Mudpuppie

Don't tease; feel free to mention them, if only as a warning for others. For dried pasta, I find Ronzoni (domestic, not expensive AFAIK, to be good enough for me.) I'm still thinking about the original premise of the thread, but Mudpuppie's sig reminds me of something that I always rant about: supermarket tomatoes. They're certainly not overrated, but they're definitely overpriced at ANY price. Friends don't let friends buy supermarket tomatoes. (Fresh tomatoes, that is; even an indifferent canned tomato is better than those those flavorless globs of tomato-shaped cellulose and water that supermarkets sell). Woo hoo, a kindred spirit! Okay, the pastas: Trader Joe's has, in my opinion, abysmal pasta products. Though you can buy their pastas at a great price, they're always mush. The other one on my no-no list is some sort of "natural" brand. I can't remember the exact name, but I recognize (and steer clear of) the packaging when I see it. It's something like Natural Value, or something, and is from California. Blech. I really like DeCecco, but all the other major brands are just fine. As for tomatoes, Amen! In most parts of the US, tomatoes should not be purchased in January. And if they are, they should be imported from much, much warmer climates. (In which case, they'd probably be justifiably expensive. But also in which case, they'd probably be bred for travel, which makes them anathema in my book.)

Ever hear the phrase "Don't ask the question if you don't want to know the answer"? Potted meat used to be my favorite label-reading experience. It's a total gross out. I don't know why they're honest about what goes into it, but they are. It's worse, even, than vienna sausages. Here's some education.

I agree with most of your examples, MSG. Two, though, stand out. Dried pasta: I've found that some varieties cook up gummy, no matter how I try to vary the cooking times. (I'm talking long pasta here.) Two specific brands are on my bad list. I won't mention them -- just wanted to add my two cents on pasta. As for eggs -- I agree with you that there's not much difference in the taste of eggs. Organic eggs from free-range chickens taste much eggier to me than the mass-produced variety, but this is only noticeable (to me) if I'm doing some straight-up egg thing -- scrambled, fried, boiled, etc. In cooking, I can't tell the difference. However, there's a phenomenal difference in the way the hens are treated, and I choose to spend my money on brands that use humane production. The cost isn't that much more, so it's worth it to me. I realize not everyone would agree, but I also think not everyone realizes how bad the conditions are in factory egg farms. I won't rant here, but I have a lot to say about it. As for overpriced and overrated, I can't tell a major difference between white sugar and fancier types, say turbinado. I just busy me the plain ol' granulated. As for salt -- I'm a new convert to kosher. Now I can taste the difference between table salt and any other kind, and I'll never go back. I think it's moot, though, because kosher salt is anything but overpriced!

Exactly! The double mezzaluna is even worse. It bruises twice as bad, and food gets wedged between the blades. I think its value as a decorative object far outweighs its usefulness as a tool. Sort of like a vase.

Sounds like you've stumbled across Violet Crumble. Yes? No? I like marmite. The key is to eat very, very, very little. Spread a tiny bit on toast. A little goes a long way. An amount the size of, say, a pea, is about right for a piece of bread.

I love adding cumin seeds to home fries (small dice), then frying until really brown. Makes great tacos.

If the food is just unpalatable, not past prime, you could always donate it to the local food bank. Kill two birds with one stone and feel good doing it. It might as well be appreciated.

Nugget is based in Woodland. There's an older, not-upscaled one there. There are two in Davis. One nice, on the fancy side, one not. There's also a new one in, I think, West Sac. Nugget is my main store. I like their quality -- produce, cheese and bread especially. But what I really like is the way they treat their employees. It seems to come from the top down, too (as oppsed to being specific to one store's management). A lot of the college-aged kids who work there seem to genuinely like it. They're extremely helpful and -- gasp! -- pleasant, unlike many major supermarket chains. It's also a very clean store. They get big points in my book -- and they'd have to, since their prices are a wee bit higher than, say, Safeway. I do have one complaint with my store right now, though. They just moved their self-service olive bar to their deli section, so now you have to flag down an employee to get a scoop of olives. I find that annoying. Haven't asked why they made the change, yet. Have to go try that Vacaville store! Never been in.

In my house, we had a collection of glasses that were originally Armour dried beef jars -- remnants of creamed chipped beef. () They were the perfect juice glass.

Make that a spoonful of vegetable oil and honey, and I'm with you!

http://www.newsleader.com/news/stories/200...ews/228963.html

Wow! So Pancho's is still around! Some of my favorite childhood memories are of eating at Panchos with my huge (20 cousins) family. Do they still have the little flags on the table that you raise when you want more food? And those sopapillas! You folks down in Texas don't know how good you have it. Y'all can turn up your nose at Panchos and go to any number of better Mexican restaurants, but I'm a Texan living in Canada now, and Panchos is much better than the Mexican I've tried up here. Sorry to veer off the candy topic. Just had to wax nostalgic. All right, I'm convinced that this place needs its own thread. They're making a comeback, apparently. There's a new one in Round Rock. And one in, of all places, downtown Austin -- at 6th and Congress. This was the place where my Hoosier parents first learned to eat Mexican in the 60s. And I was weaned on the stuff. All important family gatherings took place there. As far as decent Mexican food goes, well, it's not really up for consideration. But I have to admit, I asked my folks to take me there during my visit to TX during xmas. They asked me how the food was. I said, "It's disgusting, but I'm loving it!" Mmmmmm, sopaipillas! Plasticky chile rellenos! It's like baby food! What's wrong with that? Here's some PR: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4PRN/2...1/article.jhtml

Aw, I looooove Hut's. How could you not? (Well, I have one friend who refuses to eat there because the buns fall apart, but he's weird.) Hut's has dozens of burger choices, though, and veggie burgers, and Dirty's doesn't, so that tips the scale in favor for me. No assumption here that it would for anyone else. So you're one of those people! I always knew there were people who enjoyed the Magnolias. I've never been one of them, having either having had a bad service experience or sanitation experience on every visit. It's one of those places, for me, where the menu never really lives up to it's appeal. But I'm sooooo glad you like it!

Huh? Have I been pronouncing some or all of these three words incorrectly all this time? It's visual alliteration. Emily Dickinson used visual rhymes all the time, and she's considered to be a great poet.

Heh! I can distinctly remember the metallic taste of the spines of Little Golden Books. My best memory, though, is eating corn on the cob with my grandpa. My grandpa never met a meal he didn't like -- seriously. Each meal he ate was the best ever; he'd spend the entire mealtime, plus the three hours following, talking to anyone who'd listen (or wouldn't) about how great that meal was. But corn on the cob was his favorite, dentures notwithstanding. He could eat 8 or 10 ears in one sitting. I'd visit my grandparents in Indiana during the summer. Grandpa and I would go to the farmstand to by a bushel, then we'd sit in the yard, husk the things, and talk. Grandma would boil them up. If it was too hot in the house (and it often was), we'd eat those ears on the front porch, butter dripping off our elbows onto the concrete. Grandpa was just about the messiest eater alive. Even though he'd wipe his face constanly with a wadded up, corn-soaked napkin, he would literally have corn ear-to-ear when he was done. (The napkin, in the end, only served as a corn vector.) I can't imagine ever having a better memory. It's only coincidentally about food.

I love the cookbook site. I also love the menu site at the LA public library. But man, I love that cookbook site.

Mesquite smoke, BBQ sauce, Dr. Pepper

Mangoes are, in fact, related to poison ivy. Sensitive people can have reactions to them.

It's worse than that. Monsanto sued a Canadian farmer whose fields were sown with windborne Monsanto volunteeers. They claimed that the farmer -- who had intentionally not planted RoundupReady crops -- owed Monsanto a licensing fee because the crops were growing his land. And there's the Terminator gene, which they bought the rights to but never introduced into the market. I second the vote for GM stuff being an affront to economics and to the palate. (But really, I think the biggest crime is that tomatoes are available in supermarkets in January in most of the country. )

It's more about them, Mabelline, than it is about you. Your not drinking probably causes some people to feel like maybe they should feel guilty about their drinking. So they try to get you to join in so they don't have to feel bad. People are that way sometimes, and it's hard to get it through their heads that it's not really about their needs.

You didn't -- I am squeamish. I still think, though, that the average american palate is becoming less squeamish in general. (Mine is not. I'm pretty stubborn.) Nor should you!

Ebay's usually a good bet too, but the bidding is a pain. I find most of mine in used bookstores. If it's not a bookstore that specializes in antiquarian stuff or cookbooks, the prices are usually really reasonable.

So all you anti-dream-whip folks probably wouldn't be interested in this recipe?

Yeah, now he claims his Texas heritage. It's obviously a ruse, since if he were a real Texan he'd know that once revoked or insulted, the Texas birthright is not easily reissued!

Ah yes -- whomp biscuits!