I read the NYT article about Caravane, the camel milk cheese that's beginning to be imported to the US. Needless to say, as a dyed-in-wool cheese freak I'm desperate to try it. However, not living in NYC I'm unable to avail myself of the suppliers listed in the article. I checked each one's website to see if I could order it by mail, but alas I could not. Does anybody know how I might be able to get me summa dat? Thanks!
Hi all! I know that we mostly worship the Holy Duality of All Clad/Le Creuset around here :-), but I was curious to see if anybody else has any Le Gourmet Chef in their collection. As I wrote on the "Best. Gift. Ever." thread:
"My partner, who doesn't know Le Creuset from demi-glace, surprised me with a new stock pot for my birthday a few weeks ago. What makes it such a wonderful gift is that he knows absolutely nothing about food, and was terrified and intimidated about making the purchase. But he'd heard me whining about needing a new stock pot and not being able to afford one, and so, determined to procure a special gift for my birthday, he girded his loins and took the plunge. He ended up giving me a Le Gourmet Chef from the outlet at the Mall of America. He didn't know it when he gave it to me, but it's evidently a tri-ply All-Clad knock-off that is, as far as I can tell, just as good for a third of the price. It's been performing beautifully, and I'm in love. And my man, who was all white-knuckle terror that he might have messed up when he gave me the gift (even though I would, of course, have said that I loved whatever he got me), is thrilled."
Since it's always nice for the impoverished amongst us to have affordable options for effective cookware, I wanted to see what the rest of y'all's experience with this admittedly less-than-trust-inducingly-named line has been. Comments?
1. Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and a global market within ten minutes' drive; several farmer's markets and CSA's, a Rainbow Foods five minutes away, the Wedge Co-op a seven minute walk away, and a Kowalski's next door.
2. Yup - I have a wonderful CSA in the summer, but without Trader Joe's there'd be no way I could afford as much organic food as I buy. When I can't get there for whatever reason, I try to buy organic if it's not too terribly expensive, but TJ's really enables good eating habits for me.
3. N/A
4. not all that much so far, but I tend to be very economical in my purchases anyway. I think I've been doing organic a bit less.
5. nope
6. MN - Twin Cities
I have a fantastic leak-proof travel mug that I pack soups, stews, various noodle dishes, salads, etc. in every day. I slide it into my purse on its side, and nary a drop has ever escaped. It's compact, environmentally friendly, and opens me up to pretty much any one-pot meal imaginable. Plus, there's automatic portion control :-). I usually made a big vat of something or other at the beginning of the week (this week, it's korean beef and noodles). I think I got mine at Sur la Table - it's made by Oxo, but I don't know any more than that. Head to a really good kitchen store and tell them you need an absolutely leak-proof mug; they'll point you in the right direction. As I recall, it was a bit pricey, but it's paid for itself many, many times over. Best of luck with your new job!!! :
"When I'm planning on being excessively bored, I always prefer snacks to meals. Sometimes eating is the best entertainment you'll have for a while, so why not drag it out?>>
Lol - I concur!"
Is what I *meant* to post.
In response to Hilary: As a veteran of many Greyhound marathons, I can definitely say - expect the worst. The food facilities will be worse than you think, the people on board will be worse than you think (once you leave the Northeast the passengers get sketchier by several orders of magnitude), and the service will be worse - made sure you know exactly where you're going, have your luggage with you at all times, and don't be afraid to ask the drivers and staff at the bus stations many questions, even the same ones over and over, even if they yell at you - it's not being shrill and high-maintenance; I've saved myself from being shipped off to parts unknown several times this way. Keep checking the schedule, and don't relax until your driver actually says "this bus is headed to so-and-so." If they try to route you someplace else, ask why, and don't stop till you have a straight answer - again, even if they yell at you. (Oh, I could tell you stories ... many, many, many stories ...)
Other tips: try to look as dirty, unattractive, and unlikely to have money as you can - trust me, it'll cut way down on harassment. Keep your cell charged. And if you're a woman traveling alone, it's definitely preferable to have two seats to yourself if possible - so when you get on the bus, or when it stops to pick up more passengers, lay yourself across both seats and pretend to be asleep till everyone's seated. Won't help if the bus fills up, but it'll keep you comfortable as long as possible. Oh, and the buses can smell pretty bad, so if you're sensitive to smells you should definitely think about bringing some kind of essential oil you can dab on yourself. It also really helps to carry a blanket or two, since we're out of coat weather - you need something between your head and the window and/or the seat bar when you're resting (you could even kill two birds with one stone and douse the blanket with your favorite scent). And dress in layers, like you would on a plane, since temp can be unpredictable.
Stay safe! Hopefully I haven't scared you too much ... it's often unpleasant, yes, but if you use common sense it's not so dangerous - there are, after all, lots of people around all the time. And it'll be an adventure to remember!
One last thing - bring your own toilet paper; the bathrooms are usually out. And disinfectant gel. I'm normally against disinfectant gel because it contributes to the development of superbugs, etc., but once you see the bathrooms on the buses and in the stations you'll understand.
Good luck!
My mom doesn't cook much, and her reperoire is quite narrow, but the few things she does make are her own recipes (with the exception of my grandma's chicken soup and kneidlach), and are fabulous. I have two favorites: 1) Her cottage fries, which are liberally doused in spicy paprika, covered in oil, and fried with onions until there's a glorious mixture of soft and cripsy in the pan. No other cottage fries I've ever tasted have even come close. 2) Her meat sauce, which is utterly dissimilar, and to my mind, way better, than traditional ragu. The meat is the main star of her concoction, with only a teensy bit of tomato sauce to amp up the juices. She cooks it in a skillet along with green peppers, mushrooms, worcester sauce, liberal amounts of oregano, and who knows what else. Served over linguine, it's the best Shabbat meal in the whole world!
Oh, and she knows her way around a capon better than anyone I've else I've ever encountered, too :-)
My chevre, persimmon, and caramelized balsamic vinaigrette bruschetta
You can make individual eggs benedicts. There are lots of wacky things you can do to jazz them up - use duck eggs, truffle oil, interesting & exotic meats (even foie gras!), bearnaise instead of hollandaise, etc. Just keep the sauce in a separate container, throw it in the microwave when you get to work, and pour it on.
One of my favorite breakfasts is turkish-style eggs with yogurt. Fry some eggs over-easy, and whip up a sauce by mixing plain yogurt with garlic and a smidge of salt. The kicker is butter melted with tangy, fruity Turkish red pepper flakes (Aleppo or Maras) poured over the top. Deliriously good, and would probably be fantastic over hash browns or even Israeli cous cous (with maybe some spinach mixed in?).
Speaking of things Israeli, I love, love, love shakshuka, which is basically eggs cooked in a spicy tomato-pepper sauce. Flavorful, slightly exotic, and yet somehow incredibly comforting. Even better would be to stuff it into some good pita bread and eat it like a sandwich (they don't really sell good pita in this country, so to get the full Israeli pita experience it would actually probably be better to use naan - it's the closest you can come to the white, fluffy, pillowy - dare I say breastlike? - pitas available in Israel.
Lavender cookies with rose-flavored glaze. One of my standby favorites and so perfect for spring! I use u/s butter instead of margarine. Since rosewater can be pricey if you don't go to an Indian or Middle Eastern grocery store (it's dirt cheap if you do), you could always make a glaze with lemon juice instead. Or go nekkid.
http://www.jbinc.com/cgi-bin/sefer.pl?display:08000001-0703.txt
I love French onion soup flavored with white wine instead of beef stock.
Oh - how about pasta cooked in red wine instead of water? If that freaks you out, you could also just cook it most of the way in water and then cook it for the last couple of minutes in the wine. Add some goat cheese or parm reg, maybe some pine nuts, maybe some basil, and you're good to go. (For some bizarre reason, I have an urge to suggest topping the red wine pasta with goat cheese and grated dark Scharffen Berger. Could be gross, but I can't stop thinking about it. Now I've managed to pique my own curiosity ... may have to try it meself.)
Also, here's a recipe for fennel with wine and honey, if you're thinking of going the side dish route: http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1608739
(Actually, come to think of it, you could even make your own ravioli - or buy, no shame in it - stuffed with cheese, nuts, chocolate, herbs, whatever, and then cook *that* in red wine ...)
To paraphrase an old colleague:
Tacroy80 perseverates and everybody knows it ...
Tacroy80 perseverates and everybody knows it ...
Tacroy80 perseverates and everybody knows it ...
probably skirt steak marinated in mustard, so good!
There were four of us and on our Birthday my Mom always made a cake in the shape of an animal. There were bunnies, cats an even a clown. I don't know where she got her ideas.
My mother used to make a terrific chicken spaghetti. It was much different than traditional spaghetti with meat sauce. I asked for it not too long ago, but she had no idea what she had done with the recipe. I guess it is just as well, because it makes a huge roaster pan full. We'd being eating it until next Christmas. LOL
Thanks for the chance to win!
beef stew nothing like homeade beef stew. Did I say Beef Stew!
I know it sounds horrible but the first thing that popped into my head was drinking coca cola with my Capt Crunch in the morning! No wonder I was a chubby child!
My mom made the best chili there ever was - with so much chili powder! I always loved it. Sadly, my mom got Alzheimer's disease at age 58 and couldn't remember the recipe to pass it on. How I wished I had asked for it years before!
1. frank's market, associated {but i rarely shop there, i shop near my office on union square or on the UWS}
2. i go out of my way to purchase organic whenever possible, so i mostly shop at whole foods, fairway upstairs, trader joe's or the greenmarket, and sometimes zabar's
3. n/a
4. i try to buy certain things at places that i know have the best quality for the best prices. for instance i always buy cheese and olive oil at zabar's or fairway and butter, yogurt, goat milk, nuts and dried fruit at trader joe's
5. hudson heights {washington heights west of broadway above 181}
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