joiei

I think a part of that obesity problem stems not from what is eaten, but how much is eaten. And people get upset if their plates are not overloaded when they go out. I do not remember eating that much when I was growing up as a child. And we had 3 meals together as a family. The large portions are totally out of hand to me. And I grew up in Northwest Florida, the old South region, as opposed to the South of Florida, the new South region. And I have seen this huge portions outside of the South in my travels. That is one reason I enjoy dining when we can order a chef's tasting menu. The portion sizes are enjoyable without being piggish. When the meal is over, most often I feel satisfied, not bloated. Overweight is not a problem just to the South, it has footholds everywhere. When we were growing up, we had a lot of meals that were not fried or greasy. My mom made sure we ate lots of greens and other vegetables with a pot of pinto or navy beans as the main course, often served with a side of rice. Meats at everymeal was not a part of our regular diet. Breakfasts were also rotated, many times we had oatmeal or cream of wheat instead of bacon, eggs and grits. Biscuits were a treat, not an everyday thing. School lunches were a balanced meat, veg and starch with small portions. They were not the tastiest things, but they were filling and balanced and small portions. enough, i am rambling.

Richard, thanks for the pinpoint location. That will save me time when I am down to go right there. I might add in going to Pendery's, love that place.

You don't have to go all the way to New York City to get a DB style burger. My buddy Dave over in Shreveport is putting out an appetizer version and man are they good and the size is much more managable. Kind of like a slider gone uptown and much improved at the same time.

How true this statement is. Plus, reading the recipes is a chore the way they are written. I have to rewrite them and get rid of all the extraneous verbage.

I made PH's lemon cream this weekend. It tastes like a bit of ambrosia to me! All other lemon cream receipes will be put on the back shelf and this one will be a standby. Very creamy, rich and tart all at the same time! I had no problem getting the mixture to 180 degrees. I don't own a double boiler, so rigged up a system with a smallish stainless steel saucepan inside a larger one. The small top pan did not touch the boiling water. What did surprise me though, was how quickly it cooled to 140 degrees - the temp at which you add the butter. I made a tart with some of it and spread freshly whipped cream over the top (just to add a few more calories ). I ate some straight out of the bowl as I could not seem to stop myself, and mixed the last bit with fresh BC strawberries in a ramekin and the leftover whipped cream on top of that. Fabulous!!!!!!!! ← This is the one cream that I have found to be consistent, easy and reliable to taste. I love the tartness and the less sweetness. Too many curds are too sweet for me.

thanks for the link, now i will be up till all hours exploring. fun, fun, fun

I will have to check it out when I am down for the Pepperfest in Ft Worth in a couple of weeks. Does it smell as good as Pendery's over in Ft Worth smells? I know we will never have a store here, so I continue to have an excuse to leave town.

I don't understand your question. Is the caramel staying hard even after baking and cooling?

Yes Fresser that is a misguided Yankee concoction which can only be redeemed if you had the good sense to stir fry that broccoli in BACON FAT and then sprinkled the crumbled bacon you cooked that gave you the rendered bacon fat over said grits. You did do that, didn't you? Don't make me and the other G.R.I.T.S. women-folk here on eG have to hunt you down for any future "non-sanctioned" use of grits. You have been warned. ← Actually, the sight of a bunch skillet-wielding eGullet gals coming my way sounds most enticing. Now fasten your seatbelts, ladies, for I stir-fried my broccoli not in BACON FAT, but in [shudder]...olive oil, garlic and soy sauce.[/shudder] Heresy? Hell yeah! But it made for some mighty fine eatin'! Now think about it: crunchy green broccoli makes a fine color and texture contrast when plopped atop a bowl of grits. Not to mention all the vitamin A, iron and other nutrients contained in the "little trees." Nevertheless, I do expect a whuppin' from the G.R.I.T.S. out there. Not that I mind the attention... ← So in otherwords, you put your stirfry over polenta?

How Gross! and total heresy. (Of course that does not mean that I will not try it)

The home I work in has True single door fridge and freezers. The freezer has had some problems with maintaining temperatures. There is also an older sz in the garage, but it is layed out in an awkward way. The Trues are deep and easy to work out of.

In Shreveport, David Bridges!!!!!!!!!!

I went to a basic class when they were in Wichita. It was okay considering it was free. I would definitely want to go for more advanced classes in the future when they travel the classes.

I just received Wild Sweets by Dominique and Cindy Duby. It looks like I have some real reading on my hands. Lots of cool ideas.

can you at least give us a description, bright red, pinkish, pink and yellow mottled, very meaty or little meat and lots of seeds, thick or thin skinned? That could be enough to get us started.

I currently live in the Midwest and find farmer's markets readily available. Not only in the larger cities but also in smaller towns. And I find heirloom tomatos in all of them. Tomatos like Brandywines, Cherokee Purples, Arkansas Travelers, Mortgage lifters, Green Zebras, Jonagolds, ect.

This is not in my experience.

Our tomato plants have started growing out the top of the tomato house. So we pruned them back. Anything to fuck with the tree rats. Anyway, We have a brandywine, cherokee purple, early girls and one salsa(which has been a very prolific producer) This tomato house stands over 10 feet tall at the low end. My very first picking, I harvested over 200 tomatos off of 20 plants. Now, I am getting 25-30 a week. The heat and all, but they are setting fruit right along so my fall harvest is looking to be excellent. Oh, I forgot about the grape tomato volunteer that showed up last week. Don't know where it came from, but the tomatos are pretty good.

Yes, and my last mouthful came from the Crawfish Hole outside Minden, LA last weekend just off the interstate, I would of ordered another order except I was too full.

I would rather eat at Olive Garden than Spaghetti Warehouse! And the last time I ate at the Evil Garden was, oh, 3 years ago, inspite of the fact that there is one in the shopping area right across from the building I live in. And I have had some good meals in Wichita, KS. They were not Thomas Keller, but I do not expect that there. I might even try Toby Keith's new place in Oklahoma City sometime soon just for fun. It does not seem to matter where I go, the abundance of chain restaurants is everywhere. They cater to people whose palates are not as judgemental as others of us. And that is fine. I would never think of going to Joe's Crabshack in Tulsa, but they are packed everynight. And so is On The Border when we have an emerging hispanic restaurant market that is so much better. So I try to not judge others by my food tastes. My dad loved his steaks cooked well-done. And when I cooked for him before he passed, I tried to make him the tastiest well done rib-eye that I could.

I like the snow monkey plum that I get from Kitchenique. When I am gettting dressed in the morning, I like a basic black, and often use the Tazo as my morning tea. In the evening, a nice chamomile is the prefect way to end a day.

Melissa, don't you all still have Harry's Markets? or did those go away? I think that store is what Central Markets in Texas were fashioned after. I remember going into the one in Gwinnett. It was pretty awesome, but that was a long time ago and things change.

Coming from the deep South, I do not understand why anyone would buy a bottle of iced tea. It is too easy to make. Sun tea is so easy, or bring some water almost to a boil, turn of the flame, add tea bags to simmer for a few minutes, put in pitcher, add some simple syrup (it dissolves better than sugar crystals) and your there. Pour over ice and enjoy. And if you make it far enough ahead so that it can come to room temp, you do not dilute it near as much when you pour it over the ice. There is one chain, McAlisters, that makes pretty good iced tea. But to pay $1.50 for a bottle of tea that costs them maybe 25 cents to make, can't go there. I think the reaction is just a part of my upbringing. Besides, most all bottled teas are sweet and I like my iced tea unsweetened. I know, I was my poor mother's Yankee son. I even lost my accent, she was brokenhearted. In the last several months, I have started really noticing how sweet a lot of foods are and it just does not taste all that good to me anymore being so sweet. I bought a jar of Silver Palate Fudge sauce and I could hardly taste any chocolate, it was so full of sugar, yuck.

Any particular reason(s)? I had thought that Winn-Dixie was one of those integral parts of the South, like Spanish moss, magnolias, fried chicken, hot sauce on everything, Miracle Whip and whatever that brand of mayonnaise is that all y'all swear by but we can't get up this way. ← and here Official notice here And here

Here is a link to an interesting interview from Pastryscoop.com with the owner of Scharffenberger.