Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Serious Eats was my gateway drug, I mean, blog; it's how I found PW, Steamy Kitchen, David Lebowitz, Bitten, Rasa Malaysia, White on Rice Couple, TasteSpotting, etc., etc., etc.

Growing up, we always had meatloaf with gravy and no tomato product. 80/20 ground beef, finely diced onion, bread crumbs from heels of bread, egg, plenty of s&p. It was always moist and tender. We almost always had it with mashed potatoes and green beans or corn. And plenty of gravy.

Nowadays, I might make meatloaf once or twice a year, but rarely is it the simple meatloaf of my childhood. The last meatloaf I made was many moons ago and the recipe came from a post by Pastor Ryan on The Pioneer Woman's website http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/01/cajun-meatloaf/
Quite tasty. I used ground turkey, there are so many moisture adding ingredients that it was still a moist and tender final product.

I don't know you, but I love you for having done all this and shared it with us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm gonna make pho!

Just so you don't think I'm crazy, here's a little context. I love pho. I moved to a town in the midwest about 3 years ago and have not had even a halfway decent bowl of pho in this town. THREE YEARS!

oh yeah, I'll finish up the night with a cup of hot tea and honey...probably in an hour or so.

I'll put a ramekin on the corners or in the center until I can get the food onto the parchment. OR I'll put some creases into the parchment folding across the roll and then smooth the creases.

I found a good description of corked wine without all the wine-geek-speak:

From:
Uncorked: Your Top Wine Questions Answered
Napa Winemakers on What You Really Need to Know
By Stephanie O'Neill, Special to LifeScript
Published May 14, 2008

The most common cause is 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), a result of a fungi that is sometimes found in cork. When TCA comes in contact with the wine, it leaves the wine and cork smelling like wet cardboard or a moldy basement and causes the wine to taste muted. The condition happens at even the best wineries. If you get a corked bottle of wine, send it back.

Millie's for laid back, eclectic Sunday brunch--if you show up at noon there will be a line, but order a drink and wait--someone must get the hash and someone must get the cajun mess.

Can Can for plateau de fruits de mer, the best french onion soup in town, delicious moules frites, entrees are delicious, and the pastry chef is very talented--must have dessert. Do make a reservation--have the feeling this is the sort of place that will be overrun during U of R parent's weekend. Do not come here for brunch...not worth the wait.

Edo's and Mamma Zu are good choices especially if the people in your party appreciate good food, loud atmosphere, and care little for matching silverware and dishes--the emphasis is on food here. No hoitey toitey presentations, just the purest Italian dishes. Larger parties will HAVE to order family style...this has been a policy of theirs for years. Ed Vasaio might have relaxed that policy over the years, but if it's slamming busy, large parties will have to order family style. I love both of these restaurants, but I know some people who have had issues with the service, the locations, the owner, etc. Recommend: veal chop with marsala, penne gorgonzola, arugula salad or squid white beans and arugula, carbonara, spaghetti with sausage (the menu just says sausage--but you get sausage with peppers and onions in a red sauce), their bolognese/meat sauce usually sells out, brocolini is sauteed with garlic and crushed red pepper and served with lemon wedge--listed as antipasti but I order it as a side with the entrees, braised cabbage, all of the fried apps (oysters or calamari, served only with lemon wedges, if you like marinara with your fried calamari you must order a side of red sauce--do).

For southern fine dining--Julep's downtown.

Oh back to Carytown, The Water Grill just opened and I've heard great things about the food (esp the butter poached lobster). It's another Michelle Williams & Jared Golden venture (The Hard Shell, Cafe Europa, The Hill Cafe, DeLux).

For steaks, wine, single malt scotch, etc, go to Buckhead's at the corner of Patterson and Parham. The only serious non-chain chophouse in Richmond. U of R parents love this place.

I'll add another vote for gargling with warm salt water. If I catch it early and do it a few times a day and right before bed, I can usually avoid a sore throat.

If I have a cold and a subsequent sore throat, I'll treat it by sipping on a tea made with fresh ginger, honey and lemon. In a saucepan simmer a little more than a quart of water with about two inches of fresh ginger peeled and sliced with the peel of a whole lemon (try to remove the white pith or it will be very bitter). Allow to simmer gently for about 15-20 minutes. The water should become somewhat amber. Pour or ladle into a mug, add about 2 tbsp of honey and a squeeze of fresh lemon. I pour the rest of the tea into a clean coffee pot and use the burner on the coffee maker to keep the rest of the tea warm and drink it throughout the day.

When my grandmother used to make this for me she always threw in a couple of cloves of whole garlic and a dried chili (from her own garden), sometimes dried jujubes or a piece of ginseng if someone needed some real fortifying...but that's a whole 'nother thread.

why don't you try making that recipe on foodreference.com? It sounds exactly like what he's described to you.

I think heelsonbricks is on the right track. Say goodbye to summer with BLT's and a hard lemonade. Couple of different ways to go with this: try limoncello and soda water over ice, if you or guests prefer it sweeter add a splash of simple syrup or sprite; the other way is to go with citron vodka, triple sec, fresh squeezed lemon, simple syrup, all over ice, topped with soda water; either way garnish with mint and lemon twist.

Funny you should ask--I've been using the leftovers of a roasted pork butt from making David Chang's bo ssam. Since the original flavors of the pork where pretty universal/neutral (salt & sugar cure, plus a little black pepper and garlic) I was able to incorporate the roasted and shredded pork into a couple of different dishes. Day one was the bo ssam, next day, I threw some chunks into the crock pot on low with some tomato, garlic, peppers, onions, splash of oj, squeeze of lime, ancho chilli, cayenne, and cumin--then made pork quesadillas with it. Next night, I sauteed onion, garlic, tomato (lots of toms coming from the garden), pepper, sweet corn, leftover rice (from bo ssam night), and stuffed some bell peppers from the garden. Tonight is empanadas and I will be done with pork for awhile...

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/08/melon-agua-fresca/#more-4855

saw this today at smitten kitchen and thought about you.