Why does everyone use ready made cake mix???

[SanDguy_22]

All my fish passes the cat test. 'Course, with my cats, so do a lot of things.

foamrubber passed my cat test once by accident...
i had absent mindedly left my closet door open and there was a foam frisbee on the floor of it. When i got back home a couple of hours later from school... the floor of my room was covered in little itty bitty pieces of thats shit and the frisbee was completely gone. I jsut hope my cats hadnt eaten any of it.

 

[SlickTony]

You don't have to tell me about arcane things passing a cat test. I'm the one who's still paying off a $700 vet bill for surgically removing a 4' length of blind cord that my ditzy part-Abyssinian, Ziba, decided to eat. (The concensus is that she really only wanted to eat the dingus on the end that conceals the knot, but since it was attached to the end of the cord, she was committed after that). And apparently she hasn't learned a damned thing. She still tries to eat stuff that isn't food.

I live in Jacksonville, and across the Intracoastal Waterway (soon to be connected by a new extension they're building) is Mayport, where most of our fresh fish comes from--most of the stuff in our seafood markets was pulled out of the Atlantic that morning. Of course that won't be true of the salmon, but modern flash-freezing methods ensure that salmon arrives down here in good condition.

 

[SanDguy_22]

You don't have to tell me about arcane things passing a cat test. I'm the one who's still paying off a $700 vet bill for surgically removing a 4' length of blind cord that my ditzy part-Abyssinian, Ziba, decided to eat. (The concensus is that she really only wanted to eat the dingus on the end that conceals the knot, but since it was attached to the end of the cord, she was committed after that). And apparently she hasn't learned a damned thing. She still tries to eat stuff that isn't food.

I live in Jacksonville, and across the Intracoastal Waterway (soon to be connected by a new extension they're building) is Mayport, where most of our fresh fish comes from--most of the stuff in our seafood markets was pulled out of the Atlantic that morning. Of course that won't be true of the salmon, but modern flash-freezing methods ensure that salmon arrives down here in good condition.

maybe your cat suffers from malnutrition. .. people eat non food things when they are deprived of various minerals and or nutrients.

the thing about grocery stores is that the managers will order the cheapest fish they can find on their purveyors lists.
In other words even if the perfectly fresh fish that was caught
6 hour ago and flash frozen is available at %1.59 per pound to the grocer and the stinky 3 month old filet is $1.58 per pound... they will go for the cheaper fish regardless of the lower sales figures and shorter shelflife.
keep in mind that half of the guys working in those positions dont have much more than a highschool education and a marginaly average IQ... so buying the stuff there is not necessarily your best choice.
That is unless the grocery store has job placement requirements stating otherwise.

also have you ever seen the abc or nbc documentary on relabeling of packed meats.

As a general rule of thumb go to a store selling fish on the week ends or on mondays... take a look at the fish there... if it looks like 2 steps away form jerky.. never go back to that store.
(I have seen fish like that at albertsons... they were trying to sell it off as "fresh fish")

 

[tendril]

This thread reminds me of my best friend who lives in LA now. I'm in New Zealand).

For the 12 years she lived here in NZ she bought boxes of packet cake mixes back every time she went home.

In fact, I had never even seen cheese in a can until I was served it with Nacho's at my g/f's. She proudly told me it she had it sent out from the States. It was pretty awful.

 

[SanDguy_22]

This thread reminds me of my best friend who lives in LA now. I'm in New Zealand).

For the 12 years she lived here in NZ she bought boxes of packet cake mixes back every time she went home.

In fact, I had never even seen cheese in a can until I was served it with Nacho's at my g/f's. She proudly told me it she had it sent out from the States. It was pretty awful.

The only times i have found american made cheese edible... hapenst to be when a european company has founded a manufacturing plant here.
beyond that american cheese is pretty falvorless and overly processed. also the cheese in a can is not a food product.. i figure it has more in common with shaving foam than actual cheese... kind of like miracle whip aka whip cream in a can.

as to american cheese as a whole... when a piece cheese (crafts singles slice) melts from a yellowish solid to a mildly translucent stringy thing...
its not cheese regardless of what the package says.

 

[tendril]

The only times i have found american made cheese edible... hapenst to be when a european company has founded a manufacturing plant here.
beyond that american cheese is pretty falvorless and overly processed. also the cheese in a can is not a food product.. i figure it has more in common with shaving foam than actual cheese... kind of like miracle whip aka whip cream in a can.

as to american cheese as a whole... when a piece cheese (crafts singles slice) melts from a yellowish solid to a mildly translucent stringy thing...
its not cheese regardless of what the package says.

Okaaay...think I'll pass on American cheese thanks.

And as for whipped cream in a can? Forget it - it's available here for about 3 times the price of the real thing. How hard is it to whip cream?

 

[Noor]

The only times i have found american made cheese edible... hapenst to be when a european company has founded a manufacturing plant here.
beyond that american cheese is pretty falvorless and overly processed. also the cheese in a can is not a food product.. i figure it has more in common with shaving foam than actual cheese... kind of like miracle whip aka whip cream in a can.

as to american cheese as a whole... when a piece cheese (crafts singles slice) melts from a yellowish solid to a mildly translucent stringy thing...
its not cheese regardless of what the package says.

A few points of clarifications:

Not all american cheese is bad. Vermont black diamond sharp cheddar is quite good, some of the wisconsin and vermont cherves are quite good.

Miracle whip is an inimation mayonasie not whipped cream in a can

Krafts singles are processed chees food and clearly say so on the label. I m surprised you missed the opportunity to mention velveta which is truly awful.

That being said I have never used a cake mix, or whipped cream in a can, or even worse non-dairy cool whip. I prefer my food real, non-processed, made from scratch, with all the fat and sugar that it is supposed to have, no fat substitutes.

While I haven't whipped cream by hand with a whisk in a while, I can. I use an immersion blender or hand mixer depending on how much I need.

 

[SanDguy_22]

A few points of clarifications:

Not all american cheese is bad. Vermont black diamond sharp cheddar is quite good, some of the wisconsin and vermont cherves are quite good.

Miracle whip is an inimation mayonasie not whipped cream in a can

Krafts singles are processed chees food and clearly say so on the label. I m surprised you missed the opportunity to mention velveta which is truly awful.

That being said I have never used a cake mix, or whipped cream in a can, or even worse non-dairy cool whip. I prefer my food real, non-processed, made from scratch, with all the fat and sugar that it is supposed to have, no fat substitutes.

While I haven't whipped cream by hand with a whisk in a while, I can. I use an immersion blender or hand mixer depending on how much I need.

Thanks...
actualy i cant stand cheddar unless its smoked.. ergo its bad in my oppinion
IF you have tasted good cheese that is made in america... check out the brand and the company that made the stuff.
recently there have been quite a few cheese produced here in america that are really good. Those cheeses i have found have been made by european cheese manufacturers who have invested in production here to reduce costs involved in long distance tranportation etc of the goods produced in their countries of origin. costco has a lot of those cheeses for sale.

as to the miracle whip shit... well i just remember that the brand name had the word whip in it... since i make it my point to avoid that section of the dairy isle... i have no need to memorize the product names.

as to the craft singles... go back a couple of years it just said american cheese on the lable thats what i was refering to.
i think someone has already mentioned how bad velveeta is i avoid buying it since its too expensive... i think i may have tried it once about 10 years ago... but im not sure.

90% of the time ill use an imersion blender for my whipcream or frosting ... i usualy blend about 20% mascarpone to 78% cream to 2 percent flavorings to make my stuff. The comparatively high fat and protein content of the mascarpone cheese makes the whipped cream a heck of a lot more stable than what it would be with out it. (you can leave it at room temp and not have to worry about the cream re-liquifying.)

 

[chittylove]

speaking of cheddar, what's with that toxic orage color? i like english aged cheddar myself (white)....and brie, and camembert, and gruyere, and manchego, and dutch edam, and goat cheese, gorgonzola, and cambazola, and feta, and gouda, and havarti, and provolone, and pecorino, and parmiggiano, and montagnolo, and boconccini, and oh oh oh .....triple cream brie (st. andre....OMG)..........think i'm going into toxic cheese heaven now

 

[SanDguy_22]

speaking of cheddar, what's with that toxic orage color? i like english aged cheddar myself (white)....and brie, and camembert, and gruyere, and manchego, and dutch edam, and goat cheese, gorgonzola, and cambazola, and feta, and gouda, and havarti, and provolone, and pecorino, and parmiggiano, and montagnolo, and boconccini, and oh oh oh .....triple cream brie (st. andre....OMG)..........think i'm going into toxic cheese heaven now

oh you mean anatto... i think thats the one... im not too sure on that though.
Canada and most of europe have made the use of that orange colorant in cheese illegal because it is a known carsinogen.

which is your favorite type of parmesan???

oh which is your favorite type of emmenthaler???
comes in different strenght of flavor and age categories.. i prefer mine black wax or seal depends on where you come from ...

The funny thing about swiss made guyere... over here in SD its about 1/3-1/2 the price of what it is in Finland..

 

[chittylove]

oh you mean anatto... i think thats the one... im not too sure on that though.
Canada and most of europe have made the use of that orange colorant in cheese illegal because it is a known carsinogen.

which is your favorite type of parmesan???

oh which is your favorite type of emmenthaler???
comes in different strenght of flavor and age categories.. i prefer mine black wax or seal depends on where you come from ...

The funny thing about swiss made guyere... over here in SD its about 1/3-1/2 the price of what it is in Finland..

i didn't realize that it was annatto that they used for the coloring. even though that's a natural product, it's still unnecessary! and it still looks toxic!

parmegiano reggiano scelto

i buy a cave aged emmenthal that's yummy

and i just bought a cave aged gruyere that's pretty damn tasty~!

have you ever tried the cheddar that has guiness marbled through it? omg....yummmm!!! or the applewood smoked one?

 

[SlickTony]

I am going to give SanDGuy the benefit of the doubt and assume that what he meant by American cheese was what's called American cheese and comes in the slices, and not all cheese that's made in America. "American cheese"--the stuff that comes in individually wrapped slices--gives America a bad name, as far as I'm concerned. I am not sure that European countries, who might get the impression that "American cheese" is representative of cheese made in America, don't judge us harshly because of that as much as they do because of our current foreign policy. But that's not to say that all cheese made in America is lousy.

My cats get good food--they should, I get the expensive stuff that the vet and the no-kill shelter I got them from recommends, either that or its equivalent. Ziba is the only one that goes about eating stuff that's not food. Doc doesn't exhibit such behavior. Therefore, I tend to believe that Ziba's behavior is more idiosyncratic than indicative of poor nutrition.

I find it hard to believe that someone would bring cake mix back from the States rather than make it from scratch. They've got flour and butter and eggs and stuff in NZ don't they?

The chief problem I had cooking overseas was trying to follow recipes developed in Europe with my American measuring cups and spoons.

 

[tendril]

I find it hard to believe that someone would bring cake mix back from the States rather than make it from scratch. They've got flour and butter and eggs and stuff in NZ don't they?

Oh believe it - my g/f must be Betty Crockers biggest fan ever.

 

[SanDguy_22]

i didn't realize that it was annatto that they used for the coloring. even though that's a natural product, it's still unnecessary! and it still looks toxic!

parmegiano reggiano scelto

i buy a cave aged emmenthal that's yummy

and i just bought a cave aged gruyere that's pretty damn tasty~!

have you ever tried the cheddar that has guiness marbled through it? omg....yummmm!!! or the applewood smoked one?

cave aged stuff.. yaa those are pretty good... ive tried the marbled cheddar.. not my cup of tea its the whole cheddar thing to begin with... im more of a munster, guyiere, gouda, havarti, jarlsber kind of a guy

 

[SanDguy_22]

I am going to give SanDGuy the benefit of the doubt and assume that what he meant by American cheese was what's called American cheese and comes in the slices, and not all cheese that's made in America. "American cheese"--the stuff that comes in individually wrapped slices--gives America a bad name, as far as I'm concerned. I am not sure that European countries, who might get the impression that "American cheese" is representative of cheese made in America, don't judge us harshly because of that as much as they do because of our current foreign policy. But that's not to say that all cheese made in America is lousy.

My cats get good food--they should, I get the expensive stuff that the vet and the no-kill shelter I got them from recommends, either that or its equivalent. Ziba is the only one that goes about eating stuff that's not food. Doc doesn't exhibit such behavior. Therefore, I tend to believe that Ziba's behavior is more idiosyncratic than indicative of poor nutrition.

I find it hard to believe that someone would bring cake mix back from the States rather than make it from scratch. They've got flour and butter and eggs and stuff in NZ don't they?

The chief problem I had cooking overseas was trying to follow recipes developed in Europe with my American measuring cups and spoons.

My reference to the american chesses... its the crap you find in the average delicase of every sandwhich shop in this country... the stuff that comes extruded in to a plastic tube.. etc...
its the same stuff that is sold in smaller portions at the supermarket cheese isle the cheeses with the happy cow or wisconsin sticker to it. most of those have no flavor or kind of a gnarly flavor in my oppinion. there are cheeses produced in america that are good in quality... but ive found that those are almost always being produced by european companies.
also... they do sell the single cheese slice crap in europe as well.... granted though that it doesnt melt clear like the local stuff but it tastes exactlly as bad.
the reasons involved with bad american cheeses... to me its mostly a question of them being produced too quickly at too high of quantities for them to ever reach their true flavor and texture potentials. a good example of this is domestic parmesan... if you ever tried it and compared it to a real imported parmesan...
it might just as well be classified as a non food item.

Not that i want to rag on american industries too much but its the culture of quantity over quality that ruins most attempts at making things work well. be it with cheese or anything else for that matter.

as to your cat... well maybe it has a oral fetish or something... does it sit around all day licking stuff

as to measuring... i personaly use both the metric and the what ever system they have here in america... which ever suits my purposes best at the moment.

As to the transportation of food items like the cake mixes etc... some poeple bring the weirdest stuff as gifts from their trips...
my grandma once brought us a bag of frozen meat balls from sweden which she had in her freezer and couldnt use anymore.
(needless to say we threw the stuff out as soon as she left.)
I always have people bring me a specific type to toothpaste form findland when ever i start running low on it... its more over the fact that there is something in local toothpaste that makes me vomit half of my stomach content up every time i use them to brush my teeth. ( or some brands just leave my teeth feeling even dirtier than before.)
but cake mix is something

 

[SanDguy_22]

Oh believe it - my g/f must be Betty Crockers biggest fan ever.

please do me a favor and make her a cake from scratch just to show off on how easy it is... with any luck she will love the cake so much she wont touch the bettycrocker crap anymore.

 

[chittylove]

hi chef.....

reporting on the salmon.....turned out great! i let it sit in a lemon zest, dill and sea salt mixture, inside and out, for a while....then rinsed it off and patted it dry. after that, i added more zest, dill and sea salt and drizzled some olive oil. grilled it to perfection (might i add), about med rare inside....so juicy, so tender, so yummy!! i loved the smell of the skin this way.....i used to wrap it in foil before, but it just steams it and the skin doesn't have the smokey flavor to it. i served it with a mango, mint, cilantro salsa, with a bit of heat from jalapeno! i have lots of leftovers, wanna come over for some?!! lol....

just have to share dessert....it was just so yummy....grilled pineapple spears (sprinkled with brown sugar first), served with a trio of gelato, and topped with fresh raspberries!!!

 

[SlickTony]

my g/f must be Betty Crockers biggest fan ever.

Ha! A great-aunt of mine, all the time I was coming up, kept giving me books that were far below my level of reading comprehension. I don't think she gave me a single grown-up book ever, until I got married the first time...and then she sent me Betty Crocker's Recipes for Two. Only trouble was, there's hardly a recipe in that book that doesn't begin with a Betty Crocker mix of some kind as its first ingredient. And I was going into a place where you couldn't get hold of Betty Crocker mix for love nor money. Not that I was into that sort of thing...my mother was/is a scratch cook.

I don't get any of that Laughing Cow stuff, but if I cut out the cheese that's in the deli section of my grocery store, there's gonna be damn little cheese I can eat. Right now I'm annoyed with Publix because they won't supply Stilchester regularly, and I like Stilchester. Even at that I had to go up to one of the more upscale Publixes to the south of us to get it.

I hope there aren't any Wisconsinites here--they're sure to crab at you if there are, as Wisconsin prides itself on its cheese production.

Ziba does have some oral issues...after her initial operation, to remove the blind cord, she was stapled up, and appeared to have a good recovery, but understand, I really didn't want to disturb her too much by always looking at her stomach, and when I took her to have her staples removed, she was found to have a post-surgical hernia. So they fixed that and stitched her up with absorbable sutures.

Well, a few days after that I noticed that there was a teardrop shaped hole at the bottom end of her incision, and she was licking herself, and I distinctly smelled fresh blood. So I had the guys take her in to the vet again, and damn if she hadn't chewed out her absorbable sutures, and she had to be restapled. This time they put one of those plastic hoods on her so she couldn't disturb her surgical site any more. She looked so damn miserable, poor thing...she was profoundly relieved when she found at at least she could lick her butt. She's been ok ever since then, but she is also the cat who comes up while I'm in bed and starts licking my hair.

Silly cat.

 

[tendril]

Ha! A great-aunt of mine, all the time I was coming up, kept giving me books that were far below my level of reading comprehension. I don't think she gave me a single grown-up book ever, until I got married the first time...and then she sent me Betty Crocker's Recipes for Two. Only trouble was, there's hardly a recipe in that book that doesn't begin with a Betty Crocker mix of some kind as its first ingredient. And I was going into a place where you couldn't get hold of Betty Crocker mix for love nor money. Not that I was into that sort of thing...my mother was/is a scratch cook.

Well, here's the thing - Betty Crocker cake mixes are available here in New Zealand, only they are manufactured in Australia.

My g/f swears she can tell the difference between the ones made in the States and those imported from Australia.

Aside from the all that, they are damned expensive - I saw also for the very first time here on my local supermarket shelf Betty Crocker Cake Frosting (now this WAS made in the USA) but it was like $NZ5.50 ,thats about $US3.40.

 

[shmily]

well for Fathers Day my 7 yr old son saw a Wild Berry cake in a magazine and wanted to make it.
Totally from scratch. He measured, mixed, and poured in the pan. then added the berries. I put it in the oven and took it out. He added more fresh berries and the cool whip and served it to his dad and the rest of the family. He was so proud of himself. It was awesome and we will definately fix it more often.
S

 

[SanDguy_22]

Ha! A great-aunt of mine, all the time I was coming up, kept giving me books that were far below my level of reading comprehension. I don't think she gave me a single grown-up book ever, until I got married the first time...and then she sent me Betty Crocker's Recipes for Two. Only trouble was, there's hardly a recipe in that book that doesn't begin with a Betty Crocker mix of some kind as its first ingredient. And I was going into a place where you couldn't get hold of Betty Crocker mix for love nor money. Not that I was into that sort of thing...my mother was/is a scratch cook.

I don't get any of that Laughing Cow stuff, but if I cut out the cheese that's in the deli section of my grocery store, there's gonna be damn little cheese I can eat. Right now I'm annoyed with Publix because they won't supply Stilchester regularly, and I like Stilchester. Even at that I had to go up to one of the more upscale Publixes to the south of us to get it.

I hope there aren't any Wisconsinites here--they're sure to crab at you if there are, as Wisconsin prides itself on its cheese production.

Ziba does have some oral issues...after her initial operation, to remove the blind cord, she was stapled up, and appeared to have a good recovery, but understand, I really didn't want to disturb her too much by always looking at her stomach, and when I took her to have her staples removed, she was found to have a post-surgical hernia. So they fixed that and stitched her up with absorbable sutures.

Well, a few days after that I noticed that there was a teardrop shaped hole at the bottom end of her incision, and she was licking herself, and I distinctly smelled fresh blood. So I had the guys take her in to the vet again, and damn if she hadn't chewed out her absorbable sutures, and she had to be restapled. This time they put one of those plastic hoods on her so she couldn't disturb her surgical site any more. She looked so damn miserable, poor thing...she was profoundly relieved when she found at at least she could lick her butt. She's been ok ever since then, but she is also the cat who comes up while I'm in bed and starts licking my hair.

Silly cat.

well the wisconsinites may pide them selves on the cheese production.. but i blame the massproduction culture of america for the crappy cheese...they make to omuch too fast with little regard for quality controll beyond making it all look, taste and feel the same. flavor wise its garbage to me...
just for comparison sake.. if you ever have a chance get a pice of imported parmesan cheese the a pice of domestic parmesa and youll see one of the more drastic differences.
the same goes for swiss cheese and practicaly anything else.
fresh mozzarella comes damned near to the european stuff.. propably simply due to the fact the it doesnt have much flavor to begin with .

my cat licked my hair once when i was sitting on my sofa.. she didnt touch it after that... I had a whole bunch of hairgel on and i propably scarred her for life with that
so did you take your cat to the dentist???

 

[SanDguy_22]

hi chef.....

reporting on the salmon.....turned out great! i let it sit in a lemon zest, dill and sea salt mixture, inside and out, for a while....then rinsed it off and patted it dry. after that, i added more zest, dill and sea salt and drizzled some olive oil. grilled it to perfection (might i add), about med rare inside....so juicy, so tender, so yummy!! i loved the smell of the skin this way.....i used to wrap it in foil before, but it just steams it and the skin doesn't have the smokey flavor to it. i served it with a mango, mint, cilantro salsa, with a bit of heat from jalapeno! i have lots of leftovers, wanna come over for some?!! lol....

just have to share dessert....it was just so yummy....grilled pineapple spears (sprinkled with brown sugar first), served with a trio of gelato, and topped with fresh raspberries!!!

would love to come over..
even though i cant stand fish too much im sure we can find something else for me to chow on

 

[chittylove]

would love to come over..
even though i cant stand fish too much im sure we can find something else for me to chow on

i'm sure we could

 

[SanDguy_22]

i'm sure we could

yaaa... did ya know that pineaple and papaya have enzymes that break down proteins... in theory helping in their digestion etc...

if you catch my meaing



sorry really really bad joke
but atleast there is a bit of food science mixed in

 

[chittylove]

yaaa... did ya know that pineaple and papaya have enzymes that break down proteins... in theory helping in their digestion etc...

if you catch my meaing



sorry really really bad joke
but atleast there is a bit of food science mixed in

lmao....

sooooo.........ya wanna cum over for some pineapple and papaya then?! i have a wonderful serving idea

or maybe you should cum over and prepare some for me