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zilla369

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Posts posted by zilla369

    Striking Back at the Food Police

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I attended high school in rural Appalachia.

    For the first three years, there was NO cafeteria. We were allowed to go off campus for lunch - either home or to a restaurant. Many of us ate at a burger joint that was the closest restaurant to school. We still ate there even after folks started to refer to it as "(A name beginning with T)'s Ptomaine Tomb" - because a group of cheerleaders claimed to have contracted food poisoning from eating there.

    In my senior year, the gods smiled on us and the school added a "Cafetorium" (cafeteria/stage/auditorium). The cafetorium featured an all-you-can-eat salad bar (cost: $1.40 US). We ate the hell out of that salad bar.

    I don't know if the same thing would happen today. Are there salad bars in high school cafeterias nowadays? I don't have any children, so I wouldn't know. But I suspect that a salad bar might go quite idle, since there are Taco Bells and Pizza Huts in a lot of cafeterias...

    Garlic scapes, shoots, greens

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I got busy doing something and totally overcooked them when I roasted them last night. I guess I was thinking "garlic, it's hard to over-roast it" and didn't check it often enough. Word to the wise: they get mighty tough when overcooked in the oven :sad:

    Should you disclose ingredients?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Last night I served fresh farmer's market strawberries with a premium vanilla ice cream, topped with a sweet balsamic reduction (sweetened with brown sugar).

    Now, I know that that combination is not that "weird" to most of us eGulleteers; however, two of my guests are not that adventurous, food-wise...so I found myself on the horns of a mini-dilemma!

    I settled for saying (as I served it): "Boys, that ain't chocolate syrup on your ice cream and strawberries."

    Them: "Well, what is it?"

    Me: "It's a brown sugar reduction."

    Them: "Mmmm. Yummy. What exactly is a 'reduction'?"

    Me: "That's anything that's simmered gently to evaporate the water, thereby concentrating the flavor."

    Them: "It's really good. It's tart! That's not just brown sugar!"

    Me: "Uh, yeah. If you must know, it's brown sugar and balsamic vinegar."

    Them: "It's awesome! I never would have tried it if you'd told me it was vinegar on my ice cream!"

    So begins their awakening. :wink:

    Ground cherry pits

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    *sigh*

    That's what I figured. Ah well...better get to pittin'.

    Side note: This is so basic as to be ridiculous, but....whenever I buy olives and the label says "pitted", I always hesitate, hand outstretched. Does pitted mean "pits included" or "the pits have been removed"?

    Heh. You'd think I'd remember. But it seems to me I've bought "pitted" olives both with and without pits.

    Garlic scapes, shoots, greens

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I bought a big old bag of scapes this weekend - first time for me. I thought they tasted delightful raw - so I made a giant batch of hummus with some of them last night. While it was tasty (and almost completely consumed by us and our guests), I detected a little "green bitterness" - not sure how else to describe it.

    I believe I will roast the rest of the bag in bacon drippings tonight. If I like that preparation as much as I think I will, next time I make hummus out of scapes I'll just roast them first.

    Ground cherry pits

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    What are the ramifications of juicing cherries, pits and all, and then straining, to serve as a drink?  I ask this question, as I contemplate what to do with the motherlode of cherry picking bounty.

    I'd be interested to know the answer as well. I have a quart of fresh cherries from the farmer's market sitting accusingly in the fridge. They have a great flavor - but I find that if I eat too many raw (and God knows I can eat a ton), it tends to upset my stomach. So I was eyeing them today and thinking about how to break them down for a sauce - but also feeling really lazy about pitting them (I don't have a pitting tool on hand).

    Random Kosher Questions

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    WOW, Pam....great thread! I've been mighty busy at work, or I would have chimed in sooner!

    I'll have to relate the incident that shared with Pam via PM, that sparked her idea for this thread.

    Soon, I promise. I'm coming off a 12 hour day and staring 15 hours in the face tomorrow :blink:

    Ketchup

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I love ketchup as well. Mind you, I don't want it brought to the table with my steak frites...but - I'm not eating a burger without it, most of the time.

    Problem is, now that I'm getting older - it gives me ferocious heartburn. :sad:

    The Crown Royal Purple Bag

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted

    I don't drink Crown Royal - but I snarf the bags up whenever anyone will give me one.  They are definitely handy and elegant for holding all sorts of things.  I have one in my bedside nightstand.

    Anything resembling an electric appliance or battery operated? No, don't answer that. :laugh:

    Mum's the word. :shock:

    Knives in the dishwasher

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Therefore, with knives pointy side up, the dirt is flowing away from the eating surfaces.

    Who's right?  Or are we both nuts?

    Hopefully, even with the pointy side down, the dirt is STILL flowing away from the eating surfaces...unless your cutlery basket has a solid bottom?

    Pointy side down, man. Hopefully, though, this is only steak knives and butter knives. NO PREP CUTLERY IN THE DISHWASHER - even if it's advertized as "dishwasher safe".

    How Do You Gild the Lily?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Today at work I made myself a quick BLT out of the salad station mise: wheatberry bread, roma tomatoes, kosher salt, pepper bacon, romaine.

    I took a bite; mmmm. Good. Then I opened it back up and added goat cheese, roquefort crumbles, and a healthy squeeze of reduced balsamic vinegar all over. Now you're talking.

    Road Trip Part Deux.. US-50

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I come up with the bright idea of telling the front desk that I am with Wallmart, thinking they will give me some sort of discount.. The manager quickly comes back and hands me a room key and tells me that I have a roommate and his name is Jim.. This really bugs us out.. I would love to stay at this place, but we dont want to stay with Jim.. I then tell the manager I am hear with my wife.. He tells me that I had been instructed that spouses were not invited to the convention.. I ask him to excuse me for one second and we jump in the car and get the heck out of there..

    That made me laugh, but not as much as this:

    Not to mention our waitress somehow happened to have multiple herpes on her lips. I dont know if she wore an infected Halloween mask, or found a tooth brush on the street, but it certainly didn't add to the charm..

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