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The Ten Most Recent Comments By erichan726

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

How's 19/20 sound? :-p The only one I missed was the Cracklin' Oat Bran, probably because it was the only one I've never eaten.

I used to eat a lot of cereal as a kid. Not so much anymore - now that I have to buy my own food (darn adulthood) its just way too expensive for me most of the time. Besides, I try to avoid buying pre-processed, pre-packaged food as much as possible. Breakfast in my house is usually fruit or a homemade bagel.

From Required Eating

Espresso on Ice Is Not OK, and Other 'Restaurant Policies'

Honestly, it may seem like a stupid attitude and an annoying stand to make, but this is a private business and they have every right to create a policy like that and enforce it. If you don't like it, don't give them your business. If enough people feel the way you do, the place probably won't last very long, but there may be plenty of people who appreciate the quality of the product enough to relent to their rules. That's how capitalism and free enterprise work.

I definitely don't subscribe to the whole "the customer is always right" thing. If an independent business owner has that kind of faith in the quality and integrity of the product or service they sell, then they should have the right to defend that integrity and quality.

Obviously that doesn't excuse being a jerk about it, but I see nothing wrong with the rules being in place and the business owners adhering to them.

From Eating Out

Best Ice Cream in New England: Roadfood's Search

Well, having grown up in the New Haven area of CT, I'm sad that Ashley's ice cream seems not to have even been mentioned. However I've never been to any of the other locations, and however good I may think Ashley's is, its entirely possible that they just don't measure up. Its probably just nostalgia more than anything else for me :)

From Required Eating

How To Build a Cheap-Ass Grill for Under $10

We built a firepit this way for grilling kebabs, though it was a bit large and more complex - we made a bed of three cinderblocks on the bottom, then made a double row of red bricks around the outside to create a walled-in area for the charcoal. We left a very slight gap in between all the blocks to allow for some air flow, and it works fantastically. So far we've only used it for kebabs/skewers, laying them across the opening with one end on each side of the brick wall, but I'm sure you could also put a rack or even a rotisserie over it. We may try the rotisserie, but the rack we'll probably skip since we have an actual grill for that - mostly we just wanted the taste and experience of cooking over a literally open flame, and its perfect for that.

Anyway, the whole thing cost I think about $20-25 to make, so its maybe the slightly upgraded version of this one, but I think it'd be worth it for the extra options :-p

From Required Eating

'The Next Food Network Star,' Episode 6 Recap: Brownies, Not the Edible Kind

Am I the only one who never, ever wants to see any of these people get their own show? I haven't even watched more than 5 min of NFNS and I've had enough of them. As if Food TV needs anymore fluff shows... they've got plenty already that have bullied most of the really GOOD chefs off the air (or at least off the prime tv spots) and if I see one more super-perky Rachel Ray or Sandra Lee wannabe, I think I'll cry.

From Required Eating

Real Girls Eat Whatever They Want

Oh for christ's sake... I'm so sick of this kind of thing.

However, I want that shirt.

From Required Eating

What Are Your Recipe Deal Breakers?

I really can't think of an ingredient I'd call a deal breaker, mostly because I figure there is almost always something I can substitute to get a decent result (this comes from having food allergies to a lot of really common ingredients, like peanuts and bananas and lentils). In terms of technique, deep frying is usually a deal breaker, partially for health reasons, partially because of the inevitable mess during and after, partially because of the inherent difficulty and danger involved in actually doing it right. If a recipe calls for some complicated technique to make something that's essentially a garnish or whoe result is entirely aesthetic (ie not crucial to the taste of the dish) I'll generally skip it, but it won't stop me from making the recipe. Anything that requires tools I don't have (a pressure cooker, meat grinder, or a food processor larger than 2 cups, for example) has the definite possibility of being tossed, if I can't think of a way to fake it manually.

All things considered it takes a lot for me to shy away from a recipe - I like to think I'm pretty adaptable in the kitchen and do a decent job of winging it.

From Required Eating

Dunkin Donuts Pulls Rachael Ray Ad Due to Arab-Looking Scarf

I don't know what's scarier - the fact that the commercial was pulled because of such a ridiculous outcry, or the sheer number of people commenting on that article who clearly BELIEVE this idiocy.

I really worry about the future of mankind.

From Eating Out

Hold the Allergens

As someone with a similar, though not quite as long, laundry list of food allergies, I can totally relate to these women and what they were trying to accomplish. My peanut allergy is the worst - I don't dare go to Thai restaurants that I don't already know are safe (I have found a few here and there) because even if I communicate to my server about my allergy, the cooks invariably are not as attentive to the matter as they ought to be. I almost never venture to get anything anywhere that's deep-fried, for fear that peanut oil would be the frying fat of choice in that particular establishment.

The commenters on that article are jerks... not everyone ends up with food allergies because they were over-protected as children (I certainly wasn't!) and its not our fault that we have them. Its something we have to live with, and although I understand the frustration on the part of restaurant managers and chefs when confronted with these issues, implying that they were being unnecessarily demanding or saying that they're hypochondriacs is incredibly unfair.

Anyone who'd ever experienced a severe allergic reaction to their food because of a dangerous ingredient that they didn't know was there would never react that way.

From Required Eating

Top-Quality Drinks, Bargain-Rack Prices

I dunno about hard liquors, but I've found some great deals in the wine department. My favorite is the Barefoot Vineyards collection - in my liquor store (and I'm sure at most, if not all, others) they cash in at about $6.00 per bottle, and are often available for an amazing $15 for three. And honestly, everything they make is good. Several of their offerings have been rated 90 points and above. And I honestly think that their white zin is the best I've ever had - where most white zins, especially cheaper ones, are almost cloyingly sweet, theirs is still slightly tangy and very well balanced with a much more complex aroma. My other half and I buy their wines regularly and are never disappointed.

I'm also a big fan of the Luna di Luna blends and nearly all of the Yellow Tail reds, both of which I can usually get for about $12-13 for a double-sized bottle. (What is that, a liter? 1.5? dunno)

Responses to Comments by erichan726

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

19/20/ I mistook a Corn Flake for a Post Toastie. D'uh!

Ahh...Cracklin' Oat Bran! Best tasting cereal most easily confused with Purina Cat Chow.

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

17/20. And I'm hopelessly devoted to Rice Krispies.

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

15/20! I would have FAILED a year ago, but the craptasticness of my college dining hall has me well-versed in cereals by now. :)

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

I did the other quizzes, too. I completely bombed on the ice cream treat and candy quizzes. That can only mean one thing: I need to make friends with the ice cream man and eat more candy. LOL

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

15/20 after I second-guessed myself on a couple. You should always go with your first instinct! Oh man, why'd you show this to me? They have other ones for pasta, ice cream, ...

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

@feistyfoodie...I tend to like the less sugary cereals (even when I was a kid) and like you, didn't try frosted mini wheats until about a year ago. I still prefer the unfrosted variety though. And along with the higher price on cereal, have you noticed the incredible shrinking boxes?

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

I got 14, and was surprised... though one of them I wsn't paying attention. I've been really into Trader Joe's Yogurt-O's (strawberry) even though they raised the price like almost a whole $1 in the 2 months since I started eating it. Grrr. (From 1.99 to 2.79 a box... wtf? Actually last time I went I think it was 3.49... ridiculous) I LOVE raisin bran crunch, and I recently - unbelievable, I know - had frosted mini wheats for the first time. Why do they get soft so quickly though?

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

18/20, a true testament to the power of advertising, I've never had about half of these cereals.

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

@holdthemayo: I was thinking the same thing re: Seinfeld.

@thistlerk: I discovered Cracklin' Oat Bran at the cereal station in the dorms at college. Used to love that array of hamster-feeder bins—and the weird milk machine we had. Both probably long gone in the reno they did to my old dorm.

From Required Eating

Cereal Quiz

16/20 but only because my husband is a cereal fiend who eats pretty much all of those cereals. I prefer to stick with the Rice Chex, Special K, Corn Flakes, Cherrios route.