What I learned today:

[Cooking Goddess]

I learned the puff pastry and phyllo dough are not the same thing. *sigh* Made powerplantop's Strudel recipe with the wrong type dough.

 

[Addie]

I learned the puff pastry and phyllo dough are not the same thing. *sigh* Made powerplantop's Strudel recipe with the wrong type dough.

I have worked with phyllo dough a couple of times. Too much work. The next time you work with it, put some ghee in a spray bottle and spray the sheets. Or melt butter and leave the solids behind. The last time I used it, I was making lamb and spinach pockets with feta cheese. I sprayed the sheets with olive oil instead of the butter. I now stick to just puff pastry recipes.

 

[Addie]

ROFL!!!!!

Bathroom spiders are the worst, they come at you when you are vulnerable.

My husband and I could be sitting there watching TV. I would see one of those Texas roaches going up the wall behind him. He would just smack that critter into the next world. Let me say the word "Spider!!!" He was gone screaming down the street and I wouldn't see him for the rest of the day. And then he would call to ask if it was safe to come home. I either smack them with a shoe if the are on something or just crunch them the death. Heck, after walking on carpets of Texas roaches at night and hearing "crunch, crunch," a little spider holds no fear for me.

 

[Mad Cook]

I have worked with phyllo dough a couple of times. Too much work. The next time you work with it, put some ghee in a spray bottle and spray the sheets. Or melt butter and leave the solids behind. The last time I used it, I was making lamb and spinach pockets with feta cheese. I sprayed the sheets with olive oil instead of the butter. I now stick to just puff pastry recipes.

But phyllo pastry is SO much easier than puff pastry! For a start no-one in their right mind makes it - even in middle eastern countries where it's in regular usage they buy it and what's good enough for them is good enough for me. I hate making puff pastry with a passion and avoid recipes that need it, like the plague. Life's too short for puff pastry.

 

[Andy M.]

Working with phyllo takes more patience than puff pastry. It's tedious to layer it, one sheet at a time, brush with butter and repeat. My pakalva recipe calls for 40 sheets of phyllo so that's a commitment.

We don't make either phyllo or puff pastry.

 

[Mad Cook]

My husband and I could be sitting there watching TV. I would see one of those Texas roaches going up the wall behind him. He would just smack that critter into the next world. Let me say the word "Spider!!!" He was gone screaming down the street and I wouldn't see him for the rest of the day. And then he would call to ask if it was safe to come home. I either smack them with a shoe if the are on something or just crunch them the death. Heck, after walking on carpets of Texas roaches at night and hearing "crunch, crunch," a little spider holds no fear for me.

(Shudder)The more I read on here of life in parts of America - major power outages lasting days, wildlife, weather etc., the more I'm glad I live in poor old Britain.

I am afraid of spiders (stupid I know) but I do let them live if possible because they deal with other insects especially flies. We are fortunate here in that we only have nuisance arthropods. Spiders don't bite and mosquito bites only itch, ants are a nuisance not a threat, termites don't eat your house, and cockroaches are rare in most people's houses. The only dangerous insects are house flies and then only if they're allowed to get onto food.

Power outages are as rare as hens' teeth and only last a couple of hours and in the main the weather is a nuisance not a danger.

 

[Hoot]

I reckon everyone has their peculiarities. I know several full growed men who are scared to death of spiders. I prefer to live and let live as much as I can, as long as such critters don't cross the line, like them snakes the other week.

 

[Mad Cook]

I learned the puff pastry and phyllo dough are not the same thing. *sigh* Made powerplantop's Strudel recipe with the wrong type dough.

I sometimes cheat and substitute phyllo where puff pastry is asked for. It's less fattening and you don't get that nasty greasiness and I prefer the lightness of the layers with phyllo

 

[Mad Cook]

Working with phyllo takes more patience than puff pastry. It's tedious to layer it, one sheet at a time, brush with butter and repeat. My pakalva recipe calls for 40 sheets of phyllo so that's a commitment.

We don't make either phyllo or puff pastry.

Ah, perhaps that's why you prefer it to phyllo. Phyllo is a piece of cake beside home made puff. All that rolling and layering and chilling and repeating the same thing umpteen times when making puff paste at home is a pain in the neck. The ready made bought stuff is plain nasty even if you can get the all-butter sort.

 

[Andy M.]

Ah, perhaps that's why you prefer it to phyllo. Phyllo is a piece of cake beside home made puff. All that rolling and layering and chilling and repeating the same thing umpteen times when making puff paste at home is a pain in the neck. The ready made bought stuff is plain nasty even if you can get the all-butter sort.

I was writing only about comparative ease of working with the two. I have no plans to make my own puff or phyllo. I have a life.

 

[Addie]

I was writing only about comparative ease of working with the two. I have no plans to make my own puff or phyllo. I have a life.

I am with you Andy. The days of Julia Childs are gone. Even she would advocate using convenience foods when available.

 

[Katie H]

So far...what I learned today is that it isn't the best plan to go outside in an unshaded area to water a lot of plants and wear black tank top and shorts and not tie my middle-of-the-back long hair down. Especially when the temperature and humidity are in the 90+ range. When I finished I was as wet as the plants! You'd think I'd learn after doing this all summer.

 

[Andy M.]

So far...what I learned today is that it isn't the best plan to go outside in an unshaded area to water a lot of plants and wear black tank top and shorts and not tie my middle-of-the-back long hair down. Especially when the temperature and humidity are in the 90+ range. When I finished I was as wet as the plants! You'd think I'd learn after doing this all summer.

You had the solution in you hand, a hose spraying cold water.

 

[Addie]

(Shudder)The more I read on here of life in parts of America - major power outages lasting days, wildlife, weather etc., the more I'm glad I live in poor old Britain.

I am afraid of spiders (stupid I know) but I do let them live if possible because they deal with other insects especially flies. We are fortunate here in that we only have nuisance arthropods. Spiders don't bite and mosquito bites only itch, ants are a nuisance not a threat, termites don't eat your house, and cockroaches are rare in most people's houses. The only dangerous insects are house flies and then only if they're allowed to get onto food.

Power outages are as rare as hens' teeth and only last a couple of hours and in the main the weather is a nuisance not a danger.

All spiders can and do bite. And they can inject some nasty stuff into your skin. It is their defense mechanism. Nasty enough to send you to the hospital a very sick person. You have just been lucky enough to have missed it. Mosquito bites can easily become infected. We do have one section of our country where it rains almost as much as it does in Merry Ole England. The Northwest. But even then they have more days of sunshine than rain. We do have majestic mountains that are snow capped year round, along with deserts that bloom with the most beautiful flowers you have ever seen. Miles and miles of beautiful seashores along with sprawling meadows. But no matter where you go in this country, we have some very unique fauna and flora that can not be found anywhere else on earth. I will gladly live with the inconveniences that each season brings. Because one day I got to see a Big Horn Sheep ram taking his time crossing the road right in front of the car I was in and it looked right at me. It was springtime. Had it been winter, that road would have been closed due to avalanche danger. I would have missed that.

 

[Addie]

So far...what I learned today is that it isn't the best plan to go outside in an unshaded area to water a lot of plants and wear black tank top and shorts and not tie my middle-of-the-back long hair down. Especially when the temperature and humidity are in the 90+ range. When I finished I was as wet as the plants! You'd think I'd learn after doing this all summer.

Why in the world do you buy black clothes for summer wear? And why aren't you watering early in the morning? Or later in the evening? Geesh!!! Do I have to teach you everything?

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I have worked with phyllo dough a couple of times. Too much work. The next time you work with it, put some ghee in a spray bottle and spray the sheets...

Addie, I know what to DO with phyllo dough. Heck, the stuff in the grocery stores is made in the same city where our daughter went to high school. I have just never worked with it. The problem was my brain didn't catch the "puff pasty" in the recipe because the title called it a strudel. With Germans and Hungarians in our family that word immediately calls to mind flaky phyllo. I have to admit I was wondering why PPO wasn't having me brush the layers with butter. And then *puff*, it dawned on me.

But phyllo pastry is SO much easier than puff pastry! For a start no-one in their right mind makes it - even in middle eastern countries where it's in regular usage they buy it and what's good enough for them is good enough for me. I hate making puff pastry with a passion and avoid recipes that need it, like the plague. Life's too short for puff pastry.

I didn't go through the work to make the dough...unless I can call opening the box "work"? It's just that I've never made anything out of either dough, only making the standard pasty crusts from scratch at home. Those are challenging enough! I'm more of a cook than a baker.

 

[Katie H]

Why in the world do you buy black clothes for summer wear? And why aren't you watering early in the morning? Or later in the evening? Geesh!!! Do I have to teach you everything?

As for the black clothing, well, I like black and, trust me, the tank top I had on was barely there and I had on short-shorts. Yes, I always water early in the morning. Have to here. Our normal temps are in the low 100s so, perhaps, 90 is cool. It's hot no matter what time of the day. It was 89 when we went to bed last night, so the nights don't even cool down enough to begin a day on a pleasant note. That's just the way it is here.

 

[taxlady]

I don't make stuff with puff pastry or phyllo dough. Too much work to make them and the stuff in the store isn't whole grain. I've eaten stuff made with those two pastries that was good, but not so good that I would make it at home with white flour pastry.

 

[Katie H]

You had the solution in you hand, a hose spraying cold water.

I do that, too, Andy. I don't wear shoes because I almost always hose myself down several times while I'm watering, but today seemed especially hot. I think my main mistake was not putting my hair up off my neck. You can bet I'll do that when I water this evening.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

....I think my main mistake was not putting my hair up off my neck. You can bet I'll do that when I water this evening.

Even up here in NE I've had my hair up most of the time. Take it down to shampoo or at bedtime, pile it up in the AM.