I was in a restaurant the other day that was HUGE. Could not believe that it was a "one-seater." I had to stand there in the hall forever just to go wash my hands. Just like a convenience store on the interstate!

Clean with smelly PINESOL. I hate walking into a restaurant and smelling that stuff and it happens ALL the time.

I don't have a recipe but my brother and I were laughing recently about the hamburger buns in our elementary school cafeteria. When they would runout of "regular" hamburger buns, they would make these yeast roll buns.

And we would go, "EWWWWW, these aren't REAL hamburger buns. They MADE these. EWWWW."

MAKE the potato salad. I can't believe how many places serve that slop that comes out of a bucket from Sam's.

SOFT butter! Yes!

Thanks everyone. Off to find cheese recipes!

It's is here too...for human consumption. This milk is "for pets."

I drank one glass of it but just not a big milk drinker. It does have a good clean taste though.

Don't know where you're located but this place delivers all over Tennessee and into Georgia and Mississippi. West Wind Farms.

I'm not familiar with Philladelphia ice cream. Will have to look that up.

Would kind of like to do something a little healthier but all ideas appreciated. I might end up doing that if it doesn't take an ice cream maker.

I impulsively bought a gallon of unpateurized milk. (You know...for pets!)

Now my "pet" who is the milk drinker in our house says he's not going to drink it because it will cause diphtheria or some such.

What can I do with it?

I love doing oven beef stew or a beef vegetable soup in mine. Comes out abou 9000 times better than what I used to make in the slow cooker.

I got an enameled one for christmas. I'm thinking about making chicken and dumplings for its inaugural. :)

Yay for that link to the comparison chart!!!

1000x more helpful than the lame comparison on KA website.

I've started buying the jowls. More like $4+ per package here but it's just better than any other supermaket bacon I've tried.

Hmmm...crickets chirping...not a good sign.

BUMP

Beef stew. Gumbo. Vegetable beef soup.

And I FINALLY perfected turnip greens and southern cooked to death green beans.

People also like my brownies but they're just Giardelli from a box with a teaspoon of instant coffee.

When my dad cooked at a hunting lodge with a big group of men, he would add "secret spices" to his dishes from a bottle hidden in his pants pockets.

I think it was often just lemon pepper but this was back in the day when that was a more exotic ingredient.

Omg this. People drag those videos out to the point of ridiculousness.

Pound cake! Tried 4 different recipes this week. Becca Porters is the favorite so far. I am not usually a baker but I'm a tiny bit obsessed. I'm dreaming of quitting my job and baking pound cakes for a living. LOL

My crappy oven may limit me but would welcome tips for taking it to the next level.

Maybe imported butter?

+1 on Becca Porter pound cake. My first pound cake and it came out great and I am not much of a baker. (In fact, I did overcook it a tiny bit.)

I want to try it with vanilla BEAN next.

Do you have a good brand on the pickled daikon or is it made in store?

Amen, hotoynoodle! I went crazy and bought a crapload of exotic stuff at my giant new international market with no clear plan for using it.

What I have learned to do is buy ingredients that are mostly familiar which are good deals there...Cilantro and scallions for 15 cents
Giant pkg of ginger for $.99
Potatoes 3# for $.79
Fish and meat that are much fresher than Kroger.

I am buying some of the other stuff but as much as I enjoy looking at all of it and as curious as I am to try it, I am not primarily an Asian cook and don't have the time right now to become one so I have to be realistic about that.

...then nobody will.

This is a great thread. I grew up eating two kinds of fish..fried catfish and tuna from a can and the suggestions here are helpful!

And can I be lazy and just ask what agliata is?

That is true. I think of them being hard to do but really they just take a long time.

That would be good except I ALWAYS overcook it. DH gets really grossed out if there's ANY pink so it ends up being dry and overdone every. single. time.

Wow. Thanks for all the ideas guys! What I don't do today I definitely want to try later...Maybe on the 4th...I've never had pork belly for instance. And the oven fried chicken sounds really good.

And you're right Uncle Bob....here in Mississippi we have been known to fry more than one food per meal. I was at a Weight Watchers meeting one time and two ladies were talking about frying cucumbers!

Sausages definitely fit the "easy" bill and would be yummy too.

I was kind of going with a southern theme (although the corn salad wouldn't be). But just not in the mood for a beef roast. My mother-in-law will just fry some bacon with her peas and cornbread and such but that didn't quite suit me either.

Its so hot that many foods are just not sounding good right now.

That would be easy! I don't know if we even have chicken sausages here - much less ASSORTED.

But will give the sausages idea some thought because you're right - super easy in terms of timing, and prep.

This is what I'm having so far....

Fresh green Beans & new potatoes
Grilled Corn Salad (or maybe corn on cob, haven't decided)
Fried Green tomatoes
Sliced homegrown 'maters & canteloupe
Cucumbers and Onions in vinegar
Squash
Cornbread

For dessert probably a lemon icebox pie.

But I need a protein! (Please do not try to convince me I don't. It's a long story but I need a protein.)

Something easy or do ahead since I will be doing the fried green tomatoes at the last minute.

I thought about just deviled eggs but not sure i can get away with that.

Thought about telling my guests to stop and pick us up some Gus' fried chicken. But I don't like having 2 fried things and DH wants fried green tomatoes.

Nothing sounds good though.