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Sakura

  • Location: Twin Cities

Dear Oreo, What In The What Are You Thinking?

It makes me think they're ripping this off:
http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Would_85c6ae_3025298.jpeg

But in a really lame way. Ugh.

Dear Oreo, What In The What Are You Thinking?

What's with the "Shure, Bert!" line? It doesn't make any sense on the package and caught me off guard. How does this get approved??

Dinner near Empire State Building with a kid. Help!

@PickleCat great idea, thank you!

Grinding Beef - wasteful?

@McNormal - yep those little pieces of silverskin! It would take forever to cut that all out... Good ideas with the pusher.

@onepercent99 - I will try that next time! When I took off the ring there was meat in the very inside of where it sits next to the plate, since the plate got blocked from the silverskin it forced the meat out through the sides of the plate. No good. I'll try tightening it better next time.

Tacos: Hard or Soft?

Always hard shell. Unless it's a more authentic style taco with corn tortillas. But I love the crunchy texture to accompany the filling ingredients in the taco.

Ready Made Dinners

I have the same schedule and need quick and easy dinners if I want to eat at home (and not get takeout). Some recipes that work great for me:

Rice - With a rice cooker it's super easy to make a batch of rice and then quickly sauté some vegetables and chicken, or broil some salmon, or make a quick fried rice with leftover rice.

Eggs - omelettes are fast and easy. I'll make omelettes when I have some leftover vegetables, spinach, ham and cheese, etc.

BLTs - easy and fast.

Pasta - cook some pasta, add some sauce, done.

Also, I've learned to keep on hand some canned soups and a few frozen pizza, burrito, or entree items for those days when I get home late or just don't feel like cooking at all.

Doesn't sound very exciting, but during the week when there's just not the time and energy for anything else, it works.

Would this work?....

I don't see why not... sounds pretty good to me. I've roasted potatoes in duck fat from some duck confit I had, and that was delicious.

Melissa Roberts' Peanut Butter Noodles

I used to make a recipe just like this all the time in college - quick, cheap, and easy. And tasty! I just used rice noodles instead, no sugar, and vietnamese hot pepper sauce.

Meat Grinder Recommendations

Ebay is a great idea! I'm also looking on Craigslist. I always forget to use those sites. Thanks!

Shredded Chicken Ideas?

You could add some salsa verde to the shredded chicken and make tacos or burritos with it.

I also like the chicken salad idea from AnnieNT!

Seattle - Uneeda Burger or Oaxaca Tacos?

Thanks! Yes, I did know there are two locations. I'm planning on going to the one on Fremont for logistical purposes, but I suppose if one is better than the other I would make the trip...

SE Staff Picks: Our Detox Foods

You all know alchohol is a toxin right? So if you take "detox" in its literal sense then actually it's not far off base, as a lot of holiday indulgences include alcohol...

But, I couldn't say it better than @Kerosena - the term is not meant to be taken literally!

Minneapolis: Dull Flavors Trump the Hype at Black Sheep

Wow, I need to come out to NYC and try some real pizza I guess. I like Black Sheep. I think it's good for what we have in the Twin Cities though, there's only a handful of Neapolitan (and coal oven) style pizzerias around here.

Video: Burger King's Newest Commercial for the California Whopper

@goppenheim glad I'm not the only one who thought so! No thanks. I like the King better than this...

Yea or Nay: Coffee and Hamburgers

Eh why not. Especially if I'm having a burger for breakfast - which I will do once I find a place that serves breakfast at 8am!

T-Shirt: Burger's Inner Core

got one!

USA Today's '51 Great Burger Joints'

Disappointed with Minnesota's pick. Minnesota always gets poor representation when it comes to burgers.

McDonald's Hamburger Barely Changes After Sitting Out for 137 Days

I'm sure lots of things look like that after 137 days. No bigs.

Hidden gems of the cereal isle...

Kashi is getting a lot of love here. I really like the Kashi heart to heart cereal. Bear Naked is also great. Very healthy, tasty and filling.

AHT Giveaway: Case of Pat La Frieda Burgers

Jucy Lucy, medium. Yes it can be done.

Bedtime Hunger

I can't sleep if I go to bed hungry, so I'll eat a snack if I'm feeling hungry. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night HUNGRY and I get up and eat a piece of cheese. I think that happens when I don't eat much during the day, eat a lot for dinner, and then during the night my blood sugar crashes. Or maybe I just like cheese :)

The Trouble With Food Travel

Absolutely. That's part of what makes traveling such a special experience. If I could have everything at home that I've experienced when I've traveled it wouldn't be inspiring, or profound, or memorable. I don't often go back to places I've visited either, and I try not to be disappointed about not being able to have ____ again, because I know I'll have something just as special/great in a new place!

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Spring Vegetables?

That was fun! I like quizzes because I like to see how much I really know about food.

Where Do You Get Your Favorite Burger?

The Blue Door in St. Paul, MN

Thoughts on Culinary School?

Don't go. It's REALLY expensive and while it teaches good technical skills it doesn't do any good if you don't have practical experience. To be a chef you have it or you don't. Get some cooking / restaurant experience FIRST - and if he still wants it and can handle it then he should be able to advance his career by going to school, if need be. But many many chefs just work their way up. The culinary world is not like the corporate world. You don't need a degree.

Dinner near Empire State Building with a kid. Help!

I'm visiting NYC at the end of the month and am looking for a place to have dinner the first night there. We are staying near the ESB on Lexington and E 37th.

I'll be with my significant other and his 11 year old daughter, so looking for something kid-friendly that would still have food us grown-ups would like too.

We'll get to our hotel around 7:30pm and I'd like to go somewhere close where we can walk (or a short cab ride if the place is really great).

Any ideas would be great!

Grinding Beef - wasteful?

I just got a KitchenAid grinder attachment for the purpose of grinding meat. (Exciting!) Last night I tried grinding beef for my first time ever. (More exciting!) I had a 3lb chuck roast that I cut into chunks, partially froze it, froze the grinder attachments, etc. For the most part is went really well.

But - I found you really do have to remove every last little bit of any connective tissue. I had to clean out the grinder about 4 or 5 times because some little bits of connective tissue clogged the grinder plate.

I feel like I ended up throwing away quite a bit of trimmings. I couldn't scrape away every single muscle bit from the gristle and I feel a little guilty about wasting my good quality, local, organic chuck roast.

Is there something I can do to make better use of the meat? Is this normal?

p.s. I was going to weigh everything to get an exact measurement of how much I had to throw away, but my new scale I just bought didn't work!

Meat Grinder Recommendations

I am going to buy a manual meat grinder and am a little lost as to which model to buy. I plan to use it maybe once a month to grind beef for burgers and other meats for sausages.

Yes, I need a manual grinder - please don't recommend the KitchenAid attachment - I don't have a mixer and can't afford to buy one right now. (All the discussions I've seen on SE pretty much only recommend the attachment).

My local hardware store has a #10 Weston grinder which looks like a good buy, but all the reviews on Amazon for it are horrible!

Does anyone have recommendations or tips for buying a manual grinder?

Seattle - Uneeda Burger or Oaxaca Tacos?

I am driving from the SeaTac airport up to Mount Vernon this Saturday and want to stop at a few places on the way.

I'm going to Paseo for sure. Then should I go to Carta de Oaxaca or Uneeda Burger? If I go to Oaxaca, I could go to Uneeda Burger on my way back to Seattle on Sunday - is Uneeda Burger really worth it?

Any tips are appreciated - thanks!

Well Done Burgers - a Twin Cities thing?

I live in the Twin Cities. I'm finding that I rarely get a burger that is actually cooked the way I order it - MEDIUM. It always comes out well done. The only place that consistently delivers a medium burger is - get this - Champps. The national chain is better at cooking burgers than many other small independent places (which will remain nameless in this post).

So - is it just the Twin Cities that has a problem with delivering medium burgers?? From reading AHT it looks like other cities have many places that actually cook burgers rare ALL the time!

I read the post about sending back overcooked burgers, but I'd prefer not to send back a burger EVERY time I order one (except for at Champps). Ok, so what do you think? Is it just a problem in the Twin Cities or does this happen everywhere? Where do I have to go to get a medium burger the first time?

'Playin' in the Sprinkler' T-Shirt

'Playin' in the Sprinkler' T-Shirt

There are sprinklers that shoot out jets of water, and there are sprinklers that shoot out...sprinkles. Playin' In The Sprinkler is a new t-shirt from Threadless featuring a soft serve cone and a doughnut happily frolicking through a sprinkler of the decorative sort. Related Serious Eats Gift Guide: Food You Can Wear Serious Eats and Neighborhoodies Think Ups T-Shirt #1 Serious Eats Gift Guide: Apparel... More