mizducky

Thanks for all the interesting replies, folks! Oooh. Now a bourbon mojito sounds really yummy.

Actually not fortified. Baby Duck was like fizzy pop with alchohol, the perfect drink for teenagers of my generation that wanted to get drunk without tasting booze. Ruby Rouge was just a revolting version of 'buck-five, come alive'. ← Having wicked flashes to some of my own adolescent misadventures with crap booze. There was this crap sparkling rose that my parents used to get all the time called Cold Duck, made by a vinyard in upstate New York called Andre. I wonder if this stuff is related to its fellow duck up north. Heh. And I'm digging the expression "buck-five, come alive". That's a new one for me.

What a terrific breakfast!!! Beans and rice and the eggs---we'll have to try that. Masa Brei, anyone? ← Or sort of a variation on chilaquiles (some are just bits of tortilla and sauce, but some include scrambled eggs as well).

????? Using dry rice noodles? I really doubt it, especially the ones in your Convoy area. Those bastardized American restaurants won't carry chow fun dishes. Those who do would only use fresh ones. For good reasons... fresh rice noodles cannot last too long (turn moldy or dry out). Chow mein (wheat noodles) keeps much longer. Chow fun shouldn't be too chewy. But then again this is an objective description. Unless you can describe in scientific terms, like how many pounds per square inch of chewing pressure, and how many chewing cycles to severe the noodles... Are you going to tell the people in China Max that you won't order this dish any more now that you know how to make it? ← Y'know, somehow I've yet to eat at China Max ... dunno why ... Where I've wound up having chow fun in the San Diego area is--don't laugh--the China Camp Express restaurant inside the Viejas Casino. And they do a surprisingly decent job of it, too--at least as far as I can tell. Admittedly, most of this place's menu is pretty danged Americanized. However, the menu also includes a few surprises--not only chow fun, but also congee--with salted pork and thousand-year egg, yet. Otherwise, yeah, I haven't seen chow fun on the menus of any of the Chinese restaurants I've visited in this town. (I was at the casino only to see my friend's band perform--honest! )

Yum! I just love chow fun, but I've only ever had it in restaurants. I'll have to try this recipe really soon! Dejah mentioned that the dry noodles wind up chewier than the fresh noodles--but the fresh ones still have a little chewiness to them, right? (I really dig that chewy texture too, and as I've only had this in restaurants I suspect it's the dry ones I've been served.)

You can make a very tasty and quick salad with sliced cucumbers and red onions. Dress it with your favorite vinaigrette, optionally adding a little sour cream or yogurt to nudge it towards a Russian-style cuke salad. This is especially good with lots of fresh-ground black pepper. It's okay if you pre-dress this salad and let the cukes wilt a little bit--at least, I like it that way, as the cukes get kind of a little pickled. If you like beets, add some of those too, also sliced. I'm sure the last thing you want to be doing in that heat is roasting fresh beets, but in this application you can get away with drained canned beets okay.

Veeeeery interesting! I'll see if I can remember to suggest to my Manhattan-dwelling brother to drop by and see if they'd be willing to do special freebies for fellow Brenners.

Happy blogging, folks! Looking forward to it! Cute kitties! Would their names possibly be inspired by Soupy Sales' rambunctious pets?

YIKES! Glad nobody's vehicle got stove in ... let alone washed away. (Having inadvertently driven through a few flood-warning areas over the years ... )

Possible conversation at Fat Guy's local "Atomic Wings": "Dude! This whole batch of carrot and celery sticks are, like, a day short of going biohazard! Get rid of these things or the Health Department's gonna have our ass in a sling!" "But the dumpster is full up to the brim, man!" "I don't give a shit, man! Do something with them! Hand 'em to a homeless guy! Hide 'em in the back of a taxi! Just get them the hell out of here, okay?" (Probably in real life, they would have just handed 'em to the nearest homeless guy, but hey, I can fantasize, can't I? )

There are many aspects of your blog I'm looking forward too, Kris, but I have to say that not least among them will be watching you manage and feed that huge assortment of kiddies!

Totally looking forward to your blog, Kris. The Big Cheese and all.

I'm drooling over that huge box of blueberries, as well as those perfectly-grilled vegetables. And every other darn thing, pretty much. Thank you for a gorgeous blog, and for dropping yet another reminder on me that I'm overdue for a visit back to the Pacific Northwest.

Holly, I think you better copyright that line immediately--it could make one helluva marketing slogan for the Cheez Whiz folks.

I may qualify as a semi-reverse food snob (for lack of a better term). It's not as if I don't appreciate the artistry of a high-end restaurant ... but the tight-wad in me just can't help thinking "But for the money I could have at least four or five fabulous meals at some of my favorite little ethnic hole-in-the-wall restaurants." This is probably why most (though not all) of my high-end dining experiences have also involved somebody else picking up the tab. Yet I totally cop to a certain snobbery with regard to my reverse-snobbery. Those little ethnic joints, for example. When I suggest eating Asian food to one of my non-foodie friends, for instance, and I'm thinking of my favorite unglamorous-but-noble little Szechuan joint, and they reject it in favor of P.F. Chang's, I maintain a calm exterior, but inside I'm cringing as violently as any high-end food snob. Oh! the horror! The inauthenticity! The cutesy factor! Bleargh!!!

Well, I missed my cool-temp cooking window again this morning, but I was so desperate to have something different to eat at home that I cooked anyway. World's fastest ratatouille--just sling everything in a pot and have done with it. Yeah, I was sweating, even dressed in just shorts and a tanktop, but I sort of ignored it. I'm sure certain quarters would have considered this a public health violation, but hey, I'm the only one eating this batch, so whatever.

Fabulous food--those bagels are gorgeous. And once again I'm feeling wicked homesick for the Pacific Northwest.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "dirty martini." One of the commenters on that page may have been right--it probably would have been a little better with gin. The juniper might have cut through the fat better. Sorta semi-seriously ... I can't help thinking there is probably some way to make bacon work in the context of a mixed drink (paging Daniel, master of oink). But what they have here, probably ain't it.

I want to second this route suggestion--especially routing through Port Townsend, which was my favorite of the little towns on the Olympic Penninsula. And if you decide to go that way, I urge you to drive a few miles south of town to the Chimicum Cafe for some fabulous American diner/coffee-shop type fare (assuming this place hasn't changed since I was last there--I used to plan my Pt. Townsend trips around stopping there for their biscuits and gravy).

Well, I see I'm also not the only one who believes that misery loves company. I was trying to Google some hard info on the notion I've heard that spicy foods actually help cool the body down in hot weather. Nearest I could find so far is this article from the archives of the New York Times (from Mimi Sheraton way the hell back in 1981). The article also repeats a lot of stuff already posted in this topic. I'm especially interested in hearing more about foods that actually make you feel cooler, as well as appealing to the appetite on a hot day or helping you avoid encounters with a hot stove or grill. But as far as I'm concerned, everything else is still fair game too. As for me, I'm beginning to get really really bored with just slapping stuff on the Foreman Grill or making sandwiches. I bought ingredients to make ratatouille, but I missed today's window of morning-cool cooking opportunity. If it cools down acceptably before midnight tonight, I'll try it tonight; otherwise, I'll give it a go tomorrow morning early. Nothing like this weather to make a morning person out of me! Meanwhile, now I'm toying with the idea of going out to eat ... except that would require stepping out in the heat to get to my car.

Hi Klary--the current PNW residents have lots fresher info than I do regarding foodish destinations, but I just wanted to mention here that your arrival September 4th coincides with a major US holiday, Labor Day. All US banks and non-essential government agencies will be closed, as will random other businesses. I expect the airport-based auto rental offices will be open anyway, but it might be wise to verify that. And because of the bank closure, you might want to do something about currency exchange before you leave home. Enjoy your trip! (Heh. Reminded of my one-and-only European trip, which had us departing from France on Bastille Day! Oops!!! )

Why I am living in Southern California when I do so poorly with hot weather, I haven't a clue (oh yeah, I forgot--it's because it isn't like this all year round...) But I see from the weather map that I am currently far from alone in my sufferings, at least here in the U.S. (and certainly many other places as well). So--what are your favorite ways of keeping yourself fed when the heat wave is on? Do you just stay home in your air conditioning (or with every window open and a bazillion fans running), and eat nothing that requires turning on the stove? Do you do a lot of eating out in air-conditioned restaurants? Do you wind up using your outdoor grill a lot? Do you just say "Aw, what heat? This is nothing compared to (some other even hotter place you once lived)" and just tough it out? What foods do you find particularly pleasing in hot weather? (Either cooling, or good for enticing an appetite killed by extreme heat, or whatever.) Me, I've been doing a lot of huddling in my apartment's (barely adequate) air-conditioning, eating a lot of foods that require no cooking, and doing a lot of George Foreman Grill-ing because I don't have access to an adequate outdoor grill. If nothing else, this hot weather has gotten me over my ambivalence about leafy green salads! I've also been going through a lot of fresh fruit--I inhaled a 1-pound box of well-chilled strawberries last night without even blinking an eye.

I thought that blog teaser photo looked like it might have been from somewhere on Vancouver Island. Truly a beautiful part of the world. Have a great blog!

Hmmmm ... I dunno, but that theory of yours contradicts the information I was given as part of a multi-week program/support group/class on weight management I was taking through my HMO. They went to great lengths to recommended the minimum eight 8-ounce glasses of water (or other beverage) as being beneficial for weight loss, specifically because the liquid volume better helps the kidneys and intestines efficiently process all those metabolic byproducts that you're (hopefully) excreting as you're losing weight. Plus, at least for my behavioral/psychological equilibrium while doing weight loss, having something always in my stomach is beneficial to keeping me feeling satiated, so I have one less stimulus to start craving food. YMMV, but this is what has worked for me, and I'm at 60 pounds lost since January and still going strong. (There's also IMO a helluva lot more to a truly effective weight management program than simply watching one's calories--a full discussion of this point would take us off-topic from this thread, but I invite you to check the Weight Watchers thread here on eGullet, or my own weight management blog, for more info.) Also, as I have GERD, an empty stomach == a mellow stomach that's not going to start getting riled up and cause me pain. Now, I'd be the first to admit that I've had my share of being fed malarky by medical professionals over the years, so I'd be interested to see any articles you might want to post links to. However, as I think I said upthread somewhere, I can definitely tell the difference when I've drunk "enough" liquid vs. "not enough" -- too many days of skimping on the eight glasees, and ... well, not to get too graphic, but boy does my GI tract start getting into some traffic jams, if you catch my drift. So--admittedly anecdotal evidence here suggests that, whatever may be going on for other people, the eight-glasses thing seems to be working for me. Edited to add--geez, I almost forgot why I came back to this topic in the first place. All this talk about Crystal Light got me curious, so when I was in my local supermarket the other day I picked up a store-brand version of the Crystal Light stuff. I got the orange/strawberry/banana flavor. The flavor is admittedly totally pre-fab tasting--we're talking classic kiddie bug-juice here. But it goes down real easy, and given the heat wave currently throttling Southern California, I'm glad to be happily tanking on the stuff.

You might get a lot of inspiration from Japanese bento boxes--there's a huge thread on them here on eGullet (some of them are admittedly meant for kids, but there's plenty of adult bento stylings too). These lunches were traditionally meant to do just fine without refrigeration, and are guaranteed to make your fellow passengers green with envy. Other than that ... I'm a big one for taking a bunch of durable fruit and veggies. Apples and oranges, celery sticks, those "baby" carrots, some dried fruit (within reason--tanking on dried fruit can be a big calorie hit), etc. A long flight can be made more tolerable with a bunch of little snacks to break it up.