Another North Carolinian!

[blbst36]

Hi everyone!  I just joined, but I knew about this site many years back.  I recently remembered it and decided to add a membership.  I have another community where I was asking for help with cooking related questions, but I am hoping that this community is more helpful.  You all seem sooo experienced.  I love to cook, but I mostly use cookbooks.  I can make some things without them, but not a lot.  I have around 80 cookbooks.  I am trying to use them to expand my knowledge and experience.  I recently bought Turkish cookbooks, so that will be my next adventure.

 

Some other details:

 - Single, so usually cooking for only me

 - Kind of a picky eater, but trying to change that

 - Can't cook fish to save my life

 - On a new nutrition plan that doesn't count calories, but does have specific goals for each meal with the goal of weight loss.  This makes recipes a unique challenge.  

 - Raised in the north, been in the south 10 years

 

I can't wait to start participating more!

[Smithy]

Welcome, @blbst36! I think you'll find this community very helpful; members range from professionals to enthusiastic amateurs, and they live in all parts of the world. (Well, I don't think we have anyone in Antarctica or Greenland.)  If you want help cooking fish, you'll find help here.  If you're just cooking for yourself most of the time and looking for strategies, there's a topic for that as well. You get the idea...we like to talk about food and drink.

 

Come on in, look around, and join the conversations!  If you need help finding things or figuring out how the forums work, don't hesitate to ask a host (I am one) by Personal Messenger or ask in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Hi @blbst36and welcome to eGullet! Nice to see someone from my neck of the woods join the forums.

 

I'm learning to cook for one as well, and it certainly is challenging. You'll find helpful, knowledgeable and nice folks here with a common interest in creating and eating good food of all kinds. I have learned so much from this site. 

[Yiannos]

Welcome to egullet from the opposite side of the country @blbst36! I agree with the above posts, there is so much great information on this site and from such wonderfully knowledgeable people on top of it. As someone who hasn't been around forever, the reading and learning seem to go on forever. I can't help much with your list, but as far as fish goes, for me it almost always comes down to "less is more".

 

Also as a Greek have to frown upon your choice of Turkish cooking literature

[blbst36]

23 minutes ago, Yiannos said:

Welcome to egullet from the opposite side of the country @blbst36! I agree with the above posts, there is so much great information on this site and from such wonderfully knowledgeable people on top of it. As someone who hasn't been around forever, the reading and learning seem to go on forever. I can't help much with your list, but as far as fish goes, for me it almost always comes down to "less is more".

 

Also as a Greek have to frown upon your choice of Turkish cooking literature

Hey now, I love my greek food, too.  Any suggestions on Greek cookbooks are welcome!  

[Kim Shook]

Welcome!  I think you've found the right place!  Questions are always welcome, I think, and many of the folks here are incredibly knowledgeable.

[Yiannos]

2 hours ago, blbst36 said:

Hey now, I love my greek food, too.  Any suggestions on Greek cookbooks are welcome!  

 

Lately I have been cooking from Diane Kochilas' Ikaria cookbook which I like very much. Very traditional and simple Greek food, but incredibly delicious and healthy at the same time. I am always sort of looking for Greek cookbooks and I am surprised at how few new ones there are anymore, a lot of the books I have come across are reprints of older editions (The Complete Greek Cookbook for example) or that kind of thing. To be honest it's not a huge issue, the Mediterranean is such a hodgepodge of cultures and ideas, whatever Turkish cookbooks you are reading (or say Persian, etc) will share a lot of the same tastes.

[blbst36]

Thanks for the suggestion!  I will check it out  

[suzilightning]

Ahhhhh.....Raleigh.  The first place I could get food that WASN'T fried after a year living in the south. 

Remember you don't have to buy cookbooks but can borrow from your library and see if they don't have the book they can borrow from another library.

Besides Greek there are some terrific Mediterranean cookbooks out there that can give you some ideas.

greetings.....suzi

[blbst36]

15 hours ago, suzilightning said:

Ahhhhh.....Raleigh.  The first place I could get food that WASN'T fried after a year living in the south. 

Remember you don't have to buy cookbooks but can borrow from your library and see if they don't have the book they can borrow from another library.

Besides Greek there are some terrific Mediterranean cookbooks out there that can give you some ideas.

greetings.....suzi

 

I am trying to eat all of the good food, but THERE'S SO MUCH!  LOL  I am located in a central location, so Cary and Durham are easily accessible to me.  I have been trying to go to a new place every weekend, but it doesn't always happen.

 

I'm ok buying cookbooks   I love them!!  I don't cook out of them immediately, usually, and I make a mess.  I don't think the library would appreciate a tzatziki covered cookbook back 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@blbst36,

 

If you're looking for ingredients to cook your own Mediterranean food at home, this place, Harmony Mediterranean Market in Cary, is very good. For restaurant food, there is Bosphorus and La Shish. I personally prefer Bosphorus, but La Shish is very popular as well. Baghdad Bakery makes a killer samoon bread fresh every day. 

 

There is Sea Depot, where you can buy fresh and local seafood. They will even fry it for you for takeout or you can carry your purchase back home and cook a delicious seafood dinner at home. The friendly family who owns this place is always willing to give you advice on cooking their seafood products. This recco is given with a word of caution, though. I once ordered clam strips here, and they were horrible and from the freezer, same for the fried mushrooms. Don't let them give you coleslaw as a side with a takeout order. It is most vile. You can't go wrong when you go for their fresh seafood choices, though. Just ask if you are having them fry something for you, and steer away from frozen choices. They also have frozen ducks intact with head and feet and frozen green lip mussels I've enjoyed. If you like oysters, they can deliver in the R months. My husband loved their hushpuppies, but I found them dense and I like mine fluffy with a little onion, which theirs do not have. Many wild caught choices available here, including catfish caught in Bond Lake right here in Cary. I recommend the fried okra as a side. Although the okra comes from the freezer, it's delicious.

 

We have a wealth of ethnic grocers and restaurants in Cary, and if I can help you with further info on any cuisine you are interested in, just let me know. 

[blbst36]

@Thanks for the Crepes - I LOVE Bosphorus!  That's what prompted the cookbook purchases!  I actually work down the street from there, off Weston Parkway.  Me and my co-workers are slowly exploring all the food options around here.  

I've been to La Shish.  It was ok - the hummus was a little salty.  With SO many other Mediterranean options, you kind of have to be perfect.  Although, the Indian place and Ethiopian place in the same shopping center are fabulous.

 

I will check out that store and the bakery.  Funny, the bakery came up in a search yesterday and I was like "Hmmmm".  If I am not buying seafood from the grocery store (I don't eat it very often), I tend to hit Earp's in Raleigh.  Good to have another option, though.

 

Thanks!

[asthasr]

Welcome to the board! I am also from NC, although I'm in the Charlotte region. I am jealous of your H-Mart (although we have Super G, which kind of makes up for it).