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czken's Profile

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Location: Seattle, WA / Liberec, Czech Rep.

About:

Favorite foods: Stir-fried meals;they're all things to all moods; elegant, basic, healthy, heart attack, vegetarian or not, fiery, curried, sweet, sour, kitchen sink or leftovers. Goes with any carb, easy on the wallet; hard to beat!

Last bite on earth: Vacilating between seaside and landlocked, I'm always in crave mode for fresh seafood. I'm asking for a "Fisherman's Platter" the night they execute me...

The Ten Most Recent Posts By czken

From Talk

Leg O Lamb

For the first time is several years, I will be home in my own kitchen at Easter. I'm already getting excited about the prospect of preparing my one and only leg of lamb for the year. It's been a long time so I'm looking for help (reipes to choose from) and maybe new ways to prepare the shank half of a previously frozen leg. What would you be serving to accompany it and how would you prepare them? This is one meal I love but have very limited knowledge in the "science" of getting it right. Thanks in advance...

From Talk

Plain 'Ol Coffee...

We've considered our drink & cheesecake choices. Is it reasonable we come clean about how we drink coffee? Caffeinated or, black or, sweetened, how many cups in a day, affect your sleep?
I drink about 4 cups a day with no problem sleeping. Just a little low-fat milk and a packet of Splenda. For years it was condensed milk and two sugars but no more.
By the way, let's exclude all talk about designer lattes. That can get way out of hand. I should know, being a Seattle native.

From Talk

Mayo or Miracle Whip?

A question every new household has to solve. Thankfully Best Foods mayo prevailed in ours! What about yours? Does the label matter to you?

From Talk

Off to Israel. Advice on places/dishes? St Peters fish lunch?

Our one and only two week holiday to Israel. We'd like your advice on value restaurants and must try dishes in Jerusalem. Anyone ever have a good St. Peter's fish lunch around Galilee at a place that wasn't serving 300 tourists at one time? We're on a tight budget too.

The Ten Most Recent Comments By czken

From Talk

Breadmaker

I use my baker in the same manner as chiffO. It does the hard work (I used to call it therapy...) and then I "handle" through the final stages in a regular loaf pan. One thing you might confirm is the order you add ingredients. My machine requires all of the liquids to start on the bottom and then work up into the dry during the kneeding cycles. One thing I do is open the machine early in the first knead and poke my finger into the dough to get a feel for the moisture content. If it needs more, I add it on the spot, a spoonful at a time. You should ome to love your new tool. It does take some personalizing so start approaching this as an artistic hobby instead of a scientific formula.

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

I use two wooden boards. They are both laminated hardwood that I clean thoroughly, oil and set outside in the sun for some uv rays about once every two months. One is about 8x12" and the second is about 14x21". I'm not too anal with them but I do clean everything after processing poultry and rinse them off between ingredients. I've used plastic in friend's kitchens and just never liked their "feel".

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: Cowgirl Cuisine

My mom was not an accomplished cook but she did have the goods on making a killer cornbread stuffing and giblet gravy for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Everyone of her four children inherited the secrets to those two sides. What none of us can rival is her fried chicken and potato salad. As much as all of us try, the secret to those two dished went to the grave with her ;~(
Every time I eat either of those two dishes, they are measured by her standard. Never to be forgotten...

From Talk

Making Paella - need a side dish!

IMHO, you can get your veggies into the paella. I'd be looking for something a bit unusual like a salad of cubed melons and avocados with a squeeze of citrus over it. Maybe something salty or spicy mixed in for contrast... Don't forget the sangria!

From Talk

meals for a new 1st time mom

With a beautiful baby of the size you've discribed, I'd find out what they've been eating and stay the course. It seems to have been working very well! Congratulations G-Ma...

From Talk

Is there a such thing as too much fried potato?

I think KFC was copying a huge favorite found in many a Czech home or restaurant. They pound a skinless chicken breast until it is uniformly flattened and then envelop it in grated potatoes, "hashbrown" style. Fry it on both sides until the potatoes are crisp and breast succulent. Hard to beat complete meal with a side salad. Sometimes garlic and/or marjoram are added to the potatoes before frying. Only a Philistine would plop it between two pieces of bread, or worse, a hamburger bun ;~(

From Talk

Frog Legs?

I must admit I've only eaten them once and that was decades ago so no expert here but I am wondering, does variety/species make a difference? You frog lovers, are there desirable and undesirable types? Does size or age make a difference? Skin on or skin off? are they as versatile as the poultry they are compared to? Better fried, grilled, stewed, steamed or baked...? Teach us something, please.

From Talk

Bye Bye Miss American pie!

A synthesis of both themes; Southern and American Pie, be sure to include one of the best of both worlds, a Pecan Pie!

From Talk

Do you love ripe melons? Which are your favorites?

I'm not too much of a melon expert so I tend to stay with the basics. My favorite is a well ripened, sweet cantaloupe. As a child, a neighbor introduced me to the part of heaven occupied by this treat with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream nested in its hollowed out center! While traveling in Latin America, I became accustomed to squeezing a lime or lemon over wedges of cantaloupe. It is one of my favored methods when I remember to buy both at the same time. Second place goes to the sweet honeydew. No particular reason, I just like its taste and texture. In the summertime, I often eat my weight in watermelon. From day one, I have always sprinkled my ample wedge with a dusting of salt. I get lots of reactions out of this practice but for me, watermelon is naked without it. I ascribe it to my southern roots since I learned this at my father's knee but really don't know if this is a common practice there or not as I've always lived in the North.

From Talk

Grape Jelly OR Orange Marmalade OR Strawberry Jam?

The attraction to jelly of any type has always escaped me. Strawberry is far too common a spread for me. If I'm going to add the calories, make it Homemade Blueberry Jam! Marmalade has always held a bit of sophisticated mystic for me (maybe its association with scones and english muffins...). After being reminded of the added bonus of potential glazes hanging in the wings, I'll cast my half-hearted vote with the Orange Marmalade Party but don't expect me to doorbell for you...

Responses to Comments by czken

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

I read it after I posted....and after years in food service...can I just saw ew?
I feel better about my wood now and the plastic one I do have may hit the trash or get used for some other non-food purpose.

Not telling the hubby though, he will use it as an excuse to not wash the dishes til next day..;-)

From Talk

Breadmaker

Thank you all. Really appreciate your tips. I wont' give up!!! Will keep trying till I get it right. Will keep you informed.
Thanks

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

^5 Wookie - spread the word! :D

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

@chiff--I read the article and sent it to my friends who favor the plastic over the wood.

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

@chiff - yep, I read it, and found it fascinating...it also made me happy because I don't own a single poly board:-).

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

Anyone remember a show with Graham Kerr where he used a glass cutting board? I couldn't hear that knife blade screeeeee, scratch, screeeee so I didn't watch it many times. That's got to be the absolute worst - glass.

PS - my dog knows the sound of my knife on my cutting board and generally joins me in the kitchen. That sound is Pavlovian for, "Come to the kitchen! Something might fall!"

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

@chiff; I did read the article and although I have an entire cabinet of varying types of cutting boards, I am wood all the way.

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

@chiff0....i've always used poly boards.....coz thats what i'm used to from work....but after readin that article from the nyt i think i'll be on the lookout for a wooden board !!!

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

I loved my wooden cutting board, but I began having slivers of wood in my food due to 10 years of heavy and reckless use. I started to feel weird bleaching my wood board, so when I finally threw my board out, I got a poly board. I don't know why, but I feel safer using bleach on something like that than wood. Any board I have has to have a channel for liquid since we eat/cut beef every day.

From Talk

Cutting Boards...

The sun treatment is something I've never heard before - what does it do to the boards?

I tried a bamboo board because BF got a corporate gift from someone and it included several scary, nasty cheeses and a beautiful bamboo board. Of course, the cheese went buh-bye but the board has become a favorite.

Did anyone read the article I linked?