Stoves for the 1%

On a recent stop at Williams-Sonoma, I saw this dreamy stove:

 

Made by La Cornue, a French company, the CornuFe features:

• 5 powerful gas burners, including a center burner that goes up to 17,500 BTU and one simmer burner adjustable from 600 BTU to 6,000 BTU
• 2 electric convection ovens with French side-swing doors (swing doors!); one with seven cooking modes, including convection and conventional baking/roasting options
• 4 oven racks 

Nice, yes?  Priced at $8,600 with $1,300 for delivery, it's definitely beyond my means.

But then I went to the La Cornue website, and found that the CornuFe is their affordable line - the stove for those with, as they say, "a more modest budget". 

Their prestigious line is the hand crafted Chateau line of stoves, with their self-described crown jewel bring the Grand Palais 180.  The range is almost 6 feet in length, has one grand vaulted gas oven and one grand vaulted electric oven, and six cooktop configurations, which can include a power burner of 22,000 BTU and a lava rock grill.  And on the website, you can view the color configurations just like you can on car websites. It makes the CornuFe version look tiny. 

I have no clue how much the Grand Palais 180 might cost.  Certainly as much as a house in the Cleveland area, but which neighborhood in the Cleveland area, I'm afraid to guess.

Today's Menu, As Seen on Pinterest

I'd like to say this is how it works in our house, but there's usually plain pasta in fridge as a backup. 

Everyone Like Pizza

 Our favorite pizzas are from Valentino's - one cheese with a thin crust and one with a regular crust with pepperoni with extra cheese. Good for all ages, 6 months to 3 years to older!

It's the Little Things

For years, I used this measuring spoon:

It's adjustable!

Because it's adjustable, so you don't need separate teaspoons and tablespoons measures.  You save drawer space.  It seemed like a good idea.

However, over time, I grew to hate it. 

It was awful for liquids, since the adjusting part got loose and leaked.  And it was actually inconvenient to have just one measuring spoon, since I often needed several measures and was constantly cleaning it out so I could use it for a different ingredient.  It got to be very annoying.  

It did work, though, although poorly, so I kept on using it.  And then for my birthday I got these spoons.

Not adjustable, but it is accurate!

There's one of each size!  Each size is clearly labelled!  Each size is more or less accurate!  Each one has two scoops - one rounded, and one oval for those narrow jars!  They aren't bound by a ring, making them awkward to use!  It's magnetic, so that all stick together in the drawer in a compact way! 

In short, I now love my measuring spoons.  It actually makes my life better in a quantifiable, albeit very, very small, way. 

Welcome to Food, Goatling!

 The Goatling is now 6 months old, so it's time for some solids!  We started off her sister with avocado, but she started with banana. 

Yes, Goatling, that's FOOD!  Your desire to grab things and stuff them in your mouth will serve you well.  New textures, new tastes, new ways to fill up your belly!  Enjoy!

TSA Clarifes Its Cupcake Policy

 

The TSA Blog: Cupcakegate

See the difference here?  Normal cupcake, okay to bring to the airport, cupcake in a jar, not so much.

At issue is the cupcake icing, which is considered a gel.

I would think that if the woman had gulped down all the icing from her cupcake in a jar, she would have been allowed to bring it - just as you can bring an empty bottle onto a plane, but not one full of liquid.

That being said, gulping down icing sounds disgusting.  Also, no one sells icing inside the airport, so then you're left with just the cake part, which would be fine by me but not to a lot of people.

Also, I don't think the terrorists are messing around with cupcakes in jars.  I feel like once they started working with cupcakes so much, the hate would just flow right out of them.  I mean, who doesn't get happier when they have a cupcake?


Now I want to make some cakes in jars.  I'm starting with these.  

V8 Fusion

I feel the V8 Fusion drinks are marketed directly at me.  Why yes, Campbell's, I am an adult female, between ages 25 and 55.  Yes, I do have children.  Yes, I am often on-the-go, and I do look for healthful beverage options for my whole family.   Oh, and yes, I would indeed like to see Jackie Chan in a commercial.

Actually, they really don't need to make more commercials for V8 Fusion juices for me, because it's already a staple in our household.  I'm going to guess that it is for others too, since when they are on sale, I find myself in the company of several other women standing in front of the V8 Fusion drinks, scanning the various flavors to find the one that our kids like the best/are most likely to drink.  The drink says each serving contains ½ cup of vegetables and ½ cup of fruit, with no added sugar - it's got to be good for you, right?  It will make up for the fact that our child won't eat carrots today, right?  It's a good alternative to the Brussels sprouts I meant to make as a side for dinner, but forgot about, right? Right?  Well, maybe not, but it tastes good.  

Princess Goat's preferred flavor is the Peach Mango, or what we refer to as Yellow Juice.  She loves the stuff.

Back to the French Press

Several months ago, our electric vacuum coffee maker, the Bodum Santos, died.

Three and a half years of daily use, I suppose, is a pretty good run for a kitchen appliance.

The Santos made good coffee, entertainingly, and I liked it, but towards the end it got quite inconsistent.  At one point I had a difficult time finding a replacement filter.  Being made of plastic, it got scratched up and cloudy.

So instead of replacing it, we have gone back to using the French press and an electric kettle.  I bought the biggest one I could find - a 12 cup, 51-ounces Bodum Chambord.  The more popular sizes, the ones that are most easily available at the stores, are 4 to 8 cups, but this one is big enough for a cup of coffee for each of us in the morning, plus a Thermos full of coffee for Foodgoat to take to work, which is perfect.

It's simple to use, doesn't take up much space, and it also makes excellent coffee - better than the electric vacuum coffee maker.  The only real downside is that it won't keep coffee warm if you don't drink it right away, but a Thermos will take care of that, so it's still my favorite way to make coffee. 

It's such a simple, low tech, and effective means of making really good coffee that I wonder why everyone doesn't use it.  Instead everyone has a drip machine.  Which needs electricity, requires you to buy filters on a regular basis, takes up more counter space, is less intuitive to use, and worst of all, the coffee doesn't even taste as good. 

What My True Love Gave to Me

For Christmas, I got a wheel of cheese.  Almost seven pounds of delicious Applewood Cheddar cheese.

It's my favorite cheddar - flavorful, intense, and creamy.  We have only been able to find at the West Side Market around here, and it isn't not inexpensive, so we don't get to have it as often as we like.  So to have a whole block of it just sitting in the fridge to eat any time I want is truly a treat.

Oh, I also got a big box of tuna cans.  And Foodgoat's pledge to make me tuna melts ANY TIME I WANT.