esmesbell’s Profile
Recent Comments
Place Setting from Hell
I love this drawing, but in fairness, what's so confusing about fancy place settings? Doesn't everyone know by now that you just use utensils from the outside in?
In Videos: Dogs Baking Bread
I loved those dogs when I was a kid. I will always have a soft spot for Weimareiners as a result. Even though they didn't preheat the oven.
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
@KarynMC: Yeah, that was my thought. But I had to laugh at this.
See more comments by esmesbell ยป
Recent Posts
esmesbell hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
esmesbell hasn't favorited a post yet.
Recent Polls
esmesbell hasn't answered any polls yet.
Recent Quizzes
esmesbell hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Place Setting from Hell
!roboppy: Me neither, but in case we ever do, that's how it works :)
Place Setting from Hell
I love this drawing, but in fairness, what's so confusing about fancy place settings? Doesn't everyone know by now that you just use utensils from the outside in?
In Videos: Dogs Baking Bread
I loved those dogs when I was a kid. I will always have a soft spot for Weimareiners as a result. Even though they didn't preheat the oven.
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
@KarynMC: Yeah, that was my thought. But I had to laugh at this.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
When I was in college, I spent a summer teaching in a rural village near the Sichuan/Yunnan border. On my first night, I was invited to dinner in a family home, where they served us the local specialty: big thick hunks of pure pork fat. I was reading Moby Dick at the time so I tried to pretend it was like the whale blubber Ishmael was so keen on, but I couldn't swallow it and ended up hiding the whole thing under my rice.
Mixed Review: King Arthur Flour Blueberry Sour Cream Scone Mix
Although I would not buy these mixes, I just want to say that I always enjoy reading these reviews. It would be fun to see more side-by-side comparisons of box mixes versus scratch recipes, though, especially in terms of price and time and effort involved.
What Do You Like to Read When Eating Solo?
I love to read about food while eating, and I eat most of my meals alone (not as sad as it sounds!). My favorite dining companion is Laurie Colwin - both her fiction and her food writing are delicious.
Cook the Book: The Essence of Chocolate
My aunt makes the most amazing flourless chocolate cake. It's like divine pudding and it's even better warm.
Valentine's Day Giveaway: Macarons from Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
Dark chocolate cookie with salted caramel filling.
Large-Scale Enticing Food Smells
When I was a kid, my school bus used to take us past someplace that smelled like Cheerios, which was delicious. This was in Buffalo, NY, but Google is not helping me figure out what this place might have been.
Cook the Book: 'The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook'
I'm not sure this counts, but I love baba ganoush - especially from the Wegmans' salad bar.
Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey Here!
The corn bread stuffing sounds delicious.
Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey Here!
Pumpkin pie brulee!
Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey Here!
The Cranberry, Pear, and Ginger chutney sounds delicious - I've never actually had chutney, but I love those three things, and it would certainly be better than the stuff shaped like the can I'll be getting this year.
Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey Here!
The Pumpkin Pie Brulee sounds amazing.
Sweet Tweaks Pumpkin Sponge Cake Round-Up: Cast Your Votes Now!
I vote for Pumpkin Sponge Cake with Salted Butter Caramel!
Korean Corn Ice Cream Novelty Fails
Oh my goodness, I miss the corn ice cream novelties I used to eat in Beijing. Those didn't have the chocolate shell or whatever that is, though - just mildly corn-flavored ice cream wrapped in something like a Communion wafer. On a stick!
Cook the Book: 'The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread'
I'm terrible at making cookies, but I do have a recipe for molasses cookies that always comes out beautifully, so those are my go-to when I get the urge to bake.
Cook the Book: 'The Shun Lee Cookbook'
Roast chicken and chocolate cake.
Win Fuchsia Dunlop's 'Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper'
I love any kind of boiled dumplings and there was this one restaurant in the Hongmiao district of Beijing that had the most amazing gong bao tofu - it was fried and crispy, with spicy sauce and crunchy peanuts. They also did a really good basi (caramelized) banana.
Cook the Book: 'Sweety Pies'
When I was ten I baked my first pie with blueberries we'd picked on a hike in the mountains. Unfortunately I tripped over a stone carrying my basket and spilled the berries. I was able to pick most of them up, but when my family tried the pie that night we found it was full of little white stones.
Cook the Book: Serves One
Whenever my roommate goes out of town, I make pancakes - which is sort of silly, since there are always leftovers, but they heat up fine in the toaster.
Do You Let Your Babysitter Order Pizza While You're Out?
I was probably about sixteen when I put a frozen pizza in the oven on a plastic plate. (The baby had cried a lot and I was harried and distracted and deeply, deeply stupid.) After awhile I noticed the smell of burning plastic and found that the plate had melted all over the oven. I scraped it off the rack and the oven floor, opened all the windows, turned on the fan, and ate the pizza.
I probably could have handled answering the door, but I'm not making any promises.
Large-Scale Enticing Food Smells
Hi I realize this is pretty late in the game to post but esmesbell mentioned the Cheerios smell in Buffalo, NY. It's from the General Mills Plant on the canal. They alternate between Cheerios and Coco Puffs.
Place Setting from Hell
@esmesbell: I almost never eat at restaurants with fancy place settings, so..yes, it can be confusing for me. :\
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
This video>the movie>the book.
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
LOL!!! its Serious Eats, but we shouldn't take this so seriously. this was funny!
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
holy CATS! yeah, i'd probably pay to see this.
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
Haha, well I confess that reading the *summary* of the 4th book in the series horrified the feminist in me, and watching the movie did not make me much happier. And vampires are my favorite monsters - it takes a lot to make me dislike a corny vampire story!
I did think the video was funny, don't get me wrong. But I think the cupcake would have read a little differently, because women's bodies aren't commonly objectified in cupcake-terms, where meat is often highly sexualized (real men eat meat, women are pieces of meat, annoying commercials, etc).
So video=funny, Twilight=suck (in more ways than one).
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
I just saw the movie about a month ago so it makes it even funnier. Funny shit
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
this totally made my day!!
In Videos: Twilight...With Cheeseburgers
This was hilarious!!!
I'll admit, I read and very much enjoyed the books...though I'm also very much aware of how cheesy they are. The movie was only cheesier, but what can I say? Sometimes I'm in the mood for something cheesy!
And now I want a cheeseburger...that will be my bit o' cheesiness for the day, I think.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
Thank you for participating, and congratulations to our winners:
lilyk
Ragdoll
cranberrycheese
bobcatsteph3
blisseau
Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page.
Large-Scale Enticing Food Smells
The only saving grace of my family's yearly road trips to California was passing through Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world, and the worst smell I've ever experienced was Lodi, which we never passed through again. Imagine every form of animal byproduct just waiting to pervade your senses for days.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
Five years ago I had the opportunity to travel to Thailand. While there I got to eat stir fried ants. It sounds gross but the ants didn't really have much taste to them (they were kinda lemon-y). I also had the chance to eat street food, mmmm... pad thai, so good.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
On my trip to Beijing I tried fried milk and it was quite tasty.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
Had an amazing goat cheese and tomato tart in Paris. Also tried escargot for the first time. Quite good.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
We tried camel in Tunisia, Africa.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
The Lake District in Great Britain. We hiked the fog shrouded hills from Farmhouse and/or pub to the next one on our itinerary.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
My husband and I traveled to South Africa on our honeymoon. We ate and drank ourselves sick over three weeks, but I think the most memorable meal was at this fish and chips shack right on the ocean. It had it's own pier, and we watched the boats bringing in the catch while we ate. Had a wonderful meal of fried hake with delicious Windhoek beer from Namibia. I'd go back right now if I could...
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
Just food from a street vendor in the Bahamas.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
Going back to my native Grenada. garrettsambo@aol.com
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
We visited Mexico last year and had a wonderful time. Got to eat some super mex food. Had super appetizer at one place called empanadas
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
I've never traveled before
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
Years ago, when I was a young teenager, I travelled to Shandong province in China accompanied by my older sister and cousins. It was a trip our parents sent us on to "discover our roots". Little did they know that the tour guides provided 10-15 1 liter bottles of beer at every meal as a sign of courtesy...made for interesting times at the hotel afterwards! Our distant relatives lived in a rural village and came unexpectedly to pick us up so we could stay with them and pay respects to our ancestors buried in a neighboring vineyard. We drove in a minibus on rough roads making little conversation with our limited mandarin. Hours into the trip my cousin and I severely needed a rest stop. The only thing around was a small farm where we stopped. The old farmer sat on a fence eating corn with black fingernails and nodded towards two old wooden walls facing the fields. We walked over to them and peeked over the other side. There was nothing there but a dozens of horseflies hovering over a hole with an ancient form of a sewage system...millions of worms which lived off excrement! Beggars cannot be choosers so we took turns swatting the horseflies off each other's bare bottoms. I've never felt closer to my cousin and it's always been a memory that makes me laugh out loud.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
I went to Mexico with my Grandmother as kid and her friend's granddaughter was offering me candy. Except what she was eating wasn't candy, it was Alka-Seltzer. I tried to explain in my broken Spanish that it wasn't candy but she didn't believe me.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
I had a wonderful meal in the historic part of San Juan, Puerto Rico that included flan and mufungo. It was delicious and the atmosphere was wonderful.
Cook the Book: 'Beyond the Great Wall'
When my sister and I were young and stupid we rented a pickup truck and drove across Honduras through very remote areas. It was a fantastic trip with lots of adventures (like the truck breaking down!)
Recent Posts
esmesbell hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
esmesbell hasn't favorited a post yet.
Polls
esmesbell hasn't answered any polls yet.
Quizzes
esmesbell hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
!roboppy: Me neither, but in case we ever do, that's how it works :)