Garlic: cut the top off (the big, flat brown part). Roll the unpeeled clove between your fingers strenuously for a few seconds (depending on what time of year it is ymmv on this; the garlic with purplish skins will be harder to peel but the season for it is short and I think, might already be past).
Now take the clove and bend it gently for a few seconds in every direction (but not so hard it snaps). Now you should be able to peel the skin off without a problem.
The above is my take on the coffee can with lid or two mixing bowls tricks (you can look these up on YouTube; there's also a garlic shaker you can buy that does the same thing), in which you take the garlic, totally uncut/unpeeled, and put it either between two bowls (you use one bowl as a lid to cover the other) or in a can with a lid, and shake vigorously for a few seconds: voila, peeled garlic.
Truth is it's more of a PITA than they make it look on YouTube and I don't like vigorously shaking or rattling anything, nor all the noise it makes, so came up with the above method for myself. My way's a little messier (you might get some garlic juice on your fingers or you might not) and might take a little longer, but it makes me happier than all the other methods I've tried (store bought garlic shaker (not mine, it was in someone else's kitchen) included).
Cucumber salad: my mom was German, and also made this salad, and I can't quite duplicate it myself but it was fantastic, and I know what the basic ingredients are: cucumber, sliced up onion, water, vinegar and sugar. That's it. It was not written down so my problem is just guessing the proportions correctly (but I can't; just have to do it to taste, getting it as close as possible). She also made a kick-ass beet salad: a can of beets, chopped up onion, water, vinegar and sugar. The beet salad was nominally my favorite, but I love the coolness of a cucumber salad, too. I haven't made either in 2-3 years but want to make both again soon.
I wonder if Q. bought the kitchen stuff as an encouragement for *you* to do the cooking, LOL. Also hear you on the gas stove: owned/used several over the last 10-15 years (on an electric stove, currently; it sort of kicks ass) and they all terrify me. Pilot light leaks are a thing and are the worst, as the whole place will actually stink up of...gas.
I've been looking to move away from our glass cutting boards (they ruin your knives) but wood boards are prohibitively expensive (for us) and our knives are already ruined (though we do have all kinds of sharpeners and stones and can repair the non-serrated ones as needed; we just don't do it often enough considering the number the glass does on them) so I'm just toeing the line now. According to everything I see in the Great Google wood is naturally antibacterial, though I don't 100% believe anything but glass is, which is why we mostly have glass.
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chiming
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Date: 2018-07-18 04:12 am (UTC)From:Now take the clove and bend it gently for a few seconds in every direction (but not so hard it snaps). Now you should be able to peel the skin off without a problem.
The above is my take on the coffee can with lid or two mixing bowls tricks (you can look these up on YouTube; there's also a garlic shaker you can buy that does the same thing), in which you take the garlic, totally uncut/unpeeled, and put it either between two bowls (you use one bowl as a lid to cover the other) or in a can with a lid, and shake vigorously for a few seconds: voila, peeled garlic.
Truth is it's more of a PITA than they make it look on YouTube and I don't like vigorously shaking or rattling anything, nor all the noise it makes, so came up with the above method for myself. My way's a little messier (you might get some garlic juice on your fingers or you might not) and might take a little longer, but it makes me happier than all the other methods I've tried (store bought garlic shaker (not mine, it was in someone else's kitchen) included).
Cucumber salad: my mom was German, and also made this salad, and I can't quite duplicate it myself but it was fantastic, and I know what the basic ingredients are: cucumber, sliced up onion, water, vinegar and sugar. That's it. It was not written down so my problem is just guessing the proportions correctly (but I can't; just have to do it to taste, getting it as close as possible). She also made a kick-ass beet salad: a can of beets, chopped up onion, water, vinegar and sugar. The beet salad was nominally my favorite, but I love the coolness of a cucumber salad, too. I haven't made either in 2-3 years but want to make both again soon.
I wonder if Q. bought the kitchen stuff as an encouragement for *you* to do the cooking, LOL. Also hear you on the gas stove: owned/used several over the last 10-15 years (on an electric stove, currently; it sort of kicks ass) and they all terrify me. Pilot light leaks are a thing and are the worst, as the whole place will actually stink up of...gas.
I've been looking to move away from our glass cutting boards (they ruin your knives) but wood boards are prohibitively expensive (for us) and our knives are already ruined (though we do have all kinds of sharpeners and stones and can repair the non-serrated ones as needed; we just don't do it often enough considering the number the glass does on them) so I'm just toeing the line now. According to everything I see in the Great Google wood is naturally antibacterial, though I don't 100% believe anything but glass is, which is why we mostly have glass.