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bleachboy

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Posts posted by bleachboy

  1. I have seen the terms "real" or "authentic" Mexican food thrown around like so much culinary confetti on this thread.

    Folks in the East, especially the former USSR, are absolutely enamored with American Food. They find it at McDonalds®.

    Would you agree that there is no such thing as "authentic" Mexican cuisine, short of committing a home invasion down South?

  2. Red Lobster is a different story - I've been on occasion with friends or co-workers who insisted on going there. I stuck to the broiled seafood and whatever I got always tasted the same - there's some sort of institutional seasoning blend / butter that prevails over the taste fo the seafood. Wierd. I think their flagging performance is due to the fact that enough people have caught on to the fact that fish is supposed to taste like fish.

    Even wierder is that I know a lot of people here in Nashville who consider Red Lobster to be a fancy restaurant for special occasions. One reported to me that he went there on prom night (accidentally) and was quoted a two hour table wait... and was willing to wait that long.

    I don't get it!! I have never been, but if I wanted steak 'n' lobster I think I could name at least 10 places that could do it a lot better for around the same price. Not the least of which would be my kitchen.

  3. These things are available in any market in MX for under 5 bucks and are the superior citrus squeezers of all times. They come in a couple of sizes and work great and are really efficient.

    I second this! My Mexican lime squeezer is probably my very favorite kitchen gadget. All you have to do is wait for someone you love to move to Mexico, then ask them to buy one for you. That's what I did, anyway. :biggrin:

    However, if you're doing a million lemons, find an electric juicer. We have one that I think my wife bought at a flea market or something. It's beat up and ugly, but Marissa used it just this weekend to make a big batch of lemonade and it's definitely a lot quicker than anything manual.

    Using a fork or a manual squeezer, your hand is gonna get real tired after the first few dozen lemons, I'd bet.

  4. I grew up in Houston, and one of my favorite dishes of all time was Tacos al Carbon at Las Alamedas. Somewhere I read that this dish was actually "invented" by the person who founded Ninfa's. Is that true? It seems like such a straightforward dish, I can hardly believe it would have been invented in the 20th century by a Texan.

    What do you know about Tacos al Carbon?

  5. Oh, and GG, I don't have to wait to go to the movies to be offended. There's a product at the grocery store called "Juicy Jews" and it comes in little boxes so that children can tote them around schoolyards, sipping on them. Hitler would have been proud.

    ROTFLMAOBBQ!

  6. One main difference, to my taste, between Rose's and anything with fresh lime juice is that the fresh citruc juice is much more acidic. Like most people here, I use fresh in any cocktail other than a gin gimlet. I'm inclined to use fresh lime juice in gimlet-like cocktails, but they don't strike me as gimlets then so much as gimlet-inspired drinks. So, I guess that means that I usually drink gimlet knockoffs (I like gin, simple syrup, fresh lime juice and a whisper of Ricard).

    slkinsey, you're pretty much my hero. But..

    I gotta say, I *always* use Rose's lime in a gimlet. It's the only place where the stuff isn't foul, and in fact I don't LIKE a gimlet made with fresh lime juice. My wife and I are cocktail lovers, and always have fresh limes in the fridge, so it's not a convenience thing. I'll gladly pull out the lemons to make a proper Aviation or the limes to make a delicious Margarita, but for a gimlet I think Rose's lime really hits the spot. No, it's not lime-y except in a "Live Saver's" kind of way. To me, it tastes like lime Jell-O.

    Off topic, I also think Rose's lime makes a really great addition to salsa verde. Try it sometime. I promise.

  7. It's worth noting that Julia Child says she makes "pie crust" type dough in the food processor exclusively these days. Admittedly, I've never tried it. I went through a phase of baking lots of pies, quiches, etc. just because I felt it was important to learn to make a good pastry dough by hand. I used the technique described in Jeffrey Steingarten's article on the subject, which described in explicit detail the Marion Cunningham technique. Your friendly local librarian would be glad to look it up for you.

  8. And I actually saw that episode where Paula Dean deep-fried canned biscuit dough. I gotta say, that for once she shocked me with something I'd never thought of before but that looked REALLY delicious. I will definitely try it someday.

  9. I have to say that this didn't occur to me, but I also don't pay very close attention to Dairy Queen commercials. Has anyone besides this one guy and this thread said anything about this? Is it offensive if no one appears to be offended?

    The connection with the word "mulatto" definitely came to me when I first saw the ad. But like yourself, I pretty much tune out most advertisements and didn't give it any further thought. I certainly wasn't offended, but I did think it was a wierd product naming decision.

  10. You know, I thought the same thing the first time I saw those ads. Compounding the problem was the fact that the ad I saw, anyway, never once printed "MooLatte" on the screen, leaving me to wonder just what the hell they were saying the product was called.

  11. I always though the "if memory serves me right" wasn't so much a catchphrase, but somewhat a part of the culture. I took it as "I may be wrong, so I'm trying not to offend anyone if I am, but what I think is...." when in America most people (even if they aren't 100% sure) would say Well, "this is like this blah blah blah."

    Yeah, and the tasters follow everything up with "I think".

    "The shark fin and pork fat really help accentuate the flavor of sea cucumber... I think."

  12. Yeah, what Suzanne said. You do braise pot roast, but you can braise other things as well. Braising is a general cooking technique, like sauteeing or poaching. Pot roast is just the name given to a braised beef roast.

  13. I've eaten at all the places you mentioned. They're all -- in a way -- "see and be seen" places, which can be a big turn off. I vowed never to return to Cafe One Two Three because my wife and I received unbelievably bad service.

    I eat at the Boundr'y pretty frequently, but usually on off nights and almost always at the bar, since one of the bartenders is an acquaintance of mine. The food specials are extensive and change daily and range from bad to unbelievably great.

    Sunset Grill's food is consistently good, but not great -- the food styles there tend to be a little played out, but the wine list is excellent. Their recent parking-nazi actions in Hillsboro Village though have made me pretty much a non-customer.

    If you want something with a Southern twist, I recommend Chef Sean Brock's place, the Capitol Grille.

    Most of the places that advertise to tourists (like the Pancake Pantry, etc) serve fairly bad food.

  14. I like the self-checkout. However, I think the grocery store should automatically give me (the consumer) a small discount, say 2%, for doing 100% of the work of shopping, checking myself out, and bagging my own groceries. Otherwise, I see it as a way the grocery store makes extra profit while ostensibly giving me extra "convenience," which kinda bugs me.

  15. I got some nice two-inch-thick strip steaks from my butcher recently, and decided to try out this new-fangled "medium heat and a ton of butter" cooking method.

    Holy crap!! I am a true believer.

    Seriously, if you are smoking up your house with the cast iron pan (my old technique) you will LOVE the results you'll get from the Fat Guy technique. Probably the best steak I've ever prepared at home. Okay, definitely the best.

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