plus, CHOW does homemade candy bars.

Twix.

PB Cups.

Tagalongs.

Snickers,  and more once you get there!

CHOW's lovely dessert slideshow

I love CHOW foodie site. Love even more the video tips!
Enough to make me want to drop everything and bake now.

Portable desserts. 

How to make slim mint cookies.

How to perfectly hard-boil your eggs.

and Goat Cheese Chocolate Truffles

and Brownies in a Mug (nuked)

Inspired!

Potato Salad (mild dill taste)

I made this tasty potato salad last night for a BBQ with our church youth group. It was a hit with these German teens. One boy said to me, "This is the first time I've ever liked any potato dish with the skins still on."

Boiyah!

Here.

New Potato Salad

2005, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved

Prep Time:

35 min

Inactive Prep Time:

3 hr 0 min

Cook Time:

25 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

--

Ingredients

• 3 pounds small red potatoes
• Kosher salt
• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup buttermilk, milk, or white wine
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion

Directions

Place the potatoes and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are barely tender when pierced with a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then place the colander with the potatoes over the empty pot and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Allow the potatoes to steam for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard, dill, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Set aside. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them into quarters or halves, depending on their size. Place the cut potatoes in a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, pour enough dressing over them to moisten. (As the salad sits, you may need to add more dressing.) Add the celery and red onion, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve cold or at room temperature.

German-English Translation helper

German Culinary Lexicon here:

German Black White Cookies

250g soft butter
250g sugar (I use feinster Backzucker)
1 pack vanilla sugar
1 egg yolk, 1 whole egg
2 T rum
500g flour (I use type 550)
2 T cocoa
1 egg white, lightly beaten, for brushing

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, egg & egg yolk. Add rum. Add flour a little at a time and continue to beat until mixed, then turn onto counter and knead into a smooth dough. Separate into 2 halves. Mix the cocoa into one half of the dough, kneading until uniformly brown. Wrap each ball of dough in plastic wrap and chill.

Roll out the dough in sections, layering to create different patterns (see the picture for ideas). Brush each layer with beaten egg white before adding the next layer. Roll into logs, wrap in plastic wrap and chill.

Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F). Slice cookies from the log about 1cm thick and bake for 10-12 minutes on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  The white part should not brown.

Garrett's Popcorn

We laid over in Chicago on our way back to Europe. Tried the Chicago's famous popcorn. It lived up to its reputation! Here's a copycat recipe from the Chicago Trib. 


Caramel Crisp Popcorn recipe
Source: chicagotribune.com


Yield: 13 cups

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After placing a call to Caramel Crisp corporate headquarters in Chicago, we discovered that the popcorn chain (doing business as Garrett Popcorn Shops) was not willing to share the recipe that's responsible for the long lines at its shops
No problem. After studying the ingredient list on a Garrett canister, we went shopping. The components are ordinary, except for coconut oil. But we found that in the personal-care section at Whole Foods Market, where it was described as "suitable for high-heat cooking." We let the popping begin. After hours of research and sampling, we came up with this delicious, crisp mix
No white popcorn we tried popped into kernels as large as those we sampled at Garrett. But our smaller kernels matched those from the shop for tenderness. And tasters rated it delicious. Some described it as "worth standing in line."And although most of us acknowledged that nothing could duplicate Garrett's buttery-sweet version, we think ours is the next best thing

.
1 heaping tablespoon solid coconut oil or peanut oil

1 Cup unpopped white popcorn

2 Teaspoons salt

2 Cups light brown sugar

1 Cup (2 sticks) salted butter

1 Cup light corn syrup

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda.

.

Heat coconut oil in a large pot over high heat. Add 6 kernels to pan as testers; cover. When at least 3 of the kernels pop, add remaining kernels. Shake pan occasionally as corn pops. Keep over high heat until popping slows to a few pops per second, about 5 minutes.

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Empty popped corn into a large brown paper bag. Add 2 teaspoons salt. Shake bag to distribute salt and drain excess oil; discard unpopped kernels. Measure 13 cups of fully popped kernels; spread on large roasting pan; set aside.

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Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and baking soda in medium heavy saucepan; heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches 235 degrees F on a candy thermometer, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat.

.
Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
Carefully pour caramel mixture over popcorn. Stir mixture with heat-resistant spatula or buttered wooden spoon to evenly coat popcorn, working quickly to coat kernels.

.

Bake popcorn 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes to continue coating uniformly. Remove pan from oven; cool on wire rack. Break apart any clumps of corn with your hands.

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Tips for success:
- Use white kernels for tender popcorn.
- Use coconut oil if you can find it. Though its saturated fat content is high, it makes a big flavor difference. Like shortening, it is solid at room temperature. If you can't find coconut oil, you can use peanut oil as a substitute.
- During baking, stir gently to avoid breaking kernels, but stir thoroughly to cover as many kernels as possible.

International sizing

Reference Chart. Because I always buy my children clothes that they can't wear for at least 3 months. And it gets messy timing my seasons to the clothes, sometimes.