GrizzyLemon

I loved this stuff when I was in England, but have only seen it via mail order here. Seems like the price was about $12 a bottle, so it was out of my league, especially when you add the postage price. I do have a question though, does it contain any artificial sweeteners? (obviously the diet version does, but I mean the regular).

Not sure how much this helps but... My mother used to make something like this. You take an egg and beat it with sugar and some espresso (or instant coffee, if you don't have any) and you beat it until it is like meringue and then you add hot water to it. When we were little, that was the only kind of coffee that children were allowed to drink, the rest was for grownups only. :)

That's the spirit, Chappie!!! ;)

p.s. There is not such thing as 'mateine', check out the following ;) Mateine?

The difference is that in the gourd there is very little room for water, which by the way should be hot but not boiling, therefore the yerba doesn't really get a chance to steep much, it's almost like you are just using the water as a medium to carry the pure taste of the yerba to your mouth. A yerbiado would be boiling it in water and steeping it, different taste, to be honest usually yerbiados are for children or elderly women. Not sure why, usually one of those things you drink when you feel ill, etc. Children add milk. I have never tried a french press method, but would imagine it would be like a strong yerbiado. It comes in little tea bags too, which is known as mate cocido. I recommend you try the gourd method (if you haven't). I've found this website which sells the taragui that I find best (the red and white package 'with palo), also there is a set with 500 grams of taragui, a gourd and bombilla for $11.99. These prices are not too bad, I might start ordering from there. Yerba Products

A little side note, we Argentinians always laugh when we see the word 'cajeta' which to us is slang for female genitalia.

I think it depends on what your tastes are, Cruz de Malta is pretty good, I like Taragui. It sounds like you are making a tea out of it maybe? It will taste different made that way, also. When it's like that we call it a 'yerbiado'. There are yerbas that come in different grinds, some with more 'palo' or sticks than others, again, depends on personal preference and usage. I'm not sure where you are living, sounds like your availability is about as good (ie bad) as mine. I live in Oklahoma and we have my mother-in-law bring the yerba when she comes to stay or have friends in California or Miami sent us some. :)

I've always wondered why the instructions for making instant hot chocolate call for 'hot, not boiling' water. Why shouldn't it be boiling? Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

I thought it was weird too, but apparently a lot of people here in Oklahoma do it also. The weirdest though is a friend who also puts sugar on the rice we get at Mexican food restaurants. UGGHHH ;)

I can't remember my mother making anything too awful, or at least, if she ever did, we never had it more than once. My ex MIL, however, is another story. I was 18 and had just gotten married and we lived with the in-laws in England. I already had an idea that she was a bad cook from before I moved in with her, but I only truly found out the horrors of her cooking once I became part of the household. I knew that most everything was either frozen or canned and I also knew that she served baked beans with every meal or at least 6 times a week. I like beans, but I didn't want to eat them every day and since there was only one bathroom in the house and there were 5 of us, well....I told her right away that I didn't eat beans. If I had had more foresight, I would have made up a whole list of things that I didn't eat and saved myself a lot of anxiety. Usually each meal had chips (fries) which were okay, even though they were frozen, also, the obligatory can of beans and some meat substance, either sausages or beefburgers (also frozen, pre-shaped patties), made palatable by drowning them in HP sauce. So I usually got a larger helping of chips (great for my weight issues) and one small, overcooked sausage or beefburger. I covered everything in malt vinegar! Even though we had an oven, she seemed to have an aversion to using it, so everything was microwaved. She once made me a special pizza since she knew I liked it. It consisted of dough she made herself from wheat flour (very strong tasting, dark brown in color), she shaped it into a small disc (had to fit on her microwave browning plate) and spread it with tomato paste (straight from the tube), sprinkled some oregano and garlic powder on top and then added some thick cut strips of swiss cheese (I think the logic here was that as long as the cheese was white, it was suitable for pizza). She put the entire thing in the microwave and cooked it for 5 minutes. Of course, the 'crust' didn't brown, just barely got cooked and hardened. Oh, it was awful!!! By the second week I was wishing I hadn't said I hated beans, because they would have been better than some of the stuff I was subjected to on a regular basis.

I've had 'chicken fried' guinea pig in Ecuador.. GACK, I was only 7 and had no idea it wasn't the colonel's.

I like the 99 cent spicy chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr. (We had Hardees here but they all changed to Carl's Jr, so they might be the same thing, although they do not do roast beef, but do have the six dollar burgers I saw mentioned). They really do have good value for money. I also like the croissanwiches from Burger King, especially when they are 2 for $2. ;) I guess I'm cheap!

Phaelon, let me know how you like the mate. Being born/raised in Argentina, you can imagine that I've certainly tried it. I was surprised to see it seems to be making a sort of quiet breakthrough here in the states. Definitely not tea, but you either love it or hate it. ;)

Yeah, we do have a coffee jar with a sign asking for donations to the "java god", which goes to buy whatever is on sale (usually folgers), which is much better than 'brisk', at least.

I work for a state agency and we have three large boxes of some coffee called 'brisk'. Nobody knows how old it is, we can't find any dates on it and they won't buy us anymore until we finish it up. Nobody drinks it, because it doesn't even smell like coffee, it smells like dirt when you open up the little bags. We have taken to bringing in our own coffee which means that either it is very good or it's bad, depending on who made it, who brought it, what it was, etc. We have some co-workers who look at the color of the coffee and if they can't see through it, they pour out the whole pot and make a new one using less coffee because the dark stuff is 'too strong for their stomachs'. Then there are those who want to add things to the coffee to make it taste better, anything from salt to cinnamon. Then there are the ones who look at you knowingly and wink and say "hey, the next pot is going to be this new gourmet blend from snobsareus, be sure to get a cup".

Should I try to reseason now with the bits stuck on, or should I clean them off and then start the oven process? ;)

Ginger Ale, Jello and chicken soup seemed to be the staples around here. I'm 39 weeks pregnant, I have the flu and the mother-in-law in the house for a month. I think what I really need is a fifth of vodka! :) Right now I'm very congested, hardly a food thing but the best thing for congestion is to take a hit of pepper spray. ;) I only know because we had to take one in our job (I'm a probation/parole officer) and after the first 45 minutes of unadulturated hell and suffering, I think I have never breathed more clearly, never had such clean sinuses and the like. Of course, I think I'd rather have some Indian food!

Okay, I need help. :) I have a lodge cast iron round griddle pan. (It is basically flat, no 'sides' to speak of). It was never properly seasoned and everytime my husband uses it (despite repeated talks about it, bla bla) it gets worse and worse. He uses it to make steaks, etc, which stick, leave bits on it and then he either leaves it in the sink, soaking, or just leaves it on the stovetop for hours, the thing has gotten coated with rust a few times, which I've cleaned off with (don't kill me, brillo pads) and then coated it with crisco, put in hot oven, etc, it looks okay, but still not seasoned and then it goes through the husband process again. What is the best way to get this thing back to normal and start to properly season it? At this moment it has some stuck on bits of meat, etc and is black around the edges and 'unseasoned' looking in the middle?

I just got my toastabags from the Brit site, $10.35, now I have to exchange my toaster for a wide slot. :)

These are hilarious. My father tells about how he went to eat at an army buddy's house and the wife was a horrible cook. He said everything was either burnt or raw, the only thing edible was a plate of sliced tomatoes with salt on them. Then, she brings out dessert which was 'fudge'. He was afraid to try it, but says he did and it was pretty good so he asked her how she made it. She said she just melted a bunch of hershey bars and poured them into a pan and cut them when they solidified again. Ahhhh My mother went to a peruvian friend's house and they served cow lungs to her and my stepfather. She says the worst thing was that the hosts were eating steak because they didn't have more than 2 cow lungs and since they are a delicacy, they decided to let the guests have them. ICKKK

You ask for hot tea and the waiter looks confused and asks if you want him to put the ice tea in a cup and heat it in the microwave for you. The waitress mispronounces the names of common food items You have an aversion to mayonaisse and mayo type products but the waiter/waitress can't seem to get over the 'secret' in their secret dressing to let you know if the sauce will be mayonaissy. "um...it's a special house dressing" "Okay? well, is it creamy?" "Um...well it's not very creamy" The only vinaigrette they have is light and so sweet you'd rather have pancake syrup.

I get it too (only with butternuts though). I haven't ever stopped to put on gloves, I just kind of deal with it later, does make your hands feel strange, doesn't it? I'm convinced it would be some sort of great balm for wrinkles, like those temporary wrinkle smoother cremes. ;)

I have always thought electric can-openers were the most useless. They take up space and is there really someone out there that can't use a hand held?