What was the last thing you put in your mouth?

[msslave]

We jumped our Anniversary by a day and did lunch at Red Lobster. Of course I had lobster! A treat, but lots of work for all the effort of digging out the good stuff. Great waitress was lots of fun and brought us a big sundae for dessert.

Busy with friends tomorrow so that's why we went out early.

Tomorrow, 29 years! Had a couple years together before the "I did". Great hot sex for a bit over half the time. Grrrr TMI

[_priapism]

We jumped our Anniversary by a day and did lunch at Red Lobster. Of course I had lobster! A treat, but lots of work for all the effort of digging out the good stuff. Great waitress was lots of fun and brought us a big sundae for dessert.

My son loves lobster.  So on his birthday, I usually take him to a local lobster place with a big tank and let him pick out a ridonkulously huge one.  Claws the size of canned hams.  Sounds like you had a good one, and congratulations on the milestone.  Wishing you both the best.

[msslave]

Thanks Toe

[Jed_]

Last week in line at Thurston’s Lobster Pound in Bass Harbor Maine.  I went for the tank of those ~1.4-1.7 pounds.  2 days earlier I had a smaller one in Bar Harbor, right toe?

[_priapism]

My son with one of those lobster claws I mentioned.

[Jed_]

Yeah, never got one anywhere near that big before.  What was it, 3 pounds or more?  They say the big ones are tough?  I heard the best size for eating is ~1.25 pounds, but I’m no expert.  I don’t think I’ve had one 2 pounds yet.

[_priapism]

Yeah, never got one anywhere near that big before.  What was it, 3 pounds or more?  They say the big ones are tough?  I heard the best size for eating is ~1.25 pounds, but I’m no expert.  I don’t think I’ve had one 2 pounds yet.

I think it was 2.75?  I just said “biggest in the tank.”  I must confess I used to bribe my son, back when his mother had primary custody (about 3 years duration).  He lived 90+ miles away, but I never missed a basketball game, a Scout camp out, a school project.  We are very close still.  The bigger lobster wasn’t too noticeably tougher.  Pretty crazy to have a tail the size of a meat loaf.  All good.

[Jed_]

The traps are brilliant.  The entrances are too small for the big ones meant to remain as breeders to get in, but once in there are escape hatches for the really small ones less than a pound.  The traps size them before retrieval.

It’s mind boggling there’s any still there considering how densely spaced the traps are, and they’re everywhere, thousands of them.  But the lobstermen apparently self-regulate the catch to ensure sustainability.  I really saw this especially on the ferry to Isle Au Haut.  Lobster buoys disconnected from traps by storms wash up all over the coast.  Park Ranger said they fill dump trucks up with lobster buoys during coastal clean up of Acadia NP.

[_priapism]

My roasted chicken, wild rice, and sprouts with a white wine, raspberry demi-glace. 

[MintJulie]

cashews (sea salt )
and greet tea while watching Survivor

[psiberzerker]

Huh, I'm eating a handfull of sea salt almonds.

[vinney]

Trebor Extra Strong Mint...

[Jed_]

My roasted chicken, wild rice, and sprouts with a white wine, raspberry demi-glace. 

Nice char on the brussel sprouts, and they look cooked.  You can’t seem to get a properly cooked vegetable eating out.  Our grandmothers cooked them to mush removing nearly all the nutrition, and now they serve them essentially raw.  Raw is better than mush, but what’s wrong with cooking them through?

I did wild rice with salmon recently.

[_priapism]

My roasted chicken, wild rice, and sprouts with a white wine, raspberry demi-glace. 

Nice char on the brussel sprouts, and they look cooked.  You can’t seem to get a properly cooked vegetable eating out.  Our grandmothers cooked them to mush removing nearly all the nutrition, and now they serve them essentially raw.  Raw is better than mush, but what’s wrong with cooking them through?

I did wild rice with salmon recently.

Boiling any vegetable, pretty much ruins it for me.  I guess potatoes are the exception.  I like to char on high heat, then put in the oven to bake.  Toss it with olive oil, or another marinade, and season lightly. Green beans, asparagus, sprouts, broccoli, it’s my preferred method.  Nothing boiled limp, or served like a crunchy raw salad.

[Jed_]

While I use baking sometimes mostly for root vegetables, eggplant and squash, I still boil and steam.  Green beans I typically boil in heavily salted water standing over them taking one out periodically to bite testing doneness, then flash chill in cold water.  I’ll quickly sauté to warm for serving.

I’ll boil asparagus flat with just enough water to cover, with the pan offset on the burner to cook the tougher stems more than the tips.  Once chilled, I like tossing them with a little olive oil plus salt and grilling to char.  If your grilling meat or fish anyway, it’s a great way to have them.

We found a restaurant called Hemingway’s on the Chesapeake Bay that does a nice fried brussel sprouts.  It’s a popular way to serve them now and my Peruvian loves it that way, but most places don’t do it right.  So she always bugs me about going back to Hemingway’s, but it’s nearly 2 hours away.  I tried it once, just didn’t come out yet like I wanted.  Still was better than most places.  Again, they need to be cooked.

[psiberzerker]

Polenta (Grits) with a pound of cream cheese, and about a quarter cup of NM chilis (Verde)  Extremely simple, good, filling, and warm on a cold windy fall day.

While I use baking sometimes mostly for root vegetables, eggplant and squash, I still boil and steam.

For starchy root vegies, especially dense ones like potatoes, parsnips, and rutabega (But not Jícama, for some reason.  Basically all the Tubers) it's better to blanch them to get the starch started before you bake, or fry them.  That's how you get those extra crispy frites with the soft fluffy insides.  If you fry them raw, either the outside doesn't crisp, or the insides over-cook, unless you blanch them first.

[Jed_]

For fries, I blanch in the fryer.  About 315F until cooked through (although the fryer temperature drops upon dunking them, so might be more like 275F).  Then I crisp and brown in batches at 375F.  I use peanut oil.  I also soak the fries in multiple changes of cold water first and dry thoroughly before frying.

[_priapism]

Depending on the vegetable, I may blanch briefly to soften and speed cook times.  I don’t think there is a right or wrong way.  Purely a matter of personal preference.

I will tell you two horror stories.  First, my mother.  She would boil the shit out of anything.  Until it was either mush, or a hard lump of something.  Part of the reason I have cooked from scratch for my kids all these years, is that I ate like shit growing up, or not at all.  I remember having green mush on the plate.  “What is this?” “Asparagus!”

Second, my ex.  She had some body anxiety issues, and was pretty much anti butter, oils, sauces, marinades, seasoning, etc.  Anything that tasted good, in other words.  Her favorite dish was steamed broccoli with a baked chicken breast that was just laid in the oven at 300° and cooked until it was leather.  Nightmarish.  We still laugh about that at dinner time.

[psiberzerker]

For fries, I blanch in the fryer...

Not one to say "Ur doin' it wrong," (Do a barrel roll!) but blanching in water, or if you plan ahead, soaking them releases starches, which basically breads the outside.  Try it, see how you like the results, or don't.

[Jed_]

For fries, I blanch in the fryer...

Not one to say "Ur doin' it wrong," (Do a barrel roll!) but blanching in water, or if you plan ahead, soaking them releases starches, which basically breads the outside.  Try it, see how you like the results, or don't.

I was taught by a French chef who worked at the WhiteHouse in the Clinton years.

Once while assisting him during sauce class, he was making béarnaise and began commenting on he didn’t have anything to serve the sauce with, turned to me and ordered, ‘Go make French fries.’

Shocked and more than a little terrified I’d fuck it up, I ran into the kitchen and turned the fryer on.  Ran to the pantry grabbing several potatoes, peeled and then by hand with a chef’s knife cut them into fries.  Soaked then in several changes of cold water.  Checked the fryer repeatedly. Finally blanched them in the fryer and turned it up.  Fried the fries, salted them and carried them hot into the classroom just in time to serve them with his just prepared béarnaise sauce.

A couple of the students commented on how good the fries were.  The chef aimed a thumb at me standing at his side and said, ‘Of course, I trained him.’

True story and one of my proudest food moments.