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The Ten Most Recent Comments By willowen

From Serious Eats

Fresh & Easy? Not So Simple

I love the similarities to IKEA, frankly - I'm a big fan of clean design and simple, straightforward labelling. I also really, REALLY appreciate the fact that unlike Trader Joe's - and this is the only thing I hate about TJ's - every F&E store I've been in is laid out exactly the same. If you know where the cheese is in one store, you know where to find it in any other.

What you need to know about expiration dates is that everything on the edge of its date is marked down 50% - so if you get a loaf of bread whose pull-date is tomorrow, bring it to the attention of an employee. The product should still be usable. I bought a good-sized boneless leg of lamb for $7 under those circumstances, and it was wonderful.

Eagle Rock and Arcadia are my nearest locations for now, so I was delighted to see they're going to put one into the former Wild Oats location on South Lake. That puts it directly into my usual shopping loop with TJ's and Ralphs, and right next door to Peet's. Makes me happy.

From A Hamburger Today

Pie 'N Burger a Purely Californian Experience

I love these burgers, I really do - I've seen comments elsewhere saying they're not really any different from In-N-Out's, but the significant difference is that the patties are made by hand, and I think the meat's better as well. And while there are burgers in other categories that I may like at least as well, these are to me the epitome of the Classic Lunch-counter Burger.

As an alternative to those wonderful fries, I would urge anyone to try the potato salad, too. It's probably the best you can find at a place like this. The tuna sandwich is also a wonder of its own, a rich, dripping monster of a thing. My only disappointment here was the one patty melt I tried, but I'm sure that was a fluke - it was overcooked, had a piece of mostly UNmelted cheese the size of a large postage stamp, and was lukewarm when I got it.

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

Different strokes...and if you dared to serve me Miracle Whip I'd probably have one! We often had MW in our house when I was a kid, just because it was significantly cheaper - and when things got really tight, Mom had a recipe for a "boiled dressing" that was essentially homemade MW. So glad those days are gone for good...

Homemade or Hellman's/Best Foods, that's me. I really like Duke's, too, but it's not available here in SoCal.

From Serious Eats

Where to Find the Best Ice Cream in Los Angeles

Any discussion of ice cream in LA County that does not include Fosselman's is obviously incomplete, if not incompetent.

From Serious Eats

Adventures in Shoo-Fly Pie

Pouring the foaming molasses mixture into the crumbs was the method used by the folks who introduced me to this delightful pie, and this is the first recipe I've read that tells you to do that. The peanut butter, however, I can do without. My taste in molasses runs (slowly, of course) to the heavy and barely sweet, but even when using the lighter stuff I think the molasses flavor should dominate.

From Serious Eats

Original White Lily Flour Plant Closes: The Geography of Taste

When they stopped distributing White Lily west of wherever, I resorted to stuffing 10 lbs or so in my carry-on whenever we visited Nashville, and bribing visiting Tennesseans to bring some with them. And now even that won't work!

Smucker's was always a trusted name around our house, but that just got blown to hell. My only reason to visit their website now is to see what other brands they own, so I can stop buying all of them. And I will.

Responses to Comments by willowen

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

@suegsf: i've never made the stuff, but you can buy it at hippie health food stores, whole foods, etc.

my favorite brand lives here: http://www.followyourheart.com/vegenaise.html

From Serious Eats

Fresh & Easy? Not So Simple

There is a Fresh & Easy in Manalapan on Route 9 on the way to my MIL's house. I keep wanting to stop and go in but haven't yet. Thanks for the article. Now I know what it is. A review is on the way!

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

I don't care what anyone thinks. I love Miracle Whip.

I can take or leave mayo. It is easy to leave it because it is any easy way to cut the calories out of sandwich. I will risk the calories from Miracle Whip. I like light Miracle Whip just as well.

Tuna recipe: I tablespoon of Miracle Whip per 1 can tuna. Add whatever else you want. Chopped tomatoes are good.

I can't think of a restaurant that offers Miracle Whip. Why?

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

Dukes and only Dukes. Even as a child I hated MW.

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

Miracle Whip is on a list of foods I longed for as a kid: Wonder Bread, Yoo-Hoo, Kool-Aid. Stuff my 70s health-nut mom would never buy. She did buy Hellman's.

Not sure I ever tried MW as an adult but it had such mystique on the rare occasion I tasted some at someone else's house back then.

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

It depends on what you grew up with. We had Hellmann's. I had a bologna sandwich at a friends house that had MW. I could not belive how foul it tasted. Way too sweet.

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

I had to chuckle as I read the posts. I made some tuna salad for my BFF and she raved as it didn't nearly taste like hers; she wanted to know what I put in it to make it taste so good. I named Hellmann's mayo as the main ingredient (also use white meat tuna-makes all the difference) and she's been using my recipe ever since. I thought everybody on earth used Hellmann's. Of course, my mom always used MW as it was cheaper back during the war years - and I can't stand the stuff. Ewww, but I never told her that - didn't want to get slapped in the mouth (smile).

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

The only use in my house for MW is the turkey sandwiches on squishy white bread with sweet relish after Thanksgiving. I buy a tiny jar of it for that purpose and pitch it afterward. It is a flavor memory that I need to bring back some happy family times with my Mother when she was living.

From Talk

Mayo vs. Miracle Whip

Hellmans is the only kind I buy. I will eat other kinds of mayo if they are served to me. However, I absolutely cannot eat miracle whip. I can't stand the sweetness.

One of my biggest pet peeves is to ask for mayo on a sandwich at a deli/restaurant and be served miracle whip instead. It can't be scraped off -- the taste is still there. This is a very serious crime. If mayo is not available I would simply choose another condiment (or none.) Do not choose for me. It is not acceptable.

I admit I have very strong feelings on Mayo. I am tolerant of those on the other side of the isle who use MW. We can co-exist. We need to agree to disagree and move on. We live in a free country where people can choose to worship the condiment of their choice. We need to respect each other's differences.

From Serious Eats

Adventures in Shoo-Fly Pie

I agree with most posts - the peanut butter is just wrong. Coming from good PA Dutch stock, I know that no one - and I mean no one - would ever think of such a thing. While you may enjoy adding the peanut butter, in my opinion it is not longer shoo fly pie once you do it.

But that's just my opinion...I believe in variation. But please don't call it shoo fly pie...