claire797

Shocking revelation! I was the opposite. I may have taken 5 sack lunches in my 5 years of elementary and I'm pretty sure they were just as unhealthy, probably worse, than the school lunches. Is a bologna sandwich, fritos, juice box and Hostess cupcake any worse than milk, a small hamburger, 12 crinkle fries and a peanut butter cookie? Back then, all of the lunches were pretty bad for us because there wasn't such a big emphasis on low-fat eating and nutrition in general. There were a few pale-looking kids whose mother's packed them carrot sticks and cheese, but my recollection of sack lunches (the ones I coveted) had white bread sandwiches, Little Debbies, and Frito-Lay chips. Oddly enough, even back then things like the above-mentioned grandma candy, gum and soda were taboo. Twin pack of Twinkies? Sure. Lifesavers? No. So it sounds like the broad nutrition guidelines in Texas are still as bizarre as ever. As for Virginia, Wow! If that article Heather posted is true, they are making lots of headway. Small steps like baking all of the elementary level foods rather than frying and offering soy products are laudable. Still, I am not so sure Texas schools aren't doing the same thing. Again, the quote above Steven posted and the article suggest Texas is in a parallel universe re: nutrition, but I think in Texas it's more of a case by case situation. Last time I was in a Texas school lunch room visiting with third graders, the lunch line had plenty of healthy choices and flashy posters promoting healthy eating.

The Fifth Food Group

My memory is kind of hazy, but I vaguely remember Tony telling us that the whole Alton Brown thing was just a misunderstanding and that Alton sent him a dozen long stem roses and they're best friends now. Or something.

I second the vote for the Cook's Illustrated Chili.

Elyse, where did you get the blueberry muffin? Maybe it had lard in it. If it was made with Jiffy Mix, it did. I suspect if Jiffy uses lard in their mix, a lot of other cheap muffin mixes do too. The toaster probably brought out that wholesome lardiness. I don't know about your creme brulee, but if you ordered it from somewhere, who the heck knows what they splashed on it. It was probably sitting near some chicken soup fumes.

Yes. Most of the recipes use a combination of cake mix, whole milk, eggs, vanilla with a few twists here and there like melted white chocolate, sour cream, or fruit. Here are a few other reasons I like the book: 1) At the beginning, there is a full color photo of each cake. You can look through thumbnails and choose a cake based on the photo. Every cookbook should have this. 2) Blurbs. This is a fun book to read simply for trivia. For instance, the original CMD book (not to be confused with the chocolate CMD) has a whole page of red velvet lore. 3) There are more than just cake recipes. There are quickie cheesecake recipes, a few brownie recipes, some dump cakes and a very good chocolate orange biscotti recipe. The original CMD book also has a recipe for a cute, easy to make gingerbread house. Again. I still like playing with scratch cakes, but CMD cakes are good too and the book is loads of fun.

Marvin Zindler appears to be very much alive. That is, according to my Google search. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/aboutus/marvin...in_zindler.html

Gee, Kolache's isn't what I remember La Grange for! A haw, haw, haw.

We Gotcha Kolache! Boy. Sure felt good to get that out of my system. My vote would go to Weikel's in La Grange. If you've never been, it's on highway 71 near the edge of town. Pretty good for a bakery/gas station.

#1) Take Tyson frozen buffalo wings and add melted butter, Franks red hot sauce and extra cayenne. Mmmmmmm. #2) Hormel canned turkey chili is pretty good for canned chili. It's really good if you mix in a few tablespoons of salsa, some fresh cilantro and whatever Southwest seasoning you have on hand -- in my case, Penzey's. I serve it Cincinnati style over spaghetti. Hopefully, Jaymes will not read this. #3) 3 words -- Cake Mix Doctor! Love this book. Sure, I appreciate scratch, but CMD recipes are fun and reliable when you're in a hurry. #4) Super-fast Hot & Sour Soup. Take 1 can of chicken broth and add 1 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, and a few of pinches of whatever chinese spices you have lying around. Mix a few tablespoons of the soup mixture with a tablespoon of cornstarch. Heat soup mixture. Stir in cornstartch mixture. If you like egg, crack an egg and swirl in some egg white. #5) House of Hunan makes a great stir fry sauce.

Last month I cooked about 5 different yellow cake recipes which ranged from dry (1-2-3-4 Cake) to overly moist and icky (Martha Stewart's Yellow Cake). The best of the bunch was a Cake Mix Doctor cake -- The White Chocolate Whisper cake. I took it to an event and people actually came up to me and said it was the best cake they'd ever eaten. I do like the look of KAPDADDY's yellow cake, though. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

So has anybody made "Mama's Meatballs" yet? I think the recipe is in an Amex ad.

Thanks! I'll check the library.

Oooooooooh. Creeeeeeeepy. Thanks for the Galveston tales, Kapdaddy. I live for that stuff ;). I think I've made my restaurant choice. The Steakhouse. It's hard to go wrong with prime, aged beef. Atmosphere looks nice too.

How about this place?

I'm bumping this up because we're finally going to Galveston. Haven't been since I was about 6, so this should be fun. We're staying at The Galvez. Anybody ever stayed there? Jaymes? Any Galvez trivia, ghost stories, anecdotes for me? I haven't chosen a restaurant yet. So far, my list includes Pelican Club, Gaido's or Shearn's. Has anyone ever eaten at Shearn's? How about "The Steakhouse" in the San Luis resort?

Guess I'm lucky. I can't think of one awful meal to rant about. Hopefully, I haven't served any .

Me too. Kitty litter and dirty diapers. If we don't have a big stash of plastic bags around, then we're in trouble.

Welcome to the board! BTW. Why don't we have any of these things in Austin? No Smoochies, No Cremalite, No Tasti Delite, nothing. It's not fair. Hmmmph. Oh, and it's 102 freakin' degrees here. It's REALLY not fair.

Amen.

Gideon, who's to say what fragile information is? Do you think you could get in trouble posting here? I guess not, seeing that you and some of the other waiters all have web sites and whatnot. Still, it would be interesting to see if anyone from NBC is monitoring the thread for disclosure violations.

Just got back from a week-long visit to New York and CT and wanted to put in my 2 cents on Thali. It was easily the best meal we had on our trip and perhap the best Indian meal I've ever eaten. The atmosphere is relaxing and comtemporary. Lighting is subdued, colors are earthtones and the background noise is trickling water which flows across the high ceiling and drapes down into a waterfall inside the restaurant. Even the tables are fun to look at. Each one has an in-laid mosaic of seeds and Indian spices. Soaking in the ambience at Thali reminded me how important it is for restaurant's to stimulate not only tastebuds, but all other senses. Raju was on hand to help us with the wine, and he really did seem to have a passion for pairing. He steered us toward an excellent Shiraz which complemented the food and also spent some time sharing his thoughts on Austrian wines and pairing. It was nice talking with a sommelier who really seemed to love his job. The food was incredible. My companions were new to Indian food, so we started with some simple items like samosas and spicy tandoori wings. While it's hard to go wrong with a samosa, these particular samosa's were better than most. They were not the least bit greasy, and the potatoes were fluffy and well-seasoned. The wings were also quite good, though not terribly fiery. For entrees, we had an expertly prepared chicken vindaloo, Andrha Curry, Malai kabab and Chicken Saag. Everthing tasted balanced and extremely fresh. My only complaint is that Thali sets the bar very high for Indian food and finding anything comparable here in Texas (Clay Pit is the closest I've come) will be difficult.

You are so lucky to be the only baker there. I'm jealous. I think the Austin Farmer's market is almost all bakers -- and professional bakers at that! There's Swedish Hill Bakery, Texas French Bread, a couple of other small shops and one girl who calls her business "Full Belly Bakery". Elyse, keep up the good work!

Personally, I enjoy bread and appreciate it when a restaurant goes to the trouble of serving a good loaf. I like to have a small slice or 2 before the meal with my wine. I don't use butter and I don't find bread particularly filling, but rather palate cleansing and fun to eat. But I can see how it would be disheartening for a chef to have plates of food returned half eaten because diners have loaded up on bread and butter. I like the idea of getting rid of the bread basket, but serving something light and crackerish instead -- especially if you are serving wine. The worst thing would be to get rid of the bread and serve nothing. That would just be cheap.

Funny I should stumble upon this thread as I sit here with the bitter, medicinal, chemical aftertaste of a Carbolite Chocolate Truffle Bar. I suppose if I were actually on a low carb diet, I would eat these regularly. The texture is smooth and creamy, almost like a fine Swiss Chocolate, the taste (at first) is a pleasant, mild chocolate. 30 seconds later however, I need a glass of water or something to rinse out the lingering palate burn. Ick.