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Food Scars - Things you will never eat again.
I apologize for the revolting nature of this story, but when you ask a question like this, I suspect the reason that many people are turned off of specific foods are because of a story involving some level of disgust.
When I was in the third grade, we were forced to eat our lunch at our desks, and after 20 minutes or so, we were allowed to go outside to play. The student in front of me, who I will never forget, ate an egg salad sandwich for lunch every day. Why, I do not know, because the sandwich never agreed with his stomach and he would spend the entire afternoon passing gas, more or less right in my face, that reeked of egg salad in various stages of digest. It was so distressing to me to be trapped behind him for three hours every afternoon smelling this over and over again (literally dozens of times), that finally my parents had to step in and speak to the teacher to have my seat moved, as she had been wholly unsympathetic to the pleas of an eight year old. But for about five months, that seat had been my own personal hell. By a rough calculation, I am sure I easily inhaled over a thousand of his eggy expulsions (various puns intended).
I will never, ever be able to eat egg salad, and the mere smell or sight of it is enough to turn my face green, 26 years later.
Cleaning up after dinner.
It can be a nightmare. I lived in an apartment next to a filthy family of about 12 people spanning three generations, all crammed into a three bedroom apartment. Their filth invited a massive infestation of pharaoh ants, which were an absolute nightmare. We ended up having to throw out a huge amount of stuff because the ants nested in VHS tapes, books, CD and DVD cases, etc. As we were packing to move, everything had to be shaken outside off the balcony, and a few items (especially a roll of plastic tarp) unleashed clouds of thousands of ants fluttering down. It was truly disgusting and we didn't even know we had a problem (we would see an occasional ant in a strange place, like in the bedroom, but didn't think much of it) until out of the blue, one day, I threw away a small piece of pork and the next thing I knew, a six-ply row of ants came marching in and out of the trash can an hour later.
We ended up putting loads of ant traps in our new place, but even then, it took a good year for the inevitable carry-over infestation to completely clear.
Cleaning up after dinner.
This is our household as well. After years of growing up with an uptight mother who insisted on dishes being done immediately after dinner was completed (i.e. nothing could be done in between the eating of dinner and cleanup), I suppose I gain a subconscious pleasure of rebellion at going against her strict rules in this domain, even a decade and a half after moving out.
Nothing, IMO, puts a downer on an enjoyable dinner as knowing that afterwards I have to clean up. I find it much more motivating to clean up the previous meal's dishes BEFORE I cook the next meal.
I have a lot of difficulty with what I deem excessive cleanliness, partly because of my mother; partly because of my aunt, whose house I refuse to cook at, because last time I tried to make Thanksgiving dinner there, she would have covertly washed and put away pots and pans I had asked her for before I had even had the opportunity to use them; and partly because I lived with an ex-best friend of mine who could not even tolerate a single dirty glass or spoon on the counter without having to get up, wash it by hand thoroughly, rinse it, dry it, and put it away before resuming relaxation. I get tired just thinking about it.
This also makes me very glad I'm gay, as very few women I know would tolerate my level of mess-relaxation. Fortunately, my husband is mostly okay with it, and together we muddle through with a house that ranges from slightly untidy to reasonably clean.
New 'Menu Items That Need to Be Retired", 2012 edition...
Corn on the cob flavoured with chillies and lime is hardly a trend, though: there are many places in the world where that's how it's typically eaten.
I'm curious: what qualifies as a bad tiramisu? I've only ever had homemade (by an Italian friend's mother, and it's great), so I genuinely want to know how people / restaurants screw it up.
Best Thai Restos in Toronto...
You must be kidding. Just looking at the menu, there is little that is remotely authentic about the Thai there. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Toronto has come to view as synonymous with Thai food, which is absolutely tragic and an insult to the entire cuisine.
Top Chef Texas - Ep. #8 - 12/21/11 (Spoilers)
As thrilled as I am that Heather is gone, I do have to stick up for her in saying that I feel LindaWhit's comment regarding her behaviour during the QF (i.e. she rolled her eyes when Beverly's name was announced as a top dish) is incorrect. I rewatched that scene because upon reading this, I kept thinking that I would have remembered that and didn't, and certainly, Heather did not roll her eyes: she just looked to the side.
There's plenty to call her out on without having to look for things that aren't there.
The Works - Gourmet Burger Chain (opening in Oakville, already in Ottawa, etc)
Agreed. I live in Ottawa and my friends and I take a trip every month to the Works and absolutely love it. Really nice burgers, fantastic rings, and great poutine. Better than any burger I ever had in my years living in Toronto.
Do you have a recipe that works so well that you have no interest in trying another?
My stuffing... I discovered the recipe one year, made a few modifications to it, and my family loved it so much that 20+ years later, we're still eating the exact same recipe every time a holiday dinner warrants it. (It's an apple, bread, sage, and thyme stuffing... buttery, delicious, and flavourful.)
I spent years perfecting my pad kee mow recipe as well, and after 11 years, I feel like I've absolutely perfected it to the point where I can't imagine a better one (and I've eaten loads and loads of pad kee mow).
The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs (Episode 7: "Hamptons Beach Cookout") [Spoilers]
The product placement overload on Town House Crackers and Entwine wine was enough to make me nauseated. Were they even allowed to say the word "cracker" or "wine" once without prefixing the brand? I'm not sure that anyone ever did.
Massively, incredibly lame.
Top Chef Texas - Ep. #6 - 12/07/11 (Spoilers)
Agreed. This season, despite having barely begun, is so far the most forgettable season to date. I've found that it's been all downhill since season 6, however: season 7 was alright, 8 was dull, and this season is frightfully bad. None of the chefs are jumping out as particularly skilled and the challenges seem really stifling towards the creativity and abilities of the chefs.
Overall, I'm barely watching anymore; I save the episodes for when I have something tedious to do as background distraction.
USA Allows Horses for Human Consumption
I guess it's quite subjective. I own four cats and a dog, all of who I love deeply, but I must profess an extreme interest in trying properly prepared dog and hope for the opportunity.
OBSCURE OR RARE Cuisine in City of Toronto
No offense to you, but the food there is just horrible. Toronto has very little good Thai food, but this one is exceptional in how bad it is.
Tried and True Recipes from David Thompson's "Thai Food"
"Sealing the juices inside" is nothing more than a myth that has been disproven time and time again here on Chow and elsewhere.
That being said, velveting the meat is a terrific way to enhance the consistency and flavour of a dish. When making pad kee mow, for example, I will almost always marinate the chicken in rice wine and tapioca starch, and then deep fry briefly to crisp up the outside. Yum.
Foods that unreasonably gross you out...
How did I miss this comment? I don't want to get far off topic, but actually, we've been married for some time! (We met online Aug 2003, in person Jan 2004, and got married less than five months later, in May 2004.) And ha! Certainly no deviled eggs were served at the reception! The entire wedding cost less than $1500 including rings: the reception was just a big dinner at Ottawa's only (and very amazing and well-known) Sri Lankan restaurant. (They have a lovely deal where, for $15 / person, they will just continue to bring out a selection of food until everyone is satisfied.) Afterwards, we returned to my house for drinks, music, and conversation. All in all, very low-key, low-stress, and enjoyable without requiring lots of money. Our friends and family (only 17 people were invited) are mostly the type of people who detest things like traditional weddings, so they were greatly relieved. (We instead splurged on a honeymoon in Hawaii where we ate loads of good food!)
President's Choice Black Label
Hear, hear. I don't go to Loblaws anymore because the prices are just so ridiculously high. I'm also getting increasingly frustrated at my local Loblaws-affiliated grocery stores (Loblaws and Your Independent Grocer) because EVERYTHING is perpetually on sale, but those sales are often visually distracting noise where the sale consists of 8c off of a $3 product or something ridiculous like that.
While in Ottawa, we don't seem to have the same shelf-stocking problem that plagued Toronto stores (I lost my joy of cooking in Toronto because without fail, whenever I planned on making a dish, my local Loblaws or No Frills would be out of stock of one key ingredient, which was usually something very common, too), the prices are even higher here than they were in Toronto. At least I can always get what I want when I want, though.
Foods that unreasonably gross you out...
I have a very strong constitution and do not get turned off of food easily, even from most things that would normally gross people out. There are really only two foods I can think of that I am unable to eat:
1. Canned tuna. The smell is enough to make me vomit. My husband adores it, and when he eats it, I cannot be in the same room as him, nor can I smell his breath / cooking afterwards or I feel ill.
2. Egg salad, as in egg salad sandwiches. This probably ties back to when I was eight years old and we were forced by our teacher to eat our lunches sitting at our desks. The kid in front of me would eat every day, without fail, egg salad sandwiches, which would give him tremendously disgusting flatulence that carried the egg salad sandwich smell through him. To this day, I will visibly pale at the sight of an egg salad sandwich wrapped in plastic, much less at the smell of one.
ISO: Isaan (Thai) restaurants, cuisine, groceries, anything
Could you tell us the name of the cookbook? I am highly interested.
Fish Sauce, do you find it overpowering?
Believe me when I say that you'd be hard-pressed to find someone out there who dislikes fish and seafood as much as I do. That being said, apart from seafood dishes, I am an absolute dedicated SE Asian cuisine addict, and I have been cooking Thai food for over a decade now several times a week, so I like to think I speak from some level of experience.
The smell of raw fish sauce can be quite off-putting to someone not used to it, but rest assured that the taste, when cooked in a dish, changes dramatically and is absolutely essential to obtaining a traditional Thai flavour. Indeed, the transformation in taste and smell is incredible, and when I make homemade red curry for guests, a minute or so after I add the fish sauce after frying the curry paste, my guests almost always mention that suddenly, the smell has changed and become wonderful.
(If this bothers you, as a personal experiment, I recommend you procure a package of belacan - a special type of shrimp paste commonly used in Nyonya Malaysian cuisine and others - and take a whiff of that raw. It is absolutely revolting, but again, when cooked into a nice Nyonya style chicken curry, it becomes absolutely transcendent.)
If your brand of fish sauce is a bit overwhelming to you, I suggest you retire the bottle for now to a cupboard and instead buy some Vietnamese fish sauce, which is generally, in my experience, much milder than their Thai counterparts. This will allow you to develop a taste for fish sauce before going back to something more potent. Vietnamese brands should be easily identifiable based on the writing on the packaging.
One tbsp is, IMO, a fairly conservative amount given the quantity of meat. When I make red curry using perhaps 500 mL coconut milk and a pound of chicken, I would use about three tbsp of fish sauce. Also, PLEASE, unless you are a vegetarian, do not substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. They are by no means whatsoever interchangeable and you may as well just scrap your recipe and make something else entirely.
asian groceries in Paris
Perhaps they're very old? Then again, my experiences are slightly different: I buy mine fresh and freeze them myself, and then use them up in a month or so. I find there is no loss of flavour or aromatic when done in that way, but maybe buying pre-frozen leaves gives you very old, stale ones? I don't know.
asian groceries in Paris
Frozen lime leaves are as good as fresh, generally: this is one product that freezes extremely well. I use loads of lime leaves in my cooking and the first thing I do when I bring them home is throw them in the freezer.
5 Guys Burgers- Woodbridge
I am not at all a burger snob, but after having a mid-rare burger at an Outback in the US upon being recommended it by my waitress (I never would have thought to ask for this myself), my mind was completely blown about how amazing a burger can be. To try to recapture the experience here in Canada, I went to a few Outback restaurants, who refused to repeat the experience I had in the US, and the burgers were dry and disappointing by comparison. Indeed, I have yet to have as good a burger here in Canada anywhere as I did at a chain in the US, which I find bizarre, and it probably has to do with restaurants insisting on cooking burgers to death.
Also, I love poutine with or without squeaky cheese, but I have to say that it really is nicer with squeaky cheese: more fun to eat, and better textured.
Recognizing what makes food good and wanting that does not make you a snob, unless you are a snob looking for a cause.
(I wish 5 Guys would move up here to Ottawa. I had a burger and fries at a location by DC, and was blown away by how delicious it was.)
My husband hates the smell of bacon frying...ideas for a substitute?
Agreed. Life is too short to ever compromise when it comes to bacon.
Essential Asian eating in Vancouver / Victoria?
I probably should have mentioned that I don't dislike Japanese and Vietnamese (indeed, I eat them regularly here in Ottawa), but I'm only in Vancouver and Victoria for a few days, and I prefer the other mentioned styles of cuisine far more, so I'd like to focus on them first and foremost!
Thanks for the recommendations. I'll be sure to search for more info on these places and really appreciate it!
Essential Asian eating in Vancouver / Victoria?
Hi all!
At the end of the month, I'll be spending a few days in both Vancouver and Victoria. I'm a huge fan of Asian food of all types, but in particular Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Chinese, and Korean. (Japanese and Vietnamese food I can take a pass on.)
I'm looking for recommendations for extremely tasty restaurants in one of the aforementioned categories. Price isn't too much of an issue, and I would prefer well done restaurants that are "do not miss" rather than just quick and satisfying eats.
Any suggestions you could give me would be highly appreciated!
Thanks,
Sebastian
Ottawa Chinese Food???
So Good on Somerset is some of the best I've had. The egg noodles with beef brisket are fantastic, as is the chicken in spicy salt.
The other place I love is Veranda D'Or, which is well in the SE part of the city, on Lorry Greenberg drive near St. Laurent and Walkley. I have yet to have a dish there that I wasn't absolutely mad over. Definitely the best Chinese food in the city.
For Canadian-Chinese, I go to "My Favorite Chinese" in Orleans on St. Joseph near Orleans Blvd. Delicious, MSG-free fare at very reasonable prices. Their spring rolls, spicy wings, and ho fen are my favourites.
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So Good Restaurant
717 Somerset St W, Ottawa, ON K1R6P7, CA
Tried and True Recipes from David Thompson's "Thai Food"
I have to agree with qianning. I use loads of coconut cream in my cooking and have made my own six or seven times, and I have to say that I find the flavour slightly better but not nearly worth the effort. If you can find boxed coconut milk / cream in your area, I highly suggest you purchase that. It is significantly better than the canned variety as it has absolutely no hint of a metallic taste.
Your time is much, much better spent making homemade curry pastes.
APRIL 2011 COTM NOMINATIONS.
Fully agreed: David Thompson's THAI FOOD, or his other book, THAI STREET FOOD.
Ottawa Ethnic Restaurants
For good Indian food, Taj Mahal and New Nupur are great.
Ottawa also has far better Thai than Toronto. I highly recommend Sweet Basil, and Aiyara is quite good as well.
Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro is one of the best restaurants in town. If you haven't been, go: it's essential eating in the Ottawa foodie scene.
I'm glad you liked Ceylonta: it really is a spectacular find. Best Sri Lankan food I've ever had in any city I've been to.
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Sweetgrass
108 Murray St, Ottawa, ON K1N5M6, CA
Sweet Basil
1585 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K1H7Z3, CA
Ceylonta
403 Somerset St W, Ottawa, ON K2P0K1, CA
New Nupur
589 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K1S3T4, CA
New David Thompson book out Monday - Thai Street Food
Pan frying the noodles in small batches in an incredibly hot wok to get some char on them. I now actually fry rice noodles in a few tbsp of oil in small batches until crispy, remove, and then add at the end of my pad ki mow. They soften and soak up the sauce and are intensely delicious. Everyone used to love my old pad ki mow with slurpy rice noodles but it is unanimous that this pad ki mow is without peer.
