ivanova's Profile
Who do you follow on twitter?
A lot of the ones I cover are already listed, like Alton Brown, Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, Ruth Bourdain. Here are a few more:
Michael Ruhlman @ruhlman - lots of good inspiration
Eric Asimov @ericasimov
@steamykitchen
@marionnestle
Jeff Houck @jeffhouck - a local food writer, really like his Weekend Eats
@culinarypirate - also a local food and drink writer
Several local restaurants - I love Twitter for this. Several of my favorite restaurants tweet daily specials, new wines and beer added to menu, special events, etc.
Restaurants that call you and ask that you "Call us back to confirm" a reservation you've already confirmed online. Do you call back?
I've received confirmation phone calls from restaurants for reservations I've made online and by phone. If I miss the call I'll call back to confirm if they've requested that in the message. I only make reservations when it's a special occasion or I'm on vacation so I don't want to risk losing the res or having to wait.
It's not just restaurants, I get these requests from doctor's offices, the vet and other types of appointments. In the past, messages would say just to call back if I need to cancel, now they want me to call to confirm either way. I've never missed any appointment with anyone so I don't think it's personal. My vet's office is really getting on my nerves. They will leave messages asking me cofirm an appointment I made by phone the previous day.
Rec's for Indian Food South Pinellas
I was at Taste of Punjab last night and they have a sign in the window that says the lunch buffet will resume today.
Rec's for Indian Food South Pinellas
I usually go to Taste of Punjab for the dinner menu but I tried Deeya once for lunch and enjoyed it. Better than I was expecting for a lunch buffet. It's been several months since I was there so I can't remember specifics but I liked it better than the one time I had the lunch buffet at ToP.
I'm 99% sure Ajanta is closed. I drive by it every day and the parking lot is always empty and the restuarant sign is never lit. I think the hotel was sold last year.
Milk is cereal sauce - Funny Parks & Recreation food name website
Love it. "Lemonade is LL Cool Ade." I may use that one from now on.
And to carry on the theme, here's the recipe for Ron Swanson's Turkey Burger http://eater.com/archives/2011/04/25/the-ron-swanson-turkey-burger.php
Plastic scent in Wine bottled in glass?
Thanks Maria. It was such a weird experience I wondered if there was something wrong with my sense of smell. Luckily my SIL must have also forgotten she gave us these bottles as a gift because she hasn't asked us how we liked them.
Plastic scent in Wine bottled in glass?
Has anyone encountered a wine with a plastic-like scent? I opened a (glass) bottle of 2006 V. Sattui Dry Reisling last night. The wine was a forgotten gift that had been stored in the dark in an air conditioned room, around 76 degrees.
The cork looked real and in good shape but I didn't feel it to know if it was really cork. I took a sniff and it reminded me of water left too long in a plastic sports bottle in a hot car. It didn't taste terrible but I couldn't handle the smell. My husband also agreed it had a plastic-y scent. It didn't remind me at all of the musty cardboard smell of a corked wine.
I have one more bottle of the Reisling and a bottle of Cab. Next time we plan to open them i'll have backups just in case. I'm not too sad about losing the wine but I've never encoutered this before, even in bottles with plastic-like corks.
Vegetarian Indian Drive-Through
If this is the little drive though in the old Checkers near Nursery on 19, I saw a For Lease sign up on Saturday. Sad, was hoping to try it.
Tampa - Place for a Cocktail
Has anyone been to Mandarin Hide or Ruby's Elixir in St. Pete yet? They look promising.
Unfortunately I don't get out for drinks often, but I like sitting at the bar at Stone Soup Cafe. The beer selection is excellent and they have a full bar when I'm not in the mood for a beer. No specialty cocktails. It's just a nice, comfortable spot for a drink.
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The Stone Soup Cafe
4130 16th St N, Saint Petersburg, FL 33703
Tampa area restaurants please help
Has Ponte gone downhill? I've always enjoyed my meals there. It's been about a year since I last ate there but the food was excellent. My only service complaint was we had to flag the bread guy down. He kept skipping our table.
Best bbq side dishes in Tampa Bay
I'm partial to the cole slaw at Butler's BBQ in St. Petersburg. I always avoided slaw until I had it, now I love it.
And the grits at Lee Roy Selmon's are the bomb.
Paula's English Pea recipe = what's wrong with Food Network
I begining to think the person(s) responsbile for posting these recipes is having a little fun. I'd expect they'd take down some of the funnier "reviews" if they meant the recipe to be taken seriously.
Veggie Roasting Pans?
I love my Chicago Metal jelly roll pans. Bought them online from Amazon. No warping and I use them for everything including roasting veggies. I don't put them in the dishwaher because they are a little to tall for my dishwaher.
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-Commercial-Traditional-Jelly-Roll/dp/B003YKGRPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1294699010&sr=8-1
One Dinner-Mount Dora
I've only visited Mount Dora twice, so maybe someone from the area can give you a better recommendation. I haven't found a true foodie destination type place, but I like the Goblin Market Restaurant. Fair warning, I've only ever eaten lunch there.
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Goblin Market
331 N Donnelly St, Mount Dora, FL 32757
Micro-Chowdown at Jade Bistro Vietnamese in Pinellas Park...
Sorry I missed this. I'm more of a lurker here, but I actually went to dinner there later that evening. On the appetizer menu, I love the autumn rolls. They are crispy and fried like an egg roll, but more delicate. There's something extemelly wonderful about the hot, crispy roll wrapped in the lettuce and herbs and dipped in the fish sauce.. My husband's favorite dish is probably the Seafood Udon Hotpot. I love the roast pork with vermicelli (sp) noodles and the duck dishes.
Insitutional Food - This is a rant - I admit it
Fiona, I know what you mean. I had the same feeling when my father-in-law was in the hospital and rehab for a stroke. The hospital had him on a "special" diet for patients recovering from heart attacks and strokes that was full of refined, empty carbs. I didn't see what was so different from it and the regular food they served. I think the only thing different was the sodium level.
Do people really (and I mean "really") like Girl Scout Cookies?
I never really got into Girl Scout cookies but have ordered them from time to time to support friends' kids. I liked the chocolate covered peanut butter ones the best (tag a longs?) I really didn't intend to comment on this post but hyacinthgirl, I loved your post (and disclaimer.) Extra points for the Happy Fun Ball reference.
Billing practice question
They must have realized after they had the menu printed they didn't think about this pricing structure very carefully. What I find odd is that rice is not included with the entree automatically. Is that common? The two Indian restaurants I frequent include rice with all entrees. When dining in, they will keep bringing you more if you ask at no charge. In fact one place is always pushing more rice on us so much it's become an in-joke at our house.
Haggis (at a Scottish festival)?
I used to go to highland games all the time and don't recall seeing much, if any, haggis at the games. Now I was competing in the highland dancing, so food was not at the top of my priority list, so I may have missed it. Most of the food you'll see will be food vendors serving fried food that tends to be more British. My favorite are the meat pies. Don't know how authentically Scottish they are, but I love them.
When I was a kid I was dragged to all the games and Scottish American events. Haggis was something I only saw brought out for the more special, elegant events like Burns Night (Jan. 25). That would probably be your best bet. See if there are any local Burns Night dinners in your area open to the public.
I don't remember what haggis tastes like. I remember it disgusted me as a kid because one year my step-mom cooked it at our house for some event. It smelled awful. I'm a much more adventurous eater so I'd try it now.
The Restaurant Buy-Out Thread
Absolutely. It's just one more way to get the word out. It's still up to the customer to check before going, whether by visiting a restaurant's website, their twitter feed, social media site or by calling them. It's just an easier solution for restaurants that don't want to or can't maintain their own websites.
Actually, a restaurant could have a website built that incorporates their twitter feed. Then they could simply send a tweet that they are closed today and it would get displayed on their site, their twitter page, Facebook page, etc.
The Restaurant Buy-Out Thread
Especially during December, I would not be upset if I arrived at a restaurant to find them closed for a private event (disappointed, but not upset.) The restaurants I frequent don't require reservations and are rarely packed on the days I eat out, so I would never think to call ahead or check their websites to see if they were closed or had long waits.
That being said, one way restaurants could make this information known easily would be through Twitter. I follow a few local restaurants that tweet their daily specials and special events. It's easier then updating a website daily. Not that I'm suggesting this is the fix for everyone, but it seems like it's been working for these restaurants.
Trying to convert cups of flour to ounces. Which one of these is correct ?
Thanks everyone! I was worried the recipe was typed incorrectly. I don't do much baking and I wanted to stick to weighing the ingrediants.
Trying to convert cups of flour to ounces. Which one of these is correct ?
I've volunteered to make cupcakes for a friend's wedding this weekend. The person coordinating this gave me a recipe from Cooks Illustrated that calls for:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
I have to make five batches of this and wanted to find how much flour I need to buy. In using my kitchen converter calculator I noticed the amounts seems off and decided to try converting 1 1/2 cups AP flour to ounces just to verify and it gave me 6 2/3 ounces as the conversion.
So is it 7 1/2 ounces or 6 2/3 ounces? Should I just stick to measuring by cups? I normally wouldn't worry so much but since it is for a wedding I wanted to be as accurate as possible. I tried searching for the recipe but Cooks Illustrated wants my email address for a "14 day trial" and I am not falling for that.
I rest McCase
McNuggets, Egg McMuffin, McFlurry, McChicken sandwich, McRib, McGriddles
(I swear I have not eaten in a McDonalds in about 10 year.)
Tampa Salad Restaurants
Sebastians Cafe in the Feather Sound area of Clearwater does this. I've never had it and I don't know how extensive their options are, but someone is always getting one made when I stop in.
http://www.sebastiansinternetcafe.com/
NFL City's Foods
We tailgate for the Tampa Bay Bucs games and I have a lot of fun every year coming up with meals that fit the theme of the team or the city, like brauts for Greenbay, chicken wings for Atlanta, seared tuna, BBQ for Carolina, etc.
For Tampa, my vote would be for Cuban food. You could roast pork and make cuban sandwiches. Seafood like fried grouper sandwiches would also be a good choice.
For drinks, I'd go with rum based drinks or Sangria. I don't care for it, but Capt. Morgan would be in keeping with the pirate theme.
Mason-Dixon line of Mayo
In the book "The Southern Belle Primer (or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma)" the author told the story about a woman who had moved to the south when she was very young. She was discussing mayo with a group of friends, all true southerners, and said that she preferred Miracle Whip to Mayo. One of the southern woman said something like "Hon, you're from the Midwest, and it shows."
In the book, the author claimed that true southern women made their own mayo, but if that was not available, Hellman's was the substitute.
(I had this book on audio cassette years ago with Dixie Carter narrating it. It is a hoot.)
Smoked Foods Restaurant (Not BBQ!)
Oddly enough I just saw a restaurant on TV this week that specialized in smoked food, also in the Tampa Bay area. It's called Smoke Barbaque and Grill. Although it has BBQ in the title, the menu looks prety diverse. They have items like kabobs, seafood and sausages in additional to traditional BBQ. I have not been there, but based on the website I would say this is a casual restaurant, not fine dining like you are looking for.
Indian food in St Pete?
I've only recently discovered that I love Indian food, so take these recommendations with a grain of salt, but I like Ajanta in the Ramada Inn on 34th Street N (US 19) just south of Park and Taste of Punjab in Pinellas Park. The service at Ajanta can be slow and the place is nothing to look at, but the food has always been delicious. I don’t know the name of the dishes, but I had a chicken dish with a tomato sauce and a lamb dish in spinach that made me fall in love with Indian food. One weird thing, they ask for tips in cash if you are paying by credit card.
Taste of Punjab is also great. I usually find myself at one or the other restaurant every week.
