miladyinsanity

The more I read this thread, the more I discover how incredibly neurotic I apparently am! It gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies to cut waffles "against the grain"--you HAVE to cut along the lines. And french toast has to be cut in lines parallel/perpendicular to the sides of the bread; no willy-nilly chopping off pieces here and there as you go. That's just plain wrong. And then there's the eating things in odd numbers--candy tastes better eaten in 3's (1 is too few, 5 is too many, 2 is too balanced, 4 is overkill). I do microwave ice cream cartons because ice cream tastes better slightly melty. Really good ice cream I'll deliberately spoon around the edges in my bowl to get a combination of the still-frozen stuff and the cream that's melted off. (You can't, by the way, just wait until it all melts; that's just crazy talk.) And I've passed on this genenic mess as well: My son won't eat any foods that have a "skin" on them, for example, cream of chicken soup that's cooled just slightly. And no crusts, no skin on apples--pretty much he hates chewy things. That does drive me nuts, since the edges of a tortilla are pretty much the same as the centers of a tortilla, but he insists they're a "crust" and won't eat them. I eat a lot of pickings off his plate... ← I like the edges of tortillas and such, but I cannot stand the skin. Especially pudding skin.

Maybe this should be in the Pastry forum, but I think if you melted the butter with the sugar, and mix the egg yolks and mashed bananas into the butter sugar mixture, before folding it into the egg whites, it might work? Not sure how well mashed bananas mix with melted butter, though I make a fairly cake-like brownie this way.

I always ask for no tomatoes and no lettuce in my sandwiches. Like racheld, I don't like my sandwiches wet and raw tomatoes just don't do it for me.

I can't mix pasta either. Also, I have to cut my waffles according to the lines. I'm not sure if that's the reason why I eat them, just because of the lines.

I swear, Aunt Flow's come and gone, but pretzel sticks dipped into Nutella? Da bomb.

I live with 8 other girls at the moment, and they don't bat an eyelash when I refuse to share the Nutella. It's great!

Coconut milk can be frozen, but I'd not do it unless you've just opened the can.

Er... how do you eat asian food? ← Just like everyone else, I don't mind mixing it all together. I think I do it because there was never a common thread between each item at dinner. It was a matter of slogging through the meal. Baked potato, microwaved vegetable, then chicken, pork or roast beef. Irish American cooking isn't all that exciting, well there was the great "no more stew" uprising of 1969 but that's another story. ← Ok. For some reason I had an image you getting a big plate of rice or bowl or rice and eating all of that and THEN going to eat curry or whatever else there was or vice versa. Most asian food is meant to be eaten with rice so that kinda boggled my mind a bit. I do have a few food neuroses I would like to confess to. First I do not like my rice to get muddy. That probably needs explaining. An example would be curry stalls in Thailand that generally will give you a plate of rice with curry and whatever slopped on to the rice. To me that means the rice gets too wet and the flavor get mixed up and "muddied". I prefer to eat family style where the curry and other dishes are in the middle of the table and take spoon full of one item at a time. I think the rice is more pristine in a way? I hope this make sense. Strangely I do not have this problem with western food and actually prefer the get a fork full of something and add another item to the end of it. Am I wierd? ← Nope. You're perfectly normal, at least in my little world. I do the same thing. I never ever pour curry, for instance, right onto my rice. I put it on the side of the plate and mix as I eat it.

I need to do this, because I move back to Singapore in a couple of months, and somehow, in a matter of months, I've managed to accumulate something like half a dozen types of beans, at least three different kinds of grains and four types of pasta.

Yeah, my mom told me about the symbolism in noodles when I was younger, along with the fish and the color red, etc etc. Even though her parents believed more in fire-and-brimstone Christianity than anything, those traditional beliefs still managed to stick in her consciousness, so I heard about them too. I've never liked the idea of breaking noodles, and I think it's a result of that knowledge. I even mentioned the long-life symbolism to my boyfriend, who subsequently stopped breaking them as well. I don't care if other people break them, though. Not that I don't value your longevity. ← Yup yup. If they are long, they are meant to be long and should stay that way. Plus, I like slurping them up.

Hummingbirdkiss, is your son single? I need to marry a guy like that so that I can pass on the right genes to the next generation. It drives me absolutely insane to have my foods touching. Normally, when I eat at home, mom serves family-style, and my dad will be trying to add stuff to my plate and I'll be screaming my head off because I hate it hate it hate it. My name is May, and no, I do not need help.

That's what my mom says, because we generally prefer the powdery texture. Also, if you buy them already washed, apparently there's a chemical they use nowadays that stops it from becoming powdery.

For some reason, I'm thinking Australia. It is summer Down Under at the moment.

Xinjiang makes some really good raisins.

Okay, maybe what I should have said was that people who go home to somebody who cooks and cooks from scratch are more likely to know how to cook. I put stay-at-home moms because my mom hasn't worked since I was born--I'm eldest. And well, most kids who have someone at home all the time, that someone's Mom. I think we should start a petition regarding the Citibank ad. That's just wrong. *snarl* (Yes, it's that time of the month. Beware.)

I'm living with 8 other female university students at the moment. I'd say half of us know how to cook from scratch. And I'd say of the ones who do cook, most of us had stay at home moms. I've this theory that having a stay-at-home mom who can cook means that you're more likely to be able to cook. Of my guy friends, I know one who can really cook and the rest appear to live on takeout or cereal with milk or ready-to-eat food.

This is why I'm living with tall people next year. I should have pictures to show you guys in about three to four months, and I'll probably win because I'm a poor student. ← Yeah, I've always said this kitchen was built for taller people! I'm a poor student, too, so we'll still be in competition. This place is the cheapest I can find that allows me to have my dog. Other than that, I could be paying less money for a nicer place...dog owners are royally screwed around here. ← Let the competition begin!

I feel exactly the same way, and living with 8 other people right now makes it rather difficult to do something like that because most of the 8 other people do things in the kitchen that make me want to scream.

This is why I'm living with tall people next year. I should have pictures to show you guys in about three to four months, and I'll probably win because I'm a poor student.

Oh thank you John! I should be in Prague during my Easter vacation, and now I really can't wait!

I'm in Manchester, Toufas, and I vaguely remember seeing them at Selfridges or Harvey Nichols.

When my mother was going away, she used to cook soups, and leave me to reheat it over the stove. That's when I'd add noodles/pasta. It's not that much more work than reheating in the microwave.

I don't know how you do it, origamicrane, because after all that roast pork I'm not sure that I'd ever want to see another pig in my life. LOL. But bravo!

I think it's disgusting. But then, I have issues. When I cook, I use half a dozen spoons per dish because I use new ones to taste as I go each time.

I share a kitchen with 10 people here, and I've taken to eating at odd hours because I just hate it when people are standing behind me ANYWHERE, much less in the kitchen.