JennotJenn

BBQ Slaw. You kinda have to be raised in or around Lexington, NC to get it. There's nothing nasty in it, just shredded cabbage, cider vinegar, sugar, ketchup, cayenne and black pepper. But most non-natives won't even try it based on looks alone. It's sort of pink. And delicious. I hate mayonaise based slaw. Here's a link to Guilford Mill : http://www.oldmillofguilford.com/products.htm It dosen't look like they take orders on their site, but you could call them. Be a whole hell of a lot cheaper than ordering from Zingerman's. Sure, they're not organic or nothin', but they are good grits (I HATE Quaker grits). I still don't think you'll like them, though.

I've heard from several people that the food at her restaurant was disappointing. My dad was in Savannah and was thinking about eating there, but he looked in the window of the restaurant first and decided that nothing looked good, so he skipped it. I'm ok with her style of cooking. I collect church cookbooks, after all, which seems to be where most of her recipes come from. But I wouldn't eat much of it, and I'm not sure I want to see a tv show devoted to it. I'm from Winston-Salem, and I love my Kripsies (but not the glazed ones so much...lemon filled to cut the sweetness a little is the best), but ewwwww, fruit cocktail. WTH? Gah. Fruit cocktail is NASTY, and no amount of Krispy Kreme donuts can remedy that. Anyway, I've heard they're good grilled and topped with ice cream.

Thanks, everyone. Looks like I won't starve to death after all. I'm going to print this out and bring it with me. I'll be in the convention center (IFT conference) for a good part of the day, but plan on taking long, leisurely lunches, so I can hit up any of places. Thanks!

Our bigger homebrew store carries soda making supplies. I would call and ask. I will say that, with beer, our biggest concern is always with sanitation, which, even as a 27 year old with a reasonable attention span, gets old fast (husband is a super-sticktler) because there are so many steps at which the beer can become contaminated. A kit may cut the steps down to a point where it's a less annoying concern.

Ok,officially my husband and I watch way too many cartoons. That's one epi we frequently quote anytime egg salad is brought up (what kind of eggs?). Speaking of eggs, and bringing back around to the Simpson's, gotta love the dead roach floating in the pickled egg vat when the health inspector comes around.

What about the Fleet-a-Pita episode? Whenever husband and I go to any Middle Eastern eatery, we always joke (in a surly voice, natch) about ordering "reshnikabab." We also tend to use the Terri/Sherri line about being hungry enough to eat at Arby's quite a bit. Oh, and I know I'll get this wrong, but it goes something like: So I says, red m-and-m, green m-and-m, eh, they all come out the same color in the end---one of my fave lines ever. Hoping I'm not infringing on any copyrights, here.

Maybe I didn't look quite hard enough, but I couldn't find anything specifically on cheap eating in NO. Most of the recs seem to focus on fine dining, but I'm on a really limited budget. I think I have enough money to do one fine dining event (Upperline is closed, so maybe Bayona), but otherwise I need cheap. Really cheap. For breakfast, lunch and dinner I'm talking under $10, but hopefully under $5 (for each meal). Is this even possible? I'll eat anything, not at all picky, btw. I'll be staying in a hotel, but am taking my collapsable cooler so I can keep leftovers...if I can get a huge cheap meal for lunch and eat the remainder for dinner, that would be awesome,too. I'm looking at Wille Mae's for Monday's lunch, and I need to really stretch my dollar. I'm sure RayRay has done a $40 a day in NO, but somehow I trust you guys more... And if you can point me to another thread, please feel free.

Man, I'm coming into town the 16th and I'm going straight to Willie Mae's. Are there directions to the restaurant in the book? And would you happen to know if there's public transport to and from? I ordered that book last night, should be here soon. Anyway, those pics had me drooling, esp. the fried chicken. Is that on the menu every day? God, I hope so.

I didn't know which sub-forum to place this in, but cooking seemed close enough...maybe I should post over in the spirits forum, too? While reading the Zuni Cafe cookbook last night, I realized that I had a bunch of perfectly ripe sweet cherries hanging around the house, along with a pint of decent, but cheap brandy. So one thing led to another and I made a batch of brandied cherries from the book. Once I finished that, I found a bottle of bourbon (which I keep on hand only for when my brother-in-law comes over for Christmas---not against bourbon, I just can't drink right now) and made bourbon cherries. Cherries were on sale this week and I've already eaten enough to literally make me sick, so I was happy to find something to use up the rest of them. Anyway, I know they need to ""ripen" for a couple of weeks, but how long will they last unopened? The cookbook didn't specify, unfortunatly. I know they won't spoil with that much alcohol and using sterile procedures, but will there be a point when the texture or flavor goes off? I'm hoping they'll keep until Christmas (fruitcake and maybe the bourbon ones to above mentioned brother in law). And once opened, does anyone have any idea how long they'll keep in the fridge? Thanks, and if anyone can suggest a better subforum for this question, please let me know.

That was about all my grandpa would eat during the last year or so of his life. By the end, he wouldn't even eat pintos, just cornbread and buttermilk. I personally can't abide it, but he obviously loved it. Anyway, when we had leftover cornbread in the summer, my mom would make stuffed bell peppers. You take about a pone of cornbread (whatever it takes to make the mixture more paste than liquid but not too dry), a pound of hot breakfast sausage, a quart of tomatoes (or maybe it's a pint? whatever doesn't make the mixture too liquid) and a can of corn, mix it up real good, put it in halved, par-cooked bell peppers and bake until crusty brown (with the occasional very delicious burnt spot). I always felt sorry for the kids whose moms made stuffed peppers with ground beef and rice. My cats love cornbread, btw. One of the few human foods they'll fight over.

Hee, that's what the "it's funny because I'm 12 was for" (because I have the mentality of oh, a 12 year old when it comes to humor...make that a 5 year old, 'cause I still think fart jokes are funny, too). There's a hilarious story about my sister-in-law getting drunk, dropping a cigarrette in her lap and screaming "my cooter's on fire!!" Cooter. Ahem. Anyway. And no, you can't beat a free tour with free beer. Really. It's been scientifically proven. I think my biggest problem is going to be choosing from your list, Mayhaw Man. Holy dammit Christmas man, you make them all sound great. They should hire you for PR. And I think I should try them all!

Great information, everyone. Yes, I'm aware of pop the cap. And damn, I'm bad at writing letters to my representatives. But I guess I should bite the bullet and do it, otherwise I can't complain. And I don't know what part of town Cooter Brown's is in, but I'll go out of my way to shop at a place with the word "cooter" in the name. Cooter.* As far as LA goes, I'm thinking about flying in on Saturday instead of Sunday morning. Right now it's about $50 cheaper to fly on Sat instead of Sunday, and even though I'll have to pay for a hotel room for one extra night (something super cheap near the airport), it'll come to about the same amount of money for an extra day. So I can relax and do the tour and take my sweet time. This is going to be a food nerd convention (International Food Technologist), so expect to see us everywhere food nerdery can be found (I think there's a rum distillery tour and a hot sauce factory tour planned, the brewery would be a sneaking off and doing my own thing thing). Anyway, also good info on the brewpubs. I'm sure it'll be so hard to drag a bunch of food science grad students into them... *Yes, I'm aware a cooter is a turtle (soft shelled, non?), but I still think it's funny because I'm like, 12.

Mayhaw, Realize this is an old thread, but I hate to start a new one for this... 'bout how far from the airport is the brewery? I'm coming in on a Sunday in July for a conference and was actually contemplating taking an early flight and renting a car so that I could make the tour at 1. Yeah, I'm probably crazy, thinking about leaving home at 7AM so I can go to a brewery that afternoon. Or not... anyways, I read on the site that it's about 30 minutes from NO, but don't know if that's from the airport side or the other side. Also, ahem, and perhaps this should go on the beer thread, but does LA have a limit on alcohol content in beer? Because NC limits it at 6% and I always try to pick up some stuff that we can't get here whenever I go to a place without crazy liquor laws. Jen

I'm going to NO for a conference in July. Yes, July. Who plans these things?! Dreading the weather, but I'm sure y'all have enough good food to make up for my physical discomfort. Anyway, just booked a room at Omni Royal Crescent for $80 a night, which is near the French Quarter and nearish the convention center. Went through their website and saved money even over what the discount travel websites were offering. Also, if you don't belong to AAA, consider joining. In that trip alone, I managed to save almost enough to cover the cost of a year's single membership. Anyway, the hotel seems nice enough and got good reviews on the travel sites. Don't know what that part of town is like, but I usually end up staying in boutique hotels near the grittier side of town wherever I go, so I'm not overly concerned. I'll keep checking the forum for food recs, though that time of year, maybe i should just be checking for brews and ice cream, since that's all I live off of in the summer.

I've long wanted to start a restaurant called Topless Tapas, with well, toplessness and tapas. Great theme restaurant, huh? Anyone know of a tapas place 'round here that serves salt cod in any form? I'm really, really craving it and I don't want to wait until my trip to Berkeley in March to get some (don't wanna make them at home, either).