lancastermike

Grandma Utz are good chips and are widely available. But the combination of potatoes, lard, and salt is best explored with some of the smaller brands. My wife likes Gibbles. As stated above, those Dieffenbachs are my artery clogging chip of choice. I believe PA to be the center of the lard chip universe. And for that I am grateful.

Potato chip selection is one of the few things in the culinary world that Lancaster has an edge over Philadelphia. In my local grocery store, just a plain old place not some gourmet market, I can get all the Utz and Herr’s varieties. But also, Good's, both the red and the blue bag kinds. Also one of my all time favorite lard chips, Diffenbachs. Another great lard chip is Stehman's which the favorite brand of my dad. Growing up I had not yet learned the magic of the lard chip and often told him I really did not like them. Now I know. Also such items as Kay and Rays which makes a wonderful dark chip. There are others that right now I am drawing a blank on. My local market also stocks Lay's and I just can't imagine how they sell any, but I know they do.

Zero has now become my drink of choice. Better than any of the other Diet Coke options. I have no idea how this happended, but I like it as much as the real deal

Would be interested in trying the Handy if I can track it down. My current bottle is the Sazerac six year old. And I must say I was sort of underwhelmed by it. I usually just have one bottle at a time of rye. The bottle I finished was one that does not seem to get a lot of respect but that I liked a lot. That is Pikesville. I used the Sazerac to make a sazarac cocktail. Nothing special there.

That's the picture I was talking about! Glad to see you posted it and to hear she still swings a mean axe

It's cold and raining and I really do not feel very well. Maggie told me just to make the turkey in the oven. Just not possible! It is out there smoking and doing well for a late afternoon meal. Apple wood that I split and cut up this morning. Photos later

on Thanksgiving eve I too feel like crap. Lots of cooking to do and a full day of food tommorow. I know it is nothing special but I will have a big bowl of chicken broth with sliced jalepenos tonight. The spicy stuff is good for me and helps unclog my head. Sicker than a dog and I'll be out in the rain tommorow smoking my turkey. Oh well, Happy Thanksgiving

I have just recently scored a bunch of nice apple from a local orchard. So this week's bird will be apple smoked. Susan, I only wish that you could send Dianna to split it for me. The picture of her swinging the axe form the smoking blog remains a favorite of mine

When we were in San Diego this summer Oceannaire had just opended in the Gaslamp district and was a mob scene. We did go in for a drink, but did not eat. In any case, it received great reviews from the San Diego press. Katie and Sandy are right, chains are not by nature evil. Unless it is Olive Garden

I always brine my turkey before smoking it. I don't stuff them. The drippings I find work fine for gravy. However, the anti brining thread and Kent's experiments have me thinking. I am pretty sure I am still going to brine this year for Thanksgiving. But, i am going to try some experiments of my own with pre-salting. Brining turkeys has always worked for me. Kent states from his experiments that he thinks pork is a good meat for brining. When I smoke ribs and butt, I never brine. Go figure. Thie topic needs further investagation by me as I find it very interesting. A tip of the hat to Kent for running his studies.

Glad to hear that things are at least a little better. Just a little more than two years since Chris died now. Not one day goes by that I don't think of her. Both of you have great courage. I am happy that your relationship is stronger. So much I still have to say about this and so hard for me to write it. Good Luck my friends, good luck

I use apple or cherry for my turkeys. They always eye it up first, but the smoked bird always goes before the oven roasted one does

It's almost time! Smoking bird for Thanksgiving? I will again this year, as I have for years. Our family gathering has one fron the oven and my smoked one. Anyone else smoking? Updates and techniques? Now is the time to start thinking about it if you have never done so. Smoked turkey is great.

Let me add to the support for Kitchen Aid. Ours is very quiet. It has the stainless tub and I can get a lot of stuff in it. I can even get the racks from my WSM in it. It was easy to install and we are very happy with it. Would certainly echo phlawless in her anaylsis of the KitchenAid

The depth of my pal Marlene's knowledge never ceases to amaze me. At my house the formal setting means I will use a paper towel instead of the back of my sleeve, put the empties in the trash instead of throwing them out the window, and I won't let the dogs lick the dishes till everyone is finished eating.

I'm going to answer this question in that roundabout fashion of mine that sometimes drives people up a wall, but I'm doing it this way to see if you know much about Widener history. If you do know about the school's past--I did mention its previous identity in my first foodblog--you should be able to answer both questions by just looking at this photo, which I had also contemplated using as a teaser for this foodblog: Yes, that's my desktop at the office. No, I haven't used the voucher yet. It's good through the end of the month, so I'd better get cracking. ← I can answer this one, Sandy but it may be cheating. I do know were you work and I also know what PMC stands for. If I'm right it had two diferent meanings. the first was Pennsylvania Military College. Am I crazy that I remember they used the same initials to mean Penn Morton College for a short time before becoming Widener U? Am I making that last partup out of some strange idea?

Happy Birthday, Sandy. Another blog from a famous Pennsylvanian. Sandy is full of knowledge about food, Philadelphia and lots of other things. I believe everyone will enjoy this one very much.

This is so true, Owen. I think at most restaurants coffee is an orphan. The kitchen does not make it or manage it, mostly it is a function of the service staff, and they are often too busy to give it the proper attention. I worked at a lot of places over the years and I can NEVER remember anyone checking a brew temperture on coffee. Not to long ago we ate a lovely meal at a very nice place. Here comes individual press pots for the coffee. The plunger was up. I asked the server if it was ready to plunge and she gave me a blank stare. I than asked how long had the water been in. She sort of stumbled around that as well. I plunged and poured and it was way under a good brewing temp. This place was proud of their shiny little press pots, but had no idea how to use them to make a good cup of coffee. I often despair at getting coffee after dinner out. It is often wretched stuff. And there is no reason it has to be.

We were down last week. Dinner at Red Sky was top notch as always. Wes his ownself was on the line and you could tell. Mixed seafood grill was a hit with me. I love the food and Iknow the say they are casual. That's fine. But a little attention to the service would help. They are always, young, pretty, and full of vigor. A little training as to simple service would not be out of line however. Bad Bean Taqueria is the real deal. In Timbuk Too. I talked to the guyrunning the place and he said he had been at Left bank. Had a sour look on his face when I mentioned it. I think they got a winner. No place else doing this and they do it well. Meats ams sauces made on site. We had burritos, they had fish tacos as well, which I heard someone say were good. It was October and they seemed pretty busy Stopped in Blue Point for carryout lunch. It is a lot bigger. One of my friends ate there this year and they raved. Like many I have had issues but they seem to be rocking and rolling. I like to cook in and the new Harris Teeter grocery store is a real step up from the food lion. Much better selection of produce and better quality meats. Bagels from Lighthouse Bagels still a good thing as is coffee from Outer banks coffee. Went that way alot of mornings. Like Kat I missed Meridian this year. I know a bunch of folks who were down the same week and they all rave about Colington Cafe. I have never been. One guy went to Left Bank even after I tried to talk him out of it. He was not a happy camper after he got the tab. I tried to warm him

Maggie and I visited the Lancaster store yesterday to replenish the supply. We took most of what we had with us to our vacation at the beach last week. The Kaiken Malbec Ultra was in good stock and I got a bunch of it. This is a great value I believe. There will be beef stew here today post Eagles and a bottle of that malbec to be opened. Maggie selected the Whitehall Lane cab, about which much as been written above. This may even be a better choice with the beef stew. Also the Grant Burge Barossa Shiraz and the Cygnet Oakville Merlot And keeping up with my value wine shopping policy, read: cheap, I got a bottle of Astica Torrontes. This is an Argentinian white variety of which I have no knowledge. But it was 6 bucks. Cheap does not equate to good, this may be a total waste of 6 dollars. But I'll see, it may be a good value. Not expecting it to be a revelation. On an off topic spirits note. I ALWAYS walk down the whiskey aisle just to check. I was happy to see for the first time Sazerac Rye. I have taken to rye whiskey cocktails these days. I still love borboun, but I think that rye makes better cocktails. However, that topic is for another thread

I live in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, the heart of the Amish land. About Amish food I have comments. If any care to send me aPM I will be happy to say some things that I won't here I have eaten a lot of Pa Dutch cooking and liked much of it. PA Dutch style cooking is good hearty fair.

Hey Kids, This blog truly rocked. Those of us who have done this know the amount of work involved and you guys really did a great one.

We were in san diego a couple of weeks ago and went to the top of the hyatt for a drink. Wonderful views. Terrible service, and lousy drinks. If the Hyatt is going to use that real valuable piece of their hotel for a bar, I would hope they would also spend some time in making it something special. My other comment about San Diego drinks, we were in a bunch of places during the week and i could not find one that had a bottle of rye in the bar. Perhaps rye is an east coast thing.

You talkin' to me? Here in lancaster when the state store started Sunday sales it too was picketed. However, not by Amish. These folks were part of the large "evangelical christian" group around here. I often plan of trips to the wine specialty store for Sunday, just because we can

As are we, we drank a whole bunch of the Kaiken when it was in before. As I recall it was around 8 dollars and was a tremendous value. This is still a good price and I also hope the "Ultra" will offer a bonus