shoutsandmurmurs

i know it's kind of an abomination to ask about frozen pizzas on a website like this, but i have to say that i really enjoy the CM frozen pizzas, especially the quatro formaggi one. to those who have ventured into CM frozen pizza territory, what are your opinions of it?

i don't mean to quibble with anyone, but i eat those tacos at least once a month, and they've never wreaked havoc on my digestive system. has anyone else ever sampled them? jalisco-style street tacos are truly some of the best foodstuffs i've ever had, bar none. i was so happy to see that kind of cuisine represented in the episode... it's all about the tacos and the shiner in my life.

i noticed that, too. last night, i looked at the sriracha i have in the pantry and it says "chili sauce," which is what lisa said, and they gave her that. i mean, i know that technically, chili paste and chili sauce are different, but that inconsistency kinda bothered me.

i just experimented with that kind of smoothie this morning! i have been on a smoothie kick all week; today's was strawberry, mango, and meyer lemon, with a little bulgarian yogurt and ice. splashed a little mango nectar in there as well. mmmmm. has anyone experimented with nuts in smoothies?

To clarify, fifi, I started looking here in San Marcos to no avail. I then began trying some stores in Austin, but there was not really a method to the madness-- I just started calling liquor stores out of the yellow pages around areas I'm familiar with. After speaking to a few clerks who didn't know what I was talking about, I posted here out of frustration. You all were my go-to guys.

thank you all for such timely responses! i think i'll take Jmahl's suggestion and go across the border. i am doing a bike ride later on in the month down in the rio grande valley; i'll most likely make a pit stop in progreso. i was already planning on hitting up the duty-free store for a bottle of cointreau ($20 savings!). okay, thanks again for your help everyone.

sorry to start a new thread just for this question, but i am having the hardest time finding a bottle of campari. i don't mean to be a nuisance, but can one of you point me in the right direction? some of the liquor stores i've called don't even know what it is. is it me who is the dunce? should i be looking elsewhere? online? *sigh* i feel like such a newbie sometimes.

i just wanted to offer thanks for this thread's existence; it saved me from total madness. i'll admit i'm an amateur and have never made creme brulee before, but i have been completely perplexed for close to three days as to why they never set. on top of that, the recipe i used, not to mention others i perused, all said something like, "refrigerate for at least four hours or up to three days." i made them on sunday evening, and they still haven't set properly. i couldn't figure out that the hell i had done wrong, but i suspect after browsing this thread that the amount of water in the water bath is the culprit for my still-runny brulee. i'm kinda bummed still about the mishap in general, but i'm glad that i found a possible answer to the problem. will try again soon, with (hopefully) a success story and perhaps pictures.

i saw a lot of mac n cheese, and a lot of tuna, but none together (although it's quite possible i could have skimmed right past it.) one of my favorite slummin' foods is just a can of tuna (chunk white or light, whatever's in the pantry, but never the good, canned in olive oil stuff) dumped into a prepared pot of velveeta shells n cheese. (full disclosure: i have been known to buy the powdered stuff when i'm running low on cash. which, i suppose, is all the time, but i do prefer the velveeta cheesy stuff.) add a healthy squirt of sriracha, mix, and enjoy in front of the telly. or: a block of velveeta + a can of rotel and tortilla chips. technically, it's not a meal, but i make one of it often. lastly, i also enjoy a split link of hormel smoked turkey sausage, smeared with hot mustard, inside a piping hot corn tortilla.

*jumps up and down* yes, yes! come on! as someone who frequents lockhart for BBQ (luckily i am only a 30 minute drive), i am interested in hearing another opinion.

fifi, i think you're talking about garcia's, which is also my preference for tex-mex here. their breakfast in particular is wholly satisfying, and everything is relatively inexpensive.

my .02- i like the czech stop too. i've only been there once while driving through, but it hit the spot like nothing else at 6am. i was surprised at the mention of herbert's taco hut in san marcos. so many people love this place, i'm beginning to think i'm the only one who doesn't. it's not bad food, but it's not the best tex-mex in san marcos either. re: threadgill's: mmm. mmm. i'm down with hoover's home cooking too.

I agree whole-heartedly. I've ranted about this for awhile now, because I worked for over a year at a Pottery Barn, and had to deal with many, many, many screaming children whose parents actually encouraged them to "play on the couches while Mommy and Daddy shopped." I can recall couches, dining tables, almost everything being ruined (once, a child peed on a couch!), because of the lack of discipline of this type of parent. But I digress. I was only ever taken to family-style restaurants when I was small, but I was a quiet, nerdy girl anyway. I'm sure my parents weren't worried so much about me, but I know that when my little sister came along eleven years later, I'd have to take her outside the second she started throwing a tantrum--even if we were at a family-style restaurant like Chili's or something similar. My parents didn't have any trepidation whatsoever about this, it was always just considered the courteous thing to do. I think I thought that this behavior was normal, until I realized that there were still screaming children everywhere. I feel like it's only worsened, though, and I'm not sure why. It seems like whereever I go, there is at least ONE child acting a fool somehow. It's just... awful.

err, texas weather is jacked! i just found out the low for tonight is 39 degrees. how can it be in the mid-70s now and drop to the freakin' 30s?!? *sigh* i guess i will postpone my first celebratory "cool" dinner for another day.

well, it's that time again when i'm perpetually hot and want to jump into the nearest body of water as soon as possible. and it's only april! what are you folks serving up these days to keep cool? tonight i'm making something simple, cool, and intensely flavorful--beet and ginger soup (which also contains leeks, cucumbers, and some lemon juice), which i plan to serve chilled, with a simple green salad with dill, scallions, and more lemon. i knew it was getting to be that time when i found myself craving a mojito. i made up a batch yesterday and all was very, very well indeed.

i haven't tried it with vodka, but one day i had unexpected company, two bottles of the blood orange soda, half a carton of grapefruit juice, and some rum. it was mighty tasty. tasty enough to kill it all.

ha! i remember lurking around maybe a month and a half ago, reading this thread and thinking to myself that i simply must try the blood orange soda. eight bottles later... the stuff is great! i keep saying i'll try the other flavors, but so far the lemon one just sits in the fridge and i buy more of the orange. all this while i'm trying to cut back on sugar! i bumped this thread because i made the conscious decision of shopping at CM. living with all the new whole foods brouhaha is too much. sure, the store's great, but as some of you have pointed out--zero texas personality. and too.many.people! oh those bourgeouis bohemians love their whole foods. i visited the south lamar CM yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of crowd. i feel a CM shopping spree coming on...

as an aside, i think you all should know what i overheard a customer say while at the seafood counter: "i'm having multiple orgasms right now just LOOKING at all of this!" anyhow, i just finished eating a simple and amazing snack: seared scallops, served with a bottle of mango habanero hot sauce that i picked up today at tears of joy. those babies weren't cheap, but sooo worth it. for fifi, the abridged version of my grocery list: 1 lb wild scallops 1 lb wild coho salmon steaks (this i can't get enough of; in san marcos, you can't get anything non-farm-raised) a lovely hunk of parm-reg a TON of produce (asparagus, tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, spinach) a bottle of cheap WFM merlot the requisite beer: 6 pack of lamar st. pale ale (they have a beer alley! imagine my delight.) freshly baked sourdough a lovely bouquet of casablanca lilies and other assorted spices, herbs, etc. i'm too hyper now--too much SXSW madness for me in one day!

superlucky, they do have those annoyingly huge kiddie carts. and you're right, all it does is add to the chaos of the place. i finally went yesterday. (last week i was stuck with an endoscopy and wisdom teeth removal, back to back. ) i was totally and completely overwhelmed, and spent almost two hours in the place, even though it wasn't a very practical idea since it was so packed. i'm in luuurve. i spent money i don't really have. on food. what a great college kid i am. welcome, dawn! i'm new here too.

thanks!

anyone know off hand what the ratio is for using fresh herbs instead of dried herbs? is there any difference? i am making salmon croquettes tonight and the recipe i'm using calls for dried tarragon. i have leftover fresh tarragon which i'm using but i don't know how much more to use.

so glad i found this thread. absurdly stupidly simple cooking (or cooking-related) questions are my forte. numero uno: so i just bought this beautiful nine piece all-clad nonstick cookware set. it's so gorgeous, i don't want to mess anything up. i want it to stay as pristine as possible. only i bought the set from an outlet, so it didn't come boxed or with warranty or care information. i've registered online for the warranty part, but my question is this (brevity is obviously NOT my forte): what exactly is harmful to the nonstick surface? i grew up with an anal retentive mother who would never let me use anything except rubber spatulas (or similar items) on her nonstick pans. she would probably have died if i busted out a whisk. is she right? what am i supposed to do when i need to whisk something? i feel like such a dunce!

i had my usual "no time for breakfast" breakfast: instant cinnamon pecan oatmeal, a blood orange (eaten en route to class), and a latte.

<---newbie here, feeling rather geeky at the newness of it all. i decided to stop lurking and finally post. i live in san marcos, and haven't yet gone over to the new whole foods. i'm a little apprehensive about the whole thing--i know i will end up going a little crazy and have a whole cart-full of groceries. yes, it's fun, but it's kind of dangerous when you're a poor college student like me. although i'm unable to get a LOT of things here in san marcos... i really should just suck it up and go. anyhow, i just wanted to introduce myself to the texas eGulleters. you will be seeing more of me.