I'm in Chicago for business for 3 days next week. I'll be stuck at Navy Pier all day, does anyone have some recommendations for good breakfast and dinner places near Navy Pier? i know some neighborhoods in Chicago, but that isn't one of them.
It's too hot to cook. what are some good dinners I can make that don't require the stove or oven to be on for hours? My husband says he's sick of tuna salad, egg salad, and pasta salad. we do pretty good with pizza (oven is only on for around 20 minutes), and anything we can make in the toaster oven. what do you recommend that requires a heating element (oven, stove, wok, etc) to be on for 20 minutes or less? What do other serious eaters make at home when temps are 80+ degrees, and the AC is acting iffy? unfortunatley grilling is out for me, as i live in an aparmtent where grills are forbidden.
The good news is the little mixed herb planter i bought is doing great. so great, in fact, that i need to repot the plants into a larger planter. no problem.
but now i have more herbs that i know what to do with! no matter how much rosemary chicken and rosemary potatoes i cook, i'm still going to have rosemary coming out my ears. what's the best way to dry, or store this stuff, so i can use it later? like in the winter? i've got: sage, rosemary, lemon thyme, basil. the sage plant is gigantic! what do i do with it??
After a LONG winter, i got to spend about an hour at my local Farmer's Market this morning. they've been open for about a month, but it took me a while to get a free saturday morning. I'd forgotten how much i love going to the farmers market! i got sugar snap peas, the sweetest bibb lettuce i've ever had, cucumbers, beefsteak tomatoes (everyone had these cardboard signs that said "safe tomatoes"), potatoes, gigantic green onions, peppers, all sorts of good stuff!
do you have a farmer's market near you? do you enjoy going there? what's your favorite thing to buy there?
What tasty edibles do you grow in your garden? tomatoes? peppers? herbs? cucumbers? pumpkins? other tasty yummies?
right now i've just got basil and chives out there. the weather has finally turned, so i need to get my tomatoes, peppers, and anything else i have room for going!
i made my Mom's Meringue cookies for the first time last night, and would you believe it, they were a success!
but i think i got lucky. however, i've also been told there are certain things you should never do when making a meringue. Such as use a metal bowl, or metal utensils. I used a glass bowl, but my hand mixer has metal attachments. and then i used a plastic spoon to make the drop cookies.
Metal bowl not OK? plastic bowls not OK? metal mixer OK? plastic spatula/other utensils OK for meringues? What else should I know for next time?
original Iron Chef, or Iron Chef America, which do you like better?
and does anyone know if Food network (or any other station) is ever going to run the original Iron Chef again?
anyone have any tips / websites/ detailed instructions on steaming fish? i just had a magificent disaster involving attempting to steam fish.
my husband and I are pretty proud of the fact that we've got alot of our grocery shopping down a science. we know exactly how much ground turkey to buy to get 8 hambergers, we know how much deli lunch meat we can eat in a week. but the amounts always seem odd. for example, this was the conversation at the deli counter earlier today:
husband: I'd like nine tenths of a pound of such and such turkey please.
deli counter worker: so, like, a little more than three quarters?
husband: no, nine tenths of a pound, please.
deli counter worker: so, like, a little less than a pound?
husband: no, nine tenths of a pound. that's exactly how much my wife and I can eat before it goes bad.
the young lady behind the counter measured out slightly more than three quarters of a pound, and slightly less than one pound, and it was what it was. husband was almost afraid to ask for sliced cheese at this point.
here's my question: are we overly anal retentive about quantities (and shouldn't be), or does the average deli employee in my town not understand how to translate fractions to a digital scale? hubby and I were a little flabbergasted after this deli experience.
anyone else ask for odd amounts? do you get them? does the person behind the counter look at you like you're crazy? have you learned to stick with the basic quarter pound increments? should I learn to stick with the basic quarter pound increments, and just deal with it?
i love chickpeas. i eat those suckers right out of the can. i never met a chickpea i didn't want to eat.
my husband knows chickpeas are healthy for him, but he doesn't like hummus, doesn't like the "chickpea tabbouli" (exactly what it sounds like, swap the bulgar for chickpeas) I make, doesn't like chick-pea dishes where the chickpeas are the main attractions.
any suggestions for recipes that include chickpeas, but aren't chickpea centric?
went to a snazzy expensive restaurant with some college friends who were in town visiting their parents. We had dinner at her Mom's house, then went to this snazzy place for drinks and dessert.
i've never had a worse creme brulee. the custard part was tasteless, and the carmelized part was about a half inch thick. i was picking it out of my teeth the next day. i expected better from that restaraunt.
i used to go nuts for creme brulee, but i had it made badly too many times (quarter inch of custard underneath an inch of burnt sugar. yuck!).
Ever notice that a place that has the best dinners in the world just does so-so with desserts? or the places with killer cheesecake don't do much else? we'll get dinner somewhere, decline dessert, then hit our favorite coffee/cheesecake place for dessert.
Capers have a sharp, bitey, briney, almost overwhelming taste, so they go great with anything that is usually mild, like tuna salad or chicken. (I know lox isn't mild, but i love lox & capers in a bagel sandwich!)
we'll sautee up some chicken, then make a pan sauce with white wine, tomatoes, capers and some onion, reduce it down, and put it over the chicken. any extra sauce usually gets poured over tuna steaks the next day. is very tasty.
i'm also one of those freaks who eats capers right out of the jar.
unless they are obviously dirty (as in, i can see some dirt on 'em), I don't wash melons (or bananas, or kiwis, or oranges, or anything where i'm not going to eat the outside). why wash the rind, i'm not going to eat it.
foodborne illnesses, gunk on the rind getting onto my knife and then onto the melon, blah blah blah.
immune system. exposing it to itty bitty little melonny bits only makes it stronger. let it be known though, that i was also one of those kids who ate worms, dirt, orange rinds, acorns off the ground, and crabapples off the tree.
thanks for those links, they were most helpful. and that Fox and Obel place looks good to stock up the hotel mini-fridge for breakfast nibbles.
i'm not so much interested in eating at Navy Pier, as i am interested in something that's within bus/train/taxi distance of the Pier. i think the hotel is about 10 west of the Pier.
I'm happy to see i'm not the only Serious Eater who gets nervous about GMOs.
I hear plenty of horrible things about Monsanto, and GMO crops doing funny things to your body. what scares me even more is the idea of losing multiple strains of crops, because Monsanto or whoever gets there wish and has every farmer on earth growing their stuff. the fewer types of strains of wheat/ chickpeas/ millet/corn/whatever there are, the more likely an insect infestation, fungal infection, or crop failure can devestate entire countries, not the just the handful of farmers growing that strain that year.
for me, GMO = scary!
please have some plain normal coffee.
comfy chairs/sofas are a plus too.
i walk into some places, and i have to dig through a chalkboard of mochas, machiottos, cappucinoes, expressos, americans, lattes, frappacinos, frappa-lattes, capp-expresso, mocha latte. . .
i just want a cup of joe. medium or dark roast preferred. and if you can tell me a little bit about it before i buy it, that would rock my world.
my favorite coffee house in my city does that (they have the fancy stuff too). when i walk in, and look like i have no idea what i want (most of the time), they tell me what they are brewing that day, what it tastes like, where it's from, and often times will let me taste a sample or smell a bean. i wait in line to buy $13/lb central american coffee from these folks.
stuffed grape leaves. tabbouli and hummus with pita. kibbeh. lamb with wild rice pilaf. then more stuffed grape leaves (the ones with rice and currants, not the meat kind. they aren't as good).
vacation food?
fried chicken
ice cream sundaes
smoked fish
greasy potato chips with sour cream dip!
rhymes with yoke.
i don't say the "l" in salmon.
My husband says "melk" for the white liquid in the fridge that i drink in coffee.
a lady i work with is constantly talking about her brother-in-law who is a "pasture". took forever for us to realize she meant "pastor".
I worked as a pastry chef at a well known restaurant, and found that not another cook there had ever been taught any pastry skills - not even the executive chef. Before I left, I had to teach him and his sous chef how to make the desserts on the menu because they were planning to replace me with someone off the line. And that is why desserts in most restaurants are iffy!
I am looking for a 1950 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. I am hoping to replace my mothers. Thank you for any assistance.
Jackson
Another reason not to use pre-cut melons: when you put the leftover pieces (if any) in a container for later use, the rind from one slice will invariably touch the slice next to it.
It may sound weird to those of you who insist on NOT washing, but it absolutely isn't weird. Check out any of the YouTube videos re lemons and bacteria and you will immediately be washing every piece of fruit or vegetable in your fridge.
I agree, soap is probably not necessary, but that veggie wash or the water/vinegar combo will work well.
I have heard that soap can leave a residue. I always use this veggie wash spray - it does the trick (you should see the color of the water after I wash strawberries with this stuff!). http://www.veggie-wash.com/ I put my produce in a bowl, spray on a bit of the wash, run some water in the bowl and agitate for a minute or so, then rinse several times until the water is clear.
Re: food - I'm less interested in a full case of obviously stale processed/distributor stuff and far, FAR more interested in 4 or 5 freshly baked/made things. A cookie of the day, a bar of the day, a cake of the day, cinnamon buns and a pie of the day. Simple and delicious. I'd pay upwards of $5 for a really good, warmed cinnamon bun dripping with cream cheese frosting. I don't buy sandwiches from a coffee shop - what I want is somethign sweet to go with my coffee.
Re: Coffee - I'm with nursie. Fresh, good drip coffee is key, and so is a Caffeine Addict card. Iced coffee drinks shouldn't be watered down with too much ice: don't they have that cool cold-drip/cold press coffee maker that makes a concentrate that's perfect for iced drinks? Plus, using that concentrate gets rid of the nasty dregs at the bottom of my iced coffee cup. Bleh.
Caper berries are great on roasted fish. A little pan sauce made with butter, tomatoes, and big juicy caper berries is beautiful and can make even drab fish like tilapia taste good.
One of my most favorite desserts ever ordered is called "Study of Desserts" from a local fave restaurant. Dear god. It's so good. Has 3 desserts: Peanut Butter Banana Mousse Tart w/ Heath Bar crumbles; Drunken Smore w/ caramel drizzle; and chocolate brownie sundae w/ walnut caramel, irish coffee ice cream, and whipped cream. My BF and I decided to get dessert one day and ordered this. Could not believe how good it was.
I also like to order Creme Brulee and Chocolate Molten Cake and Cannoli.
Hmmm I haven't actually had them, but if they taste like bigger capers and you want to keep them whole, I would go with making appetizers. Like tossing some stuffed olives and almonds with them in a bowl to much on, or wrapping them in cheese or bacon or even roasted red pepper and putting a toothpick in it. Or maybe on top of some crackers with some sort of spread, like salmon or hummus. Alternatively, you could throw them whole in pasta, potato or egg salad.
Hope this helps
Thank you for participating, and congratulations to our winners:
Cataroo
MrKnish
beausdorei
kathyvegas
MerMade07
Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page.
Subscribe to our feeds:
Subscribe by email:
Website: http://www.read-eat-rinse-repeat.blogspot.com/
Location:
About:
Favorite foods:
Last bite on earth: