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Memories... When I worked for FDA in the Customs Building on Canal Street, we used to make a weekly run to Central Grocery. Those sandwiches are amazing. There are several places here in Houston trying, but they just don't get it right. Either the bread is all wrong or they use too much meat. Treebeard's here claims that they use olive salad from Central Grocery but the bread is too thick, no sesame seeds (heresy), and they use WAY too much meat. It is an ok sandwich but it is not a muffaletta. To me, the muffaletta is all about the bread and the olive salad. The meat and cheese should be in amounts that are like a condiment. Central Grocery has found that balance. Thanks for the picture. I may link to this thread to enlighten the benighted.

Melkor... You are making me feel bad. I have miles to go before I sleep.

Just one suggestion... GO! edit to add: I had one of the Oaxaquenos for breakfast. (I have no idea if I am spelling that right.) Oddly, it was good but unremarkable. Stick to the others.

Mayhaw Man... You had me laughing out loud. I can just picture the goings on since I have been known to participate in such high jinks. And I have known some characters just like those in your story. My ex is from New Orleans (grew up on Maple Street, I think) and I have lived there. The bar culture in that part of town is just how you described. Isn't it interesting how different parts of New Orleans have different cultures? I can't wait for more.

Just got back from west Houston with a haul of Dona Tere tamales in the back seat. I was able to get a dozen of the pork, the last 5 chicken, and 4 Oaxaquenos (Those are $2 apiece.) Alas, they were out of the dipping sauces. Remember I said "in the back seat"? BIG MISTAKE. I stopped at the big Fiesta grocery on Bellaire at Hwy 6 to pick up some decent green beans since the green beans in my local stores are horrible. I load my groceries in the back seat next to the tamales. I do not move the tamales to the front seat. BIGGER MISTAKE! Now for the 50 mile trek home. Well, it has been a long time since that small breakfast about 10:00 and I am getting pretty hungry. After about 5 miles, the aroma of the tamales starts escaping from the plastic bags and permeates the interior of my car. By the time I hit the freeway it is getting critical. Open window. Smoke cigarette. Open back windows. A bit too breezy. I can't get to the tamales and I am not sure how I would drive while eating a tamale anyway. One more stop at Spec's to pick up some wine. I open the back door to load that in and the collected aroma that has built up in the closed car hit me in the face. THAT"S IT! I HAVE HAD IT! I am sitting on the floorboard of the car with the door open in the parking lot outside of Spec's eating a pork tamale. Now, how pathetic is THAT? Arriving home, I didn't unload the car but headed straight in and devoured one of the chicken tamales. Two of those honkers and I am not likely to be hungry again for a while. So, how was it, you say? I can't improve much on what Robb Walsh has said so I won't repeat that here. I will say that it was probably the best tamale I have had since my last trip to Mexico City. On the final leg home I noticed a lingering "niceness" in my mouth. I know that is a stupid word to use about tamale afterglow but it is the best one I can think of. There is the corn, of course, and a very little chile warmth. But, hey, is that cinnamon? Maybe. The mole sauce on the chicken provides an even more complex experience. I am saving Oaxaqueno for breakfast. So, if you are in Houston, head west all ye young men and women and get some of those tamales. But I suggest that you get there early to ensure that they don't run out of sauce. I won't let that happen again. Robb, ole bud, you know how to call 'em. I do want to add a little clarification on the directions. Dona Tere is on Bellaire Blvd. at the end of the Kroger shopping center at Bellaire and Synott.

Again... It depends, usually on the vegetable and its particular cell structure. Peas freeze quite well. Spinach will always wilt. Yes, the puddles can contain some of the water soluble nutrients. The other factor is that blast freezer. The freezing is so rapid that large ice crystals don't have much of a chance to form. So, even spinach frozen in a blast freezer will have less leakage than if you freeze it in your home freezer.

I agree that there are some good "boxed" wines out there. Actually, that is a terrific idea, especially if you like to keep a decent wine around for cooking and the occasional glass. The point being that air doesn't get to it. I just haven't tried those yet.

DFW is such a huge and sprawling place, getting in and out could be problematic. I have attended a couple of conferences at the hotel on the airport (the Hyatt I think) and we generally found it much less of a hassle to just eat there. It has been 3 or more years since I have done that but I seem to remember a pretty decent restaurant somewhere in the hotel complex. I remember it well (except for the name, of course) because it was the first time some of us had Guiness in a can. There was this little thingy in the bottom of the can that created the characteristic foaming (well, close anyway) when you opened the can. Given that there were a bunch of goofy engineers at the table, we had to hack open the can with the steak knives (not as good as Ginsu knives ) to see what the little thingy was and try to figure out how it worked. Riding the automated transit system while more or less drunk was also amusing. Hopefully some of our D-FW folks can give you more specific guidance.

Thank you for bumping this up. I thought about it but just didn't get around to it. Happy frying all you turkeys.

Are you familiar with those handy dandy boxes? Just kidding. I once used a $30+ bottle of burgundy in a pot of beef burgundy. Now, I am not a wine freak by any means and for all I know burgundy at that price point might be crap. I felt pretty extravagent using it. My beef burgundy critics (son and friend) proclaimed it a waste of money and told me to quit f***ing with my recipe.

The answer is... it depends. The results of freezing will differ depending upon the vegetable, how it is handled after picking, and how it is processed prior to freezing. The condition of fresh vegetables will depend upon the vegetable, how it is handled after picking, and how long it takes to get to you. Let's just take green peas for instance: If you walk out in your garden, pick your peas, shell them right away and cook them immediately, you probably can't get any better than that. If your farmer's market farmer picked his peas that morning you are still pretty good. If he has been picking them during the week and storing them properly, maybe not as good as that morning but pretty good. If he didn't store them properly, for instance at the right temperature to slow down the enzymatic processes (whatever that is for a pea), then you might have peas that aren't so good. So you can have a range of quality in the fresh peas. Now let's look at the frozen peas. We are still talking about the same variables. Typically, blanching prior to freezing is done to "kill off" the enzymes in those vegetables where that is a factor. While freezing slows that activity WAY down it may not stop it altogether. If the processing plant is close to the source of the peas, you are likely to get a good and consistent quality product from the freezer. Probably better than from the farmer at the market if he has not handled his product properly, maybe not better if he did. The frozen peas can be a lot better than the fresh in the supermarket, especially if a lot of shipping time is involved for the fresh. In the Rio Grande Valley, the processing plants are usually close to the source. I don't know about California and Florida, for instance, but I suspect that the same is true. Also, remember that commercial processing plants have blast freezers that can freeze MUCH faster and to lower temperatures than you can at home. (I have been in those things. They are so cold that they are dangerous. The plants that have them have the same rules that you would have for entering into any other danger zone.) Different vegetables react differently after picking. Some are more sensitive to storage conditions than others depending upon whether you are looking at sugar to starch conversion (sweet corn), vice versa (potatoes stored too cold) or other nutitional degradation. So... after all of that blather... there is no yes/no answer. Sorry.

My new stove (if I ever get there) is going to be a GE Monogram. The small oven can be set to proof bread or make yogurt. That is actually what sold me on it. I have never thought of roasting meat at those low temperatures. I can't wait to try it. And boy does that blow torch sound fun. YE HA!

Speaking of second skin. Has anyone tried those new "spray on" bandages? I wonder how that would work, after you have treated it. It might be a thought, especially if you have to keep working.

I keep an aloe vera plant around for little owies. You split the leaf open and smush the gel out with your thumb or finger. Fresh sloe and a cold compress do wonders. I don't trust the commercial preparations. They are putting aloe in EVERYTHING these days and it is being prepared on a huge scale. So who knows if the stuff you can buy is any good, read... fresh and effective. Anything more that a smallish 1st degree... go to the doctor.

I think the Magnum Plus is the one that came out on top in a Cooks Illustrated product testing. I have never seen the point of salt grinders. Am I missing something? edit to add: Yep. CI did pick the Magnum.

I didn't know that! I would have thought that the black ones would be more expensive but I don't know why I think that. Why would that be true?

Working at home today, I finally decided I needed lunch. I sliced some chicken breast (stolen from last weekend's stock making) and decided to pair it with some melted provolone (it is what I had on hand) and green salsa. I pre-toasted the split kaiser roll, then melted the cheese on one side in the broiler of the toaster oven. Then I buttered the other side (to prevent sogginess) and put the salsa and chicken slices on that and warmed that under the broiler. Then I assembled the sandwich. About halfway through that whole fiddly process I came to the conclusion that I need some of these bags and a cheap toaster. I will await Jason's report on the snap together version before I commit. The sandwich was pretty good, though.

Awesome. BTW... Jeffrey Steingarten has a funny piece on turducken in this book It Must've Been Something I Ate. Just for historical interest he did some pretty extensive research and concludes that Paul Prudhomme did indeed "invent" the turducken.

I really think that us "Yanks" don't know how to deal with tea. Maybe it goes back to the Boston Tea Party. Anyway, I never knew what a really good "tea" was until I took my kids (college age at the time) to England a few years ago. They made a reservation at Brown's in London for High Tea as a Mother's Day present. (Great kids, huh?) That was a revelation. You had a choice of teas, presented on the menu. The waiters circulated with pots of perfectly brewed tea. The sandwiches and sweet treats were sublime. I didn't have to fiddle with tea bags or any such nonsense. The brewing was left to the experts and the difference showed. And I didn't know that cucumber sandwiches could be so good. I don't know if we will ever see such service in our coffee-centric culture. But I did learn that I have great kids.

It would be too heavy to wear as a rain hat!

I am getting very worried that beef neck bones, shanks and other parts that you would use to make a rich stock are going to become really pricey. I already got sticker shock a few months ago when I saw the price on oxtails. And that was at a local market (HEB) that does seem to carry "throw aways" for the "ethnic" market. (Of course, first you have to find a place with a butcher.) Anymore, there isn't just lil ole me poking around in the miscellaneous section of the meat case. I am beginning to think there are more people really cooking, and that means making stock. The days when the butcher would give you that bone for free, or at the most really cheap, are probably numbered.

A bunch of us here would travel a long way for that milk experience.

Actually, I have found that when I have had restaurant dishes they really weren't all that expensive. That seems to be particularly true in Europe. The most lavish use of them that I have had was the slices with scallops. That was a starter in a dinner menu at a French restaurant in The Hague that was four courses for about 35 Euros (without wine). In New Orleans, if I remember right, the truffled eggs were part of a brunch for about $25, not outrageous for that huge brunch. Granted, those two examples weren't in 3 star establishments but they were very nice restaurants indeed. AzReaL... I think you will find some opportunities to try truffles that won't break the bank if you look around. You really should try them, regardless of what some of us say here. It is a very distinctive flavor that you just might love.

We had a "true confessions" type of thread running several months ago. One of my confessions was that I REALLY don't like truffles. And I have tried. I have had them in eggs, plain slices with scallops, in sauces, black ones, white ones and several very expensive brands of truffle oil. The taste says one thing to me... acetonitrile. Acetonitrile is a rather dangerous solvent used for extractive distillation in some chemical processes. It doesn't really smell bad so much as it doesn't smell like something I want to eat. I will be in Provence in a couple of weeks and I may try again. Enough people think they are one of the best foods on the planet so I wonder what is wrong with me.

thanks There is a suribachi here. Is this a good one?