ExtraMSG

There was a report on the news today that said these damned commercials are actually working.

I was thinking the same thing, Trillium. Also, note that the Max is free within downtown and out across the river a couple stops. You can park at the Lloyd Center Mall, eg, walk two blocks to the Max and take it free to downtown. I second the rhody garden (western azaleas). If you're in that area, you're close to a couple neighborhoods, Westmoreland/Sellwood and Woodstock, both of which have food options. (Caprial's, eg, one of my Portland favorites for fine dining is not far by car.)

Of course, Mark. But there are lots of ways of going about that. And, btw, what you did is called a diet. Atkins, eg, never suggested that his way of eating should be considered a short-term diet. He called it a "diet for life". The diet is structured so. Congratulations on the weight loss. I did the same thing about 4 or 5 years ago and lost about 130 lbs total, though over the years I gained about 20 of it back. (Actually pretty quickly, suggesting that I got a little too low, maybe, because I haven't had any trouble maintaining where I am now.) I used a low-carb diet before I had heard of Atkins or South Beach. A friend had told me about a weight-lifting diet. I wanted to be able to gain muscle while dieting. It was low-carb, but also not high fat. So it was very low calories. Less than 1000 per day most days. I ate a lot of grilled chicken and tuna. And a ton of salads with no more than balsamic as a dressing. I lost most of my weight in a six month period. I now use more common low-carb style eating to maintain weight or lose a little bit every once in a while, trying, but not too hard, to get back down to my lowest weight. The science shows that Atkins works better over a year than the type of diet you used, so why suggest that your experience be generalized for everyone? I just don't understand the antipathy people have for low-carb.

Sharon, I'd really be interested in the answers to Scott's questions. I'm thinking about coming down there soon, hopefully in May, and will be focusing almost exclusively on low end foods this time (Luling/Lockart and Mexico, puffy tacos in San Antonio -- Woohoo!). So far my results in DFW for taquerias has been underwhelming. I've liked my Portland options better. Seemed too Tex-Mex influenced down there to me. But I had little direction in my choices and I know that taquerias have a tendency to have specialities they're good at.

It's important to distinguish pizza ideals. Pizza has been a part of American cuisine long enough that there are several types, including: * New York: Thin slightly crisped crust (foldable) with minimal toppings. * Chicago: More like a true pie even with a pastry style crust and thick layers of sauce and "toppings" * California: Thin and crusty, usually with gourmet combinations and light on the cheese and sauce. * Homestyle: Thick foccacia style dough, lots of cheese, lots of toppings. Think Pizza Hut pan pizzas. Comparing across types is as useful as comparing Tex-Mex to interior Mexican or Memphis BBQ to Texas BBQ, etc. Sounds like a lot of people (except Scott) here have NY style as their ideal. I actually prefer Chicago and California style pizzas. Interesting link: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3341710/ Raynickben, how do the pizzas down there compare with what we have up here?

I actually like ours better in many ways. SF's has a nice multilayer effect and some cool structures, but I think ours holds together better as a singular garden and I love the view. I think you'll find our walking distance is closer to LA's conception (ie, non-existent) than NY's. Plus, it rains a lot here, or rather, often. However, the Zoo, Japanese Garden, Rose Test Garden, and Washington Park are on the side of a hill (mountain to you easterners), so it's a matter of adding in all the up and down, too. Our public transit is pretty good for a western city though. Bus & Max (light rail) website: http://www.trimet.org/index.shtml Streetcar website: http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/

That was probably me. I wonder if they were eating any more vegetables before the diet. There really aren't that many vegetables, except starches like potatoes, that are off-limits. And eating fries or mashed potatoes and gravy isn't the same as eating a serving of spinach. That would make it not an issue of Atkin's but an issue of bad choices whether they're on a diet or not. I guess you could say that if they were on a low fat diet, they would probably eat more vegetables. Possible. Maybe just pasta with red sauce. Then would they be getting any calcium, iron, or protein, though? Some people are just bad eaters and bad dieters.

We also have a high per capita of breweries and strip clubs. Oh, and XXX shops. We're like Times Square before Giuliani out here.

I low-carb, therefore I larb. Larbilicious and low-carbilicious.

But a lot of these chains, even, are adding Thai-this and Curry-that. Sure, it's "dumbed-down" flavors, but it takes baby steps. Just like Emeril opens people to getting excited about food and gets them to move on to more adventurous foods. Most of the country has finally accepted Mexican and Chinese food. That places like Whole Foods are expanding and Thai food is growing so fast and Indian and Sushi is becoming so popular not just on the coasts and in the cities shows the expanding palate. I just did a search and found Thai and Indian resaurants in Boise and Birmingham.

I don't think of people who want choices as picky. I consider them, like myself, to have diverse tastes. If they're going out and no matter where they go want the same damned thing, then they're picky. The pickiness I don't appreciate are people who want to make everything fit their palate instead of trying to expand their palate. My impression is that we're moving towards expanding palates, not narrowing palates. That's not pickiness.

Hmm. I'd hit the Japanese and Chinese gardens. You can take the Max up to Washington Park, I think, where the Japanese Garden is, though I'm not sure how far the stop is (I'd probably just drive). The zoo and rose test gardens (which won't have roses this time of year) are up there. Take a quick trip out to Multnomah Falls. It's only a half hour outside of town into the gorge. I'd really suggest making a loop of it by going to Multnomah Falls via the old scenic highway, cross the river at Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, maybe stop at the dam first and see the big fishes at the dam and the hatchery, and then come back on the Washington side where you can see the gorge better. And if you go out that way on 84, either going there or coming back, take the 181st exit south to Glisan, take a right and go down to 162nd and eat at Tienda y Tortilleria de Leon. Mmm. A day trip to the coast or mountain is always nice. Forest Park is impressive (it's 4500 acres of mostly forest). I think the Saturday Market has started up again. That's always worth some time. The Max goes right by it. You're close to Karam for excellent Lebanese food and Mother's for upscale comfort foods. If it's not too cold you could walk along the waterfront to Riverplace. There are little shops there and Lucere in the Riverplace Hotel offers some decent NW cuisine. You should definitely go to Powell's, especially the Cooks and Gardeners store on Hawthorne. Pataworks is right next door and you can try the cheeses there and have a look at one of our small gourmet markets. There are lots of funky stores on Powell's if that's your thing, too. There's a used clothing store with velvet paintings of Elvis, dogs, and naked women, but I can't remember its name. If you go to Powell's big store, hit Mio Gelato right across the street. You'd also be only a block or two from Pearl Bakery. This is the southern edge of the Pearl District which as several decent restaurants, some gourmet cooking shops like Sur La Table and our local In Good Taste, a Whole Foods, and lots of shops and art dealers. From the Pearl you can take the Portland Streetcar to NW/Nob Hill where a lot of the best Portland restaurants are -- Wildwood, Paley's, Laslow's, Tuscany Grill, Hurley's, St. Honore Bakery, Ken's Artisan Bakery, etc. It's spread out primarily on two streets (21st and 23rd) over about 20 blocks and there are lots of little semi-high end shops throughout (and corners with 3 or more coffee shops on them). The dessert case at Papa Haydn can be fun. As can Moonstruck Chocolates. An evening of casual small plates and wine might be enjoyable. SE 28th in Laurelhurst near Burnside has 3 wine bars/small plate places: Tabla, Noble Rot, and Navarre. They're all within a few blocks of each other on that street. Also on that street nearby are Esparza's Tex-Mex and Taqueria Nueve, both excellent. North just a bit is Pambiche, too, tasty Cuban food with an impressive dessert case reminiscent of Papa Haydn's but with tropical flavors. There are several other neighborhoods with decent qualtiy food and nice little shops. You might like to see a New Seasons, one of our three local gourmet/natural chains along with Zupan's and Nature's (now converting to Wild Oats). You could explore based on a New Seasons location, really.

Cream of Mushroom -- it'd really have to be Campbell's -- would be fun, though all these white trash cooking ingredients (sorry, but it's true and I grew up on them as well) somewhat betray the original motives of the show to be taken seriously and to take the regional/local angle that ICJ always seemed to. It's more in the door-knock dinners quirky creations camp. It may be over-the-top gimmicky. However, if it's going to be done, maybe hamburger. Hamburger doesn't have to be treated like a white trash ingredient. You're really pretty much stuck with the nature of Velveeta, Campbell's CofM Soup, and SPAM. If these ingredients are going to be done, I'd prefer them to come once the show has gained some credibility. Seems like a ploy that would have fit too well with Shatner announcing it.

I think we've handled these kinds of non-sequitur-laden articles before.

Man, the Japanese will put fish in anything. I've got a way to improve it: substitute for the trout.

Rachel and tanabutler, It's actually a result of a photo that's too wide. FYI, this site does the same thing when a photo that is too wide is posted. It's just a feature/failure of HTML and web browsers. What they need to do is either resize the image or set the dimensions smaller in the HTML (although I imagine it's a blog system that doesn't have such fine controls). What I really want to know, though, is a) what was it that AB ate that made him so sick? b) Was it because of Flay's cutting board?

Here's a link to the menu of a low-carb restaurant that recently opened up here in Portland: http://www.unclebutchys.com/dinnermenu.htm Sounds tasty and balanced to me.

BRENNAMORGAN, NO REASON TO YELL... You really should learn a little about the diet before attacking it. For example: * Dietary fiber is subtracted from total carbohydrates to create something referred to as "net carbs". Thus, something with high fiber is encouraged in the diet. Often, whole grain products can be eaten in moderation. * Dairy can be eaten in moderation. (And actually without much moderation as the diet continues.) However, things like whole milk are encouraged. * Many fruits that have low glycemic indexes are not a problem either. Berries, for example, can be eaten fairly liberally. * Carbohydrates are slowly added to the followers diet as time goes on as long as they aren't gaining weight. The body and the mind are quite complex. I'm a pragmatist. If it works, it's good. Atkins seems to work for many people. So why knock it.

Oh, come on Chris, it's just you and me talking. Whisper. No one else will hear. I promise. Okay, how about you just tell me if I'm wrong. If I'm right, you can just not say anything....

Oh, thanks a lot. "It can be done. I've done it. But I can't tell you how." Lot of help you are!

Thanks for the help. I wonder if they place I've had it and liked it was preparing the product fresh themselves or if they were buying some pre-processed or dried product. I guess I'll just have to experiment more. Besides acidulated water, is there anything that works well for getting rid of the chat (in Chicano-ese, you might say the chit )? Nick

Does anyone ever protest the butchering of animals on the show?(though they have gotten some lobster drunk first, which was nice). I'm thinking the turtle battle, for instance. But they don't exactly quickly pith their prey.

For all the bad about Flay, he did take both battles quite seriously. That's more important than finding people you like. Afterall, in professional wrestling isn't it always the bad guys who make the most money? They may have a hard time keeping actual Iron Chefs. We're a much larger country than Japan. What top chef can take weeks away from his real work to be an Iron Chef?

But they'd have to have the Monty Python music rising in the background as well. And it wuold have to be in the can. Afterall, half the fun of IC is seeing the chef's fabricate their own cuts.

Personally, I like to saute some sausage, then add onions and garlic, then tomatoes, simmer, then add some fresh basil towards the end, and finish with a bit of acid, such as lemon juice or balsamic. You have the tomato base, a rich meaty layer of flavor, plus a fresh high note. You might try these threads: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=6607 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=33228&hl=sauce