Jump to content

afn33282

participating member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    190

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by afn33282

    Foods you inexplicably hate

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Oatmeal, though I often cut my Wheaties with raw oats and wheat germ.

    Gummi Bears.

    Licorice.

    Granny Smith apples.

    Most chocolate cakes.

    Grape jelly/grape juice/grape gum--the smell of grape gum gives me a headache. And I don't really love grapes anymore. Though I love cold grape soda on a hot day.

    Watermelon.

    Just started liking chocolate ice cream this year!

    Overheard in the wine shop . . .

    in Wine

    Posted

    I really love this site and appreciate all that I have learned -- and continue to learn -- from all of you.  Thank you so much for your help!

    But I cringe when I read this thread.  Yes, there are many people who know nothing about wine.  It's an intimidating subject, and until a few decades ago, not much was drunk by Americans, Canadians and other nationalities who are most highly respresented on this site.  I see how scared many people are when it comes to wine: yes, SCARED.  They are worried that they will make a mistake, do or say the wrong thing, be laughed at by wine snobs.  And as a result they avoid learning about it, enjoying it, having fun with it.  Isn't that a shame?

    I think of my late parents -- exceptionally well-educated, well-travelled people -- who 'til their dying days pronounced Guacamole "Gwacka-mole" (rhymes with "Soul")  They weren't ignorant or stupid; they just didn't grow up with Mexican food and by the time they were in their 60s and first began eating that cuisine, their minds were already full of other things.  I would kick anyone's ass for making fun of them for something that I consider so trivial! 

    Let's not add to the complex that so many newbies have about wine.  Instead, let's congratulate them for having the balls to try something they know nothing about: daring to set foot in a wine store, when many of them know that they'll later be mocked by people like us.

    Hear, hear. I couldn't have said it better. God bless you.

    Your Favorite Teas

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    I like so many....

    A current favorite, though, is Golden Monkey Tea from Harney and Sons. They also make an Earl Grey Supreme variety that I find quite yummy. My other long term fave is Jasmine Green Tea.

    Yes! Harney & Sons!!! They are the best.... Their loose Earl Grey smells like a crate of oranges off the boat, and their chamomile looks like potpourri. The supply a ridiculous list of A-list hotels, and yet one of the two sons spent 30 minutes on the phone with me one time answering technical questions. They are purists in the best sense.

    The Republic of Tea is fun, and they have some off-beat stuff you don't see too often in stores (from them).... we had the sample vials at the coffeeshop.

    What Beers Did You Drink Today? Or Yesterday? (Part 1)

    in Beer

    Posted

    Have you had the Chimay Reserve in the 750ml?  Really good. 

    The Red, right? Tried one last night. It was wonderful, objectively, but I didn't like it nearly as much as the Blue. I thought the Red was a little less aromatic and more bitter--from the hops? I like a beer that is hardly bitter at all; I have heard that with many Belgian ales you can hardly taste the hops. I might be way off here.....

    Chris

    The most exotic food you have eaten traveling?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    While living in Thailand, my school hosted the track convention. A bunch of kids from other schools were to meet a Pizza Hut, so to make them feel more welcome I bought a baggie of fried locusts, and when I arrived at the Pizza Hut last I went from seat to seat depositing a locust on each student's plate (the height of humor when I was 17 :laugh: ). Nobody would eat one and of course, being me, I had to but I was chicken and just at a leg. Crispy..... Now I regret not trying the whole thing.

    One thing I saw but never tried. In a restaurant in Seoul they had braised bear's paw: in white sauce for 450$ and in brown sauce for 600$. Way out of my budget, but I bet it was tender. I used to think it was a bit inhumane; maybe not if they ate the rest of the bear. I guess I can't be too squeamish if at this point in my life I would try horse, dog, etc. if it was offered to me.

    Also the week we moved to Bangkok I tried squid jerky--dried whole squid

    foodsquidy.jpg

    (this is not a pic of me....)

    Chewy. I did not try it again. Also in Korea they sold many different kinds of dried fish on the street. No big deal. What I though was interesting is that some of them, per fish, If I remember right, cost over 100$. And these were only about 10 inches long, tops. Did not try those either. :blink:

    Crimes Against Food

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by afn33282 (log)

    The Curse of the Meaningless Garnish.

    Squiggles of Brown Syrup or Red Syrup randomly written under my cake, whether or not it is a sort of cake that would harmonize with Brown or Red Syrup. Dried parsley, or paprika, shaken about the borders of a plate. The Curly Parsley Sprig (which I am convinced gets picked off each plate, rinsed off and reused, since as everyone knows curly parsley is really made in Japan).

    If it's going to be garnished, make it a good, edible one that goes with the dish. Otherwise, I'd just like my food, please.

    Thank you so much for mentioning this!!! It drives me crazy. Especially every dessert under the sun being garnished with a sprig of mint, whether the dessert has mint flavor in it or not, [edited]oops! already been mentioned, but I think it could stand for another mention, darn it![/edit] and a spring of rosemary being stuck into every entree under heaven..... :blink:

    Starbucks Chantico

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    I started to feel ill after a couple sips. It was just too much for me. It was like drinking chocolate syrup. Delicious chocolate syrup, but too sweet for a drink. I couldn't drink more than about 1/4 of it.

    Ditto, here. :shock:

    Espresso vs. Coffee

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Hmm, I was always taught/have read that 17-22 seconds was the ideal time for a shot, single or double. Maybe the were not taking the pre-extraction time into account. I also always heard that a non-ristretto shot is between 1-1 1/2 oz., so a double would be b/w 2-3 oz.?

    'Freshly Killed Chicken'

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    The back room was amazing. Cages upon cages, row upon row, filled with all sorts of chickens - various breeds - ducks, geese, rabbits ... more live birds than I can ever remember seeing in one place.

    This sounds just like Antonelli's Poultry in Prov., RI. THey have quail and pheasants (or are they grouse?), too. You can stand in the back and watch them do their thing.

    Chris

    Louisiana Cookbooks: favorites (merged)

    in Louisiana: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Haven't read this in ten years but when I was a new cookbook reader The Frank Davis Seafood Notebook was a great find. I think the rec. are mostly cajun/creole seafood recipes. Davis is a local authority on Louisiana fishing, if I remember right....

    Amazon page

    from amazon.com:

    "This is my kind of cooking book. It's not just a cookbook, but a textbook on seafood also. The first several chapters are just on purchacing, handling, and cooking techniques for many types of seafood. Then, the cookbook section is loaded with great recipes. Frank has a great personality. He's great to watch on tv here in New Orleans, and his humor and knowledge really come through."

    "Written as a textbook of sorts, entirely in narrative script, this book actually teaches you how to cook seafood as opposed to how to follow just one singular recipe. It is chock full of valuable information dealing with culinary procedures, use and application of spices, techniques for preparing everything from boiled blue crabs to beer-battered alligator, and the only complete listing of every single fish that swims the waters of the Northern Gulf of Mexico and how to cook them! But the recipes themselves are special--not only unique to the famed cuisine of the Crescent City but so simple to follow and easy to prepare, both for the novice cook as well as the professional chef. It is truly one of those books a serious cook interested in preparing seafood the proper way needs to have on his or her bookshelves, and it is certainly one of those books you'll feel compelled to read from cover to cover for pure entertainment and enrichment."

    I will never again . . . (Part 2)

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I will never again set water in my beautiful Club aluminum stockpot to boil and then lie down on my bed "for just a couple minutes." I will never do this again because the water boiled off and then my pot eventually melted down into the burner coil. I didn't notice this until I tried later to take the now-cool pot off of the coil to wash it and the entire bottom came off the pot. I then tried to pick the bottom piece off of the coil and the metal had melted down in one big shiny blob through the coil. Picture "The Terminator II". I couln't call my new landlord to borrow a saw to cut the blob off the bottom piece to free it from the coil, because who wants to tell their landlord they have a tenant who falls asleep and melts cast-aluminum pots into their stoves? Luckily when I removed the coil I was able to slip the blob out of the widest spot.

    I loved the pot and they do have more on eBay....

×
×
  • Create New...