theminx
-
Posts
81 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by theminx
-
-
Borscht I know, but thanks for adding a new word to my food vocabulary. I'll be afraid to use it unless you teach me the pronunciation.
Went through your website and liked your goat boy cha cha cha.
Hmmm...we always pronounced it something like "bahhsh" with a hint of a rolled R before the double H.
Goat Boy thanks you for the compliment :)
-
We have a new Indian restaurant here in Baltimore, called Yeti (the owners are from Nepal). They added momo to the menu of dishes typically found in Indian restaurants in America (chicken tikka masala, lamb saag, et. al.). We tried the lamb momo, and found them to be rather like Chinese pot stickers in appearance, but the filling was spiced with coriander and cilantro.
The dipping sauce was most intriguing. It was the color of dijon mustard but had a texture like ground sesame seeds. It had a sesame flavor as well, plus a tingle of chile. Anyone know what this might have been? Is it a typical Nepalese sauce?
thanks :)
-
(As far as favorite soul food from my ethnic background goes, barszcz and pierogis top my list.) Kathy - Welcome to the India forum. Delighted to have you here. i hope that you will ask us many questions to make sure we clarify the dishes we are talking about!
We are both M word fans!!!!
(LOVE your jewelry collection btw)
Welcome!
Thanks, Monica
Discounts for eGulleteers, and I do custom work as well!Episure, barszcz is not only worth a lot of points in Scrabble, it's also the Polish name for borscht, or red beet soup. My grandmother used to make it the hard way, peeling and julienne-ing the beets while they were still raw (so she ended up with pink gloves for a few days). Wish I had gotten the recipe from her. All I remember is that there were always pork shreds in the soup, so she must have thrown the beets and a chunk of pork in a pot with water, LOTS of peppercorns, a bay leaf or two. Simmer for a long time, until pork is tender and broth is a lovely shade of magenta. Salt and vinegar were in there as well, and a dollop of sour cream was an optional garnish. We always ate it piping hot, whereas I think Russians eat beet borscht chilled.
sigh. Wish my husband liked beets, so I could justify an attempt.
-
I'm not Indian, but I would consider Indian foods to rank pretty high as soul or comfort foods. I'm especially fond of coriander chutney and lime or lemon pickle, lamb seekh kabob, and the smell of Basmati rice is enough to make me swoon. I also enjoy the M word, although I hear we don't have any good varieties here in the U.S. (this from a Jamaican friend who had a mango grove in her backyard in the W.I.).
I have no idea what most of the items are that you are naming in this thread, but I am eager to learn :) Most of the Indian restaurants in Baltimore tend to serve tandoori this and tandoori that, but I did find one with some South Indian specialties and tried idli and sambar for the first time not long ago.
(As far as favorite soul food from my ethnic background goes, barszcz and pierogis top my list.)
-
Drew was fired by Rocco from the restaurant. But he works for JC, so obviously he's still an intern for JC's company.
I thought JC had given Drew the boot. having missed the first 20 Min. of the show did something else happen?
We are, of course, assuming that this whole "Rocco replacement audition" happened after Drew The Obnoxious Intern was canned. Could be another example of the magic of editing.
-
I think I am jealous of all of you more-experienced chile-eaters. I am still a novice, working on upping my tolerance.
The hottest thing I have ever eaten was a home-made gumbo that I helped cook with a friend. She pulled a good handful of fresh chiles (not sure of the type) out of her garden and added them to the pot before I could object. The gumbo turned out to be so hot and tongue-numbing, it had no flavor to me whatsoever. What a waste of perfectly good shrimp!
The second hottest was a Thai dish, a leftover brought home by my dad from a restaurant meal. He couldn't eat it because it was "too fishy." Well, it was indeed extremely fishy, in a way I have never encountered in Thai food since, so maybe it was bad? But it was also terrifyingly hot, but not so hot that I couldn't taste it (too bad).
My brother has an Indian friend (sorry, don't know what part of India his family hails from, all I know is that they lived in NY) who preferred his food to be so incendiary that he did some real damage to his stomach and was put on a permanent bland diet by his doctor. Poor guy.
-
No matter where I travel, I can rely on finding a McDonald's, which I use for bathroom breaks, but never for dining! Chick Fil A is probably the only fast food place I'll dine in voluntarily (something about a chicken sammich with pickles), and maybe KFC, because it reminds me of my childhood.
I've always had good experiences with Chili's, but find most of the rest of the bunch to be sub-standard, particularly Red Lobster and Olive Garbage. I mean Garden.
They each got one chance with me and failed miserably.I've been to Maggiano's a few times, mostly because I love the house salad dressing and my husband likes HUGE portions of pasta. I must admit I kinda like the dark atmosphere too. And Cheesecake Factory is always a good place to go with a bunch of girlfriends with varying tastes who have varying diets (all meat, no meat, etc.) and they are pretty good about substitutions. I have only been there with certain people and we always have a good time, so I think the event clouds any concerns with the quality of the chow.
My favorite chain restaurant, however, is Roy's (Yamaguchi).
-
I don't really think Choderow is the villain here, he's just a guy who wants to see his investment well-spent. I understand that completely. But still I had a dream last night that after he got Rocco ousted and the restaurant closed, he tried to sabotage my jewelry business by not-so-subtly ripping one of my necklaces off a client (Oprah!) and then claiming the workmanship was shoddy.
<shudder>
That's what I get for watching "reality" tv before bedtime.
-
Just when you thought you'd seen enough of Rocco...
Personally I wasn't curious about what was under Rocco's kilt, but considering his current circumstances, maybe this could help his image
Aww...poor Rocco:
"Then he confides that he’s upset, because a picture of him in his underwear, taken while he was on a runway wearing a kilt for a charity event, has found its way onto the Internet."
This from the New York magazine article posted above. Maybe he shouldn't have been high-stepping like the show pony he is then, eh?
-
Ooohh....Gelatiamo! Yummy!
I live in Baltimore, and we have two places in Little Italy that serve pretty good gelato: Vaccaro's and Cafe di Roma. The gelato at the former is a bit grainy, and the gelato at the latter has more intense flavor. But the best gelato I have ever eaten comes from Gelatiamo. My husband and I were in Seattle for several days last August and had Gelatiamo gelato for dessert every night. We mostly stuck to the nutty flavors, and I had a scoop of the rice flavor one night (which is so soothing, like something for a baby). I had a small taste of the pamplemo (sp?) and it was so intensely grapefruit-flavored, it was hard to believe there was any milk product present.
We tried to visit Procopio, but the day we went, they were closed. I'd been there before though and probably had hazelnut. I don't recall being that impressed, so it must have been fairly similar to what I can get here at home.
I'll make note of the new gelateria in town so when I visit next, I can indulge!
-
My husband and I ate at Les Halles last October. We were on our way to dinner at Mesa Grill, and happened to pass by Les Halles. I decided to go in and make a reservation for the next night.
We were in NYC only three days, hubby not having been there since the late 70s, and there was lots to do/eat. Unfortunately, that was the day we stopped for Belgian fries, so were completely fried-out when we got to Les Halles.
I had the onglet, and double salad hold the frites. Hubby ordered a special -- a porterhouse, I believe it was -- with the salad and frites. Both steaks tasted great, but when we got the bill and saw the porterhouse was in the neighborhood of $32, we decided my onglet was definitely the tastier of the two.
Apart from the sticker shock, we enjoyed our meal at Les Halles.
-
ah, good riddance. pardon my naivete, but do female restaurant patrons really stick their tongues out at waiters? do they stroke the waiters' faces and fondle them? i eat out a lot but, damn... cringe, cringe; turned it off early. thank god it's over. i'll miss this thread but certainly not the show--new lows in "reality tv." and thank you but no, thank you on another season
Um....to answer your question...yes. Not all the time, but it happens. Not that I have ever done anything like that myself. <ahem>
Just the other night, my hubby and I were at Roy's (Yamaguchi) having a nice dinner of macadamia-crusted mahi and diver scallops in red curry, when a table of five loud females set up camp across from us. They were attired in all modes of scanty cleavage-bearing disco bar/pick-up clothing and celebrating a 40th birthday. The poor young waiter was immediately interrogated and flirted-with, made to pose for photographs of the birthday girl's ample cleavage and a champagne bottle, etc. The decible level in the restaurant grew tenfold before their appetizers came. We left sometime shortly thereafter. I know the waiter had to have gotten pinched at least once during the course of the evening. I just hoped he got a nice tip for his trouble.
-
Not that i'm here to defend a recipe, but if your going to judge shouldn't you follow it?
I don't mean that as a slam it just makes sense
Do you really think that adding 5 eggs instead of 3 would have made the meatballs less-wet? Or fresh parsley over dried, for that matter?
Sure I used my own sauce recipe (and it was kick-ass, I might add), but I was testing the meatball recipe...could have put them in brown gravy and they still would have fallen apart.
If someone else tries this recipe, as written, I'd love to know the results!!
-
In honor of the last episode of The Restaurant, I prepared Mama's Meatballs. A disclaimer: I can't make a recipe exactly as written; there's always some tweaking going on during the preparation. That said, on to the experience that has left me with a touch of post-ironic stress disorder:
I was lucky enough to find a package of a beef/pork/veal "meatball and meatloaf mix" in my local Giant supermarket. I try to avoid veal, for ethical reasons (my only food ethic) but somehow it seemed ok to use something that already had veal mixed in (because I couldn't easily remove it). I felt that the 5 eggs called for in the recipe was far too many and added three instead. I didn't have fresh parsley, so I used dried. And I made my own version of tomato sauce instead of using that of Mama Dispirito. The meat mixture was a gloppy, runny mess that refused to stay spherical in the pan. As I browned them, each ball flattened into a patty-like form, which made for uneven browning. In addition, they were nigh-impossible to turn and keep intact at the same time, because of the high moisture content. I did the best I could, with my husband (our official meatball maker) hovering anxiously over me. I poured my homemade sauce over the mostly-browned and now disintegrating blobs of meat in the saute pan and simmered the mess until it seemed like it should be done.
The cats got curious while I was doing the plating and husband tripped over one, neatly juggling the full pasta bowl in his hands and screaming "get out of here" at the top of his lungs, causing me to drop a meatball and splatter sauce on my shirt.
We rushed the steaming plates to the table and sat down to feast on Mama's Very Chunky Meatsauce and Spaghetti.
Underwhelming, at best. The meatballs were soft, but not in a good way. The taste was ok, but nothing to rave about. My family of non-Italians make much better without using a recipe. In fact, the best Italian-style meatballs I've ever eaten are made by my 100% Polish aunt.
Sorry Mama. Maybe I just didn't use enough love?
-
-Bobby Flay and Jacqui Malouf...though I understand he's ditched poor Jacqui...who is now forced to watch their past relationship over & over again on the FN. She's found her hell and it's the FoodNetwork.
I'm sorry, but Bobby is nuthin' without Jacqui. In the original Hot Off the Grill, she did all the talking and most of the prep work, while Bobby stayed in the background, flipping whatever it was he had on the grill. When they changed formats and ol' Bob got all buff and lost his little man-titties and took center stage, supported by assorted mafioso-type food purveyors like "Joey the Fish," I stopped watching. He just doesn't have enough personality to go it on his own; witness the dull Boy Meets Grill.
Granted, he did do a good job when he substitute-hosted for Sarah Moulton on Cooking Live Prime Time. He seems to be better on-camera when he's not scripted.
That said, here are my favorites, in random order:
Bourdain
David Rosengarten
Alton Brown
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (had a short-lived series on Food TV back in 1999 called TV Dinners and I was sorry to see it go)
the Two Fat Ladies (hubby and I dressed as them one Halloween!)
Jacques Torres (swoon)
un-favorites:
Aaron Sanchez (can't watch Melting Pot at all, in case he's on)
Rachael Ray (gag)
Sarah Moulton
Justin Wilson
-
Last night was almost entirely from A new Way to Cook by Sally Schneider
Have you tried the slow-roasted duck from that book? Delish! Next time I make it (will have to be in the winter, as I can't bear to have the oven on for 5 hours at this time of year), I'll serve it Peking duck-style with plum sauce and scallion brushes.
As for my dinner: last night it was mediocre meatballs and spaghetti from a local Baltimore joint (although not in L'il It'ly). Tonight was curried chicken salad made from a supermarket roast chicken, Japanese mayo, McCormick's curry powder, and a good tablespoon of mango chutney. I was going to make some mango lassi to go with, but we had beer instead.
-
4a) How much does Spaghetti and Meatballs cost at your favorite Italian-American restaurant? Taking into account that the food at restaurants in NYC tend to cost more due to high overhead, is $15 for Spaghetti and Meatballs too much money, cheap, or an appropriate amount?
After reading umpteen pages (well, I have 37 at the moment) of this thread over the last few weeks, I started jonesin' for spaghetti and meatballs. My husband is the pasta cook in our household, but we opted to go out last night to get our fix. I had hoped to come back to the egullet board and claim I had some fabulous meatballs for my $9.95, but sadly enough, they were rather dull. They had potential, if only they had been seasoned.... I was rather disappointed to come out of an Italian restaurant without garlic breath.
Cheaper than Mama's, but probably not half as tasty. If I can get my hands on some ground veal and pork, I'm going to try her recipe at home.
-
That guy is not so hot on the grill yet, but he is so hot it's almost insane. The camera likes him a lot better than Rocco, I think.
I've read several comments (elsewhere) about that young man being "hot." Funny, after the whole little kiss thing, my husband turned to me and said, "How cute. Maybe they can share their acne cream too."
Cruel, yes. But funnier than Pete!
-
I'm trying to understand the editing of the show. One two prior episodes they've shown Ripert eating at the restaurant. On this, the third time, they show him with Bourdain. Just how many times has Ripert eaten at this place? And if it's only once, why show the footage every week. I'm so confused!!
According to the latest post on Uzay Tumer's site, Ripert has been back to Rocco's, this time with Alain Ducasse!
-
Wonder if Ruth Reichl would feel similar vibes about him? about the food?
I've read somewhere that Rocco's food at Union Pacific made Ruth Reichl "moan" -- not sure what Rocco the man would do for Ms. Reichl.
I did notice Bourdain looking askance at some dish or another and saying, "that blows."I thought they panned to the octopus after that comment. Monsieur Bourdain, do you recall what blew?
-
Some folks just can't wear Birkenstocks; I am one of them. Never tried the clog styles, but the sandals just killed my feet. Since they come in whole sizes, and their cork footbeds are shaped to fit a "normal" whole size foot, those of us with odd-shaped/half-size/sensitive feet just can't bear the discomfort. I do have a pair of the Dansko clogs with backs, and I love them. I can't walk long distances in them, but they are great for standing for long stretches at a time, and they even have good traction. I wore them all winter, slogged through the umpteen feet of snow, even shoveled in them, and they held me up securely through it all.
-
It's a mark of sophistication, a boost to the local ego
That's the way it seems to be in Baltimore. There are currently plans to put another two Starbucks (including a drive-through) in the Towson area, within a mile radius of two existing Starbucks. It's sad that this is the closest we'll ever get to being like Manhattan.
That said, we have our own local coffee chain here, Donna's. They opened up before Starbucks made its presence known to us slow Baltimorons. At first, the coffee was pretty good; the house blend was a nice dark roast, and they did flavored coffees admirably well. As the chain grew (it became known as the "ubiquitous" Donna's) the quality of the brew fell considerably. Talk about tasting like ass!
By comparison, Starbucks is the java equivalent of manna from heaven. Here, that is. I've never had a good cup at a Starbucks in Seattle. -
I just finished Princess Sultana's Circle by Jean Sasson and Best Food Writing 2002 .
My current list:
Anita and Me -- Meera Syal
Japan: A Reinterpretation -- Patrick Smith
Hot Sour Salty Sweet
re-reading Kitchen Confidential
I'll probably start Bobby Gold soon.
- we have Jacques Pepin and Patrick O'Connell from Inn at Little Washington scheduled to speak and/or do book signings, plus plenty of non-food authors like David Baldacci, James Patterson, Michael Beschloss, Robert Caro, Pat Conroy, Wally Lamb, and Julie Andrews.Wally Lamb have a new book coming out??
-
A mere 237 cookbooks in my collection.
I like to read 'em like novels, from cover to cover. If I find a recipe that sounds special to me, I'll put a bookmark in that page. Sometimes I'll go back to it, sometimes not. As someone else posted, I "internalize" the book and then use what I've stored to cook from memory. I usually refer directly to a book if I have a particular ingredient I've never used before, or for baking recipes, but for the most part, I make stuff up as I go along.
I like to read celebrity cookbooks that are written in the voice of the author. Nigella Lawson's recipes are nothing special, and she takes most of them from other cookbooks, but the writing is really sexy. I could hear her speaking as I was reading. Another book I liked for that reason (although it wasn't sexy) was Mario Batali's Babbo Cookbook.
Frozen breads
in India: Cooking & Baking
Posted
I have purchased frozen rotis recently. The package admonished not to defrost before cooking, but I didn't even notice that I had put them in the fridge rather than the freezer when I got home. I found them the next day and put them in the freezer, thinking well, if I ruin them, I ruin them....
Despite the English warning, there were no cooking instructions in a language I could understand, just a picture of a frying pan. So I tossed a frozen circle onto a preheated, dry pan and watched the dough thaw into something obviously raw, then quickly cook. I flipped it once or twice to make sure both sides got done, and the bread puffed up like a balloon, which deflated as soon as I took them off the heat.
We ate them with some okra and cauliflower that I had spiced up in a vaguely Indian-esque way. Made me wish that there were other fast skillet breads available to the lazy Western cook!