Philanthrophobe
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Posts posted by Philanthrophobe
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What I'm referring to is dented and rusty cans, bottles and jars that are weeping their contents, and other signs that the integrity of previously manufactured products has been breached.
........
But I still get the impression that general grunginess of shelf-stable areas of the store is more acceptable in ethnic markets, and I'm still curious as to why.
This is a really interesting topic.
I frequent a bunch of ethnic markets in my city, all but two of them are mom-and-pop operations, and none are in the state you describe. In fact, all of them seem to be hyper-tidy, though not as hyper-sanitized as the local Albertson's is. This might be due in part to an awareness that Americans expect squeaky cleanliness, plus Las Vegas has become the Mall of America of restaurants, or some other factor. (In fact, I think I'll ask them...) Not only that, but the produce is ALWAYS in better condition than the non-ethnic groceries, where shriveled mushrooms with a dubious sheen are pretty common.
Still, leaky containers (unless it's kimchi) and dented rusty cans are a deal-breaker for me. Dust? Not a problem.--but then, I live in the desert.
Would you consider initiating a conversation with the owner(s) about what they think of the "American" grocery stores in the area? That might provide you with some really interesting info.
...or....maybe ask the department of health/sanitation? They might provide you with some insight, too.
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I used to take a slice of white bread, remove the crusts, squeeze the remainder into a ball, and then cover it with French's mustard...I did it because I thought the result tasted like pretzels. --Instead of just eating pretzels, which we had.
Man, kids are weird.
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I will try all of the above. Nothing like smuggling a bag of cold rice into a $300.00 per person dinner.
Thanks,
Jim
So, tell us! Did it work?
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Approaching Lady T's non-conundrum from another angle:
I believe that if you search far enough back on this site, you may find a post in which I referred to myself as a "democratic elitist." By which I mean that I believe some things are better than others, but the standard is not necessarily tied to some arbitrary factor like price or social class.
In the context of what other posters have said here: The relationship between price and quality is nonlinear. Depending on what it is you seek, you may find that the best quality item may actually cost less than other items in its class.
Amen.
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Cake! It's the Holy Spawn of bread and pie.
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The infamous Trudy's fried stuffed avocado.
Fried Stuffed Avocado
Yield: 1 Portion
Stuffed Avocado Ingredients:
½ ea. avocado
2 cups relleno batter
3 ea. shrimp, chopped
½ tsp. garlic
2 tbsp. pico de gallo
10 oz. white wine
3 oz. cream
2 tbsp. manchego cheese
2 oz. pasilla sauce
Method:
1. Take the ½ avocado and remove the skin, leaving avocado ½ whole. Take a scoop and
remove some of the flesh around the seed whole to allow for more filling.
2. Dust with flour and wrap in plastic and freeze.
3. Dip the avocado in the relleno batter removing some batter from the whole and deep fry.
4. Heat, sauté and cook the shrimp with garlic and pico. Deglaze with white wine and add cream
to bring to a boil. Add manchego cheese and cook until thickened.
5. Fill the hole with the shrimp mixture and pour sauce around rim and serve.
6. Serve on a large round plate and garnish with fresh cilantro.
Relleno Batter Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
3/4 cup beer, room temperature
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tbsp. salt
Method:
1. To prepare, place flour in a mixing bowl and add egg yolks, salt, oil, and beer.
2. Stir batter until thoroughly mixed.
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or as long as
24 hours - the longer the better, to a point.
4. Just before using batter, stir it well again.
5. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; gently fold egg whites into batter.
6. Fry in oil at 360 F.
This sounds soooooooooooooo good!!
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"We, ourselves strive to consume a diet that is both healthy and pleasing to the taste buds, while taking into consideration where every ingredient comes from."
And now, go recreate some junk food for the quickfire challenge.
Yeah: here's your can of Veg-All. Good luck. Now go ha-ome.
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A false dichotomy. Most of us are just looking for a decent meal, and have a good idea what that entails.
Don't let people who think Chili's is a big night out define the terms. Any moron (myself among them) call tell good food from bad if they care to.
I think you're absolutely right. Most people are quite capable of discerning quality from kwality, but a number of other aspects inform their food choices. It's not unlike when people say they can't cook--obviously they could if they wanted to, but for whatever reason, they just aren't all that interested in learning. They have other priorities and other interests. Just look at all the reasons people go out to eat--it's not always about the food. And that applies across the board--celebrity chefs, anyone?
The first time my sister and brother-in-law visited Paris, they ate at McDonald's because they wanted to spend their money doing as much sightseeing as possible. This same couple gets precooked chicken for Thanksgiving. They're fully aware of the mediocrity of the food they ingest. However, eating is just an activity they engage in on their way to doing something else.
But still, it does seems an impoverished way to live--you have to eat anyway, so why not go for the good stuff? And personally, I have to say that going to Paris and then coming home and complaining that the fries at McDonald's were soggy was just.....wrong. It made my head hurt.
The "foodie" labeling thing reminds me of my aunt with her "CAT LADY" license plate. So, okay, you like cats. You want to define your entire existence with just one designation, have at it. But it's kind of nuts. Yes, I love food and my digestive system functions beautifully, but to call myself a "foodie" is a lot like saying I'm a supremely gifted sleeper.
(Now, if I could call myself an architect? That would be truly amazing.)
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I looked up the process in The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook by London and Bishov--they recommend covering the fat/skin bits in cold water, bringing everything to a boil, then simmering until the water's gone. Why not just cook the bits over very low heat until the desired results are achieved? Does anyone know what purpose the water serves?
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For me, the index is the most important part of a cookbook; I'm more or less oblivious to how the rest of the book is arranged. Still, this particular cookbook sounds intriguing....and I DO have a Borders gift card floating around somewhere.....hmmmmm.....
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It's kind of like watching all three Stooges rolled into one guy who's cooking.....
YES!!!
I really get a kick out of this show.
But so what if they used frozen turkeys in an impromtu bowling match? If you're going to research ineqitable food distribution, there are far more critical venues worthy of your scrutiny (IMHO). I'm just sayin'.
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Though always dismayed when people are disappointed by a particular episode, one of the things I'm proudest of about NO RESERVATIONS is that each week differs in mood, tone (and to whatever extent possible) content--as well as degree of "success" or "failure" in capturing a place or a culture. It's a show with noticable--often violent-- mood swings, practically schizophrenic at times.
Coming soon: Puerto Rico..The Tex Mex border..2 India Shows..Korea..and Indonesia..
This isn't the Samantha Brown Show. And thank god.
Edgy is good. Schizophrenic is good. Change and risk are good. These are good shows. Safe is stale and bland. Bland is bad. Gorgeous photography is good. (Review by Dr. Seuss)
Does anyone remember when Joni Mitchell turned her back on pop and started experimenting with jazz? That's when I started buying all her albums without listening to them first; I knew she'd be doing something interesting. That's how I feel about this show. It's challenging in a way most TV is not.
Please, please, please, keep the mood swings. We already have the Teletubbies.
Regarding potential locations: how about Patagonia? Chile? South Africa? (Someone other than Colin Cowie needs to do South Africa.)
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If the economy sinks like a stone (which it will eventually), we'll get our foie gras back, and abortion, gay marriage, unintelligent design (take your pick) will cease to be important campaign issues.
She's a witch, a witch! Burn her, burn her. Sorry, couldn't help myself, bad analogy in this topic scordelia, otw good stuff.
She turned me into a newt! (Sorry.)
This is insane. Let me get this straight: foie gras production is inhumane, but the shitty conditions under which chickens and other livestock are raised and processed are just peachy. The hell?? What a weird, random thing to ban.
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...and the role of Gael Greene is played tonight by Terence Stamp.
Who are all those people who won't stop screaming?
I don't know if I can take another hour. I'm rapidly losing the will to live.
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Thank you for flinging yourself atop the funeral pyre for the rest of us. I hereby suggest that you change your name from Lady T to Saint T.
We have 55 minutes to go in this time zone. I'm warming up the TV with The Big Joe Polka Show. (I need a hat.)
Yes, I have no life.
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You know what? We should just forget about the "game" aspect of "drinking game," due to the fully-assed, haphazard, carnie/nightmarish nature of this show. I believe I'll just chug a box-o-processed-wine-product and then throw up all over the furniture.
That, my friends, will be a fitting tribute.
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Jennifer, if you like The Breakfast Book, you need to pick up a copy of The Supper Book--it's every bit as wonderful. One of my favorite recipes in it involves a dish that combines cooked peas and noodles with fresh tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. It sounds bizarre but it's really good, especially if you have real tomatoes!
And she IS gorgeous.
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I do think that Cunningham and Fisher share very similar approaches to food and eating. It's a very obvious element in all of Marion Cunningham's writing.
I love her cookbooks. I have Fannie Farmer, the FF Baking Book, Lost Recipes, and the Breakfast/Supper books. Because the recipes are easy to understand and unfailingly reliable, I've given her books to people who think they can't cook and feel daunted by the prospect of learning.
If I had to categorize her recipes, I'd say they're primarily comfort food and always about taste; there's little concern for presentation, as you might've gathered from postings upthread. Whenever I cook from one of her books I almost feel as though she's standing at my elbow.
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The subsistence diet of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area of Alaska, still relied upon in varying degrees in the villages of Toksook Bay and Tununak:
salmonberries, gathered during the summer and whipped with animal or vegetable fat and sugar
seal
the occasional walrus
the occasional whale
salmon
herring, and herring roe
various waterfowl
wild greens
(today's Fun Facts to Know and Tell)
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It's baaaaaaaack.
NBC is airing the penultimate episode tonight at 8pm and then the final at 9pm
Last chance to watch this train wreck of biblical proportions.
Oh, you've GOT to be kidding. Holy Jesus in Short Pants.
And of course I'll HAVE to watch it. I'm just trying to figure out if I should try to structure a drinking game around it, or just guzzle constantly from 8 until 10. I'm leaning toward the latter.
Booze TV: you can't just watch.
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This is just BRILLIANT!! And the photos are absolutely wonderful.
I wanted an Easy Bake Oven soooooo bad when I was a kid. Parents said forget it--if I wanted to cook, I had to use the real kitchen. Which, ultimately, was a good thing.
Still, Easy Bake Ovens make me wistful in an odd way.
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On DirecTV it's been running on the oxymoronically-named Fox Reality Channel. Think how easily it was probably put together: some guy gives a group of 14-year-old boys a video camera (but not the instruction manual, which ensures that the footage will have that monkey-cam effect). Then he turns the kids loose in a Denny's kitchen where they record their wacky hijincks. Their payment? A carton of generic cigarettes. Add voiceovers, and there ya go! Insta-product.
Good god in a bucket--why the hell didn't I think of that?? [slaps forehead, walks away mumbling bitterly]
Heat and Eat Products we Like
in Ready to Eat
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Oooooh, Onion TaterTots, baked to a tooth-shattering crunch, sprinkled liberally with celery salt and dunked in sriracha. I also have a jalapeno popper problem: it's so hard not to eat the whole freaking box at one time.
And I actually like Morningstar Farms burgers and sausage patties better than the things they're supposed to immitate. Amy's pretend meatloaf is also really good.
And we're never without frozen vegs!