[Varmint Exposed!]

Good luck, man - sounds like you're gonna do it up right. Hopefully I can lose a few along with ya - went from a 160lb Vale Tudo machine to 180 thanks to grad school. Finally got 'er scaled back to 165, but now I need to retone...and maybe quit reading the Dinner thread...and purge my memory of where I found the best pint of Guinness *ever* here in town :) Actually, She Who Must Be Obeyed wants to lose some too, so that'll give me an excuse to do more cardio and play more golf (nothing like a five hour walk with 30lbs of stuff on your back!)

[Dinner! 2003]

Hey, Rev, care to elaborate on those oven fries?  I never make 'em just because of the "wet slug" factor; yours sound like winners!

Couldn't be easier. Preheat your oven to 450F. Scrub the hell out of however many russets you care to indulge in and chop 'em into wedges. Lay the wedges skin-side-down on a tray that you've lined with brushed-with-olive-oil foil (shiny side down). Hit the wedges with some olive oil and kosher salt and stick 'em in for 20 minutes. Pull them out, flip them onto their sides (so the skin's up), put them back in for 10 minutes. Pull them out again and let them cool a bit (5-10 minutes) while you crank the oven to 500F. Give them another bash of oil and stick them into the now 500F oven until they're golden brown all over. Bung some salt onto 'em and eat!

They're basically halfway between a fry and a baked potato, and they're pretty dang wonderful. I got the recipie out of Chris Onstad's Achewood Cookbook, Volume One: Recipies for a Lady or a Man, available here. The comic's funny as hell and the book's useful for the blossoming chef like myself - some basic basics (a great way to pan-fry a steak, the aformentioned fries, some booze recipies) and some middle-end stuff (brining pork and chicken, a really nice orzo with pine nuts, some classy appetizers when you need to fake it). But, as Chris says, his target audience is the kind of person who eats Frito dip out of the can with a finger

[Am I alone?]

I pride myself on trying anything once, and that includes grubs n' the like (not that that's come up recently). I also have a pretty good taste memory, so if something was terrible, I know better than to give it a second day in court. That in mind, there are very few things I won't go back for...canned hard-boiled quail eggs are at the top of the list, though. I've *never* made a noise like that before or since after biting into one of those...

[Dinner! 2003]

Last night, cooked for Pops' birthday...brined pork tenderloin on the barbeque, some of Chris Onstad's perfect oven fries (twice-baked @ 450 and then 500, skins on; the only oven fries I've ever had that don't taste like wet slugs), spinach salad. Me ma baked a wonderful angel food cake for dessert, which I topped with grilled peaches. The 'rents aren't big drinkers, so I had mango-tangerine juice.

Tonight I should really cook for the girlfriend, seeing as she was at a conference all weekend that she describes as 'a gong show'. Have to find out what's in the fridge...

[Favorite Diners in North America]

The best diner in New Brunswick was (and hopefully still is) the Bluebird restaraunt, just off of highway 1 in Sussex. Hot turkey sandwich with homemade gravy and fresh picked peas, perfectly done crinkle-cut fries and their coleslaw with just a hint too much sugar in the dressing. To. Die. For. For dessert - homemade cherry pie and strong black coffee, fuss on the side. That place was so good, I'd spin up there occasionally for dinner. Only 70km either way (and a beautiful drive, especially in the autumn).

I haven't really found a good diner in Regina, but to be fair, I haven't really looked. My favorite pub serves really good pub food and the best pint of Guinness this side of the Emerald Isle, so I've been lacking the motivation to go anywhere else...

[Dinner! 2003]

I'm embarassed to admit that the one time I actually cooked this week was just for my bro and I on Wednesday night; New York strips grilled to medium-rare for him and considerably less for me, with two-temperature oven fries (from the Achewood cookbook. Target audience: people who eat Frito dip from the can with their index fingers, and shop in stores where you're lucky if they have carrots and change for a twenty. Link might not be safe for work due to language, but I reckon if you're here, you could probably get away with being there).

Otherwise, it was something dead simple before, at or after the golf course - ramen with onion, bell peppers, sesame oil and oyster sauce was about as crazy as it got.

Ah, well. Have to whip something decent up Sunday...maybe a big pot of gumbo :)