Thanks for the Crepes

I think it might be a parrot fish. The distinctive teeth give it away, although the coloration in these species varies amazingly. It does look happy, but since it can crunch up coral, I think I would give it a wide berth. liuzhou bought one here and decided not to eat it after all. The meals depicted here are so exquisite and enviable!

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

That is how our farmers markets and produce stands work too. Each grower has their own rented stall, and they just sell whatever they have grown, be it fruit, vegetables, flowers, herbs and live plants. In the supermarkets fruit will be on a separate section from veggies. Interesting about the Asian bargaining. That would not work here at all, except maybe for used cars where it is expected.

I pull out the random portion of 4 oz. ground chuck patty or frozen veggies, but it is pretty boring so I don't make regular reports. Today, on my march for supplies, I actually ate at McDonald's. More info over on the McD's thread. Happy freezer clearing. [Host's note: this topic grew too large for our servers to handle efficiently. The discussion continues here.]

They have a promo going on here that if you bring your receipt home and answer a survey that doesn't take me very long on mcdvoice.com, they give you a redemption code to write on that receipt. Then you take the receipt back within 30 days and can redeem it for a free large sandwich if you buy the same (equal of lesser value, of course). I take advantage of it because it takes so much time and effort these days to get the minimal supplies I'm able to carry and relieves me of having to cook that day and usually the next day. I eat a couple of double cheeseburgers and small fries when I go on a supply run on foot which is four miles round trip with 10 to 15 pounds in my pack on the way back. Then I use another validated receipt to order a couple of sausage and egg biscuits for the next day's food. These reheat really well in the microwave, and are the only things I've found from McDonald's that do. I add my own cheese, because it's cheaper and better. This takes care of my entire food needs for two days. It took me forever to find out how to use this because there is no clue on the receipt or on McDonald's main website. I think I tripped across mcdvoice.com by Googling McDonalds survey out of desperation. You only have seven days from your initial purchase to complete the survey and qualify for the discount. I have not been challenged by using a validated discount receipt for an eat in order and then using another validated receipt for a take out order on one visit. I have gotten a free sandwich with a purchased one with a receipt for only a small order of French fries. Judge me if you will. After you pack everything back that you need to survive like food, drink, clean the house or yourself with, feed pets with or just anything on foot. I am almost completely sure that there is a post on eG about Christmas gifts somewhere on here. A wife gave her husband a pack pony to pack back groceries. I couldn't find it on a Google search, but I swear it's here somewhere! I even think it was Dave Hatfield, who is deceased now, but lived in rural France. It's a very cute photo of the pony too. Some of you may remember. I fantasized about it packing my load of supplies uphill, and realized this was not going to happen in Cary, NC. Then I started thinking about a large dog with side packs and/or a cart. That would fly here, I think, as long as I cleaned up after it.

That is indeed, a breathtaking beach, and your photograph of is is gorgeous. Pop this out folks for best vicarious viewing. (Right click on image, select Open Link in a New Tab.) Riiight, sure they were. Actually, I begged to buy some glassware like this from a Mexican restaurant and actually succeeded. A handmade stemmed margarita glass and a beer mug for my husband. Lovely, lovely report, and thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Me neither, Kim. My dad was a Navy veteran, and this was his favorite of the shipboard fare. Of course he told a story once of when the flour got infested with bugs, and they were simply baked into the bread. He was super picky about his food, and went to see the captain about this issue. The captain showed him his bread portion with the "extra protein" baked in. They must not have had a sifter on board and couldn't make a port detour against orders. Then again, even if they had a sifter, I would hate to be on KP and have to do that for the hundreds of meals served aboard an aircraft carrier. Plus a sifter would just grind the insects, I think. They would have had to have shaken it through a sieve to separate them. That would take even longer. So protein bread. Personally, I like chipped beef in gravy, and usually use the Buddig chipped beef in the little refrigerated packs. It's cheaper and less salty than the Armour stuff in a jar. I haven't made this in a long time, so thanks for the reminder.

Do you like the dried ones, which are the only ones I have had? To me, they are good, but sweet as candy. I would love to eat a fresh one, even if just once. I thought mine were just dried, and I didn't know about the candying. I think @Smithybought some preserved ones recently, and likes them a lot.

Hi jedovaty, J.W. Dante is a Kentucky distiller, better known for their bourbon whiskey. As a matter of budget, and as a drinker, I have sampled many cheap vodkas over the years, and have settled on J.W. Dante's version. It runs $12.95 plus tax for a 1.75 ml bottle here in the North Carolina government's liquor monopoly. I do not know about pints, but it is better to me than say Aristocrat or some of the similar priced Russian ones. I had already known that vodka worked well in pie crusts, and it makes complete sense that it would as well in a batter for frying. I will totally use this idea! The trisol idea seems good too, but I doubt I can get it locally.

These are the dates that most of us see only in dried form?????! How are they? You are so lucky; I feel like I am in nature's candy store, vicariously.

Interesting and great material, as usual, liuzhou! I was unable to find any helpful stuff on Google when I looked for more info on Chinese golden muskmelon. They remind me of these Korean melons I once found in my Korean-owned Pan-Asian market, I did not care for them much. I like cucumbers and I like sweet melons. The Korean melon I experienced was sort of a cross, and just didn't do it for me. It was exciting and interesting, nonetheless, because I had never had one before. Have you eaten these Golden Muskmelon, and if so, what do you think of them? Are they the same as Korean melons?

These reminded me of the state flower of Texas, lupinsis texensis, better known as the Texas Bluebonnet. They are blooming early this year, and this species is considered toxic. Like acorns and quinoa, though, with the right knowledge and treatment, they might be rendered nutritious and edible, but I don't know. I do know that they are very beautiful.

That is one beautiful plate of food! The hushpuppies even look light, and I was going to ask you about their texture. I love hushpuppies, but not dense ones. Yours look perfect.

Both times over the years I had severe problems with ants coming in, the exterminator found a large ant hill. The first one was under a pine in the front of and 100 feet away from the house, and the second was under the sweetgum in back and very near the house. They dug them up and sprayed outside around the house. The hills were full of hundreds and hundreds of white egg cases. I never was able to do anything with them until getting to their source outside. Pesky as the little critters are, I think they may be safer to have in the kitchen than pesticides.

After yesterday's disappointing dinner, I was due for a treat. I walked down to my fish market and got a pound of king crab legs. They had gone up from $19.99 to $22.99 a pound, so increase, but not as bad as I feared. Expensive, but I eat a lot of beans, eggs and cheap stuff that I like for everyday. I found ground chuck on sale for $1.99 a pound the other day and picked up a couple pounds. That will make 8 meals for me. I really needed a culinary pick-me-up too. I also got a lemon, a tomato and an order of fried okra. I munched on the okra on the way home while it was hot from the fryer. When I got home, I stowed the crab legs back in the freezer and finished off the okra, then set a large pot to boil for a primi of angel hair pasta. After I ate that, I used the same pot to briefly boil one of the frozen, but already cooked legs. Two legs came out to 1.02 pounds. I had my crab with melted butter in my butter warmer and lemon wedges. It felt weird firing up one of the butter warmers just for me for the first time, but this was a fabulous meal, and just what I needed. I had left the pot on a low simmer just in case I was still hungry enough to eat the other crab leg, but one was enough, as usual, so I have another treat for another day. I had iced and lightly sweetened black tea with more lemon to wash it down. All is right with the world again.

We used to have a Blimpies in a gas station/convenience store years ago, and they were good. It's gone now, but we have a Jersey Mike's nearby, and next time I get in the mood for a sub, I'll either go there or to the grocery store and get ingredients to make my own.

Yes, that is the thing about fried stuff. It needs to be consumed as quickly as possible. It will hold a little while in a hot oven, but speed is of the essence. When I fry for a number or people, I do it in batches and serve it up as it comes out of the fryer after draining and blotting. I might snatch a cook's tidbit here and there, but I sit down and eat last. Potatoes will hold in the oven better than delicate seafood, so if I'm doing fish or shrimp and chips, I always fry the taters up first. All kinds of vegetable lend themselves up deliciously to the fryer, but moist things like eggplant, zucchini and green tomatoes really need to be eaten right away. The steam coming out of the interior will quickly destroy any crispness they had.

@sparrowgrass, I have to say I have never heard of spaying a pig being raised for meat either, and my grandparents raised them free range after the government regulations killed their small dairy business. Besides, removal of the uterus and ovaries is a major operation that I expect would induce shock and/or a very good chance for death without anesthetic. No farmer trying to make money would risk this. My grandparents did notch the ears of the pigs and castrate the males. I could hear the poor things squealing, but as a child I was not allowed in eyeshot of these operations, so I can't say for certain if they were anesthetized or not. I doubt it, though. There were no noserings, but rather plenty of room to range and plenty of good food delivered up regularly. Before I was old enough to know that I should be embarrassed by riding with my grandpa to the local school to pick up the separated food waste from the cafeteria lunch service, I used to enjoy these outings. The pigs loved this "slop" and their meat was the most delicious I will probably every eat. We did have one black spotted sow who was loco and mean. She was kept around because she was such an excellent breeder. She never got me. I was drawn to this old thread after reading an article linked by Anna N about the Instant Pot and finding this article about antibiotic overuse in hog farming. Not sure this is the appropriate thread, but it was the only one I found covering pork production. I think it covers some very important points to think about, but sadly, I have no solutions. It is also very interesting to me that antibiotics cause weight gain. Gut bacteria seem to factor more and more into that equation, and hopefully we will learn more about that soon. Also interesting that while I was taught in school that penicillin was an American discovery and development; it absolutely was not. I thank God and Tim Burners Lee every day for the internet.

After a very disappointing experience with Subway today, I can understand and applaud your effort to make them at home @Johntodd. Sorry I can't offer any advice on the bread making aspect, but I can buy bread at the grocery store that's better than what was used in my sandwich today. I'm almost sure your loaves could not have been worse. Good luck with your project.

Nancy is chico sapote this fruit? I had never heard of it. I just love hearing about the foods available around the world and learning about them. Who knows, one day I may stumble on some of them in the many ethnic markets available here, and I will know what I am looking at, thanks to eGullet. I still walk into my Indian grocer and am stymied by a lot of the produce, but other things that were unfamiliar to me, the good folks here helped me to figure out and enjoy. *Sigh* Mangoes at less than 10 cents a pound. It will never happen here. At least we can get them pretty much year round. They usually run about a dollar (19.58 pesos) a piece. I've never had passion fruit either, but I would love to and will be on he lookout for it.

Sorry about your injury, scuba. Because of all the war stories on here, many in the I Will Never Again ... thread, I will never have a mandolin in my house. I enjoy knife work anyway. I find it relaxing for some inexplicable reason. How was your Publix sub? I sure hope it was better than the one I tried to eat from Subway.

I've been craving a Subway roast beef sub since November 7th when I had one at the Duke Hospital, Durham food court. It was really, really good with fresh, flavorful bread, rare to med rare beef that was probably tender top round, fresh and tasty veggies, and they even had freshly sliced jalapenos and alfalfa sprouts. The one I tried to eat today from my local branch was enough to kill any desire to eat at another Subway probably for life. Really gross and I couldn't finish it. I have bread in the freezer from the grocery store that is fresher and better than what they used for this sandwich and the veggies tasted chemically weird. The meat was almost gray, but it did come from a cow and tasted passable. @Kim Shook, it sounds like your tastes in fried shrimp and onion rings is very similar to my own. I sure wish I had your dinner instead of mine.

I went for a roast beef sandwich today at Subway. I could tell while they were making the sandwich that it wasn't going to be as good as the one I got in the Duke Hospital food court. The meat was overdone and the veggies didn't look the freshest. I even saw the "sandwich artist" put spinach on my sandwich that was slimy and should have been picked out, but I thought, what the hey, I'll pick it out when I get home. I could not finish this sandwich I had been craving for four months. The bread was stale, and could not possibly have been made today. The meat, though almost grayish, was the best part. You could see the grain of the meat and it definitely came from a cow. The veggies were terrible and tasted weird. Is their such thing as veggie preservative? Their was definitely something in that sandwich that had no business being near food. One good thing, though, that was the end of my Subway craving, probably for my lifetime. How can franchises vary so dramatically? I don't think it will be worth the risk to try another store ever.

Still a good investment, but it makes me want to harm the person who was responsible for abusing this instrument so.

Yeast bread is a beast with its own mind. One that I need to try to tame again after my failproof recipe for milkbread that I made successfully for like twenty years failed and put me off trying again. So many kudos to you folks that are producing beautiful loaves.