Thank you all again for the welcome to DC. It's nice the know friendly people who like to cook.
In answer to Hungry:
I do live at 6500+ feet. It isn't so bad as when I lived at 10,000 feet. I remember the first time I opened a can of refridgerator bisquits at 10,000 feet. I can tell you it scared me to death as the thing expoded and bisquits went flying! All of the packaged foods were under pressure up there. If you had a bag of potatoe chips the bag was always fat and seemed so full of air.
I still cringe to this day when I have to open any canned bisquits or cookies even though they don't blow up as bad at 6500 feet.
One of the best things about living at a high alltitude and in an arrid climate too, is that things like chips and crackers seem to stay fresh and crispy longer.
We have lived in Colorado now for 19 years. I think the biggest challenge I had when I first moved here was actually boiling eggs the way I liked them until I got one of those gadgets that you put in the pot and it changes color to tell you the degree of doneness. As for rice, we use a rice cooker with a glass lid and just learned to adjust the amount of water until we got the results we wanted. I grew up at sea level ( started cooking at 5 ). I don't generally have to make many real changes to my favorite recipes except for water amounts ( generally less water is needed for things like sauces, gravies and stews ) or you have to cook some things a bit longer and of course sometimes a combination of both.
Now, for baking it is much more work adjusting the recipes.
Generally things rise faster at high altitude so it can help to raise your oven temperature ( by about 25 dgrees ). You also have to learn to proof breads by looking a them, not just timing them. If you like to bake and you live at high altitude you should start by getting a high altitude specific cook book and learn from that and then experiment with your own recipes.
I am not a big baker so I don't worry over much about the altitude. And for regular cooking, practice, practice , practice! What a great excuse for having to try so many new recipes! Right?
Hungry, if you have any specific questions when you get to your new location in Nevada I would be glad to help if I can.
Thanks again everyone! Nice to meet you all!
It's funny now but it wasn't then.
