annabelle

*Boo* to white chili, sweet chili, and all other phony chilis.

It's not good, Jaymes. It's sweetish and not hot at all. I've had it a number of times when I lived up north. So, yes "Sloppy Joe" on spaghetti noodles sounds like a good description.

No offense taken, Liuzhou.

My condolences, Linda. We will all miss Dave and his wit. Godspeed.

My mistake, Andie. I haven't lived out there in 24 years and my memory is a little foggy.

Irwindale is quite unattractive as is much of the Inland Empire. Prisons are big business out there or at least in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. They should count themselves lucky to have a business as large as Huy Fong Foods move out there.

I'm going shopping for supplies this weekend, a previously planned trip. Thanks for starting this thread, Jaymes. There are a lot of good ideas there.

My dad still lives in Santa Maria. I'll have to ask him next time I talk to him, I remember when I was in high school that most of the fields were being turned into vineyards. There are a lot of wineries up in San Luis Obispo and then back toward Solvang and Santa Barbara.

Were these complainers aware that there was a Sriracha plant extant when they moved there? I imagine they were, so get over it Complainers. When I lived in Santa Maria there was a large sugar plant in Sisquoc that processed sugar beets in granulated sugars. It smelled bad, but not so bad it was intolerable. Likewise, when I was a child we lived in Visalia and the winery there was quite smelly. Sulfur-y, like rotten eggs. Now the Campbell's Soup Plant in New Jersey smelled great!

The children will enjoy toasting the marshmallows, Franci. It's a right of passage to toast a marshmallow without it bursting into flame.

Jaymes, I will tell you I came away from that ice storm experience with new found respect for my pioneering great-grandmothers.

I had to cook in our fireplace a few winters back when ice storms took out our electricity for two weeks. I have a large set of cast iron cookware, such as Jaymes described and used it for stews, bread and a cast iron kettle for coffee and tea. It was an adventure and not one I care to repeat anytime soon.

Shelby, I think that's the best one yet. I may actually break down and make one.

Cornbread and beans are a staple meal here in Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure my mother weaned us on it. Jaymes, my mother also loves to eat cornbread and buttermilk out of an iced tea glass with an iced tea spoon. I've made so many batches of cornbread that I don't even need a recipe any longer. (I'm that way with baking powder biscuits too, although I'll buy whacka-biscuits once in a while, cut the centers out and deep fry them for donuts and toss in powdered sugar for the boys when they're home.) MSRadell: Martha White makes both white and yellow cornmeal as well as self-rising flour, all in five pound bags and is most likely available by mail order. There are recipes printed on the packages for cornmeal, corn muffins and corn sticks.

No kidding. "Yo" who says that? I love his picture too, nothing says wannabe like thick chains, over-sized shades and baseball jersey.

Re #34 (my quote function won't work) Porthos, that's a lot of cooking for a lot of people in a condensed period of time. I recall you saying that you barely had time to take a break when you talked about the faires in the past. I'm thinking that the griddle was broken by persons unknown, but quite likely the newbie broke it and was afraid to say anything. You're conscientious about your gear, so I doubt the crack was "already there". I hope the fix you tried works until you can score a new one.

The hell? Eddie Huang sounds like the punk Hmong kids in "Grand Torino".

That's really asking a lot, rotuts. Porthos, aren't you cooking all the time and really don't have any time to sit down until the faire is over every night?

Well, that sucks. I think you should "donate" that griddle to the cause and reserve a new one for your own use. Ouch! about the chef knife. I'd still be steamed. It sounds like you'd do well to get a bunch of yard sale items for the faires and call it good.

Porthos, is he aware that he broke your griddle? I'd let him know that it was a personal item and that you'd appreciate it if he'd replace it. Then it's up to him to step up to the plate. You can buy the silicone glue at a home improvement or a hardware store.

Now that is some nice cornbread, Steve!

I/16th.

A very heavily seasoned herbed cornbread, a double recipe baked in a 9x13 pan and left to stand out overnight to dry out a bit, makes an excellent stuffing for turkeys. That is of course assuming that your family likes cornbread dressing and not bread stuffing. I decided to try this one year when I was disgusted with how expensive stuffing/dressing mixes were and all the iffy stuff that was in them. It turns out very nice, but you have to be careful not to add too much liquid to it or it gets more like a bread pudding when it bakes up. It makes enough dressing (with cooked onions, celery and giblets mixed in) to fill a turkey cavity and a baking dish, too.

There are as many recipes for pimento cheese as there are southern cooks, too. The way my family likes it may not be the way your family likes it, but they are similar enough that they will do in a pinch. The same can be said of Ambrosia salads.

Oh my lord, Jaymes. That sounds positively dreadful. I hope one of you told him "Oh my. That's different."