French_Peasant Member

Yeah, I don't generally make his favorite cookies (plain oatmeal)....love can only go so far. I make MY favorite cookies, which overlaps with the kids' favorites (Neiman Marcus for my daughter, snickerdoodles for my son, and thumbprint just for me), and that gets me in a lot of trouble.

Her niche, as far as her recipes are concerned, seems more in the beginner cook range. For someone who didn't have a parent or older sibling to teach them how to cook, I could see her playing a "big sister" role. I have had one of her cookbooks for many years (from my own sister) but although I read it* and find her story…

It's kind of like a book group, where we started talking about the book, but we've also had some cheese and a couple of glasses of wine, so we're talking about everything except the book now. (Even though it was an excellent book/topic). :D WE ARE OUT OF CONTROL!

I made the mistake of posting on ONE chit chat thread over a year ago, when it first started, and have been paying for that grave mistake many times every day since. The horror...the horror...

And here’s me, lying in bed on a Saturday morning, READING about watching cooking. LOL! Now I feel like I need to do some pushups.

Out of curiosity, what, specifically, was disappointing about it, and how do you envision your post raising the awesomeness level? For example, since you have followed her for so many years, we would be interested to hear how you have been influenced by her. Personally, I think it’s one of the more engaging threads going…

Actually there is an ancient French technique for food preservation called confit, in which high-fat meats like duck or pork would be cooked in a pan (or vat) of fat for an extended period of time, and then poured into crocks or barrels and kept for months in a cool cellar. I think bacon grease on the counter would follow…

Does he reenact? There are some big events in this area, like Feast of the Hunters Moon near Purdue University, Battle of Missinnewa, etc. The store is pretty small but completely legit with all the old timey stuff. You feel like you are in a time warp.

This is great! I have a printed recipe book that I borrowed from a friend and really need to return...maybe I can do that now that I have this!

Dude! I literally live an hour away from his store, and my whole family has an 1812 era outfit from Townsend’s because for a few years we volunteered at a festival requiring period dress. I love this channel!

Aw man, that was my favorite! With the colt, Starlight, and the baby oxen he trains...and that rascal, Eliza Jane--always so mean! I also loved to hate on that damn Nellie Olsen! :D

I will sign you up for The French Peasant Diet(TM)...but you have to grow a lot of your own food.

I remember that! It was in The Long Winter, wasn't it? I believe there is a lot of pie referenced in Farmer Boy too. And I was thinking of the washtub full of honey that Pa got from the bee tree in Big Woods, where he tells Ma to take the bucket of honey, and she is so disappointed, till she realized he was joking and had…

Heck yeah! Sugar cream pie, with a lard or butter crust and ALL the sugar!

My husband and I LOVED this show! We watched a couple of similar BBC shows (Victorian House, etc.) but this is the one that we especially liked. I felt bad for the kids of the wealthy California couple at the end, sitting in their hot tub--they just seemed to be pining for the prairie and the close life they had with their…

You should also have the ability to edit the nutrition for foods other people have entered, if you know something has potassium but it is not reflected. I have corrected a lot of things when I notice the protein or fiber is missing.

I looked it up...I was thinking she grew up in a big city, but she grow up in a country club milieu of a town of 35,000 in OK, then went to LA for college and was planning on going to Chicago for law school when she met her husband. She also originally majored in broadcast journalism, which explains a lot! Here is a good…

I don't have any irrigation system set up. I have focused on building the soil over the years with plenty of compost, and then in my vegetable beds mulch with a heavy layer of rotted straw, which is incredible for retaining moisture. My perennials kind of fend for themselves (I mulch them with a fine hardwood mulch, but I…

Except on a ranch! I'm now trying to figure out the mechanics of hay baler + alcohol + manicure, but just can't make it work in my head. It could be some great product placement for Hot Pockets, when her family comes in from their morning of hard work and she screams at them about oppression.

I believe she actually is a big city girl but moved to the ranch when she met her husband. I just watched my first episode while working out just now, "Shipping Cattle." She is making a pancake bar, and uses a vanilla bean in a sauce, and is all "well, how in tarnation did this get here, I just happened to have one in my…

That’s what I was going to say....they have laborers, she is too busy making $$$$ by putting together a tasty sammich on camera. Plus she likely feels a need to take responsibility for feeding her children. Although I would absolutely LOVE to watch a show called Bitter Pissed Off Wife Trapped On A Ranch Cooks. Like, she…

You sound like me--somehow those dang perennials keep on ending up in the vegetable beds! I have columbine seeding throughout and can't bear to pull it. Also, annuals...my kids receive a variety of seeds for a school children's competition, so we have a good chunk of space dedicated to flowers that I would not, myself,…

Well, I definitely think I need to come back to England and get a proper education in Creams, along with Scones 101, the proper pronunciation, and 201, Jam First or Cream? Last time I was in England I was studying abroad in college and got a proper education in Beer. Here are some interesting numbers I found: Half-and-half…

For some reason my eyeballs read that as "Bird's Dropping Topping." :D No correlation to the actual product, I am sure. I believe in the US we have a wide variety of tinned and condensed and condensed sweetened creams and such. They are very handy for making a cheesecake.

I so, so, so love that this thread has suddenly become all about all the different kinds of creams. MY PEOPLE! <3 I believe in the US we also have "light whipping cream." I know this because I went on a cooking binge while snowed in this weekend, including Irish scones (eaten with double Devon cream....which is clotted…

I can sympathize...I have to shave off a few pounds from Christmas and am just having a hard time getting back in the cutting game. No matter how long you do this, sometimes you just find yourself lurking and checking up on all the cookies and such. This happens to me later at night. It helps a LOT if I go to bed in a…

If you have tweaked something in your back, you probably need to give it some time to heal before pushing it further. I did the same thong to my back because I was thinking about a death in the family and not thinking about proper form, and I had to take a month off deadlifts till my back felt solid enough to lift again.…

To lose weight, you need to ensure that you are consuming fewer calories than you are burning. Walking can help burn a few calories (the amount burned varies by your weight, sex, and intensity of the exercise), but it all comes down to your basic stats and what you are putting in your mouth. If you are eating too much,…

I think it was on the Ranc Dressing thread. It snowed all day here, quite vigorously, but it was just fine little icy flakes, so we maybe got 3 inches with a lot of drifting. Did you get the cat to the vet? We did not drive at all yesterday but the kids played outside most of the day and we took the crazy dog out to burn…