mizducky

'Twas Garrison Keillor who clued me into the term "hot dish" for this stuff. In particular, there was a long-ago episode of "Prairie Home Companion" on which Keillor sang an Ode to Tuna Noodle Hot Dish that cracked me up so much that I had to go make some right away. (I've tried searching for the lyrics to that song, but in vain.)

Aha! You beat me to it, Daddy-A! If you can't catch that particular episode on TV, you can get all its info from this full transcript of the episode, from the Good Eats Fan Page (a wonderful repository of Alton Brown stuff).

All best wishes to your friend's husband, and your friend. The only suggestion I can come up with that hasn't already been mentioned: provided your friend and her husband would be comfortable with the idea, this is a situation in which the judicious use of medical marijuana could be very helpful, both in encouraging appetite and in fighting the nausea associated with cancer treatment. There are bunches of recipes for pot brownies and such on the web; they all have in common the fact that the active ingredients in the herb are fat-soluble, so the basic strategy is to simmer the herb in melted butter over low heat, and then strain and use the butter to make various baked goods. (Note that I live in a state that has legalized medical marijuana ...)

Cool! For those of us who are wimps with regard to full-strength bitter melon: I have read in some cook book that pre-soaking the sliced-up melon for awhile in salted water can help leach out some of the bitterness. I haven't tried this myself, though. Have you ever heard of this method, hzrt8w?

Heh. Then there's always this other gem by Nash, "Reflections on Ice-Breaking." (Somewhat) more seriously, one of the best danged poems about food I've yet read is Nancy Willard's "How to Stuff A Pepper" (excerpt below): You can find the complete poem here, among other places--scroll down to the end of this page to find it. There's a couple other food-poems on this page that I'd not seen before, but which look pretty intriguing; the instructor's commentary, for this is a creative writing assignment page, are pretty interesting too, I think.

Cool! Thanks, Octaveman--now we have an agent working the east/La Mesa end of things. Meanwhile, I continue to work the more northerly neighborhoods: K Sandwiches -- 7604 Linda Vista Rd., cor. Mesa College Drive (Linda Vista) -- A few weeks ago when I passed this intersection, I noticed this building in a little corner strip mall, festooned with banners saying "Grand Opening Soon." Other signage indicated the new joint was to be a Vietnamese bahn mi emporium, so I made a mental note to come back when they were fully open for business. And I'm glad I did. K Sandwiches is brand-sparkling new inside, with sprightly decor and perky young counter help. They offer an extensive list of bahn mi, the Vietnamese-style sandwiches on baguettes; they also have a bakery counter where you can buy the baguettes whole, as well as croissants and a small selection of Vietnamese sweets; they also serve boba tea, smoothies, espresso drinks, etc. The bahn mi are surprisingly substantial for their prices (most go for two bucks; the more heavily stuffed baguette sandwiches might run you as much as $3.75). I ordered a bahn mi called a "Pate Pork Meat Loaf Sandwich"; it came with a thin smear of the pate, a few slices of what looked like chopped-ham luncheon meat, fresh watercress, crunchy sliced pickled onion, and a few slivers of jalapeno, on what seemed to be a nearly foot-long length of baguette. All for two bucks. Like to see Subway top that. As this place is directly across the street from a high school and a few blocks away from a small college, I expect they're gonna do a land-office business. Pho Pasteur -- 7612 Linda Vista Rd., same strip mall as K Sandwiches (Linda Vista) -- I had noticed that there were several other Vietnamese businesses in this same little shopping center, and decided to also investigate the pho joint. Pho Pasteur is a rambling, slightly dingy space done up in a more traditional Asian-glitz style, with an elaborate gilt arch between the two main rooms, and pink tablecloths that bear an indelible grease stain here and there. Their huge menu lists a lot more than just pho; although the prices of their more substantial dinner offerings fall kind of outside my little cheep-eatz guidelines, the pho offerings definitely fit at between $4.50 and $5.50 a bowl depending on size and contents. They serve a well-made, substantial bowl o' pho, with nicely flavorful broth and decent amounts of the meat-goodies, and the usual side-offerings of sprouts, basil, sliced jalapenos, and lime wedges. By the way: is there some secret art to eating pho without getting it all over you? Somehow, no matter how carefully I try to fish out all the meat and noodle goodies, I succeed in splashing myself innumerable times. I just hope the restaurant staff aren't laughing too hard at the poor Anglo lady with the lousy table manners! P.S. While puttering around the general neighborhood on my way back, I stumbled on various other intriguing-looking ethnic food emporiums, including an international grocery advertising that they carried Halal meats. I have this and a few other places on my list to investigate further sometime in the future.

The classic 1970s-era edition of Joy of Cooking contains some pretty detailed information about preparing squirrel for eating. I was always kind of amused at their illustrated directions for how to skin the little critters. I think later editions pretty much scrapped the entire chapter on hunting/game meats--alas, for it was one of the most colorful chapters of the older editions. But if you don't have a copy of the older version, I bet you could find it in a good used book store.

Growing up, I had fairly "traditional" Thanksgiving meals with my family--but they were *good* meals. I think I've waxed rhapsodic in other threads about my mother's culinary skills really shining on T-day, and how much I learned about cooking just from helping her. But looking back, the "traditionality" of our Thanksgiving meals was a bit questionable--after all, my mom was first-generation American and one generation away from living on relief in the Lower East Side, so I suspect she taught herself the traditional meal from Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens (no small feat, to be sure, but still...) Regardless, I did get imprinted on the whole shebang, so that when I left the family nest and started hooking up with other families or singletons, I became appalled at what others found acceptable as a traditional T-day feast, including tolerance of mediocre food. To this day I still don't understand why so many people seem to find roasting a turkey so challenging. Geez, roasting a bird is *not* rocket science! I'd make my mom's cranberry/orange relish to bring to these meals (the recipe, I think, came to her right off a bag of cranberries), and it would go virtually untouched, while everyone inhaled that icky canned jellied cranberry sauce because that's what they grew up with. I've even seen people massively screw up that damned stringbean casserole--how in the world can you mess that one up?!? So in other words, sometimes I have found myself in the ironical position of trying to cleave to my family's "tradition" of well-prepared but otherwise non-innovative food, and finding myself being thought of as "non-traditional" by others whose T-day traditions insist on what I think of as crappy, and even less innovative food. Nonetheless, I have occasionally hooked up with some fellow fearless cooks to try more innovative stuff. I remember one Thanksgiving back in Boston, my housemate of the time, Harry, and I tried out one of those super-slow-cook overnight-in-the-oven roast turkeys. This recipe, as I recall, also involved a huge amount of wine--which may have something to do with my inability to remember much about how it turned out. And somewhere along the line I picked up a lovely recipe for brussels sprouts in a vinaigrette flavored with maple syrup and lots of whole-grain mustard. Alas, this one runs headlong into many people's aversion to brussels sprouts, but I love 'em so I keep sneaking this dish in every now and again. These days, however, I'm most likely to celebrate big food-oriented holidays over at my church, where the potlucks draw out all sorts of interesting dishes. Usually the folks running the potluck will make a couple of big roast turkeys, but then with the sides everyone brings it's pretty much anything goes--and does. Quite refreshing, actually. P.S. I think another reason why Thanksgiving has become so big in the US is that *every* college and boarding school lets its charges loose for the holiday at pretty much the exact same time. That makes for a huge number of people flocking home, with high expectations for home cooking after a semester of dismal dining-hall food.

Yeah, that resort is sort of in the middle of Mission Bay Park--very pretty down there, but there's nothing but park for a good ways all around it. However, you're only about two miles away from one of the best sushi places in San Diego, Sushi OTA. (I suppose, if you're a dedicated walker, you could get there on foot ... but I wouldn't want to walk back with the full tummy you'll have from feasting on their excellent offerings. ) You're also, as Carlsbad already observed, just a couple miles by car away from Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach, all of which offer a variety of eating options from cheap to not-so; plus just a little further drive away from Convoy St. in Kearny Mesa where a large number of Asian and other restaurants congregate. In this post, I list two places on Convoy and one in Pacific Beach. In Ocean Beach, my current personal fave cheap eats are Hodad's (humongous burgers) and Ranchos Cocina (decent Mexican, with very tasty vegetarian/vegan options). As to more expensive dining options, I'll have to leave that for others to recommend.

Oh, I wasn't stopping ... I was just pausing. Gotta digest a little before I go out and do more research, y'know. Carlsbad is a little bit of a shlep from San Diego--about a 35-mile drive. It's a straight shot on the freeway, but unfortunately that stretch of I-5 can get mighty congested. So it probably wouldn't be practical to come down from Carlsbad to do all your dining down here in San Diego. But a bunch of these places might serve you well if you were making a day-trip down here. Alas, I seldom find myself going up to Carlsbad, but perhaps somebody living closer to there can chime in with their favorite cheap eats up there.

Ever since I moved to San Diego three years ago, I have been randomly exploring little cheapo dining experiences in and around this burg. What with recent topics inquiring about such things, I thought it would be fun to start sharing some of my nicer finds with the board (and also to find out if others have tried any of them). Here's a few random finds from just this past two weeks: New Manila -- 8979 Mira Mesa Blvd. (Mira Mesa) -- I had some brief exposure to Filipino food back in Seattle, but recent topics on the cuisine inspired me to renew that exploration. This place is a storefront in a large shopping center anchored by an huge and intriguing ethnic market called Seafood City Supermarket--have to check that out the next time I dine at New Manila. New Manila itself is a no-frills space with worn but serviceable formica tables; you order at the counter from the "turo-turo" steam-table full of goodies. The very friendly guy behind the counter offered me samples of several dishes, plus a free serving of soup with my combo order (two-item combos, with two scoops of steamed rice, cost five bucks and change). In addition to the yummy soup (sinigang, chicken and veggies stewed in a tart broth), I had a lovely paksiew na pata (braised shredded pork knuckle meat, again with that pleasing slightly tart flavor--I really like how Filipino cuisine use sour flavorings) and a bracing serving of pinakbet with lots of bitter melon in it (an acquired taste, that stuff, but I like it in smallish doses). Aparently this joint turns into a karaoke party den on Friday nights, but otherwise it's mainly open for lunch. I'm definitely going back--there's a whole bunch of other things in the steam-table I've yet to try! Arirang House -- 4681 Convoy St # B (Kearny Mesa) -- there are a number of Korean joints in the Convoy Street multi-culti nexus, but I've gotten rather fond of this one, partly because they offer a lunch buffet so that I can sample a variety of dishes for one cheap price (just under six bucks, before tip). It's a pretty generous spread for such a small place. Last time I went, the offerings included a nicely tender and flavorful braised short ribs; small whole deep-fried fish; a variety of vegetables, including spinach seasoned with sesame oil and seeds and steamed-but-still-crunchy soybean sprouts seasoned with red pepper flakes; and of course a couple different kinds of kimchee (napa cabbage, and I think the other was cubes of daikon); and a bunch of other things I'm forgetting. You are also served a simple bowl of miso soup to go with your meal. In the evenings this place switches gears to serve Korean style barbeque; I haven't tried theirs yet, because I'm still too enamored of their lunches. This joint is tucked into one of the smaller of the gazillion strip malls lining Convoy--it's easy to drive right by it, so look for it just south of the intersection with Engineer Rd., on the east side of the street. Taco Motion -- 1313 Garnet Ave. (Pacific Beach) -- this is a rather unpreposessing storefront in yet another tiny strip mall, on a non-glamorous stretch of Garnet a couple blocks away from all the action closer to the waterfront. But behind that storefront is a terrific little place that passes one of my Rules of Thumb for Authentic Taqueria Detection--they have offal meats on the menu. I got a burrito de cabeza as take-out, got home with my prize, and discovered I had a wealth of savory tender meat in a rich brown sauce filling a very generous burrito, with just some sliced raw scallions as the only ornament needed. I gotta go back and taste their menudo. Roberto's -- 4403 Convoy St (Kearny Mesa) -- I don't know whether this Roberto's is an offshoot of the original local (and celebrated) taqueria chain, or a copycat, or what--I just know it's good. The place is a stand-alone building, a basic glass-box fast-food joint with no atmosphere whatsoever, but the menu is large, the prices are cheap, and they serve lengua as well as cabeza. I had some of each as soft tacos, and got nice portions on good corn tortillas with garnishes of chopped tomato, onion, and cilantro, with lime wedges on the side. The meats were wonderfully tender and flavorful, with the occasional lovely crunchy bit from having just been hotted-up on the griddle. I hadn't checked out this joint until now because I'd been so distracted by all the Asian restaurants for which this neighborhood is much better known, but now that I know I can get my offal fix so close to home (I live about a mile away), I shall be back. Okay, that's enough for starters ...

Haven't been to that street stand, no. I'll have to go check it out to compare and contrast. My general experience so far has been that such a non-touristy-looking place, with that kind of no-frills working-stiff vibe, is definitely much more likely to dish out the real deal than are the gussied-up places catering to the tourists. Not a fail-safe rule to be sure (so far I've had my share of dried out carnitas and al pastor too), but at least a workable one. Another rule of thumb I have: if the joint lists offal meats like cabeza, lengua, tripas, etc. on its menu, it's a Very Good Sign that the owners *really* know from authentic, as those meats are beloved by many Mexicans (and in-the-know locals), but kinda scary for most of the Anglo tourist types. Meanwhile ... damn, now I'm jonesing for a green chile cheeseburger. I could probably manufacture a fair approximation for myself, but my friend who hails from Albuquerque swears that no green chiles taste quite the same as the ones they have in New Mexico. Every time she goes home to visit she comes back with Care packages of the stuff to tide her over.

diva, I think the movie you're thinking of is Easy Rider. ← Nope, the movie in question is most definitely "Five Easy Pieces"--check the first quote on the linked page ("Bobby" is the character played by Jack Nicholson). The quote doesn't really do justice to the way Jack delivers the lines. More terrific road stories, Daniel ... I'm *so* sorry you got misled into going to El Indio, though! I think a lot of San Diegans here both recent and longer-term would have advised you to stay away from the tourist traps in Old Town--the odds of finding a decent meal there just are not all that good. Oh well ... I'm in the process of researching my own favorite taquerias here in SD, so by the time you swing by here again I'd be able to give you some specific places to check out.

The whole of First Night Escondido is cancelled for this year.

Re: that first link--First Night Escondido is the New Year's Eve event which Fearless Housemate's band (Rockola) headlined two out of the past three years. It was a terrific event, but alas, rising expenses and liability concerns have led to them cancelling it for this coming New Year's Eve (which is why FH suddenly finds himself at loose ends for a gig this NYE). The other events mentioned above, however, are still totally "go" as far as I've heard.

I'll say! I miss Beth's. Everything about that place totally cracked me up. And, damn, those cholesterol attacks they serve really do hit the spot.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! Joking! I repeat, just joking! (*Powdered* sugar, though? Wow. That really does kinda blow my mind a little.)

Arrrrrrg! After all that direction geekage, I typed "left" when I meant to type "right"! It's turn RIGHT from Aero onto Convoy. Sorry for the confusion!

Is Emerald open at this point? They had a fire some weeks ago and they were going to be closed for awhile repairing stuff. Heh. Just sayin', but I think there might be a certain amount of difference of opinion on those two points. Also, one should be aware that both the Gaslamp and Old Town are major tourist destination areas. As others have observed, for good Mexican food in this town, it's better to pass up the big splashy touristy places in favor of the proverbial little mom-n-pop taqueria. There's a couple of those, IIRC, in the Convoy St. mix.

Hi, jrichman-- You have me just the tiniest bit fuddled regarding your location--Aero Drive, as far as I know, intersects a Kearny Villa Rd., and runs very near but does not actually cross a Kearny Mesa Rd., but no Kearny Mesa Blvd. (unless they changed the signage down there or something). No matter, though--wherever you are on Aero Drive, you're just a short distance from a world of cheap eats on and around Convoy Street--mainly all different kinds of Asian food (Cantonese, Szechuan, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc. etc.). Just drive all the way west on Aero Drive and turn left onto Convoy. The next several blocks are packed with dining spots, some just little hole-in-the-wall joints and some rather larger, some on scattered side streets as well, all definitely well within your budget. Some perennial favorites: Dumpling Inn, Spicy City, Jasmine (these are all Chinese), Boo Cho (Korean, just off the Convoy strip at 7905 Engineer Rd.). Or you can plug "Convoy San Diego" into the eGullet search engine to see what other places on that street people have recommended that I'm forgetting right now. Or you can just randomly pick a place and experiment--so far I've been having a hard time finding anything but good meals on that street.

Heh. Considering the current state of my bank account, a tuna melt is probably about the level of dining I can afford right now. Meanwhile, as to open vs. closed ... thinking back, I seem to have had them both ways. Can't recall whether there was a regional component. When I make 'em, I make 'em open, simply because I like to pile on the tuna et al. But I actually think a panini-press closed tuna melt would be pretty fab, especially if you can get it to seal closed all around the edges so it turns into a pocket fulla fishy goodness.

I'm going to be a contrarian here, Glenn. White tuna in water may be what the vast majority of Americans want (and, because of that, probably what you should use), but it is far from the best tasting and best quality canned tuna. For that, I'd go with the imported "light" Italian-style in olive oil. My second choice would be the same imported light tuna in water. ← Another here who does not understand the supposed majority-preference for white tuna. Personally, I can't help thinking it goes hand-in-hand with the supposed majority-preference for white meat poultry. I like both my tuna and my chicken meat dark--more flavor. If you find the fancy Italian tuna cost-prohibitive for your restaurant business, you might want to experiment with better-quality domestic light-meat tuna (but avoid at all costs the cheap supermarket chunk-light tuna--the texture is not chunky but pulverized to smithereens). Olive-oil pack is definitely tastier, although water-pack has a nutritional edge in that the water doesn't leach away the fish's precious oil-soluble omega-3 fatty acids the way oil does. Agreed on all counts. I like my tuna salad consistency good and stiff, so that a scoopful of it sits up on a plate without sagging at all. My long-standing aversion to sweet things in savory dishes makes me no fan of tuna salads with raisins or apples or sweet relish--now some chopped-up intensely sour kosher dills, that would work for me. I also don't like large excessively crunchy chunks of additives in my tuna salad, so if walnuts or celery are present I prefer them chopped real fine. When I'm just throwing a tuna salad together real fast for myself, I'll usually go real minimalist, with just the *extremely well-drained* tuna, some chopped onion (the stronger the better), and just enough mayo to bind it together. Sometimes I'll add a touch of Dijon mustard or prepared horseradish. I'll use just about any cheese (within reason) for tuna-melt, but a well-flavored swiss really does it for me. And to hold all that sandwich together without sogging, I prefer a really sturdy bread, like a dark rye or pumpernickel, toasted.

I think you mean Bisquick, and yes, I love this stuff too. Flour already mixed with baking powder. Great for pancakes, biscuits, cobbler batter, etc. I recently found out it's in the supermarket aisle with the pancake mixes, NOT with the "Baking Supplies" like flour and sugar. At least at my local Smack-me. ← Smack-me!!! Glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that! Bisquick has been one of my culinary secret weapons on car-camping trips--the variety of baked goods you can persuade that stuff to make is mind-boggling. It's also pretty darned useful when you're making strawberry shortcake in quantity for fundraiser dinners.

Hi, Mooshmouse-- Chiming in late to say: between the nostalgia-inducing photos of Pacific Northwest landscapes, the yummy food, and your adorable son, I have been totally enjoying this blog. You should know that your blog finally gave me the kick in the butt to go hunt down a local Filipino restaurant. I just came home from this huge lunch of sinigang, paksiw na pata (at least I think that's what it was--the very helpful fellow behind the counter just called it "paksiw," and while the pork was chopped pretty fine I did find some nice chewy bits suggesting it came from the pig's footsies), and pinakbet (man, that bitter melon will make you sit up and say "howdy"!). Gotta go back sometime soon, and this time bring reinforcements to help me sample all the other stuff in the steam table.

Heh. What Hamburger Helper is, is basically a cardboard box about the size of a box of cake mix, usually containing about 12 oz. of some kind of pasta plus a foil-and-paper packet of powdered (and highly over-salted and over-chemicalized) sauce mix, the flavor of which (vaguely) corresponds to the flavor announced on the side of the box. One needs to add about a pound of hamburger and a smallish amount of liquid, and IIRC sometimes also a bit of fat, these additions to be purchased separately, in order to actually turn the box's contents into a meal. Said box usually bears a price about three times as high as the cost of its contents if purchased separately. (This is why my mother invented her own version of what we kids wound up calling "Hamburger Thing"--she just couldn't bear the thought of being ripped off that way.) If you still want to try this taste sensation after that admittedly highly biased description ... at least around here, all supermarkets seem to have one entire aisle given over to pre-packaged dinner mixes of various sorts--not only Hamburger Helper, but a whole host of clones with names like Chicken Now and Dinner-in-a-Jiffy and whatever (okay, I sorta made those up, but the names do all sound like that). A lot of supermarkets put their Rice-a-Roni and Kraft mac-n-cheese and packeted sauce and sloppy-joe mixes, and even the more organo-groovy Near East mixes for tabouleh and felafel and etc., all in the same section. Look for some verbiage on the end-of-aisle sign saying something like "pre-packaged dinner mixes" or "skillet dinners" or something similar, and you should come right up on it. Or make the store manager look up where in the store they keep the stuff. I'm having a hard time imagining that any Shoprite anywhere in the Northeast Corridor would be bereft of Hamburger Helper; it's like an American icon of supermarket convenience foods at this point.