foodie52

I've been helping out at the registers where I work, and I'm bothered by the amount of paper AND plastic that is used to bag groceries. I get, maybe, 1 in 30 customers who brings her own canvas bags or even the old paper bags back. What's the feeling on this? Who amongst you makes the effort to cut down on the paper/plastic issue by bringing your own bags?

Cart theft sounds amusing, but it affects the bottom line of your grocery store. It's called "shrink" in the grocery business. It contributes to the rising prices of the food you purchase. Stealing a cart is the same as stealing $100 worth of groceries.

Tremor: you ROCK!

Jaymes' bio has to win something.....

And while you're at it, don't forget to poke holes in the smaller pan so that it can drain into the larger one!!

Everybody....join me in welcoming Foodie11 ( she's younger than I am...) And we both took the email address "foodie..." without knowing about each other's! She's a good friend and will be a welcome addition to our group!

bioviatrix: sounds like it is time for a trip to the foodbank in your area. As long as everything is still in their original containers, they will be glad to help you out! I work in a grocery store, so I don't stockpile. We sell herbs in Bulk, so I only buy as much as I need....two to three teaspoons at a time. Dried spices and herbs only have a shelf life of a few months, anyway. However, my problem is that my pantry is full of rejected sample products from vendors....marinades. oils, vinegars. I seem to have one of everything ever made on the planet!

Yeah...and besides, I miss the aluminum foil swans...

Thanks for that clarification... He did say, though, that cooked foods are better for the body. Not "hot" or "cold". I'm familiar with that concept in Oriental medicine. Of course, some things just have to be eaten raw to be enjoyed!

For what it's worth, my Chinese acupuncturist who is very respected in his field, maintains that raw, cold food is not good for the body. He always tells me that warm, cooked food, preferably with ginger and garlic, is best for total health.

"foodporn"...gosh, I hate to see that word introduced into the OED....

Oh...and another thing we've always done, was to turn the phone OFF during dinner!

Of course there is a connection. The "single portion" part of your post depressed me to no end. THAT is what's killing our society. It's been shown time and time again that eating together as a family is the best thing you can do for your kids. It teaches them social skills. How to listen to others. how to participate in a wonderful activity that is the basis for social interaction since the beginning of time. Cut that out of their lives...imagine growing up having had no family dinners... I grew up in a very European household in this country. My mother didn't work. She had dinner on the table every night for us. We helped prepare it. It was a given..dinner was at 6:30 when my father came home. We were very, very lucky. I raised my kids the same way. Dinner every night at 5:30. Help in the kitchen.They were allowed only one extra-curricular activity a semester. That cut down on the intrusive stuff. And guess what? We had time for family dinners, time for homework and time to chill out as a family at least 4 evenings a week. My kids are grown now...one has graduated from college and is involved in the food world. The other is still in college and loves to cook. When she was in high school, she would throw dinner parties for her friends!

Wow: I hadn't seen the knife sharpener there. Does it look like he'll have a permanent booth?? We always sample stuff. Otherwise how are you gonna know what you are getting?? I'm pretty sure that the vendors at the Austin market have to have a kind of proof of authenticity. That was the problem with the farmers' market up on Burnet Rd. They were buying produce and reselling it.

I think our society is going back to cooking unprocessed foods. If you think about it, cooking used to be a pain in the neck for the woman of the house. All that peeling...plucking the darn chicken..taking out the pin bones...washing the dirt off the veggies...boiling stuff til it was soft enough to eat... until....the 50's! and TV dinners! and dried potato flakes..and boil-in-the-bag rice ( so that you didn't have to spend 15 minutes AFTER the meal scrubbing out the pot...) and food that made life more convenient! Easy! And lo and behold, it gave women some time during the day to themselves. Hurray! What shall we do with all this FREE TIME??? Let's get a job! So women could go out to work and still have dinner on the table in less than an hour. And guess what....we developed a generation of super-women who aren't a whole lot happier than their 50's era moms, and are even busier because they've filled the time they used to cook from scratch, with carpooling and meetings in the evenings because nobody is home in the afternoons to get all that stuff out of the way. It's not about "drawing the line", I don't think. It's about priorities. When parents say, "No, you can't play soccer because all of your practices and games are scheduled during our dinner hour", then people's food habits may change. I could go on and on, but I imagine you get the point!

Gosh , that sounds like fun. In the words of tommy, "I'm in".

Yeah, his recipe was vague. Basically the premise is that you make a very strong broth, to the point that , when it cools, it is very very gelatinous: he described it as rubbery. He doesn't add veggies because he maintains they dilute the flavor of the chicken. I would put a chicken in a pot and cover it with water...big hunk of ginger. Fish sauce: my favorite is Three Crabs. Don't ever buy fish sauce in a plastic bottle. My sister-in-law is Thai and she's taught me a couple of things like that. For the ounce thing, I'd use a shot glass. The sugar isn't a liquid weight, of course. Maybe a tablespoon?? I don't think it has to be particularly precise. It's just stock! The chef uses sugar as a "balancer" 'of flavors...a yin and yang thing. And yes, it seems to be a basic Asian chicken stock. The flavor, standing by itself was a revelation to me. You couldn't "divide out" the flavors of the individual ingredients. That's the key to it, I think. It simply created a wonderful, rich stock tasting totally of chicken. It was huge.

Share it with co-workers. Bring the turkey to work, along with bread, mayo and other fixins... They'll love you.

OMG... I had the BEST chicken stock the other night at a cooking class. And I can't believe I 'm saying this, because I was raised on chicken soup, made the classic old-world Jewish way, with celery and onion and carrot in the pot. I was literally ASHAMED at how much I enjoyed it.... It was made by Matt McMillin who is coowner of these restaurants in Texas called Big Bowl. Anyway, here goes... Put equal amounts of fresh chicken bones, including backs, necks etc. and water into a pot with a slice of ginger and bring to a boil. When it boils, skim the foam from the surface until it disappears, then reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours. Turn off the heat and let sit til nearly cool , then strain and refrigerate. For one gallon of stock, add 1 oz. fish sauce, 1 oz. sugar and 1 oz kosher salt. It was rich and full-bodied, and tasted quintessentially of chicken. No veggies in there. Not even an onion. It blew me away....

Mango cheesecake? Like at the Clay Pit in Austin? I think I want the Idly Upma just because of the name....

Used to get the salad at the Armadillo: as I recall, it was huge and delicious. Then just sat outside and listened to the music going on inside ...for free..it was sooo loud. To my mind, closing down the Armadillo to build a bank building was the beginning of the end of that great era here. What a waste. And I seem to remember that the bank building stood empty for a couple of years...

One tablespoon of flax oil every morning in my oatmeal. Ergo, I shall live forever.....

From another perspective... I work in a grocery store, albeit an upscale one. I love seeing the kids come in with their parents. We have one guy who has been the househusband for years. He comes in once a week or so with his twins. It's so much fun seeing them grow up! They first starting shopping when they were 3 months or so old: now they are 4 years old.... I always peer into the strollers or carts or baby seats in the carriages and spend some time cooing at the little ones. The moms seem to enjoy it: they visibly relax when they see that I'm enjoying their children. Kids should shop...they learn about having to make choices...about disappointment when they can't have yet another bag of Goldfish...it's such a socialization process and so integral to our society. Bring your kids!

Probably lost their stars because they don't serve calamari...which in the past has seemed to be the benchmark of quality for the reviewer. I assume you are referring to the stars allocated by the Statesman. I tend to read the review and take no notice of the stars given. The same person has reviewed these restaurants for years. Is it fair and objective to have one person do this over and over? He yanked Hudson's star because he got a bad table. So now the establishment is rated "excellent" as opposed to...out of this world? Between you and me, I think that Austinites don't take the star thing seriously. Let's throw it out there: who among you Austin egulleteers bases your dining decisions on the Statesman reviews?