TongoRad

That is precisely, exactly what I would've suggested right off the bat (probably because it's an idea I have considered for a while, but haven't gotten to yet.) I bet they rock. I do have another one, or maybe two: Chorizo/onion/cilantro with a chile sauce on the side -they could be served alongside other ones with that black bean/corn salsa stuff ...or you could just combine everything right off the bat and make chorizo/corn/etc... dumplings. Ooh baby!

I went to the one in College Point last year, and it was a pretty big 'meh' for me. I just can't see visiting the place again and laying down a ten spot for lunch- I know other places where I can get a much more satisfying overall burger/fries experience for half the price. The draw seems to be the 'lotsa stuff' type burger, but even at that game they are beat (in Queens and Northern NJ, at least) by another chain offering huge burgers with many toppings at a comparable price. And the fries that I had were definitely not up to all of the self-promotion that they do. It's probably not like this everywhere, but around here they seem to be overpriced for what they're offering.

Thanks for the reply Rebecca- I had it in mind last week when I was at Epcot. One of the gift shops there was selling the Space Food Sticks and I was able to resist the pull of nostalgia; I was torn, true enough, but evenually decided that my money was probably better spent elsewhere. Sometimes it is best not to ruin a fond memory.

Hmmm...I thought there was a bit of a thread here, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, here's the photo of those fries from my ImageGullet archives: Definitely great fries, definitely wonderfully cheap, definitely fast food (much better than McD's, imo), definitely a frustratingly long line during the prime times- the question is if it's worth going out of one's way for. 20 minutes may be the break-even point for me, I've certainly done it many many times, but others may have a different calculus. If you do go make sure to get the double-double in addition to the fries.

OMG- Sweet Nostalgia has Space Food Sticks! and Razzles! I just had to check for the heck of it. What do I do now that I am armed with this information, that is the question....Do I risk ruining my memories of the stuff by finding out that they are, in reality, quite a bit worse than I remember. What a dilemma!

I just added this recipe to Recipe Gullet http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r2125.html I've been doing this shredded beet salad for about a year now- I copied it from an Indian restaurant in my area, I've just loved it from the get-go - and it works really well as an accompaniment to grilled meats of all sorts. I guess it falls under the category of 'slaw of all kinds' depending on how broadly you want to define it. Either way, it's great stuff.

Beet Salad- South Indian Serves 2 as Salador 4 as Side. This is a great and versatile way to serve beets. I was served this version as part of a thali in a South Indian vegetarian restaurant- it was easy to copy because there are really no secret ingredients, but truth be told I find this dish to be much more than the sum of its parts. It is earthy, sweet, incredibly fresh, spicy, quenching and just plain old addictive. Of course it works best as an accompaniment to an Indian meal, but just as well goes with your summer BBQ, light sandwich lunch, or whatever. The photo included is the salad prepared as a taco, and the avacado really brings it to another level. 2 Fresh beets 1/2 c Red Onion- sliced 1 tsp Black Mustard Seeds 1/4 c Fresh Coriander(Cilantro)- rinsed and dried 2 Green Chiles(small) 1 T Lemon juice Salt to taste Heat a small skillet to medium high heat. Add mustard seeds and toast for a few seconds until you can smell them bloom and take on a nutty scent. Immediately remove to a separate bowl and set aside. Peel beets and grate (uncooked), either on a box grater or food processor, into a lerge mixing bowl. Due to the staining nature of the beets it would be wise to use rubber gloves and a stainless steel bowl. Chop the chiles and fresh coriander and add to the bowl with the shredded beets. Add all other ingredients and toss to combine. Set aside in the refrigetator for a half hour before serving. Keywords: Salad, Hot and Spicy, Vegetarian, Indian, Easy, Food Processor, Vegetables ( RG2125 )

Tonight I'll be doing something sorta similar to a BBQ sauce- I use tamarind/date chutney (which has a nice deep fruity-ish flavor) and add some lime juice and cayenne. My usual technique with salmon is to start it in a hot pan and finish under the broiler- the 'glaze' goes on just during the last 30 seconds or so (I'll use the '8 minutes per inch' rule to estimate how long it will take, but still be sure to rest it with a small metal skewer just to make sure). This is with a fillet, so the skin gets nice and crispy. I have a whole lot of cilantro in the house, so that will be a garnish tonight, but it's not something I'll go out of my way for if I don't have it. Last week I kept it much simpler than that (I don't like to get too crazy with salmon)- just a dusting of salt and coriander/cumin masala, squeeze of lemon at the end. We try to eat salmon at least once per week- the best overall is probably in the summer months when I do it on the grill with some wood smoke, but that is when I will get the steaks. For the fillets you just can't beat the crispy skin when it is pan roasted.

Somebody's just gotta make some lengua. I've never done it myself either, but it is one of my personal 'big three' to test out a new place (the other two being chorizo and cecina). Nothing like some lengua and kickin' salsa verde- but I suppose I'm in the same boat as you, Jim- I can get them easily on the outside so I've never undertaken the task of making them myself. Thanks. They truly did surprise me with how much I enjoyed them. It's just a riff on a South Indian salad that I've been doing for the past year or so (uncooked beets, shredded, sliced red onion, chiles, cilantro toasted mustard seeds and lemon juice), one of those 'more than the sum if its parts' dishes, really wonderful stuff. In this case I substituted jalapenos, cumin seeds and lime juice- but it was the combination with the avacado that truly brought it to another level. Can't eat just one, huh? I totally agree. Everything you folks have posted has looked so good- I'll take one of everything, please! Loved those Navajo Tacos, btw- I'm going to have to work up to something like that, but I will definitely allow myself a splurge in a week or two... The urge to keep on with the taco making has hit me as well- tonight I decided to tacofy the catfish that my wife brought home. This was pan seared, not deep fried, but I dusted it with morita powder and cumin to give it a bit of flavor. And in the tortillas with tomatillo/tomato salsa, cilantro, habanero mayonaise (low fat ), and radishes. Not too bad...

Is it ending already? This has just been great. You've given me many more reasons to want to visit Prague than I already had; hopefully I'll get a chance some day. Thanks.

You guys are making me drool- looks like I picked the wrong month to quit mainlining pork fat. I made some diet tacos today- my way- hopefully these will qualify as such: That extremely red color is from beets (it's still on my fingers, fwiw). In there are some sliced red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, toasted cumin seeds, perfect avacado slices, and the cheese is feta cuz that's what I had in the house. The fattiness of the cheese and avacado were a perfect foil for those beets- these things totally rocked, if I do say so myself.

It looks like Vermont has already staked claim to the Apple Pie. For New York, if we have to choose something, it's gotta be Cheesecake, no?

Thanks, TongoRad, you're absolutely right. I goofed; a ten degree beer is about 4% alcohol and a twelve degree one, 5%. 13% alcohol sounded weird as I was writing it, but, then again, many weird things seem reasonable to me after one pint. Thanks, and let me know where to send the beer. ← That's why we drink it, I suppose- or else we'd be leading much more boring lives. And I'd take you up on that offer if I wasn't on a self-imposed break from the stuff (gotta lose the bloat, ya know...)- but now I know what my first one will be when it's over (I can find Herold Black pretty easily). For the past few weeks I've been eating the way you described earlier in the blog- major meal for lunch, and maybe a salad and/or yogurt or something light for dinner- and it seems to be working for me in a couple of ways. I'm certainly feeling better throughout the day than I did a few months ago, so there may be something to it. Then again, so far I have been pretty pastry-free, but those photos are damned tempting, they are.

Great blog so far- everything looks so great, especially that beer and the cheese (and the bread)! I can just smell it all from here, I swear I can. We get so few examples of your tradition of dark lagers over here in the States. Apologies for offering a correction on the beer, though- but I'd wager any amount that those percentages don't refer to the amount of alcohol. The Balling (or Brix) scale uses degrees as well, each of which realtes to a percentage point of sugar dissolved within a liquid-in other words a beer brewed at 13 degrees balling would start out with a solution of 13% sugar. For a rough estimate of how much alcohol is in there just multiply by .4, or 5.2% AbV in that case. 13% is just crazy-high for a beer (but not impossible), and that just doesn't seem like what is in the glass (I told you I could smell it ) Allright, geek-out over, and back to the blog...

Yeah- I guess that, fortunately for us, lamb is neither expensive (if you get it on sale) nor elusive in this area (I swear it is everywhere I look. Then again, I'm mostly looking in Indian, Carribean and schwarma places ). Just this past weekend I was clearing out the freezer and came across two family packs of lamb shoulder chops that we got for under $2/pound. They made a really nice braise, but I've also grilled them successfully in the past.

Sure- why not... (as an aside- the ATK method of Buffalo Wings, with the cornstarch, is definitely the best way to do them. Personally I go with the habanero option plus a bunch of crushed smoked piquin. Very dangerous, they are.) Allrighty then- here, for the first time ever, is my famous secret tandoori wing recipe (it is based on wings that were served at a favorite Indian restaurant of mine from 15 or so years ago. They weren't on the menu, and you had to be a regular to even know they existed. Now the wings and the place are a thing of the past, but I've tried recreating the recipe so that's what this represents.): 6 tablespoons ginger paste 4 teaspoons garlic paste 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 3/4 cup yogurt 1/2 cup finely ground cashews 1-1/2 TBSP ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp garam masala 1/2 tsp turmeric Combine all of that stuff, add a couple of pounds of wings (not separated), and marinate overnight. Place on skewers, add salt, and grill until they're done. So far I have not been able to replicate the effects of the tandoor, where only the edges of the wings got charred, but some blackened quality is acceptable and, I feel, really contributes to the overall effect. Essentally this is a riff on Chicken Malai Kebabs- heavy on the ginger and coriander- but uses wings instead of breast meat. It's really good stuff.

Quite a few options down in Englewood proper, just down Palisade Ave., so you don't have to go far. Here's a few- Bennies (Lebanese) - for mezze and schwarma. S&S Deli- can't vouch for much beyond the corned beef and pastrami, but both are rock solid good. Cassie's coal oven pizza- they are making some top notch pizza there, by any standards.

I'm not sure if this qualifies, but this past weekend I had some leftover potato samosa filling in the fridge- instead of making samosas again (I guess I was feeling lazy) I just added some beaten egg and flour to the mixture and fried them as potato pancakes, served with tamarind chutney. They definitely elicited a "hmm...we've really got to try this again..." type response.

Ooh- I love pasteles. My aunt used to bring them around, but only when her church group would make a gigantic batch of 'em. Somehow they seemed all the more special because they weren't something you could all the time. This past summer I finally started getting my kids involved in making fresh pasta, and it definitely brought back memories of the 1970's with the broomsticks all over the place with pasta hanging from them. It's just a natural family project, especially with a hand-cranked machine, and the little guys just love participating. With them around there's absolutely no way that any adult is getting a shot at turning the crank; we really just become 'observers' at that point. I just hope that the novelty doesn't wear off too soon...

The last couple of sliced lamb shoulder 'family packs' we have gotten from the supermarket were used in a variation of Madhur Jaffrey's lamb korma, with green raisins and saffron added (because I just can't leave well enough alone ), and it was just incredibly good. I've got another one in the freezer right now awaiting inspiration. My latest thing is to cut the lamb for these dishes off of the bones, but roast the bones for later use (in a ziplock in the freezer). Soon I'll have enough for a small batch of lamb stock, and after that, well, one step at a time...

I started growing my tomatoes in a container a couple of years ago because they get the best direct sun in the front of the house, rather than the backyard. The first year I didn't fertilize them nearly enough and only got a few tomatoes (but lovely plants, for whatever that's worth...). When they're cooped up in a container the roots don't have the freedom to go in search of the nutrients, so you have to supplement that. Now I usually give them some composted manure and bone meal when I plant them, mixed in with the soil, and after that it is regular doses of water soluble 'tomato food' to sustain them and it's been a successful strategy.

Thanks for the tip. Just last week I started working a few days a week not too far from there (32nd and Madison) and it sounds like it is right up my alley. FWIW- last week I tried the falafel at the cart down Madison (Near 28th or 29th?) and thought that they had some potential as well.

There is an independent fast food joint on Long Island that is known for their fries above all else- it is called All-American and it's located in Massapequa. Here is a little tease: They are the real deal, hand cut and twice fried, and the kicker is that they're cheap (the portion in the photo was a buck and change.) I've had the fries at one of our local Five Guys, and for all of the hype and money they just didn't compare to good old All-American. For chain fast food fries I'd also have to go with Nathan's- well done, please.

Thanks, Michael. I've pondered that place many a time while I was waiting to make that left from Kissena to Holly, so I definitely know where it is. Is there anything particular you'd recommend? (your post reminded me that I should be adding more precise addresses. I'll have to add those on the next round).

Well, my last bottle in the house right now is the 'Natural Carmine' version and there's about an inch in the bottom. I'll probably be a local liquor store in the next day or two, but at this point I will be in search of the older version. I'll only get the new stuff after I try a few places and strike out, but won't consume what's left of my present bottle until I can do a comparisson as well. I am inclined to agree with Sam, though, that the relative age of the samples may play a large role in whatever differences there may be.