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Post by Siren on Jul 3, 2007 20:57:54 GMT -6
"snapping her dental floss whip" - LOL!
Glad you got your much-anticipated pie, Gams. I hope it lived up to your dreams.
I took my mom out for breakfast this morning. We chose Jimmy's Egg, part of a local chain of breakfast spots. I almost always order the same thing: Biscuits Debris - 2 hot biscuits covered in white gravy, and sprinkled with chopped breakfast meats (sausage, ham, and bacon) and cheese. I ask for a little onion on mine, too. Served with a big wedge of hash browns. Sooooo good. And their orange juice is the best, anywhere.
I understand that biscuits & gravy is not common nationwide. True?
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Post by Phalon on Jul 10, 2007 6:01:41 GMT -6
I'm not sure about biscuits and gravy being served across the country, Siren. I don't remember ever having them as a kid; in restaurants here, it was always biscuits and honey. Now though, it seems to be on every breakfast menu I've seen.
Hubs - biscuits and sausage gravy is another of those favorites from his kidhood. Sometimes he calls it "country gravy", and I don't know if there's a difference.
I can't say I really care for it, no matter what it's called.
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Post by Siren on Jul 11, 2007 21:45:37 GMT -6
My cousin made sausage gravy for us once. She fried the sausage, all crumbled up, then added the flour to the sausage and grease. It was an awful-looking mess, and I thought, "She'll never get the lumps out." But she did, and it was delish with her homemade biscuits.
Currently stuck in my teeth? Mike & Ike's Tangy Twisters - just sour/sweet enough. They're great!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 25, 2007 21:42:06 GMT -6
Kettle cooked articoke and spinach potato chips - quite a bag of mixed veggies in that one. Hhhmmm....no detection of a spinach taste, but perhaps it's just the color the spinach is used for - the chips are green. They definitely taste of artichoke, (and salt - too much salt). It is a odd, but interesting, taste for a potato chip.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 28, 2007 23:50:55 GMT -6
Where is my food buddy, Siren, who can alway make my mouth water with her tales of tantalizing food feasts?
Doesn't anyone else like to talk about food? Moonglum and Voxy Lady; where have they been lately - I'd like to hear what is good to eat in the Motherland, (I know about Hobnobs - I love those things!) I wanna tease Katina about his Vegemite. Where are Scrappy's Southwestern feasts she keeps promising she's gonna cook me one day. Maeve does it Southern style, I bet. Joxie? You started this thread.
Conversations at work tend to turn to food; shoot - when I worked in a office, we always talked about food no matter what topic or how the conversation started.
Good food is like good sex: You rarely want to experience it alone. BOLL at myself....cuz I'm here talking to myself.
Tonight was one of those simple meals, because we were out canoing all day. Threw a chicken in the cockpot on the way out the door, and it was fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your-mouth good six hours later, (see? it is like sex). Accompanied with broccoli from our garden, a salad with lots of cherry tomatoes from our neighbors garden - small this year, but oh-so-sweet, and macaroni and cheese from a box, because that's what the girls wanted - the spiral kind because it tastes better, (eye-roll).
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 29, 2007 17:41:47 GMT -6
Well, for Sunday dinner today we had: bbq ribs, salmon patties, fried potatoes, white beans, pinto beans, sliced tomatoes, cucumber & onions in vinegar water, deviled eggs, turnip greens, & fried corn bread.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 29, 2007 22:27:51 GMT -6
See? Now there's a post I can sink my teeth into....except the salmon patties - ick, blick, yuck, bluck. I prefer white beans over pinto, and mustard greens over turnip greens.
Cucumbers - Hubs cut up of bunch of them today; my friend gave me gobs from the garden. Thinking I'll throw in some of those gobs of cherry tomatoes from my neighbors garden, some chunks of mozarella, and mix it with Vidalia onion dressing, and call it lunch for the next couple of days.....because it's all mine, mine, mine.
I'm the only one that actually eats cucumbers in this house: Hubs says they give him indigestion, though I read that it can be avoided by skinning and deseeding them. The girls like them when we do "girlie night". I slice them and pack them in ice, and we all lie around with cucumber slices over our eyes. Suppose to stop wrinkles or something - a big concern for a twelve and six year old, (I'd insert an eye-roll here, but it's hard to do with cucs over them). Whatever - but it does feel good after working outside all day in the sun; cucumbers have a cooling effect, and work wonders for dry, sunburned feeling eyes.
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Post by Siren on Jul 30, 2007 17:41:59 GMT -6
Damn, that sounds good, Mia!
Love cukes, I do. One of my favorite combos is cukes w/ ranch dressing. But then, I could eat ranch on anything, I think.
My mom cooked up a winner last night: brisket with a cranberry/onion sauce (fab!), mashed potatoes, rolls, red (pinto) beans, and salad. For dessert, pecan pie w/ ice cream. Mmmmmmmm!
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 30, 2007 18:41:00 GMT -6
Oops. Since you mentioned dessert, Siren . . . my niece brought cantaloupe chunks and water melon slices to finish off the meal with.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 31, 2007 16:45:27 GMT -6
See? Now there's a post I can sink my teeth into....except the salmon patties - ick, blick, yuck, bluck. The best salmon patties mom ever made was when she discovered she was out of canned salmon and had used canned tuna instead. We raved on how good they were and she confessed her substitute.
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Post by Siren on Jul 31, 2007 23:26:56 GMT -6
My mom made dandy salmon patties. Haven't had them in years.
My cousins arrived from Minnesota today. And in honor of their visit, my mom made a pineapple upside-down cake, all crusty from her cast iron skillet. *swoon*
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Post by Phalon on Aug 1, 2007 23:19:42 GMT -6
Are salmon patties a thing of the South? I have a confession to make: like a kid who refuses to eat anything based on the principle they've never tried it, my ick, blick, yuck blucking was done without me ever actually having tasted a salmon patty - I've never even come in contact with one. They just sound icky - it's a texture thing with me; I ick at crab cakes too, and tuna heated in any way, shape or form is gross.
I like ranch too, Siren, but it is sour cream I could eat on anything. I actually plan meals around sour cream....hhhmmm, what can we have for dinner that I can glob sour cream into, or onto. Last night, boiled red potatoes with butter, chives from the garden, and a nice big plop of sour cream on top. A bit left over for lunch tomorrow too!
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 2, 2007 15:49:21 GMT -6
Are salmon patties a thing of the South? I have a confession to make: like a kid who refuses to eat anything based on the principle they've never tried it, my ick, blick, yuck blucking was done without me ever actually having tasted a salmon patty - I've never even come in contact with one. They just sound icky - it's a texture thing with me; I ick at crab cakes too, and tuna heated in any way, shape or form is gross.
I've no idea where they originate from. I Googled to see what recipes were on the net. Mom's don't have as much ingredients as most of them. Whenever I ask her how to make them she just says:
canned salmon or tuna | amount depends on how many people you're feeding | crackers | enough to form & hold the fish together in a patty | mashed potatoes | optional - if you happen to have leftovers, heres how to put them to good use -- or make tater cakes with them instead | an egg | helps hold patty together while frying | corn meal | most online recipes call for flour, so I don't know why we use corn meal instead - I guess because it's fish, and we use corn meal to fry fish |
She combines the first 4 ingredients and then rolls a portion into a ball and then flattens it out to about the size of a hamburger patty, and thin (about 1/2 inch thick). Puts the patty in a flat bowl/plate of corn meal and rakes corn meal on top, then turns it over and rakes corn meal on top again. Makes sure both sides and edges are covered in corn meal, picks up the patty and lets the loose corn meal drop off and sticks the patty in a frying pan of hot grease. Cooks them until golden brown on both sides (one side at a time - no deep frying) and plates them for the dinner table.
We don't put them on buns or anything, we just put them on our plates and cut them up in pieces and dip them in ketchup. I'd never thought to put them on bread/buns, but the Google image search makes them look tasty.
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Post by Siren on Aug 3, 2007 0:33:48 GMT -6
Gosh dang, that sounds good!
Tonight, I've been munching on peanuts and a diet Dr Pepper. Not nearly as good as it tasted when I was a kid. I can just see those skinny bags of Tom's peanuts. I'd tear open the pack with my teeth, then pour some into my coke bottle, which make the soda foam up. A slurp and a salty crunch - bliss!
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 3, 2007 15:12:03 GMT -6
I love peanuts and cola, but I mix them in my mouth, pouring the peanuts into the bottle is nasty. Grosses me out to no end anyway.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 8, 2007 23:16:59 GMT -6
Hubs talks about having coke and peanuts back in his kidhood days. I've never had it - not much of a pop drinker, and the thought of mixing the two is something that never crossed my mind, much less my lips.
Blueberries! The berry of champions. Love those little orbs of blue. My favorite treat these last few weeks has been fresh blueberries and fresh cut-up peaches - a nice mix, and you wouldn't think Michigan is a peach producing state, but the "Red Havens" were developed here. Both the blueberries and peaches have been so sweet this year; it's unfair the season is so short. It all cumulates this weekend with Blueberry Fest - always a good time.
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Post by Siren on Aug 12, 2007 23:04:45 GMT -6
I do love small-town fests like your Blueberry Fest, Gams. Yes, they're always a good time. Among the harvest-related fests I've enjoyed are a peach festival in Stratford, OK, a watermelon festival in Rush Springs, OK, and the Lavacaberry Festival in Lavaca, AR. We rode in the spinach festival parade in Alma, AR one year. Alma is such a small town that they asked us to drive up and down Main Street (about 3 blocks long) so the parade would last longer. I kid you not. Our reward? A dinner of fresh-cooked spinach, pinto beans, corn bread, sweet tea, and a choice from about a dozen wonderful homemade desserts. Yum! El Reno, OK is home to the Burger Day festival, featuring the world's largest onion-fried burger. *burp* And The Tumbleweed, a big country bar in Stillwater, OK, hosts the annual Testicle Festival - three days of live outdoor music and frolic, and lots of fresh "calf fries": battered, deep-fried slices of calf testicle. Again, I kid you not.
On our way out of town this weekend, I followed a hunch and stopped at the Dairy Mart, a hamburger stand in tiny little Union City, OK. Boy, am I glad I did! It was absolutely one of the very best burgers I've ever enjoyed. Fantastic burger! So good, I stopped for another on the way back into town.
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Aug 14, 2007 22:27:04 GMT -6
Mom made chili.....best stuff on the planet.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 15, 2007 15:50:09 GMT -6
I was going to make a pot of chili today, but the house is 85o, and the a/c hasn't stopped running all day, so I will think about cooking tonight when the sun goes down and the house cools off a bit. I've been craving a fried burrito smothered in cheese and chili. Yum
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Post by Siren on Aug 15, 2007 20:32:49 GMT -6
Chili - sounds great!
Right now, I'm munching on honey mustard pretzel bites
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Post by Phalon on Aug 15, 2007 23:52:28 GMT -6
Are you three sending subliminal food messages to Hubs? He was just talking tonight about the best burgers he's ever eaten. At a place called the Huttle, or maybe Huddle?, where he and his brother used to get chili-cheeseburgers when they were kids.
I think he misses "real" food....which means food other than zucchini, and its by-products. We didn't grow it at home this year - but I did plant it in the children's garden at work: just two plants, bush variety and not vine, in the alphabet garden section where there is a plant for every letter of the alphabet; Z is for Zucchini, (eye-roll).
Just two plants, mind you.
I looked early week before last, and was pleased to see little baby zucchinis starting to form. I thought I'd give them a day or two to get a bit bigger. Heat and humidity, and rain do wondrous things. By the end of the week, I had arm-loads, (yes, loads), of regular, Bob-sized, and watermelon sized zucchini. I gave them to co-workers. I gave them to neighbors. Hub's co-workers, (one of them said no - someone in his neighborhood leaves them on his doorstep, and runs). I picked since - and reaped just as many as the first time. I set them on the counter at work, giving...pleading with customers to take at least one....pleeease.
I made zucchini and pasta, zucchini boats. I cut them up in salad. I sauteed them with mushrooms and piled them on pizza. I peeled and shredded, and hid them in meat-loaf, (peeling works wonders; I don't have to hear, "Eeeew...what's that green stuff in there?").
I think if the Powers of Zucchini could somehow be harnessed, we'd make a serious dent in the world hunger problem. The things are procreation wonders, with super-veggie growth ability.
I made zucchini bread.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Anyone who's been here longer than five days, (I don't think that leaves anyone out), knows that Phalon does not bake, (cooking is a different breed of culinary horse - but not in America; we eat cows). I have that aversion to the oven as an appliance that's meant to be used for anything other than heating up the kitchen on a cold winter's day ailment. My place in the kitchen usually is sitting on the table watching others bake and pretending I'm learning something. And there is that tiny flaw of mine: I can't make even microwave popcorn without leaving a burnt smell throughout the house.
But I baked zucchini bread. And you're thinking, "OMG, she's killed her family! Poisoned them dead!
Pfft. No, no....the bread, which is actually cake, and which I'm convinced was invented just as a way to get rid of surplus zucchini, was good. Very good. It was chocolate zucchini bread.
So good that Hubs took a loaf to work, and they ate it all. I will now have to make more. It's not as if there's danger of having a shortage of ingredients.
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Aug 16, 2007 22:04:25 GMT -6
Did you make fried zucchini? Crispy and extra salty with ranch dressing....
Zucchini corn bread? Sweet with butter....the real stuff.
I miss having a garden sometimes.
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Post by Siren on Aug 19, 2007 9:45:27 GMT -6
Fried zucchini? MMMMMMMMMM!!
Last night we enjoyed some fabulous fajita nachos at Cocina Domino. I would love to have their marinade recipe.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 22, 2007 6:11:07 GMT -6
A couple of nights ago, Hubs and I watched the television show “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” on the Food Network. I’ve seen it a few times prior; it is one of those “road-trip” shows where the host travels the country, stopping at popular eateries and sampling the usual and not-so-usual diner fare along the way. I love it; that would be one of my ultimate vacation fantasies I think, if I had such things as ultimate vacation fantasies.
It makes me hungry.
In this particular episode, the travelin' samplin' guy – whose name is Guy – was at Leo’s BBQ in OKC, (barbeque in Oklahoma City, Maeve). I searched for your face, Siren, among the diners, but didn’t recognize it – you might have been there, or not, perhaps undercover in a mask of barbeque sauce. Barbequed ribs, brisket, and chicken – and shoot, I’ve had a craving since, and even woke up this morning thinking BBQ.
Your homework assignment, Siren: Go there, eat, and report back here. Extra credit: Banana Strawberry Cake – a mountainous pile of sweet, snowcapped in drizzled glaze.
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Post by Siren on Aug 22, 2007 18:28:13 GMT -6
Leo's? Hmmm...I need to add that to my list of restaurants to vanquish. There are a lot of good bbq joints around here. And some that aren't as good as they think they are. The website www.roadfood.com raved about "award winning" County Line here in OKC, which has some of really average food. Not even the sauce (often the salvation of an average bbq joint) is that great. Be sure and visit that website, though; it's fun. And look at those chili cheese fries on the home page! Banana Strawberry Cake? Sounds like something more to my mom's taste, Gams. I don't like bananas in dessert, even in banana pudding. I eat around them.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 22, 2007 23:00:44 GMT -6
You know, Siren....actually I don't like bananas in dessert either. I only like them hard and firm and oh-so-good.
Bananas, we're talking about right? Greenish bananas.
But this cake....you gotta see it; it looks so damned mouth-watering good, I might forego the hard, firmness just once.
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Post by Siren on Aug 23, 2007 20:22:24 GMT -6
LOL, Gams! You make that cake sound awfully a-peel-ing.
I just savored a bowl of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. As its name implies, Blue Bell is made in Texas. They're kind enough to let us Okies enjoy it, too. Wonderful stuff. That Homemade Vanilla flavor is so good, no toppings are necessary. It really is just about as good as my mom's homemade ice cream - a high compliment.
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Post by Siren on Aug 27, 2007 8:15:03 GMT -6
We spent all day yesterday helping my sister and her husband move into their new property - a long, grubby, sweaty day. By the time the day was done, around 11pm, we were all tired and famished. My sis, ,y brother-in-law, Jess, and I were almost back to the city when I said, "Pancakes sure sound good." Jess' eyes brightened. "Waffle House," he proclaimed, and that's where we stopped. How nice to see that cool, bright cafe waiting for us. My sis and I ordered breakfast (waffles, eggs-over-medium, bacon and sausage, and those terrific Waffle House hash browns), and Jess, who always finds something interesting on any menu, chose a beef sandwich with grilled onions, and asked them to add some jalapenos to the grill. Oh, did that food taste fabulous! As we ate, we chatted with our waitress, who told us about her husband and baby, and of her plans to finish her G.E.D., then go to culinary school. Jess' fatigue started setting in about half-way through the meal, and his eyelids went to half mast. Who knew of the anesthetic qualities of grilled jalapenos?
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Aug 31, 2007 23:16:39 GMT -6
There's a tiny little dumpy hole in the wall been there forever place here in town that only exists here called the Hoagie House. I have recently rediscovered the wonders of this shack like bit o heaven. They serve a concotion called the sack-o-steak. I believe I am addicted.
Pita bread stuffed to bursting with thinly sliced ribeye grilled to perfection with onons some super secret herbs and spices and some kind of olive oil type thing.....slap on some tomatos a little lettuce for crunch...dang....I'm drooling. Must go there for lunch tomorrow.
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Post by Siren on Sept 13, 2007 21:41:53 GMT -6
Mmmmmm....sounds great, Gams! I think I would prefer it with that creamy Greek cucumber dressing. But still, definitely drool-worthy.
My mom stayed with me during my recuperation. Before she left Tuesday, we visited a legendary OKC eatery: Beverly's Chicken In The Rough. At one time, there were, I believe, 8 Beverly's restaurants in OKC. Now there is only one, a cafe about the size of a train car. Chicken In The Rough (the name is copyrighted) consists of fresh fried chicken served in a box with fries and fresh yeast rolls. Traditionally, the whole meal is drizzled with honey. But I had mine honey-free. The chicken is fantastic - crispy and juicy. And the yeast rolls were all they should be. But then, Beverly's has learned how to do it right in the 86 years the chain has existed. The corner lot where this particular Beverly's has sat for 40 years has been sold, and the restaurant is scheduled to move in December. I hope, hope, hope that the move is successful, and this grand old cafe can keep going.
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