chow guy

Breakfast Burrito Christmas (both red and green chile) and Eggs Sardou with Hollandaise are at top of my list.

Sadies Salsa ...It's simple and HOT

I brought a tried and true Greek salad to a pot luck made up of ranchers and rural types. (I'm talking about real cowboys and cowgirls). I used mixed baby greens, artichoke hearts, Feta, red onion, cherry tomatoes, pepperincini and Kalamata olives. I always dress it with EVOO ans balsamic vinegar. My huge wooden bowl stayed full and there were many requests for ranch dressing. One woman confided in me she was afraid to eat weeds because dogs and animals..."you know..." You gotta know your crowd.

Before Atkins... I fell back most often on Pasta Putanesca or pesto. These days (4th week of induction) I eat thinly sliced deli meats with two slices of cheese.

Akroyd and Belushi's "Cheburger, cheburger, chebuger" bit was a howl.

I use Busha Brownes' Jerk Seasoning (paste). Which has all the usual ingredients but I add lots more fresh garlic, a smidge of soy sauce and some citrus juice to the marinade. I like to use dark meat chicken and then grill it.

The Angus scam always amazes me. There is Certified Black Angus, Registered Black Angus, sort of Black Angus, Angus' cousin twice removed and a cow called Angus. It's sort of like comparing Angus and oranges.

I love the Media Noche sandwich and Pernil (roast pork) with black beans and rice and plantanos maduras. I also like Ropa Vieja and love batidos of all kinds especially Mamey. When it comes to the rest of the region I love anything done in a good jerk seasoning and a well made Tres Leches is a real treat too.

I'm from the Hudson Valley where we always said soda. My brothers have lived in Ohio for years and now they say pop. Go figure. I think It's a mid west kinda thing. I live in the West and have a heck of a time finding seltzer. I can only find club soda (which tastes salty).

What an oustanding selection of cheeses. I'd be happy with a selection of: St Ande with a fresh pear, Banon and Cabrales with crusty bread.

Is akee poisonous at some stage of development?. I have a vague memory about it being dangerous for the uninitiated.

It's always a trip to see how things here are percieved from the other side of the world, especially from a place that enjoys Vegamite as a condiment. The comment about cutting white out of bacon reminded me of why I don't like British style bacon. If it's not crisp (not unlike pork rinds) I'm not interested. Which has now sent me off obsessing on the wisdom of eating pork rinds in the induction stage of the Atkins Diet. They are "sortta" like puffed up bacon: all salty, crunchy, greasy and flavorful.

I love a good pickle and good slaw, they go perfectly with a sandwich. It's a shame so many places don't have good versions of either. I take it as a lack of attention to detail (after all it's not rocket science). I think of them as a kind of barometer. If the pickles and slaw are great the rest of the menu is probaably going to be pretty darned good too.

What city are you refering to?

Cynthia, I second that emotion. It really bugs when things like that happen. A friend of mine played up at El Farol and as I recall the musicians get the door "period". So it's kind of understandable but I still don't like it. P.S. It has been like the twighlight zone trying to e mail you from the link on this site. I just got another e mail I sent to you back. l lost your e mail addresss when I lost my inbox (on and on with the tech stuff). If you e mail me I'll send you the returned e mail and you can report the glitch to e gullet. I'll also send you a flyer about my book signing on the 10th at the Albuquerque Press Club. Chow, Scott

I was down there last year doing a show and I dragged some of the cast over to PB. We also went before they opened about 4:30 (in 117 degree heat) even so we, waited an hour and finally had to get back to the theatre for our call. Next time I'll get it to go. I was in the New Haven area in January. There are some serious contenders for " Best Ever"in that part of the country. My vote goes to Roseland Apizza in Derby CT.

This is the year I am going to do some major preserving of the ample fruit I am blessed with from my garden. I will recover much needed real estate by throwing out all those items that have not been used in years, that are taking up valuable space. I am also going to srping for a whole new lighting design in my kitchen. One that does not cast giant shadows on my work areas.

Lots of good advise in this thread. The covering with plastic idea works very well, (Hagen Daz uses that principle in their packaging). I also use smallish plastic containers. They are safer and help to keep me from eating the whole batch in one sitting (especially when it comes to mango,peach,lemon ginger or caramel cashew).

I really miss Hagen Daz Vanilla Orange (sobet) Swirl ice cream.and their Margarita sorbet

About one and a half minutes from slice of citrus and plumb tomato to splash of Blind Betty hot sauce. The real question is how long does it take for the rock hard avacaods to ripen or how much of the overripe ones do I throw away?

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. I grew up in the Hudson Valley with both parents in the restaurant business. In 1952 my first white table clothed experience was at Brolios in West Park in the Hudson Valley. My father was the tuxedoed waiter that served us. I always had the snails and the lobster. My Dad was bursting with pride because his young sons liked anchovies in their Ceasar, knew how to disassemble a whole lobster, and used the right silverware. The experience was very formal, we always wore suits and had to be on our best behavior. I remember the lobster was delicious and the vegetables were boring, I liked my mothers better. My mother worked as a waitress at The Dutch Rathskeller in the Kirkland Hotel in Kingston (It was the premier fine dining place in Ulster County at the time). Max Brugman was the owner and hired ONLY women. He instructed them in wine service, table side cooking and French service (boning fish and flambe etc.). He made them wear fetching Dutch girl uniforms with starched hats and aprons. My mother had a larger left bisep than my Dad (who was skinny) she built it while carrying the heavy trays. She also made much more money than my Dad. This was very difficult for my father to accept. When we dined at the Rathskeller we were fussed over by the staff and always ordered the Indonesian Reistaffel. I loved the Cherries Jubilee. As I look back on those days with nostalgia, pork and chicken seemed to be more moist and flavorful. Vegetables were boring and usually overcooked, and salads (except for Ceasar) were really boring. An iceberg wedge with hopefully a pound of homemade blue cheese dressing was as good as it got. The dessets were more flambouyant and often flaming. Wines were French and German and cocktails were fun and required. I feel that in comparrison top places today like Trotter or Chez Panise etc. feature a much higher quality of ingredients and more creative use of them. Today wine lists are expanded beyond belief and wine IQs are much higher. Service back then was done by efficient "servants" and not by knowledgable "colleauges" and guests were made to feel like they were being pampered. There was also a tableside show that was all part of the experience. I much prefer the modern take on service except for the embarrassing bias toward women, we still too often find in fine dining (front and back of the house) today. I must also point out that meals cost a whole lot more today in relation to todays average salaries. Weekly fine dining has become a rich persons sport. The first celebrity chef I became aware of was Andre Soltner at Lutec in the sixties. Later in the seventies and early eighties there were celebrity couples in kitchens like the Waltucks at The Quilted Girraffe and the Pritskers at Dodin Bouffant. My parents opened their own bar/ restaurant in the late fifties. It was a neighborhood place with excellent prime rib, corned beef and cabbage, pork roast, leg of lamb, homemade soups (great fresh clam chowder every Friday), fresh veggies and real potatoes. At some point in the mid seventies my father started to cut back on quality. I got in a huge fight with him about him using instant potatoes, soup bases,canned clams and bottled dressings. He pointed out that people didn't know the differerence and he could no longer make money at the prices they charged without cutting back on quality. I think that was the beginning of the time when fine dining got finer, and the middle got thicker with corporate places and customers didn't know the difference. It seems to me that even bathed in the rosey glow of nostalgia, the high end places of yesteryear don't hold a candle to what's going on today... but sadly, there were alot more places with good affordable home cooked food back then. Economics have made it too hard to keep places like that going.

I have found a frozen Guacamole at Costco that is actually really good. It's called Avo King (4 in a pack). I add lemon or lime juice, cut up tomato and some hot sacue or chile to jazz it. I brought it to a party Saturday because I had no time to make anything else and someone asked me to do a Giant bowl for another party. Thank goodness for Costco.

QUOTE (sabg @ Mar 8 2004, 07:57 AM) i love to hear some secrets for the best clam sauce...i use cilantro instread of parsley I use neither - don't like cilantro. Fresh thyme, and lots of it. I'm blessed to live where I can dig my own clams and have them on the table within the hour, so I make clam sauce often. Often enough that I vary it according to the whim of the moment - but I always start with EVOO and garlic; always use fresh (or flash-frozen frezh) clams, coarsely chopped, and a little of their juice; always fresh-ground tellicherry pepper, always fresh thyme. Sometimes, if the fancy takes me, a little dry vermouth.

Mags, This sounds exactly like my wife and several of her friends. As for men, Most of my middle aged male friends that are slim, are manic about avoiding carbs. Which diet would you recommend? I bought "The Low Carb Bible" for information about such diets but it's like a travel guide without an opinion. I think eating vegetarian on Atkins might be a challenge for my wife. I am an omnivore (capital omni) and I've have been impressed with the Fat Flush Diet because a friend has done so well on it and raves about how easy it is. But there are lots of expensive suppliments and rituals. I am thinking South Beach is more better. Any wisdom? What is your regimen?

Thanks for the tip. I love the fumes it saves on my Sudafed bill.