Ooooooo! That candied ginger looks grrrr-eat! I didn't used to like ginger. Now I love it.

Love the Weck jars too. I've never seen that size before. They sure look good with your ginger peach chutney.

Oh, and I used to love to keep my jars hot in my old dishwasher. This one doesn't have a "dry only" cycle and I miss that.

Wow. Thanks for those succulent photos. We all love candied ginger here - i will attempt to make some if my kitchen ever gets finished!!!!!!
LC

That does it. I'm gonna learn how to do this and make some myself next year. (That is, I will if I ever get a functioning stove again...)

Thanks, loves2cook, for the wonderful pictures and demonstration. I'm definitely going to try this. Looks so delicious!!!!

YEAH....a big cheer from NYC. The chutney looks wonderful ! I put raisins in mine. I think I left it off of the recipe . Also you can use black mustard seeds. The ginger looks wonderful !! I used all my syrup...now I need to make more I guess .

Off to catmom's for the day. We take the train at 10:28....see you later ! c

This is so easy. Thank c for the recipe. DH sent me an email today after he ate this for lunch with last night's left overs that this is THE BEST chutney he has ever had. I'll put a note on the recipe to add raisins next time. I think I'll use goldens.

BTW, c, what apples do you use for your applesauce?

Oooh - candied ginger! I always buy it when I can find it but now I can make my own! Thanks, Caroline and loves2cook4six.
If we don't watch out, they are going to throw us off this list and onto the cooking forum:-(.

Can I post here too, loves2cook4six? I finally thought to take pictures as we were working in the kitchen. My littlest angel (two years-old) is absent from the pictures because he has an ear infection with a high fever so spent the day cuddling me -- on my hip or on my back.

But here's my chef!

Loves challah:
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kneading:
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putting it in the oven to rise:
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brushing it with egg:
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doing the challah dance!
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Shabbat Shalom!

Holi canaloni (my kids love to say this LOL) but that is one HUGE challah. And it brought a HUGE smile to my face because that's what I did today as well. I have two TINY loaves in comparison - hehe they're 2 pouns each but they look tiny.

So now you have to tell...how many cups of flour and how did you braid that dancing challah? And do it all with a kid on your back?

Here are mine:
Ingredients:

Starting to mix:

Cleaning the bowl:

Rising

From this...

to this...

and finally...

RmKitchen, dh just looked over my shoulder at your challah. He says WOW to and also wants to know if those are Gaggenau ovens and if they are how you like them and if they take full sheets to accommodate that huge loaf.

Me too -- HUGE smile! Your challahs are so gorgeous, loves2! Wow -- I am going to aim for yours next week. We only do a four-strand braid; I'm going to have to look up how to do a six-strand because yours are so beautiful! (ours only used three cups of flour but is long and skinny because for the strands I left Challah ben Challah up to his own devices)

I wonder if our challah is wiggly because of my youngest on my back ... or maybe it's because we like reptiles! It's really because a four year-old helped me OOPS! I mean I helped my four year-old transfer it onto the cookie sheet. (just a standard cookie sheet, but on the diagonal)

Your husband has some good eyes! Yes, those ovens are Gaggenau but they're 30" wide (their new models). They're not steam ovens. I really, really like them. I hated paying for them! But I really like them. I LOVE the side-opening door. I LOVE how quickly they heat and how quickly (and quietly) they cool down. I love how cool the doors stay. I love how when the oven is on, the interior light is on the whole time -- no fiddling with the "light on" "light off" button. I love how large the glass is (how big the viewing area).

But, I think the convection is just so-so -- areas cook faster than others and I still have to turn the cookie sheets.

And I think it's crap that these expensive ovens don't come with full-extension gliding racks (or whatever they're called) like other much less expensive ovens do (Electrolux comes to mind). Yes, I am Tacky McTacky to keep bringing up the cost but I can't help it -- other than our cabinetry, they were the most expensive thing in our kitchen. And I had to think long and hard (and on and on -- my husband is part-saint to have brooked my hand-wringing) about getting them.

But, whenever we talk about our kitchen one of our absolute favorite things is those side-opening ovens. So, I guess that's what we paid for!

How do you like your ovens? (Miele, right?) I am so sorry if I am getting you confused with someone else, but I think I recall when your kitchen was being installed your wondering if you'd made the right choice for your oven. ??? That's not quite it, but I can't get the specifics straight.

I want to tell you, your posts about your kitchen really influenced my planning. You were the first person I read who talked about zones and how it would impact you with your children (I mean impact in a good way). My kiddos are so little so I didn't know enough to envision what it might be like with older children (and hopefully more of them!). I took your experiences to heart, I really did. Thank you so much for all your forthright feedback!

Ladies, I don't know what kind of bread or significance challah has, but they are BEAUTIFUL! And, RM, I don't think it's tacky to talk about the prices of the appliances. In the real world, where we all live, price DOES affect what we buy. I mean, if front loading washers were cheap, I'd already have one, right? ;)

I agree with Lissa - while we can't talk about what things cost elsewhere without appearing guache, this is definitely the place to do it.

RM, you have a good memory. We do have Miele ovens and initially we had trouble because they weren't getting to the right temperature. After a couple of service calls, Miele offered us our money back. We then looked at the Gaggenau ovens but it would have cost $500 to modify the cabinet. In the end Miele replaced the ovens and now I am very happy with our choice. The Gaggenau with the side openings would have been nicer but....

Here's the youtube video my SIL used to learn a 6 braid loaf.

I use a different method. I learned it also from a video, but by a french baker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peBLtCEOlA0

Here is a link that might be useful: How to braid a 6 braid loaf that SIL uses

Oh! I'm soooo glad we're still playing!

Gorgeous challah, ladies. And what an adorable sous chef!

I'm soooooo jealous that you can do a 6-strand braid, loves2cook4six. I could do it with yarn briefly once after a King Arthur Flour demonstration but I've never been able to do it with dough. I have to cheat and make one larger 3-strand and plop a second smaller 3-strand braid on top. It's pretty too but I'd LOVE to learn the authentic way.

I've been forgetting to take pix when I'm in process lately but here is some caponata with the eggplant salted early in the prep to eliminate the bitter flavor:

And here is my experiment with the process described in the most recent LA Times Food Section on conserving fresh tuna (cooking it at low temperature in oil):

It was an interesting thing to do. The tuna had a nice flavor in that salad with canellini and artichoke hearts and I reused the oil to conserve a salmon steak as well. Still, I'm not sure I'd do it again unless it were to do smaller pieces to serve individually as appetizers. OTOH, the oil is really delicious and will make an unusual vinaigrette I think.

Here is a link that might be useful: LA Time Food Section article

That caponata looks sooooooo GOOD! Where's the recipe?

We had crepes for breakfast. They are quick and easy.

Dump 4 eggs, 2 cups flour, 2 cups milk, 3/4 cup water, 6T melted butter and a splash of vanilla in the blender. Blend till smooth. Pour scant 1/4 cup into 10" non stick skillet, swirl to coat and bake till cooked through and slightly brown. Slide on to plate, fill and eat.

I can flip them but we prefer them cooked on just one side.

Leave out the vanilla if you fill with a savory filling (creamed spinach and chicken anyone?)

I have to stop the kids slathering on the chocolate though and I could only get a pic on one finished one. There were 4 on that plate LOL. I turned around to get the camera and the other 3 - GONE!

It never, ever occurred to me to make my own candied ginger! I come from a long line of people with motion sickness, so we always have it on hand!

I bet the syrup would be good with soda water (and Goslings).

Beautiful crepes and I'm impressed that you can handles such thin batter! I usually do a good amount of swearing and then move on to waffles. =o

The caponata is a recipe I've only used once. I picked it up from the Colavita olive oil site. I would recommend halving or even quartering the recipe. It doesn't say so but it makes 4 cups and that's a lot of caponata! In fact, if you're in my neighborhood come have some. I have plenty.

Here is a link that might be useful: caponata

I bet that candied ginger is nice and soft and juicy too! I bet there isn't a commercail candied ginger that can approach it.