IfYouCanDream

I thought I was the only one periodically haunted by this strange idea.

sleepie

Back from the salt mines again.

Ok I'm not gonna say anything about work, except

OMG. WHAT THE EFFING EFF WAS THAT...??? AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Ok.... I'm done now.

How are you all?

DrakeCKC

Choir rehearsal tonight, didn't really feel like going, but did. Snowy and cold today, but nothing like the east coast will get.

Otherwise, I am well and warm... all that counts sometimes. My insane pug Olive is staring at me, so that may mean go out, more food, or maybe she is just staring... she does that sometimes.

sleepie

I really, really wish I was able to engage in contact sports. This would be very good for me.

Hawkeye13

You know trach, I've worked on Pho for awhile and I think
the secret is charring the ginger over an open flame
and really nice fresh star anise and spices.
I know you're a foodie--what do you think?

Also, using bony meat with plenty of connective tissue for
the long stock-building.
Then, cleverly slice and sear some flat-iron steak rare to
add on top of the stock and noodles.
Perfect condiments, and you're good to go.

DrakeCKC

I love Pho and Bun too. When I lived in St Louis, my neighborhood was heavily Vietnamese. Good Pho at every corner. The ladies with the cone hats could be seen walking to the Asian market and back with their sacks of goodies.

There are some good Vietnamese restaurants near me now so I can still get my fix.

Never made though... too easy to go and have the natives make it for me.

trachemys

This isn't pho. No noodles. It's a long cooked broth, lots of veggies cooked and raw, and melt in your mouth meat. It's only $6 for a quart sized bowl. I try to not go there every weekend. There is so much food around here to try and so few weekend days.

You may be right about charring the ginger. I know you're right about fresh spices. Do you make roasted bone stock?

Guess what I just nabbed at the grocery store? Squeeze ginger! Grated ginger in a squeeze bottle! I love ginger and use it a lot. Time to make a batch of asian bbq sauce!

trachemys

Google Buford Highway Food and you'll know why I agree with you. Buford Highway and Jimmy Carter Boulevard have the most fabulous range of international food. In some places they have to get the designated speaker to take my order as they don't speak English very much. There's a little taqueria I frequent near work that has the best steak tacos for $2. I usually the only native english speaker in there. If you want to cook it yourself, the grocery stores are outrageous. The thing I really like is that they are always more than happy to see me and to help me.

DrakeCKC

Hey Islanders... anyone covered in snow? We got a bit a few days ago, but nothing us native Midwesterners can't handle.

Hawkeye13

If I could locally buy what you can trach et al. , I'd go that route in a heartbeat,
but I live in a place where you have to make your own exotics or bust.

Hope all are well and safe tonight

trachemys

There's My Island! Took a minute to find it.

Continuing on the foodie thing: this is the first place I've been to a Mexican restaurant owned and operated by Chinese.

Funny story: Went to the big multicultural supermarket(their produce section is bigger than most groceries and a marvel to wander in) to check it out and get a few things. They only had about 40 soy sauces. One aisle, one 20 yard aisle, was nuthin' but dry noodles. The fresh noodles were elsewhere. I mosey back to the seafood section and immediately went into lust. The counterman asks: "Need something?" Just needed soy sauce, I said showing him the bottle. "Nice sauce. You like sushi?" He leads me down to the sushi-grade and starts feeding me slivers of fantastic fish. That set me back $20 for a nice piece of toro. Haven't had that good since the last time I went to Tommy's I<3 Sushi place in Conyers.

Crap, now I want to go to both. Right. Now.

courage2

I gotta let you guys know that if you're ever looking for something to be grateful for, you can be I eat like taking medicine, because I know I have to. I probably just have lousy taste buds -- maybe that's why I always had preferred hard liquor -- only gin and whiskey get through to me. Anyway, I envy the enthusiasm of a dedicated foodie!! Bon appetit on the island!!!

courage2

... something disappeared from that post. I think I was leaning on delete.

I'm cooking a nice piece of salmon tonight and we'll split a chocolate eclair after. Nothing fancy but good. I don't care about the food but I enjoy sitting down to the meal.

trachemys

Cou, can you smell well? Does your nose work? Most of taste is through scent.

I was a foodie from birth. My Grandmothers were teaching me to cook by 5 YO. I used to follow my grandfather to his smokehouse where we would eat paper thin slices of his cured ham. Southern Fried Prosciutto.

I'm not bragging, mind you. I was trained by some of the best. I can read a recipe and say yea or nay. I've been a (non-professional) private chef for friends parties and have been asked where is my restaurant.

It's just love of food. And a really good memory. I found and saved a recipe for vegetarian bacon made with eggplant. I was walking through that grocery and saw these beautiful little, baseball sized Vietnamese eggplant.

My memory screamed: BACON! BACON! BACON!

It's simple really. What else can you do, and really enjoy, multiple times a day, every day, for all your life?

courage2

My sense of smell is ok but nothing special. Plus I don't have pleasant associations with food.

Like I was trying to say, be grateful for your love of food -- it's a gift.

courage2

I could live fine off plain yogurt, bread & butter, and peanut butter. And honey. And coffee.

trachemys

Bread and butter.

One of me earliest foodie memories is in my grandparents' house. A bowl of butter on the table.

Butter didn't come in sticks or tubs. They had cows. My grandfather kept the pasture clear of anything that would taint the flavor and milked them by hand every morning before dawn. There was always fresh unpasteurized whole milk. She churned her own butter as needed. It was just put in a bowl. She had a butter mold, that now sits in my mother's house, that made pretty cubes of butter with a flower on top. That was for selling excess to neighbors as is was a known amount.

Grits or cornbread, both made from the corn my grandfather grew, and that butter were a meal a lot of times. There was no feeling, and there is no memory of poverty. They were dirt-poor tenant farmers. But, we lived rich.

Hawkeye13

that makes me very sad Bunny--so when I come to NYC, can we
still go to a groovy ethnic eatery or is a coffee shop the limit?

courage2

No sadness on the island, please -- not on my account anyway, ever!

I'll be delighted to indulge the needs of NYC-visiting foodie misfits.

DrakeCKC

Must be a requirement to be a food hound to live on this island! I love to cook, my specialties are an eclectic mix of New Orleans (both Cajun and Creole), Southern (make a fine shrimp and grits and will simmer a batch of collards just for the fun of it) and Spanish (Paella central.) I used to do a Mardi Gras dinner with all the goodies and cooked all myself. OUT of my kitchen was my call. Surprised I did so well as I was usally 9/10th drunk.

I am also a mayo fanatic. Duke's is the standard, sometimes Blue Plate when I can get it and home made for special occasions.