afoodnut

I've heard that you should rinse the pan with *cold* water first.

Okay, so I love beets, but can't stand borscht. One of my favorite way of preparing beets, worth trying with your already cooked beets, as it's quite simple. Toss beets with olive oil, squeeze of lemon, a hint of cumin and cinnamon, and some finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper. (Serve no warmer than room temperature.)

To simplify it all, if you want to "categorize" these recipes they should probably just be called Passover recipes.

Marlene, The recipes in this thread are all kosher for Passover, not just kosher. To avoid opening up a whole can of worms (worms are neither kosher nor kosher for Passover), I'll try to explain simply without going into explanations about kashruth (the state of being kosher). There are many foods that cannot be eaten at Passover. The recipes in this thread do not include any of the forbidden foods as ingredients. There are also "ritual foods" associated with Passover, such as Charoset, and this thread contains some of those recipes. Do you want more details? Afoodnut

Taco Cabana came and went here in Boulder, CO. It lasted less than a year! Rubio's has several thriving branches in metro Denver, as well as having had some locations that failed and closed.

Fresh turmeric is readily available at Whole Foods, as well as Asian markets in my neck of the woods (Colorado), so I'm guessing it's available in more places than you might imagine.

Remember when you took that nap in the woods and woke up with a really long beard? A long nap, and a gender switch, too. That explains it. When I visit San Francisco now, it's usually to visit family, and I rarely have the time or opportunity to search out great restaurants. The Chinese restaurants that my family frequents in their suburban east bay area offer the spicier, browner food. I'm not saying these are great restaurants or anything of the sort, (no single one comes to mind that I would recommend and say you should make a trip to eat at), but they're there, and with reasonably good food. I don't get to NY at all (no family still there, too many other places to explore), so I have no idea, other than from what I read, here, in reviews, etc. of the styles in Chinese reataurants. That's why I asked...to hear more about your observations and insight

Well, from my observation, the majority of Chinese restaurants in NY, and certainly the ones that I visited growing up in the suburbs, were Hunan/Sichuan -- thinner, spicier sauces (generalized observation), than the Cantonese, Mandarin that predominate in San Francisco. I find that people who are used the first style do not enjoy the second as much. Sorry, I'm missing with the quoting, but I'll post this anyway... I keep thinking about what Stone has said, and my mind boggles. I grew up in NYC, but that was many, many years ago. The Chinese food I ate growing up in the fifties in New York was Cantonese; Hong Fat in Chinatown, New China Inn on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. In my earliest memories, there were no printed menus; we ordered the family dinner for however many people, and food just kept coming. It was wonderfully flavorful and exotic, but by no means spicy. I do remember being surprised on a visit back to NY (probably in 1975 or so) going to Szechuan Royal on W.72 between the Park and Columbus, and finding the spicier Chinese food. It was during my first visit to San Francisco, sometime in the sixties, that I first tasted spicy Chinese food...Hunanese, Szechuan. I tasted Pot Stickers for the first time in Chinatown in San Francisco, and that set me off on a manic search to taste more, and figure out just what it was that I was tasting. So did the coasts switch, with NYC now having the spicy, and SF now having the bland? And when did it happen? Or should this be posted in the Chinese forum?

colestove, Thanks for the info. It'll be useful the next time I'm stuck in the T-Rex mess. There's nothing like ice cream to relieve stress. Have you been to whatever it is that Lickety Split morphed into? afn

Colestove, Do you know when they opened there? I was at the original place in the Springs years ago, and it was great. afn

Here in my Boulder, Colorado garden the tiny purple crocuses are sporting their flowers, as are the early wild iris. Leaves of daffodils and tulips are pushing up, and bearded iris and grape hyacinth fronds are poking out of the ground. Hens and chicks are greening and purpling, sedum are turning deep red and pink. The silver buffaloberry is budding, and when I look very closely, I can see the swelling buds on the shrub roses. We're still a few weeks away from trees leafing out, but the faint green shimmering of spring is apparent. Now if only we would get some snow so we have water this summer; we're still in the grip of drought.

Got to love the Buck Snort Restaurant Bar and Casino. It's in Evaro, MT, on Hwy 93. Actually I think there's one in Colorado too, but not sure if they're affiliated. The Buck Snort Saloon in Pine, Colorado (about 30 miles west of Denver). Very popular, old time local mountain bar/dive, entertainment on weekends. Not affiliated with anyplace else.

Cakewalk, I make something my family always called stuffed mandel bread (not anything like any other mandel bread I've ever come across, the soft plain dough is filled with apricot and almonds, and sorry that now I'm adding still another term to the rugelach/hamentaschen nomenclature). The dough is made without yeast, it includes orange juice and oil; it's pareve, no butter or cream cheese, and it's definitely wonderful and soft and chewy. It might be similar to your hamentaschen dough. Maybe my foremothers just started making it in a different shape so we could eat it when it wasn't Purim. afn

It's nice to hear that you're finding good Indian food in Denver. I haven't been to Bombay Clay Oven, and I'll be sure to try it now that I know you recommend it. There is another Bombay Clay Oven at 2680 E County Line Road Littleton, which is close to where you're staying. See if it's the same family that runs it.

Bux Posted on Feb 24 2003, 09:34 PM The Buckhorn Exchange in Denver includes alligator and rocky mountain oysters in an appetizer selection; the oysters seem delicate and tender compared to the alligator. Great fishy moose

Fishy old rubber tires, dredged up from the swamp. And did I mention chewy?

I know very little about cooking Indian food, so my interest in Indian grocery stores has always been as a looker and gawker, as part of my general obsession with food, not because I know anything about what I'm looking for, or at . I live in the Boulder area; India's is a small grocery nearby, but I think the best one in the northern part of the Denver metro area is probably Tejal International in Thornton. I've been interested in hearing your perceptions about the Indian restaurants you've visited. Since I know nothing about the authenticity of the food and what it *should* or is supposed to taste like, I have only evaluated them based on the overall experience: whether the food tastes good, and if the service is pleasant and accommodating etc., not from any expertise about the food.

Bizarre... And in Forbes Magazine... http://www.forbes.com/2003/01/09/cx_gh_010...9dow_print.html "Forbes Fact One of Santa Fe's more obscure claims to fame is the Frito Pie: a bean, cheese and chile concoction stuffed into a bag of Fritos and eaten with one's hands. Connoisseurs credit employees of a small drugstore on the southwest corner of the Plaza with inventing the recipe some 40 years ago. The drugstore still stands and continues to serve Frito Pies." I must admit, the first time I came across Frito Pie was at the Plaza in Santa Fe. As a native NYer, long ago transplanted to the Rockies, I have no vested interest in the question of where frito pies came from, but I'd like to hear the comments and theories. afn

indiagirl Posted on Feb 20 2003, 08:49 PM CooksQuest Posted: Feb 20 2003, 11:25 AM Jaymes Posted on Feb 20 2003, 12:01 PM Ethnic scrambled eggs? Should that be another thread, or has there been one already that Jaymes alludes to that I can't find?

Well, if we're talking about putting real stuff in our eggs, not just milk, cream, butter, water etc., let's not forget lox and onions.

Suvir, Sorry to hear about your bad experience at India's. I didn't mention India's to you in my earlier suggestions because I stopped going there a few years ago. To me it started to feel like a restaurant that was riding on its reputation. India's has been around for many years, and I think the reviews are several years old. I don't know why, of course, the doctor recommended it so highly. Perhaps it's inconsistent, and still has days when it shines. Which Indian grocery stores have you been going to for supplies? afn

You're right, we have wonderful water. The only problem these days, there isn't any. We're in the throes of what officials are calling the worst drought ever. Oops, sorry. Talk about veering into off-topic. However, even when we have water, it boils at somewhere around 198º (?) at the mile high altitude in Denver, and at an even lower temperature in the mountains. Theoretically, (c'mon you scientists out there, please chime in) that should result in lousy tea. The only good tea we had in London was in the home of an old college friend, an expat. We ate wonderful (and for London, cheap) food: Fish 'n Chips, Indian, Greek. For lunch, Pret was great for sandwiches. We were delighted to find it. But I've learned, here on egullet, that McDonalds now has a stake in Pret, (as it does in Denver-born Chipotle). Starbucks, McDonalds, egads. A frightening scenario! afn

A couple of years ago, my daughter (then 13, already an adventurous traveller and eater) and I spent a week in London. We found ourselves unable to stop giggling when we ducked into a Starbucks to get out of the rain, and saw two other Starbucks, one diagonally across the intersection, and another across the street about halfway down the block. We live in Colorado. We drink lots of tea; we live in a city that's the home of both Celestial Seasonings and the Russian (Dushanbe) Teahouse. We were looking forward to drinking tea in England, but were terribly disappointed. We were able to buy wonderful tea to bring home, but didn't find a good place to drink tea while we were there. We were on a limited budget, but didn't anticipate that that would mean we would only be served mediocre teabag tea. It was enlightening, and a good topic of conversation, if not what we had hoped for, to find that Starbucks was a reasonable option. afn

From a flavor/taste/texture standpoint, I savor chicken or crab corn soups. Good wor wonton soup is exquisite. Any sizzling soup gets my attention. But I must admit that I have an extreme, if eccentric, fondness for hot and sour soup. I rarely find a version of it in restaurants that tastes as good as the one I make, but ordering it in restaurants has resulted in wonderful experiences. It was one of the first foods my daughter tasted as an infant (she is now a teenager), and she was in love with it immediately. To this day, whenever we eat in a Chinese restaurant, she orders it . But when she was a two year old, and wanted hot and sour soup, the result was, more often than not, a visit to the kitchen, and cooing and clucking from every person working in the restaurant, who had to see, meet, and entertain this child (not Chinese) who ate hot and sour soup. afn

A few more comments/suggestions: The Fort Restaurant in Morrison (about 1/2 hour to 45 minute drive west from where you are, in the foothills) 19192 Highway 8 - Morrison, CO 303-697-4771 Serves buffalo, elk, ostrich, interprets "early southwest" and frontier food, it's near Red Rocks, in a spectacular foothills setting; the adobe building is a replica of Bent's fort. For a casual brewpub "happening" Denver place, the Wynkoop Brewery in LoDo. (John Hickenlooper, the owner, has just thrown his hat in the ring to run for mayor of Denver.) Boulder's about an hour away from where you are. Boulder has some good restaurants, and there's a large vegetarian contingent in the population so there are good choices for vegetarians just about anywhere, but it's probably not really worth the trek now. It would be certainly be a great place to spend some time.