vloglady

We had dinner at Marea in NYC. While checking them out on Yelp, I read they give muffins as you leave. Sadly, we did not get a muffin or anything else.

Hey, have you tried chocolate Bugles? Just discovered them, sooooo good. Also are those really crispy Cheetos. Not the big puffy ones, although those are good too. These are the skinny baked ones.

I got a microwave corn popper from Walmart. I think it was about $12. Plastic, sort of like a big tupperware container. I've used it for years, love it. But the plastic seems to get dark, like dirty. No matter how much I clean it, it won't get clean again. I spray the popcorn with Pam and add salt.

Those crispy, baked Cheeze Doodles. Not the puffy ones, although those are good too. I love the baked, skinny ones. Please don't leave me alone with a bag of those.

Scotch eggs with Branson pickles. Google it.

Peter Lugars's?

We had a fabulous dinner in London, "Just Around the Corner", Finchley Road. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23633384-pay-what-you-like-restaurants-recipe-to-beat-the-crunch.do We had a fabulous three course dinner with wine and a rose for the ladies presented by the manager. Three of us, we each left 20 pounds, they seemed happy. Really nice.

One of my all time pet peeves is to spell Scotch WHISKY as WHISKEY. There is NO "e" in Scotch whisky. Single Malt Scotch Whiskey is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG !!!!!! And it's absolutely amazing how many really nice restaurants spell it wrong.

"Food Detectives" with Ted Allen did it a few years ago. Turns out the kind/type of food dropped played a major role in the amount of bacteria it picked up. If you dropped something porous, like a hotdog or hamburger, it picked up more bacteria than say a hard cookie or roll. You could always do what grandmothers did, "Kiss it up to God".

check out http://www.tartanweek.com/ The Tartan Day parade is Saturday, April 9. susan

Are you coming for the Tartan Day Parade? It's Saturday, April 9.

Three things. Co-worker used to bring in those huge bags of Stacey's Chips from Costco. I would eat them by the handful. And my boss would make a delish "fried rice" sort of dish with tiny shrimp. She'd bring it in her insulated dish that would keep it warm, but I love it cold. I don't know what kind of seasoning she would put on it. She said it wasn't anything special. Not terribly salty. And my Asian co-worker would bring in these little cookie things for the Chinese New Year. They're little cookies, sort of look like a one-inch log, but with sesame seeds. Cross between a cookie and a cracker. Only available during the Chinese New Year time. They are in a plastic see-through container with red decoration on the outside. But we office people would eat anything. And we often do. (-:

Yes, I keep Cook's Illustrated. Love that mag.

Hot tomatoes. Not like in sauce or perhaps on a pizza. Some chinese places put stir-fried tomatoes into their food. I pick them out. And in Scotland, they sometimes served grilled tomatoes for breakfast. Yeech! And lima beans.

Yes, I've been to Del Frisco's and the Post House. My friend salivated at the steak at Maloney and Porcelli, near Rockefeller center. And he salivated at the oysters at the Post House. We're going to BLT Steak at White Plains this saturday. What steak there is the best?

I remember a shrimp chip from my childhood. We called them Chinese Potato chips. but I bet they're different from yours. they were sold dried in the store. They were about the size of a quarter/half dollar. Each chip was a different color. You had to deep fry them. Filled the pan about half way with oil, drop a chip in the hot oil. The chip puffed up, still retained the color. Drain on a paper towel. Haven't found them, but I can still see the multicolored dried chips. Definitely shrimp flavored.

I work in a public library in NY. We have a regular kitchen. Stove with 4 burners, oven, microwave, toaster oven. Fridge with a freezer, coffeemaker. Our staff is 10.

If you're an Oreo fan, I so hate to mention this..... BUT....have you ever tried Deep Fried Oreos? I made them for a Scottish event for my club. Basically, it's a thin pancake batter. Dip the Oreo in to coat. Deep fry for a minute or so. Drain on paper towels. SOOOOO delish! Check out http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/deep-fried-oreos/Detail.aspx And I deep fried Mars bars too. Freeze the bars first. Use the small ones, or cut a regular bar in half. A little bit of powdered sugar went on the top. I only made them twice for our different events. I just can't make them, they're soooo good! Susan

My friend got Mountain Dew with the real sugar. He said it didn't taste any different.

Okay, we LOVE sushi, how can I make this? sushi rice made into a disc and "fried"? Press the rice into a disc, oil the pan and fry? will it stay together? I just gotta try it. Susan

We were in Scotland in 2005 and we saw some unusual flavors. I was positively addicted to the chicken potato chips. They also had roast beef flavor and lamb with mint jelly. When we got back, I wrote the company (it might have been a subsidiary of Lays) and asked them about it. They said it was only available in Europe, but sent me a case of 4 small bags. I found another brand of chicken potato chips in Target, but they weren't the same. Too salty. But still a nice chickeny flavor.

Is this 18% charge mandatory or optional? Can we put in our own amount?

Nope, it was in a rather shallow ceramic bowl with a lid. Just stirred in the salt mixture, replace the lid and wait 10 minutes. It was awesome!

Hi, we dined the other night at Morimoto's in Philly. I had the yosedofu, which is fresh tofu created at your table served with crab ankake and soy sauce. It was amazing. The server brings a hot pot of soymilk to the table, along with a small dish of a salt/magnesium mixture. He slowly drizzled the salt mixture into the soymilk, slowly stirring. when it was all incorporated, he replaced the lid and said it had to stand for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, he came back, took off the lid and it was tofu! He placed a spoon on top to show it had congealed. He took a knife, scored it into big squares and served us on two small plates. There was some crab sauce (so delish, it could have been a soup) and a soy/dashi sauce. Has anyone made tofu with this method? I've googled it and found some info at http://www.justhungry.com/2006/03/milking_the_soy_1.html But I'm telling you, he just mixed this liquid in, let it stand for 10 minutes and it was tofu. thanks. susan

If your fiancee is at all comfortable with Chinatown, I recommend the Golden Unicorn. www.goldenunicornrestaurant.com We've been there and have actually seen some lovely Chinese weddings there. We go to the third floor, but the other floors are probably more accustomed to groups. It really is a suitable venue for a wedding. It's a bigger building, elevator and all. Good luck. susan