ExtraMSG

Given the popularity of Fast Food Nation, you'd think a distributor would pick it up to at least make the art house/college theater rounds. Ultimately it's ridiculous. A Big Mac, Supersized Fries, and a Supersized Coke would be 1600 calories, approximately. Three meals a day of that would be way overload. You could gain half a pound of fat a day, easily. And without vitamin supplements.... But McDonald's is correct. They have balanced options. Change your breakfast to an Egg McMuffin and large orange juice and you've lowered your calories by about 1000 calories a day. Change your lunch or dinner to a Grilled McChicken and a side salad and you've lowered your daily calories by another 1200 calories. Suddenly, you could actually lose weight depending on your exercise regiment. 2600 calories a day for three meals isn't that bad. Change those lunch and dinner sodas to diet and you'll drop another 800 calories a day for a total of 1800. Most people could lose weight on that with moderate exercise. If I were McDonald's, I'd pay someone (I'll do it) to eat all their food from McDonald's and lose weight. All they'd have to do is eat the salads with low-cal dressing for two meals and then eat grilled chicken sandwiches and a side salad for dinner. Diet soda only. You could even throw in one of those fruit and yogurt shake things or a baked apple pie and probably be under 1200 calories a day pretty easily. btw, I lost over 100 lbs a while ago by limiting my calories and exercising, but then I started gaining weight again, not because of fast food (I go to fast food less than once a month), but rather because I became obsessed with cooking and fine dining. PS Did anyone ever see that web log where a guy gave himself athlete's foot and incubated it on purpose over months? It was disgusting. This reminds me of that.

Therdogg you sound like a bad candidate for Atkin's. a) Like Robyn, I don't think it's a first choice for women. Women tend to desire calories from carbs, craving and binging on sweets, eg. (Men, otoh, tend to crave and binge on fats, such as burgers.) b) You probably have an issue with low blood sugar. I imagine you've never really had a hard time keeping weight off until recently. I wouldn't be surprised if many people on this site, like me, kind of roll their eyes at 10 lbs. I can lose and gain 10 lbs in two days. Hell, I can pass 10 lbs after some of my eating trips. My wife is like you. She gets shaky easily (and damned irritable) if she doesn't eat. Changing her eating habits in such a drastic manner, like Atkins requires, would be like going through detox for an alcoholic. Overall, there could be some advantages from a lifestyle change to Atkins. Who knows. I'm no nutritionist or expert, just someone who has tried various diets and found some that work for me and have spent a lot of time talking with people as they've dieted. I believe strongly that one diet does not fit all and that you have to search for one that will work for you. I bet if you did a balanced diet watching out for large calorie items, avoiding the use of high sugar items like sweets, desserts, juice, soda, etc, and high fat items like chips, cheese, oils, hamburger, etc, you'd make a big difference. Atkin's is a good diet and works for some people really well. It has a great ability to make people feel full with less food. But each person has to look at themself and discover what type of eater they are. What do they crave? What are their favorite foods? Do they have to eat regularly? Are you willing to make a lifestyle change long-term? Etc. Then find the appropriate diet.

I have no idea (closest I ever came was having a saxophone re-plated in high school), but I did some googling. Try these guys maybe: http://www.eastsideplating.com/services.htm

I think I've found another money-making opportunity for him if this topic is indication: Tony Bourdain Calendar -- A Man and His Knife. Various knives (I know, I know, I'm sure they'd have to be big ones) could keep the calendar PG-13. Hell, Chad might even buy it just for the knives. And it sounds like about every woman on these boards would buy two. He could wear a hat in every picture representing one of his travels to attract the Village People crowd to the calendar as well.

osmazome

I believe that's true, fifi. I think Argentinians are proud of their grass fed beef from what I've read. btw, Lone Star, why would you want lean hamburger? If it were me, I'd be adding fat back into that ground beef when it's ground like is done with game animals and most sausages.

Honestly, we don't know that they didn't. It may have been the BSA's idea to begin with. All we have is some student bitching in the paper.

People complain about Portland BBQ, especially more mediocre places like Reo's and Buster's, but until you've had BBQ from a place like this, you really haven't had bad BBQ. It's probably as important for perspective as eating at Lockart legends or Memphis meat temples.

Note that curry (the herb) grows pretty darned well here. I've got a bush that went nuts in front of my house the first year I planted it. I've done some touring of the Indian markets and compared with Chicago or even Dallas, there's really no good one here that I've found yet. I really wish we could get an awesome ethnic market here like Fiesta in Texas. I want something as big as a Safeway that is a destination for Mexicans, Central/South Americans, and Asians. Wouldn't that be nice? With high turnover of ingredients because it's such a destination. Will it ever happen in Portland....

The PortlandFood.org group is planning on BBQ next month. So far I think we're agreed on Campbell's and Yam Yam's, but I thought I'd check out a new contender today, Big Daddy's on Hawthorne. It's in an old diner/hamburger place with cafeteria quality tables and chairs and the original stools at the counter. That's about as close to good bbq you're going to get here. And the only positive thing from my first trip were the attractive wait staff with en vogue short shirts and thick belts on low-waisted pants showing their back tattoos. Don't tell my wife. But if I wanted that, there's about one nudie bar for every man in Portland and the food's probably better. Got a two-meat combo plate which comes with 2 sides for $11.95. Trying to stay on low-carb, I just got double corn bread to-go. They had several of the typical sides, though, like beans, collard greens, potato salad, etc. They have the basic meats as well -- pork ribs, brisket, pulled pork, sausage -- with a couple somewhat atypical selections like smoked turkey. I chose brisket and spare ribs. Both were bad. The brisket was tender, but it was dry and had little flavor. There was no noticeable smoke ring, nor much if any smoke flavor. There was not crust of any kind on the outer layer of the meat. Allegedly they smoke it for 12 hours. Honestly, you'd be better off with some smartly boiled meat in a flavored stock. The pork ribs weren't any better. Little of the fat on them had actually melted. I don't mind fatty spare ribs. I prefer them over baby back (they do have baby back here). But damn it, they should be moist, tender, and flavorful. These weren't any of these things. One part of the ribs were actually so dry it was like chewing left-over thin pork chops that have been sitting in the fridge for a couple days. Maybe not quite that bad, but close. And little flavor. The sauces are okay. They have 4, a spicy "Texas", a smoky "Memphis", a sweet/mild, and a mustard sauce. All a little sweet for me, but at least they had flavor. And you needed them for these meats. I guess one bright point might be that it looked like they served a decent burger and fries, but I didn't get that, so I can't comment. But they looked decent. I certainly would order that if I was forced there rather than the BBQ. I'm usually reluctant to be harsh with a place, especially after one visit, but not this time. If I can do significantly better on a gas grill in my back yard, the BBQ place has problems.

I'm pretty sure the term "soul food" was invented in the mid to late 20th century as a positive description most likely by African-Americans. Again, words only have meaning by how they're used, so any word can be used pejoratively. If I start saying: "You're such a damn eGulleter," the term "eGulleter" becomes negative. I'm with Cusina. Why is serving a type of food associated with black culture any worse than playing music associated with black culture on a day that, despite being named for a specific person, is also a day appropriately used to honor an entire group of people in this country? Answer me this: if it were for Black History Month, would you still find fault?

There were only 13 members, I think. He's got a bigger tribe here, several of whom are quite stalker-esque.

I don't understand. What kind of recognition do you suggest? I have responded to MSG's comments about Southern Food being somehow stolen in another thread from last summer. The subject here (which of course I was part of the problem) has badly strayed from the original topic of Northwestern University and a letter written by a student. Southern Foods-Is They or Ain't They? Well, eg, not just passing off soul food as merely lunch. It has connection with Martin Luther King, Jr, through his black activism not only for northerners, but for southerners even if they don't acknowledge it. I have a friend from Texas who has made similar comments. But soul food stems from black culture as much as Tex-Mex stems from Mexican-American culture. That we all eat it now is great. But when the opportunity arises, acknowledging and honoring its founders would at least be polite.

The dumbest cookbook I currently own is Larousse Gastronomique. Not because of the content, but the fact that it's like 40 lbs and so I never take it off the shelf. And I'm no 90 lb weakling.

To expand it just a little... Do you think, especially you southerners, that whites have to some degree stolen soul food by not recognizing that without slaves they may have never had many of their precious dishes? Without house slaves and Jim Crow culture, the cuisine may have been as distinctly black in the south as it is in the north. It may truly be rude not to honor southern home cooking as originally African-American -- at least as much as not recognizing that jazz, blues, and rock are a gift from black people as well.

Although, sure, it's "lunch" in the south, you can say the same thing about Mexican food in the southwest. But still, recognize its source: http://www.foxhome.com/soulfood/htmls/soulfood.html

And you can say the same thing about anything. Idiots are idiots and will make dumb comments about whatever they can. Like I said, compare it to Cinco de Mayo or another holiday that gets celebrated in relation to a culture, St. Patrick's Day, eg. (Isn't green beer a hell of a lot more inflammatory?) I thought the more shameful issue was that the person in the letter said that it was bad soul food. Canned tamales would be no kind of honor for Cinco de Mayo and greasy, bland, dry fried chicken is no honor to African-American culture either.

I'm not black, but I'll be provacative and comment anyway... Does anyone else think that they may be a little hyper-sensitive here? The truth is that a lot of African-Americans, especially from the south, do like fried chicken. I understand that it's a stereotype, but it's not really a negative one. I think that soul food is a laudable part of black culture. If I were black, I would hope I'd be proud of my food heritage. If people try to use it in a negative way, screw them. I wonder if this same issue would arise if for Cinco de Mayo Northwestern served enchiladas and tamales? I kind of doubt it. I understand the sensitivity to the issue. When Zoeller made his comments, he wasn't doing it in a nice way, he was being an ass. Northwester appears to be trying to at least honor African-American culture, which includes their traditional foods. If the black students would have embraced it, it could have been a positive thing. Is it racist that the Food Network has two black ladies who teach soul food?

I think those prices are in line with the ebay buy it now prices. On their website they're saying they have free shipping right now, though.

Speaking of tomatoes. Safeway has a sale on Muir Glens right now. Bought 4 of the large cans of whole tomatoes today for less than $2 each.

Don't get me wrong. I think there are differences in quality between pastas. I just don't think price tells you much about which one will be good. Pan, Hershey's is your basis for giving up faux vanilla? Really, do a blind taste test. Get 5 friends together and bake some cookies. Vanilla is such a minor component of a chocolate bar, especially one as yucky as a Hershey's, that's really no test at all. Damn you music man, submit yourself to science. Orange juice is an interesting one. My friend and I have tested this. The key to good orange juice is that it's blended with a variety of oranges adding depth. A lot of times you get "fresh squeezed orange juice" that's just from one kind of orange and honestly you might be better off with something out of a carton. Organic eggs: around here (Portland, OR), they sell organic eggs even in chains like Safeway and Albertson's. They're even from within the state. Now, if I go to a family or friend's house who have chickens (such as my mom and my aunt) and have eggs just laid that morning, I can of course tell the difference. But that's a function, I think, of freshness more than anything. So if you can find a fresh egg supplier in your area, you'll probably get them cheaper and better. I still don't believe that organic eggs themselves are any better, though. Just haven't seen any evidence after testing it. One organic product that is often better, I think, are creams that are less pasteurized. I don't know if it's the fact that they're organic or less pasteurized that does it, but I've picked up a couple in places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's that were a big step up from the best stuff you can get in Safeway or Kroger. If I could find some non-organic creams that weren't ultra-pasteurized I could do a comparison, but I haven't found it yet. AzRael, isn't Emerilware cheaper than All-Clad, Calphalon, and most of the other department store brands by a ways?

Philosophical question: do we find the perfect knife or does the perfect knife find us when we are ready? There is no knife.

You should do a blind taste test with some cookies some time, Pan, even just sugar cookies. I've done it several times now on lots of people. No one can tell the difference. I was actually quite indignant when I saw CI's original article because the difference in, eg, a milkshake or ice cream is striking, but in any baked good it seems to make no difference at all. Like Fifi's issue with fancy salts in baked products. Sometimes the common sense, that something in a head to head taste test that tastes better will matter in a recipe, just isn't the case. I actually like truffle oil. It's like $10 for 4 ozs, but a capfull can make a big difference. Given the price and perishability of the original, I think it's worth it as an accent, like fresh herbs (which are another thing that are worth the money). Totally agree on jarred sauces, though. The requirements for mass production and shelf-life just can't compare with what they do in the actual restaurant. I think it actually hurts my view of their restaurants, probably unfairly, too. It's not like some Wolfgang Puck crappy sauce in the store should imply that Spago makes bad food. But for some reason it affects me. One of the worst, imo, are the Frontera salsas. Ugh. Pace gives some of them a run for your money. And they're no where near in the same universe as any one of Bayless' recipes for salsa.

I found most places in "wine country", including Dundee Bistro, to be overrated and overpriced, though not bad. So just don't go in expecting something as special as most reviews and word of mouth suggests. Haven't ever been there in the off-season, though.

There are lots of items that are worth the money: wild salmon, pameggiano-reggiano, quality chocolate, and so on. However, there seem to be some items that either a) get more notoriety than their flavor would recommend, and/or b) cost more than they should. Here are some items that I think are bad values: * vanilla extract: I've done so many dual batches of cookies now that it's just apparent that in baking Cook's Illustrated is right, pure vanilla isn't worth the money. * dried pasta: I see no relationship between price and the quality of dried pasta. * organic ingredients: if you have an ideological/philsophical issue with non-organic ingredients that makes sense. But I can not find any relationship between organic anything and quality. Some organics are good, some aren't. There does seem to be a relationship between local, if it's freshly picked, like at farmer's markets, and quality, but not organic. * eggs: I can't tell a damned bit of difference between eggs except by freshness * kobe burger: makes no sense. Almost every application of burger uses lots of flavor anyway, covering up any of the subtley of kobe beef.