Serious Eats: jboylee's Profile

Video: Hambone Eating Strawberry Yogurt

Yogurt, the plain kind, is actually healthy for a dog. Our vet said we could give our puppy a big dollop of it once a day. Mainly we just provide it as a treat. And yes, the yogurt on the nose as a result of greedy slurping is hilarious.

jboylee at 5:31PM on 09/30/11

From Serious Eats

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Zingerman's Praise the Lard Gift Box

The day I stopped being a vegan and went to a diner and order a side of bacon. Best bacon ever.

jboylee at 3:51PM on 12/10/10

From Serious Eats

Seriously Asian: Why I'd Rather Eat Vegetarian Chicken than Mediocre Meat

As a former vegan and now happy omnivore, I have to agree and wax poetic about my love for soy-derived meats. I still eat them with abandon and much prefer them to about 90% of the real meat that's out there.

As long as you approach soy-meat as a unique, culinary treat unto itself and not compare it to meat, you will not be disappointed. I love the slight chew and give of soy-meat and the fact that it is infused with all the flavors and spices it is cooked. I have eaten far too many steak or chicken stir-fries with sanguine, stringy, flavorless meat. Too many bland, flaccid chicken salad sandwiches. Give me soy over cheap, poorly cooked animal protein any day.

We've been convinced by the meat industry to believe meat, in any sad, sorry form, is the penultimate in culinary delight.

But then again, nothing beats a tender, fall-off-the-bone, braised short rib.

Here is my culinary math equation.
Beautifully braised short rib > Soy Meat > Cheap Animal Protein

jboylee at 12:06PM on 12/10/10

From Serious Eats

The Nasty Bits: Ginkgo Nuts

Growing up in Flushing in the early 70s before the big wave of Asians moved in, my Korean mother and grandmother would drag us kids around the community collecting bags and bags of ginko nuts. All the jewish and hispanic local would stare at us as though we were crazy. Suffice it to say, as a child this was the height of embarassment. My mother always warned us never to touch the pulp with our barehands due to the blistering effects and she always said you had to wait until the nuts fell off the trees to ensure they were fully ripe. The nuts, when manually plucked or forced off the trees were unripe and thus too bitter. Ah, I love the taste of a warm, roasted ginko nut. Now that I live on the UWS with its lack of old Asian women, I feel a tinge of sadness when I see a sidewalk screwn with wasted ginko nuts just waiting to be picked up. Makes me want to go out there and get in touch with my inner thrifty Asian grandma.

jboylee at 10:24AM on 10/12/10

From Serious Eats

Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 116: A Bite-by-Bite Rundown of My Calorie Intake

As someone who has lost 35 lbs and maintained the loss for 15 years here are my thoughts.

1. You're not exercising nearly enough. Most studies have shown that inorder to maintain weight a person should be exercising 45-60 minutes most days at a moderate-intense level. Think elliptical machine. When I was in active weight loss mode I worked out about 1.5 - 2 hrs, 5-6 times a week. Now I exercise for 1 hour, 5 days a week. Usually running, vinyasa yoga, or spinning. Only real way to maintain your new low weight.

2. Though it doesn't matter where your calories come from (metabolically speaking 100 calories of pizza is the same as 100 calories of salad), you'll feel much more satisfied if you replace your calorie dense foods (pizza, ham sandwich) with foods that are less calorie dense (whole veggies and fruits). You'll get to eat more bulk and feel more full.

3. Sounds like you have plateaued. You are smaller now so you'll need to eat fewer calories then you did when you started your diet. When I lost all my weight I started with a 1500 calorie diet. My last two months were spent eating approximately 1200 calories a day.

4. What are you drinking? Water, diet soda, wine, beer. If you're drinking anything other than water or diet beverages you need to also compensate for the calories in your beverage.

Don't give yourself an out from real exercise just because you road your bike. Carve out a 1.5 hr window every day and force yourself to the gym...and then sweat. And when you do increase your workout intensity becareful of not eating more to compensate for the increase in energy output.

BTW, if you did a caloric analysis of your diet, you diet would not really be considered all that low. My guess is that you consumed over 2000 calories on Wednesday.

jboylee at 4:21PM on 04/23/10

From Talk

Eleven Madison Park

Laurelie, if you were 22 at the time that you went to EMP, I'm not surprised that they carded you. And I'm surprised you've never been carded anywhere else in the city. I'm 33 and I still get carded from time to time. It's NYC law to card anyone younger than 40. I'm not trying to blame you, but if you got very defensive when asked for ID, that may have tainted the way you experienced the rest of the evening.

As for my own experience with EMP, my fiancee and I are getting married later this year and our plan is to hold a very intimate dinner for family and friends in one of the private dining areas of a 4 star resturant. As part of our research, we had dinner at each 4 star (and 4-star level) resturant in the city in very quick succession - Per Se, Daniel, Le Bernardin et. al - and also had a viewing of each private dining room. EMP ended up blowing away the competition. Besides having the most stunning and beautiful private dining space (Per Se's is a little windowless, shoebox of a space - what's the point of being in the Time Warner Building?), the food was exceptional (way more fun and accessible than Daniel's while still feeling decadent), the service impeccable, and the atmosphere a nice balance of attentiveness and casualness.

The portions may be smaller than what most American's are accustomed to but given how many appetizers and other items you recieve inbetween the three courses, one cannot possibly leave hungry. Our meal consisted of:
- 5 small appetizers (including foie gras, sweetbreads, and a radish dipped in butter)
- a dozen cheese puffs (yum)
- amuse bouche of microgastronomy "tomato & mozzarella" - SO GOOD
- 2nd amuse bouche of lobster bisque
- assortment of bread (try the lemon thyme) with two kinds of butter - cow and goat
- our appetizers (course 1 - we had the gnocchi & shrimp roll)
- our main course (course 2 - suckling pig & halibut)
- a palette cleanser (a strawberry whipped thing)
- our desserts (course 3 - chocolate peanut butter palatte & cherry "cobbler")
- gratis mini-macaroons (as many as you want)
- gratis cognac (I don't drink but my fiancee said it was very good) - and they left the whole bottle to allow us to linger

Plus we got a small box of fruit pate when we left. All this for far less than what we paid at Daniel or Per Se. And Chef Humm visited our table towards the end of dinner to see how we were doing.

It was such a magical experience. I was thrilled to see EMP receive 4 stars this past week. So deserved.

jboylee at 12:37PM on 08/14/09

From Serious Eats

Served: No Sick Days in the Restaurant Biz

I'd imagine that knowingly allowing sick individuals to work would be some sort of health code violation. Anyone remember Typhoid Mary?

jboylee at 11:59AM on 02/03/09

From Serious Eats

Which Rice Cooker Should I Buy to Cook In?

Need to reinforce wookie's point. Traditional Asian families eat rice every day, usually three times a day. Growing up, my mother would make a huge 10 cup pot so that we kids could have rice all day long - whenever we were hungry. She'd fire up the rice cooker for a fresh batch each night for dinner. If Asian's had to make a pot of rice everytime they ate (or had to steam it in a tray in the oven!) they'd never get anything done. Think of the rice cooker as the Asian equivalent of the sliced loaves of bread sold in supermarkets. It provides easy sustanance whenever you need it.

Honestly, if you're goal is to cook with your rice cooker - and not to actually use it frequently to make rice - I'm not sure, it's worth the cost. A pot on a stove will accomplish the same thing. However, if you already have one - experiment away!

jboylee at 5:22PM on 10/02/08

From Serious Eats

Which Rice Cooker Should I Buy to Cook In?

Stay away from American brand rice cookers (black & decker et al.) - they are far inferior to the Asian brands. My boyfriend had one and the rice always stuck to the bowl and it did a bad job of keeping the rice warm.

Zojirushi is the brand most often sold in New York's asian markets. Everyone in my family has a Zojirushi. I've been told Panasonic also makes a good cooker.

My mother has used this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NSRNC-18A-Automatic-Cooker-Imprint/dp/B00005YXC1/ref=pd_sim_k_1
for years to cook all sorts of things...you just have to get used to the floral pattern. She even took it on vacation to Disneyworld and Paris. Don't try to seperate a korean mother and her rice cooker.

jboylee at 4:03PM on 10/02/08

From Talk

Shopsin's: Comical Rudeness

Most people in the service industry are nice because they "have to be" not because they want to. Having grown up in a small family business, I am witness to how oblivious customers are of their behavior and how rude they can be. People expect waiters and customer service people to completely bow down to them for minimum wage. Americans treat service people like shit and they don't even know it. Kenny Shopsin is just acting out in a way a lot of people in the service industry want to. Better to have Kenny yell at you to get out then have him spit in your food or worse.

That's the thing people don't get about New Yorkers - we don't shield our true feelings. If we don't like you, you know it but if we do, you also know it as well. I lived in the South, I was always frustrated with how people would be nice to your face but totally talked smack about you behind your back.

I was a regular at the Shopsin's on Bedford and I was always treated well, never yelled at or kicked out, and yes, they even accomodated my allergies.

jboylee at 11:29AM on 08/07/08

From Serious Eats

Dining in Portugal: Piling on the Not-So-Freebies

My boyfriend and I encountered the "couever" during our first lunch. We wised up by our second day and asked them to take all the plates away even before they hit the table. Portuguese food is good if simple. I was dreaming about garlic and spices by the time we ended our vacation.

jboylee at 2:22PM on 03/10/08

From Serious Eats