Tropicalsenior

When we were in New York City, the worst coffee we got was at Starbucks. I used to get my coffee every morning at 7-Eleven in Flushing. It was darn good coffee.

Me too! Very few places have coffee as good as I get at home.

I guess he succeeded. Just don't get me started on Caesar salad and Fettuccine Alfredo. I've got a really big soapbox for those.

Years ago I used to listen to Paul Harvey Rave about his Bunn coffee maker. At the time we had a Braun coffee maker that made pretty good coffee but it used to dribble all over the kitchen whenever we used it. My husband hated it so I bought him a Bunn coffee maker for his birthday. That was in 1987 and I am now on my third Bunn coffee maker. The one I am using now is only 5 years old. I don't quite know how they do it but the coffee is always great. It has a hot water reservoir so that I have a full carafe of coffee in only 3 minutes. Compared to a Mr Coffee Maker they aren't cheap but they sure are good. And each one has lasted me an average of 15 years.

Yeah, you're right. But the title of the topic is messing with a classic. One of my pet peeves is seeing all the Abominable food that is presented by people trying to reinvent the classics.

At least she doesn't claim that it is the classic tomato sandwich. It is Vivian Howard's tomato sandwich. As long as she names it as her sandwich she can make it any darn way she wants and it doesn't bother me. And $25 for the sandwich, she does say that it will make 8 servings. That's not too bad. But then again, the classic will be a whole lot cheaper and probably a whole lot better.

Please, don't even get me started. Nothing pisses me off more than to mess with my classics. Whenever I see some ignoramus actually put in print, new improved classic or my take on the old classic...I'm never going to click on that blog again.

They don't quite look the same as they did. The meat was always way bigger than the bun and they never had any lettuce on them. And you had to have Durkees on them. We always went to the one at 8th and Market and many times stood in line halfway around the block. Especially when the movies got out. But, damn, they were worth it.

I agree. I've probably read it five times and I saw the movie years ago when it came out. It's funnier every time that I read it. Is John's Pork Chop Sandwich Shop still in Butte? I can't remember the name of the old Diner that had been there for a hundred years. They sold the best pasties that I ever had. Maybe they were just best because I didn't have to make them.

Or Pasty which is a Caribbean style empanada. Or something that an exotic dancer uses.

When I lived in Butte in the early 70s, many places made them in the shape of a round ball, more like a Chinese Bao. and that was how I learned to make them. Probably why I didn't make them very often because they are a pain in the *** to make that way. I'm much prefer making them the Cornish way.

People don't think of Montana as pastie country but because of all the mines in Montana they sure do know how to make them. Were they shaped envelope style or were they round balls?

Sounds kind of bland to me. It only seems logical.

An interesting little coffee story. Some years ago some coffee company in New York City was selling the rarest coffee in the world for big bucks. Someone checked and found out that they were selling three or four times the annual output of that little crop. They were charged with fraud and false advertising and prosecuted. It turned out that what they were really selling was coffee from Costa Rica.

Of course! I just went to their website and they use Costa Rican coffee. But then, so does Starbucks and I don't know how they manage to screw it up so bad.

@Madon2234 another word of advice that might help. Always keep A well-stocked pantry. Make a list of what you use all the time and always have it in your cupboards. When you use it up, replace it the next time that you shop. There is nothing more frustrating than having a short time to cook something and then find out that you don't have everything that you need.

It came with the freezer. It couldn't have been better if I had designed it myself. I'm a storage container freak and all my freezers have bins and boxes. By having Frozen components ready, I can pull and combine ingredients any way I want to and I only have to shop once a week.

I have a chest top freezer and I feel that I am set up for about anything.

My favorite helpers for quick meals are zip top bags, a Sharpie pen, a flat plastic tray, and a microwave oven. I make up enough sauce ingredients for several meals and then freeze it in the bags on a flat tray so that they can be stacked in the freezer. Then all you have to do is pull out an envelope of sauce, defrost it and add your vegetables or protein. You can even make up quite a bit of protein, meat, chicken, whatever and freeze it then just defrost the sauce sauce and add your protein. When you have time you can cook a full dish and make enough for three or four meals and freeze the rest in plastic bags. Then you have enough to pull out of the freezer and have a full meal. Just remember to label your bags before you put anything in them. Sometimes when you are cooking for one a full can of anything is just too much. Just put the other half in a bag and freeze it and you have it ready for another meal. If you are really lucky you might be able to find a small plastic container that will fit in your freezer and will work almost like a small filing cabinet for your food envelopes. When you have that full you are set up for quite a few meals.

It reminds me of a Joe's special.

The best way for us to get to know it is for you to start a topic and tell us about the food in your part of India and about where you live. I believe we have another member from there @Kerala. For instance, I had no idea that there were Starbucks all over India.

Starbucks has always had a tinge of being a bit more expensive than other places. As I said before, I remember the original Starbucks in Bellevue, Washington and it was in Old Bellevue, right at the edge of Maidenbauer Bay and Medina two of the most exclusive suburbs of the Seattle area. The regular patrons there never blinked at the prices.

They do freeze well although I never seem to have enough left over to freeze. If you don't like the sweetness perhaps you would prefer the char siu boa that I posted a while back. The dough is very similar to the one that I use regularly for my stuffed meat buns. The one advantage of this recipe is that the filling and the dough always come out even. I've made them from tiny golf ball size, (a real PITA), to croquet size balls and the filling still comes out even. I've also used the same recipe with ground pork and ground beef instead of the diced pork.

Last Friday we had a bottle of sparkling wine that was probably one of the best that I had ever enjoyed Since two in the group were teetotalers and I can no longer tolerate alcohol, it was non-alcoholic. If I remember correctly, I paid the equivalent of about $16 for it. I don't think that anyone tasting it would have ever guessed that it had no alcohol.

Carpacio is thinly sliced Raw beef fillet. I'm not sure about the original recipe but I've usually had it with a lemon and oil dressing or vinegar and oil dressing on arugula. The dish was named after the artist Carpacio for its red color because he was known for putting a splash of red in everything that he painted. I know that they call all kinds of concoctions carpacio, but to me it is only made with thinly sliced raw beef.