Jaymes

I'll go along with the fried rice, and you can cut the eggs up into that as well. Or you can make this, a standard at our house for using up leftover ham (and chop the eggs to toss into a mixed greens salad): Ham & Potato Casserole 1/2 t salt 1 C chopped celery 1 1/2 C boiling water 1 1/2 C cubed potatoes evaporated whole milk 1/4 C butter 1 C white or yellow onion, chopped 1/4 C flour 2 C cooked ham, cut into bite-sized pieces (or chicken or tuna) 2 T chopped parsley 1 C green peas, cooked and drained 1/2 C grated cheese, or more to taste (I use mild cheddar, but you can use whatever you like) Add salt and celery to boiling water. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Add potatoes and cook 15 minutes longer. Drain and measure liquid. Add enough milk to make 1 1/2 cups and set aside. Melt butter in saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft. Add flour and blend well. Stir until flour is bubbling and no longer 'raw.' Gradually add reserved liquid, stirring constantly, and cook until sauce thickens and boils for 1 minute. Add ham, parsley and vegetables. Spoon into buttered 1 quart casserole and top with grated cheese. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbly. Can refrigerate before baking. If you do, then add another 15 minutes to baking time. Other salad thoughts -- Ham & eggs go into a chef's salad. Or you can make a spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, adding the chopped eggs and some sweet onions. My personal favorite.

I hope you can find some Mom's. I think it's the best by far. On one of the other jarred pasta sauce threads, I waxed rhapsodic about it, even listing the ingredients, which include no added sugars, or fillers, or any of the other usual unsavory suspects. And several others raved about it as well. Mom's Pasta Sauces, and Timpone's Foods. The only negative I've found is that some people that are accustomed to a bunch of starchy fillers and thickeners and added sugars, find Mom's too thin and not sweet enough. But it's perfect, as far as I'm concerned.

This has turned into a great thread.

We've actually had several other threads about jarred pasta sauces. They have some excellent information that you might be interested in perusing. Here's one of the best: Store-bought pasta sauces.

Thanks so very much to those of you that have responded. I promise I'll try them all. WHS -- My 'specific interests' are to see the countryside, get to know a few of the cities and towns (at least superficially), and learn something of the local traditions, history and culture, both food and otherwise.

I'm sorry, I thought this thread was about good places to eat in Austin. Oh no, I'M sorry. I thought that most people agree with me that dining in this particular restaurant or that is about more than just the food -- things that one should keep in mind when one has been asked for recommendations for something so subjective as "good places to eat." There's also service, ambiance, mood, menu, a sense of place, time, history, etc. Especially with people "on this board, obviously" since they dissect and discuss and argue about such intangible and peripheral and (apparently) superfluous and unimportant things endlessly. And that traveling and visiting places is about more than just the restaurants. And making an effort to learn about and understand and appreciate a destination, and the people that lived there, and the history and traditions and culture that shaped it, helps one to more fully understand and appreciate the restaurants and foods and individual dishes and preparations that that particular destination offers. I should not have made those assumptions. I guess it's not easy for me to so casually separate the great "town IN GENERAL" from the people that live there (and in fact even to be dismissive of them; i.e., "Personally, I am not fond of the 'Austin Institution' restaurants... I know it's so Very Austin to go to these places... I find the city sort of pretentious when it comes to evaluating its own merits...."), the reasons why they find it special, the places they're proud of, the things they do, the common history they share, the restaurants they frequent, and what they order and enjoy when they get there. And why on earth they'd go to someplace so awful again and again and again. ← Yo, that's a lot of words to defend someplace as dreadful as Threadgill's or Chuy's. ← Well, I was trying hard to help you understand. Maybe it's just an age thing.

That's the number one traditional side with grilled steaks in the southwest. Charro beans, or frijoles charros. The charros refers to the famous charro cowboys, that traveled around wearing the fancy, silver-studded outfits and large sombreros that you see in those old posters. They were noble and brave, expert horsemen, and were famous for doing good deeds...think 'super cowboys,' or maybe 'Mexican samurai.' So charro beans essentially means cowboy beans. And they are the perfect go-with. But my personal very favorite is roasted peppers -- green, red, yellow. I just slice the pepper into large strips that will fit on my grill, brush them with evoo, and roast. It has never, ever failed that when I serve them to folks that have never had them that way before, they are gobsmacked at how delicious those roasted peppers are, and how easy. It's like introducing them to a brand new, but parallel, universe. Plus, if you have any left over, which I rarely do, they're equally good cold the next day. Which means that you can do them ahead if you don't have much room on your grill. You can be doing them as everyone arrives. That way, the enticing aroma of something on the grill will greet them, promising better things to come. Edit: Oh, and to go ON the steaks, sweat a big bunch of chopped shallots in a little butter. When the shallots are limp, turn off the heat and add a stick of fresh, sweet butter, cut into chunks. Just allow the butter to melt (but not really cook, and certainly not to brown) and serve. The best thing ever to top steaks.

Thanks for that link. You are right, it's a great thread with a lot of excellent information. Now...does anyone know anything about Taxco?

Yes, and if you simply cannot get a stain out of a beautiful tablecloth, just set a serving dish on it. And lower the lights and light the candles and serve plenty of wine. Nobody'll notice that stain when they start passing the food. I swear.

I'm going to be spending much of the summer in Concord NH. I will have access to a car, and am interested in seeing and getting to know the area. Would like recommendations as to places to eat, and anything else that will help me to enjoy my visit and understand what makes New England "special." In particular, would like recommendations for restaurants, diners, etc., with a strong sense of place and history. And any other information about the history of New England's food traditions will be helpful. As I say, I will have my car and am perfectly happy to drive for several hours if your recommendations require. Thanks in advance....

I'm sorry, I thought this thread was about good places to eat in Austin. Oh no, I'M sorry. I thought that most people agree with me that dining in this particular restaurant or that is about more than just the food -- things that one should keep in mind when one has been asked for recommendations for something so subjective as "good places to eat." There's also service, ambiance, mood, menu, a sense of place, time, history, etc. Especially with people "on this board, obviously" since they dissect and discuss and argue about such intangible and peripheral and (apparently) superfluous and unimportant things endlessly. And that traveling and visiting places is about more than just the restaurants. And making an effort to learn about and understand and appreciate a destination, and the people that lived there, and the history and traditions and culture that shaped it, helps one to more fully understand and appreciate the restaurants and foods and individual dishes and preparations that that particular destination offers. I should not have made those assumptions. I guess it's not easy for me to so casually separate the great "town IN GENERAL" from the people that live there (and in fact even to be dismissive of them; i.e., "Personally, I am not fond of the 'Austin Institution' restaurants... I know it's so Very Austin to go to these places... I find the city sort of pretentious when it comes to evaluating its own merits...."), the reasons why they find it special, the places they're proud of, the things they do, the common history they share, the restaurants they frequent, and what they order and enjoy when they get there. And why on earth they'd go to someplace so awful again and again and again.

So in early May, I'm flying into DF with a few compadres for a week's vacation. Bus down to Taxco for two days, then back up to DF for three. Thoughts?

I'd do something cold and marinated for sure....plenty of things to choose from....rice, or bean, or mushroom, or onion, of all of those, salad. Maybe escabeche de zanahoria y jalapenos -- those pickled carrots with peppers and onions that the Mexicans love. Or the pink grapefruit slices with avocados and sweet red onions & vinaigrette. Or tabouleh...

Jaymes, if you use the link to get to the main website then click on recipes. from there select "more recipes" from under the pictures, scroll down to vegetables and the recipe is there and the link clicks. Hey, thanks. The recipe mentions marsala and I'm wild about anything with marsala...

On the other carrot thread, there is a mention of "carrots with marsala and lime marmalade." That sounds wonderful, but the link is broken. Is anyone else familiar with this dish?

I buy carrots from my local organic farmer's stand. I don't know if it's correct, but the farmer told me that I should remove the carrot greens as soon as possible. He says that the greens depend upon the nutrients in the carrots to thrive, and that they will continue to leach nutrients and flavor from the carrots until they are removed. Like I said, don't know if that's right, but figure what the hey....so I don't buy carrots that still have the greens attached.

There is this one: Carrots from the garden... And although it's short, there are some good ideas there.

Try Madame Mam's for Thai. It's on the drag, right across from the university and is a popular hangout for UT's Asian students.

I'm sorry to disagree with you, but that's my honest opinion. I think Austin is a great town, but I've been very disappointed in a lot of the Must-Do stuff. I started my previous post with places I do like to eat because I think those places are representative of what's good about Austin, if not so well-known. Have you ever been to Houston? I didn't realize until I left what a great place it is for someone who is interested in food. Yes, I've been to Houston many, many times. My son and his wife live there. She's from there. He graduated from U.H.'s - Conrad Hilton School of Hotel & Restaurant Mgt -- and has worked at both the Four Seasons and the Sam Houston, so when I go, I get squired around pretty good. My favorite aunt lived there for years and I often spent summers with her. My former father-in-law performed with the Houston Grand Opera and the Theater Under the Stars and we went to many of their productions. My former husband is from Galveston, and I lived there for a time. So I'm very familiar with that entire area. Here's the thing I think you're missing.... I've never heard anybody say that Austin is a "great food town." Just recently I've heard people say something like, "You know, Austin is getting to be a pretty good food town." I don't think that overall the restaurants in Austin measure up to Houston. Or to Dallas. Or, for that matter, even San Antonio. They're heading in that direction, but they're not there yet. (For one thing, each of those cities is more than twice the size of Austin.) But the very things you denegrate, the "Very Austin" things, the things that Austinites love and are so proud of, are what make the town so special. It's not just the food. It's a difficult-to-define something, a mood, an atmosphere, a character, a way of life. If you're only looking for it on the menus and plates of the restaurants there, you'll never find it. I'd even go so far as to say that food was (and probably remains) of secondary importance (and probably much less) to the sorts of folk that made, and make, Austin special. There were artists, maybe even starving artists. There were college students, maybe even starving college students. There were musicians, maybe even starving musicians. There were all-night parties and skinny dipping in Barton Springs and warbling a tune or two at Threadgill's and hanging at the Armadillo and buying pottery at Clarksville and twirling under the Christmas tree lights at Zilker Park and dressing up like Pooh Bear or a fairy or Baby Roo at Eeyore's Birthday Party. Great food, when you find it (and you can, more and more) is just icing on the cake. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a great deal more to having migas at Kerbey Lane at 2am than just the migas. And more to having turkey legs at Eeyore's than just the turkey legs. I'd suggest that you go back and look at my list of suggestions for Jason, or anyone else, when visiting Austin. See how many of those things you've done. Make an effort to learn and understand and appreciate what's different and weird and wonderful about Austin. And go for, say, Vietnamese food when you're back in Houston. Which has, I've been told, the country's second-largest Vietnamese population. But although Houston's many restaurants may please, I personally would not live there for all the beer in Shiner.

Ah yes...I see now that you did....well, I knew I heard it somewhere....

Somehow, I doubt that if you were in Paris for the first time ever, and folks told you that the "view, once fabulous, now sucked," you'd "totally skip it." I certainly wouldn't take their word for it. I'd want to see it for myself and make up my own mind. If you did "totally skip" it, or the boats, or the Louvre, or the other famous touristy sites, you'd be quite foolish. For one thing, when people speak of Paris, there are several things unique to Paris, regardless as to whether or not they are now as perfect as they once were. (Although I'm sure you'd find Paris to also be "sort of pretentious when it comes to evaluating its own merits.") I mean, why bother to visit Austin if you're going to "totally skip" all of the "Very Austin" things? Perhaps Jason should go to Houston instead? And of course, "totally skip" most of the "Very Houston" things, too, since so many of them are no longer what they once were. And since he lives up near the New York City greater metropolitan area (where he'd probably advise first-time visitors to "totally skip" that statue in the harbor because it's tarnished, you know), one presumes he has access to pretty good food from all over the world, so silly me would think that the reason he would go to Austin in the first place would be to do things that are "Very Austin." If he wasn't interested in that, he could just stay home. Edit: Oh, and PS to My Confusing Horoscope: The CFS at Broken Spoke is darn good. But there are better CFS's to be had in the area. If someone is going to be in Austin for a time, though, it is fun to go to "the Spoke" for dinner first, and then go into the back room for the music and dancing. Partially because if you get there early, there's better parking.

Well then, you'll be driving along Turnagain Arm, discovered by Captain Cook in 1778, when he sailed into what he thought was some sort of passageway (but instead was just an inlet, so he had to Turnagain....get it? ), which will take you right by Alyeska. So here's a DO NOT MISS for you. Be sure to leave time, at least an extra hour or so, to go up the tramway to the top of Mt. Alyeska. There is a restaurant up there, Seven Glaciers, but in my personal opinion, the food is just average, and very highly-priced, fairly common among restaurants of that type where the food is basically just an afterthought, and not the main lure. I'd suggest you stop by the New Sagaya Market, and get stuff to picnic with. Take the tram up and eat your good and affordable New Sagaya lunch up there. Turnagain Arm is very interesting. I'll tell you a little about it, since you're going to be driving along it. It has VERY high tides, and the water rushes through there fast enough that one could surf the wave, if one was really stupid. Every year, people get stuck in the mud there and occasionally some have died: Murderous Mud Flats. There is the Portage Glacier Visitor's Center, which is worthwhile, and I recommend it to people that are visiting Alaska on only a land tour. But you're going on a cruise and every Alaskan cruise company knows that you've come all that way in large measure to see some glaciers, so they'll be absolutely certain that you do. Skip Portage. For one thing, it's not a tide-water glacier, and it's nowhere nearly so large as the ones you'll cruise to. Skagway is my least-favorite of the southeast towns. Your cruise line will offer several shore excursions at Skagway, just like at Ketchikan and Juneau. At any of the towns, the wildlife viewing ones are wonderful. (Actually, they call them "Wildlife Searches" so that you won't get all huffy if you don't find anything to actually 'view.') Out of Skagway, many of the wildlife tours go to Haines, which is a great little town, to see the eagles. If you don't take a shore excursion that goes there, watch for Haines as you sail southerly out of Skagway. It will be on your starboard. It's got a collection of white buildings. That's an old army fort -- Ft. Seward. The fort has long since been decommissioned, and most of those buildings are the old officer's quarters, now privately owned. Several of them are B&B's. But back to shore excursions at Skagway. I think the most interesting tour there is the all-day train tour. It follows the route that the original gold prospectors took up to the Yukon. I love that old photo that shows them struggling up the pass -- a long black line of equal parts misery and determination winding through a blur of frozen white. The most popular shore excursion tour in all of southeast is the flightseeing one where you go into Misty Fiords, from Ketchikan. It is expensive and you do have to tell how much you weigh, but it is so wonderful that I've known people that took it in the morning, and then tried to get on it again in the afternoon. Of course, it was booked. Like all the most popular ones. So here's another tip. Be absolutely positive to get the list of shore excursions as soon as you can, and prebook the ones you want. Because THEY FILL UP. Don't know what cruise line you're on, and one or two won't allow you to prebook (in which case, get to the shore excursion office as soon as it opens), but most of the cruise lines DO let you prebook and if you don't, you definitely won't be able to get on something you'd like to do. If you prebook, you can always cancel as long as you do it right away and they can fill your space. If you don't prebook, and the tour is full, they'll waitlist you, but chances are slim you'll make it. And my other favorite thing on Alaskan cruises is to watch for the lighthouses. You'll undoubtedly pass some of them in the middle of the night, but you'll be able to see them in the twilight haze. Get a map that shows your cruise route, with the lighthouses marked, or ask someone when you're scheduled to pass them. Even if it's not a good time, get your camera handy and watch for those lighthouses. They're magical. Whew. That's all for now.

Sorry, FistFullaRoux, but I have to disagree on Threadgills. I used to think it was pretty darn good southern comfort food....but then I found Hoovers. And since then, most folks I talk to tend to agree Threadgills isn't what it was. Yeah, but it's still like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower...Just HAD to comment on this. Couldn't help myself. I'm totally with you FFR. First, if we're just talking nothing but the quality of the food, most of my friends, and certainly I, think Tony's and Dot's both beat Hoover's. But there are a great many reasons to go to a restaurant other than just the food. There's ambiance, atmosphere, view, service, etc. And there's also history. Threadgill's is an Austin institution. It is history and I always take out-of-towners there. Wednesday night is still Open Mic Night and the place is jammed with an assortment of the usual suspects and other characters and at any time, it's a fun, colorful, interesting and historic place to be. It opened in 1933 as a service station north of town on the Dallas Highway. My dad, who is 85, was a student at UT, and he would stop at that station to fill up with Good Gulf Gasoline on his way north to Dallas to court my mother. And when Travis County went 'wet,' Kenneth Threadgill stood in line all night long to get the first liquor license they granted. It's still there, on the wall, Travis County Liquor License #1. Kenneth loved country music and when my former husband was a UT student in the early 1960's, he and his pals would drive north to what had become essentially a Texas roadhouse and sit around Threadgill's and drink beer (I think they've got Shiner on tap) and listen to Kenneth warble country tunes a la Jimmy Rogers. Janis Joplin got her start there, too, on Open Mic Night. Just be sure to go to the original one on north Lamar, and sit in the alcove where the small stage is. Jason and Rachel could even work up a duet for Wednesday night. I completely agree that it's a do-not-miss slice of "old Austin." And while the food may not be what it once was, it ain't bad. Get the fried chicken livers and gravy. Edit: So okay, as long as I'm here... No self-respecting visitor to our fair city should leave before they: Yuck it up at Esther's Follies, but don't sit in the front row unless you want to be part of the show. Buy a cowboy hat, some fancy boots and a big ol' Texas belt buckle at Callahan's General Store. Tip that hat, polish that belt buckle and scoot those boots at the Broken Spoke. Walk the hallowed halls of the Texas State Capitol. Get choked up along with us Texicans at the Texas State History Museum. Admire the spirit of our 36th president at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. Be a kid again (and watch for Leslie) on Sixth Street. If you're too chicken to take a dip in Barton Springs Pool, at least go admire Austin's crown jewel. Get snockered with the Bush Twins (and Nacho) at the original Chuy's on Barton Springs Road. Pause for a reverential moment at the Elvis Shrine, and then order the Elvis Presley Memorial Enchilada Combo, and buy the Elvis Presley Memorial Enchilada Combo T-shirt to prove it. Ah yes, Austin, Texas. Where the cool kids are.

You can find fresh king crab, but only during crabbing season, which has been greatly cut back (sometimes to only a few days) and at any rate, is in the fall/winter, not when you're going to be there. Only one night....sounds like a cruise. I'd go along with Marx Bros Cafe for dinner, but you might want to go up to the top of Captain Cook Hotel for drinks beforehand. Or after. It will still be light after dinner, and the view from the top of the hotel is spectacular. Particularly in the lingering lavender twilight haze of an Alaskan summer night. Also, since I'm a kind of history junkie, I like imagining the old days when the Captain Cook was the grandest hotel in Alaska. Although I do not recommend the food in any of its restaurants. Since I suspect you'll be there on the land tour portion of a cruise, you'll probably be taking the train north to Denali. So I'd VERY strongly suggest you stop by the New Sagaya Market and pick up some things for lunch on the train. The food on the train is very expensive and not much good. Although sometimes the Reindeer Chili isn't bad, but pretty bland since they're catering to tourists from all over. But the New Sagaya Market is great fun anyway. They have a lot of ready-to-eat items and some tables and chairs (like many of the grocery stores in the lower 48) so the place is always full of locals grabbing a quick meal. You'll see everybody from lawyers and business persons in suits, to folks obviously just coming in from the bush on their monthly supply run. It's a wonderful spot for people-watching and definitely off of the beaten tourist track. It's downtown, just a few blocks from the hotels, and an easy and interesting and scenic walk and the food is pretty darn tasty. Even if you don't need any snacks to go, I'd suggest you consider it for lunch. Simon & Seafort is very good, as others have said, and it does have a nice view if you can get a table by the window, but the atmosphere there is more like chain restaurants in the lower 48. If you were going to be there several days, I'd recommend it for a meal but just one day, I'd say skip it. You said you'd be in Anchorage one night in June. If it just happens to be June 21st, that's the longest day, and it's always celebrated with a midnight baseball game. The game will start at 10:30 and be played without lights. You might not want to stay for the whole thing, but would be fun to go there for an hour or two after dinner, just to say you've been. Anyone in town can tell you where it is. Other info: If you are on a cruise, or if you're going to Fairbanks, definitely do one of the salmon bakes. The salmon is good, the halibut is fabulous. The sides are spectacularly uneventful, but you didn't go to Alaska to eat baked beans, did you? In Anchorage, be sure you go to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. If you are on a cruise, a visit there will either be included, or an option. Or you can just get in a cab and go there, but whatever, don't miss it. All of the tribes are represented, and they have build samples of their villages, with small huts, and each small "village" is staffed by a member of that particular tribe. They give you a little presentation about their lives and how the dwellings are built, and why. It's terrific, and any questions you've ever had about the Inupiat, Inuit, Athabascan, Eskimo, etc., you can ask these bright young people. If you have an extra hour, go to the Alaska Museum of History and Art in downtown Anchorage. Although it's all interesting, you don't have much time, so go straight to the Alaska Gallery. It's really wonderful, and includes life-size diaramas depicting how folks lived in the Great Land for centuries. One particularly interesting note is that the faces on all of the people in the diaramas are taken from real people. The last time I was there, there was a young Tlingit woman pointing at the figure of an old man sewing up sealskin. She said, "See, that's my granddad." If you are an art collector and would like to buy something by distinctly Alaskan artists, look for works by Byron Birdsall and Rie Munoz. You will see their artwork everywhere, from originals costing many thousands of dollars, to more affordable prints, lithographs, notecards. Birdsall is particularly noted for his depiction of the sublime light and shadow of Alaska; Munoz for her capture of the spirit of its people. But if you're in the mood for gag gifts for tacky friends, well, the Alaskan crafts folk are particularly inventive when it comes to the droppings of their favorite large animal -- the moose. They varnish the all-vegetarian moose turds and turn them into decoration for all manner of things. You'll find moose turd necklaces and matching earrings, moose turd swizzle sticks, and even ceramic mugs that have two moose turds permanently imbedded in the bottom. Of course, the legend on the side of these mugs says "Two Turds Full." If you'll tell me a little bit more about your visit -- where you're going, etc. -- I've got more. Oh, and PS. Everywhere you will see small items made of moose hide for sale -- beaded hair clips, coin purses, moccasins, key chains, eyeglass holders, etc. They have been smoked. When I think of the things I miss most about Alaska, the sights, the tastes, the smells, I think of the smoky aroma...natives smoking fish, meat, animal hide. So pick up one of those small, beaded moose-hide souvenirs and hold it to your nose and breath in deeply for me.