dougery
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Posts posted by dougery
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I use a smooth steel after every use.
Sharpen my knives on two stones (1000 grit and/or 8000 grit water stones) about every one to three months depending on type of knife
Main gyutou once+ a month, santoku once every monthish, honesuki once every monthish etc..
... and according to the info-mercial, my Ginsu never needs to be sharpened!
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Well,
Yahoo is now following suit:
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=79360
Let's get the debate heated up again!
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If you're married to the idea of an electric knife sharpener, I would recommend the Chef's Choice 120. I have had the opportunity to use this and it does a fairly good job as far as electric knife sharpeners go, but using this electric sharpener still requires time, patience, and a degree of practice.
If you do have the time though, or if someone in your household likes working with their hands, nothing can hold a candle to a knife that has been hand shapened on stones. The edge you can get (after hours of practice on some cheaper knives) will be far superior to that of an electric sharpener.
If this is not an option, you may wish to find out if anyone knows of a good professional knife sharpening service in your area. Having work done by knowlegeable professional (don't go to mall knife shops) can sharpen your knife and help prolong the life of your cutlery at a reasonable cost.
In a nutshell, if you want a good sharp knife that can get the job done, the Chef's Choice is not a bad way to go.
If you want a razor sharp knife that can make incredibly clean cuts with minimal effort, get it professionally done or practice on sharpening stones (it's really worth the time and effort if you love your cutlery).
PS: Regular maintenance on your knives is like maintaining your car, you wouldn't let your car go 100k miles before servicing or else the amount of work and cost would be insane. Cooking gear (knives) deserve the same kind of maintenance, and by doing so, they will reward you with years of good service. So to answer your question about taking up space in the drawer, if you keep your knives on a regular maintenance schedule, your sharpener (what ever you finally choose) will see LOTS of use
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I agree as well Mott, those of us who buy books will continue to do so. Old books are like old friendships and wine, they just get better with age.
I whole heartedly agree with your principals in sharing knowledge and culture, I just continue to have a difficult time with it when one company is reaping the benefits and profits, and the artists and writers receive no compensation.
I'm sure there is a win/win solution, I just hope google makes an informed decision and studies the potential impact this decision may have on arts and literature.
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Not being able to pay to participate in our culture today should not disqualify anyone from participating in it. Many who write books today were not able to afford them when young.
Although I agree with the sentiment, I have to disagree with the logic. Most of the poor, though deserving, can not afford a computer and internet connection to enjoy these e-books.
US CENSUS BUREAU:
-- Nearly 9-in-10 family households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more had at least one computer and about 8-in-10 had at least one household member who used the Internet at home.
-- Among family households with incomes below $25,000, nearly 3-in-10 had a computer and about 2-in-10 had Internet access.
-- Two-thirds of households with a school-age child had a computer, and 53 percent had Internet access.
-- Single-person households were the least likely to have a computer (30 percent) or Internet access (24 percent). In households with two to four persons, 58 percent had a computer and 47 percent had Internet access.
-- Households in the West were the most likely to have computers (57 percent) and Internet access (47 percent). Those in the South were the least likely to have computers (47 percent) and Internet connections (38 percent).
I agree that the segments of society that can not afford to buy the book should not be restricted access to art due to their income but to openly share these books in an unrestricted manor is not the answer. I am willing to bet that for every 1 person truly deserving access to this information, 50 people who could easily afford the book would access this as well. The reality is that the people who could afford the book would benefit, and the people that couldn't would still be out in the cold.
My other beef is that libraries are public institutions that for the most part have the publics best interest at heart. Google on the other hand is an IPO who's sole interest is growth and profits. They will undoubtedly try to get away with offering what they can (at minimal expense to them) to keep their stockholders happy at the expense of the creators of the materials they offer on-line. If a company is going to profit from someones work, they should at least reimburse the creator of the work.
(BTW, MottMott, a sincere thanks for continuing this thought provoking discussion. This is truly something worth the time and effort to think about!)
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It just doesn't seem right to get recipes or other artistic material for free when it was intended to be purchased. If you bought these materials and share it with GOOD friends is one thing, but to publish it on the net without the creators consent is another.
If we want to continue to see original publications and great recipes from authors, they have to have an incentive to do so. If they know that once they release a book that no one will buy it because it's on the net, will they continue to do so?
It's kind of like if I opened a restaurant specializing in Spam, then someone comes in, takes my recipes and opens a stand right in front of my restaurant... They are using my materials, taking my business without consent and benfitting from all of my hard work.
If we really enjoy something whether it is art or music, we should reward these artists with something that would motivate them to continue their craft (in most cases this is $$), not take the fruits of their labor and give it away for free.
Just so you know, I'm a normal nine to fiver with no affiliation to the recording industry or a law firm, but I do have friends that are sacrificing everything to pursue careers in the arts (food, art, music) and deserve every penny for their dedication to their craft.
Just my two cents
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I've always had a thing for Lotte "GREEN GUM". Just love the flavor!
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Oops
Missed the "18-22" year part, I guess i just kind of focussed on the "22".My bad!
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Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. Seems to me that most of the okonomiyaki I have encountered outside of Japan is the Kansai or Osaka style.
Some of the kakigori desserts, especially those with the sweet bean paste.
I agree, Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. I think that it would be quite attractive to the western palate (maybe a few alterations in the ingredients though like lots of beef )
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I still can't understand... No beer for a soccer team?
Glad to hear it went well.
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Varmint, sounds like you're pretty well set up but I thought I would toss out an idea:
A great salad/wrap filling (one of my all time favorites and I'm not a calorie counter by far) is an asian salad.
Iceberg lettuce, carrots, green onions, almond slivers, chicken and toasted broken ramen noodles, sesame seeds, and with a rice vinegar/sesame oil/soy/sugar/mayo dressing.
Great salad in itself and even better (imho) in a wrap. Toss a dipping sauce of a citrus teryaki sauce and... POW! You've got a winner.
Hope the dinner is a hit, good luck! If I lived closer I would head on over!
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My wife's family is huge, so hosting or going to a family get together is always a culinary adventure. At one of the get togethers the hosts had a "build your own taco/fajita/wrap" bar. She laid out fresh tortillas and a couple of griddles to heat them up on and a bunch of different fillings (vegetarian included). It was simple, fast and good (really good!). I think students would love this, and if you included some chips and beer your set to go!
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Those are some big slices of tomatos. And a lot of lettuce.
... or REALLY small burgers
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I really enjoy Duke's as well. Smooth, creamy but not overwhelmingly rich. A great balance of textures and flavors.
Don't flame me too badly, but I've always like skipper's clam chowder. The peppery flavour is quite nice.
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I second Suzi's thoughts. I can't imagine what it would be like to have my family go through a hurricane...
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Mmmmmm.... deep fried scorpions... What state fair offers an assortment of goodies like this? I would die to get my hands on some of these.. or should I say I will die if I did get my hands on some of these?
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My uncle and godfather, who lived in the LA area, died last week. I would have eaten Stove Top stuffing, dried out turkey and canned green beans to be with him and my cousins more in the years since we moved to the East Coast. You think "there's always next year" but sometimes there isn't.
Well said.
My parents are getting old and I know that there are fewer shared Thanksgivings ahead of us than there are behind us. I can totally understand that some folks have some funky, dysfunctional dynamics going on within their families (who doesn't?) but when I look back when all is said and done, I know I wont have any regrets for lack of trying to communicate with my family.
Food is a VERY important part of my life, but family is food for my soul. I think I'll take care of my soul first...
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Boy... getting hit in the head by a piece of mochi thrown from the roof of a house is considered good luck?
Do you need to sign a waiver before taking part in this celebration?
I've seen photo's of my cousin's house being "reformed" and he was throwing candy from the roof top, I had no idea that home construction was such an event in Japan! Great thread!
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One of the areas I think about a lot these days is genetic diseases. Certain genetic diseases could disappear (or almost disappear) in a generation or so if some people with certain genes weren't allowed to breed with other people with similar genes.
A turn to the surreal Orwellian world
I agree it is a fine line... The crux of this fine line between government regulation and our freedoms is a messy "Fruit-Float" like concoction that will forever be argued, but that is what makes America great! At least we have the ability (to a degree$$) to bring these subjects to light and do something about them.
Regarding the convenience foods... The convenience foods I think we are refering to are the fast, meal in a box (cartoon character toy included), dripping with grease type of convenience foods. The convenience foods you enjoy with your family are the type of foods that would turn the U.S. into the healthiest country on the planet! Kudos to you!
BTW, just found this article on the "virtual cafeteria".
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9067341/
It's definitely a step in the right direction. Any way to empower parents with information on their children's dietary choices is a good thing. Getting the kids to choose the right foods is another story though...
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If this were the last Thanksgiving you know you would ever celebrate with your sister what would you do?
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as well, but the warmth, love and fullness I get from family will always outweigh my love for food.
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Hey Milagi,
Convenience foods I was refering to was "fast" convenience foods you can drive up to, say "supersize it" and be off with dinner in 2 minutes. I take this route on occasion but I'm sorry to say that there are a lot of people out there that do this multiple times on a daily basis.
The convenience foods you're refering to (canned/frozen foods) I consider a home cooked, sit-down meal with the family that sounds nutritionally and socially balanced, not convenience foods.
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I would love to see advertisements for McDonald's, Burger King, et al. in which every single person in the ad was obese. They don't have to change anything else. They can all still sing and dance and smile and talk about how much they love the stuff. But every one of the people in the ads should be obese. I wonder what that would do to sales?
This actually inspired an idea for the beer/drink commercials you see on television. First scene showing the actual commercial showing all of the "beautiful" people drinking/laughing/floating through the air (Baileys Irish Cream), then hard cut to the second scene... "what is actually happening" a bunch of red eyed drunken folks with slurred speach and dishelved clothing are showed acting like idiots and one about to get in a car in a house accross the street from playground.
Show it like it really is!
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John, I agree, it all starts at home. We do need to take time to educate our children and be present to help guide their experiences but with the bombardment from the media and pressure from peers, I think it is a very steep uphill challenge for many parents to instill good eating habits.
This reminds me of grade school.. my mother made me a very nutritious lunch (something like lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickle, and luncheon meet sandwich with soup and dessert almost daily)... Half the time I would trade this away for the ever so popular "pizza" at our elemtary school. This pizza was "the in food" at the school. I think I did this because trading lunches was a cool thing to do and was a little taboo and I also enjoyed the Pizza. At home I was surrounded by good nutritional values which were constantly communicated to me, but what I learned through my school lunch program and interactions with my peers was totally different.
Again, I whole heartedly agree the first step is to educate your kids and talk to them but parents can only monitor and guide them so far, our kid's are wide open prey to Coke ,MacD's and peer pressure the rest of the day. Shouldn't it be an expectation that our kids's be shielded from corporate advertising at our public schools?
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Then there are basic issues like-should the government have a role in influencing personal behaviour?--if so--then how large a role? How much are we willing to spend?
In a way yes... The government shouldn't dictate personal behavior, but they should monitor and regulate how companies attempt to INFLUENCE personal behavior. I'm sure as hell glad they decided to eliminate "Joe Camel" and how the tobacco industry tries to influence the youth.
BTW, Lesfen, when I went to your tubby link I was hit with an add to of all places, MacDonalds
What is the worst dish you ever had?
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
In 1976 I was on the bullet train in Japan and had an onion pizza that was by far the worst "dish" (if one would call it that) I have ever had. It had a crust that made corrugated cardboard seem appetizing, flavor... well... let's just say, what in the heck do you need flavor for!?
As for folks who might think that the flavors and textures were a result of cultural differences I offer you this, after ordering the "dish" many of the locals offered me pitiful looks and comments reflecting amazment that I was brave enough to order this "dish"...
5 minutes after finishing the "dish" (My mother made me eat the entire thing due to my pleading for pizza) my immune system ejected this foreign body from me into it's proper place... the toilet.
Although I've seen many pizza's in Japan that I'm sure would be considered world class, I still can't pony up enough bravery to try another pizza in Japan.