mind spending money for some things, but $300+ for a spice rack with as many jars as we wanted seems a bit excessive.
I shopped around and the above places have the best prices. There are places where jars appear to be cheaper, but they don't come with lids and you have to buy separate. You can also get magnets on EBay cheaper from China, just make sure they are N45 or N52 grade, you can go slightly smaller with N52 grade, but no more than 1/8 inch. There is usually a really long shipping time, plus sometimes you never get things from China at all, so make sure you read reviews.
The reason for using several small magnets instead of 1 big 1 is that the way you put them together increases their strength (or so the DIY site I found to do this says). You alternate the poles and doing that supposedly creates a stronger pull where they join.
The neodymium magnets are strong little suckers even so. Dogboa and I both were really surprised when they came at how strong they were. I had to work with them in short stints because my fingers got tired trying to pry them apart. You have to slide them apart and it can be a major PITA when you get down to 3 or 4, so I started with a long block of them and added magnets as I went until I used them up. I put them at the edge of the deep freeze and slid the last few apart that way. Be very careful with scissors or knives around them, especially when they are in a big block before you start separating them.
Okay, to put them together, you will need 4 for the 4-oz jars and 2 for the 1.5-oz jars. You will be forming a 3/4 long x 3/4 wide x 1/8 deep square of magnets for the 4-oz jars and a 3/4 long x 3/8 wide x 1/8 deep block for the 1.5-oz jar.
Hold 1 magnet flat (the 3/8 sides) between your thumb and forefinger of each hand. KEEPING AT LEAST 1 finger between them, check for the polarity. Trust me, you will feel the push or pull even through 2 fingers. You want them to repel. Turn 1 sideways and let them click together on the 1/8 side. Now, hold them so that both are covered with your thumb and pick up another single magnet with your other hand. Check for the push/pull (again, you want the push/repel), then let it click on at a 90-degree angle so you start to form your square. Do the same for your fourth magnet to make the square.
Make sure you keep at least 1 finger between them when you are putting them together. I learned that the hard way and had to mess with taking them apart too many times.
You need to seal them in something to create a moisture barrier. The easiest way to do that is to wrap them in clear shipping tape. Everyone who has ever taped up a package for shipping knows how well it sticks to itself. Trim as needed. Then stick them inside the jar lid.
We already had a label maker so I just got some black ink on clear tape and made the labels as I filled the jars.
I did this in assembly line fashion. I did anywhere from 10 at a time to 5 when fingers were getting tired. Cut pieces of shipping tape big enough to enclose the magnets, put the magnets together, then wrap with the shipping tape, stick the magnets in the lids, pull the old spice jars out you are going to empty, make labels, stick to bottom of jar, and then fill. Make sure you put the label on the bottom before you fill the jar, it's just easier and you won't forget which spice is which, some of them do look similar.
I checked for these instructions in that other thread. Glad I found them here.
Thanks again, I really like this idea! I'm going to see if I can fit them on the side of the fridge.
I'm trying to figure out what to put in the smoker next. The weather is on the mend, I'm on the mend, and something must be on sale. A man's going to do what a man has to do. Will it be a rib roast, a Boston Butt, or some nice ribs? I need to make a trip out and there is no telling what I'll come home with. I was admiring a new pellet smoker yesterday at Rural King. Fire Engine Red too. Big pellet hopper... Lots of racks... Only thing missing was a rack setup to hang link sausage on for smoking and fish. Both need to be hung vertically according to those in my BBQ/Smoking forums and I agree. Need to take a second look at that beast.
I am thinking of smoking or I should say having spoiled brat smoke a small rack of ribs and wing for tomorrow while we watch the big game. It is a shame not to take advantage of the 70 degree weather we are going to have tomorrow. Right now it is 24 here but tomorrow we have a one or two day winter warm up.
Okay. I guess his might be the best place to drop this joke I just remembered last night.
A panda walked into a bar and grill and ordered a hamburger and fries. After he finished he pulled out a handgun, shot several of the customers and walked out the door.
A customer peeked up from under a table and remarked to the cashier, "Whoa, I didn't see that coming! What's the deal?"
The cashier replied, "You mean you don't know about the panda? He eats shoots and leaves."
I went and got lazy and turned the smoking over to Butterball. Turkey link sausage hardwood smoked in the oven.
I bet the were better than our wings and ribs. Well better than ours until spoiled brat cooked them an hour longer than the recipe called for and still they ended up in the micro for about 8 more minutes. For whatever reason he couldn't get the smoker to stay warm enough. Sometime our old stand by oven are the best medicine. Oh and Butterball is always a good friend.
I bet the were better than our wings and ribs. Well better than ours until spoiled brat cooked them an hour longer than the recipe called for and still they ended up in the micro for about 8 more minutes. For whatever reason he couldn't get the smoker to stay warm enough. Sometime our old stand by oven are the best medicine. Oh and Butterball is always a good friend.
I'm going to modify the sauce next time which will be soon and maybe today while it's on my mind. Instead of straight Frank's wing sauce I'm going to mix Frank's with some Sugar free smoky BBQ sauce until I get the ratio right and try that. Part of my problem and I know it was I just pigged out and that much straight Franks would be like polishing off a fifth of Jack with out any chasers.
Today I felt really old at the grocery store when I learned the store (a really big Kroger chain store) no longer carries barley! I know that other grains like quinoa are more popular and newer, but I thought barley might still be bought enough to warrant keeping it on the shelf. I wanted it to make mushroom barley soup---is that really obsolete now? California Pizza Kitchen has a split pea barley soup still on the menu, so surely there is still a little interest in it, even in 2020.
To make me feel even older, I saw in the hummus section that there is now prepackaged avocado toast. A small pack of avocado mash a la guacamole and a few melba toast type crackers. And here I thought making my own avo toast was a ridiculously easy meal---mashing up some avocado, putting toast in the toaster, smearing the avo on the toast and then putting some pumpkin seeds and cut up grape tomatoes on top.
It's official--I'm older than dirt! Anyone else have similar experiences?
Last edited by jazzcat22; 02-24-2020 at 02:11 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Feeling Old At the Grocery Store
