viva

Just went two weeks ago while on a visit. Bison ribeye & pomme frites were outstanding. Edit: totally unrelated to food but Sam Zell was at the next table. Wanted to beat him over the head on the rumors that he might have Wrigley torn down. Other than that the dining was a pleasant experience

The apron ladies must have gone into hiding, because I too was not able to find a good one at the flea market on Saturday.

No one signed up for Kool Aid Pickles yet?!

Love the shirataki - and agree they are best in Asian stir fry and noodle soup applications. I prefer spaghetti squash for my low cal Italian noodle substitute. I don't rinse or parboil the shirataki either. I do pat them dry fairly well or else the stir fry gets watery. ETA: No deleterious digestive effects for me.

I tried the Utz recently - they remind me of Old Dutch, which are excellent. My favorite is still the Krinkle Cut Kettle, Lightly Salted variety. I like a crunch that sounds like it's shattering your jaw.

There were some lonely looking vegetables on some of those Western spreads.

Bumping up an old thread in favor of one of my favorites: fava beans. Beautiful young 'uns today at the farmers' market... prepared whole with a light coating of olive oil, broiled until soft & charred, mixed with thin slices of onion, crushed red pepper & salt.

I sustained myself through high school on Swanson chicken pot pies. I was adamantly opposed at the time to homemade as Grandma made a beef & potato pot pie that was just horrendous. Tough crust, tough beef, nasty potatoes. Now that I understand the goodness that can be a homemade pot pie... I make my own. My favorite cookbook on the subject is Beatrice Ojakangas' Pot Pies.

I'd hole up at the bar too, making calls during cocktails to make sure the friends are okay. When I got to the point where hunger was going to make continued drinking messy, then I'd eat at the bar. Order apps - still no show - then dinner. Then after finishing a nice leisurely meal & cocktails - if the guests haven't shown, it's time to go home. Hey, I came out for food and drink... might as well get some regardless.

I've been buying them up at flea markets and "antique" fairs. They're usually found in "that one stall" with the old ladies sitting in their lawn chairs and floppy straw hats that has the bins of old fabric, sheets, napkins, tablecloths and pillowcases (all of which I'll snap up as well). Why pay $20-40 at Anthropologie for an apron when you can get them for $2 at the flea market in the same fun old prints? For the low price I'm not worried about staining them. I've got 6 so far. Of course, I also buy old embroidered tea towels and dish rags in vintage prints for somethings like 50-75 cents and use them with reckless abandon too.

Speaking of NC BBQ contests... has anyone ever gone to the Blue Ridge BBQ Festival in Tryon? <clickety>. I'm wondering if this is a worthy weekend trip. The winner apparently earn the right to participate in the national barbecue contest in Kansas City....

It may have been Chop Suey from a can! I remember the crispy noodles... and that was the only edible portion for me too. Not only did Grandma's Chop Suey set up a life-long aversion to Chinese, but also one for green bell peppers. I envy you, Toliver, for your ability to overcome the past

Grandma made "Chop Suey" too, with tough cubes of beef, celery, and pepper... must have been a standard recipe! It was my first exposure in life to "Chinese Food". I still really don't care for Chinese... not because I don't like authentic Chinese, but I can never get away from my mental association with Grandma's revolting "Chop Suey".

So, as a new (albeit temporary) resident of Raleigh, I understand that to sample true Western NC BBQ I need to do a day trip to Lexington. What's my destination town for a day trip to sample Eastern NC BBQ? Looking forward to this event... lots of BBQ in one place is a good thing, no matter what way you slice it.

I don't know if this is technically a "stuffed pepper", but I pre-broil the pepper halves to char them lightly (but still firm enough to hold a filling), then fill them with a mixture of spicy polenta, a little cheese, corn kernels, and chicken, and serve with a salsa topping. It's a riff on a Moosewood Collective recipe, and it hits the spot for being homey and comforting.

Laughing Cow cheese, string cheese, hummus, peanut butter, pretzels, whole grain crackers, wasa crisps, apple slices, carrot sticks, all in any combination together to get some fiber and protein. I personally have no issues with keeping any of the above at room temp for 24 hours. I buy the very small gladware containers for the hummus and peanut butter and throw those in my purse. Sunday is my "baggie" day of putting my snacks into individual serving size bags or little gladware containers so that I can easily throw them in my purse at the last minute or keep a stash of them in my desk drawer. ... and I forgot to mention nuts!! Nuts are king for a high protein portable snack, along with the trail mixes that other folks have mentioned here. Sometimes it's hard for me to find trail mix that doesn't have a lot of crap in it too (like M&M's), but they're out there.

Lost in Translation?

I buy the flat pointy end of the salmon because it has the highest skin-to-meat ratio. When it's hot out of the oven and crispy... :::shiver::: ... that's perfection. What are your best ways to achieve the perfect crispy skin? I live in an apartment and don't have a grill, so I rely on the grill rack and broiler, which doesn't always achieve perfection.

Chicken feet are the secret ingredient to making killer broth. I get mine from the carniceria too... that and fat back. Which, if the butcher doesn't speak a lot of English, I get by pointing at my back and saying "puerco lardo". He laughs, we understand each other.

Dumb question: I have some pork confit aging in my refrigerator. I've never made rillettes before. Can I use some of my pork confit to make rillettes? Is there a basic recipe anyone recommends for this?

S.W.A.T.! Thanks to Domestic Goddess for pointing my brain in the right direction with the Miami Vice suggestion. Samuel L. Jackson: How can I trust a man who won't eat a good old-fashioned American hotdog? Colin Farrell: He's a vegetarian. That one has been driving me crazy! I kept thinking it was A Long Kiss Goodnight. <cough> Why yes... I watch a lot of brainless action movies. They're like junk food for the brain.

That's pretty much what I figured. I did find this online: But the "variety of dishes" was never expounded upon. Hmph! Well, yesterday's centers went in the trash (I live in an apartment, and therefore no compost). Maybe I could've made a pinkish stock with them?! As for the dandelions...I did read elsewhere that dandelion green centers have a natural form of latex in them... which might have interesting digestive effects. Although as a kid I remember the flower stalks having more of that milky sap in them than the leaves did, which was fun to smear on things. Forgot to add that I came upon an interesting bunch of Asian greens at the farmers' market yesterday. There was the usual baby bok choy, and also yu choy (which was bitter, but with very pretty yellow flowers that I just chopped up along with the rest of it), and tatsoi. There was also a smaller leaf one in the bunch that looked and tasted a lot like baby kale, but I've forgoten the name. They were delicious stir fried in sesame oil with a little garlic, soy sauce, ginger & rice vinegar, over noodles with a few slices of rare beef. Probably should've put some salt pork in them too... next time.

I eat my greens sauteed in a little water with garlic and a piece of salt pork. Just bought a mess of them at the farmers' market today... rainbow chard and dandelion greens. (Giving the collards a rest for the week.) Love to mix the sauteed greens with a little ricotta cheese mixed with whole wheat pasta, and a little parmesan depending on how much salt the salt pork imparted. I really like the breakfast idea with a piece of thick bread topped with greens and a fried egg. What do you all do with the tough centers? Is there any way to make them useful? I feel bad about just tossing out all these pretty rainbow chard centers.

Would love to go... but I work in RTP and can't make it to Moore Square during the week. So I end up hitting the Raleigh Farmers' Market because it's open on the weekend.

There's a McCafe in RTP here in Raleigh. I haven't tried it... but I was curious about what it was. I can now feel free to ignore it.