Thanks for the Crepes

A Reuben with unmelted cheese is just to me. Glad the lentil soup redeemed the meal.

Could it be this one?

Your pork and slaw burgers look great. Great save on the pork burgers. I think your problem was neither age not leanness. I learned a while ago that if I wanted coherent burgers from ground beef that I had to make them into patties before freezing. I suspect that is the problem with your previously frozen pork, although I haven't tried to make burgers or meatballs out of frozen pork. The freezing does something to the frozen ground beef, that it also refuses to cling together into burgers. I always use freshly ground chuck at 20 percent fat for burgers, but if frozen, Julia Child herself, could not make them stick together unless they are frozen in patty form. So I think you did very well to make them work with your inclusions.

Last night was kind of harried, and I didn't have a lot of time to cook, so I put together hot pastrami and muenster subs on french bread toasted in the oven and then topped with lettuce and tomato, a little olive oil and vinegar, and put together. I tried another promising looking frozen onion ring brand, but was disappointed again. They were made with whole rings, but they must have started with sweet onions, and by the time they were baked according to directions the onion was barely discernible by sight or taste. Neither of us liked them. Guess it's time to make my own again. It's the only way I can get them lightly battered like I like them anyway. Frozen french fries good; frozen onion rings bad. Tonight we made the short trip to the seafood shop. He got his usual fried plate with trout instead of catfish this time. I got side orders of fried okra and maduros, and a dozen cherrystone clams to cook at home for tonight. I also got a pound of fresh wild shrimp to cook for tomorrow's dinner, which I have stashed in the freezer overnight. The shrimp was the only wild caught they had tonight, and larger than is ideal for the dish I have planned. It was $11.99 a pound, so I got it anyway. I might cut them in two lengthwise for cooking tomorrow. I ate my okra and plantains while they were hot, but wasn't able to finish them all. Then I scrubbed and soaked the clams in cold water for a few minutes. I got out my 12" stainless chicken fryer, where all the clams would fit without crowding, and put about 1/8" water in the bottom. Marcella Hazan (who I respect immensely) recommends putting the clams into a dry pan and turning it to high heat. I have never had the guts to do this. Has anyone tried her method? I melted 2 T butter and crushed a clove of garlic into it and deseeded a few lemon wedges. I cooked the garlic until just blond and fragrant, but wound up throwing it out after I started eating, because I just wanted plain butter with lemon with the clams. Wiped out the pan and had the plain butter I wanted quickly. I boiled what little water I used, added the clams and covered it with a heavy glass lid so I could see what was going on with them. As each one popped open, I quickly scooped it out with a slotted spoon, and vigilantly waited for each one to just open, doing the same. These cherrystones were only $4.99 a dozen, but I prefer smaller littlenecks. These worked fine, though, since they were all I could get today, and I was glad to have them, once I got my dipping butter sorted.

Everything was overwhelming beautiful (including your lady friends), but those little shitake mushrooms buns were works of art! The level of detail was such that I was wondering, 'isn't it rare for raw vegetables to be served unadorned in China. Why are they serving a plate of mushrooms like that, even as perfect-looking as they are?' I agree a duxelles filling would have brought them even further into the sublime. Thank you so much liuzhou, for taking us along with you. Your time and effort are very much appreciated. Hope you have a chance to rest up and get plenty of sleep.

liuzhou, I'm so sorry you lost out on your sleeping arrangements on the train for seemingly little compensation for the difference between the experiences, and so glad you seem to be having a great time with your old friends anyway. You are a trooper. Do you know what the nuts were in the photo I quoted from you? They don't look like peanuts, hazelnuts or macadamias. I'm out of ideas. Some sort of exotic Chinese nut I will never see in person? One inquiring ingnoramus would love to know. Everything from the food to the company looks so terrific. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us, and I hope you have got your sleep schedule steered back to an even keel. At several of the authentic Chinese run Chinese restaurants here, the dishes are also served randomly, whenever they are ready, I'm guessing. This causes some, I think, unnecessary scathing reviews from U.S. natives who are not used to that idea, and do not appreciate the bounty before them. So glad you had fun in spite of the rocky start to the trip, and eagerly anticipating more installments.

@sartoric, Beautiful pea pod and beautiful lighting, and contrast on your photo of it. Were you able to save some until the gardener gets there? I tried a few times to grow English peas and sweet pea flowers in Tennessee. The peas were never successful. By the time it got warm enough to plant, it was well on its way to getting too hot to harvest any. Sweet peas were anemic too. I got some flowers a couple of years, but nothing like the profusion I used to "help" my mom grow when I was a wee brat in California.

I agree with @kayb's first take. Roast the durn eggplant! It tends to be watery, and the technique of piercing it in order to counteract the tendency to float, just introduces more water to the mix. Never heard of boiling it before, and it does not sound appealing in the least. Roasting is a very common method, evaporates excess water and concentrates the flavor, so I think kay's right on track with that idea. I would also sautee the celery with some onion, rather than boil it. I would also go with a sharper, less creamy cheese. My preference would be medium cheddar, but there are so many choices that would work better than American here, although American certainly has applications where it is desirable, IMO.

Cornflowers (bachelor's buttons to me) are also edible! and so beautiful, especially in that clear ginger jar-shaped vase that allows them to splay out in a natural-looking arrangement. Have you tried tasting them, @Tere?

Breakfast for dinner night! Leftover charcoal grilled T-Bone steak from the strip side. Over easy eggs, crispy, golden home fried potatoes from little white new, hot buttered toast and golden honeydew melon.

@DianaB, I hope the OP comes back and joins in too, but it has turned into a great discourse, hasn't it? Kimchi, in my understanding is Korean in origin, not American, but it is popular among U.S. Americans and Canadians and especially several of the members here. I think of it as fermented cabbage, sometimes with hot peppers and other inclusions. I understand that originally it was buried in the ground to ferment. After listening to some of the tales of the members who make it at home, and the pungent aromas produced, I can see why. I can get it at my local S-Mart, a Korean-owned Pan-Asian grocer. They offer discounts if you bring the jars back, so I suspect it's locally made. I do not partake, so can't offer any commentary in that direction. I can say that it is not something that appears in mainstream American grocery stores, and that most members here tend to be both more knowledgeable about food and more adventurous about it than the average citizen here by an order of magnitude or so. Kimchi, is not a food that I think of as having been adopted into mainstream American foods. I think the Hawaiian plate lunch was already mentioned upthread, but not much detail given. I saw it first on Roadfood.com where a member over there was on a trip to Hawaii and reported on it. There is a lot of information on that site about American regional food specialties. Hawaiian plate lunch consists of a meat entree and two carby sides. White rice and macaroni salad are very common. It's rare the mainland to serve rice and macaroni salad in a plated meal, although they may appear together as selections at a buffet, pot-luck or picnic for a lot of people where a cornucopia of variety is offered. When this happens, I find the rice on offer is usually jazzed up somehow from plain white rice as broccoli cheese rice, Cajun style dirty rice with sausage, Spanish red rice, yellow saffron rice, fried rice or something. Also, I am always surprised when looking at other peoples' cafeteria tray selections where you go though a line and select individual dishes at how many (especially men) select two or more carby sides, though still not white rice and macaroni salad. Pizza is good any time of the day here! For lunch and dinner it is ubiquitous. There are special breakfast pizzas topped with stuff like eggs, bacon or sausage. We even have frozen versions of these in every grocery store, but cold leftover regular style pizza is a college student breakfast staple. I've eaten pizza for breakfast, but prefer mine piping hot.

Sorry your hot dog experience kind of disappointed. They look good. About the only ones I can eat are Hebrew National because they are Kosher, and I can trick myself into believing they would not allow animal byproducts in the recipe. I know ConAgra has taken over the brand, but I don't think even the mighty CA can fake Kosher. Please don't disillusion me. Kidding. It would be cool to find a brand that had no nitrates, like the ones you used from TJ's. That is if they did not taste tough and dry. Maybe try boiling them next time. I find the nuker tends to toughen and change the texture in way I dislike. I did not know you could get top-split New England type hot dog rolls at TJ's. They are tough to find down here. Yours look good, @rotuts. How did they taste? Must have this type for lobster, tuna or crab rolls, IMO and also chili dogs.

I decided to risk the 30 percent chance of thunderstorms and got lucky. It has still hot, but at least the heat advisory was lifted yesterday. We had a T-Bone steak, zucchini planks and a pluot grilled over charcoal. I also threw on a jalapeno for me. This pepper was not as hot as the one that temporarily incapacitated me the other day, but it brought plenty of heat and flavor to the party. Microwave baked potatoes with butter and sour cream and sliced mushrooms and onions finished with soy sauce rounded out the meal. We had more than enough food as it was, but the pluot was so good it made me wish I had cooked two so we each could have had two halves. They were already ripe, but the light grilling brought out the sweet-tartness even more.

This is the post I believe Arey may have been referring to, and it is hilarious, as is most of the thread it's in. Arey's hopefully worst Christmas ever. We all wish you much better Christmases in the future.

Very nice lunch. I thought what was in the small glass bowl was oil when I saw it, and was, quite frankly, a bit turned off. I looked up nuoc mam sauce, and came up with this. Is that what you had? I'm intrigued. My Thai fish sauce is nearly black and would color anything it was put in, even in small concentrations, but your photo seems to mimic some kind of vegetable oil, and the one on the link is golden, if murkier than yours. Would you be kind enough to elaborate and enlighten us?

बहुत धन्यवाद् @Bhukhhad! I was trying to say thank you very much for responding and taking the time to even post photos. I really appreciate it. I do not speak Indian Hindi, so this is the site where I got it from, and so sorry if I insulted your mother or called you a horse or something.

Sad, rotuts. I am starting to think your local McDonald's may just be a bad location. I think you've said in the past they do not carry many common items including even their signature Big Mac, which I personally don't like and haven't had in decades. I am certain it has not improved with their pre-cook and heat cabinet holding policies in place now. As to the Crispy Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich (if this is what you're referring to), I had this once when it first came out and found it quite acceptable compared to their stale beef burgers. I paid full price, and I may have gotten very lucky, as mine had fresh, hot, crispy chicken that was perfectly cooked. I am sure that it would have suffered much languishing in the heat cabinet. I wouldn't call the roll artisan either, but it wasn't bad, and mine had been toasted on the cut sides. I actually think I ordered the Spicy version that does not seem on offer anymore, and may have been made to order, because of less demand, and that may have led to them dropping it from the menu. I still love their fries when you can get them hot out of the fryer. I love it when they tell me I have to wait for them to fry them up fresh! Some say to get fresh, hot fries ask for unsalted ones. I am scared of someone spitting in my food or worse, when asked to do their job, so I never do. I still remember a lady from years ago, working in Burger King who tossed a bunch of stale fries under the heat lamp to cook up ours fresh without being asked. She's got a karma bump from me. I thanked her profusely and enjoyed burning my mouth on the fries in the parking lot! Fresh food, what a lovely concept! If only McD's would go back to what made them wildly successful in the first place and drop those cursed heat cabinets into the dumpster where they belong. *Sigh* I went in one morning right before 5:00 AM with no other customers. They pulled my breakfast biscuit from the heat cabinet. There were probably close to a hundred breakfast sandwiches in the cabinet they opened. Made who knows when? Mine was lukewarm and stale. I understand they need to keep ahead of demand, but a smart manager would time it for later, when the rush actually happened. I soon had to order another, because the size had been almost halved, although the price had doubled. The three employees lounged around the whole time I was there. They could have instead have been cooking my breakfast up fresh. They seemed so lazy and surly I was too scared to ask for the biscuits to be nuked to heat them up and melt the cheese. Almost always the food served from the warming cabinet does not feel hot enough to me to comply with our health code here, which says hot foods must be held at 140 F/60 C. I believe it were truly 140 degrees, the cheese would at least be melted on the stale burgers and breakfast sandwiches. If McD would quit trying to serve stale leftovers, I think they'd do much better. That might be why they are not doing well here?

Lucky you! I've heard that the Stouffer's restaurants used to be fabulous and this national brand started very humbly. I'm only familiar with frozen offerings, sadly.

What does this mean???

Yeah, that's why I did not list it, but meatloaf has been firmly entrenched in our food culture, and it's served in many restaurants here that specialize in American food. Ask a majority of Americans, and they think of it as our own, but I agree @liuzhouon the history of the dish.

Tonight's dinner was reported in full over on the Create My Meal thread. Please come join us, if you like, in this fun game.

You are most welcome, @Bhukhhad! You seem to have a strong background in Indian cuisine, which I do not. It is one of my many weak areas, and am looking very much forward to your contributions on this forum. I would be delighted if you chose to provide any input on this thread on Indian Vegetables that I started in an attempt to move myself forward to being less ignorant about this ancient and lovely cuisine.

It sounds horrifying, and perhaps looks so if you are not used to this regional food concept. I thought so too, but the first time I tried it, I was a convert. I would take exception to the "soft spaghetti" huiray mentioned, because I think it's better with al dente pasta as usual, and that's the way I serve it. My husband thought I had lost my mind the first time I made it for him, but he's another firm convert now. He just doesn't want any raw diced onion on his, but that is why it's served 5 ways. I like mine all the way, and I add crushed red pepper. This is slated to come up again soon on the dinner rotation, thanks to @huiray's mouthwatering post on it.

Yes Toliver, Stouffer's used to make a good frozen version that us perpetually dieting girls loved with a salad back years ago. I have not seen it in decades, but I put raw zucchini lengthwise planks sliced a maybe 3/8" thick, so medium thin to me, in lasagna to this day, but also use about half real pasta noodles to please my husband. This is very good.

Welcome to the forum @peachpie, Please tell us a little about your food background and culture, and tell us about what you like to cook or would like to learn to cook. This is a great place to learn about cooking techniques, ingredients and food cultures from around the world, and I'm looking forward to your contributions.