Coconut Custard Pie
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Posted:Feb 15, 2015 12:35 pm
Last Updated:Oct 17, 2015 8:05 am
16592 Views
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This is a very easy and tasty pie to make and because it's so easy, it's wonderful as a gift or to bring to a party.
It's almost and can be, a non bake pie.
There are 3 components to this pie, the crust, the filling and the topping.
For the crust, you can either use a standard roll out crust or a graham cracker crust. I like to use a graham crust because it's easier.
For a standard roll out crust, you can make one yourself as you would for an apple pie and such or buy one in the frozen section of the supermarket.
If you use a graham cracker crust, you can make one without cooking or bake it. I bake it for 15-20 minutes at 350.
Use one package of graham crackers and pulverize in a food processor or in a zip lock bag using a rolling pin. Melt 1/3 stick of butter in the microwave and mix in the graham crackers. Then dump in a gas pie plate and push out starting with the middle using the flat bottom of a glass. Using the bottom of the glass again, push up against the sides starting from the bottom. You can also use your fingers to help. Then refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the butter to harden. When done, bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes careful not to burn. Today I used cinnamon graham crackers, last week I used chocolate graham crackers.
When the crust has been baked, you can now start on the toasted coconut and the filling. The filling really is a pudding and it's so easy to make. You can use the ingredients below to make the filling as a pudding, you can add banana slices to it for a banana pudding pr filling for a pie.
Put 1 cup of coconut in a skillet and toast on low heat regularly stirring as not to brown or burn. You want to remove the moisture, very very lightly tan as to bring out the coconut flavor.
You want to use a 2 1/2 or 3 quart pot. Add 3 cups of milk and 3 eggs. For the milk I use 1 1/2 cups of 4% milk with 1 can of Goyo coconut milk. To this I add 2/3 to 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp dark rum, 1 tsp coconut extract, 1/4 tsp salt, 3 Tb butter, and 1/4 cup of cornstarch as the thickening agent. At some point as soon as the coconut is toasted, add 2/3 cup to this mixture before it thickens! Beat the mixture well with a teflon whisk then turn to low medium heat and start stirring using the whisk. You must keep stirring. I use the teflon whisk.for stirring and occasionally will use a silicon spatula to scrape the bottom and sides. About 8 minutes later it will start thickening. Once it starts thickening, it will thicken fast. Once the filling starts to sputter, throw out filling at you! Turn the stove to low and mix just a little bit longer until the right consistency. Pour the heating filling into the pie crust and sprinkle the remaining toasted coconut on top. Refrigerate for several hours.
You can serve this as is without a topping or make a meringue or whipped cream topping. You can flavor the whipped cream with vanilla, or coconut extract, and powdered sugar but granulated sugar can be used. You can do a whipped cream topping along the whole top or just along the edges.
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Supermarket Rankings
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Posted:Mar 31, 2014 6:47 pm
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
35912 Views
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For those who have been reading my Blog, I've mentioned my favorite supermarket where I do the majority of my shopping - Wegman's, a N.E. Regional chain.
Consumer Reports recently surveyed 27,208 readers to rank 55 supermarket chains in the U.S.
The top three stores — Wegmans, an East Coast chain, Trader Joe's, a Southern California-based specialty food chain, and Publix, a Southern chain — all had high marks for service and cleanliness.
Wal-Mart had a bad reputation among customers, ranking dead last. Customers complained about slow checkout speeds and subpar food quality.
Here are the top 10 supermarkets, according to Consumer Reports:
1. Wegmans (83 stores in the mid-Atlantic region, in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 88. Best service, Best perishables, Good prices, Best cleanliness
2. Trader Joe's (408 stores in 30 states)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 87. Best service, Good perishables, Best prices, Best cleanliness
3. Publix (1,080 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 85. Best service, Best perishables, Okay prices, Best cleanliness
4. Costco (648 stores worldwide)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 84. Okay service, Best perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness
5. Sprouts Farmers Market (150 locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Kansas and Georgia)
Consumer reports Reader score: 84. Good Service, Best perishables, Good prices, Good cleanliness
6. Market Basket (71 supermarkets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 83. Good service, Good perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness
7. Raley's (85 stores in California and Nevada)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 83. Good service, Best perishables, Bad prices, Best cleanliness
8. Fairway Stores (14 stores in the NYC area)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 83. Best service, Good perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness
9. Stater Bros. (167 stores in California)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 82. Good service, Good perishables, Best prices, Good cleanliness
10. WinCo Foods (93 stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Texas)
Consumer Reports Reader score: 81. Okay service, Okay perishables, Best prices, Okay cleanliness
And the bottom five on Consumer Reports' ranking:
51. Pick 'n Save: Reader score: 72
52. Acme: Reader score: 70
53. Pathmark: Reader score: 70 (IMO very fresh fish)
54. Shaw's: Reader score: 69
55. Wal-Mart Supercenter: Reader score: 67
See the full report at Consumer Reports.
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Sweet Potato Bisque
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Posted:Mar 19, 2014 10:27 am
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
36149 Views
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This recipe came from Cooking Live. I made some changes. I baked the sweet potatoes for 70 minutes at 450. I substituted honey for the brown sugar which gives a much smoother flavor, I added a little heavy cream, and I increased the amount of seasonings.
If you want a really really smooth soup, something different, something impressive, this is it. Serve in small bowls.
This makes 4-5 small servings.
Make a medium to dark color roux using 1 Tb flour and 1 Tb butter in a heated pot, stirring constantly as not to let burn.
Add 3/4 cup chicken broth and 1 TB honey, bring to a boil, then down to a simmer and add 3/4-1 cup mush mashed baked sweet potatoes. Don't put the skins in! Please don't! Add the spices, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 ground ginger, next time I will try grated fresh ginger. This will give it a pop. 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 cup milk, 1/4 heavy cream. For a richer bisque, add more cream. I mashed the sweet potatoes so well I did not need to put the soup in the blender or use an immersion blender wand though the latter would have worked well. Season with some fresh cracked pepper on top and toasted coconut.
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Couples Wanted to Join Us for Dinner, Mixed Drink, Hot Tub
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Posted:Mar 4, 2014 9:26 am
Last Updated:Oct 17, 2015 8:06 am
31023 Views
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Tonight my girlfriend came home from work not wanting to go to the gym to work out, it was too cold! She wanted me to say Stay home. I wouldn't do that. I told her let's sit down and talk about it. She said No, I'll go.
When she left to go to the gym, I went to the sunroom and turned on the hot tub so when she got home, it was warm and bubbling.
Little more than an hour later, she returned, I told her dinner was ready, get undressed and put your robe on as we are going to have dinner in the sunroom (where the hot tub is).
Set up, I had a small table and two chairs in the sunroom around the hot tub, and I made a mixed drink that was sitting there for her. I used some of the juice from a can of peaches that I had made a peach bread pudding couple of days ago, added a touch of Triple Sec, an orange liqueur, Peach Schnapps aka Peach Brandy, and then filled with seltzer water. As she tasted her drink, i served the dinner, crab cakes using Italian bread stuffing as the filler, with a mango slaw that was julienne peppers, onions, and red grapes mixed in the mango with golden balsamic vinegar, EVOO, and honey. For a pre-dessert, I made Bananas Foster bread pudding earlier in the day. For dessert we .........
Any other couples or Bi-Males locally interested joining us?
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Catalina Italian Chicken
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Posted:Feb 27, 2014 6:51 pm
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
29664 Views
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This is an easy and tasty dish that I made tonight. Don't know what I was doing, just stood in front of the stove and looked in the closet.
I heated olive oil in the pan, put some Wegman's Parm Italian salad dressing on the chicken, then coated also with Catalina salad dressing, sprinkled on some 4C Chiptole Panko crumbs and fried, put a little salt on and freshly ground pepper, flipped it, almost cooked the other side, and added some white wine and a touch of Triple Sec, an orange liqueur, sprinkled some grated cheese on top and covered. My cover is just another frying pan turned upside down! I turned the heat off, let the cheese melt, no peeking! and then service, it was so tasty. A winner!
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Corn with Triple Sec
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Posted:Feb 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
26166 Views
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Not sure what to do with corn other than corn on the cob? And what the heck do you do with frozen corn? This is terrific.
Defrost the frozen corn on the counter or int he microwave, put some olive oil and butter in a frying pan, heat the oils, put the corn in and stir around, add some salt, freshly ground pepper, and some more butter. Stir, then add some Triple Sec, an orange liqueur. When that almost is evaporated, serve.
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Chicken Francese
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Posted:Feb 25, 2014 7:16 am
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
26241 Views
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There are a lot of recipes for Chicken Francese and they are all similar. As always, I've tried to improve it and take it up a notch. I do this with Wegman's Parm Italian Salad Dressing and grated lemon zest, with optional Panko chiptole bread crumbs.
I very thinly sliced the chicken breast, I put a little of the Wegman's Parm Italian Salad Dressing on each side, and then grated lemon zest onto the chicken breast. I put some white flour in a shallow bowl with just a little bit of Parm Italian seasoned bread crumbs and either Italian seasoning or thyme, added some black pepper, salt, and bakimg powder. I beat an egg and put quite a bit of milk in it for a dredge. I put each piece of chicken breast into the flour, then into the egg mixture. Let all of the egg mixture drip off, then back into the flour, each side, then back into the egg mixture, again letting all of it drip off, then back into the flour. I then fried this in quite of bit of olive oil.
When one side has been browned, I flipped it and cooked only for a really short bit, then added the juice of one whole lemon, putting over the chicken, 1/4 stick of butter, then some white zinfandel wine, and let the chicken finish cooking which will be very quick. I then plated the chicken using a flat spatula as not to allow the coating to fall off poured the reduced butter, wine, lemon sauce on top of the chicken. You want this sauce to slightly reduce, not thin and watery but not very thick.
I actually made a little more of this sauce because I steamed broccoli as my vegetable and used the sauce on top of the broccoli.
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Eating out, had a 50/50 Double Venison Pork Burger
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Posted:Feb 23, 2014 6:54 pm
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
26538 Views
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Tonight I ate a very nice niche bar restaurant in Hamilton Twp NJ, Bill's Old Tavern. Busy, well known as everyone knows it, but few go there. Ask them why? They don't know.
When I eat out, I try to choose from foods I've never eaten before, something unusual, something I love and like to compare it to other restaurants, or something I seldom will make or won't make at home.
Why should I get anything that I can cook at home, or I can cook better at home! My girlfriend looked at several things on the menu tonight and eliminated the items that she knows I can cook and cook well.
Tonight on the menu they had skate as one dish, and kangaroo as another. In the past I've had Ostrich burgers. The kangaroo I've had before and would never have again. Skate is exellent, very tender, and easily gotten in any good seafood dept. Kangaroos in Australia are a nuisance animal, millions of them, they get slaughtered as they are as abundant as rats and multiply worse then rabbits.
Tonight I had a 50/50 double burger. It was two patties made with half venison and half pork with a once over lightly fried egg in between the patties, and thinly cut and breaded fried onion rings, cheddar cheese, and a BBQ sauce all on the burger! It was so good. Hands down, I'm not getting something else when I go there again. The cost was $13 with fries.
They also have great fish and chips. The fish is perfectly batter deep fried, very crispy. Everything on the menu is good to excellent, Shepard's Pie, Bangers and Mash which is sausage cooked in beer, and my two favorites are their fish and chips and their hamburgers. They make the best hamburger I've tasted, and great fries. And on Wednesday's for $7.00, you get a 10 oz burger, with all the fries you can eat, plus a beverage. And it's the best tasting burger.
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Papa John's Chicken
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Posted:Feb 14, 2014 6:32 pm
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
25816 Views
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I call this Papa John's Chicken because when you get a pizza at Papa John's, they put in the box, 1 hot pepper, and 1 small sealed plastic container of garlic sauce. Tonight I used the garlic sauce to make this.
This is a really great dish with linguine. After you cook the chicken and remove it, you put the cooked linguine in the pan and cover with the sauce and drippings from the chicken.
If you get anything from this recipe, consider using alternative ingredients. Look in your cupboard, experiment. Consider putting cookies or cereal in your food processor and using that for a stuffing, topping, or a covering in place of bread crumbs or a crumb topping for a dessert or dish.
I slice the chicken breast in rather thick slices. On each side I coated with Wegman's Parm Italian salad dressing, then sprinkled on some Shop Rite Parm Italian bread crumbs and just a few 4C Chiptole Panko crumbs, and seasoned with cracked pepper and dry Italian seasoning. I put this in a hot pan in olive oil. When done on one side, I turned it and added the Papa John's garlic sauce, swirled it around, a 1/4 cup chicken broth, and some white zinfandel wine, maybe 1/4-1/2 cup, and 2 Tb of butter. I then covered the chicken to keep the heat in, moisture in, and steam and cook it. When done, I served, put the linguine in the pan and swirled, mixed in a hard grated cheese, removed the linguine, whatever sauce was left when on top of the chicken.
I served this with broccoli and asparagus as a side dish. I steamed the broccoli while the asparagus were cooking in the pan. To cook asparagus, bend the asparagus, where ever it breaks, separates the tough fibrous end from the eating part of the asparagus. I put the asparagus in the a hot pan with olive oil, when done, I added some butter and cracked pepper and dry Italian seasonng. Very delicious.
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Carrot Coconut Ginger Lemon soup
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Posted:Feb 13, 2014 7:50 am
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
25459 Views
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No soup in the refrigerator today! It's all gone. My girlfriend is home so I thought I'd make a bisque type soup for her, kinda of a special treat, especially since I am not partial at all to bisque soups, and she makes carrot soups herself because they are easy to make. She likes that. This recipe came from Family Circle magazine. Yes, I am that type of guy that reads Family Circle. And No, I don't just look at the pictures, I do read it. The recipe looked good as is so I decided to make it and without making any changes! Rare for me.
This makes quite a bit of soup, at least 4 full bowl servings if not 6.
Saute 1/4 medium diced onion, about 4 Tb, in a pot in 2 Tb olive oil, NOT EVOO! until translucent, this will take 5 minutes at medium high, don't let the onion brown or burn.
Then add 2 cups of chicken broth, I use my homemade chicken broth because it has more flavor. It was fresh yesterday as we had gone to Boston Market and I used the leftover chicken bones, skin to make the broth from. Any remaining chicken that we didn't eat I cut off to make chicken salad from.
1/2 cup of orange juice,
1 tsp freshly grated ginger, this is a must to use grated ginger. It is spiced perfect to give it just a hair of a bite. You may want to consider 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp of lemon juice. If you like lemon or want it more lemony, then increase this to 1 Tb. I used 1 Tb and it added to the soup and was perfect giving it an added lemony flavor.
Add 2 cups of finely grated carrots. I used a box grater for this. After the carrots have become tender, about 20 minutes, you will use an immersion blender to puree the carrots; if you don't have an immersion blender, then put the carrots in a regular blender.
You want to bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
When done, add 3/4 cup of coconut milk and stir to mix.
For a topping or condiment, sprinkle on some toasted coconut flakes to the top. I toast mine in a frying pan but be careful, they brown quickly and start browning at a moment's notice. Keep a careful eye on it and remove from the pan when done as the browning will continue as long as the coconut flakes are in the pan.
When you buy coconut milk, it will say 14 oz on the can. This is 14 oz of weight, not volume! 8oz of weight is not the same as 8 oz of liquid. 8 oz of volume of coconut milk weighs more than 8 oz of volume of water.
Well, I did make some changes to this recipe, the amount of lemon juice and the coconut flakes.
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Southwest Chicken Chili
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Posted:Feb 12, 2014 9:21 am
Last Updated:Feb 19, 2016 9:37 am
8546 Views
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This is a very easy meal because it uses a can of Campbell Southwest Style Chicken Chili soup to provide the flavor.
You cook some rice or egg noodles or even any pasta, Penne would work well, though brown rice would work the best.
I cut in small pieces 1 very large chicken breast. I then sprinkled some Zatarain's cajun seasoning on the breast, though this is optional.
I put some canola oil in a high sided pan to saute the chicken in. When almost done, I removed and put the vegetables in for a few minutes. Then added back the chicken, dumped in a can of the Southwest Chicken Chili soup and some chicken broth if needed and covered! The covering will help heat and steam the vegeetables. You can add the chicken broth at any time needed. I brought this to a boil and then simmered for 10-20 minutes.
The vegetables I diced was 1 green pepper, 2 stalks of celery, 1 medium onion, and 1-2 TB garlic. Optionally if you'd like, okra, which you can buy frozen.
Optionally you can add some beans, pinto.
Then the meat, ground beef, finely cut sirloin tips, ground turkey or chicken, or finely cut chicken pieces.
Serve this over rice or pasta.
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Scalloped Potatoes
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Posted:Feb 7, 2014 5:30 pm
Last Updated:Feb 8, 2014 7:44 am
8369 Views
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This is the 2nd time I've ever made scalloped potatoes. Boy it was hard getting those curves cut into the potatoes to make them into a scallop shape. I had to go to the local fish store and buy a dozen scallops to use one of the shells as an outline.
What are you suppose to put do with the potatoes? I had a heck of a time getting the scallops to open to put the potatoes inside of them.
Scallops and Potatoes? Baked? with cheese? Not a bad idea to bake them together. I already do a dish like this but using cod and potatoes and sour cream, milk, heavy cream,, cheese, and dill.
I made this today and it came out poor! Yes poor! Why am I posting this? Because I know where I made my mistake and I will post my mistakes and the remedy. If you want to try this before me, go ahead. I plan to try this again, in the next week or two.
I made this dish and baked it for 90 minutes at 350 and the potatoes were still hard. I then microwaved it for 12 minutes on High and they were still hard though softer.
I think the best way to make this dish, take the sliced potato pieces and put them in a pot with chicken broth and simmer covered and soften the potatoes a little, then bake them in the liquid mixture. I would not use the microwave. The potatoes may be done in about 10 minutes or even less! You want to pre-soften them, not soften!
The liquid mixture I used and then mixed in a pot with the sliced potatoes, then I dumped them in a 9"x9"x2" baking dish, was 1 jumbo egg, 1 cup homemade chicken broth, 1/2 cup or so of ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup milk, and 8 oz by weight of sharp cheddar cheese, 2 TB yellow mustard, chili powder, oregano, basil, and nutmeg.
I then baked this for 60 minutes and sprinkled on 1/2 cup seasoned panko crumbs and 1/2 cup Chiptole panko crumb for the remainder 30 minutes. I think some panko crumbs mixed in with the potato mixture might work out well. This is how I play and learn and decide upon the final product.
Whether or not this will work, I don't know.
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Egg Noodles and cream and cheese
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Posted:Feb 6, 2014 6:29 pm
Last Updated:May 21, 2024 4:58 pm
7775 Views
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This is one of my many versions of mac 'n cheese depending upon my mood in front of the stove! but using egg noodles. It's quick, easy, so tasty, and a one pot concoction. This is one of those dishes that is a Wow! You will sit back on the chair and say Wow, this is good. You will also ask for more! And it's so simple. You vary the seasonings to vary the taste you are in the mood for.
I boiled the egg noodles in salted water. You can use any pasta. Drain when done and put in a dab of sour cream, little heavy cream, sprinkle some chili powder (black pepper can be used), touch of curry, a good portion of Italian Seasoning or oregano and basil. I'm not fond of thyme but used it tonight in the Italian Seasoning. A couple squirts of Wegman's Parmesan Italian Salad Dressing. And finally, I grated some Parm Romano cheese into it. Any type of cheese will due. I prefer a cheese with a bite such as a hard grating provolone, but I've used sharp cheddar in the past, and very often! Stir and serve. Ideally, you want to mix the heavy cream and sour cream and then warmed in the microwave as cold will lower the temperature of the egg noodles.
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To link to this blog (RelaxedandFun102) use [blog RelaxedandFun102] in your messages.
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