feedmec00kies

I also think I heard it has to do with washing off the protective coating when processing eggs in the United States. I tried to Google an answer but only came up with this unsourced explanation, though it sounds similar to what I've heard before.

I'm going to agree with LindaK; first thing I thought when I read that passage was that the ones they're cutting from their catalog aren't selling and they don't want to have to keep them in their inventory.

I remember watching his show as a child. My mom is Chinese but had a weird home dynamic where she wasn't "allowed" in the kitchen so she ended up learning how to cook largely from PBS. Martin Yan was one of her "teachers". I was always impressed by him. Was his show one of the earliest "ethnic food" cooking shows on PBS?

Like most people, I will eat them when fried (especially as the cooking process helps to break down the tough proteins in the shell and makes it easier to consume them), but I don't (or don't always) eat the tails if prepared other ways because the shell is too tough in those contexts.

I have no idea if there's a regionality to egg-and-tomato dishes, or how "authentic" the version I have is, but when I was in college I looked for and found a recipe online. This recipe (which had beef, too, but I was vegetarian at the time) called for cooking diced tomato for a few minutes, and then adding some water, sugar, salt, soy sauce, and tomato paste, cooking this mixture until it thickened a bit (I can't remember if there was any corn starch added) and then pouring beaten egg in evenly throughout the mixture (I usually kind of poured it in a swirl), and cooking it a bit with the cover on until it sets. Because of all the liquid, this version is very sauce-y, and the egg is very soft.

Honestly, we don't really put much thought into pairing anything with the meal (my MIL is usually hosting). We DO bring stuff to drink before, though. Southern Tier's Pumpking is a solid pumpkin beer, and we tend to bring saisons too, but I can't remember for sure what else we've had for Thanksgiving.

Try letting it come to room temperature before slicing again. It won't break apart as easily.

vloglady, I know what you're talking about. Also called shrimp chips. These Calbee ones are more like... chips meaning the British definition of chips. heidih, I used to get the plain ones as a very occasional snack as a kid, but after buying the regular ones a few times I started getting the wasabi flavored ones and that's all I buy anymore. I don't buy them too regularly because I polish off the bag too quickly. They have a garlic flavored one, BTW, but I don't remember being that impressed by it.

Sour cream.

I dont think it's a national thing. Probably liability, as others have mentioned, or maybe something as simple as not wanting to deal with maintenance. I work for a school within the City University of New York and we have stoves and ovens here. Not in every department, but I've worked in the Office of Academic Affairs and in the Office of Administration and Finance and both had access to full kitchens. I didn't see it used in the OAA more than once, but in my building it gets used pretty regularly. Some people (not my office) cook breakfast every so often. One of my coworkers has made pancakes for us all a few times, and we do a Thanksgiving lunch and several other meals through the year using the kitchen. The really heavy cooking gets done elsewhere (mainly the Thanksgiving turkey - it's actually cooked at home and brought in) but that's more because of the logistics.

Salt and pepper to taste, and I usually increase the garlic unless it won't be cooked or brined after the garlic is added.

My relationship with food is closely linked with my ethnic heritage. My mom is Chinese, from Hong Kong, and my dad is Jewish from a region that is now Ukraine, was (when he was growing up) the Soviet Union, and had been part of Romania. I don't speak either of my parents' native languages, so what I have is food. When I travel and I'm unhappy with what I've been eating, the first things I crave are things like char siu bao or schmaltz herring. Not that I only cook traditional dishes from my ancestors; far from it, really. My mom wasn't taught to cook by her mother, so she learned most of it from public television. I watched those same programs with her when I was growing up. She cooked stir-fries and rice a lot of the time (oh how I wish I had room for a rice cooker!), but my parents are adventurous eaters and we ate everything, both in terms of cuisines and animal parts. Not too many people my age that are quite as adventurous as I am with offal and different kinds of meat, I have to say. I use the internet a lot to look for new recipes, especially since I don't really feel like I have a set dish I like to make at this time (partly because many of my favorite go-to vegetables are not appreciated by my husband, who likes only the more uncommon things). Seeing all the delicious desserts to be had has forced me, a mostly savory cook, to start trying to bake, and I have to say that I love it now. Easier to share with more people, too.

Rakusen's matzoh is absolutely my favorite and, my opinion, the best one (at least of those I've had). Only problem is that it's a little harder to find because it's a British brand, so I'm going to ask my parents to buy me a few boxes again this year; they seem to be able to get it every year at one of the stores near them.

If you're going down to the village, you should stop in at the Blind Tiger. It's one of the best beer bars in the city. It can get crazy/busy at times, but it should be pretty calm on a Sunday afternoon. The food is pretty good and not expensive, either. The draught list on their site is outdated, though, probably from the Stoudt Brewery event a few weeks ago; they are having a Stone Brewery event tonight, so it'll probably be mostly Stone, unless it's all drank by then.

I didn't realize you were in Rochester, NY until you mentioned Beers of the World. Husband and I went to UR and that was where we used to buy stuff. As for selling stuff, he only does trades. If you want to try stuff that's not available near you, you might want to look into it.

Okay, I found older pictures of the "cellar" which might help give you an idea of what my very well-versed husband cellars. There's some stuff he keeps in top tends to be stuff he just throws in there (extras for trading he isn't looking forward to, or other things he ends up with that he's had already or doesn't want), but I think he avoided photographing that stuff. So from Sept 2008, inside the "cellar". And... Stuff pulled out that my husband must have been showing off on Ratebeer (a year old): One Two Three Four

In addition to other suggestions (generally high gravity, not hoppy stuff*), I'd suggest good quality sour beers. Probably half of what we're aging is sour. There's a lot of lambics from Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, De Cam (not available in the US), Hanssens, Oude Beersel, etc, but also other Belgian styles or American interpretations of those Belgian styles. I can take a picture of our "cellar", if you'd like. *edit: Lilija mentioned barleywines, and I just wanted to point out that American barleywines are the exception to the hoppy rule.

Second what Chris said. You can see it in practice here on the Cooking Issues blog where they discuss cast iron.

A little last minute, but I'm heading to Providence tomorrow for a conference Wednesday through Friday. I looked over posts from mid-2007 and later on here, but was wondering about current recommendations. I'll be staying near the Rhode Island Convention Center. I'm going to need lunch and dinner. I noted recommendations for the following: Murphy's Deli and Bar (near the Convention Center and on the cheaper end) Gracie's (Seems highly recommended) Local 121 (Noted that it was described as inconsistent in the past, but no updates) I was wondering if there was anything else nearby/easy to get to that is known to be solid/good and inexpensive to moderately priced, both for lunch and dinner. I'll probably be dining alone, and I'm an adventurous eater, so offal or new cuisines are not a problem. I won't have a car, unfortunately, so I had to rule out the pho and korean recommendations I saw. Also, so how "walkable"/transit-able is this area for a New Yorker? Thanks in advance!

I don't have a recipe to offer, but I'm pretty certain that "authentic" yellow rice would use achiote (annatto) oil, like this one. ETA: I mean to say that I don't have a "tried-and-true" recipe.

Sour candies in general - Warheads, Sour Patch Kids, sour straws, etc. Jelly Belly beans I love Kasugai Gummy Candies, but I don't know if those count as "mass produced" in this context. I mean, they're mass-produced, but they're imported from Japan and only really available in the US in stores that stock lots Asian products. But those muscat grape flavored ones are excellent and one of the only candies my parents bought when I was growing up.

Since January 2008, NYC has required for certain food establishments (namely, chain restaurants) to include calorie count information. More info here.

Wastefulness is my big issue. Even though I walk by multiple markets on the way home, I will sometimes buy vegetables without a plan for them; the reverse side of this is that I don't plan out meals for the week because I can get ingredients at any time. Plus, I'm terrible at using leftovers. Some things I'll bring to work, but I get bored food-wise very easily, and find it hard to eat the same thing more than 2 times in a row. I should be constructing new dishes with the leftovers, but I'm inconsistent with that. I could also freeze leftovers, but even in our tiny apartment freezer things get lost... I also have an apron, but never use it. Then again, I rarely wear street clothes when I'm cooking (which is usually at home without guests), and I somehow manage to not make a mess. My husband, on the other hand...! I thought the person who doesn't cook does the cleaning. I usually am successful in getting him to clean the cutting board and knife, but the other dishes...

Nope, no other ingredients, unless Darienne has a different experience. I just add the salt and pepper to the eggs and milk (instead of sugar, nutmeg and vanilla) before soaking the bread.

Well, my father, who was the french toast maker when I was growing up, is Jewish and was born in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine). The Wikipedia entry suggests that several cultures customarily prepare such egg-soaked bread dishes with salt and pepper instead.