Fat Guy

I think especially if you're drinking directly from the bottle it makes sense to wash it daily. The mouth is full of bacteria and there is usually at least some backwash.

Are you not drinking directly from the bottle?

A while back, I asked for -- and received -- help identifying a mystery Asian sucking candy (it turned out to be guava-flavored). Since then, I've been more and more interested in Asian sucking candies. Pricewise, they make a mockery of the other sucking candies in the marketplace, and their flavors tend to be more interesting. Are you an Asian-sucking-candy enthusiast? Any wit and wisdom to share?

The WikiGullet Project I’m very pleased to announce a brand new venture for the Society of Culinary Arts & Letters: the WikiGullet project ( http://wiki.egullet.org ). For a decade, you’ve helped eG Forums become the best culinary discussion site on the internet. Now we'd like to ask for your help in taking the knowledge and energy that drives eGullet.org in a thrilling new direction: a collaborative culinary encyclopedia. I hope you'll be as enthusiastic about this project as I am; even more, I hope you will help make it a success. I'm continually amazed at the rich body of knowledge in this community. Whether it's extolling the benefits of copper-clad cookware or debating the proper internal temperature of a perfectly cooked fruitcake, eG Forums have always been the best place to go to hash out culinary questions. Members have proposed -- and we've considered -- various book projects as ways to collect this knowledge in one place. But our strength as a Society is communal and dynamic; the cumulative trucs and tricks born from our years of kitchen experience and passion for food would be constrained by the static format of the printed page. Since we've carried out our mission primarily through Internet food media, a wiki seemed to be the perfect choice. My colleagues and I feel that, in our decennial year, this is the perfect undertaking for our community, embodying the essence of what we are, and promising to advance the culinary arts. You've proven your knowledge and passion with your participation in eG Forums. We hope you will expand on that by writing and editing articles for the WikiGullet Project. (And yes, that name is temporary. This is very much a beta product.) We started this project very recently, inviting a small test group of members about a week ago to help us generate some content and (mostly) discover bugs and correct a few problems. There's not much there right now, but with your help I know that it will develop into the premier compendium of culinary knowledge on the Internet. The WikiGullet project team stands ready to help you traverse the learning curve. Janet Zimmerman (JAZ in the forums) is directing the project, Chris Hennes is the technology head of this project (as well as the whole organization), Chris Amirault is the liaison with eG Forums and has been heavily involved in WikiGullet development, and Dave Scantland is handing the design, marketing and development aspects of the project. We’ve started a forums discussion topic here to ask questions, make suggestions, and maybe even find the perfect name. But first, please take some time and explore the WikiGullet Project. I know I found it completely overwhelming at first, and even after a couple of weeks of internal testing I feel unsure about seemingly basic aspects. For me it has been like using a long-neglected set of muscles, or a newly grown set, because a wiki is so different from an online discussion forum. But the beauty of this project is that it’s perfect for beginners and advanced members alike – add what you know and don’t worry about what you don’t know. Someone else will come along and add to it, and before long, the strength of our membership will give us a culinary resource unequaled in its breadth and depth. To start, go to http://wiki.egullet.org and use your eG Forums member name and password to log on. Dive right in.

I recently acquired a set of three Sigg metal water bottles. I must say, they are very nice. Lately, my only use for bottled water has been in situations where portability was required. But now with these Sigg bottles I may never buy bottled water again, at least not in a place where the water is safe to drink

I'm talking about either, though Chobani makes both.

Do you have Target (with groceries), Costco, or Sam's Club there? All three tend to carry Chobani yogurt.

Right now my two favorite commercially produced yogurt products are: Chobani. I think Chobani has raised the bar for yogurt, and I enjoy most every flavor. Trader Joe's "European style." This almost-liquid yogurt has a brilliant tang to it.

Incidentally if you look on a package of dry pasta with a US "nutrition facts" label the serving size is 2 ounces.

It's probably necessary to include Arby's in the discussion. Also, many steakhouses offer a sliced-steak sandwich. If the meatballs are made of beef, does a meatball sandwich count? I guess that opens the door to other beef-derived things like pastrami, corned beef, or even a hamburger. Probably not useful to include all those.

Also started things we miss about the 1990s.

Yesterday I started a topic about things we miss about the 1970s. I can't do the 1960s because I don't remember anything -- I only lived through one year of the 1960s. I thought about doing the 1980s, and may get to that soon, but I wanted to be sure to cover the 1990s. The culinary thing I miss most about the 1990s is Gray Kunz cooking at Lespinasse in New York City.

Oh right. Also along those lines, flaming desserts: bananas Foster, cherries jubilee and baked Alaska.

I miss that so many items we take for granted today (e.g., Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic vinegar) were revelations. I miss that fast food was almost universally better than it is today.

Yes I totally want one of these.

Correct. Chopped potatoes, diced onions, olive, salt, pepper, paprika, cooked on low-medium heat until almost done, finish with diced cooked meat (e.g., brisket) and a knob of butter.

Basically I make home fries and add cooked meat towards the end.

Coincidentally, I had a diner breakfast yesterday (at EJ's in New York City) and figured I could get the ball rolling here with bad cell-phone photos of some of my favorite diner breakfast stuff: Corned-beef hash and poached eggs (this is one of the few places that make it in-house, though I'm still not crazy about the finely-chopped/shredded style). Bagel with lox, cream cheese, etc. Mushroom omelet. Scrambled eggs & home fries.

To convert this thing to an ebook would require rebuilding it not just digitizing it. I think it would make an excellent ebook -- some of the problems alluded to here can easily be addressed electronically -- but I can see all the reasons they went with paper. Not least of which is that there wasn't really a big ebook culture when they started the project. And the quality of photos in print is still much better, especially if you use the super-high-quality printing techniques they went with for Modernist Cuisine.

Started an NYC diner topic.

The Diner Food at Home topic got me thinking that we're due for a NYC diner topic. So, what do you think are the best diners in New York City? For the city overall I've got to nominate Tom's in Brooklyn. In Manhattan I think EJ's does a terrific job.

Fries are frozen at Bouchon too. There are too few restaurants at any level making fries from raw potatoes. The range of burger quality at diners is crazy, which is odd when you consider that a burger is one of the easiest things in the world to make well. I've never had good hash in a diner. But you can add hash to the list of diner-type dishes I make at home with regularity. I think mine is better than that of any restaurant using the same ingredients. It's good, but I can't compete with the places that rely on heavy cream, clarified butter, etc. Wollensky's Grill, now that's great hash.

We're going to need an NYC diner topic too. I just ate at Veselka and was thinking, hmm, this place is better than most restaurants at twice the price. EJ's on the Upper West and Upper East are indeed pretty good. One of the best diners I've ever been to is Tom's in Brooklyn. But the diner I hit the most often, in part because of proximity, is the Westside Restaurant. They do a surprisingly good job on a lot of dishes, though their burger are weak. In my old neighborhood I thought Three Guys was quite good.

Hmm I guess I was supposed to talk about cooking that stuff at home. All the breakfast stuff I do. Most of the other stuff, with the exception of burgers, not so much.

90% of my diner meals are breakfasts, which doesn't mean I don't love that kind of food a other times of day. It's just that when making restaurant choices I don't often choose a diner for lunch or dinner -- though, when I do, I sometimes wonder "Why don't we do this more often." Here in NYC we have a few diners whose kitchens perform better than the average middle-market place. I'd rather get a piece of fish from one of several diner-type places than from a lot of restaurants that purport to be seafood restaurants. Some of my favorite diner breakfast items: pancakes, French toast, waffles, eggs Benedict, cheese omelet, all with bacon or sausage; also in NYC you can get good bagel, lox and cream cheese at a lot of places In terms of non-breakfast items I love: hot open-face turkey sandwich with fries and gravy (also the roast-beef variant), French onion soup, Cobb salad, Greek salad (a lot of diners around here are Greek-owned, so you also see good moussaka, souvlaki, etc., at some places), grilled cheese in all sorts of arrangements, BLT, turkey club, cheeseburger and fries if they're good, various pies, rice pudding or banana pudding or whatever depending on region (regional diner differences -- there's a topic).