pastameshugana

I also got a lamb craving after the posts up thread. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any good lamb around here ever. Then I went to the aforementioned laughable excuse for a farmers market and found one gem. A young sheep armed who is absolutely passionate about his lamb. He waxed eloquent about feeding, raising, proper times for slaughter and keeping the meat, cuts and everything else relevant. I jut had to buy something from him. Unfortunately all that was left by the time I arrived was some stew meat. I tossed it in a dressing of Spanish olive oil, balsamic, chopped garlic and onion to skewer in a fe minutes, but then had to leave. It ended up sitting until the next day, but it tasted wonderful. I was able to educate a good friend who had never eaten lamb before, and was a fantastic meal. Mrs. Meshugana whipped up some cous cous and we toasted some supermarket 'French bread' with garlic.

Can't stand when they auction off your food: "who had the prime rib? And who had the soup?" It's your job to remember who ordered what!

So, at the (laughable) farmers market in our town, a lady was selling a small handful of what she called 'lemon mint'. It smelled like just that, and was one of the most intoxicating aromas I think I've ever encountered. I immediately thought it would make an amazing sorbet. When googling, I found it's commonly called lemon balm, and can be used in tea as well, which sounded great. So, realizing I'm leaving town and need to use it up, I tried first to make tea, dispensing hot water from my espresso machine with some rinsed leaves. After five minutes, it smelled even more amazing but the leaves had imparted absolutely zero flavor to the water and no discernible color. I tried again with boiling water from the kettle and the same results. Now I'm questioning my ability to get this flavor into a sorbet. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions? Or am I on a fools errand?

That sounds very yummy. BTW - you regularly host 30 at your house? And cook for them?! I'd be fascinated to see pictures of your kitchen and entertaining space. Do you book things word of mouth, online (especially when it's random people?) or ?? - sounds like a fascinating idea.

The gator we had was legs - and I'd say it was certainly chicken-ey, like dark meat but more complicated bone-wise. There was no fishy or aquatic taste at all, but was a little stronger flavored than the typical American chicken. Probably more like the chicken we ate daily when living in India. I'd get it again, but it was a bit pricey. Next time I'll check if they have tail.

I have not found Cajun food to be particularly "hot spicy" though pepper sauces are always on the table for individual adjustment and add-ins. Here is a snippet from an interview with Chef John Folse giving a a good explanation: "Cajun food is always seasoned, but not always hot and spicy. Spicy insinuates that the food is highly flavored with peppers such as cayenne, Tabasco, etc. However, highly seasoned, which Cajun cooking certainly is, refers to flavor in our food: onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, green onions, parsley and even herbs, such as basil, thyme, tarragon and rosemary. " Heidi - that is certainly helpful for a cajun-virgin (sounds like a band name). By that description, I'd say my meal above hit all the high points quite well!

There's a new food truck in town. Actually, it's really the only one besides a few verifiable 'roach coaches' (two friends are county health inspectors), so we took a stab today. Seemed promising as they are actually from Louisiana and leave regularly to pick up supplies. However, I've never had genuine 'Cajun' food so I'd be a bad judge. Ordered alligator legs, gumbo (chicken and sausage) and jambalaya. They were already out of crawfish everything. It was all very nice, well cooked and prepared, but nothing really grabbed me. The alligator was what I wanted to try, and it was pleasantly spiced and tasty, and all the kids loved it all. For some reason I was expecting it all to be hotter...

I just grabbed this on a whim at the local Hispanic meat market. It really is wonderful. Tastes of avocado, chile and lime. A touch of garlic and salt. What really interesting is all of the kids and Mrs. Meshugana all said it reminded them of something from India. No one could place it exactly...

Was dropping off one of the kids friends when I decided to stop on a whim at a neighborhood Hispanic meat market. Grabbed two lbs of flank marinated in 'house' marinade and a few veggies. Grilled it simple 'carne asada' style with a rough chopped pico. Was wonderful. Tomato, onion, garlic, lime, Serrano, cilantro, salt and pepper.

So work is taking me to Romania in October, and the only way to get the air schedule to work out right was to spend one day in Europe (shucks), so I chose Paris. I've been a lot of places, but never France, so I'm excited. I have exactly 24 hours (7am - 7am), and haven't booked a hotel as of yet. I'll try to book near the airport so I can crash late at night and walk or catch a cab in the morning. I know there's 1,001 great things to see in this amazing city, but what are one or two of the must see locations? And of course, the food! I'm not looking for high end cuisine, I'd be happy to spend the day eating vendor and cafe food in a nice neighborhood. If you could help me set my sights on one area (one cab in, one out at night) that could consume a whole day I'd be eternally grateful! Thanks in advance.

Ann, am I correct in assuming you pre-cooked (pan fried?) the bacon and potatoes - or did you cook everything at once in the oven?

Yes! My wife and I spent 2.5 years with the first three mini-meshuganas in India, and cases of El Pato were on the 'must pack' list.

I didn't see it mentioned - so I'll put a plug in for the yellow canned El Pato. I grew up with it on everything my mother made. Now I use it for: Marinating chicken, on any kind of mexican food, and to dip potato chips in! It comes in the little yellow cans for usually about 50 cents at the grocery store. Of course, I like sriracha in scrambled eggs and in a few other dishes.

Eggs with chile garlic paste and cheddar. Same dish, different morning...

So a friend bought me a little propane smoker by camp chef, which I'm really starting to love. This was my first experiment, tri-tip with mesquite. Tasted amazing. Had it sliced for dinner, chopped up with eggs for brekkie, and on sandwiches for lunch: After several other meals, I'm in the middle of smoking 26lbs of boston butt for my 9yo daughters birthday party tomorrow. We're going to make pulled pork sandwiches. This is with apple and hickory wood chips. Shoulders were rubbed with cavenders Greek seasoning and spicy brown mustard 24 hours ahead of time: And a couple of lbs of chicken thighs for the non pork eaters:

Don't be ashamed! We've all got some 'trashy' faves that we'll rarely admit to loving. Good on ya!

Replying to a post that's 8 years old? Oh well, here goes! We lived in India 2.5 years, and the Lays Spanish Tomato Tango were my 2nd favorite Lays flavor, the first being 'American Cream and Onion'. We didn't eat the Uncle Chipps but the Kurkure made an appearance every now and again.

That sounds incredible!

Since my last post in this thread, I have to change my recommendations for Hobbs: Taste of Italy is Closed Dan's has gone way down hill Pacific Rim has traded all their 'quasi-asian' cuisine for certified tex-mex. They even have a sushi dish served with BBQ sauce... However - I found my stand-out mexican meal at a place on the south side called El Mirador. The tacos al pastor are the best I've ever had, asado is within the top-ten, and huevos rancheros are very good as well. The 'hidden gem' of our city has turned out to be a steakhouse called Saxony, stuffed into a dive-y hotel on the east side. Fantastic steak product & preparation, great sides like asparagus sautéed in and served with fresh sliced garlic and chili. Sautéed mushrooms are also great.

Sriracha with maple syrup is amazing - I actually did this on a turkey breast last TG: Heat the maple syrup, melt butter into it, add lots of sriracha. That was without question the finest bird I've ever eaten. And I think it would be great on wings. /humblebrag

Indeed - that is a perfect waffle. Gosh, I'm sick today and that picture is making even me hungry...

What... no chili? Are you feeling OK, RRO?

Amen. I get free Santander chocolates with the coffee I buy (redbirdcoffee.com) and the kiddos know it's bad for the health to swipe dads chocolate...

Last night was a rare completely free night for us - so it was 'family cooking breakfast for dinner' night. Oldest son (11) and youngest daughter (3) made pancakes with peanuts, peanut butter and knows what else. They were great. Myself and 2nd son (9) did bacon and scrambled eggs with garlic-chile sauce. Mrs Meshugana and Oldest daughter (9) attempted fresh OJ but these wretched oranges only gave up about 8oz of liquid for 6 whole fruit... Youngest son (17 months) did us all a favor and slept through the whole thing! Topped off with peppermint hot cocoa and early to bed - hooray for time alone with mom!

Ha! You're killing me... I love this thread so far. I'm a wee-little-baker - I only do braided challa on special occasions, but I'm enjoying this conversation.