Somewhere I remember reading a thread about how you might use a kitchen gadget for something other

W

wigs

Well-known member
than its intended use. Can't locate the thread right now, but I wanted to add this slick trick/suggestion==>

I use a bamboo sushi mat to squeeze the water out of frozen chopped (or leaf) spinach that has been thawed. I saw this done in some cooking class I took years & years ago, and it works great!

Here's a picture of one of those mats==>

http://www.bing.com/shopping/9-12-x-9-12-bamboo-sushi-rolling-mat/p/0777642AA02C00055006?q=bamboo+shushi+mat&lpq=bamboo%20shushi%20mat&FORM=HURE

Just lay the mat out flat and put 3 or 4 layers of paper towels on top of it. Then dump your thawed frozen chopped (or leaf) spinach on the paper towels, and tightly roll the mat up jelly-roll fashion and squeeze the now circular mat as hard as you can from one end to the other. You will get a ton of water dripping out. You may need to repeat this process 2 or 3 times (or more) in order to reach the driest state for your spinach. Of course, it'll also work on freshly wilted spinach. I have several recipes where a little 10-oz box of frozen spinach needs to be thawed squeezed dry, and this'll do it for you!

PS: I also just added a line to the 3/11/12 discussion about Callebaut chocolate. I buy it for $49.95 per 11-pound block (before shipping) for bittersweet and semi-sweet & milk. A white chocolate block runs $59.95. This is from a place called 'gourmail.com'.

Yes, I know--I am always a day late and a dollar short! lol!

 
I'm not sure my heart could take getting an 11-lb block of chocolate in the mail {{{swoon!!!}}}

 
Our Costco just started selling Callabaut chocolate (large chips)

for the equivalent of $4 or so a pound. Swooning....

 
Ah... I misread and had thought it was $8! smileys/frown.gif Maybe it's worth getting a group

of friends/neighbors together to go in on an order and split the cost?

 
Meryl, Sorry I missed your inquiry up above and ErininNY, thanks so much for replying. I have taken

2 full 11-lb blocks to our local Chocolate Festival in the past and used them as part of my table decor. Had to wrap them in Saran wrap to avoid the drooling like I'm sure cheezz would do. lol!

This just reminded me of something somebody else mentioned somewhere--was it MarilynFL?--about using a "chocolate" chipper gadget. That is really an ice chipper back from the days of ice boxes when the ice man would deliver a huge block of ice to individual homes. My mom had the one that belonged to her mother--it must be up north in the South Bend farm kitchen somewhere. (My brother still lives on the old place and farms the land.)

 
Seriously, you THINK 11 pounds of chocolate will last FOREVER. But then you find CathyZ's flourless

cake that uses 1.25 pounds of chocolate (and freezes beautifully) or 2 pounds for Ina's brownies or 2 pounds for Bertha's Big One or 2 pounds in Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip cookies (because you'll never go back to Nestles chips once you've chipped off a pound of 53% Callebaut and folded that into cookie dough. It's not as pretty as it used to look with chips, but then again neither am I.)

And then there's Dyslexic Chocolate Sauce.

Next thing you know, you'll be ordering another 5 KG block and a larger size of pants.

http://www.eat.at/swap/forum6/66_Flourless_Chocolate_Cake

 
how wonderful that your family farm is still in the family and still being farmed. love that! wigs

I'll be in Indiana around Thanksgiving. maybe a meet-up this time?

 
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