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nibor

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Everything posted by nibor

  1. Soap is not biologically inert. Detergents are used in the lab to break down cells, for instance, as the first step in a DNA extraction. As for the effects in your gut, well, think about "soap suds enemas". They really work! I googled "eating soap" and found a number of links about people, particularly pregnant women, craving soap, and in particular, craving "Irish Spring". For those of you not in the US this is an incredibly strong smelling, green deodorant soap.
  2. I like to keep my freezer pretty empty so that I can see everything, and use things that do go in there promptly. Why lose food to freezer burn.
  3. As a small person and not much of a drinker I can easily end up face-down in my plate mid-meal with wine parings. Our resolution is for my husband to order the wine pairings, and then we share each glass. This only works with someone with whom you are willing to share spit.
  4. I usually don't eat in the evenings because of gastric reflux, which when bad can be like "being off your food" every day. But I love to go out to eat. And I expect a restaurant would like to make money rather than have people just sit in their chairs. So I do one of two things. Sometimes I pick an entree that will heat up well, just pick at it, and then take it home to eat the next morning. Other times I order a very light appetizer, and then have a light dessert for my entree. Put a nice glass of wine on top of that I spend more than a lot of women around here who will just order a salad for dinner (this is southern California...)
  5. Do you know WHY the person didn't like your breakfast? You don't tell us that. I would never ask to be taken to McDonalds, but can imagine asking to stop at (gasp!) Starbucks on the way to the airport if faced with "creamy" eggs at breakfast. My stomach is queasy first thing in the morning, and even looking at wet eggs could make me want to puke. Really. Later in the day, fine, but not at breakfast.
  6. I've encountered pretty poor service at a number of places around town when not accompanied by someone of the ethnicity that is primarily catered to by the establishment. Dim Sum and Korean BBQ places stand out as repeat offenders in my mind. I feel like Phoenix has gotten much better in this regard, but it may just be that I've significantly changed the days/times when I visit. It's almost always weekday mornings, when I'm able to order from the menu and have a relaxed meal rather than deal with the crush of carts. Some people prefer the frenetic pace of the latter, but I definitely do not. I have been to the Phoenix at both dim sum brunch and in the evening, with and without my Chinese friends. I didn't notice any difference in service. If anything, my Chinese friends managed to irritate the servers by asking lots of questions...
  7. We have been to Phoenix several times in the last year, and have no complaints about the service.
  8. I just cooked with them for the first time: sliced thin, fried in hot duck fat. That worked!
  9. I know, but "False Morels" don't really look like morels at all once you understand how they differ. Which is why taking a class is a good idea.
  10. Morels are easily identifiable. It is generic-looking mushrooms like those found by the OP that are problematic.
  11. I would encourage Nomina to take a course from a local expert. It is possible to pick mushrooms without dying, and it is a ton of fun. When I was a kid in Michigan we had ate several species of mushrooms that we gathered from the woods behind our house. The trick is to only eat species that you know are OK, and most importantly, that don't have near-idential poisonous counterparts in your area. I learned what to pick from my dad, who learned from his dad. Grandpa came from Lithuania, where people commonly gather mushrooms. I would be curious to know how my Lithuanian grandfather learned which Michigan mushrooms were OK, but he has been dead (not of mushroom poisoning!) for over 40 years. Waah.
  12. We don't know where she lives. That would be needed to even start guessing.
  13. I just got a bunch of this stuff when rendering fat from a duck carcass. My cat loves the bottom layer. He likes it straight, or mixed in either his wet or dry food.
  14. Johanna, I once forgot to take the racks out. They discolored, and now do not slide in and out as smoothly as before. nibor
  15. If I have to use the oven I plan ahead and throw in some root vegetables.
  16. I eat out a lot. When I eat everything I am served in restaurants I gain weight. So I try to make a doggie bag plan before I start digging in, by asking, what would be good for breakfast or lunch tomorrow? I eat the non-chosen items and leave with my doggie bag, knowing I have one less meal to prepare the next day.
  17. Hi Country, I do think about this. I find I use the oven a lot in this house because the kitchen is so difficult to keep clean (stainless steel appliances and a polished black granite floor). As I noted in the oven cleaning thread, I highly favor an occasional self-clean cycle over exposure to Easy-Off. I have had more than my share of chemical exposure in my life and would rather be less green than more anemic. One option I have been thinking about is cooking outdoors, something I can do year round where I live. Any suggestions on the most green way to do that? I have a natural gas outlet on my patio, but could burn solids as long as it didn't annoy my very close condo-neighbors. nibor
  18. We go to work. House hasn't burned down yet.
  19. What temperature does your oven reach when it's self-cleaning? I think around 550. We wipe up after each use, and run the self-clean every couple of months or as needed. It is smoky in proportion to the extent that your oven is dirty. I find this much preferable to using chemicals.
  20. We use it routinely. Nothing bad happens. Cat is 20 and going strong.
  21. The link provided by GlorifiedRice made me think about the socioeconomics of bad food experiences early in life. My family was fairly affluent but I was bussed to an elementary school that was not very flush with funds. This was back in the 60s and I remember little about it, but I do remember school lunch. We were forced to clean our plates. One year we were regularly force-fed stewed cherries in heavy syrup. I don't know why - perhaps Michigan had had a bumper crop, and we were the beneficiaries of unsold product. I used to try shovel it under the table (along with many of the other things on my tray). To this day I can't face cherry pie. Maybe I could get over it. My husband has a similar school lunch story involving canned "Italian" products - think Chef Boyardee ravioli. He is an otherwise very adventurous eater, but had to make an effort to "get over" red sauce phobia.
  22. Here's the first offense - unless someone else beats me to it. Some fish, especially cod, improve with a few days aging in the fridge. Cod, fresh off the boat, has practically no flavor. Careful aging results in better flavor. Same is true of hake, though one has to be more careful. Not offended, but also not sure we are talking about the same thing. Do these aged fish smell like the fish counter at Albertsons/Krogers/etc?
  23. With this kind of warning I was expecting theories on feminine hygiene.....
  24. Here is my take on it: When seafood isn't totally fresh, it smells disgusting. Prior disgust can be easily re-triggered by the slightest old-fishy whiff. I can barely stand to walk past grocery seafood counters because of the smell, and I mean even at fancy upscale markets. It makes me nauseous. It wasn't until I moved to the Pacific coast that I found I like fish. I buy it at a shack on the ocean. The ocean smells like fish, but not like spoiled fish.
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