Arrrgh!!!

I'd say you have a fridge that's loaded or very large!

Green Goddess dressing??

It all sounds good to me (to Dr. D.--especially the Green Goddess dressing!) I didn't note the size of your refrigerator when we were there. Is it huge?
If I removed all of the "out of code" food from our refrigerator, it would be pretty bare. Those dates are, in my opinion, suggestions--which I happily ignore. I don't tout this plan to others, but for me a couple of years (give or take) isn't a biggie--as long as the food passes the sniff and sight tests. If there's the least bit of doubt, of course, I pitch it (which is the reason that I've never tasted bear meat.)

Cop Car, I operate on basically the same plan. Otherwise, I'd be cleaning the fridge out daily trying to keep up with the condiment crazies in my family. I've tried to teach my step kids that a sell by date is not the day you throw it out, but we could tighten up on pitching out the old stuff, especially when it looks like we are not using it.

It will be interesting to see what my niece has to teach us about kitchen sanitation.

Dr. D.....you'll have to surf for a recipe. It has anchovy paste in it, and lots of seasonings. It has a creamy base, and I think it might be parsley that gives it a green tint. I started eating it when I first graduated from college, and it's been an off and on favorite.

I'd say my refrigerator is stuffed. I don't think it's the largest model made, but it's not small, and it has a freezer on the top third. Keep in mind that the list I posted is just what's in the DOOR!

Dr. D. and Buffy--Green Goddess was a very "in" thing when I was in my late twenties. It was used for salads and for dipping veggies. Thanks for telling us about the anchovies, Buffy. I would never have known. All I really (think that I) can identify is sour cream. Is there no avocado in it? I like parsley, too (there is still some in my garden--we had fresh parsley decorating our lasagne at Christmas!), but somehow I had thought (wished?) there to be avocado in Green Goddess.

Mine's not much better - but I don't keep vinegars, soy sauce or worcester sauce in there - no need to - they self-preserve.

Err... what is "half and HalF"? And Green Goddess dressing. And Hot sause? Is yellow mustard the same as English mustard?

When I've looked at recipes that originated from the US I've found the same confusion. How does General purpose flour compare with our Plain and Self Raising flours?

And how do Americans just cope with cooking by volume rather than by weight? The few times I've tried to cook using cupfulls of ngredients I've ended with a fine layer of flour and sugar over every kitchen surface.

Cop Car, Green Goddess has Mayonnaise, sour cream, chives or scallions, parsley (the green), lemon juice, white wine vinegar, 3 anchovy fillets, and salt and pepper.....no avocado. Sorry. My mother would have eaten some of the decorations from your lasagna. She loves parsley!

BW...my bottle of soy sauce instructs you to refrigerate when opened. I think the Worcestershire sauce does too. I'm sure you're right about the vinegar being safe in the cupboard, given it's acidity.

Adele, Half and half is equal parts of cream and milk. It has 10.5 to 18% fat. The Green Goddess salad dressing ingredients are in an answer above this post, and hot sauce is basically distilled hot peppers. Tabasco is one type, but there are thousands of brands. This household uses it mostly for southern and Mexican cooking, but it could be added to szechuan foods, too. To the best of my knowledge, yellow mustard is unique to the US. My mother sticks her nose up at it. She prefers Dijon. It really is YELLOW....not brown.

I don't know if I can answer your questions about flour. We have self-rising flour here, too, so I assume that our General Purpose flour must be like your Plain flour. You have to add soda or baking powder when you use general (or ALL) purpose flour.

As for the volume vs. weight issue, until the past ten years or so, most Americans didn't have a scale in their kitchen. We were all taught at home or at school to use the volume method. Yes, it is messy. I suspect DH and I cold be just as messy measuring by weight. *G* We've simply learned a different method and it seems normal to us.

Adele, Buffy beat me to explaining that some of us can make a mess, regardless. I weigh many ingredients and get just as much on the floor, cabinets, myself as though I had measured by volume.
I would add to what Chef Buffy says about flour (maybe she knows that you need no addition). Our grocery stores stock "bread" flour which is high gluten and "cake" flour which is low gluten. "All purpose" is someplace between those two in gluten content. At least, this is what I've thought for a few years. Buffy can correct me if I'm giving you a bum steer.

Buffy and Cop Car,

Thanks for your explanations. I assume that your Yellow mustard is what is know over here as American mustard, which I think is more aromatic and spicy and less hot than English mustard (and which is, incidentally, very yellow in colour).

I was interested to see that you have self-raising flour over there, because most of the US recipes that I have seen only seem to specify general purpose flour, not SR. We have "Bread" flour over here too but not "cake" flour. Presumably that is the same as SR flour, or does it contain any other cake-making ingredients? I love baking cakes, etc and am constantly on the lookout for new recipes.

I am a messy cook too but I find that I make far less mess when weighing out ingredients. Presumably because of practice - but I find it easier not to spill anything when spooning/pouring it into a container for weighing, rather than dipping a cup into a bag of flour or sugar and getting bits stuck to the outside which the fall everywhere. Or perhaps that's just that I am lacking in practice in that technique. Certainly from a very early age (and custom over here) I was taught to weigh everything when cooking. I am trying to be a bit more relaxed about that.

I've a traditional fruit cake recipe that has been in my family for generations and that DHusband and DStepchildren all love but you may find it difficult to follow if you don't use scales.

Adele--Our cake flour is just low gluten wheat flour. No leavening is in it--just the flour and some added vitamins. Cake flour measures about 3.5 cups per pound while all-purpose flour measures about 3.75 cups per pound (according to the labels on the packages that I have on hand.)
I forgot to mention what I call "granulated" flour. It is a low gluten wheat flour that, in addition to the added vitamins, has malted barley flour included and measures about 3.85 cups per pound. Using it assures lump-free gravy without the effort required when all-purpose flour.

Wow.....the things I learn here! Cop Car, I didn't realize the difference in our flours had to do with the amount of gluten. You are much more knowledgeable about this than I. I didn't even think to check the bags. We have bread flour (which has only been available in our chain stores for perhaps the last ten-fifteen years, and all purpose flour. My family prefers pie to cake, so I don't bother stocking the cake flour. At one time, we had whole wheat and rye flour, but I no longer make my own bread, so I've don't stock them now. And, I've almost never used the self rising flour.

About the mustard...yellow mustard is tangy, but not hot. I think there's a lot of vinegar in it, and the color is similar to the yellow of Big Bird's feathers......bright yellow....the color of a Crayola crayon yellow. I don't know if that helped at all! lol

We have a kitchen scale, and have had it for easily ten years. I suspect I was slow to get one, and that they had been available for some time. Unfortunately, most of our recipes are still by volume, not weight. Occasionally, you'll see the volume converted to weight to make it easier to confirm the amount.

I doubt I could cook in England. Is that a good excuse for eating out every night???

I'll check my facts on the flour, but I don't think that I was just making it up about the gluten content. (My cookbook that goes into the chemistry of cooking is in the clutches of a couple of the engineers back where I used to work. When I get it from them, I'll try to remember to check this out.) It would probably be easy to check by Googling. If you find out that I'm lying, do be gentle in letting me know. You know how fragile my ego is!

You keep your vinegars in the fridge?

My fridge door too is quite loaded with condiments --- one needs these things to make the taste of the food!

Isn't that odd? I'm not sure how those four bottles got into the fridge....I could make more space! MOST of my vinegar is in the pantry. Is balsamic vinegar okay unrefridgerated once it's opened? I'm just learning how to use it.