BEST INEXPENSIVE MICROWAVE

Bodum 1548-01US Brazil 1-liter 34-Ounce French Press Coffeemaker, Black

The Brazil French Press coffee maker, designed in the early 80's, was our first coffee maker and quickly became a symbol of what Bodum stands for. Attractive and functional design at an affordable price. The Brazil has an ultra-light, heat-resistant borosilicate glass beaker and a polypropylene handle and base, which make the Brazil easy to use and easy to clean. The 3-part stainless steel plunger has a fine mesh filter, which allows for a premium extraction of your coffee’s aromatic oils and subtle flavors. A mesh filter allows this flavor to be delivered direct to your cup and not absorbed by a paper filter. Plus, no paper filter means no waste. The patented safety lid prevents the splashing of liquids while pressing. All parts are dishwasher safe. This 8-cup coffeemaker is (1.0 l, 34oz.) in size and is also available in 3-cup (0.35 l, 12 oz) size model.

This one is for experienced Jam Makers only. It's a little free-form.

The following two parts take pretty good knife skills. If you're not comfortable with a very sharp knife, you ARE going to cut yourself.

Prepare jars and lids and canner.

Peel about 15 small limes, and thinly slice the peel. Put the peel in a small saucepan with about 1 tsp baking soda and just cover with water. Boil for a minute or two and then let it sit and cool while you do the next step. (this removes some bitterness from the peel)

In a small bowl, put about 3/4 cup rum with a fair-sized sprig of mint in the microwave for 30s. You want the mint to give its essence to the rum. Let it steep for a bit, then remove and discard mint.

Carefully cut the pith off the lime. Squeeze any juice from the pith into a bowl. Thinly slice the limes across the membrane into little disks. Put into the same bowl.

Drain and discard the liquid from the peel and add the peel to the fruit.

Measure the fruit and peel into a large non-reactive (stainless steel or enamel) saucepan. Measure in half as much water / minty rum. (Like, if you have 3 cups fruit, measure in 1.5c rum/water mix. I put the rum and water about 50/50.) If this is not enough liquid to barely cover the fruit, add a little more plain rum to cover, half cup at a time. Stir in a box of pectin of your choice.

Now, remember how much fruit and water/rum you had? Measure out that much sugar into a large bowl. Mine, remember, was 3c + 1.5c = 4.5c sugar. Yours may be more, if you needed more liquid to cover the fruit.

Now comes the fun part. Boil that sucker to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugar all at once, stirring to dissolve---it's going to want to clump because of the pectin, but keep stirring. Do a little taste test here, but be careful, it's crazy hot. If it doesn't have the right taste, add a drop or two of rum extract or peppermint extract if you need to. This is slightly cheating, but it's for the good of the marmalade.

You're going to bring this to a full rolling boil again, and boil hard for 1 minute. Marmalade should sheet off a cold spoon at this point. If it doesn't, use your canning skillz to reprocess---Because we added pectin, this shouldn't happen, but I just add it here JUUUUST in case. Take off heat, and let it sit for a minute or two while stirring, this will get the fruit suspended into the jelly.

Ladle into jars, wipe rims, place lids on jars and tighten bands. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner, remove and wipe water from jar lids. Try not to scrape the entire inside of the jam pot with a teaspoon to eat the leftovers. Impossible!

This one is (C) me by putting it here. Just FYI. I will cut a bitch!

Ingredients
2 small lemons
1/2 c olive oil
2 T butter, room temperature
4 lb roasting chicken
salt and pepper to taste
1 T cajun seasoning
fresh herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme (I know!) tarragon too

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F/218°C with rack at middle of oven
Trim loose fat from the bird. I also snip off the ends of the wings since they usually get burnt anyway

In a wide shallow bowl, combine the olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning. Whisk to combine.
Add roughly chopped fresh herbs, large stems removed.
Use spatula to fold and combine oil base with herbs.

Place bird in shallow bowl and rub all over, inside and out with the butter oil herb mix. Halve the lemons (you can warm the lemons before cutting in the microwave for 30 seconds or so--it seems to make them a bit juicier). Put lemon halves in cavity. (oh, if you have guts and giblets in the bird--use them later in the sauce, or discard--I throw them away because they're sorta gross, but I know they have tons of flavor and can be strained out of the sauce)

Tie drumstick ends together.

Place bird breast side down on the roasting rack and place in oven. After fifteen minutes, reduce temperature to 350°/178°C, remove chicken and carefully rotate so that she's breast up.

Roast for an hour, basting with the extra oil mix in the pan.

Allow bird to rest and settle for 15-20 minutes before carving so the juices are absorbed.

While the bird is resting, make the pan sauce. I have a teflon coated roaster, so I usually scrape everything into a fat separator measuring cup through a sieve first, and let that rest for a minute. In a stainless steel skillet, use some of the fat from the separator to saute a minced shallot. Add the solids in the strainer. With the burner on medium high heat, combine those well, then add 1/2 cup of vermouth or white wine. Add some of the reserved juices from the separator after pouring off the fat to discard. You may need to add some chicken stock to make about 1 1/2 c of liquid in the saute pan. Add 2 T of fresh thyme leaves. Reduce to a syrupy thickness.

Carve and serve with your favorite accompaniments.

The Original Whirley-Pop stovetop hand-crank popcorn popper brings it all back with its one-of-a-kind design. You can enjoy light, flavorful popcorn (makes up to six quarts) that you prepare yourself right on the stovetop in just three minutes.

Face it, sometimes the best thing about going out to a movie is the popcorn, those big plump kernels that always seem so much better than what you pop at home. But this simple stovetop popper changes all that. It really does make awesome, fresh-popped corn that might make you start renting videos instead. The sturdy aluminum pan has a clip-on lid with a stay-cool wooden handle. A turn crank on the handle spins the key element: the stainless steel stirring system that keeps the corn moving across the bottom of the pan, for even heat and oil distribution, ensuring the best popping results. The lid has steam vents, to help keep the popcorn dry and crisp. The enclosed booklet is a wonderful resource, with not only clear and detailed instructions, but also dozens of recipes and popcorn history and lore. These are folks who really do know their popcorn, and the results are outstanding. --Cynthia Nims