The Food and Beverage Thread

[wwharton]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

Had an epic dinner/cooking party at a friend's house last night. Here was the menu (I bought the sausage/sticky rice, pho/condiments, and the tarte/ice cream):

Lao Sausage and Sticky Rice w/dipping sauce
Pho w/craploads of condiments
Seared tuna, watermelon, and ginger skewers
Lemongrass chicken skewers
Stir-fried vegetables (cabbage, snow peas, carrots, etc.)
Coconut pudding w/fresh fruit and rosewater
Apple tarte tatin w/homemade cinnamon-coffee ice cream

We were totally stuffed and still eating ice cream at like 11:00 haha... good times.

What's your ethnicity (or, if more relevant, was there a theme to the meal)?

Sounds like a nice Thai meal or something along those lines. Bet that was a nice night.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I just love making Asian food, I'm white/Mexican. But yeah, I knew what I was bringing (Lao sausage/sticky rice and Pho set the tone) so we sorta molded the menu around that and cooked the rest while we were there, hence the lemongrass skewers and whatnot. The only out of place thing was the apple tarte tatin/ice cream, but that was just bomb as hell no nobody minded that it wasn't with the theme.

Not bad for a first attempt... it even came out of the pie plate without falling apart when I flipped it over.

[ezekiel55]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

Did you use a mandolin for the apples, Stumble?

[Chaos81]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

Drool...

[Stumbleweed]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

Did you use a mandolin for the apples, Stumble?

Nope, just about 20 minutes of slicing them myself. Slice them in half then just clean off the other side (cut along the core)... then slice thin using the flat core side edge to stabilize it. The placement of the apples took longer than the slicing actually, mostly because they were cooked and spread all over the place so I had to get them all facing the right way ha.

Mandolins rule though and I do need to get one for things like that... we used one to shred long strips of carrots for the veggies last night (it's my friend's).

[Blzer]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I have In-N-Out enough as it is, but mine is 15 - 20 minutes away from me. We've been going out of town and going to hotels every weekend for my sister's softball tournaments, and the first thing I do when I'm there is go to the business center and find the closest In-N-Out to me. Luckily, most all of them have been within about three minutes of the hotel location.

Every weekend I averaged about four meals there, meaning at least eight Double-Doubles (animal style) in my body every weekend since the beginning of May.

That can't be good for me.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I was thinking about making a simple asian salad this week for dinner and leftovers, anybody have any suggestions for what to throw in and what to use for dressing? I was figuring mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, but wasn't sure what type of lettuce or dressing or what else to throw in there.

[wwharton]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I just love making Asian food, I'm white/Mexican. But yeah, I knew what I was bringing (Lao sausage/sticky rice and Pho set the tone) so we sorta molded the menu around that and cooked the rest while we were there, hence the lemongrass skewers and whatnot. The only out of place thing was the apple tarte tatin/ice cream, but that was just bomb as hell no nobody minded that it wasn't with the theme.

Not bad for a first attempt... it even came out of the pie plate without falling apart when I flipped it over.

Ah, you got some skills. Sounds like that was a hell of a meal.

[Gizmo]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

Pretty much a good snack for me is a Honey Smoked Turkey sandwich on whole wheat honey bread along with a Cherry Coke Zero. Throw in some chips and that's a good full filling meal.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I was thinking about making a simple asian salad this week for dinner and leftovers, anybody have any suggestions for what to throw in and what to use for dressing? I was figuring mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, but wasn't sure what type of lettuce or dressing or what else to throw in there.

Get a cucumber (the thin-skinned English kind if you want it to be better) or two, a bag of baby spinach, sesame seeds, a red pepper, and some mandarin oranges if you want. Beat a bit of sesame oil (like a very quick pour, I never measure..) with some rice wine vinegar and soy sauce (to taste, but normally I use slightly more vinegar than soy). Dissolve some sugar in a little hot water, then add it to the mix. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan then sprinkle over the salad. Toss it up and you're ready to go... those crispy wonton strips would be nice with this too.

If you like this type of salad, just go to a local Asian market (or not, most grocery stores have rice wine vinegar and sesame oil, though it's 3x the price than the Asian markets) and pick up those things and you'll have enough for a crapload of salads. I really like frisee in this salad too, but it's hard to find unless it's in a salad mix (which is fine too.. spinach is just healthier so that's what I use). In all, this should cost about $11 or so with buying the oil/vinegar for the first time.. WAY less after that initial purchase.

Other good ingredients you can use in Asian salads: napa cabbage, bok choy (though it's better blanched and then cooled in an ice bath), asparagus (same as bok choy), bamboo shoots, plums, strawberries (go surprisingly well with sesame/soy things), microgreens, wasabi powder (mix it into the dressing for a little kick), chile paste (same), almonds...

[Husker_OS]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I've been eating the same lunch for a week now. 2 Hebrew National hotdogs(grilled on the Foreman Grill) on 2 deli hotdog buns. So damn tasty. I found sneaky pete's hotdog sauce at Publix last week and have been going crazy on the hotdogs.



When yall cook tacos, how do you season the meat? Do you just use the provided pack of seasoning or something else? I've been putting chili powder on it while I brown it lately and it seems to add a little to the taste.

[KG]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

Stumble does the damn thing in the kitchen.

[JohnnytheSkin]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

When yall cook tacos, how do you season the meat? Do you just use the provided pack of seasoning or something else? I've been putting chili powder on it while I brown it lately and it seems to add a little to the taste.

I usually crush some garlic, add salt, pepper, and ancho chili powder while browning, and then at the end toss in some fresh cilantro.

[ezekiel55]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I was thinking about making a simple asian salad this week for dinner and leftovers, anybody have any suggestions for what to throw in and what to use for dressing? I was figuring mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, but wasn't sure what type of lettuce or dressing or what else to throw in there.

Napa cabbage is definitely my choice of roughage for asian salads...I also throw green peas (one of my favorite ingredients) crispy chow mein noodles and sugar snap peas in there.

For the dressing, I usually make a sesame vinagairette with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.

EDIT-

lol, well I just looked at Stumbles post, and uh yeah, he pretty much covered everything and even went further.

[ezekiel55]

Re: The Food and Beverage Thread

I've been eating the same lunch for a week now. 2 Hebrew National hotdogs(grilled on the Foreman Grill) on 2 deli hotdog buns. So damn tasty. I found sneaky pete's hotdog sauce at Publix last week and have been going crazy on the hotdogs.



When yall cook tacos, how do you season the meat? Do you just use the provided pack of seasoning or something else? I've been putting chili powder on it while I brown it lately and it seems to add a little to the taste.

All the ingredients Johnny said are great, but I also love to throw cumin in there (also a staple in my rib rub)...cumin/camino just adds that authentic Mexican flavor.