IrishJersey

Smitty's Clam Bar @ Somers Point. Call especially if you're going off season as hours is limited. Mike's seafood of OC Topsail boil is great to get decent seafood as seafood boil takeout option and dockside kitchen is great for bruch & dinner waterfront on bay side and bit out of way at Margate city is Steve & cookies at the bay is pretty good dress up dinner night out

I just picked up 2 pounds of little neck clams from my fishmonger. He asked what I was doing with it and after telling him of my plans to cook it in red sauce. He suggested to give the clams an ice bath after steaming them open? It’s supposedly makes the clams plumper. Have any any of you done it? Worked well for you? Do you keep clams in shell or take out of shell to do ice bath treatment?

Bumping this up. Anyone? We've changed plans a bit by making a reservation at Eleven Madison Park for two. However, in case we can't get a reservation at EMP. Where else would you suggest to get a special meal? Gramercy and Flatiron area. Thanks!!!

we want to get a table to celebrate our 10th anniversary next month in the city and budget is not an object (up to a point!). We enjoy great quality food and open to chef tasting menus, we're just having a hard time deciding where to eat? we'll be staying either at the pennisula or st. regis hotel so dinner and great cocktails nearby. Also looking for great brunch places nearby before checking out next day too.

Sorry to post and run off, but just came back from our vacation over the weekend. I loved this thread you linked, alreadly bookmarked it so i can take notes before doing grocery shopping later this week. I am not opposed to eating breakfast in the car, especially if it means he can get more sleep that way too! Tomorrow is meet the teacher and rest of classmates with parents, so that is good advice to ask others what they're doing for their little ones. Ill also find out whether my son's classroom will have allergy policies too. String cheese would have been my to go food! but unfortunately, my son doesn't care for those. Do you have a recipe for breakfast burritos? he would like anything filled inside as he's not picky in that aspect. Thank goodness, lol. The blog you linked is already so helpful!!! generally speaking, the savory muffins haven't been a hit but i haven't tried those since last year. I'll give those a try again as one never knows! I actually have the large trio lunchblox box, so i think it beehooves me to not buy another! lol

My 4 year old son is heading to his PreK school on a 'full day" schedule (8am to 2:45p) in few 2 weeks time. I'm in a full panic mode now thinking of WHAT to send him for lunch in his backpack. for the past year and half, he's been attending a very small preschool just 3 days a week with lunch provided by the facility, so i never had to worry about this till now. He'll have this as his lunchbox (link below) and luckily for me, eats a good variety of food. However, i won't find out till his classroom orientation whether peanuts is allowed as kids eat their lunch in the classroom. I think it'll all depends on his classmates allergies, so i want suggestions of what to provide him nutriious filling lunch without any form of nuts (to be on safe side) http://planetbox.com/products/planetbox-rover hit me up please with suggestions.This goes for BREAKFAST to eat at home too! My son likes cucumbers, carrots, pb/jelly sandwich, chicken sandwich, variety of fruits and crackers, yogurt, etc. He'll also have a thermos for warm/hot food like soup and pasta to send along in his lunch-bag too. my main issue is timing....the school is a good 20-25 mins away because of the insane traffic. As it is, he doesn't wake up till 7am, so that only leaves me 25-30 mins to get him dressed, down to eat his breakfast and in car to hit the road by 7:30 for his arrival by 8am. so i need ideas for easy filling breakfast that is QUICK. i want to prep the lunch as much i can night before and just stick it in the fridge till we're ready to head out.

My first post on dinner thread.... we had burgers & hotdogs with different salads yesterday. so pork chops was on the menu tonight. I made the family's favorite tomato, cucumber and onion salad to go with it. lettuce salad with our ginger-miso dressing. Pork chops is from my local amish farmers market. we all enjoyed it, down to our 16 month old son.

Finally had a chance to write a note reporting my xmas eve dinner was a success! I took some of your recommendations to up my shrimp servings, which I did to 2.5 pounds and only had two shrimps left by time dinner was ready. I decided in the end to stuff my pork with fresh spinach, dried cranberries and fresh herbs. Everyone loved it more than the beef, although whole beef was gone except for one strip. My only regrets was not having the time to take pics!!! was too busy enjoying myself with the guests. Hope you all had a great NYE!

I had similiar issue as you. My PC is in the office which is in another room away from the kitchen. So I use paprika on my iPad to pull up recipes while I'm in the kitchen. It exports from various cooking websites, recipes and failing that. This is where I use Evernote; I take screenshot of recipe online from LC or other resource that isn't available via paprika and save it to Evernote. Viola.

Thanks to all for your suggestions! For those of you who suggested a pasta veg dish? Could you post your recipe? I want to do a true and tried one, preferably one that I can make day before would even be better! I love the idea of a hearty wintry green salad. I also appreciate a dressing that any of you can recommend to me too? I'm still half half on stuffed pork. Probably stuff it since I already have other main protein that'll be just cooked in herbs, oil and salt and pepper. As for the shrimp, very good point! I recall I had 2 pounds of shrimp and there was just a few left over even for 30 people last year. Hmm won't hurt to go up 3 pounds as I just know I won't be in the mood to go grocery shopping to restock our fridge till Monday after Xmas eve!

I'm besigned with doubts on my xmas eve menu this year, so I appreciate any tips/advice/talk me down from my panic mode In the past years of hosting for 25-30 people, I usually go heavy on appetizers during cocktail hour then serve Ham with the fixings as dinner. But, I'm changing menu up this year as very bored doing the ham year in & year out. I'm serving 1.5 pounds of shrimp on a platter, 2 different types of shelled oysters in the shell on ice, platter of italian antipasto, platter of hard/soft cheese with grapes, lamb lollipops with mint on the side, and mini pigs in a blanket alongside with champagne, wine and non alcoholic punch for my cocktail hour. Dinner will be 5 lbs trimmed beef tenderloin, 3 pounds pork tenderloin (stuffed with?? still thinking on stuffing??) green salad with blue cheese and dried cranberries, a pan of roasted vegetables (potatoes, parsnips etc) and a bowl of string beans. I'm having guests bring desserts which will be homemade cookies, rice pudding and a couple of pies. is this all balanced and enough for 30 people? 17 out of those are children ranging from 11 months old to 15 years old. I was thinking of adding a pasta option as a meatless entree but my husband is vetoing it as feels its enough food.

First couple of times, i just roasted the chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper rubbed over the bird. I like to have both, but not fussy at this time since my goal is to make a solid simple stock.

OP here; just wanted to say quick thank you to those who chimed in! Very helpful and I'll look over this thread more in detail as I have few questions to several of you already. Will try to post more in detail and get started on my first chicken stock before turkey day

I've been making different meals out of whole chicken lately, as they're so cheap in my grocery store right now. I'm struggling with my attempts to make quality homemade stock out of leftover bones. So, my question is this: what is the best and tried method to make a simple satisfying solid homemade stock? I do have a pressure cooker by way of a instantpot. advice and tips will be greatly appreciated here!!

I'm not one to eat fried rice, but yours got me seriously want that for dinner and SOON too! how did you make your batch of fried rice?

I love WaWa! But I prefer quikcheck though. There isn't many in my neck of woods in Central Jersey, but happy to have two that's within 3 miles radius from me. Lot more are in South Jersey though.

Thank you for your kind welcome! To answer couple of questions from you all about me; I have gone back home to Ireland, usually twice a year. However, since getting married and having little kiddos, I haven't been for a visit for 5 years, so way overdue! and Yes! New Jersey is where I am, ironically I never been to Jersey despite it's close promixity to Ireland! I'm in Central Jersey, and most certainly do run down the shore every summer ;-) and no, I've no interest in getting into a restaurant or the industry. That was after many years in my teens and 20's working in my da's places in various roles. I do have ALOT of apprecation for the guys who run restaurants daily, day in and out...so instead I seem to have developed a lot of interest in making good solid delicious food for my family and friends. Of course, must not forget to include eating out at the many restaurants too! Thank you for your kind welcome again!

Hello members! I've been a lurker here for few years and decided to join and contribute towards this wonderful community. I'm cate in Jersey, but born and raised in Ireland and moved to Stateside almost 20 years ago. I landed in Jersey 10 years ago after living in major cities along East coast during my undergrad, graduate and early career. Pretty excited to start learning and apply what I've learnt from my restaurantuer father, now that i have little bit more time those days.