annexk8

I was at the Costco in Bridgewater (NJ) today, and they DO have fries, but the rest looks the same.

okay, i'm usually a lurker around here, but i have a truly, truly awful story to tell. i've probably shared it before, but it bears repeating. i went to the bridal shower of a relative when i was about 15, where the main course at the luncheon was a square of lemon jello made with milk or whatever to make it opaque, with pimento-stuffed green olives molded in it. on top of this was a cream sauce with CANNED BABY SHRIMP in it. it was served on a piece of leaf lettuce, which would have been the only edible thing on the plate if it didn't have the shrimp sauce on it. looked, smelled, and tasted like vomit. it was horrible. horrible.

Sriracha is my favorite condiment. I always have a current bottle in the fridge and a spare in the cupboard. As soon as the current bottle gets low, I go out and get a new spare. A Sriracha shortage would be a catastrophe. It goes on almost everything: eggs (scrambled, omelets, fried egg sandwiches, egg salad), macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, fries, hot dogs, stirfry, pizza, as others have mentioned. It gets stirred into the dipping sauce for spring rolls and vermicelli at the Vietnamese restaurant. Pad Thai. Bloody Marys. Tacos. Baked Beans. This winter, we've been making the lentil soup from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which is great but immensely improved by a huge squirt of Sriracha. Sometimes I just put Sriracha on crackers and eat them. I *gasp* hate Tabasco. Sriracha is where it's at.

I do something like this, but I don't write everything down, just what I made for guests or special meals like birthdays. That way I can keep from repeating things for the same people (I write down the date, the occasion, and the guests as well as the menu) and someday we'll be able to look back at all the great parties we threw in the first year of our marriage. I use my great-grandma's system for noting whether particular dishes were good - "vg" (very good), "g" (good), "ok," and, sometimes, "no," and I'll add a note if there is something I would do differently.

First, an introduction. I've been lurking around here for a long time, but I'm a grad student so I don't have that much time to participate. I've lived in the area for three years (midwestern transplant), during which I've come to love Philly, and particularly the Reading Terminal Market, which is probably my #1 favorite place in the city. But recently I've been in an RTM rut. My husband and I go there all the time, but it's always on Saturdays when we're starving and parked at a one hour meter. So we're always going to the same places for the same food (usually Salumeria for a hoagie or the Thai place for pad thai, husband always gets DiNics roast pork), because we're in a hurry to eat, get our shopping done at Iovine's or wherever, and go. Until today... Penn's on spring break and the day was too gorgeous to spend it in the library, so I took a *long* walk from West Philly to the RTM. I knew the flower show crowds would be there (which is great, I love it when it's crowded), so I got an ice cream cone at Bassett's and wandered around, scoped out the food and people-watched with more leisure than usual. What a revelation!! I've discovered (or re-discovered, in some instances) a whole bunch of things that I hope will get me out of my rut. Tortas at 12th St. Cantina, the new Indo-Pak place, soups and entrees at Mezze, mac and cheese at Delilah's, pastas at By George. I could go on. I can't wait to get there again! What else should I try to get myself out of my rut? What's your favorite thing at the RTM??

pasta canned tomatoes sriracha (always have at least one extra bottle) veggie burgers stoli sun-dried tomatoes oatmeal baking chocolate soy milk

In our famiy, oyster stew every year on Christmas Eve. You know you've graduated to adulthood when you start scooping from the bottom of the soup pot to get lots of oysters, rather than just eating the broth with tons of oyster crackers. I've missed my family's Christmas for the last few years, and I can't wait for this one.

pecan pie from the karo syrup bottle.

parched?

Qdoba is mostly burritos ala Chipotle. You get a huge burrito with meat or veggies, black or pinto beans, cilantro rice, salsa, etc. They also have nachos, tacos, etc. We lived on that stuff in college.

This was at a wedding shower for a distant relative when I was in high school- my sister and I were the only ones under 40 (including the bride). In St. Cloud, MN. I guess you'd call this a "salad." On a bed of iceberg lettuce sat a block of lemon jello, made with something creamy so it wasn't clear. Had green olives w/ pimientos in it. On top of the whole thing was some sort of cream sauce that had tiny shrimp in it! My sister (about 12 at the time) took one look and asked for the fruit. I ate about 2 bites to be polite and tasted the damn thing for days afterward. Undeniably the worst thing that has ever been in my mouth.

My favorite "salad" from the Midwest is Snickers salad - chopped apples, Cool Whip, and chopped up Snickers bars. Always served as a salad, never for dessert.