fifi

say what?! ← Whoa! Haven't heard that! Used to be the older River Oaks crowd. (Actually, that sounds kind of interesting. )

Beware of apple mint. I planted it and it nearly engulfed my 75 pound basset hound. It also doesn't taste all that good.

Oh dear. We probably need to get to the bottom of this crash and burn.

Oh, I forgot about River Oaks Grill. That is one of my favorites even though I haven't been in a while. A dear friend and I used to go there for dinner on a Friday after work with great regularity. Great atmosphere. edit to add: Damian's is my all time favorite upscale Italian.

Wow! I just found this thread. My, my, my. There are some dynamite word jockeys here. Thank you so much for adding to the enjoyment of my evening. BTW . . . We always called it a pulley bone.

You, too, huh? I am literally salivating. I have plenty sriracha. But I am out of tots. Off to the store.

Welcome to the Society, docbrite! Do you think perhaps those are the same pictures that were there when I lived in the area in the late 70s?

Wow, thanks. I remember those posters and others similar to them about then. I think that is what got me into macro photography at the time. Some of those food shots were so close in that they became more of an abstract piece of art. (Not the same photographer.)

Chufi, that is about the most inspired use of onion confit on this entire (eGads, 17 pages!) thread on onion confit. Now I am thinking of doing something similar with potatoes. I found a small jar in the fridge and it seems to still be good.

Yeah . . . You can't move air and not expect some noise. The quietest I ever had was years ago. It was a custom job and the squirrel cage blower was mounted pretty high up in the duct. I don't remember the filter arrangement though. There are several simple designs that will work just fine in my kitchen. The more I have now read about it, I think you have saved me from hood hell. Thanks.

Welcome to the Society NealPollack, and to the Texas forum. I second all of the above. If you want to go really upscale, there is always Tony's (review here) or Cafe Annie. Those are the all time stand-bys. I haven't been in a while or since Tony's opened in the new digs. But, My favorite upscale experience remains Brennan's, particularly for the Sunday jazz brunch. The turtle soup is one of the culinary experiences of a lifetime. Topwater is worth an excursion. If you are traveling from near the center of town (I am not sure where your hotel is) expect about 45 minutes to an hour depending upon traffic. Traffic usually isn't that bad on the Gulf Freeway outside of rush hours. It would be a fun excursion to see our waterfront area. A lot of folks don't realize that Houston is so connected to Galveston Bay. Use the map link that I posted at the end of my report here and use the zoom feature to see where it is in context. Popping down for lunch certainly isn't out of the question.

Thanks for the hood tip. I went to the web site and I am liking that design the more that I think about it. There is a dealer near here so I am going to go "kick the tires." I like what they say about QUIET. That has been one of those things that I have found difficult to get any data on. Quiet is important to me.

I am now wondering about the provenance of my fry pan. Does anyone know of a source to research that? Most of the cooking things are at my sister's house. We keep saying that we are going to go through it. I can see a cat fight in my future. *cue commercial music* Those of you having difficulties posting pictures, [drum roll] Check This Out. Now back to our programming. *cue commercial music*

I forgot to report that I did try thawing some, then breaking them up with a fork into crumbs. I left them in the DeLonghi oven to get all crunchy and used them (liberally) on an impromtu salad made with left over chicken. Tot gibbles may become a staple in the fridge for just such uses, right next to the bacon crumbles. A quick pass through the DeLonghi crisps them right up.

I can't wait to see what you tink of the GE Monogram since that is what I have settled on. Is that also the GE vent hood? I am getting the 48" range since I don't have wall ovens and will have the larger hood but I am interested in what all is "under the hood." I seem to remember that there were some options. Your granite tiles look terrific. Now I am wondering if there is such a thing as soapstone tiles. I really don't want to spend the money on a slab type stone counter but I might be talked into tiles. If money were no object, my choice would be soapstone.

I just committed blendercide making enchilada sauce. Mabelline accused me, most unfairly, of doing this on purpose. I hate the damn thing. All of the markings on the controls washed away long ago. You might say that I have been blending blind and badly for the past few years. (I don't know if the beast is a Krups or Braun. That washed away, too.) Anyway, I am between Oster and Waring. Many years ago at FDA we had several blender bases. Then we had gazillions of blades and bottoms that fit standard canning jars. These were autoclaved and used for the first step in analyzing any number of foodstuffs. Those things went through hell and just kept on truckin'. I had one of those at home (went to the ex in the divorce) and it was real handy for putting a pint jar of salad dressing or other sauce on there. But I can't remember which blenders we had. So, I will have to go looking.

I am another one that uses my limited freezer space for ingredients. I was discussing with the kids and some of their friends about looking around in the "pantry" to decide what to do with leftover chicken and how having things on hand makes it a lot easier to cook up something for one. They launched into this comedy routine about what might be found in "Mom's Pantry." Daughter: Reduced stock Son: Heavy cream. Daughter: Chile paste Son: Heavy cream Daughter: Onion confit Son: Heavy cream Daughter: Tomato sauce Son: Butter Daughter: Pesto Son: Heavy cream You can see where this is going. We were in tears by the time they got through.

This one is definitely a winner even if you never cook a recipe. The research and the history are amazing. Robb has truly done the hard digging on this original and unique US regional cuisine. But . . . Don't let the history stop you. The recipes really do result in the original and true taste of Tex-Mex. A lot of them are easy. If you follow them you will get a real feel for the cuisine and can branch off on your own from there.

I ate at the one you describe in Scheveningen a couple of times in the past two years. I came to prefer staying in that hotel. Their breakfast was outstanding. There was another one on the "back street" but the one on the beach front promenade is where I had the enchiladas I described. A friend told me that there were at least two in the downtown area of Den Haag and several in Amsterdam.

Russ parsons reported on his bean experiments starting here in the Dried Beans thread. Then he elaborates a few posts later. My formula for just about all dried beans that I have tried is roughly this: 1/2 pound dried beans 2 1/2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 to 2 1/2 hours in my covered Le Creuset at 250 degrees F. Seasonings other than an acid like tomato are added at the beginning. I check the beans after about an hour and add water if needed. It is rare that I have had to do that.

Adam . . . I got curious about your reaction to the raw eggplant and raw throat. I pulled out my shiny new copy of McGee and started reading. A couple of things could be going on. Eggplants can be fairly high in tannins that produce what we call astringency. Then there are alkaloids that you may just have a sensitivity to. I know folks that can't eat honeydew melon or bananas because of such a reaction. Too much banana eaten plain makes my son's throat itch. He can eat them in a smoothie, though. I have no idea if any of this is related. Anyway, in my search I found this fascinating piece of "I-didn't-know-that" information: Ya gotta love McGee.

It is odd that the last details seem to crawl. In my time I have had two custom and one builder house built and remodeled one. The big stuff seems to happen over night. The details drag on and on. I think it is part of the game. Then there is that one detail that "does it." I am going to speculate that your "it" detail will be the blue paint.

Thanks for dropping in Jay. I do have a question about the gruyere enchiladas. I was curious about the selection of the style of chile gravy for the recipe. It is certainly a very "ancho dense" version and that is why I was somewhat concerned about it "running over" the cheese. (As I said above, it doesn't.) So do you know if it was selected to approximate what Robb had in Montparnasse? Just as a note, the gouda enchiladas I had in The Hague almost universally had a chile gravy that seemed more like the "Chili Gravy" on page 74. I am now thinking that some of the leftover sauce from the enchiladas is going to wind up in a tamale pie. That is a nostalgic dish for me. It used to show up in the elementary school cafeteria at least once a month. It was always a big hit with us kids.

Welcome to the Society Papa Roja! And to the Texas forum. So glad to have you. I was so happy when the big HEB opened near me on the Gulf Freeway at the Bacliff exit. (S and SE Houston are an up-scale grocery wasteland.) Then, to my delight, they started carrying some of the CM brands. That is almost as good as having a CM in striking distance. But why oh why do they seem to run out of Bitter Orange soda so regularly? BTW . . . Best I can tell it appears that HEB is in the southern part of Texas and Louisiana. I may have missed something since the web site doesn't have a map and I just kept trying zip codes in the search. HEB is expanding like crazy here. I am hoping that CM will catch the fever.

The fact that it is more generally available in Austin is really interesting, Judith. But then, Austin is a "whole 'nother country." I have yet to find shoulder here even in the well stocked groceries like a big HEB. I suppose I could go into the city to a Whole Foods or Central Market but that is a bit of a trek. I am sold on the eggplant cutlets a la Rachel. I may do that just to eat the cutlets and skip the moussaka altogether. It kind of reminds me of my recipe for oven fried eggplant. The stuff is worse than potato chips. Currently I am suffering from cheese confusion. Help.