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tino27

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Everything posted by tino27

  1. An update after several of your posts... ---- Saturday Meal Prep Plan Afternoon Noshing Tino27 - Bread Dinner Amuse: * Scott Groth, Apricot "fruit roll up" over the foie gras on spiced toast Cocktails: * JAZ, lime cordial/gimlets * ronnie_suburban * jsmeeker Appetizer: * Kerry Beal, Larb * jsmeeker, Fried Bologna Slider (PM me about the kind of bread you are thinking of ... we can take that discussion off-thread for now) Courses: * David Ross, Stir-Fried Pork with Sweet Bean Paste and Rice Stick Noodles Sides: * Edsel, Macaroni and Cheese Dessert: * Scott Groth, Lemon ice cream served in lemon halves * Luckygirl, Pie (hopefully this won't be a lemon pie because I believe we have lemon represented during our dessert course) * Kerry Beal, Molecular Lemon Curd Bread: * Tino27 ... if anyone needs a specific bread to pair with their course, please let me know and we can work together to get you what you will need. Available Talent Pool * Chris Hennes and wife, dish washing and prep cooks * Tino27, prep cook * Edsel, prep cook * FatGuy ... I'll add you to this list as a tentative for now until things clear up for you one way or the other Keep the updates and suggestions coming!
  2. Got it David, thanks for volunteering! Anyone else want to commit? ---- Saturday Meal Prep Plan Afternoon Noshing Tino27 - Bread Dinner Amuse: * Scott Groth, Apricot "fruit roll up" over the foie gras on spiced toast Appetizer: * Kerry Beal, Larb * jsmeeker, Fried Bologna Slider (PM me about the kind of bread you are thinking of ... we can take that discussion off-thread for now) Courses: * David Ross, Stir-Fried Pork with Sweet Bean Paste and Rick Stick Noodles Dessert: * Scott Groth, Lemon ice cream served in lemon halves * Luckygirl, Pie (hopefully this won't be a lemon pie because I believe we have lemon represented during our dessert course) * Kerry Beal, Molecular Lemon Curd Bread: * Tino27 ... if anyone needs a specific bread to pair with their course, please let me know and we can work together to get you what you will need. Available Talent Pool * Chris Hennes and wife, dish washing and prep cooks * Tino27, prep cook * FatGuy ... I'll add you to this list as a tentative for now until things clear up for you one way or the other Keep the updates and suggestions coming!
  3. Saturday Meal Prep Plan Afternoon Noshing Tino27 - Bread Dinner Amuse: * Scott Groth, Apricot "fruit roll up" over the foie gras on spiced toast Appetizer: * KerryBeal, Larb * jsmeeker, Fried Bologna Slider (PM me about the kind of bread you are thinking of ... we can take that discussion off-thread for now) Dessert: * Scott Groth, Lemon ice cream served in lemon halves * Luckygirl, Pie (hopefully this won't be a lemon pie because I believe we have lemon represented during our dessert course) * KerryBeal, Molecular Lemon Curd Bread: * Tino27 ... if anyone needs a specific bread to pair with their course, please let me know and we can work together to get you what you will need. Available Talent Pool * Chris Hennes and wife, dish washing and prep cooks * Tino27, prep cook * FatGuy ... I'll add you to this list as a tentative for now until things clear up for you one way or the other Keep the updates and suggestions coming!
  4. Saturday Meal Prep Plan Afternoon Noshing Tino27 - Bread Dinner Amuse: * Scott Groth, Apricot "fruit roll up" over the foie gras on spiced toast Appetizer: * KerryBeal, Larb Dessert: * Scott Groth, Lemon ice cream served in lemon halves * Luckygirl, Pie (hopefully this won't be a lemon pie because I believe we have lemon represented during our dessert course) * KerryBeal, Molecular Lemon Curd Bread: * Tino27 ... if anyone needs a specific bread to pair with their course, please let me know and we can work together to get you what you will need. Available Talent Pool * Chris Hennes and wife, dish washing and prep cooks * Tino27, prep cook * FatGuy ... I'll add you to this list as a tentative for now until things clear up for you one way or the other Keep the updates and suggestions coming!
  5. Saturday Meal Prep Plan Afternoon Noshing Tino27 - Bread Dinner Amuse: * Scott Groth, Apricot "fruit roll up" over the foie gras on spiced toast Dessert: * Scott Groth, Lemon ice cream served in lemon halves * Luckygirl, Pie Bread: * Tino27 ... if anyone needs a specific bread to pair with their course, please let me know and we can work together to get you what you will need. Available Talent Pool * Chris Hennes and wife, dish washing and prep cooks * Tino27, prep cook * FatGuy ... I'll add you to this list as a tentative for now until things clear up for you one way or the other Keep the updates and suggestions coming!
  6. Nancy, will Scott's nibbles be for the afternoon noshing?
  7. I'm very much looking forward to celebrating with everyone again this year. Nancy has done a fantastic job (as she always does) in managing to line up venues, restaurants, and hotels for our out of town guests. Given that the traditional farmers market dinner that we cook for ourselves is barely three weeks from now, we should probably go ahead and open the floor up to those who would like to spearhead a course and those that might not want to be in charge but would like to help out either by cooking, cleaning, or anything else we might need that day. I'd be happy to help out by managing this particular list so that Nancy has one less thing to worry about. I'll start the ball rolling ... As I have done for the past number of gatherings, I will be happy to bring bread for the afternoon noshing and evening dinner service. I will also be available to help out another team cooking their course. So what are other attendees thinking of doing/bringing/making?
  8. You forgot a biggie ... Agreed that address / phone / hours of operation should be on the front page. However, DO NOT put them in a Flash animation. I have now lost the ability to highlight and copy it and paste it into Google/Yahoo Maps, Google Address book (which syncs to my Android phone), etc. The others mentioned already are definitely peeves, but this one is downright irritating.
  9. I'm hanging my head in shame, Prasantrin. I don't see the entire issue as a "demise" of online food forums, more as an evolution. Whatever the topic, people have always gravitated towards others who are like-minded. With the advent of "connectedness", it has just been easier to seek out others outside of your immediate circle of family, friends, and town. UUCP FIDONET Dial-up BBS AOL/Compuserve DARPA/InterNET IRC USENET GOPHER World Wide Web Topic-Specific Forums ??? Interestingly, if you look closely enough, you can still find people using (most) of the technologies I listed above. Will "forums" ever be replaced as a mainstream technology? Absolutely. Will they ever go away? No. Either because they serve a useful purpose for a minority set of users or because of simple nostalgia. What will eventually change is the method in which people connect, not the fact that people want to be connected to one another.
  10. The food offerings may be similar, but the portion sizes have grown enormously. Considering that the average "combo" meal comes standard with a medium fries and medium drink, pairing it with a small is not an option, unless you order all three separately. Sure, you could choose just to eat half of the fries and drink half of the drink, but then that "waste not, want not" mantra that our parents (at least my parents) drilled into me from early childhood kicks in and I feel compelled to finish it (which I don't always do). I often feel silly doing it, but I sometimes order off the kids menu because I know the portion sizes will be a bit more appropriate for this type of food.
  11. Cookies. More specifically, Girl Scout cookies. Even more specifically, Thin Mints. Despite what the portion size indicates on the side of the box, I tend to go through them a sleeve at a time. Ice cream that comes in a pint size container (Ben & Jerry's, Haggan Dazs, etc.). If I am craving it, and knowing that I WILL eat the entire container in a sitting, I try to either get frozen yogurt or sorbet. Yes, I realize I'm not saving much on the caloric content, but somehow knowing that I haven't just consumed enough fat/saturated fat for two entire days makes it "okay". I once had friends over for pizza and a movie and when asked if I had anything for dessert, I replied in the negative. My one friend looked shocked and asked why not. "Because if I buy it, I will eat it."
  12. I understand Boagman's predicament, although I might not have worded your question in exactly the same way. I, too, would prefer a childless event, but having attended all of the Heartland Gatherings since 2006, I have never come across a child (of the few who attended) who was anything less than pleasant. Perhaps it is due to the pleasant nature of the children, perhaps it is due to the overwhelming number of adults who are willing to engage the children and keep them occupied with age-appropriate kitchen tasks. As far as other activities surrounding the weekend gathering, parents have been very good about keeping things quite appropriate and recognizing that little Johnny might not really want nor enjoy the progressive six course tasting menu. Of course now that I've said it, I'll probably be proven wrong, but I think you'll be fine.
  13. Any kind of chocolate candies ... Peanut M&Ms, Mini's, Kisses, whatever. I rarely buy the bags of them at the grocery store because I know that I can (and have) mindlessly gone through an entire bag in a night.
  14. I suppose the question could really be posed for any national chain restaurant. Chain restaurant usually aren't failing because the food is horrendous. I personally haven't eaten at a Ruth's Chris in about ten years, not because I am avoiding them, but because I'm just not a huge steak kind of guy. There was nothing wrong with the meal I had, but I willingly acknowledge that I'd rather support my local independent restaurants that make northeast Ohio unique rather than a national chain restaurant where homogeneity is the key to success. I also recognize that for many people, homogeneity is precisely what they are looking for. It always makes me sad to hear of friends traveling to other parts of the country only to have eaten at the local Olive Garden or Cheesecake Factory and not bothered to look into any local joints.
  15. The first time you go from loaves to rolls, as the others suggested, you will have to play around a bit with times and temperatures. However, one thing you can rely on is the internal temperature of the dough to be the same. Whatever the internal temperature of the loaf is when it is finished (anywhere from 190-205, depending on whether it is an enriched dough or not), that should be the same temperature you shoot for in the rolls.
  16. Is that a prime lens? In a lot of the food shots I am doing, I'm trying to get the entire plate of food in the frame while still sitting at the table. At 50 mm, I would've needed to back up a few feet in order to achieve that. You have some nice photographs on your Flickr page.
  17. I recently upgraded my point and shoot to a digital SLR (the Canon T3i) which came with a standard kit lens (18mm-55mm f/3.5-5.6). While I have already taken some amazingly sharp photographs using the kits lens, I realize that there are probably better lenses with which to shoot food. I primarily shoot at the restaurant itself and while I am enjoying the range of the zoom lens that came with the camera, I find myself mostly shooting in the 18-28mm range, with an occasional zoom to frame the food better. I am considering upgrading to this lens and don't mind dropping some cash, but I figured I'd ask some of the other food photographers on eGullet which lenses they preferred to shoot with (or, if you have an opinion about the lens to which I linked). Feel free to post a picture or two taken with your lens if you feel it would help illustrate the capabilities better.
  18. tino27

    Ouzo!

    I had a similar problem during my freshman year at college. I needed the label from a bottle of ouzo (it was for a fraternity thing ... don't ask) and once I had steamed off the label, we were still left with an entire bottle of ouzo. As any resourceful college freshman would be, just dumping it out or throwing it away would have amounted to heresy, so we decided to drink it. First we tried it as a shot and discovered, um, it's "unique" flavor. Then we had the bright idea of using it with some type of mixer. We tried everything we could get our hands on, but surprisingly, anise flavor (or as I liked to think of it at the time, "black jelly bean") does not mix well with many flavors. In the end, we manage to choke it down when mixed with root beer. I think what was successful about the ouzo/root beer combination was that you really couldn't taste the ouzo as much. I shudder just thinking about it today.
  19. My mother wasn't a particularly adept cook. My father wasn't a particularly adept grill master. In fact, when I was ten or eleven, the job of grilling the meat became my job. Sadly, when I brought in the now-burnt-and-tough-as-shoe-leather pork chops or steak, no one corrected me because no one knew any differently. My mother cooked from convenience products, like so many parents from her generation. Casseroles were king and if it could be prepared from multiple boxes or cans, she was all over it. One of my fondest memories was mom's tuna biscuit bake. 1 can of condensed cream of celery soup, 1 can of cheddar cheese soup, several cans of tuna, and 1 sleeve of biscuits from the grocery store. Lay the biscuits along the bottom of the dish, mix the remaining ingredients with a bit of milk to make it "pourable" and then smother the biscuits in the dish. Bake until the biscuits had risen and the rest was bubbly and melted. While I realize how unhealthy this is today (just the salt levels alone), this is a flavor from my youth that I do crave from time to time. I have gone about, reinventing a more from-scratch version, but it doesn't quite hit the same sweet spot that her version did. One thing that was always popular in my mother's and my grandmother's households was the Jell-O salad. I never quite understood how floating some canned fruit in heavy syrup in flavored gelatin qualified it as a "salad." And when I asked, the answer I always got was, "Because that's what the recipe called it!" I put up with a lot when other in my family cook, but about ten years ago, I drew the line on these convenience products on special occasions, like holidays. Given to their own vices, jars of pre-made gravy and cans of condensed soup would return, but not on my watch. Which means I end up making most of it. But that's fine with me.
  20. This drove me nuts, too. Prior to Yelp's popularity and me starting my own food blog, I use to leave mini-reviews on Yahoo. It would drive me nuts to see people rate a McDonald's with five (out of five) stars. It made me realize just how worthless a "star" rating can be. I also realized fairly quickly that anything I had to say about the food or my experience would get lost to all of the other posters who don't seem to understand that USING CAPITALS LETTERS FOR THE ENTIRE REVIEW AMOUNTS TO SHOUTING. To address the original purpose of this thread, I personally try to write restaurant reviews with as many facts as possible, explain any opinions that I state, and let the reader watch my thought process so that they can see themselves sitting at the table with me (or avoiding it if the food/service was bad). I think it requires a certain amount of humility as well, as you have to remember that you are commenting on people's livelihood, not just food in the abstract.
  21. tino27

    Chick-Fil-A 2011

    The politics are exactly why I won't be returning to a Chick-Fil-A, even if they have a superior chicken sandwich (which I think they do). The same thing held true for me with Cracker Barrel for many years until their policies regarding GLBT folks changed (although to be fair, I never saw a need to eat there more than once as I found the food to be fairly unremarkable).
  22. The problem with fluid ounces is that 1 fl. oz. of water does not weigh the same as 1 fl. oz of oil. Most of those fluid ounce measurements would be for water-based substances (water, vinegar, etc.). I don't find fluid ounce measurements particularly helpful.
  23. No, but if you know that the casserole portion will then be drowned in sauce, you can ask for it not to be so. Case in point, a local place serves lasagna (which I consider casserole-esque). Unfortunately, after the portion has been heated and plated, it is drowned in more of the marinara. I would have no problem asking them to either hold the marinara or serve it on the side. And for me, salad dressing on the side is always more about controlling the amount of dressing applied for taste purposes, not for controlling salt or fat content. But I can see that as a bonus. If I am eating at a restaurant where I think they will dress the salad properly, then I don't bother asking for it on the side. Finally, let me turn the tables slightly. Does every other culture that eats salads dress them without drowning them in dressing? Are Americans the only ones that have to deal with soggy greens swimming in a bowl of Ranch?
  24. Count me in for the GHT dinner on Friday night.
  25. Speed isn't necessarily important, and I've done simple dishes using ground beef or turkey for things like chili with kidney beans or sloppy joe's. Additionally, 95% of the time, I will be using a protein that she has already purchased ahead of my visit, so my options are limited to what she has purchased at the store (and most likely was whatever was on sale the day she went). Since my grandmother doesn't really understand the world of braising, she considers stew meat to be too tough and a likely choking hazard, whether or not it actually is. And sometimes perception can manifest itself into reality from what I've experienced. Probably the best bet for non-frozen meats would be our local farmers market, but as she would never be able to navigate such a busy place and even more important, would absolutely cringe at having to pay significantly more for meat that could be had for far less in the grocery store, I guess I will have to get the meat from there during my own visits. Fortunately, they have them every other weekend in the winter.
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