MissAmy
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Posts posted by MissAmy
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I desperately miss okonomiyaki, and can't find anywhere here that has it. So sad.
Also: all sorts of donburi, particularly katsu don. Yum.
Yakiudon. Drooool.
And there's nothing quite like a nice, refreshing zaru soba on a hot summer day.
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Usually when I travel, it is for vacation, and as I don't really cook on vacation, I don't take that much. Diet Coke and snacks for car trips. My knives if I'm going to someone else's house where I know we'll be cooking. A gift of a cake or tart or similar goody if staying as a guest in someone's home.
I always seem to forget the wine key, and end up kicking myself.
When we lived in China, we were CONSTANTLY smuggling food stuffs into the country. You name it, it more than likely got brought in.
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Some friends of mine work there, and the market really is amazing. I have yet to try the restaurant, but all reports I've heard so far have been good.
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There is absolutely no comparison for making a beautiful sauce or demi. However, I really hate that I don't have three arms!
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What a great discussion! Sorry I haven't been around - I just finished my internship and have been running around crazily trying to land a job. (Which I did today! Yay me!) Thank you everyone for the vast array of responses on both sides of the issue. It has been incredibly informative, and I hope the topic continues.
Personally, it is not fiscally viable for me to buy all organic. For the friend I mentioned, however, it doesn't really matter. Since learning about the practices of the conventional poultry industry in culinary school, I have switched to all organic chicken, turkey, and eggs. It's really not that much of a price difference, it really does taste better, and I feel better about buying it. Vegetables, however, are another story. I buy local or organic when I can, but a lot of the time it is simply so far out of my price range as to be absurd. ($10 per pound asparagus, anyone?) This is one of my problems with the organic movement. I'm a big proponet of fiscal equality - I guess my years living in a communist country somehow warped me to that - and it bothers me that so much of this organic product that is touted as being so much more healthy and chemical-free is avaliable only to a certain segment of the population while the rest of the unwashed masses are left to GMO enhanced, pesticide laden, dirivatives. I'm being a bit dramatic, I know it's not all that way, but sometimes I can help but be a bit irked by it. I do understand that not all farmers use tremendous amounts of pesticide, but I think it would be good if a rating system were somehow put into place so that we would know, when not buying orgainc, how much or how little pesticide was used.
Another issue for me is that fact that no matter how dilligent the farmer, there really is no way to control run-off from other farms. So, how organic is your organic $10 per pound asparagus, anyway? How can we REALLY know? And besides all that, as other people have mentioned, how does buying organic from a farm a thousand miles away from you really have an impact when it is delivered in a gas-guzzling 18-wheeler going 80 miles an hour down I-10? By the way, I know that others have already basically said these things, I'm just sort of rambling. Anyway.
For myself, this whole topic becomes political, but for the friend I mentioned in the beginning of the thread, it is a health issue, and I really see where she is coming from. I would be very interested to see a study done in several years time that tracks people on an all or predominately organic diet versus those who are not and see who, if anyone, is healthiest, who lives the longest, etc.
After reading through this thread, I'm going to recommend we take a day trip out to a local organic farm and to a conventional farm and weigh the differences. It will be highly educational in a number of respects, not to mention the fact that I've always been curious as to how a real farm works. Also, thank you to the person who recommended "Agarian Dreams." It will be on order with Amazon.
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I LOVE this thread! Please say there is still more to come.
It is so interesting to me to see REAL Mexican food, vs. the Tex-Mex style that I am more accostomed to. It is absolutely, totally different. You have made me want to go to interior Mexico in a very bad way! Thank you so much for this.
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I did a search for this topic but didn't find it. If I'm repeating something, please feel free to move or delete this post.
I was talking today with a friend who is contemplating going all organic in her diet when it comes to fruits and vegetables. We were discussing the merits, or lack thereof, of making such a switch.
So, I thought I would ask the opinions of the eGullet universe. Do you think it is worth it to buy all organic produce? Is it really that much more healthy in the long run or just a current fad that will fade away? Do you try to incorporate organics when you can, or do you just not care?
Please tell me, I'd love to hear what you all think.
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Well, damn. I don't even have cable anymore, but have been known to go spend the night with my mother just to get my Iron Chef fix.
Does anyone know if they are planning to release Iron Chef on DVD? I'd certainly buy them...
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Just a note for anyone in Austin: If you are at all affilitated with Texas Culinary Academy in any way (ie, work there, go to school there) you get a 20% discount at Grapevine. Which really make a HUGE difference if you buy wine by the case, get the case discount, with your additional 20%. It's wonderful and I love them for it.
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I have this old "Cooking with the CIA" cookbook some gave me years and years ago that has a risotto-based timable recipe in it, and I've ALWAYS wanted to try it. It looks so good and so interesting and, dare I say it, impressive. But I it's something I really want to try making with someone, not just by myself, and no one ever wants too. They all think it looks like too much of a pain.
So, yes, I would love to try that beehive one as well. It looks just as cool as the risotto one.
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This might be going a bit overboard, but could you get them both? That way, they get what they wanted from their registry, and you get to say, "Hey, I have one of these knives and I really love it. I noticed you put the knife set on your registry so I'm assuming you want to use good knives to cook with. Try this one out and tell me how you like it." or something.
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Ugh. Thanks for the report, Daniel.
A poster upthread mentioned the Olive Garden in Abilene, TX, and I remember that as well! My father lived there for years and years and when the Olive Garden opened, you would have thought the town had never had a restaurant before. I can't remember the last time I ate at an Olive Garden, and now you've reminded me why I don't.
I don't understand: why all the fake cheese? Why is fake processed cheese cheaper than real cheese? It seems like their food would actually be edible if it weren't for the fake cheese.
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I am a slave to marketing. It's pathetic. I have bought the "White Lie" - I'd give it a 'meh' rating, not great, not terrible, totally not memorable, all about packaging. I've also bought the "Seven Deadly Sins" Cabernet and the one with the Bosch-esque images of hell or demons on the label. I can't help it, weird packaging draws me in every time.
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A theoretical question: would you rather have bad wood-smoked cue (e.g. a bad serving or an off day at one of the top five places in Texas) or very very good gas-cooked cue?
Bad wood. Gas cooked bbq isn't bbq in my opinion, it's grilling.
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Yes. Skim milk, "milk solids" whatever those are, and LOTS of corn syrup - it's like the second or third ingredient on the list, lots of things I can't pronounce, lots of binders and preservatives and thickening agents and emulsifiers. It's revolting. It's not healthy at all, and in the name of saving on fat calories, you might as well just pour a few tablespoons of straight-up sugar down your gullet for all the good it will do you in the long run.
All of the fat-free dairy products are basically comprised of skim milk and corn syrup with a bunch of nasty chemical agents thrown in to give it the same sort of look as real dairy products. Except for the fat-free sour cream. I'm continuously fascinated with how on God's green earth it becomes grainy.
In all honesty though, I feel like I'm being a bit negative toward the spa. The vast majority of food that is prepared is really good, and fat-free crap only goes into a few dishes. Most of us have started subbing reduced fat stuff when we can. It's still a little gross, but not nearly as gross as the fat-free.
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My mom said that they don't have an oven so that rules out all baking. What desserts can be made without an oven or other complex equipment?
Parfait? Pudding?
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Is John Mueller's still closed?
Yup. Still closed, and from what I understand, not going to reopen. Something about non-payment of rent and the owner/business partners selling the building to another restaurant.
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I work at a spa that still believes in the non-fat craze that consumed the country a few years ago. You wanna talk abominations? Let's talk fat-free mayonnaise, fat-free cheese of all kinds, fat-free sour cream, and the worst of all, fat-free half & half. EWWW. All of them are just horrific.
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One place I worked taught us to parcook the risotto, spread it on a sheet pan into a thin layer and chill. For service, it was reheated and finished cooking with the addition of heavy cream, no other liquid to finish. The cream really added something, the risotto never got over-cooked, and I honestly don't think the guests could tell the difference.
However, I still prefer my version made at home and eaten immediately.
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What about a ravioli with a non-cheese (
) filling and a simple tomato-based sauce? Chinese eat tomato, and the ravioli would sort of be like a Western version of the traditional dumpling. She might find it interesting.There's also always duck.
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Where is Sam's located? I'd like to give it a shot.
Personally, my favorite bbq in Austin is Artz Rib House. Highly underrated in my opinion. Their country style pork ribs are unparalleled.
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When the McDonald chain first opened in China, I wonder just how popular cheeseburgers were -- as compares to a regular Big Mac..
I've been wondering the same thing. And I've heard of Pizza Huts and the like opening in China as well. Has anyone seen a menu from an American pizza chain in China? Are there cheese-less offerings or are people eating a lot more cheese than they used to?
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I once worked in a office that had an habitual popcorn burner. A person who ALWAYS burned the popcorn, leaving the office to smell of carbonated chemical stank for hours. It drove me nuts. I mean, how hard is it to WATCH the bag of popcorn in the microwave, and oh.. I don't know... TAKE IT OUT WHEN IT STOPS POPPING?! I mean, honestly.
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Honey Bunches o' Oats. The cereal. The delicious, wonderful, crack-like sublime packaged cereal. I'm allowed one box every six months. That one serving has about eleventy kabillion grams of sugar is no matter, the box won't last more than two days.
And Rice Krispy treats. Oh heavens. I could eat those after every single meal. But don't tell anyone.
Entertaining for business
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
I'm relatively early in starting out in my career, so I've only been to one of these workdinner functions, and after that experience of pure hell, I'm really dreading any more of them.
So me, along with a group of about eight other people were invited to Really Expensive Trendy Sushi Joint. I was excited because I'd been dying to go there, and the menu is really innovative. We got sat, bottles of sake were poured, and the host begins to order. And orders the absolute safest, most boring, non-Japanese dishes on the menu. I was so disappointed I thought I would cry. Here I was at a restaurant I'd been dreaming about going to, looking at a menu with some of the coolest things I'd ever seen, and the host is ordering tekamaki, which I eat at least once a week. I my head I was screaming, "NO NO!! Someone stop him! He doesn't know what he's doing! I lived in Japan! I love food! Let me order something!" Of course, I said nothing of the sort, and sat through one of the most depressing meals of my life, the whole time eyeing what other tables were eating with a longing that would have surpassed the ubiquitous Oliver.