Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Yes, what an idea. I used it tonight to flip fresh Alaskan cod in brown butter. That stuff has giant flakes, and it managed to stay mostly together!

eb

Well I just finished reading Lynn's follow up post on her potholders - hee, hee, too bad you missed out on that soup recipe! - and it inspired me to share this tip on storage and hooks which began with a dilemma over where to put the potholders and an aversion to putting screws in -- they are so "permanent"....

I used those 3M Command strip hooks on the inside of a cabinet door next to the stove. The ones I used are little plastic "plates" with a metal hook protruding out and they are attached using the removable 3M foam strip stuff. They come in several sizes and even in black metal and brushed stainless and looking like a "real" hook (attached with screws) as I saw on my visit to Target today.

Typically I would never put a stick-on anything on my cabinets (they are nicely finished wood) but these stick well and they have a "tab" that you just pull when you want to remove the hook. The tape then stretches out and releases with no leftover goop or mar on the surface of the cabinet. I tested this because I put them in the wrong place the first time

I'm also using these hooks for a couple of strategically placed hand towels on the cabinets frame fronts and also inside another door for drying off those "clean dish/food only" towels that always get knocked down off the oven door handle if I put them there to dry.

Then I put a few up high on the side walls of a cabinet to hang flour sifter, a mesh bag of cookie cutters, little stuff I rarely use but which I really want when I need it. That puts it up out of the way and uses dead space too and I don't have to dig for these items like when I buried them on rarely used shelf corners. I like that

So, I heartily recommend the 3M Command Strip hook products to help solve kitchen storage dilemmas. Super product in my book.

Fuzzy Travel Tip:

Are you flying somewhere you'll have access to a kitchenette for a few days, like an apartment in Rome or a houseboat in England? Want to bring along a few high-quality spices, in compact, small quantities?

Use one of these:



A 7-day plastic pill-minder will hold about 1.5tbs each of 7 spices in a compact, airplane luggage friendly form. Best of all, you can generally purchase one at discount drugstores for around $3.

Okay, this is a GREAT idea. We travel a lot, we try to stay in suites and I do the cooking. The lack of my spices always irks. THANKS!

Wino,

NP. Incidentally, what I'm posting here are the tips I've submitted to CI for years without acknowledgement. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Speaking of which, by way of my nickname, I have conducted countless wine tastings which entailed opening thousands of bottles, etc. - my most galling tip from CI was the one from the fellow who spent time shaving down the cork so that it would fit back into the bottle. Should this dilemma ever strike you, may I suggest using either the other end of the cork (it will fit 99% of the time) or, even more simply, placing a paper tissue, Kleenex for example, into the neck and then store the wine in the fridge. The lack of air and the cold will do nicely for 1-2 days. Whittling a cork???????

I'm a big foil fan. A tiny square seals leftover wine for us - that is if the cork won't go in backwards. I also wrap some foil around my near-stove-top olive oil bottles. I like leaving it in the original bottle, and the foil looks cool.

In the beauty dept, I use half and half olive oil and cetaphil cleanser in a squirt bottle for facial cleansing.

Last night I cooled down a pot of hot stock by putting it into a larger diameter saute pan filled with cold water. I left it in the sink with the cold water dripping into the big pan (this is where that huge one basin sink comes in handy!). It cooled it much faster than leaving it out on the porch in below freezing temps. I was able to put it in the fridge at a lukewarm temperature within about 8 minutes.

Wino,

Wow, you're right. You know, all of us wine drinkers try whittling down the cork once, then decide better of it.

Thing is, I think CI's tip selection process is completely random, or is based on what the illustrator wants to draw rather than being based on the "best" tips.

Anyway ... if you wanted to start writing up your wine tastings, I'd be happy to start a topic for it -- or for that matter give you the ability to write to the fuzzychef.org blog.

wino
I think it would be great if you wrote up your tastings and tips on wine. It would add another great dimension to this already great board.
ilene

Put the cork back in the bottle??? Novel idea.

We went wine shopping last week and bought a LOT and have been sampling our wares the past few days. Wish I could have you all over, we got some nice stuff.

Mary