Florida Hound's Profile
where to get coffee (and what brand) if you're on a budget?
I stretch the coffee budget by my newly-discovered mix of grinding whole bean Eight O'Clock Columbian with equal part whole bean Dunkin Donuts.
best coffee brand, period!
I posted on this thread a few years ago re: my loyalty to Dunkin Donuts. But I was intrigued by how often "Eight O'Clock" was mentioned by other Chowhounds. Lately, I've been stretching the home-brew coffee budget by grinding a mixture of whole bean Dunkin, with equal parts whole bean Eight O'Clock Columbian and am enjoying the results just fine.
Anything better on a Sunday Morning than Pancakes?
You sound like "my-kinda-folks," with your love and knowledge of the range of pancakes. I was raised on pancake-eating contests re: paper thin Norwegian pancakes- who in the family (cousins and all) could eat the most? For a couple of years (early 1960s), such contests were big entertainment among our extended family, if I recall. Your post brought back memories of a 5 or 8 year run, in the 1990s, of a tradition of trying a different pancake recipe every Sunday morning. Once in a while, we'd go French Toast or waffles. We collected hundreds of wonderful recipes and a couple of clunkers (the clunkers were usually vegetable based crepes that should be reserved for supper, if eaten at all). We bought different flours and mixes when we would travel. I think at one point, we had storage problems with about 12 or 15 bags of such. And every kind of syrup imaginable. Then one day when the love of my life decided that pancakes didn't fit in with a particular diet at the time, we decided to forego it, except as an occasional treat. Our nieces still insist on pancakes when they bring their own kids in for a weekend visit, so it remains a special memory-tradition.
Oh- the nieces would want you to know- real pancake syrup is the red Grenadine stuff. And lots of whipped cream, please.
Daytona Beach Rec's, PLEASE?
I love the food at Down the Hatch in Ponce Inlet, FL. I had a melt-in-your-mouth mahi-mahi burger a few nights ago during Bike Week that was to die for. The sun was setting, a few boats sailed by, a pelican waddled by on the restaurant's dock. Outdoor dining, with a Florida breeze and live guitar music. All would be wonderful here, except that the place is under-staffed and the hard working servers do not have time to pay attention to orders, customer requests, or show any personal interest whatsoever in the diners. The rush-rush-rush and obvious half-listening remained a consistent irritant throughout the meal and beyond. I asked for silverware 3 times. I spread the mayonaise on my mahi mahi sandwich with a straw. After I filled in my credit card amounts during the billing process, I could never get my server's attention, or much of anybody else's, so I left the folder and paperwork with the hostess inside(the main restaurant). I will go back there- the food and ambiance is well worth the server hassle, but I wanted to warn my Chowhound friends that there is, sadley, a "server hassle" at this place.
Worst restaurants in Westchester
I love the replies (3 so far) to your question! As an Ardsley transplant to Florida, and as an avid Chowhound, I thought it was great that an Ardsley eatery stood out as a really good place, on a thread dedicated to just the opposite. Made my day. It may be quite a while before I can sample that restaurant, but I did appreciate the mention.
Recommendations near Tampa Airport
Whenever this question comes up, I always put in a plug for Lee Roy Selmon's, only a mile or 2 or 3 from Tampa Airport. Just down-home stuff. Southern chicken, pulled port, glazed salmon, various salads... we live out of town, but when we are close-by, that's our choice for a reasonable lunch. 4302 W. Boy Scout Blvd. They have a St. Pete location, too, and a few others
Decent casual restaurant near Tampa airport?
Please follow up with us soon, re: where you finally chowed down! Enjoy your trip, Florida Hound
Blender/Food processor
Well, since I posted about the Ninja in June, 2010, we have come to really enjoy it. Nothing negative at all to say about the Ninja. There are more elaborate Ninja units available via the infomercials and even in WalMart, but our basic Ninja does it all for our drink needs, crushing ice, etc.
iL Divo, if you are looking for some specific information I can dig out of the Ninja instruction book or recipe book, I'll try to find the booklets out of wherever- please post if we can help.
Brooklyn Egg Creams
I've had egg creams via all sorts of recipes, I am sure. The "recipe" and advice I have seen around most often seems to recommend the Fox's U-Bet syrup goes in last, very carefully with a little wrist action. Made 'em last night for some nieces and nephews who were uninitiated and apparently reasonably impressed. We have a siphon bottle and CO2 cartridges on hand, and that helps out, given that any Brooklyn Seltzer Delivery Company still in business would probably have wicked delivery charges to central Florida. A couple of Westerchester County friends come south a few times a year and have bragged for years about their own discovery of using Mug Cream soda as a substitute for the seltzer. Can't get Mug Cream Soda in Florida, but my buddy brought some down on one of his Florida trips a few months ago. OK, it was different, but very tasty. (Tonight, my wife requests we get out the syphon bottle for some Italian sodas...) Florida Hound
Let's talk salmonella
I made a great batch of yeast-based Belgian waffles last night/ this morning, and in the midst of it all, my wife and I got concerned about the raw eggs in the recipe. Rather than getting up at 4 am to make a breakfast recipe that required the yeast to rise for an hour or 2, I made up the batter last night, with the intent to just let it rise and rise overnight. Wife and I got thinking about it, and we went for "Plan B," set the alarm for midnight, and I staggered in my sleep to get the risen batter into some coolness. In this case, we had no room in the fridge for the bowl. Iced down a large picnic cooler and the bowl was safe for the night. We were safe from salmonella.
So, how do you handle overnight recipes that contain raw eggs? Would our Belgian waffles in the a.m. really be any potential health hazard? (actually, they were delicious...) Thanks,
Florida Hound
CNET Editors
Boy, am I tired of seeing that distorted picture of the "CNET Editors, now inside your iPad." The picture has the appeal of chaulk scratching across a blackboard. Everytime I open Chowhound, I see their macabre advertising image and I rush past it as quick as possible, or rush to log out of Chowhound altogether. It's like anti-advertising- pushing you away from any interest in their message. Sheesh!
Need fruitcake/Christmas stollen recipe......please fellow chow hounds!!!
Note to GG- on the fruitcake thread, no less! I still make your special grilled cheese sandwich, which you or Mr. Mora came up with as you were getting your season ready for Christmas fruitcake (posts back to 2002 or 2004!!) I just finished a delicious grilled cheese sandwich a few minutes ago, with cranberry sauce, laced with dried fruitcake fruit. Many thanks and good wishes, these years later,
Florida Hound
Is finding quality ingredients a struggle where you live?
A quick "P.S." to this post... 3 weeks ago, I posted how hard it is to find Gorgonzola Dolce cheese in my little burg. Then, how the local Italian specialty deli got me connected with Cambozola cheese. The Italian place just re-opened after a 10 day holiday vacation, and I couldn't wait to get some Cambozola and whip up some of that special recipe grilled cheese. Oh no! They would not get any until next week! Then, amazingly, about 20 minutes later, I found both Gorgonzola Dolce AND Cambozola in the Winn Dixie, of all places. So, you just never know. Keeping with the theme of this thread, I advise all of us to be persistant and keep on the hunt for those special foods and ingredients. I am still blown away at my "find" today. Winn Dixie??? Winn Dixie???
Decent casual restaurant near Tampa airport?
I don't know if I am on time to reply to a December 18th post, BUT... I wonder if Lee Roy Selmon's might fit the bill. A small Florida-based chain. When we are in the area of a mile or 2 from Tampa International Airport, we like to go there. Casual, sports restaurant kind of place. Some of the menu items: Sliders, Pulled pork, Grilled chicken salad, Mama's meatloaf, Sweet heat fried chicken, Citrus glazed shrimp salas, Buffalo wings... The location nearest the airport would be 4302 W. Boy Scout Blvd., South Tampa.
Leftover cranberry orange relish-need suggestions!!
I put 2 different reviews up on a CD music blog, about 5 years apart. Thankfully, I inadvertantly identified myself a little differently in each (so I wasn't too embarrassed as it turned out), and only after the fact realized one of the earlier reviewers was me.
OK, a great cranberry leftover recipe and use: a special grilled cheese I found on Chowhound many years ago, now modified: A cranberry relish containing pieces of candied ginger, candied orange, and candied lemon peel. Add these to the existing relish if it wasn't that way in the first place. Slices of Gorgonzola Dolce cheese or Cambozola cheese, Make a sandwich on good artisan farm bread, and grill it up! The recipe originally called for the Gorgonzola Dolce cheese, but now I prefer the Cambozola, and it seems to be more widely available. Enjoy, Florida Hound
Is finding quality ingredients a struggle where you live?
Just a quick word of admiration to you, AsperGirl. I am afraid I am more along the lines of a pop-open-the-can, or thaw-out-the-frozen-dinner kind of person. I might think, "I like to cook," but really taking the time to study food science is not something a lot of us do, and consistently creating from absolute scratch is so often out of my reach, too. But I can look over the fence and envy your approach to food and life.
Thick- I mean THICK eggnog recipe wanted
I hate to start a new eggnog thread. Over the years, Chowhound has had many. But I don't see an answer to my recipe question- how can I doctor a good, kind of thick eggnog recipe to thicken it up- cut down on the milk? Whip the egg whites 20 minutes longer? We use cooked eggs. We've used Deb-El powdered merangue for the whites for many years, but this year we may do real, separated egg whites. Since I'm shaking up our basics a little bit, I thought we'd try thicker-is-better, with your suggestions. Thanks, Florida Hound
What's the best turkey to buy?
I have read some of the warnings about different kinds of plastic and heating foods in plastic, so I shared your concern when you replied to my post. (My traveling coffee mug is BPA-free...)
I checked out several websites for food safety issues related to turkey cooking bags, and they all give these bags a clean bill of health. Many negative comments about chemical leeching when people cook a turkey in a trash bag (huh?) or a brown paper bag. The University of Illinois Extension Service and the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service seemed to be credible sources of reassurance. See links:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/lets_talk_turkey/index.asp http://urbanext.illinois.edu/turkey/cooking_techniques.cfm
OK, we're keeping the Reynolds Turkey Roasting bags- and the results are delicious.
Is finding quality ingredients a struggle where you live?
Several times I have read something on Chowhound that seems too exotic to obtain in my little rural burg in central Florida. I try to do my specialty shopping homework before going out of town to Tampa or Orlando or Jacksonville, and pack a cooler in the car if it looks like I can find my
ingredient(s) in "the big city." To me, Memphis sounds like "the big city!" I did just order some seasonal Philadelphia spice wafers on-line because our local Publix can no longer special-order them. I was willing to pay a little extra for them, and I think this is what we are up against. I have asked a friend from the Northeast for a few years to bring down bottles of a particular cream soda, on one of his periodic trips to Florida. He finally did so about a month ago. Prevention Magazine had a granola recipe a few years ago with very hard to find ingredients, and no natural foods store I could contact anywhere had all or even most of the ingredients. When I priced the special items on-line, I quickly decided I really didn't need to try that kind of granola, and I couldn't imagine any reader of a mass publication doing so. I found a recipe on Chowhound many years ago that called for a cheese called Gorganzola Dolce. Available in fewer and fewer places, but I can find it in Tampa, FL, even if the hunt is getting harder. My local Italian specialty shop in my small town, however, convinced me to try Cambozola (he declined to order any Gorgonzola Dolce for me- said he wouldn't sell enough to keep it fresh or make it worth his while.) The Cambozola is a wonderful substitute, says my taste buds. So, another coping strategy might be creative substitutes.
ATHENS, GEORGIA
We don't travel out of central Florida on a regular basis, and don't often have a need to consult Chowhound threads and discussions for restaurant recommendations in other ares. But a few weeks ago, we made plans to travel to Athens, GA to meet a friend who had recently moved to that area. This thread on Athens restaurants was a valuable resource. We "knew what we were talking about" and looking for, more or less, when we talked to the desk people at our motel re: "Where's the best place to eat?" We ended up downtown at The Last Resort, and it was the closest to the Morton Theater, where we were to see a play later in the evening. Several in our party had the Roasted Duck Pasta and the dish got rave reviews at our table. We were too full for dessert, and asked the staff about coming back after the play for one of their eye-popping dessert dishes. Theye advised against it, as the place is very popular, esp when college is in session. (We hit it just before Christmas/ winter break). And, true to their advice, we did try after our play (9:45ish) and were told the wait would be more than an hour. Restaurant: great review here. The area and the parking: the pits. Athens is another of those downtowns where they have found the parking meter to be the golden goose. Their parking regimen is very visitor un-friendly. Locals may know the routine of the private parking lots vs the meters, but visitors are at a loss. With that said, if we ever return to Athens, we will definitely look forward to another excellent meal at The Last Resort. And thanks, hlamart and Chowhound for the recommendation.
Florida Hound
Phoney blueberries???
There is an EMail going around alerting us to the widespread practice of packaged food products (breakfast cereals, muffins, baking mixes...) that tout "blueberries" actually not containing any blueberries whatsoever! Or, the "blueberry bits" are so insignificant that the red food dye, blue food dye, etc. are the real players on the ingredient list. This information struck me as massively false advertising. I sometimes read ingredient labels, often do not, but I will pay attention the next time I buy some blueberry muffin mix. Has anybody else heard much about this?
Substitute Flax Seed with Ground Flax Seed (in Pumpkin Granola recipe)??
You're right, "it hardly looks appetizing..." But let's try it (not speaking for MsJunsu or anything). Since MsJunsu says there are many ingredients anyway, while the texture between whole and ground flaxseed is obviously different, I don't think the "appetizing" or "unappeitizing" will change all that much.
Tasty healthy cold cereal?
I mix up several cereals together I consider "healthy." Equal proportions, more or less, stir them in a large mixing bowl with a sturdy wooden spoon, and store the mix in an air-tight container.
The mix:
Kashi Go Lean
Kellog's All Bran original or Bran Buds (uh-oh- just read the label---> HFCSs)
Uncle Sam cereal
Honey Nut Cherrios (Interestingly, "Vitamin E, mixed tocopherols, added to preserve freshness.")
At breakfast, I usually spoon a few spoonfuls of ground flaxseed and/or mix in a cut up banana or something.
Substitute Flax Seed with Ground Flax Seed (in Pumpkin Granola recipe)??
I tried to google various recipes for granolas with flax seeds for further clues. Only one reply to a recipe elsewhere on the web had a comment where the individual substituted ground flax for the original recipe's whole. And the person made no comments on any changes in measurements or changes in the result! (From that omission can we assume 1:1?) Although I am OK with my whole flax in my Uncle Sam breakfast cereal, I have known for a long time that the "whole" form just goes straight through the intestine and thus robs the body of several health benefits of using flaxseed. Ground flaxseed is the holy grail and if I was making the recipe, I would go with the ground and enjoy the result. Someone on one of the recipes mentioned the "nuttiness" quality of whole flaxseeds. I would sacrifice a little of the "nutty" texture if that was actually an issue, and enjoy increased health benefits: Omega 3s in their prime. If you have never made this recipe before, you will not know the difference re: how it is "supposed to be." One of the responders to your question suggested to omit the flaxseed altogether. Obviously, that would not be my recommendation. The stuff is just too healthy!
still not sure about the best type of turkey
There are several similar threads on Chowhound, but the folks who have replied to your question have generally not gotten into the discussion on another thread. You may want to check out "What's the best turkey to buy?" thread. It will just "stir the pot" as you try to sort out the pros and cons of type of turkey or method of prep. I gave my positive 2 cents re: Butterball on the other thread. The topics and headings at the bottom of this thread have several variations that may catch your attention. (That story about "I stuffed a turkey with Twinkies" just caught my eye, so I will close and check that piece out. Maybe Twinkies" are really the solution to all this. )
What's the best turkey to buy?
It looks like a lot of folks are weighing in for the tried and true Butterball, and we swear by it as well. We have settled in to the Reynolds turkey bag recipe, with 1 cup of a butter and white wine (Loupiac) mixture poured over the turkey as it goes into the bag. Moist, tender, every time. Shorter cooking time in the turkey bag. Many Chowhound posts complain about a dry, tasteless turkey on their tables, but ours is consistently great.
In search of mild salmon
Those Chinese filets were perfect to our tastebuds, but we didn't like their point of origin. And I'm taking in all the comments, and maybe salmon won't be the way to go. We'll see. And it wouldn't be the first time that my take on the world is seen as "very odd."
In search of mild salmon
My wife and I are discovering the joys of mild salmon, but when we realized our new delight was from China, we decided to shop elsewhere and find an alternative. Today, we tried a frozen sockeye salmon from Alaska which brought us back to a strong, fishy taste that has turned us off to a lot of fish for years.
So, I throw it out to my Chowhound experts... help us find a really mild tasting salmon! I checked past Chowhound boards and found an interesting comparison thread, re: king vs. sockeye, but it didn't have suggestions as to which is milder.
We don't care if the fish is farm raised or wild. We are avoiding products form China, as I stated. Help us find MILD!
Thanks in advance,
Florida Hound
Crystal River Suggestions?
My wife and I hit Charlie's Fish House about once a month, and ask for a table near the back windows (look out on the water). She orders crabmeat stuffed turbot and I order fried clam strips. We hardly ever vary from our routine. If we remember to save a pack of crackers, we usually walk out to the water after dinner to feed the ducks, who are friendly beggers. Florida Hound
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Charlie's Fish House Restaurant
224 NW US Highway 19, Crystal River, FL 34428
