Beautiful Annette. I remember when I got mine two years ago...just in time for Thanksgiving. I was in heaven. I had to use my manual for awhile too, but it didn't take long, really. I love mine. The temperature is PERFECT - spot on. It is easy to clean - nothing sticks. If my recipe says 20 minutes, it is done in 20 minutes and perfectly baked. I have not used the self-cleaning thing yet. Well, I tried it one time and scared myself half to death! Now that I know how to use all the other features, maybe I can figure it out. Mine is also in the corner against the wall just like yours. I hate that, but I can't do anything about it, at least not right now. I need countertop and cabinets, drawers, etc., on both sides of my range since I cook and bake a lot and can fruit and veggies and make jams. But I love my range. I love having the pan drawer at the bottom for storing my cooking tins. I am VERY happy for you. It's a beauty! Your friend, ~ Annie

Oh wow, those coasters sure will be perfect for your next mexican meal, and the colors are spectacular. That little batter bowl is very unique, I've never seen anything quite like that and the card is just beautiful. Bellini jam? What a great idea, my mother would love that I think. I feel an experiment coming on..... Enjoy everything Ann, it's a great selection for you and Moe. Annie

laceyvail - In the method I posted above, the buttermilk added to milk, cultures the milk to make a nice thick and tangy "buttermilk". The difference between the homemade buttermilk and your cottage cheese is the heat used to make them. The culture/starter (the buttermilk) starts the souring process. Lactose is converted to lactic acid. There are enough active milk-souring bacteria which prevent the development of "bad" bacteria - those bacteria that cause milk to putrify. By culturing milk with buttermilk, you end up with the flavor of buttermilk, as well as acidity. The homemade buttermilk is only incubated at a low temperature (80°F in the recipe I follow) while making the same ingredients into cottage cheese it requires heat which causes the curds to separate from the whey. Here's another soured milk product from "Natural Meals in Minutes": BUTTERMILK CHEESE 1 qt. homemade buttermilk (see recipe above in previous post) 1-1/2 c. dry milk powder (NON-instant) [Grainlady note: if you do use Instant Non-fat dry milk, pulvarize the powder in a blender until it's a fine powder, THEN measure 1-1/2 c.] Blend buttermilk and powder together and pour into a hot, heavy sauce pan coated with a lecithin spray (PAM). Cook and stir over medium heat until milk begins to curdle. Let rest 5 minutes. If liquid is clear, pour curds into colander and drain off whey. If liquid is still milky, continue heating until liquid turns clear. Rinse in very warm, then cool water, salt and refrigerate. Note: Plain buttermilk without the added milk powder makes TINY curds and very small yield. Makes 1-1/2 cups. -Grainlady

Truth be known.... Scones vary widely when it comes to texture, shape, size, and flavor. They can range all the way from cookie-like, to biscuit-like, to cake-like. The method for making scones is similar to making biscuits in the way they are mixed and the chemical leavening used - and the mixing method and the ingredients are geared to inhibit the gluten formation - as with all quick breads. Scones can be rolled and cut, shaped, or dropped. One main difference between biscuits and scones is the high butter and/or sugar content of the dough, and both butter (or other solid fat) and sugar inhibit the formation of gluten to produce a more tender scone. Some doughs for scones are stiff and can be handled, rolled, and shaped easily. Other doughs are wet and sticky and need to be dropped, or patted with floured hands. PLEASE, please, please get a kitchen scale. Even an inexpensive one is better than NONE, but a good electric scale is invaluable in the kitchen. It's the only accurate way to measure weight. Trying to convert weight measures to dry/liquid measures (cups, spoons) is one of the most inaccurate ways to measure - it's not even a good "guesstimate" at times. Especially when it comes to converting flour because the standards for a "cup of flour" are all over the board - even among so-called "experts". The standards for the physical SIZE of a cup are all over the board because there are NO manufacturing standards for them. With a kitchen scale you can use it to weigh the amount of batter in two (or more) cake pans equally so the cake layers are even sizes. The same goes for dividing bread dough into two (or more) loaves, making dinner rolls - burger buns - hot dog buns all the same size. Equal amounts of dough or batter mean they bake in the same amount of time and the finished sizes are the same. The amount of the weight of dough for yeast breads is also how you know which pan size to use. Using the wrong size pan for the amount of dough is often what is called a failed loaf of bread.... Fill a 1-cup measuring cup, then weigh the amount on a scale. Now do that 3 different times. You will get a different amount each time. Even more amazing, have 3 different people fill a 1-cup measuring cup and measure the amounts. Because every person has a different method for filling a measuring cup, it can result in as much as 10-25% difference (low or high) in the cupped amounts. -Grainlady