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kitchensqueen

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Everything posted by kitchensqueen

  1. kitchensqueen

    Dinner! 2009

    I'm making ciopinno, and we're drinking Grgich fume blanc with it. The house smells amazing while the stew is simmering. And this is my first time drinking a Grgich, and I'm favorable impressed.
  2. Our great local spot is a Thai/sushi place called Indie - my husband and I can share an appetizer and each get an entre, or split a few apps for about 20 bucks, and it's byob for drinks. And the food is great.
  3. Yes - always worth it. That crappy doughnut picked up at the corner store for breakfast because you were running late sits like lead in your stomach and doesn't fill you up anyway. Eating well makes you feel good twice - once eating, and once cooking.
  4. hm, the beef buillion might be a bit much - it always just tastes like msg to me - but teppy, i think you're onto something good with the bacon vodka garnished with jerky.
  5. Knife, hands down. I can throw anything into a pot, but god help the person that touches my chefs. It's an extenstion of my heart and I shudder to attempt cooking without it. And this essay if one of my favorites by Thorne.
  6. For me, I've likely not been 'fine dining' - you know, a place where prices aren't printed on the menu. If we're going somewhere out of budget, we save and/or trade priorites. We don't have kids or a mortgage, so that tradeoff is relatively easy for us.
  7. kitchensqueen

    Making Bacon

    Oh and ElsieD - your bacon looks fantastically delicious! Are you cutting it thin or thick?
  8. kitchensqueen

    Making Bacon

    Consensus sounds like 5 a pound is high. It is at Whole Foods, so that's likey why, but I've got a stellar butcher there - maybe he'll cut me a deal if I mention I want to make regular orders. He's a great, old-school butcher.
  9. I love all things bacon, so I'd give it a try. Bacon certainly does seem to be the flavor du jour... I find that quite refreshing actually.
  10. kitchensqueen

    Making Bacon

    Quick question on cost - I have to special order pork belly through my butcher, and he says 5 dollars a pound. Does that sound reasonable?
  11. chris, this website was just what I was looking for so I'm glad I came across this thread! I ordered the catalog and am closer now to making my first batch of bacon.
  12. Incidentally, mine is one of the fat on bottom ones. I wish I owned a dishwasher!
  13. I had a phase of bad cooking last month. Burnt rice, I added coriander to chili - for no good reason, and I even knew it'd be awful, burnt a coffee cake because I forgot to butter and flour the pan. In those moments I should just order takeout!
  14. I don't care for green tea or darjeeling at all. And I didn't used to like jasmine, but now I love it - especially as an 'apertif' drink.
  15. I usually just rinse well with hot water so I don't get a soap scum situation. Is this the best/most sanitary way? Or is there a special brush I can get?
  16. I hate cutting carrots with a passion, so learning to cut them on the bias, then julienne and mince is quicker and more efficent then squaring if off, planks, then mince of the French method. Wastes less too.
  17. This turned out amazing. I used cod, long beans, kaffir lime leaves, red curry paste, a little sugar, salt and egg and they tasted delicious - just like I imagined they should. I shallow fried them, and for the most part they held together, but a few did break apart. I kept the size small, but I wonder if I need more egg or if I should have worked the mix more to make it smoother? I also made bamee noodles with home made barbecue pork and a cucumber salad, and they all went great together. Definitely a repeat meal so I can perfect the recipes.
  18. I'm making bamee noodles with barbecued pork tonight for dinner, and it called for pickled Chinese cabbage. I found pickled everything - except cabbage - at the market this afternoon. I bought kimchee - would this be a good substitute? Or even what the recipe was calling for? I also have fresh Chinese cabbage - if the kimchee isn't ideal, can I make my own pickled cabbage in a few hours? If so, how would I go about doing it?
  19. Tomorrow is the big day. I'm hitting some of the asian markets in the morning, and then I'm making a tod mun with cod and bamee noodles with home made barbecued pork. Stay tuned!
  20. To make a long story short on my opinion, I just don't think the government (at any level) has any business or any right to tell people what to eat or how to eat it. The idea that they think they can/should is tyrannical and absurd - and dangerous. First salt, then what?
  21. Well, since you're from town already, you already know all the good spots to start with here... too bad you aren't going south first through Springfield - Cozy Dog on Route 66 is MUST eat in everyone's lifetime. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful on your actual route. :-)
  22. Beautiful, beautiful photos! I must make something from Charcuterie asap - I've had the book since it came out, but I'm a little afraid, I admit. It seems to me that bacon is the best recipe to start with for an extreme beginner, but what does everyone else think? I also live in a tiny apartment with not a lot of good dry, right-temp spots for curing stuff - how big of an issue is this going to be for me? Is it possible to cure in the fridge?
  23. Florida, you make a good point. It's entirely possible I mis-read/mis-understood the comments I quoted above (5 days tethered to a computer in an office job can do that to you), so my apologies if I got that wrong. Now that that's out of the way... :-) v gautum, you make some excellent points about people that have had to do without certain things out of sheer necessity. There's certainly nothing glamorous or trendy about that, no matter you spin it. I think that's something important to keep in mind. But also think there is an interesting notion that Thorne is trying to get across, all that aside, that might be worth considering. Let's just take middle-upper middle class peoples in industrialized societies as an example. Not a lot of those folks are eating offal for instance (unless, as you point out, some food writer or other influential tells them that it's heaven). But lower-income folks utilize offal quite a bit more, because it's what's affordable. So I think that Thorne is saying there's that reversal there - instead of offal being the foundation of a meal, it's not even considered - instead, [insert expensive meat here] is the every day standard. I agree with your points that what is artisinal, valuable, expensive, etc. is due largely in part to where you are, what the local cuisine is, what people think of it, etc. I think for me, that's what makes it so interesting to examine what different people do with the food that is local to their region. And how they feel about it. And I'll take so-called peasant food over haute cuisine any day. It takes a hell of a lot of skill and ingenuity to make fantastic food from "nothing" than it does to "create" from an endless larder.
  24. kitchensqueen

    Dinner! 2009

    Tonight we're having spicy italian sausage - cooked up in a little tomato sauce with red wine, garlic and green peppers and served in egg buns. Paired with Anchor Liberty. A simple Friday night meal. Everyone's pics look great - really inspiring me to start photographing more!
  25. I hope these statements aren't meant as a personal attack about my posing a question. Just to clarify, I am not passing judgement on the passage I posted above, I just thought it was something interesting to discuss. As such, I think a good discourse on the matter could be on the table. v.gautum, you have brought up some interesting insights and opinions, and I'll be sure to reply to them over the weekend as I have more time. I hope others will chime in as well.
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