bobmac

Honey's has the best macaroni and cheese I have ever eaten in a restaurant.

I quit about eight or nine years ago, following my doctor's recommendation to use Zyban and a nicotine patch together. I found this method very easy and recommend it. I cannot honestly say that anything tasted better though.

Anybody have any experience with this company? Their cheese prices seem too good to be true.

Mother-in-law buys them for us. Wish we could think of a polite way of telling her to save her money.

It migrated all the way to the Northeast where we also called them Fudgicles. Or maybe it happened in several places independently.

Long story. I once reviewed a suburban Chinese restaurant owned a woman who spent most of her time in Chinatown playing mah-jongg while her brother ran the place. After the exposure of the review, business picked up and the sister kicked her brother out, and he went back to Taiwan to raise money to open his own place. With the brother gone, quality declined and business fell off. At that point, the sister phoned me. Now people frequently confused editorial and advertising, but this woman, English being her second language, gave it a new twist, declaring: "I want to take out an appetizer." As with the aforementioned Shiny Boots, this has become a part of my wife's and my lexicon. Reversing it, we refer to appetizers as advertisements, sometimes drawing funny looks, sometimes having to explain to fellow diners.

So why were they bland?

I have enjoyed steamed clams, the soft-shell kind, all my life, but in the past year have had a couple of orders that were just bland. The first time I suspected overcooking, because it was a big place and a slow day. I thought maybe they had precooked and reheated them. Yesterday, however, while many of the clams were tasteless, a few were OK. What could account for this?

Any of these places open for lunch?

A butcher can order it for you or you can go to the wholesaler yourself.

This time of year, I grill in the fireplace.

I'm guessing if you do this with headless shrimp (all I can buy around here), you don't want to cut them in half, yes? Oops, I didn't notice that previous post, although headless shrimp maybe offers more exposure of the meat.

Thanks. I had read elsewhere that they were different. A second look reveals that the distinction is that they are the same species but that the Scotch Bonnet is not a cultivar. Sort of splitting hairs, although I do prefer wild blueberries to cultivated.

Can I substitute the latter for the former in an orange-juice-based marinade? There are so many other ingredients that I think the Scotch Bonnet is mainly for heat.

I'm a Yankee going back to 1630 and I love grits. They're standard fare at my local breakfast place.

Hot Shot No Pest Strips. It is recommended that you keep them one cabinet away from any food. I hang one in a remote corner of the kitchen. Eliminates moths.

The "attitude" at Durgin Park is sometimes downright rudeness. I gave up on the place when they expected me to use a dirty fork. Jacob Wirth's is worth a visit, although they've cut back on their German food. Of course No. 9 is on another level.

I have a number of sausage recipes that call for pork fat along with Boston butt. My butcher says the butt has enough fat by itself, and it certainly is a fatty cut. I'm tempted to leave it out (is there such a thing as healthful sausage?) but don't want to to be too dry. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm familiar with the concept of long, slow cooking, but K. Paul calls for only a couple of hours.

Anybody familiar with Paul Prudhomme's red beans and rice recipe? Calls for a lot of water, and even though I left three cups out, I still have a lot of liquid. It's unclear whether the top stays on the pan in the simmer stage, which, of course, would make a difference.

George Costanza's parents.

In my previous life, we used to somehow reheat fried clams in the micro and they would come out as if they had just emerged from the fryer. I know this makes no sense, but somehow it worked. I think it had to do with the setting, but I refuse to ask my ex-wife.

Speaking of which, I bought some prosciutto (supermarket) that's way too salty, more so than this brand usually is. Any way to tame it?

Thank you all, and, damn! we're staying right near Lenexa.

I've been searching past threads for a place said to be better tha Gates and Bryant's. As I recall, the place had an intown location and one on the outskirts. My best guess is it's LC's, but I can find only one location for that. Also, I read some terrible reviews of LC's elsewhere -- greasy, dirty, flies...