Chimayo Joe

I may be acquiring it. I've tried a few other blues since my earlier post: Gorgonzola Mountain, Roquefort, Bleu d'Auvergne, Point Reyes Original Blue, and Stilton. They're still not favorites, but I started to see their appeal when I tried them on burgers. Roquefort surprised me since it has such a strong blue flavor, but the way that combined with the richness of the sheep's milk made it one of the blues I liked best. Also liked Gorgonzola Mountain better than the others I've tried. Didn't care for Stilton, but maybe sometime in the future I'll give it another try.

I've gotten over my fear of most cheeses, but blues still cause me some apprehension. This year I've tried over 70 varieties of cheese that were new to me but only two blues (Cashel and Cambozola.) Didn't hate them but didn't like them well enough to buy them again. Those are supposedly mild blue cheeses. Thus far, I just don't "get" blues.

I hadn’t been to Carl’s Jr. in years, but I watched a Good Mythical Morning YouTube video where Carl’s Jr. won their chicken tenders shootout. I don’t usually put much credence in those guys’ taste tests(or anything else), but that Carl’s Jr. beat out even the chicken places including Popeyes caused me to give Carl’s Jr. a try. Lo and behold, their chicken tenders are really good. I’m sure it helped that they cooked them to order while I was sitting in the drive-thru, but they were still really good when I got home half an hour later.

I’ve made roux in Pyrex in the microwave a few times. It works, but I was always a little concerned about doing it. That would be like Cajun napalm.

I have the non-ebook versions of Madison's vegetable soup book and Negrin's pasta sauce book. They're both well worth owning.

Cotswold is a cheese similar to cheddar that has onions and chives in it. Do the onions and chives present any special hazard? I'm a bit of a paranoiac about botulism.

I ran across this ribbon grater at Walmart. The blade pattern is very similar to a Microplane grater that I've been looking for. The cover was a bit of a pain to get to fit on it, but I thought it might be worth a try. I don't know if there's something seriously wrong with it or if Walmart is just trying to get rid of it or what, but it rang up as 40 cents! I haven't used it yet. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Blue-Grater/391187241

I like Del Taco a little better than Taco Bell. I usually get a Del Beef burrito from there and add some extra cheddar when I get it home. Their street tacos pretty good but a bit pricey compared to my local taquerias. I haven't had a burger from there, but I have had their fries, and they are good. I've only had frozen supermarket White Castle sliders which I would hope are a poor imitation of the real thing because they aren't great.

I like Pecorino Calabrese a bit more than Pecorino Romano. It's like Romano lite--less pungent but still pretty salty. It had been a while since I've had Romano, but recently I'm finding that I even like that more than I used to. Not sure why that is, maybe some sort of lingering cheese phobia from childhood that I'm finally shaking off completely LOL. Not pecorino, but I've picked up a small amount of Ewephoria (aged sheep's milk gouda) to try. Like I said in my original post I know very little about cheeses, so this is a whole new world for me. I also liked the Piave(aged red label.) Much milder than Parm-Reg but still nice flavor. And I bought Liz Thorpe's The Book of Cheese which I think is going to be tremendously useful to me. Amazon has it for $22 ($40 retail hardcover.) It's a really nice book. https://www.amazon.com/Book-Cheese-Essential-Discovering-Cheeses/dp/1250063450/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Liz+thorpe&qid=1550275537&s=books&sr=1-1

I haven't had fries from every place on that list, but I'd say it matches up fairly well with what I have had. I've only had fries from Five Guys once, but I'd put them at the top. Only had fries from In-N-Out a couple of times, and I'd put them near the bottom (I'd order them well-done if I'm ever there again.) I don't know why more places don't do crinkle cut fries. They can be very good. I agree with Toliver to skip the fries at Sonic and get tater tots instead. Wienerschnitzel is a guilty pleasure for me. Their fries aren't very good, but sometimes a chili cheese dog(or two) with onions from there is just what I want. The components are cheap but come together to produce something better than it should be.

Thanks for the info. I bought some Pecorino Calabrese tonight but haven't tried it yet. The supermarket also has Pecorino Tartufello which I understand to be a Toscano with black truffles that has only been aged a month. I'm sure I'll buy some of that sometime. I also bought some Piave (a fairly hard cow milk cheese I've never had.) I haven't tried that one yet either. I'm hoping it will be good grated over pasta. I'm mainly looking for cheeses to vary with Parmigiano-Reggiano (which I dearly love) in that role.

I know very little about pecorinos(and cheeses generally.) Pecorino Romano is probably the only one I've ever had, and I can't say it's one of my favorite cheeses. How do some of the other pecorinos compare to Romano? I'm not sure what's available to me locally. I have seen Pecorino Calabrese in the supermarket. Would that be like Crotonese that's been aged longer? (Not that I have any idea what Crotonese tastes like, ha!)

Actually, it hasn't been that long since I've had Ben & Jerry's. It slipped my mind that I tried their vegan Chocolate Fudge Brownie several months ago. It was okay for a vegan "ice cream." I haven't tried very many non-dairy ice creams, but I haven't run across any yet that I'd say are a great substitute for the real thing.

Not a fan of cookie dough ice cream. I haven't had Ben & Jerry's in many years, but I'd probably buy some Rainforest Crunch if they brought that back.

Yeah....that strikes me as a strange list. The individual books seem pretty good as far as I can tell, but if they're saying these are the top 25 books you really need then I take issue with that. (I only own one of them, but I've looked through several of the others page by page in the bookstores and borrowed some from the library.) Maybe "25 Cookbooks That Belong in Every Food Lover's Library If Your Library Has a Few Hundred Cookbooks in It".

I've drifted away from habanero sauces over the past couple of years. I still use them but not as much as I used to. I haven't gotten into hot sauces enough to order them, so my favorites are just from what's available in the grocery stores here. My three favorites are produced in state, and that may be why I'm able find them in the stores here. Not sure how widely available they are. They're SaSo Red Pepper Chipotle, SaSo Chile Pequin, and Burns & McCoy Especia Roja. Rounding out my top ten are El Yucateco Chipotle(more like a really hot barbecue sauce than typical hot sauce), Gringo Bandito Red, Pico Pica Hot Sauce(unfortunately the stores here appear to have stopped carrying it), Valentina Black Label(my really low budget favorite), Tapatio, Cholula Original, and Cholula Chili Garlic.

I eat a lot of oatmeal now, but my favorite cereals as a kid were Cap'n Crunch , Sugar Crisp, and Alphabits. i still occasionally buy Cap'n Crunch to eat dry as a snack.

I've added Peach Citrus Fresca to my list of favored diet sodas. I didn't even know it existed until a couple of weeks ago. I like it better than original Fresca.

Chipotle probably added queso to their menu because their main competitor Qdoba has it, and people were asking for it. I've never had Qdoba's either. I'm less likely to go to Qdoba, but when I do, my preferred order is loaded tortilla soup(Qdoba used to call it Mexican Gumbo.) It's been a long time since I've been there, quite a while since I've been to Chipotle, as well. I looked at Qdoba's menu a couple of minutes ago and noticed they have smoked brisket as one of their meat choices. I don't recall seeing that before, but I may have just forgotten what Qdoba offers.

The taquerias here do carnitas very much better than Chipotle, but a carnitas bowl is still what I'm most likely to get if I'm at Chipotle. Less likely to get a barbacoa or sofritas bowl but I enjoy those, too. I don't like the gummy tortillas they use for their burritos. The cold condiments don't bother me because I always get takeout from Chipotle, and it gets zapped briefly in the microwave when I get home. I think Chipotle's guacamole is pretty good, but I don't care for their chips, so I just buy the guacamole and use supermarket chips at home. Thanks for the warning on the queso. It's not something I'd be likely to get, but I'll definitely avoid it now.

I've never made it, but Gordon Ramsay's youtube videos are probably where I'd start looking if I were to give it a try.

My local supermarket has had Tillamook ice cream on sale, and I've been bingeing since I posted on the thread previously. They don't carry all the flavors I want to try, but what I have tried have been nice. Caramel Butter Pecan has been my favorite so far. I've also had Oregon Strawberry, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Tillamook Mudslide, and Cookies & Cream(picked up that last one at Walmart which I've discovered carries many more flavors than my supermarket.) I'm getting burned out on ice cream, but I see Caramel Toffee Crunch, Salted Butterscotch(not sure if that one is available locally), and Chocolate(odd that my supermarket doesn't carry plain old Chocolate) in my future but probably not my near future.

The photos that J. Robie posted would be pretty close to my ideal. I like simple(no intricate patterns or crevices), handles that aren't too small in width and thickness, forks with some curved edge on the outer tines, and spoons that aren't too shallow. I looked through the Wayfair site, and here are some that caught my interest. They range from fairly traditional to somewhat offbeat. Not all them match up completely with my previously mentioned preferences, but there was usually something about them that compensated for that. It was hard for me to judge how shallow the spoons were. Also don't know how they rate for quality. I'd think satin finish might be better for a restaurant than a mirror finish due to fingerprints, but I really don't know if that's the case. https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/david-shaw-silverware-isla-45-piece-1810-stainless-steel-flatware-set-dzs1238.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/david-shaw-silverware-splendide-bella-20-piece-flatware-set-dzs1146.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/gourmet-settings-pure-continental-20-piece-1810-stainless-steel-flatware-set-gss1070.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/gourmet-settings-lyric-20-piece-1810-stainless-steel-flatware-set-service-for-4-gss1068.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/gourmet-settings-cabaret-20-piece-1810-stainless-steel-flatware-set-gss1002.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/cuisinart-elite-verona-20-piece-stainless-steel-flatware-set-cui3620.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/hampton-forge-melo-45-piece-flatware-set-hnp1164.html https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/gourmet-settings-symphony-20-piece-1810-stainless-steel-flatware-set-gss1000.html

The higher the number the better I liked it. Scale is tentatively 0-10 and only applies comparatively to products of that type, so even a 10 wouldn't necessarily mean an item is absolutely stunningly delicious. I leave a little room at the top in case I happen across better than what i've already had. I might even assign someting a negative number if I ran across something disgusting. It's really just to help me keep track of what I've had and how much I liked a product, so I don't accidentally buy something by mistake. I've done something similar for hot sauces and for jarred pasta sauces. It bugs me to buy something I've forgotten that I've tried and didn't like. Toliver is correct that there's a lot of sodium in these, but it's not like I eat them every day or even every week.

I've mainly eaten the legume varieties and have been fairly pleased by them. Actually, I think I've eaten all the legume varieties from Tasty Bite, Maya Kaimal, and Truly Indian. Those are the brands I have available locally. I thought some were better than others but didn't find any to be inedible.. I keep a few around because they're so convenient. FWIW, here's my rating of them. The numbers are just my relative rating to help me remember which I've liked better than others and not meant to render judgment on how good or bad they are. I've tried a couple of the non-legume Tasty Bite (Bombay Potatoes and Mushroom Masala) and thought they were decent, as well. 8 - Tasty Bite Madras Lentils 7 - Tasty Bite Jodhpur Lentils 6 - Maya Kaimal Black Lentils + Tomato + Cumin 6 - Maya Kaimal Green Split Peas + Spinach + Coconut 6 - Maya Kaimal Green Garbanzos + Corn + Coriander 6 - Tasty Bite Bengal Lentils (Garbanzos) 6 - Tasty Bite Channa Masala 6 - Tasty Bite Bombay Lentils 6 - Truly Indian Delhi Lentils (good flavor but slimy texture) 5 - Maya Kaimal Kidney Beans + Carrots + Tamarind 5 - Truly Indian Bombay Chickpeas 4 - Maya Kaimal Red Lentil + Butternut Squash + Coconut 4 - Tasty Bite Spinach Dal