revsharkie's Profile
Wichita Kansas?
Great donuts and coffee to be had at the Donut Whole at 1720 E. Douglas, just east of Hydraulic. You can even get "doggie donuts" for your four-legged buddy. I've also heard great things from my local friends about Bubba's Nekked BBQ, 2428 W. 13th (at Meridian). There's live music at both places several nights a week, too!
Wichita: Any 'hounds at all out there?
Update, a little late: the donut shop is open... The Donut Whole, on Douglas just east of Hydraulic. In addition to donuts (he does all cake donuts, including vegan ones every Wednesday), he has very good coffee, all kinds of sodas, live music, a public-domain movie night, art on display... they even do "doggie donuts" for the four-legged friends. I have tasted the donuts, and they're awesome. Look for the building with the giant chicken on the roof.
What menu items need to be retired?
I was just gonna say the same thing... Maytag blue... the pride of Newton, Iowa... oh, my, that stuff's good.
Best Breakfast Bars
The special K bars go in Mike's lunch, most of the time, just one of the many things that go with him that he grazes on all day long. When I can get them I like those South Beach mocha bars, but no, they're not sufficient for breakfast.
Best breakfast bars I ever had were some that I made myself with yogurt and Grape-Nuts.
Do you have a favorite I'm-alone-now-so-nobody-will-know favorite dish?
I think peanut butter is better with sweet pickles. Sweet gherkins, sliced, to be more specific, and a slice of American cheese "food."
Are there foods you won't eat because you consider them too dangerous?
My husband loves eel sushi. I won't eat eels. Are there any true safety issues? I have no idea. But there's a very, very old ballad in which a man dies after his girlfriend feeds him fried eels. As soon as he tells his mother what he had for lunch, she knows immediately that he's gonna die. Evidently somewhere along the line people thought eels were poison. And I've heard that song a lot longer than I've been around people eating eel sushi with no apparent ill effects. It ain't rational, I know. But I'm not gonna eat them.
People Watching You Cook
Doesn't bother me if folks are in my kitchen while I'm cooking, but they need to be prepared to be put to work. My mom and dad cook together, and when I and they are in the same place we all work on stuff together. I'm not personally a big fan of that open-floor-plan that others here insist on, but it does mean when I'm working in the kitchen I'm isolated and if there are others in the house, I would just as soon they come on in the kitchen, have a drink, take a turn at the cutting board, or fetch things out of the pantry for me.
what is the most useless gadget in your kitchen
I swear by my Feemster for making pickles and the like, but I very nearly sliced the tip of my finger off the very first time I had it out. The hole in the end of my finger was so deep and scary that I had a splint on it for days, because every time it would touch ANYTHING, I would scream.
what is the most useless gadget in your kitchen
My immersion blender is a very old Braun model from at least 20 years ago. My grandma decided everyone needed one and bought one for anyone who expressed even the vaguest agreement with her sentiment. I didn't use it for years, but now I have it out at least once or twice a week.
I got my husband a very cheap espresso machine for Christmas--it makes acceptable espresso but is worthless for steaming and frothing milk. So if I'm making something that requires froth, I heat the milk and froth it with the immersion blender.
Its other main use here is making Mexican hot chocolate. Mike grates the chocolate, I heat the milk, and we put it together with the immersion blender.
Pepsi Natural or Pepsi Throwback
I've never seen Pepsi Natural. What's different in it from Throwback? Throwback is about as far from flat-tasting as you can get.
Newsweek: Why Is "Housemade" Replacing "Homemade"?
I see the term from time to time here in the Middle of Nowhere, Iowa. I find it kind of irritating, as I do a great many words that sound like they were made up by some kind of committee or focus group. ("Waitperson" is another one that makes me want to scream. Can't we just let "waiter" be gender-neutral? It doesn't have "-man" attached to it, after all.)
Seriously, with the large number of words already available in the English language, isn't it possible that an already existing word or phrase could get the point across without setting my teeth on edge? But maybe it's just me.
Pepsi Natural or Pepsi Throwback
My husband tells me he saw Pepsi Throwback in 12-pks of cans at Kmart in the next medium-sized town south of us this week. He said there were two packs left on the shelf and a BIG hole where they'd been displayed. Evidently they're selling pretty well there.
Pepsi Natural or Pepsi Throwback
I've been getting 20-ounce bottles of Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback in my local supermarket here in a very small town in the Middle of Nowhere, Iowa. Haven't seen any 12-pks of cans.
We like it. I've always been more a Pepsi than Coke fan, but haven't really had much interest in either here lately, because of the HFCS. There are people that say they can't taste the difference between pop with sugar and pop with HFCS. But I can, at least with this Pepsi. (I don't like Mountain Dew however it's sweetened, so really haven't tried it.) Pepsi always had a bit of a "bite" to it, I thought, and somehow the HFCS muted that. Plus, I always felt like I had a coating in my mouth after drinking HFCS pop. Anyway, the minute I tasted the Throwback I thought, "That's the way Pepsi's SUPPOSED to taste!"
Here's hoping they sell lots of this stuff and realize that people really do prefer it.
SPAM
That, and those particular vegetables don't need much actual cooking; it's just to warm them up, give them a little charcoal flavor, and let the spam do its magic.
My husband feels the same. I just don't much care for plain white rice.
SPAM
We make Spam kabobs. You take your chunk of spam and cut it into about one-inch cubes, then thread them on sticks with onion, green pepper, and pineapple chunks. Then cook it on the grill. I like to have that with rice cooked in chicken broth (or the packet from a ramen soup package if I've got one left) and kimchi.
I got a smoker...and am out of ideas
Chickens are really easy to do. I do pork loins in mine. I've wanted to do some jalapenos, but didn't have any luck the first time. Maybe I didn't leave them long enough.
I have a Brinkmann barrel smoker, charcoal-fired.
chocolate and....
Yeah, I had a dark chocolate bar with chile not too long ago, and I loved it. It was just warming. I tend to add cayenne pepper to hot cocoa in cold weather, too.
What have you given up trying to cook?
That's one I've only recently learned how to make. We have a little smoker in our backyard, and whenever the weather's acceptable (temperature is less important than a calm wind) we have something in it.
It's a texture thing...
I did mention watermelon. I don't like mealy fruits or vegetables.
And the main reason I didn't mention runny egg whites is because I don't like runny egg yolks, and if you get the egg cooked enough so the yolks aren't runny, it's a guarantee that the whites are done.
Corn Meal vs Polenta
Don't you take your cold solidified mush and slice it up to fry in butter? That's what I and my Okie relatives have always done. Throw away mush? Perish the thought!
Best cookies/brownies/treats that can be ordered online?
I haven't tried them but I've heard good things about Love & Luxury Cookies. (www.loveandluxurycookies.com) They have one called the "Veezy" that's named after a friend of mine. It's a peanut butter cookie dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed Heath bars.
Eating out alone
I'm an introvert in a very extraverted profession, so I enjoy the opportunity to be alone. This is particularly true if I'm out of town at some kind of meeting where I've been with people all day. And if I'm in a big city, I want to try some of the dining opportunities that are available there that aren't in the tiny little town where I live. So I go out alone, to the place that strikes my fancy, and either take something to read or not, depending on my mood.
What have you given up trying to cook?
Well, I like it, but I don't really think it's exactly orgasmic. Just a different variety of rice cooked in a different way. And it's not really hard to cook, either. Just a lot fussier than regular rice or pilaf.
chocolate and....
Top on my list will always be chocolate and peanut butter. Occasionally I find myself at a candy counter where they have a gigantic peanut butter cup for sale, about the size of a bread plate. Chocolate with coffee is a close second. Chocolate with mint, with cherry, with caramel, with strawberries...but peanut butter's always gonna come out on top.
I once made a vegetarian bean soup and discovered that you could get a bit of a meaty flavor in it by adding a little cocoa. And I love mole.
Foods that make you ill?
Did you ever try doing pesto with a different nut? Pine nuts are expensive, and I always have pecans on hand, so that's what I use.
