General

sailorneorune wrote:
I feel spoiled, there are three apple orchards near my house, each about a 5 minute drive away. At least two of them all do peaches, raspberries, and blueberries - and one of them also does cherries (which I only learned about this year). There's nothing quite like fresh, ripe red raspberries - all sweet and floral, no sourness that you get in the unripe ones at the grocery store. Gotta eat them fast, they are fragile and don't last more than a day in the fridge. Scrumptious!

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@Alaisiagae Thanks for details. I read through that, and will be paying attention for those varieties. I'm curious to try some of those.

sailorneorune wrote:
Koru? What's that like? Haven't heard of it.

nonamesleft wrote:

https://koruapple.nz/

They’re a pretty mild tasting apple, a cross between Fuji and Braeburn.

I'm all about the Honey Crisp apples, but when the price is too high for them (which is more often the case), I settle for Pink Lady apples.

Fuji apples have been our longtime favorite.

I had an apple variety I didn't have called Jazz. It was both sweet and a bit tart.

I visit the following site about once a week to scope out new snacks: https://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/

EclipseLion wrote:
:) That's pretty neat. I might just save that page.

Toasted everything bagel with pepperjack cheese half melted inside of it. I'll do it for breakfast, I'll do it for an evening snack, but evening snacks I've gotta follow it up with crunches, pushups and squats. If I do it in the morning sometimes I'll nuke an egg to put in it as well.

DarkFact wrote:
Oh yeah, pepperjack is really good.

I didn't have a taste for it at all, until the last month I was in my last apartment when it's all I had in the fridge. Turns out it's pretty good! Now I'm buying it for myself :p

@Feeb I found these at a local store. They're pretty good. A little bit of heat. Pretty flavorful. They taste very similar to something else I've had, but I can't place what it was.

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Yeah those are pretty good. Kind of tangy / sour with a little heat.

I got the fire hot ones, all they had at the gas station and they were miserable. Doritos that don't taste like anything but hot. That might be better.

DarkFact wrote:

The ghost pepper ones are awful. Black and white bag. Skip those.

I got a microwave recently. I heard you can poach eggs in the microwave very easily, I should try that.

I haven't really done poaching per se, I just pop the yolk with my finger, drop some salt and pepper on top, sprinkle with some water drops from fingers and some garlic powder for smell, cook for 50 seconds with paper towel over the bowl and let it sit for another 30 seconds. Bam, done

Oh, maybe I'll try that method too! But I think I'll put a plate or lid on top instead of a paper towel, because I think I'd be nervous about the paper catching on fire. Hopefully the recipe still works either way.

Paper towel's perfectly safe in the microwave (PRETTY SURE), so no need to worry about that. I've used it as a base for stuff like hot pockets and vents for bowls and stuff for decades, never had an issue. That said, I won't stop you from practicing safety!

I think Stephen King says he cooks fish in the microwave with paper towel or something. Now that, I say just pop it in the oven for however long with some lemon juice and herb sprinkled on top

egg wrote:
I use either a paper plate or parchment paper. I don't typically use paper towel in the microwave, though I think I might've a couple times, but @DarkFact says it's probably perfectly safe... so I guess it's okay

But kidding aside, the only thing I was told to ABSOLUTELY NOT put in the microwave is aluminum foil, though I'm not sure why. I haven't ever tried it, and I don't intend to.

Candy wise, Sour Patch Kids and Wildberry Skittles all day. My favorite stoner snacks that I never grew out of.

nonamesleft wrote:

my high school had a microwave which any student could use, and one time someone put food wrapped in aluminum foil in it and nearly started a fire. The entire cafeteria smelled like smoke.

MrBean wrote:
Ever tried the sour patch "breakfast" cereal?

nonamesleft wrote:

WHAT? no.... Tell me that's real

Shut the front door!

Post Sour Patch Kids Breakfast Cereal, Sour Then Sweet, 18oz https://www.walmart.com/ip/352239677

MrBean wrote:
Yep, it's real.

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Welp, time to buy!

MrBean wrote:
:)

Crap, not at any local stores, seems like limited markets?

@egg The whole cafeteria smoky? Goodness. I wonder what it is about aluminum that makes it unsafe. It can't be simply that it's metal, because some microwaves have a metal shelf.

MrBean wrote:
I don't know. Had a relative pick it up at a Walmart awhile back. I don't typically see it at local stores here, though I think I have once or twice. Any Walmarts near you?

nonamesleft wrote:



Metal in the microwave is bad. It will spark. Sparking/burning metal is bad as it releases bad fumes from impurities in said metal. Also sparks can lead to fire.

Paper towels are fine so long as there is no spark or they are wet. Microwaves need to have moisture, as the microwaves excite the water molecules which creates heat. Running a microwave without moisture is bad for the microwave.

Most food contains water. That's why microwaving food usually dries it out, especially the outsides. (Cooks outside in as the water molecules on the outside of the food absorb the energy and heat up)

The more exposed surface area you have the more even heating. Cut up food, arrange in a circle, and rotate it half way. Most microwaves rotate/move for this reason, but what I said helps. It also helps to leave it in the microwave for a few minutes for the temp to even out through conduction (hot areas of food heat up cold areas through contact) and convection (hot air heats up cold areas of food).

If you microwave food that has a similar diameter/length to a multiple of the wavelength of a microwave it can spark and burn. It focuses and amplifies the energy. Grapes can do it. I've had popcorn chicken do it if it touched another popcorn chicken. Pretty crazy as the food will burn like an electrical fire. (Don't do it)

The black "screen" that is in the window is there to protect you from the microwaves. They block them from leaving the cook area, and that's why they don't run with the door open. Don't run a microwave with it busted out. You are 70% water, and radiation is bad... m'kay?

Microwave in a nutshell.

Thanks for the info. In fact I recently burned something myself by trying to heat up a dry piece of apple cake crust. It literally burned a hole through the microwave safe container. There was smoke. Inside of microwave got dirty. Was not happy. x( I was wondering if the lack of moisture was partly to blame, in addition to there being such a small portion of food. Apparently both of those things are factors. (I hear that the more food you put in a microwave, the more cooking time required. For example, while one poached egg may take 60 seconds, cooking two poached eggs cooked at once may require about 90. Therefore, small portions of food are inherently risky imo as there is an increased chance of burning, whereas large portions of food can simply be cooked repeatedly until it's hot enough.)

I planned to add a bit of water to certain foods in the future because I figured the steam would help heat the food. Turns out this is exactly what a microwave does. This is good to know.

Probably not size related since it was dry. Put a cup of water in if you have any doubt.

The cup of water in the microwave is a game changer. I tried it several times and it worked like a charm, heating up foods while adding moisture.

My mother always told me to sprinkle water on your food before putting it in the microwave. Was nobody else taught this?

I've used water in the microwave for certain foods. For example, sprinkling water on rice before microwaving will definitely soften the texture. Also placing a cup of water when reheating pancakes prevents them from drying out.

Tonight I tried to poach an egg in the microwave for the first time, and guess what? It exploded. The glass I put the egg in wasn't broken, so the water superheated apparently. So nothing bad happened well except the entire inside of the microwave covered in omelette.

Man, owning a microwave is an adventure, I'm already up to my second incident. I hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence as cleaning the inside of the microwave is a pain in the butt. Next time I want to poach I'll use the stove.

I think you are probably putting things in for too long if you had a fire and an explosion. Not all microwavea are equal strength so try shorter times to see how that works out. You can always add more time if it didn't get hot enough the first time through

Either that or something is seriously wrong with the microwave.

Using a microwave to cook is pretty convenient, but the cooking time options for less amounts of time are fairly limited, at least in the one that we use. The least amount of time is the 30 second button. There's no input method to run it for let's say just 10 or 15 seconds.

The only way to do that, at least that I'm aware of, is to start the microwave on any amount of time, and then press the stop button while it's running. Seems like an oversight in the feature section.