LB Howes
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Posts posted by LB Howes
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I also get migraines from MSG. I've found the greatest selection of snacks without MSG is found at Trader Joes markets.
TJ's has a nice selection of plain and flavored chips made from lots of familiar substances (corn & potato) as well as more un-usual substances (vegetables, papadums, won ton wrappers), soy sauce flavored rice crackers (some with seaweed), South American corn nuts, and other assorted crunchy and salty snack-ish type food. They have lots of snack-ish crackers and even carry beef jerky & turkey jerky - without MSG.
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QUOTE(Brad Ballinger @ Jan 15 2007, 02:41 PM)
It seems to me a point is being missed here. Not to be overly snobbish, but I think you have to lower your standards when the word buffet is involved, and quantity usually trumps quality in those instances.
I have to agree with Brad about buffets.
Aside from quality issues, there are sanitary issues to consider.
Once the food is put on the steamtable, how do you really know it's being held at the correct safe temperature? Do you see crusty, dried food that's been out for a while? Do you see food being changed out with fresh prepared food? And do you know that the food being put out is truly fresh or is it yesterday's curry or stew reheated from the day before when it may be already at the end of it's safe/sanitary life?
Despite sneezeguards and lids over some items, the food is subject to the pokings, proddings, tastings, sneezing/coughing upon and general messing about with by customers as they serve themselves with utensils that you have to touch after them. And what about those utensils? How do you know if the used ones are regularly changed out for clean, sanitary ones?
I'm not saying don't go to buffet restaurants, but buyer beware!
Take a look at the buffet before you decide to eat at that restaurant. Of course a visual inspection can't tell you everything (like if it's really yesterday's stew or if the food's at correct temperature), but can at least you can spot the obvious warning signs and politely leave.
And if the buffet restaurant won't let you check out the buffet first, well then you have to ask yourself what do they have to hide and don't eat there.
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A bright, easy to maintain & efficient kitchen with:
strong overhead fan system
small commercial range
small grill
salamander
a small deck oven
a couple of under counter refrigerator drawers
a glass fronted reach in refrigerator
reach in freezer
a small proof box
a small hobart mixer
two large prep counters, one topped with butcher block top & with stainless steel
deep stainless steel double sink
a seperate dish-washing sink complete w/overhead sprayer nozzle
small commercial dish machine
tile floors with drains
But back to reality. . . here's a more attainable list:
a whole bunch of demeyere pans & pots
a couple of lodge cast iron dutch ovens
heavy duty pressure cooker
a pasta roller
a gelato making machine
plumbed in espresso machine
heavy duty vacuum-sealing machine
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Several years my mother was visiting and I was baking a crumble topped apple pie for us to bring to a potluck. I needed to go out to run some errands, so my mother said she'd take it out of the oven when it was finished baking.
When I returned home, she met me at the door in tears.
The pie had slipped out of her hands while she was taking it out of the oven and dropped onto the cooktop located beneath the oven (this was one of those old ranges with a small oven above and a large oven below the cooktop). As the pie pan was metal there was no broken glass pie pan to contend with. I carefully lifted up the pan and discovered a perfect upside down pie with an intact crust. I put the pie pan back on the pie crust, then took two spatulas and carefully lifted up the pie shell and turned it right sideup back into the pan.
With a large serving spoon, I scooped up the still steaming hot apples and put them back in the crust. I then carefully lifted up the crumb topping with spatulas, turning sections of it right side up as I laid it on top of the apples. I did re-constructive surgery with a fork, lifting up the flat spots and mending cracks. Lastly, I trimmed up the tattered fluted edges of the crust with a small serrated knife. Voila! It was good to go.
The pie was very popular at the potluck and it all was eaten. No one could tell that there were a few extra steps taken in the preparation of this pie and we certainly didn't tell anyone.
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Glad to see someone revived this thread about mochi
. Does anyoneone know if it's true that the poi mochi that was made by the poi company is no longer being made? I heard this from a store here in Seattle, and last month I was in Honolulu and poi mochi was not in any of the markets.
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What sorts of things did I eat when I was a kid?
- Ketchup & butter sandwiches on white bread
- Sugar & butter sandwiches on white bread
- Bologna, yellow mustard on smashed thin white bread
- Fried bologna & yellow mustard on non-smashed white bread
- American cheese, dill pickle chips & Best Foods mayo layered on white bread & then broiled until the cheese was gooey
- Butter, sugar and cinnamon on toast
- Hot chocolate made with canned milk
- Butter and sugar on saloon pilot crackers
- Tinned corned beef ground with boiled potatoes to make hash, fried & served with steamed rice & ketchup
- Jarred chipped beef in cornstarch thickened milk sauce over Bisquick biscuits
- Bisquick Coffee Cake
- Jello and Cool Whip parfait
- Browned hamburger mixed with a can of cream of mushroom soup served over steamed rice
- Pillsbury biscuit dough wrapped around hot dogs & baked, dipped in yellow mustard
- Canned green beans heated with a dollop of bacon fat
- Boiled chicken gizzards
- Boiled beef tounge served hot for dinner
- Leftover boiled beef tounge & mustard sandwiches on white bread
- Instant pea soup & crumbled saltines
- Sardines & saltines
- Avocado half filled with a squirt of ketchup
- Green mango dipped in soy sauce
- Spam fried in margarine & soy sauce with steamed rice & fried eggs
- Portuguese Sausage & eggs with steamed rice
- Vienna Sausages straight from the can
- Vienna Sausages, sliced on white bread with Best Foods Mayo
- Canned salmon with steamed rice
- Saimin/Ramen noodles with Kamaboko (fishcake) & green oinions
What do I eat today from this long list? Not too much except for these which have been tweaked to fit my so called "grown up" tastes:
- Ketchup & butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread
- Butter, sugar & cinnamon on whole wheat bread toast
- Homemade mushroom sauce & browned ground beef over steamed rice
- Fresh salmon & steamed rice
- Portuguese Sausage & eggs with steamed rice
- Steamed green beans saute'ed in bacon fat with with a chopped bacon slice
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I'll second MG Lloyd's suggestion to take a drive up north to Silver Lake in Snohomish County and go to L'Artisan Bakery for Lemon Tart topped with a perfect swirl of meringue and a berry.
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. . . people saying they are allergic to the MSG used in Chinese food is just a bunch of hooey. MSG doesnt seem to stop people from eating Doritos or eating McDonald's French Fries, but suddenly having Beef and Broccoli might kill you? No, I don't think so.
Most "Allergies" are just convenient excuses or hang ups about foods they don't like.
I should be so lucky to have it only be a bunch of hooey
that everytime I eat more than a bite of food with MSG in it I get a migraine headache where I feel as if it's killing me! No I haven't had skin or blood serum tests done to find out if I'm really allergic to MSG, but I've done a migraine trigger elimination diet (as directed by a neurologist) lo and behold MSG is one of my migraine triggers. If that weren't proof enough, there's been times when I've unknowingly eaten food with MSG, come downwith a migraine and discovered afterwards that something I ate had MSG.
MSG didn't always trigger migraines for me. I grew up in Hawaii where a dash of Aji (Ajinomoto - a brand of MSG) was added to most all food. It wasn't until I was in my 20s that MSG began to trigger migraines. Perhaps my body developed an intolerance for it?
I don't eat Doritos, McDonald's french fries or beef and broccoli unless I've verified it's been made without MSG. I read the labels on all canned, dried, frozen or pre-packaged foods. I politely ask to see the ingredient and nutritional information at fast food restaurants. I get a lot fewer migraines these days since the implementation of labeling laws.
Does it annoy me when folks obnoxiously use the "I'm allergic" excuse for boorish behavior around food? You bet. But that's seldom been my experience when I encounter folks who say "I'm allergic". Perhaps I'm more understanding than most folks due to my own circumstances.
LB Howes
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On the subject of cakes with beet roots, last month I made a chocolate cake that called for grated beets in the recipe. The beets melted into the batter when it baked, making the cake incredibly moist and turning the cake a lovely deep reddish brown.
I've also made two other kinds of chocolate cakes with unusual ingredients. One was a chocolate mayonnaise cake. The other cake was a chocolate sauerkraut cake for my brother-in-law who loves sauerkraut.
Adding dill to a cake doesn't sound all that far-fetched to me, although olive oil in a sweet cake doesn't sound good. How about adding a tsp of dill to a butter/pound cake recipe and dousing it with a bit of sweet dessert wine after it's cooked?
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The worst coffee making event had to be the time I was making an espresso and didn't tighten up the coffee holder. It popped off and fell on the floor while I was standing next to the machine, spraying hot grounds and coffee everywhere including all over me.
The worst coffee I made was coffee I made indirectly by providing the ingredient that made the coffee disgusting - grated parmesan cheese. This happened when I worked as a waitress at a pasta restaurant and was coming around to offer coffee refills to the guests. One of the guests shamefacedly asked for an entirely new cup of coffee. He said he wasn't paying attention and shook grated parmesan into his coffee from the parmesan cheese container, stirred it up and took a swallow. I quietly removed the cup of parmesan coffee along with the shaker of parmesan and brought him a fresh cup of coffee. I took a quick look at the parmesan coffee before tipping it out - Oh Disgusting! Bits of parmesan floating in a sheen of oil on top of the coffee. I can only imagine how awful it must have tasted.
The worst coffee I ever drank came from a drive through coffee stand in Sequim, WA. Before you say I got what I deserved buying coffee from one of those places, let me attempt to justify my behavior by mentioning that we were driving home from a weekend away and I needed a dose of caffeine to get me through the last hundred miles. This coffee was so stale, so burnt tasting, and the steamed milk so scorched that even 4 sugar packets couldn't make it drinkable. We pulled over at the next convenience store, I trashed the espresso drink and bought a cup of stale brewed coffee from the store. After that espresso drink it tasted heavenly.
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In response to Ono Loa wanting to know about Honolulu farmer's markets? I shop at two of them when I come home to see my mother.
The market at the Old Stadium Park and the market at the Manoa Shopping Center. The market at the Old Stadium Park is larger, has fresh fish and more vendors. The one at the Shopping Center is much smaller and has orchids for sale. Don't know how they may compare to what's in Hilo, but they both have great produce and attract a good crowd of local folks.
All the earlier posts mentioned the Pike Place Market in Seattle and wanted to hear from someone from Seattle and I hope it's not too late to chime in on that topic.
First off, I don't recall hearing much recently about plans for this Kaka'ako market. Has anything concrete come of these talks back in 2003?
But, back to the Pike Place Market - I don't live right in Seattle, but about 2O miles north of Seattle. I've been to the Pike Place Market many times. I've brought out-of-town visitors there, and when I worked in downtown Seattle and it was convenient to shop there on my lunch hour. There was always a sprinkling of locals along with tourists, but I've got to say that the majority of folks were tourists. Where do a lot of Seattle area locals go shopping for local produce and locally made food-stuffs? At their more conveniently located neighborhood farmer's markets. There are also markets in the surrounding towns and cities.
So, based on what I've seen in Honolulu and what I've seen in Honolulu, if a new farmer's market were built in Kaka'ako I don't expect many local folks were to shop there with any regularity. Honolulu already has the Chinatown markets and plenty of neighborhood farmer's markets where the locals can shop and which support local farmers.
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Lutefisk is dried codfish which is soaked in lye. Before you eat it you must soak it in water for days to remove the lye.
Why not serve your Norwegian oil executive guests a meal consisting of the best seasonal and regional foods available rather than trying to duplicate something from Norway?
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Nothing too wierd these days since my children are older. Just some bottled water, an airtight container of freshly ground coffee with a cup sized gold filter and an assortment of teas. Sometimes snack-type things like bread, crackers, cheese, and fruits.
One time while waiting in line to re-enter the USA from a week long vacation in Canada we remembered there were apples in the cooler. We finished eating them just as we came up to the border.
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Marin County north of San Francisco is home to two individually owned Joe's restaurants, San Rafael Joe's and Marin Joe's in Corte Madera. Both are Italian themed restaurants, with a counter to sit at if you don't want to wait for a table or booth.
San Rafael Joe's underwent a remodel and menu update a few years back. It's still good, but lost that comfortable old-timey feel.
On the other hand, Marin Joe's (my favorite of the two restaurants) has not messed with what works. In that old-timey atmosphere, you can have traditional style veal, fish, pasta, steaks, and Joe's Special (sauteed beef, onions, spinach, eggs). And it's still packing in satisfied customers as evidenced by the hundred+ cars parked along the narrow road fronting 101 in Corte Madera every evening.
I now live in the Seattle area, but "eat at Joe's" if possible when down in the Bay Bay.
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I've heard they sell deep fried Twinkies at the Puyallup (Washington State) Fair.
Celebrities you have cooked for
in Restaurant Life
Posted
Back in the 1970s I lived in Marin County, CA. Lots of famous, semi-famous and hope-to-be-famous folks were seemingly everywhere in those days.
At one restaurant I cooked at George Lucas, Robin Williams, & B Kliban were repeat customers. A few years later I baked at a bakery/cafe where Richard Chamberlain, Vivian Vance, & Michael Ritchie would buy pastries & cakes.