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California Travel Suggestions
If San Jose is a "home base" of some sort, you may want to break your trip into a few separate journeys - separate trips to SF/Napa, Yosemite, Vegas/Socal wouldn't add a huge amount to your overall mileage, but might be a little easier if there's a free place to stay in San Jose.
Be aware of weather - if you do go from Yosemite to Vegas, there's the possibility that the "high road" could close if they get snow - the last time I planned a similar trip in December, it ended up closing.
Food-wise, it's a little overwhelming to address the whole state in one go, but here are a few general thoughts...
- Don't miss the street food movement, which is prominent in SF & LA.
- Don't miss farmers markets, again primarily SF & LA
- Napa is two places, the city and the valley. The town has a good market (Oxbow), and an amazing veg restaurant (Ubuntu). The valley is where the bucolic vineyard views are. There's great food, but it's not a particularly budget-friendly area.
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Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
Mmm, chicken pot pie. My comfort food meal of choice.
Any ideas for the Big Island?
Thanks everyone.
Not a huge fan of yelp - I trust Serious Eaters much more, but the blog is really helpful.
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Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Two Peter Luger Steaks
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I'm a fan of most olives, and my favorites are the wrinkly salt-cured black ones that I don't have a name for.
California Travel Suggestions
If San Jose is a "home base" of some sort, you may want to break your trip into a few separate journeys - separate trips to SF/Napa, Yosemite, Vegas/Socal wouldn't add a huge amount to your overall mileage, but might be a little easier if there's a free place to stay in San Jose.
Be aware of weather - if you do go from Yosemite to Vegas, there's the possibility that the "high road" could close if they get snow - the last time I planned a similar trip in December, it ended up closing.
Food-wise, it's a little overwhelming to address the whole state in one go, but here are a few general thoughts...
- Don't miss the street food movement, which is prominent in SF & LA.
- Don't miss farmers markets, again primarily SF & LA
- Napa is two places, the city and the valley. The town has a good market (Oxbow), and an amazing veg restaurant (Ubuntu). The valley is where the bucolic vineyard views are. There's great food, but it's not a particularly budget-friendly area.
-
Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
Mmm, chicken pot pie. My comfort food meal of choice.
Any ideas for the Big Island?
Thanks everyone.
Not a huge fan of yelp - I trust Serious Eaters much more, but the blog is really helpful.
What do I charge?
In the restaurant world, food costs are generally around a quarter of the retail price, so that might give you a starting point. Keep in mind that they're not paying retail, which you will be, so you'll probably need to have a lower markup to be competitive.
Obviously, the decorated cake is a different structure - then you're billing more for time than ingredients.
Cook the Book: The Southern Italian Table
Polenta with whatever else is around.
Fruit Loops served at Best Western...
I drove from California to Florida and back a couple of years ago, and had my fill of bad hotel breakfasts to choose from, but the one that I remember is the Best Western (I think) somewhere in Texas that had the do-your-own-waffle setup, but the waffle iron was in the shape of the state of Texas. I have a picture of that waffle somewhere.
Cook the Book: 'The Craft of Baking'
Suck a big ego on my part, but I make a chocolate caramel tart from an Emily Lucchetti recipe that I think is the best dessert ever. The Butterscotch Budino from Mozza is pretty amazing, though.
Cook the Book: 'Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon'
Bacon needs no "why."
It is in itself just good.
We love the bacon.
What bread or cracker do YOU eat with goat cheese?
In an ideal world, on a lightly toasted slice of La Brea Bakery fruit and nut loaf.
But, if you aren't able to get to LA, anything will do, but I do prefer bread to crackers for some reason. I do love my goat cheese.
Cook the Book: 'Dishing Up Vermont'
I'll go with my home state of Idaho, and rather than the predictable potatoes, I claim huckleberries as the greatest thing to eat. And they're better than the ones in Oregon. Fresh huckleberry pie is one of life's greatest pleasures.
Favorite Food fiction
I love Cooking for Mr. Latte. It's a fluffy chick-lit novel, but it's a fun read and filled with great food details. Amanda Hesser (formerly of the NYTimes food section) is the author, and it's a great guilty pleasure.
In fact, I think I'll pick up a paperback copy for an upcoming long flight!
steel cut oatmeal
One last hope - salt - I find that oatmeal needs quite a bit of salt to be palatable, but no one ever tells you to add it.
Chunky stuff helps with the texture, too. I like dried cherries and a little bit of the darkest brown sugar I can find.
But oatmeal bread is pretty tasty, so it's not a total loss even if you decide you really just can't eat it.
Cook the Book: 'Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book'
Mmmm, I love the pulled (really chopped) pork at Bounty Hunter in Napa. Tried and tried to get BBQ when I drove across the South, but failed miserably, so I've never had the real thing.
Grilling: Gazpacho
Made this, sans cucumber, as a grilled tomato soup and it was great. Served it hot the night we made it, and having the rest cold for lunch.
Cook the Book: 'Bite-Size Desserts'
It's a tie between the red velvet poppers (mini-cupcakes) from Milk in Los Angeles, and my own bite size chocolate & blood orange tartlets.
Heading to Sonoma - Must Eats (and Drink), Por Favor
I like El Dorado Kitchenette (the little coffee shop on the corner) for coffee, pastries, light & crazy cheap lunches.
The Girl & the Fig has the best cocktails, but the bar area is a little, well, French. El Dorado Kitchen has a better bar space, but I'm never wowed by the drinks. Food-wise, I don't find that there's a lot to choose between EDK, Estate, Girl & the Fig, Harvest Moon & Cafe La Haye - they're the big players in town, and all are good, but not always great. EDK is more contemporary Californian, Estate is Italian with good antipasto, G&F is French, Harvest Moon is Californian and more independent feeling, and Cafe La Haye is tiny & Italian.
The town of Napa is only about 20-25 minutes away, which opens up a ton of other options - personally, I'd rather go to Ubuntu or Bounty Hunter than just about anyplace in Sonoma.
For bargains, you'll find taco trucks practically outside the Fairmont, just pick one. Also in that area is a good, red-sauce Italian/pizza place called Mary's - they've been there for something like 50 years. And Barking Dog Roasters is right across the street from the Fairmont and has good coffee (take some beans home). Another good bargain(ish) place is Fremont Diner, which is on the highway a few miles south of town.
If you like the bike idea, you can rent bikes in town and go wine tasting - the bike place on Broadway by the high school will give you a map for a 10-13 mile loop that's pretty easy and takes you to several decent-to-good wineries.
Heading to Sonoma - Must Eats (and Drink), Por Favor
Help us out and define Sonoma - it's a town, it's a county, it's huge, and the different regions have a lot of different things to offer.
What do you make with your cast iron?
Bacon! If the seasoning looks a little iffy but it's not terribly rusty, just make a big batch of bacon. The fat and heat will work together to reinforce the seasoning.
I hate greens...HELP!
You could also put them in a polenta or fritatta, something where there would be other textures to focus on.
And are you eating the stems, too? If you chop the leaves and the stems separately, you can start the stems first, and then you have some textural contrast in the greens themselves.
Cook the Book: 'Canal House Cooking, Vol. 1'
One really good tomato, sliced, one a piece of really good bread, toasted. Sprinkle on a little salt, and if everything is perfect, it doesn't need anything else. Although a little goat cheese on the bread doesn't hurt!
What makes you feel better?
If I'm sick, it is (embarassingly) Lipton noodle soup, saltines and Tillamook cheddar cheese.
If I'm just generally tense or stressed, baking will usually snap me out of it. I have friends that will invite themselves over if they know I've had a bad day, just to see what appears out of the kitchen!
If I'm really stressed, just the act of going out for dinner will usually do the trick. There's just something soothing about being waited on!
How many times a day do you eat?
The constants in my (week)day are a latte for breakfast, and dinner around 7 or 8. And I pretty much have a coke when I get home from work/with dinner every day, unless we're having cocktails.
Aside from that, I'm all over the map. I might have a granola bar in the morning and a yogurt in the afternoon, or a few pieces of fruit, or I'll actually order lunch from work, which will be pizza or pasta. I try not to have any more coffee, but if I'm starving, I might run to Starbucks for another latte.
Cook the Book: 'Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies'
My success and disaster are all rolled into one. It was Thanksgiving a few years ago, and we had invited all of our friends that didn't have anyplace else to go. Dinner went fine, the actual dessert went fine, and then I had made little tarts and mini cupcakes - nibbles for the rest of the evening. They were gorgeous. Beautiful. Little tiny tarts filled with chocolate ganache and topped with homemade marshmallows or blood orange marmalade, the list went on and on.
And then someone got a little tipsy and a little inattentive with the Wii controller and smashed the bowl of a wine glass. Sending miniscule shards of glass across the room and my teensy tiny little desserts. You couldn't eat them without the definite risk of ingesting a bit of wine glass with your chocolate.
We threw every last one of the away.
Alcohol and ice cream: Help a Mormon out!
Vodka should serve your purpose nicely - it's relatively flavorless, but should do the trick. About 2 teaspoons per quart is what I use in sherbet, and won't be enough to taste or get a buzz from.
But it won't compensate for not enough sugar, so make sure you aren't cutting back too much on the sugar.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Oh, I love olives so very much. It's a toss-up between a buttery cerignola or the always delicious kalamatas...
Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
fajitas, hands down.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Never met an olive I didn't love. My current favorite is picholine. It will be something else next week...
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Yes, I'm boring, but I'll pop kalamata after kalamata in my mouth just like candy (but picholines are nice too, and Gaetas... )
Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
Layer sauerkraut in a casserole dish, place pork chops on top and season (I use cracked black pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika), cover with lid or seal with foil, bake in 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. I like to make mashed potatoes with it, but have also just done steamed veggies on the side.
Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
Grandy's roast beef, carrots, and mashed potatoes
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
young, fat, green cerignolas. and sadly those gross pimento stuffed ones in the grocery store
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I love kalamatas with pasta and manzanillas plain or chopped in soups
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
feta-stuffed green olives. or black oil cured ones. I love the oil most of all- I practically drink it if it's good enough.
Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
Mom's from-the-Campbell's-can versions of Chicken a la King and Beef Stroganoff!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I love the ones that have been pressed into oil. :)
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Picholine...or a big green one stuffed with a smoked almond. yum.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I love any kind of cured black or purple olives, but Gaeta and Alfonso are my favorites.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
picholine with a little lemon zest and red pepper....mmmmm, too good
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Kalamata are my favorite!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Definitely Kalamata, or ones stuffed with parmesan cheese...mmmm
Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'
Mom's homemade lasagna, bread, and apple pie.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Olive oil with pepper flakes
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Nicoise olives to eat out of hand.
A hand stuffed blue cheese green olive for my martini.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Lugano, for real.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I had to look it up because, like many other above, I'm not familiar with the names, but Lucque olive are quite tasty.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Kalamata but not in brine--must be oil cured
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I love those little arbequinas.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Kalamata or black cerignola or regular green pimento-stuffed, or garlic stuffed...
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
pimento stuffed "martini" olives. i used to suck the pimentos out then eat the olive--straight from the jar, when parents were drinking martinis
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Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Two Peter Luger Steaks
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, December 22, 2008 at 3:00 PM
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About cyberroo
Website: http://toomanydishes.blogspot.com/
Location: wine country
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I'm a fan of most olives, and my favorites are the wrinkly salt-cured black ones that I don't have a name for.