oreganosci

Pasta crimes... I cook pasta in a 3 qt pot and drain it without a colander. I don't salt the water either. Oh and I LOVE pasta and eat it at least 3 days a week.

I think that urban food is better and more adventurous because of the larger number of non-chain restaurants and the need to stand out among them. That may also have something to do with the rent in a suburban mall or popular strip mall, I don't know. It seems to me that Italian is comfort food these days, and Mexican is getting there. I would think of Asian and Latin/Caribbean as more hip. Spanish tapas too. Maybe even some Mideastern and Indian. Not French, not Northern/Eastern European. Some local or seasonal maybe organic elements. It seems to me that among an hip urban crowd you can get all kinds of special diets from vegan to Atkins. When I think hip I think pretty presentations, smaller servings than your typical chain restaurant. Some sort of twist to the standards, but not too contrived. Fun drinks, fun apps, different desserts, fun to hang around a while. Really good food, not too expensive. When I think of suburban food I'm thinking of dated classics, a safe place with convenient parking to take your unadventurous older relatives or fussy kids out for dinner, and also the chain restaurant attempts at fusion as has been mentioned.

I find round steak difficult too, especially when I want it tender fast. Something I've done is cut it into chunks and chop it up in a food processor. Probably wouldn't make the best burger but it works for some other ground meat uses. I'd rather have just one beast contributing to my ground beef, not hundreds.

Baltimore - blue crab, definitely. To elaborate on that - steamed with Old Bay seasoning, crab cakes, crab cake sandwich, cream of crab soup, Maryland crab soup (tomato based), crab imperial. Also - peach cake, fried oysters. As a native I'm not familiar with lemon sticks unless that's the lemon with a peppermint stick stuck in it. Honolulu - poi, lomi lomi salmon, pit-roasted pig, shave ice Does anyone have any ideas for Alaska cities?

My mother worked and my father stayed at home, so he did most of the cooking. He's a good cook, better than me, although unfortunately he's cooking more and more processed stuff these days. My mother rarely cooked except for company meals where she made a mean roast beef or baked ham. I don't remember anything really bad except things that I personally couldn't stand such as liver, scrapple, or creamed chipped beef on toast. The sides were very often some rice or pasta mix. I liked the LaChoy chow mein, with sufficient soy sauce. I liked the V-8 aspic too. Some salads were not that great... the waldorf salad, jello with apples and walnuts, canned fruit cocktail, canned pears with creamed cheese... when they discovered canned mandarin oranges and canned apricots that was a big improvement. More recently my least favorite is green salad with expired bagged lettuce.

My grandmother's recipe (not from any book): 1/3 stick butter 1 or 2 cans Mitchells white niblet corn 1 tbsp flour 2 eggs , 1 c milk, 1.5 tbsp sugar Butter a casserole, add corn, mix in the flour. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, add sugar and milk, mix and pour over corn. Dot with remaining butter; bake 30-45 min at 400 F until top is golden brown. I haven't made it recently and haven't had many corn puddings, your mileage may vary but it's one to compare with other recipes you may find. Since it's a custard I doubt that it reheats well.

I have been to the CF a few times... thought the food was pretty good for a chain. The servings were overly large as is typical for chains. The CSPI says the cheesecake weighs in at 7 oz, 710 Cal, 49 g fat (31 saturated). The wait was horrendous, so I haven't felt it was worth going back. Now I know that it's deliberate, I'm not ever going back!