A coworker has had a family tragedy and we in the office are taking turns taking them meals. We've already got lasagna covered, and the key is to make something that freezes well, since the family is going to be in and out for the foreseeable future. Does anyone have any good ideas of unique casserole-type meals that will provide some wholesome comfort for these folks?
I had a great fresh margarita in Austin, TX, one time and ever since, I cannot stand the super-sugary mixes I get served in restaurants and find at the stores. I just tried making my own, and have an OK mix of fresh lime juice, triple sec and tequila sitting right next to me...anyone have any great recipes for making 'ritas out there? Suggestions on the ratio of ingredients? What's your favorite tequila?
That is what is in my kitchen right now. Am trying to figure out how to use them in a yummy dinner. suggestions?
The ultimate irony--I am a newspaper food writer (actually a political writer who does food on the side) and I just wrote a newspaper column about my favorite food blogs. I started writing for the food section mainly because I was disappointed that there was barely any local content. I have to fight the editor constantly to get across the point that the section should lead with images of FOOD, not cutesy stupid illustrations that come from either iStock or our idiot graphic designer (one recent one included a lot of puke green...on the FOOD front). I rarely use recipes from our food section, and although I have a huge cookbook collection, I find myself cooking most often from ideas and recipes found on blogs and sites like this. So yeah, the question of what is to become of the food sections (just like the rest of the paper) is one we really need to get off our butts and figure out.
To me, the airport is an excuse to buy a glossy food mag. Kitchen Confidential is on my reading list for 2008, and after reading these comments I'm really looking forward to it. A slim book that is easy to pick up in short sittings is Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking." It's beatifully written essays about various aspects of learning to cook and spending time in the kitchen. I loved Garlic and Sapphires, too.
The only thing I have settled on so far is dessert for our NYE dinner. That will be a rich chocolate bread pudding, adapted from a recipe out of Joy of Cooking. We'll be drinking a nice bottle of Champagne we've had for years, and probably eating a wonderful steak we were given for Christmas. The rest is still coming into focus. I can't wait for that chocolate goodness, though! If anyone has tips on baking bread putting for the first time (I do plan to put it in a water bath), fire away.
Allen & Sons is awesome...I had a bad date with a Dook guy one night at Spotted Dog, so can't remember what the food was like. I used to like to get a vegetable plate at Mama Dip's. I think a lot of the Franklin Street places have changed hands since I was in school there.
I also grow mint, and have not been very good about incorporating it into my culinary repertoire. What's your favorite mint recipe, sweet or non? Anyone made a good mint pesto? What are some unexpected ways I might use my mint?
Oh, and while I am thinking about it, if you want to see something scary, watch the Easter episode of "Semi Homemade" where Sandra makes a bunny rabbit cake. That has got to be the scariest looking bunny i have ever seen, covered with coconut and surrounded by jelly beans...words cannot do it justice, but it was so bad it was entertaining, so I guess that's why she stays on.
I really wish they would get rid of the "Secret Life of" and that show with Mark Summers that comes on after Alton. They are just total commercials for overprocessed foods, and come on at a time when I am in the mood to see someone actually doing stuff in the kitchen. Can we also move Sandra Lee out of the way in the afternoon lineup? On the rare occasion that I get home from work early, I enjoy Giada and Ina, then I have to put up with, "tablescapes" and other semi-crap before rachel ray takes over. Ray might not be my favorite, but she is at least bearable.
That first one makes me think of Dr. Seuss...I am quoting from memory here, so it's bound to be a little off, but in the song, "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch," I have always loved the line: "You're a triple-decker toadstool sandwich....with arsenic sauce!"
Chili and everything that I make in my slow cooker. I know some people think this is wrong, but I love leftover fried chicken straight out of the fridge!
I use a giant stack of papers, clippings, printouts and other junk that is slowly taking over a corner of my kitchen.
My husband and I read the local paper online but he insists on subscribing to it, only for the papers to pile up, unread, in the recycling bin. His reason -- and I agree -- is that we should pay for what we use. Several times he has written to the newspaper to suggest that they charge for full online access. But they don't get it... yet.
Sooner, rather than later, the old guard of newspaper publishers will figure out that paper and ink is as contemporary as wired telephones, modems and cassette machines.
I am a reporter at a small daily newspaper. My beat is education but I write for the food page on the side because it's something that interests me. Last week we lost yet another reporter so instead of writing for the food page, my efforts are now needed on other pages, my editors say.
Newspapers are a sad business to be a part of right now.
The suspense is killing us, bylime. What are your favorite food blogs?
First of all I have to recover from laughing sooo hard at the remarks from:
Nance- re: Sandra Lee on the Kwanzaa cake (topping in with corn nuts) please tell me your joking, I don't know if you or Sandra's Kwazaa cake recipe want to kill ME. rotfl.
Jensings- your comment also made me roll off the couch, well put.
Alssa- same as above
Thanks y'all for a very good laugh.
Now who I like:
Alton - becuz he is silly and informative, I like that.
Emeril- becuz of due respect, but he needs to (or has) retire, his "bam" has gotten a little too old.
Ina- like her soft spoken demure and her recipes seem very good, but did she make a pact with the devil? Read her bio eveything thing she did she is successful at... hmmmmmm. That nervous laugh does get to me though.
Tyler- tried some of his stuff....really good.
Sara Moulton- like her alot, she is so relaxed, I like her cooking, she teaches, and she covers UP!! I miss her.
Cat Cora-total professional, she is very pretty but like all chefs ( iam one myself) cover's UP!! She wears a chef coat. I like her demure and professional knowledge.
Anthony Bourdain- Love his shows, they tell the real shit that goes on in cultures.
Mario- real authentic chef. Love his shows and his foods. Wll miss him too.
Duff-I like but other then his oux and Mary Alice many of his workers seem liike there on drugs.
Guy- I like him. his show makes me sick becuz my city has very few diner, drive-ins and dives anymore( I live in Seattle). His other show I only saw a few times, but I liked what he made so far. He's funny.
Symon- I like him. He's professional and his giggles crack me up. I like his food.
Flay- His actual shows bore me to sleep but I do respect his success and I 'm sure his food is good. I hear good reviews about his restaurants.
Ming Tsi- I miss him, he too is a Pro. and I loved his show. I made a dish of his for Mother's Day once and it turned out great but man, I almost had to hop a plane to Asia to get some of the ingreds. for it.
Now for my dislikes:
Paula Deen- I like her home program (she's somewhat mellow) but the shit she makes.......
Paula's party- That is enough to make my ears bleed. Is she drunk on that show? She is flirting, forgetting what they are doing she is hamming it up. Nooooooooo!!
Robin What her name- Boring.
Giada- I liked her pogram when it first aired, but now it is a joke. Yes that phoney accent, the Farrah Fawcett smile, yes the low cut shirts. Shit she is making Italian food (maybe), she should be professional and wear a chef coat. You get shit all over yourself making Italian food. It's food food porn.
Sandra Lee- Ah wtf is she doing on FN? Yes she has a concept for making things go easy in the kitchen, yes someone above wrote that some chefs use canned this and that for fresh and its true, and that is good, but she can at least come through with some dishes that are homemade 100% for the times one has day off or special occasions ect. Anyone can open a box or packet and just add shit to it, but I thought the FN was to educate people how to make real dishes.
Bobblehead aka Rach Ray- She is over the top of WHAT???? Yes I play a game with my boyfriend, everytime 30 mins. airs we get beers ready and when she says her imfamous words "EVOO, sammies, delish, garbage bowl, awesome, eyeball it, giggles, ect., we take a drink. Guaranteed your tipsy (if not drunk) in 30 minutes. FN needs to restructure what their goal is really quick. Do they want the true chefs that really show people methods, ideas of real cooking or do they want to have circus acts like they are airing?
Also worth a shot is http//onetsp.com - a new site I've been building over the last few weeks. It's meant to be incredibly simple for you to collect and manage all of your recipes in one place.
An added benefit is that you can access your recipes from your mobile phone as well (http://onetsp.mobi). Sign up and give it a shot!
Personally, I'm almost 15lbs overweight at 145. The last 5 came on when I started dating chef BF. But damn, I am so freakin' happy. Totally worth it.
AARP bumper sticker:
Food has replaced sex in my life.
Now, I can't even get into my own pants.
Not in my case, I love to cook more than I love to eat... I'm more like a picky 5 year old when it comes to eating.
Carolina de Witte - chefs can taste if they want to, of course. Some do, some don't. Some do sometimes but not always.
I was never taught to taste during service before sending it out to a customer but rather to be sure that I knew ahead of time by smell and look and by focus on the initial prep and even ordering/checking in of goods that when in the process of putting out anywhere from four orders to 250 orders that they would be good and correct in taste just from the building "from the ground up" so to speak.
As executive chef I worked on instilling this same way of doing things in the chefs and cooks that worked for me. It requires a lot of standardization of recipe and focus on initial ingredients, along with an intensive structure that involves detailed production schedules and a well-trained team who are willing to work together. It's not just about the food itself, its about the people who are putting it together.
This takes away from "creativity" allowed in a free-form way, yes. But the guests get consistency.
It's a beautiful thing when a kitchen of ten can trust each other to come in and together put out a range of meals where some of the plates might be finely detailed "fine dining" and the other plates are fine banquet service for 50 hitting at the exact same time.
Granted, part of this is intuition. But most of it is training, teamwork, knowledge and consistently-implemented procedures that run from step A to step Z.
But to each their own, and to taste on an ongoing basis is one way of doing it, for sure.
But what I said is true and workable also. :)
@annien - well put. I only consider myself sort of a foodie and only for the past year and a half or so. The eating habits that keep me at the lower end of my weight range over the past five years? Cooking and eating more fresh/whole foods, paying attention to what I eat at every meal (for both the sake of making sure it's healthy *and* the sake of making sure it's delicious), and going out of my way to enjoy what I eat as much as possible. I do tend to eat a lot, I think, but I've learned to cook healthy things in a delicious way, so my little transition to being a foodie hasn't resulted in turning into a fattie.
@BangieB - you're right, there is no moral triumph to being thin. However, with the obesity problem being what it is, I think we all owe it to ourselves to try to be healthier (which usually results in being thinner, though being thin doesn't automatically mean being healthy).
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