weinoo

Not that secret! Your mom's a genius!

Not necessarily 100% on topic, but a new fried pickle place is opening in our commercial strip, to be called Diller's. It's being opened by the famed Pickle Guys of Essex Street, a spinoff of one of the numerous pickle vendor that existed for years and years on the lower east side. So the pickles ought to be good; I look forward to tasting what toppings they'll be offering.

Thanks, @Anna N. You summarized the point I was attempting to make very nicely.

I try not to preach...I started what I believed to be an interesting topic about Food Traditions and Culture, based on this reporting: So that's, doing some quick back of the envelope math, about 168 million people based on the 2018 US census. The second sentence of the quoted post is interesting as well, and a nice way to steer the OP away from the point it was attempting to make. Might've even been a good topic on its own.

I confess - I loathe delivery apps. I confess - I've never used a single delivery app for a single delivery of a meal. Years ago, when they (grub hub, seamless, door dash, uber eats, et al.) first were rearing their ugly heads, I had a friend who was an early adopter; I complained to said friend that all the apps would do would be to increase the cost to consumers, as well as to chip away at the meager profits of small restaurants. He didn't cook at home and he didn't care; case closed. Oh sure - let's face it - I used delivery. But didn't we all back in simpler times, simply by calling up our local Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese/Pizza/sandwich/bodega place (A friend literally used to order Tab and cigarette delivery from her bodega - those were the days!)? I knew that when I ordered a bowl of wonton noodle soup, some stir fried pork with mixed vegetables (don't tell my rabbi) and some shrimp with black bean sauce from Tang Tang (now New Tang's Garden) on 76th and 3rd, it would arrive at our apartment practically before I'd hung up the phone, And the guy would climb 4 flights of stairs to deliver it. We had a relationship. I knew, for years after we moved downtown and started to order Saturday lunch sandwiches from Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop, that it would always be the same guy who would deliver said sandwiches to us - without getting lost trying to find our building. We had a relationship. And when my delivery guy from Noodle Village arrived with a sack full of noodle soup, some sandy pot chicken and mushroom rice and a small order of stir fried greens with garlic, looking all sorts of disheveled, and I asked him if he was ok, his response was (I'll keep this clean): "Too much f*^%ing last night!" We had a relationship. And those relationships now? Well, let's just say they've gone the way of rotary phones, touch-tone phones, talking on phones and black & white TV's. I mean after all, if 95% of one's life is spent looking down at an iPhone while walking the crowded streets of NYC, or worse yet, riding on a damn electric scooter that gets dropped off and picked up via an app, what should I expect? Delivery apps are here to stay, I guess. Doesn't mean we should like them, does it? Take a look at what the grey lady had to say yesterday (my guess is it's not just limited to France): Food-Delivery Couriers Exploit Desperate Migrants in France Quote And The Wall St. Journal just weighed in last week, about the issues restaurants face with using the apps: Some Restaurants Get Served in Delivery Boom Quote Who do you think is paying that 30% folks? So, let's just say I was ahead of the curve in my dislike of this particular segment of the gig economy. And let's just say that instead of Uber Eats, why not cook a meal or two at home?

Top Hops on Orchard usually has some nice Spanish sidras available as well, though I don't know I'd compare them to sour beers - more like funkiness over sour. And certainly some of the ciders being produced here (Vermont, MA, Hudson River valley of NY would also be good with 'cue; I especially think the more carbonated ones work quite well.

Ain't we all? All this talk meant I had to make some slaw last night. Cabbage, one carrot, salted for 2 hours and squeezed. Apple cider vinegar, olive oil, a smidgen of mayo, celery seed, mustard seed, black pepper. Not bad.

Yes. Huh - it help the cabbage reabosrb the dressing and crisp up, no? That's because you use a fancy schmancy knife! And, no jewish cole slaw or NY deli cole slaw ever had onions I'm aware of!

Our last evening in Provincetown started out with me, by myself (as Significant Eater was on a business call), heading down to the breakwater/moors area to meditate. If anyone thinks I meditate, I don't, but this certainly wouldn't be a bad spot for it. I hung out for a while, contemplating the universe...it's really big. Since the local relatives are in the food biz, many of their friends are as well. Fisher people, cooks, servers, etc. So we went to dinner at niece/nephew's home, where we were cooked for. These came out of the water (from exactly where, I don't know) a few hours prior: A fantastic razor clam ceviche, prepped by a friendly local chef. A few nights prior, we had a knockout scallop ceviche prepared by the same guy who provided these clams, as well as the large black sea bass: Grilled, (scales on to keep it moister than possible), stuffed with bay and lemon. It was great. There were also Jonah crabs, grilled focaccia, stuffed and grilled Italian sweet peppers, and a rhubarb dessert mit schlag. I brought a couple bottles of wine, some other legal stuff was consumed, and a great time was had by all. It was sad leaving, as we'd had a wonderful 4 days at the end of the world. But, Rosie was happy to have us home.

I believe the point is click bait.

Our last day in Provincetown, biblically pouring in fits and starts. We started off here, the new hipster AWOL Hotel, which used to be a crappy motel (The Inn at the Moors), but always had the most amazing view of yes, the moors or the marshland at the very, very tip of of Provincetown... After a couple of nights there, we moved over to our favorite, the Red Inn (which had been fully booked until last night), where the views are of Provincetown harbor, and where the water laps up right to the deck at high tide... A quick trip into Wellfleet and Mac's on the pier yielded this for lunch yesterday... A lobster roll for Significant Eater (with that dreaded lettuce). For healthy me, broiled scallops, steamed veg and rice. There are like 7 - 8 delicious scallops in there, which would probably cost $200 in NYC, but that plate was all of $21. Dinner at Fore Street a few nights ago was fine. I liked these soft shells, which were on special... And last night, dining at Nor' East Beer Garden with a few local celebs (okay, the owners of Pop+Dutch and a chef from Nor' East Beer Garden), meant a groaning board of various bites... A little Mediterranean flavor, all quite good, and easily the best cocktails in town; good beer list too. Yes, Pop+Dutch closes at 4 PM...sorry about that. I did have a Rainey sandwich there the other day (deviled ham and pickles on white toast, an ode to nana), and we'll load up on the way out of town tomorrow.

Dilution would be the concern for sure. Why not pour off half the liquid, and replace it with an approximate equivalent mixture to the original. And write stuff down, though the limes and serranos might be variables.

Of course - this type of stock (from roasted or raw and roasted) is stock I use for things like soupy rice, paella, risotto, to cook beans, etc., as opposed to using it for soups, where I am focusing on the flavor of the actual soup itself.

The oysters and burger look good.

Their salt is fine (if high priced).

Sometimes I wonder about the freshness of some of their spices. But all in all, I like the shop a lot, though the prices aren't silly low like they were 10 years ago.

Yes - even if I buy a rotisserie chicken (from the one place where the rotisserie chickens are edible and not blown up with sodium), I generally don't serve the chicken on the bone - I'll remove the meat and then use the carcass and bits, along with any other bits I might have in the freezer, to make some IP stock. I'm lucky enough (depending on one's point of view) to live 2 minutes from Chinatown. Okay, in Chinatown. Many of the markets (and there are plenty) offer what they call old hens (skinny layers that had seen better days) at like 2 for $5 - they make a great stock addition.

I'm a fan of Penzey's variety and quality, but: https://shop.laboiteny.com/search?q=black+pepper&type=product

Asian/ethnic markets would be your best bet. But really, sometimes whole body chickens are as cheap as even the cheapest parts; buy a few, save the thighs and maybe the breast meat, and use the rest for a batch of stock to freeze. How cheap are parts at costco? How cheap are you looking to pay to make stock; it's only as good as its ingredients.

A giantess.

$3.50?! A steal!!

Sometimes I buy the 3-hearts of celery package...plenty for a salad. But - even better braised. And à la Grecque -can't be beat! https://www.marthastewart.com/1142933/crudite-salad-la-grecque

I actually can deal with certain aforementioned vegetables in their raw state, but thusly: Fresh (not 2 week old) asparagus, peeled (and of course the bottom half of asparagus ought be peeled), sliced super thin diagonally, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, s & p, and topped with shavings of real pecorino Romano. Ditto for the stems of young broccoli, albeit not the florets. And please, keep your stringy celery...and its alleged fibrous benefits! Peeled and sliced thinly on the diagonal, however, it makes a fantastic, classic Sicilian salad topped with bottarga. ETA: I mean Sardinian!

Frittata with potato, asparagus, onion, red pepper, Parmigiano. Spanish-y home fries. Avocado and tomato.

Don't forget, you might be holding up the people in line behind you!