Ages ago I bought a bag of skinless chicken breasts. Then, over time, they were buried in the freezer until I unearthed them yesterday. I thawed one to see if it was edible... and since the seal on the bag was apparently punctured by a fish carcass months ago, it has thawed into inedible leather.

My first instinct was to toss the lot, but on second thought I had the idea of trying to coax some level of flavor out of them by using them to make stock. I wont get any meat (or at least meat I would trust). Anyone try this or something similar? I don't want to waste aromatics on a fruitless pursuit, but I also don't want to waste a bag of meat.

I have the SE guides to pizza styles, hot dog styles, etc. bookmarked as good reference material.

I also noticed an old article with the label "Serious Cheese:". Was this planned to be a series? As someone who avoided cheese while learning to cook (OMG fat!), I never developed a real understanding of the umpteen thousand cheese varieties. Considering the ubiquitous nature of cheese, a SE series on cheese sounds awesome. Was it ever planned? Would it be considered? Or am I alone in thinking this would be awesome?

Just saw this. Any thoughts? Brilliant? WTF? Unholy?

Personally, I am intrigued.

Meatza

Simple topic. Consider 3 situations:

1) At home, with quality beans.
2) At a coffee shop.
3) At a place of mass brewing of mediocre beans (work break room, diner, etc.)

For me its:
1) Black as night.
2) With a touch of milk to cut the (usually) poor brewing.
3) With a touch of salt.

How about you guys?

I get most of my daily carbs from fruit, and so am constantly throwing out fruit pits. I have seen several fruit pits and seeds roasted and sold (apricot, punpkin, etc.), but as I was halving one of my favorite foods - avocado - it struck me that I never actually researched which pits are edible and tasty. Have you ever roasted an avocado pit or something even more bizarre? If so, how did it turn out?

So I am attending a week long workshop on optimization algorith... math, in Raleigh, NC.

Now obviously, I must get some Q while I am in the Carolina's, but I would love to sample as much local flavor as possible. Has anyone been to/live in the area who could recommend places to go?

So with all the fresh produce coming out, I find myself in the situation of having too much excellent berries, rhubarb, mint, etc. to eat before it goes bad. In the past I have frozen the ones that take well to freezing, but the other day I had an idea.

I love infusing liquors, and have been known to drop coffee grinds, pepper, vanilla, tea leaves and the like into the drink to extract extra flavors. I have not, however, done this with fruit or non-dried herbs, and so I am now trying some basic vodka infusions on my excess produce.

Has anyone tried this procedure on fresh produce? If so, what did you do and how did it turn out?