Mmm.
I really liked your emphasis on texture and flavor profiles (so great!) when coming up with new recipes, but the inclusion of intelligent design really threw me.
I'm all for the rule of three, (and okay, food is definitely some people's religion ) but while equating 'rigorous testing' with evolution might make sense, linking 'inspired genius' with creationism does not.
Like, you couldn't come up with another Arts metaphor? Or go for a general metaphor with science as a process with variables and proofs, vs religion as unreplicable grace?
omg I want to go there!
Mmmm lefse....
@car1fsu @coffeesnob, I've only had it with sugar and butter too.
Gjetost is goat cheese that is orange/brown (I think because of the whey?). It tastes kind of caramel-y? Never seen it in a sauce, but that sounds delicious.
seconding New Haven!
Mmm Pepe's.....
Louis' Lunch- TINY place that claims to be the first hamburger restaurant. Only one item, but they do it well.
95- Do you like Seafood?
seconding Lenny and Joe's, in Westbrook. It's also easy to get on and off 95.
Johnny Ad's, in Old Saybrook. Drive-in. Cash only. CLAM ROLLS
PIt stops-
Danny's Drive-in, Stratford. This is a pit stop pit stop, no indoor seating. Great hot dogs and milkshakes.
Merritt Canteen, Bridgeport- burgers and hot dogs. (mmm crinkle fries) greasy, delicious, cheap
Philly-
Cheesesteak?! Philly native friend says Tony Luke's for hoagies, but another says John's Roast Pork is better.
DC-
Ben's Chili bowl, Tabard Inn, Ethiopic (Ethiopian. went there last time I was in dc and it was great) def check out the Eastern Market.
I think there's been a few DC restaurant rec lists on Talk. might want to look back for recommendations.
Seconding the trail mix!
I keep baggies of snack mix- almonds and dried apricots (sometimes + homemade granola and dark chocolate ) in my all pocketbooks and backpacks. Do you eat nuts?
Since you have a microwave at work (and an oven??) that broadens your choices, but nothing can really beat the immediacy of trail mix. Open bag, shovel into face.
TJ's tofu veggie burger.
Doesn't taste like a burger (none of them will, sorry!), but it's delicious.
@ajax32- I was surprised too! Middle Eastern cuisine was the first one that popped into my mind.
I'm not sure how regional differences stack up, but Syrian cuisine is very vegan friendly (ignoring all the lamb). Lunch at our local place is a spread of Baba ghanoush, hummus, sleek, and falafel - all pretty common and delicious.
Being allergic to walnuts at the Syrian place is depressing though- all the desserts!
@BitchinFixins yeah, I'll have what she's having
but a close second would be a classic Reuben
Woah. So many answers! I'm improved that you got through all of them!
@ whipped cream subst. for milk allergy- could also try coconut milk?
Chill a can of coconut milk. Leave behind any liquid, and whip the rest with a mixer for about 4min. The texture is pretty close to whipped cream, but it does taste like coconut!
@"Bread Improver"- It sounds like you might be looking for wheat gluten? I know people add it to bread ....It comes in little boxes at the grocery store near the flour (at it does where I am!).
yummmmmmmmmmm
fresh peaches are amazing! I like frozen grapes too. They're awesome because you can do the whole snacking thing and think 'I'm eating like 35 of these and it's still healthy!'
Sometimes I do a smoothie (fruit, yogurt, milk, maybe ice) for breakfast. I't s an actual meal, but it *feels* like a treat.
Small banana, frozen or just ripe, with a little drizzle of chocolate-peanut butter.... Mmm.
Murdock's Fudge and Mad Martha's. I was surprised they weren't mentioned, but I guess they're both island institutions.
Seconding The Bite! I had a dream about their belly clams not too long ago and woke up drooling.
I'd be interesting in seeing if the ppl who grew up with Skippy or Jif voted their childhood spread the highest or if some of them *gasp* switched sides!
"(Do we need to hold a flavored PB tasting next?)"
YES.
Can I please get some more recommendations for Chocolate Peanut Butter? (PB&Co win, but everything else I've tried has been *terrible*)
Mmmm peanut butter....
I never tried the regular Organic Santa Cruz, but I got their DARK ROASTED peanut butter awhile ago and remember LOVING it. That jar was gone in under a week.
Hey OP here,
@ all the kind folks Sorry, I should have said, what I have are the leftovers (pasta, sauce and cheese) from much larger boxes that were opened. The sauce and cheese are chilling in my fridge and the pasta in a bag on my counter. Local food banks don't take opened food, for good reason, so a donation is out of the question. :/
I was looking more for ideas on what to do with the spaghetti and sauce. Think like for a total cooking n00b! What do you do to doctor up plain spaghetti and tomato sauce?
@kagredon The eggs in hell looks really neat- putting it on the list!
OMG I forgot about Shake Shack!!
*head smack*
Thanks for the list reminder. I'd looked through the Midtown West one earlier, but gotten frustrated. I'll check out the Union Square section!
Oh I have terrible stories.
We're in the habit going out to dinner for friend's birthdays... (everyone else splits the birthday person's meal.) Awesome when you do family style (just divide it by 7 instead of 8) but other times it can be a nightmare.
Cheap college kids so we're almost always short on tip.... "I don't believe intips" or "I don't have money to tip." or "I always tip 10%" well, then you should stop eating out, and stick to going to Subway every day or maybe actually learn to make your own damn sandwich!
One time 14 people had Thai to celebrate and half the group had to leave before we totaled up the check. We called that car and tried to figure out how much each person put in. They were all like "Not my fault! I paid for mine!" Pretty much every single one had forgotten the tip AND THE TAX and there was maybe a ten or twenty mix up-- we ended up $45 short!
I'm never letting people leave before we pay again. It was such a mess and I'm still bitter about covering all their asses.
My boyfriend and I do the you pay, I pay, but he's wayy ahead of me in the paying department. Part of it is because he carries cash more often. (lots of cash only places), but also that he's the guy and feels like he should pay when he invited me out. I try to make up for it by cooking for him sometimes.
Worst:
FROYO or whatever- frozen yogurt. It has exploded in my neighborhood. Even with temperatures in the 20's, they seem to have booming business. It's good, but it's not that good!
Gluten free.... as a diet. Seriously? It's a disease, you idiots, not an excuse for you to use to avoid the bread basket!
"Natural". It's a buzzword that doesn't mean anything and I'm sick of seeing it.
Food blogs- I know this seems like a terrible thing to put on a worst of list, but I guess I'm tired of the amount of food blogs that are all doing the exact same thing, or maybe the food blogs from people that don't really cook anything.
I got a link to my friend's "awesome new food blog!!" and while I'm glad she's eating something other than carrots and rice cakes, I could really care less about what she puts in her oatmeal every morning. I'm not sure if I hate the blurry iphone camera photos or the hyper-pigmented close ups more.
Er, sorry if that seems really negative.
Best:
Eat veggies - There's been this huge push to eat more vegetables, whether it's eat vegetables with just meat, or vegetables without animals or vegetables that are grown nearby, and although I do find some methods a bit overexposed (spinach is a suuuuperfood!), I can't find anything wrong with larger and better produce sections and more vegetable sides at restaurants.
My friends ALWAYS make this cake (or cupcakes)...
Funfetti mix + can of sprite zero = egg-free fun for everyone's diet needs.
(if your diet likes sugar, sugar, and more fake sugar)
Bakes up light and fluffy and super sweet!
My boyfriend's non- veg.
I make him vegetarian chili (awesome and guys like it. Apparently chili is super manly even without meat). I make lentils or some easy Indian dishes too. That's fun because it's a bit different than what you might eat normally. Pasta and Pizza are always good.
Some one above mentioned quantity- so true, it doesn't matter what you make (he'll love it no matter what because you made it FOR him) as long as you make LOTS of it!!
If you're cooking a meat dish for him, chicken might be easiest? I find cooking and handling raw chicken to be a bit easier than some red meat. Also you can get chicken breasts at the store that require very little prep work.
Take chicken breasts, shake on some spices, and grill them in a pan with butter or oil on medium heat for 3 minutes each side. (cut them in half to check if they're white all the way through, white = done.)
You can also dredge them in milk and then bread crumbs first to make homemade chicken nuggets!
I think it's really sweet that you're cooking him dinner. :)
@Garden burger. YES! HATRED
Vegetarian going with a group of burger loving friends to Red Robin ( yeahhh bad call on my part). Not even a portabello or eggplant sandwich. the horrible Asian veggies with rice.... they offered a garden burger patty and, for the really unadventurous and tastebud less, you could replace it with a Bocca burger patty. Blegh!
Ridiculous menu choices. Unless you are a diner and offering breakfast all day (godsend!), your menu should not be 50 pages long and spanning 6 continents.
When menus are EXACTLY the same. Those chain restaurants, TGIF, Red Robin, Chili's, Apple bees, Ruby Tuesday, 99 House.... ITS THE SAME DAMN FOOD!
Pamela's in Oakland, Pittsburgh!
Mmmm hot cakes and lyonnaise potatoes :)
The Quaker Oats "vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies" with a sub of chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and toffee instead of raisins!
Sorry, man I wish Good Eats had a comment delete button- that was not edited or finished!
Basically: If you explain your situation most people (even smelly people) will try and find a way to accommodate you.
@Ewhiskers LOL and yes! Shoes should always BE ON!!
To everyone that keeps making a bid deal out of "oh, it's only a few hours, have some self control and eat after the plane ride!" -Let's be honest here. As some one way too cheap and poor to spend $7 on a plain sandwich, I always bring a granola bar or cookies and an apple onto a plane. I do think people should have common decency and not go crazy with what they bring on board, but if I want to eat I'm gonna eat, and I'm gonna eat what I want.. Don't tell me when and where I'm allowed to stuff food in my mouth. :P
However, I've also been on the other side and stuck sitting next to THAT person. You know the one, where you can still smell the tuna/onions/garlic sardines that they had for lunch? My advice to you suffering next-seaters-- Mint GUM!
About 99.5% of the time, if you offer someone gum they will take it. Dealing with EXTREME Mint blast is way better than whatever they had eaten before and much more polite than "you smell." :)
I have a very dear friend who is DEATHLY allergic to peanuts. When we went on a flight to California, the flight attendant made a announcement, making it very VERY clear that no one should eat or open anything with peanuts in it. Yeah there were those complainers (sorry folks!) and I did end up trading two homemade cookies for a peanut butter sandwich, but every one complied and no one died!
If you explain your situation most peopl
@Alijarose I know! Maybe we should start a support group for people that live places lacking in this awesome pasty. How about "Bereft of Bear claws" or wait, even better "Beareft of Bear claws"!!
@Your dad's pretty smart- Bear claws > doughnuts every time! ;) I checked Dean & Deluca's website and didn't see any bear claws, but that could just mean they don't sell them online.
I really want to hit up an Ethopian restaurant in DC while we're doing touristy stuff, and there are SO MANY choices. (it's an awesome problem to have.)
What's your favorite cheap place?
Closer to the Mall is better. We'll probably be walking.
So I recently came into possession of about 7 lbs of dry pasta (haven't actually weighed it), 2 large containers of tomato sauce and one large container of shredded cheese. These are leftovers from a sports team pasta dinner that started with 30lbs of spaghetti!
I froze half the tomato sauce, but even with my roommate helping me I have no idea how to start on the rest. The dry pasta will keep (thank god) but I figure why buy other starches when I'm cool with eating spaghetti on a regular basis.
So I could eat spaghetti with cheese and marinara sauce for the next month but that's really boring. I made a simplified eggplant parmigiana two nights ago, then mixed the plain spaghetti with some spinach, lemon zest, and baba ghanoush last night.
By the end of the week, I'll be out of ideas and might start making one of those macaroni sculptures....
Suggestions for easy VEGETARIAN spaghetti recipes for one person or a group (definitely a movie and pasta night before finals!) would be so helpful! Anything goes, but no super expensive ingredients or meat please!
Does Serious Eats have a map function?
Where I could input a location and see all the places that were reviewed or mentioned near it? That would be really handy.
So I'm going into the city tomorrow to pick up my eye glasses and catch a bus back to Pittsburgh. My route is Grand Central - Union Square (glasses) - Madison Square Garden (bus).
I'd rather stick to the Midtown area but a several blocks from either places is great- I have plenty of time.
Somewhere non touristy, under $15, and I'll eat anything. :) Where would you go?
I've had this problem for awhile and I figure you might be able to help.
Every time I go home from college I transit through the city: bus into Chinatown, then up to Grand Central to catch Metro North to CT.
When my mom used to commute into the city for work she would always bring my brother and I back pastries, so I try to continue the tradition. I get something sweet to bring home when I grab myself breakfast for the train.
Here's the problem though. My mom's favorite pastry is the Bear claw and I have NOT been able to find them. The kiosks in grand central have NO IDEA what I'm talking about -and it's Grand Central, so it seems like they should everything!
Traditional bakeries don't seem to stock them, Cupcake places are a bust, they're not popular/trendy enough to be randomly offered...I can't find a single place that makes them!
Where have all the Bear claws gone?
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@Grease @Kenji - okay, fully formed vs process makes much more sense. I see what you were getting at.
lol at jumping on Kenji over the trivial aspects of his analogues.