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Post by rikita on Nov 5, 2018 0:48:58 GMT
a blueberry and chocolate bar, and a tangerine.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 14, 2018 15:40:00 GMT
I had a bulgur, Roquefort and lentil patty with a bit of fried goat cheese on the side. I figure it is a good time to start getting used to vegetarian options before they become obligatory in 5 years.
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 26, 2018 10:25:51 GMT
Special cricket lunch at Lords for me today.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 26, 2018 16:24:03 GMT
Do they serve grasshoppers and worms, too?
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 27, 2018 11:35:15 GMT
Do they serve grasshoppers and worms, too? 😛
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Post by casimira on Dec 12, 2018 14:14:28 GMT
Going downtown today and plan to drop in and have lunch at one of my favorite spots. I had received a text from one of the oyster shuckers there asking me where had I been and coaxed me into going down there.
Lunch fare will be at least a dozen raw oysters, a half dozen (or more...) jumbo boiled shrimp, perhaps some mussels and ceviche thrown in.
(the last time I was there was on my birthday in November and aside from all of the above they brought out a Sacher torte with a scoop of dark chocolate/chicory ice cream).
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Post by rikita on Dec 13, 2018 9:09:33 GMT
taking along a leftover pepper stuffed with mushrooms and feta and some leftover couscous to work ... so i'll have that unless everyone decides to go to a cafeteria ...
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Post by casimira on Jan 1, 2019 17:44:37 GMT
Late lunch early supper will be the traditional New Year's Day fare of cabbage seasoned with ham or in this case pork, black-eyed peas with rice and homemade cornbread.
It's known as "Hoppin' John" in some parts of the South but I've never heard of it being referred to as that here in NOLA.
I am the chef this year because my husband is feeling very poorly with a bad, bad cold and feels like crap.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 1, 2019 18:31:58 GMT
New year's day dinner is a big deal in this house, cooked a huge joint of beef served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, heaps of veg and thick beefy gravy...I made the chaps a jam roly poly pudding with custard. Podged.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 2, 2019 3:59:25 GMT
My lunch was a very late breakfast of two salsa verde tamales.
Had cabbage for supper -- made sure to get that in on the first day of the year -- but blackeyed peas are in the same section of the market as hens' teeth. Instead I mixed a can of charro beans into some leftover chili. You can't say I'm not into elegant cooking.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 2, 2019 14:56:12 GMT
Casimira, sorry about Mr Casimir. Hope the greens help his cold.
Bixa, should be be sending you black-eyed peas? People from "the Islands" eat them here. Of course that means the Caribbean islands, not the islands of Montréal and l'île Jésus just to the north, home to the large suburb, Laval.
I'm having some homemade poultry broth (mosly duck!!!) with leafy greens and crumbled 100% rye bread, I had let the heel dry; it had to be softened overnight before eating, as otherwise it would be like eating a brick. Late breakfast or early lunch. Very good on this effing cold day.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 2, 2019 15:03:15 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2019 15:53:32 GMT
I had alphabet soup made using my oxtail broth. I saw that the alphabets purportedly expired in 2016, which indicates 1) I don't make alphabet soup very often and 2) the expiration date is totally fake.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 2, 2019 16:37:53 GMT
What is is, white pasta? That can last for years. Wholegrain pasta does go off, but it still has a long shelf life.
There is actually some good wholegrain pasta now - and some decent gluten-free pasta - made in Italy. There it is not just for food faddists - there is quite a bit of coeliac, and of course wholegrain has a lower glucide index, so it is better for diabetics and others who have to watch glucide intake.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2019 17:02:04 GMT
I have eaten musty old pasta before -- it is awful, but usually by then you just bite the bullet and eat it.
Alphabet pasta is the same as vermicelli, elbow macaroni and all that other small stuff.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 2, 2019 18:26:21 GMT
Nice article, LaGatta. The first time I went to Key West, back in the early 70s before it had been gentrified out of existence, a version of accras called bollos was made and sold on the street there. Found some interesting things when I looked it up, all of which I include here: www.conchs.com/recipes/bollos.html, which has a method for peeling blackeyed peas. Then there is this, which also links to one I just posted. I include it because it's fancier & because of the interesting stuff on that page: www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0911F09.htm. You may be as happy as I am to know that Uncle Phaedrus is still in business: hungrybrowser.com/. This one has pictures & a video and includes the names for the fritters in African countries, clearly showing the provenance of the word "accra": www.africanbites.com/black-eyed-peas-frittersakaraacarajeakla/ I saw that the alphabets purportedly expired in 2016, which indicates 1) I don't make alphabet soup very often and 2) the expiration date is totally fake. As long as the ss in the package don't look like uncrossed fs, it should be okay.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2019 18:57:29 GMT
"Accras au morue" are sold in every supermarket in Paris, and even though I buy them regularly, I am always a bit disappointed. I would like to taste at least a little fish but no, they just taste like little fried balls of something or other. I console myself by dipping them in Asian chilli sauce (or sometimes hot mango chutney) and just telling myself that they really contain fish.
Another laugh (not) is that they come in two types -- "mild" and "creole." Of course I buy creole which is supposed to be spicier. It is about as spicy as Miracle Whip.
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Post by bjd on Jan 2, 2019 19:12:02 GMT
I sometimes buy them too and indeed they don't taste of fish. I do the same as Kerouac, dip them in some spicy sauce. I had hesitated about the "creole", not knowing what the spice would be, but if it's Miracle Whip then I'll stick to the plain ones.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2019 19:20:12 GMT
They don't taste like Miracle Whip -- I said they were as spicy as Miracle Whip. In other words: I have absolutely never tasted any spices in them.
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Post by bjd on Jan 2, 2019 19:24:01 GMT
That's what I meant.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 2, 2019 23:50:41 GMT
Out of curiosity I just looked up recipes for accras au morue. This one, which is in English, calls for 1/2 pound of salt cod and a whopping 3 cups of flour. Supposedly it's an authentic recipe, so maybe there are people who like it not very coddish. And for commercial purposes, using less fish means more profit. This one, which is in French, also calls for 1/2 pound of salt cod, but a mere 150 grams of flour, which is roughly 1 cup -- quite a difference. The fritters are less pretty on this site, but I imagine they'd be more flavorful, fish-wise. I was going to ask y'all why you don't make your own, but when I saw that all the recipes begin with having to de-salt the cod I had my answer.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 3, 2019 0:44:55 GMT
Thanks for that recipe; I'm sending it to my friend who is opening a boulangerie; he is from the area just before the Gaspé where the St-Laurent opens up into a gulf (we are the northern equivalent of Rio de la Plata) and his family consumed both salt and fresh cod. You can make accras with fresh cod, but the problem is that they can be too wet.
I thought those with little flour looked fine.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 3, 2019 7:00:03 GMT
One of my superettes used to be a good source of vacuum-packed salt cod rather than the big dry pieces. The vacuum-packed cod needed only about 25% of the desalting time as the other stuff. But when Carrefour City took over that superette, all of the good "Dia" products disappeared. Dia is a Spanish chain. Carrefour bought it 1999 and developed it very well (China, Greece, Argentina...) and then they sold it 2011 -- that's when it started getting interesting again. Unfortunately, Carrefour bought the French branch again in 2014 and ruined it by changing the stores into Carrefour City and Carrefour Express. Bad idea, because almost all of them are losing money and being closed now. If only Dia would buy those stores back! The vacuum-packed salt cod was wonderful.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 3, 2019 12:17:33 GMT
Dia and Carrefour are the mainstays of my shopping in Spain. Dia for day to day stuff, as expected from the name and Carrefour for the weekly shop.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 6, 2019 20:05:33 GMT
I had microwave cassoulet for the first time ever. This does not mean that I have never heated cassoulet in a microwave, because quite often I have emptied a tin into a dish to heat it in the microwave. But this time I had actually bought cassoulet in a plastic dish designed to be microwaved. (30% discount special at Leclerc.) Actually, it was okay, but I just don't like the concept of microwave meals that give me no other option.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 6, 2019 20:09:22 GMT
I just don't like the concept of microwave meals that give me no other option. What? I don't understand what you mean. What other options would you expect, other than whatever the stated meal was? Just finished lunch -- gussied up blenderized lentils, eaten cold; tomato/basil salad; sourdough bread topped with ricotta.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 6, 2019 20:14:03 GMT
If I were a culinary outlaw, I could scrape the microwave cassoulet out of its container, sautée some onions, maybe add some grated cheese and make it into a good dish.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 8, 2019 23:06:50 GMT
I've certainly done that with tinned cassoulet.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 11, 2019 5:57:38 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 11, 2019 17:18:02 GMT
Yum! French head cheese is interesting-looking. Mexican head cheese is boring. I had a chat with one of the pork vendors in my local market and told her about Louisiana head cheese. Her husband makes the hdcheese for their stand & I'm going to give him a recipe for the good kind, i.e., from Louisiana. I've made it many times in the past, but would be ever so thrilled if I could buy it here.
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