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pamjsa

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Everything posted by pamjsa

  1. On a recent trip back to my hometown of Boise, Idaho (of all places), I had lunch at an excellent Thai restaurant downtown and enjoyed a bento box that included a dish called Evil Princess Chicken. It was unbelievably good. I'd like to try to replicate this dish at home, but I've been unable to find a recipe by that name via Google. I've found recipes for Evil Jungle Princess--from what I can tell by looking at the recipes, though, these aren't exactly the same dish. (Or maybe they are, and the version I had was slightly different?) Recipes? Suggestions for places to look? I am in serious need of the Evil Princess.
  2. Perhaps because I just finished grading a set of student memoirs from my summer school class--and the last one I read was written by a student who grew up in a housing project, who is now a custodian at my university, working full-time and taking classes part-time and proud proud proud to be the first person in his large extended family who can afford to own a car--I have to disagree. I think there are many people who still consider a $4 cup of coffee to be an enormous luxury, and therefore a status symbol in the way of all luxuries, whether a Lexus or a well-used Ford. The definition of "status" just depends on your circumstances. As for the article itself--this kind of extreme snobbery always seems to me to exist for the sole purpose of getting people riled up. I think I'll just decline to give Spengler that satisfaction.
  3. Valomilk is also available at many Cracker Barrel restaurants (in the cheesy gift shop portion, of course) and at Cost Plus/World Market. They're only available in locations where they can be transported by truck, since shipment by air makes them explode--I live in south Texas, but apparently that's driving distance from Kansas City. I buy Valomilk every time I see them. Love that milky, marshmallowy goodness . . .
  4. pamjsa

    Peaches help, please!

    I had the exact same thing happen with a bunch of locally grown peaches about a week ago. So disappointing. In the end, I just blanched and chopped them up, saving what I could. I tossed some of the chunks into freezer bags for later use, made some into a puree (also frozen now, for later use), and whipped some into smoothies with strawberries, mango and frozen vanilla yogurt. I used some of the smoothy mixture to make frozen popsicles for my kids--they won't drink smoothies, but they love smoothy pops. Go figure.
  5. pamjsa

    Barbeque's Sides!

    How about a corn salad? Throw together about 2 cups of corn, 2 cups of chopped zucchini, a small sweet onion and a medium-sized red pepper (also chopped, of course), and about half a cup of chopped fresh cilantro. Toss all of this with a nice vinaigrette. Let it all sit for awhile, so the flavors can blend. Delish! One of my favorite summer sides.
  6. pamjsa

    Packaged Cookies

    Archway molasses cookies. So soft, they stick together in the package--often forcing me to eat several at a time. The horror, the horror! Also, Archer Farms (the Target store brand) has an excellent version of dulce de leche pirouettes. They're worth buying just for the aroma wave created by opening the can. Very sweet, of course, but I'm a dulce de leche fiend.
  7. Zingers, the raspberry-coconut variety. Three little fingers of happiness.
  8. This is exactly my mom's potato salad recipe! I can never get the quantities right--I think I like a little more mustard than my mom does, but in the finished product it always overwhelms the trademark tangy zip. And I can't stand celery seed in any other capacity, but potato salad isn't the same without it.
  9. The geographical component to this discussion has been really interesting. I always assumed mayo/Miracle Whip was more of an east/west divide, mostly because I grew up eating MW in the west (as did most of my friends) and didn't know anyone who used mayo as anything other than a recipe ingredient until I moved east for graduate school. All my friends who grew up in New England are mayo people who eschew Miracle Whip with the fiery passion of a thousand Bigboys.
  10. Count me in. I use mayo in recipes that call for it, but on a sandwich, in potato salad, in deviled eggs--it's the Miracle every time.
  11. Dos Amigos for me, without question. My kids are bigs fans of the Birthday Cake ice cream, and my husband goes for Bunuelos and Cream or just plain Cinnamon. Mmmmmm. Must . . . have . . . ice cream . . .
  12. Glad you enjoyed your trip. I think Boise benefits from low expectations--no one expects to find much there, so the cool things are exceptionally cool. Any chance that was the Piper Pub you visited?
  13. I'm actually quite an attentive parent--probably too much so--but clearly I did something really bad in a previous life, as the following will attest: The whole family has gone out to dinner at a new, funky restaurant. One of the specialties of the house is a kids' drink that's super bubbly and produces lots of smoke (courtesy of dry ice.) Naturally, my kids think this is the coolest thing ever. My 7 year old daughter takes a sip of her green apple concoction and pronounces it "Yummy!" Then she burps REALLY loudly. (We try not to laugh, because we know it's not funny to be impolite--but we really can't help ourselves.) Then my 5 year old son takes a sip of his bubbly, smoky, cherry drink. "Ooooooh," he says, a little too blissfully. "That's so good, it tickles my pee-pee!" Needless to say, we made all the other parents feel very proud of their offspring.
  14. I don't know how I failed to mention Lucky 13. Excellent pizza, and a great patio--definitely worth a visit. Pretty much everything in Hyde Park is dog-friendly. Also, I think I failed to confirm that the old penitentiary/botannical gardens is worth a visit as well. If you're out that way, you're pretty close to the Greenbelt and could take a very nice bike ride along the river. Have fun!
  15. Yes, Main Street is the heart of downtown--and the farmer's market is worth checking out. Lots of businesses along 8th Street, as well. If you follow 13th Street north, you'll discover Camelback Park (an actual park, with good hiking/biking trails) and Hyde Park--a funky old neighborhood with an ever-changing assortment of interesting shops. There used to be an excellent ice cream place in Hyde Park, Goody's, which may or may not be there still. I think the Boise Co-op is also on 13th Street now, though I could be wrong about that--I know it moved from Hill Road closer to the downtown area. And I hear there's an interesting restaurant, Flipside, across the parking lot from the Co-op. Haven't been there, though, so I can't vouch for the quality. Oh--and if you're in the mood for a movie, the Egyptian Theater is really cool. It's worth going to a movie just to check out the inside. Sheesh, this is making me homesick! I'll be in Boise myself, late in July, so please post when you get back and let me know how you enjoyed your visit.
  16. Louie's has the basics--pasta, calzones, etc. It's not fancy or adventurous, but it's good food at a reasonable price. I should also have mentioned The Atomic Taco as a lunch spot--fresh and delicious.
  17. I'm originally from Boise--though I'm living Texas now, I head back to the homestead about once a year to visit family. Kandor kitchen shop is worth a look, if you're in the neighborhood. As for food: Gernika, definitely. Bardenay is also great (try the trout, if you like fish). If you're in the mood for something casual, Moon's Kitchen (*huge* sandwiches) or Le Poulet Rouge. Louie's for Italian, Chapala for Mexican. Goldy's for breakfast. These are all downtown, which is easy to navigate.
  18. Well, as they say, it's what's inside that counts. Viva pie!
  19. pamjsa

    Blackberries

    Thanks for all the great suggestions. I think I might go with a small tart, or perhaps the peach-blackberry pie (sounds heavenly, and the colors will be lovely together.) Ludja, yes, the berries are locally grown. I was surprised to see blackberries this early, too--where I grew up, in the Pacific northwest, they were always a late summer treat. But these are fully ripe, and absolutely delish. Thanks again, everyone.
  20. pamjsa

    Blackberries

    A friend gave me 1 and not-quite-one-half pints of blackberries yesterday evening--someone had given her a bunch of them, and she's not a big berry fan, so rather than let them go to waste she brought them to a church function and let those of us who wanted some split them up. So, I wound up with the aforementioned odd quantity. Not quite enough for a pie or cobbler (unless I go small, and that would seem to violate the very spirit of pie). I've considered a fruit salad, but blackberries are so dramatic and lovely that I fear they'd be minimized among the other fruits. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
  21. I don't know if possum pie is native to a particular part of the country. I've had it exactly twice, both times made by my friend Nancy (originally of Arkansas), and neither time did it involve the actual death or consumption of possum. It did involve a nice crunchy crust with nuts--pecans, I think--and a smooth, buttery sort of filling, topped with whipped cream and toasted coconut. Quite heavenly. And further proof of the superiority of pie, which can take on any guise--even that of the humble possum--and still come out positively magnificent.
  22. Hmmph, I'd like to see a piece of shoo-fly cake! ← And I don't even want to think about possum cake.
  23. Pie pie pie. That counts as three votes. When I posed this query to my husband, his immediate response was "Cake is just poor consolation for the lack of pie." My daughter, who regularly requests pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake, needn't even be asked. As for me: my mom used to bake a birthday pie for our neighborhood grandma, Miss Emma. As a kid, I found this highly suspicious: no candles? No frosting? What kind of birthday is that? "You're supposed to have cake on your birthday," I said. "Well, Miss Emma doesn't like cake," my mom said, "so I'm taking her a pie. On your birthday, you should have things the way you want them." I still remember very clearly the look of absolute bliss on Miss Emma's face when we showed up on her doorstep, and later when my mom sliced out a piece of that homemade apple pie. Looking back on it now, I realize Miss Emma was way past her own baking days and at the mercy of grocery stores and generous neighbors. But, looking back, it's also clear that Miss Emma's the one who taught me about the miracle of pie. Make that four votes. No question about where Miss Emma's loyalty would be.
  24. The smell of peanut butter set me off, too--throughout my entire first pregnancy, not just the first trimester. As did the smell of cooking beef. Not chicken or fish, oddly enough, just beef. That's only the tip of the weirdness iceberg--this was the pregnancy during which all I wanted to eat was celery with aerosol cheese. (I know! It's not something I would ever, ever eat under normal circumstances, but pregnancy doesn't fall into that category.) During my second pregnancy, the peanut butter aversion didn't reappear but I couldn't stomach the smell of coffee at all. And I love coffee beyond all reason, so that was very sad. I even tried drinking a cup with my nose plugged, but you can imagine how well that worked. That time around, my cravings were focused on Pepperidge Farms' frozen coconut cake. (Interestingly, I gained only half as much weight as I did the first time, eating all that celery!) Congrats!
  25. Since so many of you were incredibly helpful and supportive when I started this thread, I thought I'd check in and give all interested parties an update. The convergence of my son's weight issues and his diagnosis of ADD turned out to be a disguised blessing. After one round of medication that didn't work at all, he's now taking Adderall--and it has worked wonders. His grades are up (waaaay up), which has really contributed to his self-esteem. As a result, he's become much more social and more physically active. He's still not a big sports guy, but he's much more likely to agree to take a walk around the neighborhood or to get on the treadmill while he's watching cartoons. One of the side effects of Adderall is decreased appetite. I worried that my son would become an even pickier eater, but precisely the opposite has happened: perhaps because because his mind is better able to negotiate the middle ground between "Gross! No way! Never!" and "You betcha! Yum! I love it!", he's become much less obstinate when it comes to trying new things. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that he's less hungry, and therefore eating about half of what he used to eat at any given meal--so conceding to try something new doesn't seem like such a big commitment. Also, because he's able to really focus on the things that interest him (or the things he needs to do, like homework), he doesn't snack out of boredom. In fact, most days he comes home from school and sits down to do his homework without even asking about a snack. Our whole family has learned a lot by going through this process. Perhaps most importantly, we've learned to note the sometimes-not-so-obvious connections between our mental state and our eating patterns. Watching my son taper off on his snacking has encouraged the rest of us to be more intentional about what we're eating as well. When I ask my son whether he wants a snack, he actually takes a minute to think about it before saying "No thanks, I'm not really hungry." This is something he never would have done six months ago, something the rest of us reming ourselves to do now. We're trying to follow his example, and of course giving him all the credit for being a good role model. We've also incorporated a new, more methodical approach to mealtimes: we now have a four-week rotation of dinner menus, parallel to the kids' school lunch menus. (We did this to avoid situations where, for example, the kids would end up having pasta for lunch and dinner on any given day.) This has simplified grocery shopping, and we renegotiate the menu after four weeks, so everyone has a chance to request their favorites and I have a chance to add in new recipes. We've even implemented an entree "waiting list," to which the kids add their suggestions whenever they think of something we haven't had in awhile. I did have to adapt to cooking on a schedule, rather than cooking whatever I felt like making, but this system really does work better in many ways. There's rarely a battle about what we're having for dinner because my son can look at the menu, know what's coming up, and make his peace with it if it isn't a favorite. The skinny (pun intended): my son has lost six pounds since the start of the year. He was well off the charts before that, and he continues to grow like a weed, so this isn't a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, after introducing the treadmill into our lives at Christmas, the rest of the family has started a running program. I'm proud to report that, at the ripe old age of 42, I can run three miles. (This from a woman who had never, ever run so much as a city block in her entire life.) We're all much healthier, happier, and organized than ever before.
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