Connoisseur's Diary

[bshanahan14rulz]

ah, popcorn on a stove. I'm not so much a connoisseur as a person who has to make the most out of not much at all. Someone like myself gets tired of ramen after a few weeks, but lately I've been eating Nissin Chow Meins. They're like, 90 cents and come in a handful of interesting flavors. My favorite is teriyaki beef, followed by thai peanut. They are decent by themselves, but adding little things like a drip or two of sesame oil, random sauces I find in the fridge, etc make them almost lunch-menu fare.

As for popcorn, for a while I had a bunch of popcorn because I'd always buy popcorn and forget that I didn't have a microwave. I'd open up the bag with scissors, dump the thing in the pan and set it on low to melt the butter chunks into liquid. Then I'd pretty much do what you did, which was to try to apply even heat to all kernals making sure not to overcook. you don't want the outsides getting hotter than the insides, otherwise the outsides will just get a weak spot or hole burned into them before the insides have a chance to pressurize.

I do from time to time get some salmon from the seafood counter at HT and munch on that. I don't know how to cook it, though, but I don't mind

[ElectronGuru]

Its all good! Here's a blog (dating back to 1997) with no less than 16 categories of recipes specific to Ramen:

http://www.mattfischer.com/ramen/

[StarHalo]

More cake awesomeness..

[StarHalo]

So there's this place in Portland called Voodoo Doughnut, a very unique little shop that has quite the menu; some samples:

"Dirt" - raised doughnut covered with vanilla glaze and oreo cookies

"Butter Fingering" - devils food, vanilla, and crushed Butterfinger

"Neapolitan" - chocolate doughnut with vanilla frosting and Strawberry Quick powder

"Triple Chocolate Penetration" - chocolate doughnut, chocolate glaze, and Cocoa Puffs

"No Name" - chocolate Rice Krispys and peanutbutter

..among many others.

PLUS

They'll sell you a 12-hour old BUCKET of random doughnuts for $5..



See their site/menu/pictures here: http://voodoodoughnut.com/index.php

[Trashman]

Yeah, I believe Voodoo Donuts was on, either, the Food Network Channel or the Travel Channel. It may have been on a Man Vs. Food episode, or perhaps, a Guy Fieri show. They do weddings there, too. If I'm ever in Portland, I'll be sure to hunt it down.

[ElectronGuru]

Haagen-Dazs green tea

I'm not big on teas or even that big on ice cream, but this new flavor is special.
Cream, skim milk, sugar, egg yolks, & green tea

[StarHalo]

Nothing to add a little flavor to your day like a little gum; my current top four:



Upper left is frilly cocktail with plants and umbrella sticking out of the top.

Upper right is mysterious berry and spice dessert.

Lower left is pouring a berry Kool-Aid packet directly into your mouth.

Lower right is shotglass of mouthwash with some mint gum.

[bshanahan14rulz]

I'd like to add that I've found a new favorite ramen, Shin Ramyun Spicy Gourmet. Not my picture, so not hotlinking: http://goofyasians.com/wp-content/up...hin_ramyun.jpg

Noodles cook up nicely in the nuker, and the broth is quite tasty for a packet of broth. Kinda kimchi-ish hot, like red peppers and stuff.

Still eat Nissin Chow Meins, though. In fact, got a beef teriyaki pack looking straight at me. Only thing about those is that they boil over a bit and get little freeze-dried onions all over the microwave dish.



Recently, I grilled some fish for the first time. Got some frozen wild caught sockeye, this fish was soo dark colored, with a nice layer of fat, and no mention of artificial colors! I was stunned that frozen salmon could turn out so well!!! Good price too, got it from Aldi's!

[scout24]

My wife's a cheese nut, current favorites are Old Amsterdam, kind of a cheddar, and D'affinois Brie.

[Nice65]

My wife's a cheese nut, current favorites are Old Amsterdam, kind of a cheddar, and D'affinois Brie.

Old Amsterdam is an aged Gouda. It develops a nutty Parmesan type flavour, it is one of my favourites also. Cheddar is very different and also comes in hundreds of different forms, from average supermarket grades to "single malt" type quality.

Ahh, cheese.

[scout24]

Nice65- As stated, it's my Wife's enjoyment, I just play along and enjoy what she likes. It is very good, and the texture is fantastic. I like hard cheeses best, the brie, while good, is not my cup of tea. Even if it is double cream... Cruccolo is another that I enjoy...

[FlashlightWidow]

Sweet, er sweet, Mrs Guru will be all over this. Come to think of it, this will be the first official CPF post that she is interested in.

Hey I saw that!

Don't you dare go look at the original post date. Just don't, Ok.

I add Yumm Sauce from Cafe Yumm. Savory but not salty. The stuff is addictive. They put it on rice & bean bowls, we also use it as a dressing & dip. An Oregon thing, but available on their web site http://www.cafeyumm.com/shop.html

Mrs Guru

[Kestrel]

So there's this place in Portland called Voodoo Doughnut, a very unique little shop that has quite the menu; some samples:
[...]
They'll sell you a 12-hour old BUCKET of random doughnuts for $5..

Funny but this just came up during lunch conversation today, one of their donut buckets showed up in the office yesterday morning. I ate one donut that was the size of a paper plate, literally. Apparently the buckets are $7 now - which wouldn't stop me one bit.

I add Yumm Sauce from Cafe Yumm. Savory but not salty. The stuff is addictive. They put it on rice & bean bowls, we also use it as a dressing & dip. An Oregon thing, but available on their web site.

We've hit the Cafe Yumm in Corvallis for their rice&bean bowls, it was 'ok' but we were a bit disappointed on the meager serving size for the money.

[Norm]

Mexican Coca-Cola
Coke changed from sugar to corn syrup for most/all their US sold soda some time ago (plug: see the movie King Corn). For some reason, Coke made in Mexico is still made the old way and its now being imported. Restaurant price: $3/bottle. Costco price: $0.85/bottle.

Three years late, Australian always has been made using sugar.

Norm

[ElectronGuru]

I ate one donut that was the size of a paper plate, literally.

Ah oh, got one of them within bicycling distance

We've hit the Cafe Yumm in Corvallis for their rice&bean bowls, it was 'ok' but we were a bit disappointed on the meager serving size for the money.

Hmmm. They have three sizes, maybe they served the small by mistake?

[StarHalo]

It's a bold statement to put a dead pirate captain in the midst of a gale on the label of your beer, but if ever a book lived up to its cover, this would be the example. A deep, rich porter with a jet black coffee streak that comes across as remarkably drinkable and not anymore spirituous than a mild stout; midway through your tasting you find yourself degrading at a remarkable rate, only to then note that this is in fact ten percent ABV.. Ya best start believin' in ghost stories..

[Steve K]

not just a dead pirate captain, but also his dead parrot on his shoulder! Cool label.

The joys of a great porter or stout! Yumm! Definitely one of my vices.

[orbital]

Watch The Fog from 1980 to complete the effect___________^

... on that note

[StarHalo]

The joys of a great porter or stout! Yumm! Definitely one of my vices.

My fave stout is the one with the least interesting label, but is still the best beer to pair with pizza I've found:

... on that note

Absinthes have the best labels for sure, but they sure make you pay for it at ~$50 a bottle..

[StarHalo]

Best hot summer night beer: