phaelon56

I had completely forgotten about Kickapoo Joy Juice. Midway through elementary school, my best friend moved to East Smithfield PA. If you know where that is.... you've really been in the sticks (i.e. going to visit Sayre or Athens was called "going to the city"). Loved that stuff. We drank it mostly because it had a cool name. Bought it from the old fashioned Coke cooler in Devoe's Red & White Grocery on the village green.

I haven't had my smoker out and in action since last summer but decided to try making pulled pork again. The attempt that originally prompted this thread was tasty enough but didn't pull apart properly due to not cooking for long enough. This time.... thanks to sage advice from fellow eGulleteers... things are different! For better or worse - here's what I did: - Got a nice big shoulder butt with a decent cap of fat on top. - Dropped it in boiling water for exactly 60 seconds to open the pores of the meat, removed and applied Montreal Steak Seasoning as a dry rub. Rubbed in liberally and wrapped tight in plastic wrap to be refrigerated for one hour. - Had my cheesy but wonderful electric smoker preheated and threw in some pre-soaked hickory chips - then went to work. - Came home for lunch, threw in more smoked wood chips and replenished the lower pan of the smoker with more boiling water - Took it off after about eleven hours in the smoker. Magnificent!!! This stuff is truly incredible. I'm sure the pro's and serious amateurs can surpass this but I'm stoked. It pulled apart effortlessly and the limited amount of fatty tissue to be discarded was easy to separate. Today I'm testing a few East Carolina style 'cue sauce recipes but wish to thank all who contributed to this thread.

Salad of mixed greens and assorted sprouts with some juice soaked golden raisins (i.e. plumped up) and toasted pine nuts Salmon filet that I threw in the smoker while a pork shoulderbutt but was being smoked for pulled pork. Served with a side of Israeli cous cous. Interesting stuff - it shows promise but mine came out with too much liquid remaining - also mixed in some sauteed kale and plum tomatoes that needed to be used. I recall using garlic, ginger and balsamic vinegar in this as well. It was edible but not a success story. The pulled pork is another story - my knees buckled when I ate the first bite. Not as good as sex but damn is this stuff good!

I forgot about my summer working in the dining room of a large hotel. Sundays were particularly slow and the maitre 'd and regular chef did not work. One of my colleagues developed a mysterious system that allowed him to eat unlimited jumbo cocktail shrimp on Sundays - washed down by free Jack Daniels Manhattans from the room service bar. He did not last for obvious reasons - moved right along to the next restaurant victim before the audtiors caught up with his "system".

Consumer espresso machines in this day and age are rarely executed with the intent of making design statements - they tend to be focused primarily on functionality (some, such as the Francis Francis series and the new Isomac Rotary are exceptions to that rule. The golden era of commercial espresso machine development was integrally involved with the culture of industrial design that has permeated so many Italian products. It occurred to me to mention a book from my collection: "Espresso Made In Italy - 1901 through 1962". The web site includes some of the beautiful photographs included in that tome. Machines in Enrico Meltoni's private espresso machine museum served as subjects for the photographs. It's an intriguing look at a progression in both functionality and design. I'll advise that the book, a soft cover full color edition, provides commentary in both English and Italian but falls short of providing real insight into the marriage of art and design and the importance of coffee culture that typifies these machines. That's okay - I bought it just for the pictures! Espresso Made In Italy Museum

I forgot about the "flavored" part. Well.... depending on the flavor desired, you might try using the Torani flavor syrups that are poplular for Italian sodas and flavored coffee drinks. They add a good dose of flavor and I shoudl think that the added liquid could be counteracted with the right proprtion of stabilizer. I'll also advise that the carageenan is very tricky stuff - anything more than a little bit can be too much. I think agar agar is easier to work with.

Clarification will definitely be helpful. Is this a "whipped cream substitute" that's made from a non-dairy product of some sort? I'd lean towards using either agar agar (not a typo or a redundancy - that is the name) or food grade carageenan. The carageenan I've tried that works in cold frothy beverages to prevent separation and help the liquids hold together. It's available from Coffeewholesalers.com They describe it as being intended for milk based drinks - it may not work with a vegetable based cream. Agar Agar should be available at any large Asian grocery.

For all you Bubble tea enthusiasts... there's a lively discussion currently taking place in the Wash DC & DelMarVA Forum Bubble tea thread

I assure you that both my daughter's college friend, who stayed with us for a summer last year, and also a close friend of mine, in whose home I lived recently for a few months while househunting, are neither English nor Irish. They were simply among that large group of people who populate the planet in various places and were never instructed in the proper method for washing dishes. I simply made it a habit to rewash anything that they had washed before I used it.

THis guy was stealing French Vanilla flavored Folger's coffee and also some Hazelnut flavored Coffeemate to go along with it. I think he is beyond rehabilitation.

Soooo... apparently I am not the only one who wept when I read the following tender words? We should all be so blessed and with good fortune, in our own way... we all may be at some point in time. Perhaps some of us have been to this sort of a magical personal space and will even return to it someday when least expected. Thank you Lucy.

I don't know if it colors orange cheddar but it is the colorant used in Goya's Sauzon. This is a powder mix used by many in the Hispanic (i.e. Puerto Rican and Dominican) community to color and flavor yellow rice, arroz con pollo or sopa de pollo. Sauzon consists mostly of MSG and ground annato seed but may have a bit of something else in it as well. By the way.... If I understand it correctly, achiote powder and ground annato seed are the same thing. You could also use it for color in paella but I prefer saffron for the flavor notes it delivers.

Then there was the job I had delivering pizzas. Our pizza was well known as the best pie available in the locale. I found it amusing when the kitchen staff of a well known (but truly vile) local German restaurant would order our pie to be delivered to the kitchen's back entrance for their employee meal. They chipped in to buy pizza from us rather than eat the crap the boss was willing to give them. Even more ironic was the guy who ran the pizza concession at a popular local beer joint down the road - he was their pizza chef and he actually ordered our pizza rather than eat his own for dinnert. Exactly how bad was their pizza? (not that I'll never know - I didn't dare try it).

That's a howl! Regrettably it's far from the truth. When I worked in the biz it varied from place to place. 1) A steakhouse where they made up an "employee meal" that varied from horrible to surprisingly good. It was typically starch heavy but on occasion included very dry burgers or meatloaf made from the scraps of dry aged prime beef that were left over (this place did its own dry aging and butchering). On rare occasions we were given some leftover cuts of prime rib. 2) The most shameful award: a popular bistro style restaurant in Syracuse (the first one ever to open in town and it was making buckets of money at the time). At first they picked one or two light entree items that they had extra quantities of but the limited the menuand started CHARGING us $1.50 per day of we opted in for the meal (this was in 1979). The menu was limited to mixed green salad, bread, rice and French Onion soup. Oh.... I almost forgot .... unlimited coffee - whoop te doo. 3) The winner: my boss Jim Sterio at Sterio's Landmark restaurant, where I worked as a busboy in 1979. Every Saturday night after the final tables were cleared he set up a fully dressed table for all the waitstaff, busboys and one or two of the cooks to share a meal (the other cooks took turns cooking for us on alternate weekends, just as the waitresses took turns serving the group). We were allowed to order anything on the menu except Chateaubriand, Rack of Lamb or Lobster. A few bottles of good wine were opened to be shared as well. Jim was a pro who'd been in the business since his early teens and came from a large Greek family that literally lived in the biz. His menu style and mode of marketing came and went and sadly, his two restaurants closed. I can only hope that some of today;'s restarauteurs are bringing back that kind of dedication to providing a supportive environment for their employees.

My dining background hardly qualifies me to comment on this, apart from noting with interest how the staff maintains its competitive edge and the fact that, given the opportunity, they can produce food far above the pedestrian fare one usually expects from hotel restaurants. What I really found interesting, yet depressingly predictable, was this I added the emphasis and I shouldn't be surprised but it still amazes me how little attention is typically paid to coffee quality at even the highest levels of cuisine (Gramercy Tavern in NYC being an exception - the coffee I had there was exceptionally good - I"ve since been told that they serve Puerto Rican Yauco Selecto). If you wish to bitch, moan and sing to the chorus a bit more on this topic.... Good Coffee In Expensive Restaurants - why not?

There's more to that story. You'll also note that he bought the place from the original owners. Reliable sources (i.e. fellow espresso hounds who frequent the discussions at alt.coffee and coffeegeek.com) have commented on the fact that the drink quality at Coffee Messiah was not up to the standards they expected and defintiely not as good as they'd been told it was in the past. My visit there was before the current owner took over and it was good but not up to the level of thier other independent competitors. I'm also guessing that changes were made since the new owner took over. Seattle is full of independent cafes who are more than holding their own against Starbucks, Tully's and Seattle's Best. If you deliver the goods in Seattle you WILL get more business than Starbucks. B&O is just down the hill from him, Top Pot (Zeitgeist) is a few blocks over and Caffe Vivace is just up the hill, not to mention Bauhaus, not too far over on the other edge of the hill. When I visited there most recently they were all delivering a better espresso and coffee than the 'bucks and they were all doing a good business.

Not especially sheltered but I've learned who to avoid I recall reading a book about Wall Street frivolities in which this particular species was described as "Big Swinging Dicks". And... there was a constant competition to see who was the Biggest Dick (not who had one - just who was one by virtue of their arrogance and self-possessed grandiosity). You have just clarified for me why I intuitively avoided certain places when I lived in the NYC area.

Tea and Chai Topics Your Favorite Teas? Making your own Chai Loose Tea in NYC - a good source? Ahhh... Bubble Tea Bagged Teas Flower Teas

It was intentionally rude behavior, sounds as if it was done on a dare and IMHO the owner was competely and totally justified in telling them his feligns and his unwritten policy. I'm reminded of the old Hill Street Blues TV show episode where the polcie are called in to an "All You Can Eat" buffet restaurant. An enormous man has been there all day and has positoned his dining chair (all the chairs had casters) in such a way that he just rolls up and down the buffet line, eating as he goes. The irate owner has decided thatvafter six or seven hours it's enough but is advised that his posted policy doesn't prohibit this. Certainly not an exact corollary to this situation but I think this owner now needs to post a policy for idiots like these guys. Can't seem to find the quote to paste it in but someone, I think it was tana, mentioend how PC Seattle is. Tell me about it - they wait for the light to change before crossing thte street - even when there are no cars coming for as far as one can see in either direction (it sure ain't NYC!). About the tuxes - I'd gladly wear one once a month and will happily buy it myself if I only had the occasions where it was suitable.

I'm the child of Depression era parents, who grew up humbly, having enough to eat but seeing many around them who did not or were forced to survive primarily on potatoes and the like. It was ingrained in me at an early age that you always had to eat everything that was on the plate, whether you liked it or not. Second helpings were generally available if desired but it was implicitly understood that all servings were to be eaten in their entirety. To this day I feel compelled to eat what is on the plate but find that restaurants often serve too much so I just take home half the meal.

I've only eaten at Wondee's twice but at Bangkok four or five times. I find myself going back to Bangkok more regularly (or did until I left NJ) probably because of the atmosphere. Like many, I found some dishes better than others at each place. The wird part was that on my last visit to Bangkok we order spicy as 8 on a scale of 10. One entree was off the charts - in essence almost to hot to taste the food. The other was barely spicy - about like a medium American hot. Very puzzling although perhaps a sald chef made the crispy duck that was so hot and some other person made the entree. One being a salad and the other a convenional entree, I wouldn't expect the spiciness to be identical but they were so far apart that it was ridiculous.

That sounds exactly the bus drivers in New Jersey I think it may be a universal phenomenon. Thanks for the rabbit inspiration - there are a couple of ladies selling organic eggs at our local farmers market on Saturdays and they always have a few fresh killed rabbits for sale. Now I know what to do with it. That cafeteria coffee looks really good. Is it as good as it looks and how is it made?

If you want to use it I suggest contacting Coffee Messiah By the way.... the design of their t-shirts totally rocks. I'll snap a pic of mine tonight and post it tonight.

Hey Majra - welcome to eGullet! I haven't posted dinner in a few days but got back to my pizza experiments. The crust is a variation of the Alton brown recipe. I use half extra fine durum flour, half bread machine flour, a small bit of added gluten, a spoon of honey and sea salt and a larger than average amount of olive oil, followed by minimal kneading and 24 hours in the fridge. It just keeps getting better as I tweak it. This one had caramelized onions and thin sliced sweet peppers with a bit of fontina, some fresh mozzarella, plenty of basil leaves and cured chorizo slices. Mmmmm - really tasty. I tried to get Barilla Marinara sauce as I was too busy to make a basic sauce but all they had on sale was Paul Newman's - color me very unimpressed by the Newman sauce - Barilla blows it away. Tonight was a mixed green salad with a sprinkling of mixed sprouts, sliced toasted almonds, navel orange chunks and a dressing of pomegranete juice, fresh OJ, a splash of red apple cide vinegar and a small bit of EVOO and Dijon. Roasted cauliflower 'cause my friend had never tried it - she was amazed. Then... hard to believe but it's the first time I have ever made it - pesto served on thick spaghetti.

Most folks who know their way around espresso pretty well generally agree on 2 parts milk to 1 part espresso for cappuccino's and 3 parts to 1 part for lattes. Although they've done some good things for the promotion of coffee and espresso, Starbucks has convinced many people that a latte is defined by lots of milk and a little espresso. The interesting thing is that so many places go along with the program primarily because they don't make good quality espresso shots - lots of milk hides a multitude of sins.