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ghostrider

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Everything posted by ghostrider

  1. So--do NOT underestimate the Lizard Brain! 'Cause it'll gitcha when you're not paying attention! The best ways I've found to cope with it, is a combination of keeping close track of my food intake with all those lists and charts I mentioned previously, the better to prevent it convincing me to cheat; not letting myself get too hungry, tired, or emotionally upset--all conditions in which the rational brain is at a disadvantage and the Lizard Brain can rush in and say "ARRRRR! EATTTTT!!!"; and simply staying aware of my inner lizard, understanding its moods and its functions, so it can't sneak up on me. ← A lot of really good advice in this entire post. Hopefully I'll get better at putting into practice. Jst wanted to add that, for those who may be interested, Carl Sagan's book The Dragons of Eden has a plethora of interesting (& layperson-accessible) material on the Lizard Brain. Thanks Miz D for a captivating blog!
  2. Are you speaking of the Center for Science in the Public Interest? By "head" do you mean Kathleen O'Reilly, or....?
  3. I thnk all of these issues are polarizing, just to different people in different ways. If folks can't separate them, too bad for them. Martin Luther King got slapped with the same argument. Not to put WP in the same league with MLK. I am more interested in the direct quotation from Puck toward the end of the piece. He seems to be saying that his new-found opposition to foie gras is based on his concern for childhood diabetes & obesity. Yes, all those children gorging themselves on foie gras are a major problem these days. What he really seems to be doing is sidestepping any questions on this particular issue. That I respect less than any specific position he might take.
  4. We found 2 fine places in Spoleto. This was close to 10 years ago so things may well have changed. I can't tell you their names or precise locations (though I could walk you drectly to both if anyone wants to fly me over - my brain is wired that way, I can always find my way back to anywhere). One was on a street off the square where they hold the market, off to the left if you're walking uphill - sort of a modern looking trattoria, reasonably priced, distinguished by the best tomatoes that we had in Italy that year. One of those "every bite a revelation" experiences. The other was still in the upper town but way down the hill near the edge. Small owner-run place - one guy seemed to do everything. A bit cheaper than most places in town, no doubt due to out-of-the-way location, which made for the most affordable truffle dishes we encountered. Also, cruets of the most marvelously green & fragrant olive oil on every table for pouring & dipping bread. This one we found in one of my guidebooks so I probably have its name somewhere. The first one wasn't recommended, it just looked inviting & had something on the menu that I wanted to try, though I forget exactly what that was now. But I remember the insalata.
  5. ghostrider

    Crab Cakes

    Best crabcakes I've had in Baltimore seemed to have been made with mustard & bread crumbs. There may have been minimal mayo but it didn't muck up the flavor or texture. (Coincidentally still a bit queasy from an overly-mayoed salmon salad last night. I shoulda known better. I like mayo in moderation, & my sense of moderation seems to be more stringent than most folks'.)
  6. Maine DMR site linked on p. 1 says "The 2007 fishing season, which is the same for mobile and trap gear, will be open seven days a week from December 1, 2006, through April 30, 2007. " So it ain't over technically, but may be another matter practically.
  7. And this time of year, you probably won't have to stand in line for 1/2 hour to get one. Gravois - I grew up in St. Louis, & I agree with the pronunciation guide above, except the "s" was silent in the 1950s & 60s - it was always GRAV-oy. Apparently things have gone downhill since then. Back to food - that "Harvest" place mentioned in the Sauce guide was also featured in an episode of "Culinary Travels With Dave Eckert" and it looked pretty iinteresting. I have no idea where in town it might be though.
  8. From the Food-navigator article linked above by SuzySushi-- Count me skeptical about these dilute-sodium salts. If you really want less salt in your foods, don't buy the processed stuff & use less in your cooking. Your tastes will adapt. At least, mine did. But of course this isn't about taste & health, it's about corporate survival.
  9. I find the flavor of the meat & fat around the bone, when properly browned, to be the best part of the chop. I go for a thick chop too. Pan-fry. Pop the lid on the frying pan after initial browning, with heat reduced to low/med, to have a better shot at even cooking. (Leave the lid tilted so that air circulates & the chops don't steam.) It's still tricky, sometimes I blow it & get overcooked chops, but it keeps life interesting.
  10. If you can find a place that has genuine channel catfish on the menu, go for it. It's completely different from the farmed stuff - sweeter, more tender, whiter flesh. Michael's Bar & Grill, 7101 Manchester, does a decent deep-fried, previously frozen whole channel cat, as well as a good Greek salad. If you find a place that does fresh pan-fried channel catfsh, so much the better - and please post it here!
  11. It's a curious effect of the law that some NJ restaurants which previously allowed smoking have transformed themselves into hookah cafes in order to maintain their previous level of business. It's an interesting & somewhat disorienting experience going out to dinner & finding yourself surrounded by tablefuls of teens puffing away on hookahs. I'm no longer sure what decade or country I'm living in. Though I'm still pretty sure it's not Amsterdam. Do these teens & cafe workers need legal protections too? Is second-hand hookah smoke bad for you? I suppose there are studies.
  12. In the 1970s, there was a bar in Greenwich Village called Kettle of Fish that was renowned for its ovate burgers served on a slit length of French bread. Of course the burger you got was so huge that this was about the only thing that would hold together once you started eating it. An early example of oversizing, perhaps. My crowd thought it worked very well; a case could be made that we were simply young, hungry & foolish. I still hate burger rolls that disintegrate before you're halfway through, leaving your hands nothing to grasp but grease, cheese and ketchup. I don't favor crusty rolls these days, but the roll needs to be appropriate to the burger.
  13. I'd think that tomato sauce, as discussed in this thread in Cooking, might qualify. Though since I haven't priced Prego in years, I'm not sure about the "cheaper." I think "easy" & "better" are pretty much indisputable, but there's always the question of "easy for whom"?
  14. Elsewhere on Campbell's website is this bit of fluff: I guess that dilution constitutes a "technological advancement" in some sense.
  15. Dang that chowder looks good! Haven't been able to find shrimp in Jersey all week. Serious bummer. Are the catches tapering off? Well I got links, I'll go look for myself.
  16. They look beautiful! But can someone explain to me how Fla berries are $1.99 / lb in New Jersey? I suspect that the berries in those pix are significantly riper & tastier than what we're seeing in NJ right now - I haven't seen berries that ripe, judging by appearance, in a couple of months - so maybe both are priced fairly for what they are.
  17. Funny, just the oppposite has happened at our local Stop & Shop here in Jersey - I'd say more natural/organic selections than there were a year ago, particularly in the meat area. Both natural & organic poultry have been there for a while but been & lamb are pretty new here. There also seems to be more organic produce though that is more 'just an impression." (Those home replacement meal items have shown up too but not in a big way yet.) At local Whole Foods, organic chicken is beginning to crowd out the "natural" variety at twice the price. Makes you think that these stores are micro-tracking their customers' preferences. They probably are what with computerized inventory systems & reward cards & all that.
  18. I've never understood the point of eating eggplant. Lord knows I've tried them in every form imaginable. They just always leave me wondering why I bothered. I don't really dislike them, in the sense that I find them repulsive like okra or tapioca. They just bore me. When I was much younger there was a Szechuan eggplant & shredded pork dish that I liked. One day I realized that it was the spicy sauce & the pork that I really liked & the eggplant was just taking up space. That was it with eggplant for me. I still don't mind a good baba gnoush as part of a Middle Eastern meal, but it doesn't set me to raving (in a good way) either. I would ask folks to explain what it is they like about eggplant, but ultimately one's tastes are what they are. I just wish I could share in some of the enthusiasm here.
  19. 5 pages & not one mention of Humpty Dumpty chips? Let me rectify that riight now! They're difficult, perhaps impossible, to find outside of Maine, but if you happen to be up that way, don't be put off by the nursery-rhyme name, grab a bag as soon as you see them. Not only are they made from Maine taters, they are cooked till they're nicely browned & have developed twice the flavor intensity of an Utz or Herr's chip, & thrice that of most anyone else's. When we're up in Maine & having lobster rolls, I always bring my own bag of Humpty Dumpty to the wharf & feed the regular chips that come with the roll to the seagulls while I enjoy some seriously good eating. I recommend this practice to all. Outside of Maine, & particularly since I've been on my low sodium diet, I'm fond of the Kettle Salt-Free, which happen to be a russet strain. They're very good.
  20. oh gosh. this is very naive. you're reading vastly too much into an ad. look, the Times is a major corporation. here's how this ad would have worked. the ad/pr department decides to do an ad referencing the dining suggestion (among other things). they call up Bruni for a pithy quote (or e-mail him). he either comes up with one on the spot....or calls or emails them back with one...the ad editor...calls him up (or e-mails) and says...can we rephrase your quote this way? and Bruni says "how about this way..." (alternatively, Bruni gives them five different quotes and says "pick one"). and there you have it. all done in about twenty minutes. no deep thought put into it. just catchy copy. ← Dude, I've worked at major corporations, and I've seen changes in major players' roles presaged in precisely this way. It's not naive. Speculative, I'll grant you, perhaps highly so in this particular instance. But I've seen stranger things happen.
  21. Seems to me that Bruni's designation as IRR, while not inaccurate, was also being said with a nod & a wink. However, I would not expect an IRR to be responsible for handing out the stars; I think that comes from someone with a different job description. Yet Bruni does award the stars, so the Times chose to de-emphasize that aspect of his role at the paper, at least temporarily. Are they trying to sweep that under the rug? Setting the stage for a real change? No, most probably just trying to get people to talk about the Times.
  22. I don't think anyone's pretending that the Mexican crop has anywhere near the same freshness & vibrancy as day truck asparagus. But until we get to that season in the northeast, & compared with the other fresh vegetables that have been available over the last few months, those reasonably green spears are a most welcome sight. And taste.
  23. I feel like there's a lot of economic, class & cultural analysis that could be done on this topic, and much of it is beyond me. (I could do some research on line but I'd rather shop & cook. ) Is home cooking on the decline? I don't know. I see the shopping carts filled with frozen pizzas at the supermarkets & I know that's not the kind of home cooking I knew as a child. But it's still home cooking. I also know the crowds I see at the produce markets in my area of Jersey (Rt. 17 Farmers Market and Corrado's, for anyone familiar with the territory), and they tell me that there's a lot of old-fashioned home cooking still being done. Many in these crowds clearly have English as a second language. Maybe the closer you are to being an immigrant, the more prone you are to doing things the traditional way. That will support a certain infrastructure of food distribution & likely keep home cooking alive & well.
  24. They've got a brewery on Arran now? Too cool! I must go back.
  25. Funny, I have exactly the opposite reaction. I see something perfectly smooth in a tray & my immediate thoughts are "How long has that been sitting there?" and "What's wrong with it that people aren't ordering it?" A little disarray can be a good thing.
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