Grovite

Granola bars, beef jerky, those little "100 Calorie" packs, you know, "less messy" items. Bottled water is a must and I keep a case of it in my car at all times. Sodas, coffee and the ocassional cup of Earl Grey are found in there as well. If I grab a burger on a drive, I will get it plain Jane. Don't get me wrong, I love a good, messy burger, but when driving, the last thing I want is a shirt full of mustard, onions, tomatos, etc. I have eaten a bowl of menudo in a moving car once. Good menudo, but I had a nice dry cleaning bill after that meal. On long road trips, my passengers and I have called the next town ahead and ordered a pizza for pick-up.

I have a Vita-Mix 4500 and I love it. I do notice that most of the posters are not too keen on the KA blenders though. I have what I affectionately refer to as my Blender Army which consists of my Vita-Mix, two KAs, a Waring Pro, a L'Equip RPM (This was the one that Alton had in Gear, the cool one with the tachometer) and an old Cuisinart I've had since college. Other than the Vita-Mix, to me, the KAs seem to be the best of the bunch. Oh well, to each his own I suppose.

How 'bout a dope like me that drove from Uptown Dallas to eat there! My father, who grew up in Pasadena, has spoken highly of this place and informed me that I ate there when I was three, way back in 1978...so much for memory. I had the "Squealer" and a big plate of those amazing onion rings. I will be dropping in to this joint on my visits from now on!

I actually had to pay attention to how I was eating last night , it's just not something one thinks about too often. Well, I'm a "switcher".

Ennis is 25 minutes south of Dallas on I-45. It's a rural suburb of about 20,000 people (and growing) that make some mighty fine Czech food

Christ on a motorbike, that's me too!

I have tried the 4 Cheese CM pizza and it is great, better than the frozen California Pizza Kitchen line in my opinion.

there's an HEB in Waxahachie, that may be closer to you. ← There's one in Ennis too if you feel like making the short drive to get your Blood Orange Soda fix. My parents live there and I went to visit this past Sunday and ran in to the HEB, and low and behold, there they were! I walked out with 4 bottles and a bag of the CM Organic Popcorn

I picked up one of the red CI Dutch ovens from Target and I like it. I've cooked in it side by side with my much more expensive Lodge Enamel Dutch oven and to be honest, I really couldn't tell a difference. Only time will tell.

Crawfish...crawdads

Not sure if any of you have been, but I there are these two hole-in-the-wall joints that, in my opinion, have some of the best pit-barbeque around. The first place I found was this place called Bubba's in Ennis. The brisket alone was worth the trip there. That and the fact that they actually know how to cook a steak works well in their favor. I pass by this place all the time on my trips from Dallas to Houston, but this was the first time I stopped there. I will be making this stop all the time now. The other joint is a place called Ernie's in LaPorte. It's a total dive where you get your food served on sheets of butcher paper and cheap paper plates. The pulled pork was great as was the brisket. I plan on dropping in here again on my next trip down to Houston.

There is no such thing as chicken, shrimp or veggie fajitas! There never will be. Fajita is skirt steak, that is all it ever will be.

Let me rephrase. As far as overall selection, some of the BIG HEBs (I'm thinking of some of the newer ones) have the run-of-the-mill Whole Foods beat. Most of them now carry the full line of Central Market branded items and their produce and meat markets are getting better and better. Maybe they taper off when compared to the Flagship down at Lamar & 6th, but the smaller ones like the Lower Greenville location in Dallas get beat everytime. And Fiesta is outstanding for produce selection!

I use my steel before I use any of my knives. As far as sharpening, I know an old man (87 years young!) that uses a whetstone. He charges next to nothing and can sharpen knives better than most of the "Pros" around here. My knives always have a razor sharp edge thanks to this man.

Central Market always does it better. Hell, I'd put up a regular HEB against a Whole Foods anyday of the week!

There is a nice grill/bar in Denton, TX across from the county courthouse called The Loophole. Kinda clever I suppose, and hey, the food is good.

Most of the FF places I went/go to serve the same basic things I have always eaten, with a couple of exceptions: Sonic, at least around here, no longer has grilled cheese sandwiches on Texas toast or fried burritos on their menu, which sucks! Also, again, just around here, Jack In The Box used to have potato wedges with real cheddar and bacon and beef taquitos on their menu. Also, I miss the "special sauce" that they put on the Jumbo Jacks. Whataburger...they haven't changed a damn thing which is fine by me...except for the $0.05 coffee refills, that was cool.

Sam, I very much enjoyed your lecture on cookware. I have a pretty extensive cookware collection and recently, I purchased some of Calphalon's new line of "infused" anodized cookware, Calphalon One. I did not purchase the N/S version of this, but rather the straight anodized. It is heavier than their Commercial lines, you can feel the heft in the pieces, and the new handles are amazing. It has performed beautifully to date, far better than some of my pricier pieces (which is relative of course, the C1 was no bargain let me tell you!). I was wondering if you have had any experience with this new line?

Hi, new poster, long time lurker... Anyway, I've had the same problem with the Cuisinart electric knife. I have burned through two in less than six months, catering tends to be hard on these suckers. I was about to buy another one this past March when I saw one of the ol'white Hamilton Beach electric knives ($20 at most places) sitting next to the Cuisinart. I picked up two of them, just in case. Flash forward 7 months and I'm still using the first one with zero problems. Most of the time that old adage, "You get what you pay for." holds true, but in this case, at least for me, going cheap paid off. Give one of these a whirl, it may pay-off for you.