Sharuf's Profile
Bitchin' Kitchen - Are they kidding???
I've got 20 years on you Aurora, and in my day that's what it meant, too.
Donuts: Cake or Yeast-type?
Also called "French" donuts -- they are my favorites. In the three donut shops in my area, only one has them. Last time I bought them they cost considerably more than the cake or raised glazed ones.
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
Furniture: Mission-style bed plus matresses; handsome red leather recliner; stylish collapsable sofa/guest bed; desk lamps.
Two walkers - one with a seat and one collapsible three-wheeler -- both about $100 each.
-- The bed, sofa, and collapsible walker were ordered from the CC website. --
Weight-loss shakes (like Ultra Slim-Fast only tastier and cheaper).
All the chicken broth I'll need for a while.
Best Chain Breakfast?
My sweetie and I do IHOP regularly. They have interesting crepes options, either stand-alone or as a side with eggs 'n stuff. My current fave is Swedish crepes with a side of fruit.
In need of some introductory recipes to cooking with kidney and heart, pork or beef please! Beginner offal dishes . .
A German lady I know has a specialty - boiled beef tongue served with white sauce liberally laced with horseradish. Very good!
Best restaurant view of Golden Gate Bridge fireworks
How about waterfront places in Tiburon? There's Caprice and its amazing panoramic Bay views. Don't know if you can see the bridge from Sam's or Guaymas, but if so, they would be good.
Best canned, packaged or frozen soup
I used to be fond of Knorr Oxtail Soup in the dry packets. But that product doesn't seem to be around anymore (sigh!)
Trader Joe's tomato and red pepper soup in the shelf-stable boxes is worth keeping on hand.
Campbell's Cream of Shrimp soup -- if you can find it anywhere -- makes a good sauce for leftover baked fish.
.
Restaurants and Bars around the world you would love to clone..
RIP - places from the past of fond memory:
Washington Square Bar and Grill in SF's North Beach - great place to hang out
Don the Beachcomber at Waikiki - the ultimate and original tiki bar
China Station in Berkeley - good bar and great menu plus race pride attitude
Your Perfect Sandwich
LeCroissant in San Rafael does a nice toasted cheese melt one they call a MAC - Mushroom, Avocado, and Cheese. Definitely not one to mention at your next Weight Watchers meeting.
Crazy chili
I make a fairly standard gringo-style chili - meat, beans, tomato etc. I have two rules - it must sit overnight before reheating and serving. Same day chili tastes unfinished to me. Then, while reheating, I add some pressed garlic and some chopped cilantro at the end. These give a nice fresh kick to things.
Artichokes!!! Any low fat alternatives to butter with garlic & lemon????
Seasoned rice vinegar is as austere as you can get.
Catfish?
What I meant is that farmed catfish are fed a vegetarian diet, as I understand it.
Catfish?
Re wild catfish -- mom would clean and skin them, and then soak them overnight in salty water. That took care of any muddy flavor problem.
Lamb breast; how to cook it?
Here's what I do when I encounter cheap lamb (breast or neck) - make Sharuf's Lamb What Am.
Cut meat into manageable stewing-size pieces. Remove any of the easy-to-get-to fat and bones. Dump the meat into a slow-cooker. Then add the following: a cut-up big bunch of chard or two bunches of spinach. Some onion. Some eggplant, if you have it. An 8oz can of tomato sauce or some V8 juice. Cumin, bay leaf, and S&P. Turn it on and let 'er go. Toward the end, add garlic to complete the Near East flavor and aroma. Serve with crusty bread or pita. Millet or couscous is good also.
VERY Annoyed by Flash Targeted Ads -- PLEASE GET RID OF THEM
I'm with you, Doc. When I go to click on something, it turns into a moving target. Very annoying! And when I see ads clearly targeting me based on websites I have visited, I feel invaded.
Catfish?
Catfish used to be the most common choice in the fish departments here in the Bay Area. And they were one of the cheapest.
I recently noticed I never see them anymore. What happened? Did tastes and cooking styles change? Did their farms get wiped out by the hurricanes of recent years?
I like catfish and grew up with them (used to catch 'em in our local waters). Plus, they are vegetarian and don't produce the pollution problems you get with farmed salmon.
How do you drink your milk?
Hi: Another former farm kid here. Our milk came from the barn to the fridge to the table. I drank lots of it -- still do, even though it's the town-folks version of milk. It ain't the same, but it will have to do.
ASK SUSHI MAN 3
We first started having sushi about 25 years ago at a neighborhood Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. For sushi you sat at the bar and dealt with the serious sushi guys working there. You paid them at the bar, and if you tried to leave a tip, they would refuse it and you got the idea you were offending them.
Now I get the impression that tips ARE expected, just like in regular restaurants. I still feel awkward, now knowing what to do. What is right?
Best Chain Breakfast?
McD's, Jack in the Box, and now Burger King all have smoothies. They each have a strawberry with banana one, and one or more other flavors. That, and something from their dollar menu (they each have $1 options for b'fast) makes a quick, cheap and tasty meal. I do it frequently. If you are a senior, you can get your coffee at half price.
What are your favourite taco fillings?
When I first came down to California, waay waaay back in the mid-1950's I didn't know what a taco was. They didn't even have tortillas in the Northwest then.
Someone took me to a dive called "Mama Garcia's" on a backwoods road on the Peninsula. Mama served crispy fried tacos filled with spicy mystery meat, along with lettuce and tomato and salsa. Maybe cheese and/or avocado were part of the deal -- I don't remember. There was also a pile of refried beans - another brand new taste experience.
Ever since then, Mama Garcia's tacos have been my standard. My meat mixture consists of chorizo -- the cheap stuff in the plastic casing, hamburger, onion, tomato, and chiles. On top of this I put lettuce and salsa and anything else that occurs to me. I try to get same-day freshly made corn tortillas if possible - they fry up much better than tired tortillas. Also, I try to use the red fat thrown off by the chorizo as part of the pan fat for frying the tacos.
I have gotten rave reviews on these tacos - maybe the nostalgia factor improves them?
Going out for breakfast -- Never again!
I like IHOP's crepes. An order of Swedish crepes and a side of fruit makes a satisfying breakfast that won't weigh you down.
Sauce for artichokes
Yours is the first feedback I ever got on this in chowhound. Thanks!
Favorite unusual toppings for vanilla ice cream?
There was once a fancy icecream parlor at the Town and Country Center in Palo Alto -- many, many decades ago. They had a sundae like I've never seen before or since - It was a generous bowl of vanilla ice cream with a great big scoop of semi-soft chocolate something-or-other. Like a cross between mousse and fudge. Hey - when you're 19 you can eat stuff like that. Don't remember if whipped cream and a cherry were part of the production, but that would be good too.
Please Don't Put Onions or Shallots In Your Gazpacho
A -- Could you give us a (paraphrased) version of Keller's recipe? Or a website pointer to it? Tnx.
north bay food recs: marin sonom and napa counties
Breakfast and lunch don't get any better than what they serve at LeCroissant on Bellam in san Rafael. It can get a bit cramped inside, but there's outside seating for fair weather.
Does anyone remember Oscar Meyer sandwich spread and can you give me a mock recipe?
A Swedish friend would get caviar spread in a tube. That was a standard Swedish thing.
How to measure a frying pan?
So what is, say, a 9" pan?
Do you measure the flat surface on the inside of the pan?
The width of the outside bottom?
The width from lip to lip?
What 20 dishes should I know how to make without a recipe?
If your background is northern european, you MUST MUST MUST know how to throw together a pot of split pea soup. And have some kind of interesting bread / toast / cracker type of thing to go with it.
Here's an off-the-shelf accompaniment for your pea soup - brewski muffins. Take 3 cups buttermilk bisquick mix and one can of beer. Mix it up and bake in a muffin tin pan.
