I was given some dates, and I have no idea what to do with them! I will admit that I've never knowingly eaten dates. Since I hate to waste food, I've looked on a few recipe sites, but nothing has really inspired me. I'm up for sweet or savory applications. Do you cook with dates? How do you use them?
Good for you for asking! My fiance and I were at Chuck's last year on our last leg of a 5-week road trip. I was so hungry by the time we stopped for lunch that I really didn't care what sort of sandwich they gave me, as long as it was food. I think I opted for "chopped" because that's familiar bbq vocabulary from my youth in Texas. The cole slaw was a surprise, but it was tasty and gave me the strength to continue on home.
It's so nice to see Sweet Potatoes mentioned here on SE. While downtown Savannah is nice, some of the city's best gems are outside of the historic district. Sweet Potatoes and its sister restaurant Toucan Cafe are great examples of Savannah's local food.
Since I moved to Savannah five years ago, I have twice been offered shots of moonshine from a Mason jar kept in the hosts' freezers. Both experiences elicited an exclamation of "Dang! That's strong!" Any nuances of flavor were absolutely lost on me. I'm curious to try what Piedmont Distillers is selling commercially. However, something bought in the store elminates what I like best about moonshine- the usually shady story of how the precious Mason jar was acquired.
I feel like I'm late to the dance, but I'm finishing my master's degree this week. That makes life hectic. SE is always a wonderfully pleasant distraction when I need it!
Anyway, I'm jcwest47, aka Jenn. I live in Savannah, Georgia now, after growing up in Texas and living 6 years in Southern California. My first solo cooking experiences involved the lovely cookbook Microwave Cooking for Kids but soon I began reading Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines. I've been experimenting ever since. I discovered how much fun food blogs could be within the last year.
Although I am about to have my masters in library science, I am still trying to figure out how to have a career related to food without actually working in a restaurant. If only Savannah had a cookbook collection I could manage! And one of these days, I will join the legion and start my own food blog.
Thanks so much for all the wonderful suggestions! I'm looking forward to trying several of them this week.
I started to answer this question by thinking about the most useful, but I realized that I would have to keep the most sentimental in my collection.
First would definitely be the hand-written cookbook that my grandmother made for me from her recipe collection. Seventy years of East Texas cooking - it's priceless to me.
The Best of New Mexico Kitchens, given to me by my father on a family vacation to Taos.
And the only time I've had a recipe published. A State Fair of Texas cookbook that includes my prize-winning cookie recipe (kids division).
My fiance tends to eschew almost every vegetable. One night, early in our relationship, I decided to grill steaks and asparagus on the back porch, intending to hand him a plate of meat and enjoy the asparagus myself. To my delight, my fiance discovered then that loves grilled asparagus. Heaven help me if I try to cook it any other way. For him, it now must be grilled or nothing at all! And my preparation couldn't be simpler - olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly cracked pepper.
Dark, although milk chocolate has its delights, too.
For me, it's venison. I was about 12, and we had gone to dinner at a family friend's house. It was my first time to have venison, and I didn't really think it was great or terrible. However, the ancient, bottled poppyseed dressing that the hostess hauled out of the back of her fridge caused everyone in my family who tried it to get severe food poisoning. Because venison was involved in the meal, I haven't been able to stomach it in any form other than sausage ever since. (I think the spices in sausage trick my head into accepting it.) I also don't trust bottled poppyseed dressings, but I'll occasionally make homemade dressing without any lingering fears.
The kitchen really is my realm, and I've had to try to be gracious about sharing that space, even with my fiance. That said, here are the two gripes that came to mind.
While you are housesitting for us, please do not apparently use every bowl and knife in my kitchen, handwash everything, and pile all of the handwashed dishes on top of my good knives. (I supposed I should be grateful they didn't put my good knives in the dishwasher and that they actually washed the dishes.)
If you are boiling something and it boils over, please remember to come back and wipe down the stove top. It's not really my life's mission to follow you around the kitchen, cleaning up after you.
And as others have mentioned, do not even think about using my good knives for anything but cutting a food product. This does not include cutting into the packaging of said food product.
(Thanks for the fun topic!)
We did the CHIPPED special and threw in a CHOPPED too, but figured the CHIPPED ON A BLOCK was a quasi-combo of the two, and there was already enough beef to go around. The CHIPPED was moist, and the CHOPPED a bit dry, but either way it was decent (not the best barbecue experience of my life, but decent). I remember leaving pretty happy.
Part of that happiness was due to the framed photos of children covered in Chuck's sauce eating Chuck's meat, wearing baggy Chuck's shirts. They were definitely staged -- as in, I think a studio was involved -- and hung all over the walls. I didn't ask questions, just accepted the fact that sauce-covered toddlers were surrounding me, and forced to eat meat for a photo shoot.
Erin: What did you end up getting and how did you like it?
Chuck's is my local 'cue joint and while their sides generally leave something to be desired, their ribs and chopped pork are the second best I've found locally. The best was a real mom-n-pop shop (pop out back with the meat, mom working the register) that closed after only about 5 months in business. I'm still mourning the loss...
I'm Rosezilla (named for my three year old daughter and the giant lizard thing that stomped Tokyo...it's what I call her when she's being...how you say...willful). My real handle is Mandy. I live in Santa Barbara County again after growing up here, but lived for 11 years in western Sonoma County...home of fabulous food and wines. It spoiled me rotten, to become an adult surrounded by all of that luscious produce and foodie opportunity. I managed a microbrewery's kitchen for 6 years, and have SERIOUS opinions about ales, should anyone care for them. Now I'm a home cook primarily, although I do a little catering here and there. My daughter's favorite foods are salmon and broccoli, so I feel as though I've triumphed a bit over the three-year-old beige-food diet. We do, however, eat at McDonald's every Friday after school...it's our little Happy Meal indulgence...and those tiny cheeseburgers are SOOO good. I live with and cook for my mother, as well. I am dating a high school band director, who has actually LOST weight being with me, as he's eating more asparagus and less fast food. I think that size 14 should be the new size 6. I am curvy, healthy, happy and active...and think that excellent foods should be part of everyone's diet. I am active in the "S'Cool Food" movement here, which tries to bring local and sustainable healthy food into school cafeterias. And I love, love, love this website.
@alacto-- I grew up in Williamsburg! If you're still there, I'm quite jealous of your accessibility to Aroma's. I was a slave at the Cheese Shop for a few years, and while I can't stand the house dressing any more, oh the cheese and wine selection....mmmmm
Bro recently made these avocado eggrolls for a party. They are wonderful. We didn't use a sauce - no one noticed :D.
Whip 'em up and bring 'em down to the party!!
@kfarrel3: Hope you're enjoying Florence! I miss Antico Noe sandwiches so much :(
Mrs. L, a, ahem, 40 something (at least for two more weeks) who is just learning to cook and dealing with the fact that I own over 500 cookbooks (over 400 that have never been cooked from!). I live in San Jose CA and I see dead people for a living (no really, I manage a cremation business). I love serious eats to help me find out what's going on in the food world and to make me feel even more behind cuz I cook recipes I see here rather than open up one of my many cookbooks!
@NC Terry - I looooooooooove Zingerman's! Love love love! You have the best job.
Hi,
I just found this wonderful site -- I found a link at FoodNetwork.com. I live in New Hampshire, love cooking and experimenting with new types of dishes. As a cook, I've gone from a repeating 15-20 dishes to new dishes everyday (or so).
I'm particulary found of Ellie Krieger's Healthy Appetite, Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa.
I also collect cookbooks - and my favorite right now (non-FoodNetwork) is Gordon Hamersley's Bistro Cooking At Home. Gordon owns a local Bistro in nearby Boston.
Looking forward to a long association with you all!
Whewps... I forgot to mention we live in rural Oklahoma (about an hour away from Tulsa and Fayetteville, Arkansas).
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