therdogg

Oh, I am grateful for the company and the hospitality, and I always compliment the food and time. I think it is poor manners to insult hospitality given, even privately to my spouse (whether hearts are blessed or not). I knew we both hated the meal (and the others we've been served) but we don't talk about it. Which was why I turned to the anonymity of egullet, mostly to complain and be rude- I guess my own character flaws have been laid bare (oops!) I know it's just a meal, but it's a repeated pattern (weekly), and I was wondering what others do: come up with excuses? Develop food allergies? Say please don't drop Chef Boyardee off for lunch? And the worst is when surprise courses are brought to dinner parties _I'm_ hosting and I'd feel guilty if I didn't serve it. Oh my word, it could be much much worse... some people are MARRIED to spouses who fix Kraft dinner almost every night... perhaps I should count my blessings.

I was reading the thread about whether or not one's own cooking is satisfactory. Some were commenting about how difficult it is to be guests at the homes of others, and it really hit home for me because I had a bad guest experience last night. My family was invited to the home of good friends. The menu was artichoke dip (canned artichoke hearts, mayo, sour cream nuked with bread crumbs and parmesan from a green container sprinkled on top) and crackers along with a "stir-fry." "Oh, it's so easy and good" she assured me, probably wondering when I'd start taking notes, "it's just ramen noodles, half a seasoning packet (what on earth is a seasoning packet?) frozen stir-fry veggies and frozen popcorn shrimp." Blech... it was all a soggy mush and drowned in bad soy sauce. Along with dinner was a non-alcoholic cloyingly sweet carbonated cranberry drink that was packaged in a wine bottle. I said I didn't feel well (which was true) and sort of picked. I pride myself on having no food aversions and can eat almost anything set before me. But this was just too much. Dessert was this warm custardy drink ("strawberry or coconut?" she asked, dangling two packets of powdered crapola before us). She's always dropping off cookies that she made from store-bought dough with this yucky caramelly center or guacamole made with "guacamole mix." We often have them over for yummy meals, and I don't really expect them to reciprocate- rather, I'd prefer that they didn't. It's not just the bad food; it's that she doesn't get that there is anything qualitatively different about our cooking. She thinks I spend way to much money and time on food- she wants to buy me something called "The Four Ingredient Cookbook" for Christmas. She truly thinks her Jell-o and Cool Whip desserts are as delicious as my Cake Bible genoise and thinks I am foolish to spend so much time/money on dessert. It's not that I need her to acknowledge my superiority in this area; I just don't want to have to eat her stuff anymore! I know I am sounding like a terrible, self-centered, uncharitable friend right now, but I really needed to vent. So 'fess up. Who are the food-clueless in your life, and how do you navigate your relationship with them while still maintaining dietary integrity?

Mine never tasted good until I learned this technique from Cook's Illustrated: chop, boil for a few minutes in a good amount of water, drain and cool in a change of cold water, squeeze out and THEN saute. The greens are deliciously tender with no bitterness whatsoever.

The Julia Child recipe sounds delicious, although the one I am thinking of is simpler- the crepes are rolled around the hot filling and simply served with sauce on top. It seemed like a good brunch dish, since the crepes and ham/spinach filling can be made in advance and heated.

Yeah, I know to wring the spinach out- my problem is just that the end product doesn't have the right texture or flavor. It's not robustly spinachy (does that make sense)? I've tried using pepper sauce, Worcestershire, nutmeg to season but it still doesnt taste as good as (this is really sad) the Boston Market side my two year old loves. Now, I haven't dedicated alot of time to this (I've made it like three times total in my life) but I thought maybe someone had figured it out; I'm amazed Cook's Illustrated hasn't done this one (tired of overwilted, flavorless creamed spinach? Well, we went through six truckloads of spinach and have it mastered......) but it's not in their archives.

Perfect creamed spinach- should be easy, why I haven't been able to make any that's really good? Perhaps my problem is that I've never used a recipe- just done a thick white sauce and added chopped frozen spinach and seasonings. I want to recreate a breakfast dish I once had- crepes with a creamed spinach and ham filling and hollandaise drizzled over the top. Plus having a good creamed spinach recipe in my back pocket would be great for serving alongside other comfort foods. Does anyone have a yummy, fool-proof recipe?

Um, okay, so I'm just a stay-at-home Yankee mom in my twenties but I have a few ideas (take my background into consideration- I don't know is any of these are "soo 1997" since I hardly ever dine out, and when I do it's at a family style place -read crapola- with the kidlets): what about a charlotte? I've never seen them served in a restaurant but they're southern, attractive, and can be made way in advance. Sometimes simplicity, done well, can be novel. a sweet potato cream of some sort- maybe even ice cream?- served over a warm pecan bread pudding? corn- sweet corn ice cream, or warm corn pudding, or even a corn cake with peaches or strawberries incorporated somehow. okay, i know corn is midwestern, but lots of folks associate it with the south, perhaps because of corn bread. upscale strawberry shortcake- although since it's fall, maybe done with peaches instead? bourbon ice cream over chocolate-pecan tart/brownie a really good fruitcake (if done well, can be delicious, and that by itself is enough to surprise and impress people) everyone loves cider doughnuts- someone somewhere should invent an upscale take n the doughnut idea- maybe really little dounuts with buttermilk ice cream-- am i crazy? yeah, i guess doughnuts are not really restaurant fare- nevermind

Oh, how I love bacon, and one day on a whim I decided to try some chocolate at the same time as some hot bacon off the pan and was instantly transported. So I am wondering if it would be possible to incorporate the rich bacony taste into a chocolate cake. Use bacon grease in a chocolate butter cake? Or actual bits of bacon perhaps? I'm imagining a down-home rich Southern chocolate-bacon cake with a mocha frosting. I just don't know how to pull it off. I'm (obviously) an amateur baker- my husband thinks this idea is insane......