Toliver

I don't have an answer but my brother's M-I-L is Filipino and uses 7Up as one of the ingredients in her "secret" marinade for shish kebab meat for family parties. It tastes great.

Ruffles Loaded Chili & Cheese potato chips This is a picture of a bag I consumed and then scanned. The cover of the bag has Ruffles potato chips covered with chili and cheese. These were pretty good. I'm assuming Ruffles just started with their Cheddar Cheese potato chips and then added some chili flavoring. They definitely taste like chili. Of course, I had a hankering for real chili and cheese after consuming these chips. Thumbs up from me.

I wonder if they sell the extra skin to corporations like McDonald's to make the McNuggets and so on. edited to add: I'm sure it isn't just thrown away. It's ending up somewhere...in pet food or people food.

Exactly. It will impact those drawers full of hand-me-down recipes. I posted about the same topic three years ago: The Shrinking Mayonnaise Jar - Sneaky product downsizing

There's more weeping in this previous eGullet discussion: Worst meal at someone's home

Just a follow-up to my previous post about the Ninja. I made a batch of Jayme's salsa and encountered a possible problem with the Ninja blender that might be an issue to some users. I needed to taste the salsa for seasoning and had to reach inside the blender with a spoon to get a taste (which can only be done with the blender off). Since the blender has a tall tower of exposed blades in the center, putting your hand inside might not be the best idea even though the blades are standing still at this point. The blades are quite sharp. My brilliant solution was just to use a very long wooden spoon to get a taste so my hand didn't actually go inside the blender. Problem solved. Another design issue with the blender is that the blender does not turn on if the lid is off. In order to turn the blender on, the pitcher has to be locked on to the base (done with a simple twist of the pitcher). Also, the lid has to be on and the lid handle locked into the down position. If the handle isn't locked down flat, the blender will not turn on. What may be a problem with this is when you are finished blending and push the "release" button on the lid that allows the lid handle to be able to be lifted up, actually lifting the lid up and off the blender pitcher can be a little challenging. I don't know if it's a matter of the blending causing suction/a vacuum, but it does take some effort after blending to get the lid up and off the pitcher. However, the handle is quite wide and you can get your hand under it to get a decent lift but fighting the vacuum may be a little tough for those who have strength issues with their hands.

Yes, thank you, that was the culprit. It's supremely ironic because it's the lecithin in the spray that makes it a non-stick spray.

Ruffles Molten Hot Wings potato chips Another bag of chips I consumed and then scanned the empty bag. It's funny that they have chicken wings on the front of the bag instead of potato chips. Perhaps they were trying to sublimally emphasize the chicken wing aspect of the chips. At first, they reminded me alot of the Ruffles Cheddar Cheese potato chips which I think are pretty good. These are a little more red in color. These do have a nice spicy kick to them like a decent buffalo wing sauce has. It built up in spiciness the more chips I ate. The ingredient list has "chicken fat" on it and while there was a very slight chicken flavor it wasn't strong enough for my taste. Perhaps Frito Lay should find out what the makers of "Chicken in a Bisket" crackers do to make their crackers taste "chicken-y" and apply some of that to these chips. I liked these more than I didn't like them (damning with faint praise?).

Doritos Tapatío flavor Another bag of chips I consumed and then scanned the bag on my scanner. I got so excited when I saw these. I enjoy Tapatío hot sauce. The chips do have a slight vinergary taste and there is a little bit of heat. But that ethereal quality that the sauce has seemed to be missing from the chips. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in their flavor. The spicy kick was too mild for a hot sauce-flavored chip. Bummer.

Abe Books has a lot more copies available (some cheaper, too). Once at our office Christmas dinner/party, we had appetizers of deep fried alligator (along with rattlesnake, ostrich, and turkey "oysters" ). From what I recall, the alligator was quite good. But then you could probably deep fry a hockey puck and I'm sure it would be palatable. Thanks, Rhonda, for the pictures and the tours! I am thoroughly enjoying your blog.

We get the Falafel Burger every year at Roxy's off the midway in the San Diego Fair (aka Del Mar Fair). It was a little disconcerting at first to be eating a green burger ...but we got over it.

I would love for an SSB to weigh in on this. My mom has a small non-stick frying pan she uses to fry eggs. She only uses the non-stick spray in it as opposed to oil/butter/fat. It is now an "everything sticks in it" pan. What gives? Is there something in the non-stick spray causing the sticking issue? She leaves the pan on the heat for a bit before cooking anything. Is this causing the sticking problem...heating it up without anything in the pan?

My niece just did this with her grandmother. There were two recipes she never gave out, a meat marinade recipe and the recipe for her Chicken Adobo. The grandmother never really measured anything so she couldn't say what the quantities were. So my niece used her cell phone to record video of her grandmother making both dishes and was able to figure out the quantities. Problem solved.

It started with an EZ Bake Oven. Then I bought a "Peanuts Cookbook" ("Peanuts" as in Charlie Brown) through Scholastic Books in my elementary school. I asked my mom if I could make something from the book. I made the "Apple Brown Lucy". It turned out great and there was no looking back. Then my mom got a job outside the home and we became latch key kids. She would leave notes for either me or my oldest brother, depending on our school schedules, on how to prep dinner so when she got home from her job she could just finish it up (with our help). We call my oldest brother the Mother Hubbard Gourmet. He can open any cupboard or refrigerator and make a gourmet meal out of whatever he finds. He made potato skins and BBQ Chicken pizza years before they were popular in restaurants. My second oldest brother followed in our dad's footsteps and today he's a BBQ wizard. I think I'm a pretty good cook and am not daunted by the kitchen. My youngest brother seems to have missed out on eveything and today he can "nuke" a mean frozen burrito.

Here it is http://www.in-n-out.com/secretmenu.asp One thing not on that secret menu is that you can order the french fries "well done". I am not a fan of their french fries and haven't been back to try the "well done" french fries. It has to be an improvement. There are two In-N-Out Burger restaurants here in town and there is always a long line at the drive through at both locations even though they've been open for years. I think part of the popularity of the chain is due to people having grown up around it. It's like a touchstone to glory days gone by.

I couldn't find an existing topic dedicated to the fast food chain so I thought I would start one with some good news for Texans: In-N-Out Goin' to Texas

Jack In The Box Launches New Food Truck I can see it as a PR gimmick, but as a competitve (in it for the money) food truck? Not so much.

I don't have an answer for your question but do have a suggestion. A friend of mine showed me this tip. She fries up (or you can bake it, as well) a pound of bacon and then, when it's done cooking and has cooled, she puts it in a ziplock-type freezer bag and throws it in the freezer. When she wants some bacon, she takes out a couple pieces from the freezer bag and zaps them in the microwave a few seconds to bring them back "to life", so to speak. While it won't have the same crisp texture you get from fresh just-fried bacon, if your chopping it up into a pot of beans or salad, it'll do just fine. No need for Bacon Bits.

Bakersfield has a small Basque community and a couple of the Basque restaurants still serve family style with communal tables. To the unitiated, it's a strange experience. We usually go with a group so you already know the people you're dining with. edited to add: If you do go to a Basque restaurant, try the picon (sounds like "pee-con") punch. It's a potent Basque liquor/drink.

is straining the definition of "salad," no? I mean, I'm not saying it's not tasty. But "salad"? I dunno, when does it stop being a salad and start being "a few independent items on a plate"? That's pert near a greek salad. Just add olives and some onion and there you go.

For those not too tired of bacon, bacon flavored microwave popcorn. And for those staying late at the office, bacon flavored "Mmmvelopes" (envelopes).

I use some frozen fruit in my smoothies so usually there's no need for ice. I've posted my standard smoothie before in another discussion: One banana, kefir (this morning's was strawberry flavor), a large glug of pomegranate juice, two tablespoons of ground flax seeds, some frozen blueberries and a fistful of whatever frozen or fresh fruit I have on hand (in the winter I'll get a big bag of frozen fruit chunks from Coscto). As it blends if it's too thick because of the frozen fruit, I'll add more pomegranate juice to thin it out. I've noticed when I make the smoothies with mostly fresh fruit, the resulting smoothie is quite foamy. If I use more frozen than fresh fruit, it's thick like a soft serve ice cream.

Doritos Flamas Another bag of chips I consumed and then scanned the bag afterwards (not in the same sitting as when I consumed the chips in the post above). I couldn't find these listed on Frito Lay's web site. Most of the printing on the bag is in spanish. These chips are chile and lime flavored. Zing Zowie! The chips are a deep red in color. It looks to be the same deep redness as Frito Lay's Flaming Hot Cheetos so I am guessing the same "chile" powder is used on these chips (I have the red dust stains on my fingers as more proof). The chips do have some heat to them so be forewarned. I'm a chilehead so it was minor heat for me but they are spicy hot. The lime flavor is quite intense. Very intense. Very, very intense. So if you enjoy the hot-tart chile-lime flavor combo, these are the spicy chips are for you.

Doritos Pizza Supreme flavor Here's a bag of Doritos Pizza Supreme tortilla chips I consumed and then scanned for this post. I am a fan of the Doritos Pizza cravers so I was surprised that this new flavor was so bad in comparison. It did have the pizza spice (oregano?) flavor but that was it. It wasn't until the very last chip in the bag (I kid you not) that I got any sort of tomato tang. I didn't taste much cheesiness, either. I'd pass on these until they improve them.

Yes, this. From the article with my emphasis: That's one of the keys to Subway's success. They can go in just about anywhere. There's a busy liquor store down the street from where my mom lives. It added a Subway counter inside (I'd say it was about 10 by 10 space...a lot of the depth taken up by the bread ovens). Everytime I walk into the store I start salivating because of the aroma of the bread. The Subway counter always has a line waiting to order. A little bit of real estate and an easily made product has success written all over it.