512window's Profile
Calorie listings at chains
I shop at a store that lists the NuVal scores. Since I didn't know whether the low numbers were good or the high numbers were good, I haven't really been using them. I suspect that my fellow Nob Hill shoppers are in a similar conundrum. They haven't really got a good buzz going.....
Favorite Paper Towel?
I hate those! I always end up pulling off more than I need. I'm sure it's a personal problem....
I always look for the ones that are made with recycled content.
Tricks you figured out in the kitchen and thought 'good one'!!!
I just put mine into the microwave and close the door. It keeps itself at the right temperature because the space is so small.
Seperate Checks?
I find that splitting the checks forces people to account for what they actually consumed. I've been in far too many situations where people have no sense of the full cost of what they ordered and throw down a 20 and expect that it'll cover everything.
But most of my group dining experiences are business. I think a long time group of friends would probably have worked most of that out.
Just moved to Mountain View from New York. Help an east coast hound find his new favorite haunts!
Well you picked the right time to move here - this is where fruits and vegetables want to be from.
1) Markets! -- We've found Whole Foods and Trader Joes, but are there smaller markets anyone recommends for either ethnic ingredients or quality meat/produce? What about:
Have you found the Milk Pail Dairy on California Street off of San Antonio? Small eclectic market. Or Piazza's Fine Foods on Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. There are literally hundreds of small ethnic markets scattered throughout the county: Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani, Persian. Just try a few. There are two huge shopping centers with Chinese markets and restaurants: Lion Plaza in Milpitas and Vallco Village in Cupertino.
1a) Butchers?
1b) Bakers?
I'm partial to Sugar Butter Flour on El Camino in Sunnyvale.
1c) Fishmongers?
Best are the Chinese specialty grocers. Ranch 99 or the smaller stores.
1d) Farmers Markets?
Every town in the county has a great farmers market. Mountain View's is on Sunday mornings, I think, in the parking lot of the train station. Sunnyvale's is on Saturday mornings on Murphy Ave.
1e) Produce?
You'd have to be blind not to be able to find great produce. Start with the farmers markets. Check out Olsen's Cherries on El Camino for truly great stone fruit.
My advice is not to look for New York food here, it won't be as good and it'll give you an excuse to go home for a visit every now and then.
And remember, we wait *in* line and freeways are not referred to with an article, unless they are named (The Bayshore and 101 are correct).
Exhausted mom needs cook ahead meals for family or quick suppers for grab and go sports crazy kidss
Remember that your oven has a delay timer - they all do, even mine which is 30 years old and from Montgomery Ward. So you can set up something like meatloaf or chicken parts to bake and tell him when to take them out. I'm a single mom and used to use this for baked potato night.
But, as others have said, you're in a partnership and he needs to take some of this responsibility. Ask him to cook one or two nights of the week, and pick the nights that are best for you. If he doesn't lilke casseroles and the kids don't like stews, then he can make hamburgers. Add some sliced fruit and veggies and you have an easy acceptable meal.
Say what?? Cooking comments that baffle you
Resale value. If you remodel a $900K house in Georgia, you'd better go high end on everything, even if you won't use any of it personally.
You knew you mastered the fine art of cooking or baking when you ______________.
But vanilla yogurt is not plain yogurt, it's vanilla flavored yogurt. Plain yogurt is tart. If you want it to be sweeter, then add sugar or honey.
SF - tasting menu food, served a la carte?
If you are willing to go further south, Manresa will allow you to order four or five courses ala carte. If you want to do the tasting menu, then everyone at the table must do it.
Do you have tried and true pot roast recipe?
I've used a similar recipe, I agree it's terrific.
For the OP - Cook It In The Oven!
All my life I made pot roast on a burner, slow simmering. It was great. Then, one time, I tried it in the oven, same recipe. It was sublime.
I can't explain it, but I've used the oven ever since.
Help! Too many cucumbers!
Bread and butter pickles.
If you don't have equipment to seal them in a waterbath, just stick in the refrigerator after closing the jars. Wait 6 weeks, then enjoy.
Anybody ever thought about a board for Chowing with special needs?
Having just posted about my mother's eating difficulties after treatment for jaw cancer, I'd appreciate such a board.
Help - this Chowhound has no taste!
Sorry to hear about your troubles. My mother was diagnosed with cancer in her mouth, went through a full course of radiation, lost her sense of taste, then had an operation on her jaw which has left her unable to chew. It's a nasty cancer.
Mom's surgeon advised against the feeding tube so she's been drinking Boost+ which has more protein and fiber than the other liquid meals. I wish she were willing to try more things - sounds like you are pretty unlimited.
Suggestions: sandwich toppings and side dishes for large group
Veteran of many a residence inn here: sounds like you have a lot of slicing to do. Take your own cutting boards!
Each resident inn kitchen is assigned one small glass cutting board - they don't work well even for cutting up tomatoes.
Calorie Labeling Tricks Rant
I doubt it has anything to do with the calories and everything to do with the sodium content. The label probably also indicates that 1 serving contains about 50% of the RDA of sodium. So when you eat the whole thing, you'll get a lot more sodium than you would expect.
They all do it, and if you really have to count calories or watch your salt intake, you learn to read the labels with a fine eye.
EMP Versus Morality
I certainly vow not to return to restaurants after bad experiences. Remember, it's your vow - they won't know anything about it.
But consider the possibility that the manager may have thought it was a crank call. This is a dish that they don't have on their menu that is almost fiendishly difficult to make.
If you really want to find out if they will make the dish for you, return to the restaurant in person and ask them. Then, you can work out terms.
Mi Rancho - Arepas and empanadas in Sunnyvale
It's a very small ethnic restaurant that just opened. If you go to Net Waiter you can order from them.
It's on South Mary Avenue in the shopping center with Smart and Final and Wells Fargo Bank. This restaurant is nestled in a really desirable location between a pet store and a Jenny Craig store. Whatever could go wrong.....
mandatory tipping for larger groups [moved from Phoenix board]
I'm with you. If a charge is not listed on the menu or posted prominently, then the customer has no opportunity to consider it and refuse to do business on the restaurant's terms. A restaurant can't just apply charges willy nilly. Adding an automatic gratuity, without telling a customer before ordering, is wrong.
And I've never heard of 6 people being defined as a "large" group.
California for two weeks - SF, Napa, Yosemite, and Highway One
It's been a few years since I did the Hearst tours, but they had a very nice setup for making Santa Maria tri-tip sandwiches right in the main building.
Two weeks in California
Do you mean Erna's Elderberry House?
It was always the big splurge in Oakhurst.
Hard Sugar Remedy?
The other remedy for hard brown sugar is to put a piece of bread in with it. I'd try that with the white sugar before resorting to the jack hammer.
Or, you could go all Colonial and scrape a knife blade down the side to carve off loose sugar. Probably takes a while.
POLL: Can you walk to an actual grocery store?
Sunnyvale, CA (aka deepest darkest Silicon Valley)
I have two markets in reasonable walking distance, a Smart and Final and a Safeway. If I get really ambitious, the Whole Foods is 3 miles away.
Mark Twain's love of American foods
I love the comment about strawberries not to be handed out as if they were jewels!
First Artichokes Grown in U.S.?
Commercial farmers in CA pull up the plants after harvest, then replant so that they get multiple crops in one year.
My plant in my backyard is perennial. After I get tired of harvesting artichokes, I stop watering it, let the leaves die, and cut it down to the ground. It comes back up once it starts raining in the winter.
"What's that?" - grocery store edition.
No. There is no botanical definition of vegetable. There really isn't one of "fruit" either - technically it's a fruiting body.
An apple is a fruiting body, but it's not a vegetable. An acorn squash is a fruiting body, and it is a vegetable. A carrot is a root, not a fruiting body, and it is a vegetable. Mushrooms are fungi and are vegetables.
