Good morning! We were up before the sun today as Ted had to catch the early commuter flight to Ottawa and the taxi guy was ringing the doorbell while Ted was still in the shower. Then of course, there's the mad dash gathering up this and that and out the front door in a flurry. Who can go back to bed after that? Gah. Anyway, it's awfully nice to have the furnace fixed and have a bit of heat. it was pretty nasty here yesterday until the repairman came back with the motor thing that conked.
How is everyone doing today? Other than my first venture out in a dew days, I'm home and quiet.
Yeah, I think I had a little taste of what poor Moore was dealing with the night before last because Jolene was up several times coughing so much it gagged her and made her sick. So from about 230 on I slept very sporadically because once I am up I am up its hard to go back to sleep.
Dear heavens I am glad to hear that you got your furnace fixed. Its bitter cold here. So cold in fact that I left the cheese for the potatoes in the car last night. My only worry is that instead of going bad they may freeze.
Oh yeah, so my cooking question of the day. I bought like 40 pounds of potatoes last night. I got a friend volunteering to do 1 bag. How long and at what temp should I cook these things for? And would they cook faster if I did the aluminum foil thing or just left them alone?
I love the food network...I am hoping to have them in the oven at 430 for dinner at 615 so that should be enough. I am thinking that I will have like 60 some potatoes. And good about no aluminum. That would have taken all day.
Just got home from the meeting, and am tired. I had a voice message that my longtime neighbor across the street passed away earlier this morning (I knew that she was in the ICU).
Shelly, one thing about the potatoes... It's important to poke them with the fork for a couple of reasons, but primarily it prevents them from tasting like glue. You've had potatoes like that before, I'm sure! The holes allow moisture to escape, so the potatoes will be nice and fluffy. Also, it will keep them from exploding, although that's rather rare. But, it's the taste that counts! Aluminium foil tends to steam them rather than allowing them to bake, and don't put it on afterwards either.
I'm sorry about poor Jolene, and your long night.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Well the baked potato thing was kind of a mess. I had what amounted to 30 pounds of potatoes in one oven at 350. And an hour and a half later they were still very hard. So with only 10 minutes until dinner started we started putting them in the microwave. Thankfully the wonderful people at my church are very patient and didn't mind waiting the few minutes. All turned out okay though in the end.
It never fails, eh? Just when you think that you've got all the parameters covered, some quirky thing happens and the best laid plans go flying out the window. Thank goodness for the microwave!! I wonder what caused that, Shelly. You'd think an hour and a half would have been plenty of time to cook the potatoes. Moore, any thoughts?
I have no clue, one of the ladies at work said I should have put the aluminum at least on top of the pans because the steam would help cook them faster. I don't know. Live and learn.
I think with that many potatoes, they may have needed to be started at higher heat (400), and then turned down to 375 after about thirty minutes of cooking. Otherwise, they could have been put in at 350 much earlier, and kept warm.
I still don't recommend using foil because steamed potatoes aren't fluffy like properly baked potatoes. They tend to taste like glue because of their texture.
Next time, allow more time, start them at a higher temperature, and then turn them down... That's my suggestion!
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
