K8memphis

Y'know this might have been a case of degree, this idea of Mom's round steak coming out great and it being really good. I mean maybe you should have tried her beans or chili or spaghetti to get a feel for why I thought the round steak was so good. (Love you, Mom!!)

Mom would put a whole round steak on a very large piece of aluminum foil and sprinkle it with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and roll it up like a jelly roll and then twist the excess foil on the sides like a big piece of candy so the juju did not leak out and then bake it for quite a while. It was really good. Why she rolled it up I don't really know but it came out great. So you could do the same thing with a bunch of onions & seasonings. Probably saute the onions first. Maybe something like that? Serve it on some egg noodles or nice rice. Yeah, I've seen other recipes for round steak where it's rolled up come to think of it. Each roll was a serving where you'd put a bunch of carrot sticks and celery and onions & stuff, roll it up and bake it. The foil just keeps it all steaming. A pat of butter in there wouldn't hurt a thing. Wrap some bacon around it. A few eye of round thoughts for you. (toe of newt)

Having been inspired by this thread, I made four pizzas and this is what's leftover. I used nice stoneground whole wheat flour for the crust. It was really nice & crispy and it was good for us too. Two of them are hot Italian sausage with bell peppers and purple onions, one with red tomatoes and one with yellow tomaotes. Then there's a spinach with lots of garlic and feta cheese and tomatoes. The last one is spinach with regular pizza cheese & red tomatoes. I blanched fresh tomatoes, skinned them, cored and slice off the top then just with my finger, remove the seeds and juice then sliced them--I use this in place of 'sauce'. Then I seasoned it all up, added toppings, brushed the crust with olive oil and sprinkled seasoning on it. I read a few recipes and then made up the crust. I used 3 packges of yeast activated in 2 cups of water that had a squirt of honey in it. About 5 cups of nice stone ground whole wheat flour, an overflowing quarter cup of olive oil and two teaspoons of salt, probably should have used three teaspoons of salt and I grated a half of a small onion into the dough. I let it rise twice and I spread it out onto parchment paper by hand. Baked at 475 on the parchment (easier to handle) on a stone about 5 minutes without toppings, then 15 minutes with all the toppings. It was just real casual with family so I just tossed 'em all out on the table. We had salad and wine Inama Vin Soave. A nice evening.

A half of course.

Just for the record, I did offer half salads and half sandwiches too. The cup of soup however was both halves.

I wanna go order half salads with y'all. However, the server can't rewrite the menu. Half a salad is half the price too. The manager of the place would make that call. I don't think holding the server hostage is correct either. The server knew what would fly & what wouldn't. So there's a flag on the play. And when I had my tea-room, people drove me effing nuts with special 'let's rewrite the menu' requests. So there's the manager's view of that. Some places do sell half salads, not all.

"Cheers" To Our Famous Lunch Buddy! Have a great lunch.

K8, I'm going to introduce to you a couple of MILs I know (mine and my husband's). And an Italian grandmother or two. ← You must have missed my post about my Mom-in-law who had Parkinson's. My husband's comment on it was that he hoped the pancakes would not come flying across the kitchen. She had a live-in caretaker to do all her own meals but his Mom cooked anyway when he came over. But you know what I meant at least there were some excuses made. At least it wasn't let's all go to lunch but I'm gonna sit here like a rock because this picture of a Cobb salad isn't pretty enough for me. It can be awkward if someone doesn't eat in a small family group like that. It can be awkward if someone writes about not eating in a small family group. Besides you were on the other side of this debate.

Well I'm curious, why pose the question in the first place if it was so innocuous, so easily dismissed? Even a mother-in-law couldn't argue much with I ate a late breakfast (more like lunch) and it's too early for dinner. And there are two totally different views here of the same story but only getting the selected facets at a time gets widely divergent response. Obviously. No hat no crow. Not even half. But I love the opportunity for the debate. And I hope Margy comes up with another great thread. And I'm glad most of all that she will remain with us.

I don't know why and I beg for antibodies to be developed soon so I can be immunized, but mothers-in-law in general have a thing about feeding people especially their family, especially thier sons. You may think you are all going out to eat but no, there's more to it. Much more. I'm not sure I can find words to explain this phenomonon but it surely exists. My Mom-in-law had Parkinson's with the huge un-controlled body movements. When her boys came over damnit she was gonna fire up the stove come what may. Back away from the gyrating little lady holding high the spatula. So that is what you encountered there, Margy. It's a force of nature. World's collided, Girlfriend! A Mom-in-law is gonna see that food is prepared and that it gets eaten. Lightening is darkness by comparison to this force. Reminds me of a line from an ancient Gary Cooper movie. He converted to being a Quaker, who are non-violent, because he wanted to marry one. The bad guys were on his ranch and he aimed his rifle at them, his wife gasps or something, he cocks the gun and peering down the barrel at the intruders states, "Thou are standing where I'm about to shoot." No there's nothing wrong with not eating if you don't want to. Unless your Mom-in-law has you in her sites. Puts a whole new spin on BAM!

Here's for when you get here. But on the way?? I mean I've driven that stretch plenty but I've never been on the lookout for an eatery. But that link is primarily for downtown locations. There's more good stuff in Midtown. Brother Juniper's on Walker in Memphis state area is great for breakfast. We go to Bosco's a lot on Madison off Cooper. I'll ask my daughter again. I'm thinking any area because you are mobile right?

I asked Chef-boy, my Cordon Bleu trained son where was his favorite place to eat downtown besides Bigfoot. He thought hard and finally said, are you ready? He said, Denny's! He said he loves the Eggs over MyHammy and the little mini hamburgers with onion rings. And he works in high end fine dining. He said it's great at 3 or 4 in the morning.

I think the only safe way out of this is to treat them at the same place to dinner. And just try to laugh it off otherwise. 'Oh gosh, I just wasn't hungry.' and/or 'Nothing looked enticing to me that day'. 'No appetite, whadayah gonna do?'. Say, 'I was having tummy trouble.' Say/do something if you ever want this to go away. Edited to say: One upping them will seal the cement your feet are setting in right now. All they need to do then is find six feet of water somewhere.

No, no, no, nobody gets even with mil, trust me on this!! And all kidding aside, MIL did a great favor to express her displeasure. I hope she did it gracefully, but she was very right to say so.

If half a cobb salad was acceptable then you could have ordered a whole one and pecked around on it at least. Lettuce is lettuce after all. Yes, unfortunately that comes out haughty and rude. I have a hugely finicky stomach but I could always find something to order. It's always much better to be polite in this curcumstance with in-laws in a place they obviously chose in a senior community. Your refusal to order indicates much more than you realize. Why all the drama? You're absolutley entitled to not order but now you got consequences to deal with. Feelings surely were hurt. For an office thing where someone else is picking up the tab...and the someone else is an authority you're taking a risk again by not ordering. For a business thing where it's every man for himself, you don't have to order. But you should tip nicely for your drinks & stuff. Making nice wins over making taste.

There's a fine fragile line between true genius and pure nutjob. Only time will tell. Geniuses, in their idealistic passion often fail to recognize the need for the rest of the world. They often fail to realize there is a rest of the world. Sometimes this works out for them or in a perfect world someone will realize their potential and success will follow. Or they figure out how to work the system for themselves, get loans, get backers and do thier own thing. In a high school class discussion once, a girl was told that she could never be discriminated against because she was white. I think that spoiled brats of every ethnicity and color will create problems in the kitchen and the foh, rich or poor. Spoiled brats make the worst sucktomers (sic) too. Not to mention that well educated white kids have the potential to do very well in whatever walk of life with all the other kinds of kids. However none of that has anything to do with the foh getting more money than boh. But I totally disagree with this, The entrance to the kitchen is the back door. Starting wage is starting wage. How does one demand higher pay in such a hugely competitive job market? So they should not accept the pay that's being offered? Hold their breath till they turn blue and how do they get jobs? You were right the first time, "as long as cooks keep coming along" it's a supply and demand thing as Steve already said. And it appears that this is exactly what you did. Welcome to the club. Too many cooks spoil the payroll.

Personally I liked Brad's the best but they closed. But my nostalgic favorite is Tops Barbeque. And we just got a Central Barbeque here in my neighborhood and when I can eat barbeque, that's some good stuff. And they have those potato chip things. Three Little Pigs is gone--hey I used to work at McLaurine's, the bakery on Highland right down from Three Little Pigs!! Yes Dux is gone, there's another steak place there now, umm, Capriccio's. I like The Peabody, I love the ambiance and tradition, but I would never chose to eat there. Too chichi for my tastes.

Grace says the best bar b q in Memphis is Neely's on Jefferson, cheap, good. Gus' Fried Chicken on Front Street for the best fried chicken on the planet. McEwan's on Monroe in between Main & Front is her top spot. And across the street is The Little Tea Shop and she heard it's real good--mostly lunch probably. Stella's on Main is good-- I've had lunch there. They have tables outside, watch the trolley go by. It's pretty. On Beale she said King's Palace is the only place she would eat. The Arcade is great for breakfast on corner of S Main and GE Patterson--she says great pizza too. She said don't go to Seikesui downtown that one is not as cool as the others, but good for a take-out. For sushi downtown she says Bluefin. Zoey's Kitchen, very fresh sandwiches & salads corner of Main & Monroe. She also likes Cafe 61 back on second street right across from The Peabody and she recommends Panchos there too across from the Corner Bar. The Corner Bar and the Lobby Bar in The Peabody are the coolest places for drinks. You already knew that. That might help find a few cool spots for you. Grace also said that she thinks the service downtown is the best in the city. PS. A year ago I could have guaranteed an astronomical meal at Chez Phillipe 'cause Chef-boy was there. It's still pretty good I guess.

It'd be Dan McGuinness o'course written in me best brogue. We're gonna check out Alfred's on Beale before too long. We're partial to the musicians. But that's mostly what I've heard about Beale. Foodies might be better served elsewhere. But I mean Beale street is way awesome. Oh hey, I love The Pier too. It's on Riverside Drive I think. The view is to die for if you get the right table. Fish fish & more fish. I haven't been to Texas de Brazil but I've only heard really great carniverous things about it. Huey's. Bigfoot!

Hey, You gotta try Cielo one of these times, in the Victorian Village about one mile by cab from The Peabody. Chef Dave is awesome. Umm, I love the hot romaine salad and the lobster beignets are the bombshabomb. They're not currently on the menu, but when they are they are dynamite. We had the derby sage stuffed filet. And Dave's fish is always superb. Chef-boy has staged there many times. It's wonderfully decorated. Essential eclectic might describe it. You have to see it to believe it. It's a little pricier but worth it. Umm and we like Bigfoot on 2nd Street right there by the Peabody too. Just a few doors down from Automatic Slim's. Bigfoot has great food. Chef-boy ate there regularly. It's not French, but it's much easier to enjoy than Encore. On the corner there at Union & 2nd is Huey's, a Memphis landmark. The hot bacon dressed chicken salad is very good and I often get the turkey sandwich. Seikisui's, close by on Union, is great for sushi. My daughter goes there all the time. In fact I'll ask her where else she recommends. I love that you come to Elvis-town!!

Wo-ow, I'm in awe. More than way too cool.

A big chain grocery store I used to work for made a whole wheat doughnut that manna from heaven could not have rivaled (no offense, God ). If you got one hot off the line you pondered briefly whether to rub it all over your face before eating it. It was a good inch & a half tall. You sunk down into it and got sweet crumblies on each side of your mouth in the process, gladly, oh the joy. The store has been sold a few times since. I don't think the donut lasted as an item even back then because the beauty was to get it hot. So... 180 caloires though? Krispy Kreme makes weanie sissy donuts anyway. They make donuts, they don't deserve the extra letters, u-g-h. Probably gonna take a lot more than some brown ingredients.

Lesa, Lesa, use half a bag. It's gonna be ok. 7 or 8 ounces it's fine. No worries.

The Inn At Little Washington was started as a catering outfit out of a house and expanded and expanded and the rest is history just to name one. Lots of people start at home. Nothing totally wrong with that. Time and circumstance take care of growing into genuine commercial real estate like the big kids. Go for it. Nothing worthwhile is easy.

Apple cider would be quite tasty in cinnamon roll dough. But I only said that 'cause I just figured you didn't have lemons.