Varmint

Damn, most of the beer mentioned here was a staple for me in college and grad school. The taste was totally immaterial. As far as Pabst's is concerned, when I lived in Milwaukee, I frequently sought out opportunities to do a tour, as they didn't limit the number of samples of which you could partake. The amazing thing about that brewery was the number of god-awful beers they made. Here's what I can recall: PBR Olympia Schlitz Colt 45 Hamms Olde English 800 Falstaff Ballantine Pearl Schaefer There were many, many more. Ah, memories.

One can never go wrong with currant jelly, 'specially when it's Grandma Varmint's.

Y'all haven't even ventured into the world of the southern redneck bars. You find at these a clientele mix of tobacco and pig farmers, bikers, truck drivers, and the unemployedwho live in the double wide down the street. What's great about these joints is that the Oly Light and PBR is kept frighteningly cold, no imports are available, and you'll never know what will come next: Fist fights, group singing (usually to Hank Williams Jr. or David Alan Coe), and frequent arguments about NASCAR. The last time I stopped at one of these bars was when I was engaged to the soon to be Mrs. Varmint. She, my best friend and I pulled into one of these road side dives that make you a little nervous. Driving a Saab convertible certainly didn't make us any friends, to say the least. The instant we walked in, this one guy started hitting on my future bride. I started a conversation with him, just to be the manly protectorate of her, and I managed to ask him what he did for a living. He replied, "I squeeze tits -- I'm a dairy farmer." We shotgunned a couple of beers and he decided I was all right. We made it out of there unscathed, but with a lot more beer in us. At 75 cents a pop, it was worth it!

Thanks for the great report, Rochelle. You failed to mention if your friend, Max, was working that evening!

I believe I may be partially to blame for this post, as while I was dining with Chefette, Edemuth, Malawry at Cafe 15 last evening, I made the comment that although the food was nearly flawlessly executed, it didn't really knock my socks off. Our discussion turned to whether food had to be "challenging" to be "excellent." We certainly didn't reach a consensus by any means, but we were in agreement that impeccable ingredients, technique, and presentation will generally make for a fine meal. Ultimately, however, my issue was indeed one of innovation. When I dine out, particularly if I'm going to drop a couple of hundred bucks, I want to be inspired. I want to praise the chef for doing something that first of all tastes great, but it also makes me think of the dish (or its components) in a different way. A restaurant that can do the classic dishes or slight variations thereof will always have a place in my dining repertoire. But more often than not, I desire innovation. Innovation that doesn't work, however, is the worst. I think culinary innovation should be evolutionary, not revolutionary. When someone tries to turn the gastronomic world upside down, it usually is too far gone for me. It must, after all, taste good.

I ate at Lotus of Siam in Vegas a year or two ago. It is in a very seedy strip mall that is surrounded by a number of other ethnic restaurants. It is indeed quite good -- far better than anything I've had anywhere else, but that's probably not saying much. I didn't take notes at the meal, as I was dining with a client who might not understand why I would want to write down what I was eating. I recall having a rice salad with ginger, chilies, scallions and Thai sour sausage. The rice was slightly crunchy and the other ingredients created a great contrast of flavors. We also had fresh water tiger prawns, which I vaguely recall didn't knock my socks off. We also had a crispy catfish dish -- it was a whole fish, deep fried served with chilies, cilantro and some other items -- peanuts?? We had one of their curries -- very flavorful and spicy. I recall the freshness and sharpness of the flavors. Obviously, they make all their pastes themselves. We finished with their coconut ice cream with sticky rice. I've had this dish a number of times, but their rendition was great. The ice cream and rice complemented, rather than competed with, each other. The room is nothing to get excited about. You also need to push the waiter to the Issan items, as it appears they tend to occidentalize their menu somewhat (which was appropriate for my client).

The worst I was ever busted (other than the time I threw up while I was sleeping, but I don't want to go there), was when I tried to sneak in the back door. My parents were having a dinner party and had over the CEO of the bank where my dad worked. As I was heading up the back stairs, my mom called me into the dining room telling me she wanted to meet some people. I calmly walked in, knowing my stability was questionable. Thus, I did the smart thing and reached for a chair to lean against. Unfortunately, I missed and ended up falling flat on my face. My parents were the only ones not laughing (myself included). I'm not sure if that delayed my dad's promotion or not.

The hangover cure thread made me think of what we did to cover up our beer breath when we were out drinking unbeknownst to our parents. We always went to McDonalds, ate a boatload of fries, and followed that up with half a pack of orange Bubble Yum. This worked 2 out of 3 times!

The sloppy joes that I grew up with always had a slightly sweet flavor to them. I think it was brown sugar. Plus they had onion, ketchup, tomato paste, mustard, worcestershire, salt and pepper. We always put the meat in the bun, smeared a little butter on top, and broiled quickly to melt the butter. I still make them like that for the L'il Varmints.

Thanks again for another great report, Rochelle. I think we all need our own personal Chefette from time to time!

OK, time for a pet peeve here. How many people use tall candlesticks in the middle of their table? Or large floral arrangements? I absolutely despise it when there's a large object sitting in the middle of the table that prevents people from seeing the person across the way. We have handmade candlesticks that are 8 inches tall and each holds about 4 of those squatty little tealight candles. Whenever we go to a restaurant with tall candles or floral arrangements, we ask the waiter to remove them right away. Generally, we get a sympathetic response, as they recognize how stupid they are, too.

Our dining room table was designed by my wife's father and is a beautiful walnut piece, seating 14. We don't want to cover it up too much (although we recently put a big piece of glass on it for long term protection). We do try to add lots of color to the table. We always use placemats and cloth napkins, often of multiple colors. Our favorite is green placemats with purple napkins (and vice-versa). We've been given or have inherited probably 30 different types of napkins/placemats. Our formal china is hardly formal: Wedgwood Solar, which is a somewhat funky looking all white setting. I really don't like serving food on anything other than white. Our flatware is plain old stainless Retroneu -- for some reason, I don't like silver. I actually feel like I can taste the silver (and we have a 24 person setting of my wife's great, great grandmother's silver). Our glassware is simple Orrefors, which holds up well. I generally plate everything at the kitchen counter. Garnishing is generally simple with herbs, basic reductions. I'll break out a squeeze bottle every once in awhile just for effect. There are times when I don't plate, and that's usually for family dinners or dishes that I know people will want additional helpings. In that case, we'll do things family style, and I have a boatload of North Carolina made pottery. I'm very much into pottery as functional art, and we can get quite a lot of high quality (and colorful) stuff down here.

FG, knowing your aversion to sweet tea (except when eating barbecue), you really have to keep your steeping time to a minimum to avoid an overload of tannic acid. As Malawry stated, we can generally steep like crazy because we add sugar to a point of super-saturation. We then dilute later on. If we didn't sweeten so much, the tannins would overwhelm you and eliminate much of the refreshing traits that we desire. I routinely make both iced tea and iced coffee at work. For the tea, I steep a single cheapo tea bag in about 5 ounces of boiling water for 60 to 90 seconds. I add a little sugar, and then add ice to bring it to 16 ounces. This has the right flavor for me and isn't too sweet.

What words describe wines I like? How about, "Steve Plotnicki is buying?"

I just remember how helpful that website was to me when I went to Provence a few years back. It's not a personal experience, but Russ Collins lives in Var, so I thought the site might have some useful info.

You already have plenty of printed material, but you might want to check out Russ Collins' website, http://www.provencebeyond.com/index.html

Keep your chin up, Rachel. This thread has been very helpful to those of us who are planning on re-doing our kitchens. First, we recognize that it's a big emotional as well as capital expenditure. Second, we learned that there's a shitload of varying opinions out there about the "proper" way to do it. The key thing is that you'll soon have a kitchen to be proud of. For that, I say, Hurrah!

Thanks, FG. I knew you saved everything.

Fat Guy and I did a spur of the moment hot dog tasting several years ago. It was terribly unscientific based on franks available at the local grocery store. I don't recall the actual results, but I believe a "skinless" dog was preferred and Ball Park Franks clearly came in last. FG, do you have those results?

Criminy. I assume you didn't forget the basil, too.

Why did you consider it to be a poor specimen? How did you make it? Pine nuts? Food processor? When did you add cheese? Generally, for a food processor to work, you have to use a butt load of basil. Otherwise, you just won't get it fine enough. Same thing with the garlic. I'd suggest you do the garlic separately into a paste. The pine nuts can be added to the processor, but realize they'll remain somewhat chunky. I'm sure you used good EVOO. Did you use salt? I use lemon juice to brighten up the flavor, depending on how good the basil was. Parmesano reggiano, of course. Make sure that's grated fine -- your Microplane® should do the trick. Hmmmm, what else???

Gosh, I just realized that it's been about 5 years since I last went to the Outer Banks, and I live in North Carolina. I agree with Mark's suggestion of the Blue Point. It's a fairly casual place, but the chef has always had fun. Duck is about a 15 minute drive north of Nags Head. For a more formal dinner, you might want to try the restaurant in the Sanderling Inn. I think they actually have a dress code. I've heard that the restaurant isn't that bad. You won't find any exceptional dining on the Outer Banks, primarily because business is so seasonal. You shoud find places that are pretty good, however. I'll check with some of my partners who have houses on the Outer Banks and see if they have other suggestions.

I don't think that's the acid. That's probably due to bromelain, the proteolytic enzyme in pineapple that you'll also find in papaya and (to a lesser extent) figs. This is the enzyme that breaks down the gelatin fibers in Jell-O (thus, the appropriate "do not use pineapple" labels on the Jell-O box). I guess some people must be more susceptible to the effects of bromelain. Do you also have a problem with papaya?

I burned my uvula on some very hot mozzarella. Yup, that thingy that hangs in the back of your throat. The ENT who looked at my throat told me he had never seen such a large uvula in his life. I no longer have my uvula, as it also caused me to snore like a chainsaw. I miss my uvula. I don't feel complete anymore.

Nope, we in the Southeast are linked with the Southwest and the South Central (whatever that might be). To combine North Carolina with Arizona is a bit of a stretch, but again, this is a fairly metro-NYC-centric site. We're used to putting up with you. Florida, however, is a different world altogether.