chemprof

Hi Folks- I want to get my brother a deep fryer for Christmas, but I want it to be something better than a "Fry Daddy" as in more controllable and safer (he's got small kids). He'll probably do fries, wings, mars bars and other things on occation, I dont know. But not continously (my sister-in-law wouldn't let him!). He's got an awesome kitchen (seriously, I take over at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and I feel like I'm at the food netowrk...). Not a Lexus, not a Yugo, something in between for those special occasions when only deep fat will do. Suggestions? (no Turkey fryers please!). Thanks- Anne

I totally agree! I have also had a pleasant meal at Legal Seafood at National. A nice piece of seafood and a glass of wine (or two) is the best preamble to getting on one of those damn puddle jumpers! I also had a good Mexican meal at Macheesmo Mouse in Portland (PDX) a few years ago. There was also a good country/soul food restaurant in Atlanta that I can't remember the name of.... For some reason, O'hare is the worst! All the restaurants are overcrowded and have no selection. Anne

I was a grad student at A&M from 1984-89..I used to go there all the time. There is a class at A&M where you start w/ a live animal and end up w/ cuts of meat (it's an animal science or a range science class, I can't remember). So some of the cuts of meat are inexpertly butchered. I had a friend who left the chem dept and moved over to food science where he did his dissertation on "sausage" (I know he got a job w/ Jimmy Dean after graduation). I know they sold some of his thesis work there. At any rate, I'd recommend it highly. Any "experiments" they might sell are edible. They also made some killer brats as well! And don't forget the Creamery for the best milkshakes! I love me some land grant school creameries (NCSU and Clemson come to mind). Anne

The college I where a work had a tradition of a "potluck picnic" after the opening of school faculty /staff meeting, that I swear must have been leftover from the time when there were "faculty wives" at home to prepare all the dishes while the faculty men were busy at work. Unfortunately the tradition carried over into the 21st century, which a total PITA if you were a faculty member without a wifey to prepare your contribution, 'cause you were at work all day! (one of my colleagues used to joke that you couldn't find a single pie at the grocery store bakery next to the college that day!). I don't remember any truly heinous potluck dishes. However, to help out, the cafeteria provided the main dishes. gloppy vegetarian lasagna, and nasty fried chicken, set out on a steam table outSIDE on a hot August day in the southeast. And of course all the potluck dishes, regardless of quality, rapidly filled w/ yellowjackets and wasps looking for a nice meal! Mmmm...tasty...NOT! Fortunately we recently discarded that tradition (yay for new presidents!), and now it's catered (still by the cafeteria, but they've switched to barbeque, which they are better at) It's still nasty hot and humid, but it's a huge improvement. Anne

Cashew is a cutie! What a great name. I think that orange male tabbys tend toward the gianormus. Ours is 17 lbs and can also reach the kitchent table on standing. Love the pictures of the groceries! I wish we had a Mitsuwas, but I'd be happy with a Trader Joes (please come to the southeast...pleeease I say to the Trader Joes folks). Looking forward to the rest of your blog- Anne

Totally agree. Best BLT EVER! I get it at the Fresh Market, but I don't think they've made it up to Jersey Anne

Hey- I just wanted to chime in here that both of y'all are awesome, cook and blog fantastically, and have extraordinarily photogenic children. Kristin- I've been to Japan twice, and sent students there and would love to go back if I could only get the Freeman Foundation to pay my way (with translator) yet again! Susan- I've been to Minnesota (twin cities even!) and you remind me how much fun and multicultural it is (yay Asian markets and Vietnamese restaurants). Quite frankly, I would also like some of the weather down here in NC! I'd also like to second Wendy's use of the pumpkin in a sage/cream/parm sauce. I've adapted a recipe by Rachel Ray (ducks!) that is similar and it's muy tasty! take care, Anne

My grandmama used to always have Bordeaux in the pantry. So they remind me of her. Milanos are my husband's weakness...but then he lives on chocolate. I know there is a PF discount store around here someplace....I'm not sure I want to know where though. Anne

Cart de Frisco at the University of Oregon. Thai-style fresh grilled chicken sandwiches w/ multicolor slaw. Unique to Eugene! (I'm pretty sure) A very difficult jones for me now that I'm in NC! Anne

Kathleen, thanks for the info. I had thought that was the case, but when I was in California last month (Santa Ynez Valley) none of the wineries "wine clubs" permitted shipments to NC, though they "hoped they would be able to at some point". So I just assumed I was misinformed, but now it seems I wasn't? Sorry for the threadjack. Anne

From the farmers' market: Silver King corn (fresh pulled, w/ butter salt and pepper) Sliced Eva Purple Ball tomatoes w/ salt and pepper Cheeseburger (w/ organic beef, sliced tomato, toasted bun) cooked on the grill. It was a good dinner. Anne

YES! Now, why o why didn't I get any at the farmer's market this morning! Grilled..? I've never tried that but it looks awesome Therese! Anne

For me personally, the very last few times I set foot inside a Winn Dixie (and we're talking some 5 years ago now), the stores were not particularly clean, the produce was not well tended, meat looked below average, overall the canned/boxed choices were poor, and the entire experience screamed "we're not even trying now" ... I have come to realize that the addition of Publix to the Atlanta region has forced other groceries to upgrade their looks, products, customer service, etc. The local Kroger near me (Orchard Park) has knocked themselves out to compete with Publix ... message is on the wall for everyone to see ... best can be better ... ← I agree, in both cases. Here in Greensboro (NC) they build a HUGE new Winn-Dixie "Marketplace" about 6 years ago. It had a restaurant in it, all this stuff. But it was like this wierd meld of Food Lion meets Fresh Market. They had no idea what to do. The restaurant areal closed, and they just stacked Chek drinks around it to hide it. That was just the beginning of a slow decline (refrigerated cases that got turned off, and were used to hold non-perishables, etc) and they're closing this Wednesday. The good news is that I think that store got bought by Harris Teeter! Topic? I'm sure there's a HT and a Freshmarket in Myrtle. Anne

Congrats y'all. Things will get more more interesting down at Natty Greene's and Red Oak. Now we've got that passed, can we get wine shipped from other states anytime soon?! Anne

"Blue Bell, the best ice cream in the coun-tree!" (do they still sing that!?) I loved Blue Bell banana pudding ice cream in graduate school in College Station. (so close to the "little creamery in Brenham"). The new flavas sound excellent, and I wish we could get it in NC! Anne

Melissa, I too love TJ's and go every time I'm in CA visiting family, or in DC visiting friends. Last summer I went to a conference in DC (about 5 hours from Greensboro) and a friend and I made a car-filling trip to the TJ's in Tyson's Corners on the way home. While we were shopping, I noticed to TJ folks looking at a display, commenting on it, saying stuff like "this works really well, we should use it". I went up to them and asked "so, are you planning displays for you new store in NC?" (at this point I would excited if even they ended up in Charlotte, which has everything, of course). They said something along the line of "well, once we get the distribution center in Atlanta built, then maybe we could come to NC". I kind of assumed that was something in the works, probably wishful thinking on my part. But maybe not... Anne

I've just started reading the foodblogs the past two weeks and they have been great (sorry AnnaN and Torakris, yours were awesome, I just didn't have time to comment). This is addictive. Pizza in squares: I noticed that too. There used to be a place where I grew up in Winston-Salem, NC that did that, and we thought it was so cool when I was a kid (I think my mom liked it because she got more crunchy crusty pieces). Also, if I recall correctly, Little Ceasars does that too...maybe it's a Chicago chain originally? Thanks for the crust detail. Medium rare hamburger??? Oh to live in a state where they don't control the doneness every bite of beef you eat by state law (a few years ago, NC tried to outlaw sunny-side up eggs. That didn last ) Anne

grrr...can't quite figure out the quote thing, but Anna, I'll second what Mott said. I had an old scratched up Le Cruset from my great aunt (she would be about 100 now!) that I gave to my brother and he wrote the folks at Le Cruset and got a Brand NEW one! Yes, I'm jealous. Anne

Hmmm...let's see I think it's an apples and oranges thing. I did a ton of sulfur chemistry in grad school so I know that stinky stuff! :) Both are bad.... Sulfur lab: makes you wanna throw up bad. Habaneros: makes you cough, sneeze and cry uncontrollably bad. Neither are much fun! But I do love chemistry, really. That's why I wear gloves and a mask when I make pepper jelly (at least the chopping peppers part), and a use a fume hood when i play with sulfur in lab. Just like cooking, it's all about having the right tools. Anne

Jenn! I know where that is! The casket place used to be the hair salon I went to. I think the diner is still there. It kind of freaked me out when I saw what had happened to the saln My favorite dumb restaurant name: "The Cow Hop" in College Station Texas. Specialty: a "cow pie with fries" (and occasional food poisioning, but I was on a grad student budget). The stupidest restaurant name....here in Greensboro a few years ago there was a place called the "French Ambiance Restaurant". Hi, here's a sign warning you we're darned pretentious..... They were out of business pretty fast... Anne

I really liked Schlotzsky's, especially back when I was in grad school in Texas in the late '80's (weren't they originally a Texas chain?). When they finally came to NC a few years ago, it was still good, but it seemed like their quality had decreased a little as the chain had increased in size and gone national (i'm sure there's a formula for this somewhere! ). When the one here opened a few years ago, it was SRO all the time. Then, mysteriously, it closed for about a year. Then mysteriously, a few months ago, it reopened, and when my husband and I drove by the other day, it looked seriously closed, with a for lease sign on the front. I guess this article explains it. I agree with foodie52, what kind of crack is the management smoking? Anne

I'll go with the southern style folks. I didn't know until I was in my mid-20's that it was even safe to eat green beans that hadn't been cooked for hours! (might as well eat a raw potato! ) But now I like them all ways, cooked long and short, but my current favorite is a varition on the roasting method. Coat them with a bit of olive oil, some salt and pepper (maybe some garlic) and then toss them on a hot grill for a few minutes until bright green and nicely browned in spots. I like them just like that. My husband likes them dipped in chipotle mayo. A friend of mine serves them (after grilling) at room temp with a dipping sauce (remoulade, i think) as an appetizer. Anne

ooohhh, grilled pimento cheeese! Especially from a counter (Buie's Pharmacy in Winston-Salem, also lost to history). My favorite!! I do think a well executed grilled pimento cheese could win the best regionally inspired. How about grilled cheese and bacon? I ate way to many in college. My arteries are probably pretty well closed up. Anne

On the top of the page is a button which says Recipe Gullet.. click on that and post your recipe there! We will be waiting for your hot, hot, hot habanero pepper jelly!! Done! Thai Basil Pepper Jelly Hope you enjoy it! Anne

I really like pepper jelly as a condiment with meats or on cream cheese or goat cheese and crackers as an appetizer. I've been making my own for a few years, and mixing with herbs such as thai basil or rosemary (Nessa, I got that idea after having run across the ad for Austin Slow Burn on the internet!). I use a mix of yellow and red bell peppers, plus chopped habaneros for the flavor and burn. It's really very simple to make except... I have to wear gloves and a mask when working with habaneros! The first time I tried it without the mask, I dissolved into a coughing, sneezing, eye-watering mess. I swear I've had an easier time working with dangerous chemicals in the lab. But the results are worth it. If anyone would like the recipe just let me know and I'll try to figure out the appropriate place to post it. Anne