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RichardCrystal's Profile

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Location: Baltimore

About: 54 years old, "partnered" for 28 years, work in real estate-related business.

Favorite foods: CARBS, CARBS, CARBS!!! BLOODY RED MEAT!!!

Last bite on earth: Prime rib from The Oregon Grille in Hunt Valley, Maryland

The Ten Most Recent Posts By RichardCrystal

From Talk

Rokeach Nyafat for Passover

Nowhere in Baltimore can I find Rokeach Nyafat. According to one of the men at 7-Mile Market it isn't being made any longer!!! Has anyone else heard about this? I can just see myself rendering chicken fat for chopped liver!

From Talk

What Would YOU Do?

Recently 10 of us went out to an upscale restaurant to celebrate my birthday. One of my friends informed the manager that he would like to have a slice of cake with a candle on it presented to me for desert. You know, the whole embarassing "Happy Birthday" to do. When the slice of cake came (which was supposed to have been complimentary) it was inedible. I later found out that it was something the chef had "experimented with" which he had no intention of serving. (A horrible cinnamon & chocolate concoction). When the bill arrived we had been charged $9.00 for the slice of cake. I asked our server about it and he said it was their practice to charge for the dessert in situations like this. Fine. However I mentioned to the manager that if we were going to pay for the cake I should have had a choice of what I wanted. The manager looked straight at me and said, "You're just trying to get something for free!" I was so taken aback that I paid the check myself and swore never to return. I don't have any recourse....do I?

From Talk

SMALL APPLIANCE DYING GROUND

I have a closet in my home that seems to have become a dying ground for small appliances. I can't part with them even though I hardly use them. Waffle irons, a few Farberware coffee pots, a mini processor and a cappuccino machine that was a gift are just a few. Does anyone else have the same thing?? After all you never know when you might need them!!

From Talk

Corned Beef Controversy

On my last visit to NYC some native friends and I were discussing the BEST places for corned beef in Manhattan. (Apparenlty my friends are too lazy to schlepp anywhere else). We all mentioned CB that we found too fatty, too lean, too hot, too cold but none were just right. And of course no one agreed with anyone else!
Any suggestions?????

From Talk

TOO BIG BAGELS?

Can someone tell me why bagels have gotten to be the size of hubcaps? They just seem to get bigger and bigger except for the horrible frozen ones at the market which no one eats anyway. And why can noone bake a bagel like he ones of my youth? Crusty outside, chewy inside!

The Ten Most Recent Comments By RichardCrystal

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

I just know I love it no matter what it's called. The only difference I can see is that the term "soul food" is simply more contemporary. When I think of soul food I think of the basics; fried chicken, greens, etc.
When I think of "southern cooking" for some reason I think of Nathalie Dupree. Remember her?

From Required Eating

Don't Mess With Mustard

Is this posted today because of Cinco de "Mayo"?

From Talk

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

From Required Eating

Grocery Ninja: Lotus Roots, Enlightenment, and Chomping on Culinary Crack

Rhizomes....I haven't heard that word since 9th grade biology.

From Talk

Do you send local treats to homesick family and friends?

Many years ago when I was stuck in Los Angeles (for 18 years!) my mom used to send me "care packages" filled with such local (Maryland) delicacies as Old Bay seasoning, Attman's corned beef (never lean!) and Goetze's Caramel Creams. We discovered that soft-shell carbs, belly lox and Berger cookies don't travel too well!! Oh, BTW whoizzit, I love boiled peanuts and used to have them sent from South Carolina!

From Talk

Favorite thing to eat with mayo

A lettuce and tomato sandwich. All fresh ingredients, full-fat mayo on fresh Wonder.
Why, Perky mah deah have y'all nevuh seen Paula Deen?

From Required Eating

Expert Ham-Taster, Not Expert Workers Rights Advocate

I'm sure as shootin' Miss Deen knows nothin' 'bout such things but if y'all talk about high-fat foods and lotsa bacon grease, she's yur gurl!
Ms. Deen is basically really good at one thing and one thing only and that my friends, is self promotion. What concerns Ms. Deen first and foremost is MONEY! That's as simple to figure out as her macaroni and cheese.

From Required Eating

How To Cook Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

Run under water for 15 minutes? My water bill is high enough, thank you! (Acually after following the cooking steps I immerse them in ice water for about 10-15 mins). Cookie, I thought coddled eggs were sort of like poached.

From Ed Levine Eats

Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 16: The Tale of the Scale

You're doing wonderfully and I admire that! Mazel Tov!
I can't help but wonder however, if you named your scale after that really creepy Stephen King (Richard Bachman) book of the same name! If so, I hope you have a healthier outcome!!

From Required Eating

In Design: Melamine: A Relic of Yesterday (with a Caveat for Today)

@Eatorama, you are absolutely correct! I had a set of those back in California and they were manufactured by a company called Texasware.

Responses to Comments by RichardCrystal

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

yes, fried chicken(La Jolla had fried chicken for lunch for about two months before we decided it was just too embarassing).

What could possibly be embarassing about fried chicken?

From Required Eating

Eating for Two: Recipe for a Boy or Girl

Thank you all! I am due in late August or early September. It will be a long, hot summer for me!

Dmarina, that is so interesting that you gained the most before you found out. So far I have been gaining a pound a week like clockwork (am exercising moderately and paying attention to what I eat but not depriving myself of anything) and am very curious to see whether I keep on so steady.

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

yes and no.
"soul food" is a blanket term--to different people it means different things.
a lot of the time, it refers to a sort of "home cooked" style found in a lot of Southern USA regional dishes.
another way of saying it might be to say that a lot of southern food is comfort food, but they are not the same thing at all.
It's also interesting to note that a wide variety of "Southern" food styles exist outside of the cliche "fried chicken and greens" type dishes a lot of people associate with the South. I've had the honor to work at both La Jolla and Garrett's, two Montgomery, Ala. restaurants specializing in "new" southern food--gourmet interpretations of all kinds of stuff, from fish to pasta to...yes, fried chicken(La Jolla had fried chicken for lunch for about two months before we decided it was just too embarassing).

From Required Eating

Paula Deen Is Trying To Kill Us

Next weeks show will feature Paula wearing a sensitive microphone over her heart so that we can all hear her aorta clogging up while she cooks.

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

Wookie -Thanks for the info. I lived in Alexandria area for years. Worked in hospitals in Hampton, Chesapeake and Va Beach areas. I asked your whereabouts because I like your comments on these talks. Enjoy the food up Nawth. yaya

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

@1stmakearoux, the only place I can think of is Cafe Habana, which is the only Cuban restaurant close to the river...their tres leches is awesome as well.

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

What is this chicken and waffles I keep hearing about. I'm intrigued.

It was interesting reading everyones remarks on this question-as I have wondered this myself.

From Eating Out

Best Date Shakes in Southern California

I live in Carpinteria, CA, which is a couple hours' (w/no traffic) drive from most of these spots, however, anyone who has driven through remembers Santa Claus lane, with the giant Frosty and Santa sitting atop the buildings, and a shop specializing in date shakes. It was an institution for years, and the date shakes were amazing...alas, I moved back to the area a year and a half ago (after 11 years in NorCal) to find that date shakes, Santa and Frosty were all gone, to make room for yet another yuppie wine bar with tiny overpriced tapas and bad wine at "good wine" prices. Santa now hawks used cars in Oxnard and I have no idea where Frosty absconded to with the date shakes.......sorry for the downer, folks, but the date shakes thread got me all goopy and nostalgic. (And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...)

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

@bitter I was in Philly last summer and went to a fabulous Cuban restaurant down by the river. Of course I can't recall the name, but it was truly like walking into a restaurant in Havana! Beautiful decor, great Cuban food (I had ropa vieja), reasonable prices, and attentive servers and manager.

My gf makes great picadillo when I can talk her into it!

From Talk

Is there a real difference between Soul Food & Southern Food

Best chicken and waffles - EVER - Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, Hollywood CA - and I know where of I speak because I've had Sylvia's too!!