Food Peeves

Discussion in 'Food & Travel' started by bungadiri, Mar 6, 2012.

  1. nancyb

    nancyb Member

    Jun 30, 2000
    Falls Church, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The drought and the Chinese are to blame for the increase in nut prices.
     
  2. bungadiri

    bungadiri Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 25, 2002
    Acnestia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  3. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    Elninho and bungadiri repped this.
  4. StiltonFC

    StiltonFC He said to only look up -- Guster

    Mar 18, 2007
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    personally, i think ZERO pumpkin beers would be preferable, but only one would constitute a monopoly, and that's WRONG.
     
    Jaweirdo and guignol repped this.
  5. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    First homebrew club I belonged to, one guy had a keg of pumpkin beer he would bring every month. We finally told him he was out of the club if he brought it again.
     
  6. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    First Rule of Fight Club Home Brew Club: You Do NOT Talk About Fight Club Bring Pumpkin Beer... EVER
     
    Elninho, Jaweirdo and JohnR repped this.
  7. YankHibee

    YankHibee Member+

    Mar 28, 2005
    indianapolis
    I have tasted a good pumpkin homebrew before. As I recall, it had to condition for a couple years before it was any good. I can see why it's tempting to make - a large amount of fermentable sugars in a cheap package. Among the guys I brew(ed) with, some would take it on as a sort of challenge - it was well known that each attempt would most likely end up getting poured on a compost pile, but it was (at least theoretically) possible to make a good one.
     
  8. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    [​IMG]

    Well I think she'll find the nettle at £1.25 mildly unpleasant. But, if you can go for something a little worse, then the turnip at £1.40 is pretty awful. But, if you can run to the sprout, at £1.75, ooph, horrific! Have you ever tasted weasel spit strained through a mouldy balaclava helmet?
     
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  9. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/03/investing/whole-foods-earnings-sales/index.html

    Looks like maybe people will have to find another store where they can spend $100 on organic ingredients that will make them a single spaghetti dinner.

    Ok, ok, I once bought some Andouille sausage from here when I couldn't find it anywhere else. Now my local Walmart carries it, and my Gumbo is super cheap to make!
     
  10. edwardgr

    edwardgr Moderator
    Staff Member

    Mar 6, 2006
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Frankly I never understood why WF even tried giving it a go here in central Puget Sound. By the time they opened we already had a local long lived, and thriving Organic/Natural Market (PCC), very good market penetration by Trader Joes, a good sized and healthy neighborhood Farmer's market association, the Pike Place Market (which is so much more than a tourist spot, it really is a local treasure), and 3 high end specialty grocers with decent organic/natural selections. From what I have seen WF stores are 2-3 times the size that they need to be, and almost always in high rent areas. That is not a recipe for sustained success.
     
  11. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    You sure wouldn't expect whole foods to go in and try to undercut the other guys on prices.
     
  12. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    some people are so stupid, snobbish or both that they automatically pick the more expensive item no matter what.

    when i was a fishmonger one day we had some AMAZING hook-and-line sand dabs that an amateur brought in - these are perhaps the best tasting whitefleshed fish you can pull out of the pacific (any variety of sole is hake in comparison) but very delicate, the netted ones come out bruised. these were also bigger than any trawled sand dabs i'd ever seen. we sauteed a few up for lunch, we knew it was a treat we may never get again in a lifetime.

    but since they were so perishable they needed to all go that day, we put them on sale for even less than rock cod. $2.60/lb if memory serves.

    in comes the ka-ching family whose taste in fish generally stayed with trolled salmon, petrale sole and frozen lobster: expensive and banal. so i tried to put them onto the dabs ya know... and the boss gave me the signal to jack up the price (wtf, did he think i just got off the anchovy boat?).

    once in a lifetime chance, marvels of the deep, yada yada... $7.99 a pound! (the boss slaps his forehead).

    uh... we'll take the big petrale at $11.99.

    you f***ing idiot, if you had said $16.99 they'd have bought them all, taken two pounds home and asked us freeze the rest (thus ruining them) for them to pick up later.
     
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  13. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    I've got to try these sand dabs before I die.
     
  14. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    well, if there really is a heaven you'll get all you want after.
     
  15. cachundo

    cachundo Marketa Davidova. Unicorn. World Champion

    GO STANFORD!
    Feb 8, 2002
    Genesis 16:12...He shall be a wild ass among men
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Sand dabs are my favorite to prepare en papillote to impress friends and family. Not only are they ideal size for single serving, the ease of deboning the flesh makes me look like a genius ;) One time, feeling decadent and seeing sand dabs on sale at the local Vietnamese/Asian supermarkets, I had them deep-fried coz these places have deep-frying service FOR FREE. It's the only fish that the girls will eat off the heads and fins :thumbsup:
     
  16. bungadiri

    bungadiri Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 25, 2002
    Acnestia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Vegan desserts don't taste good.

    Bleh.
     
  17. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    Whole Foods was a revelation when it came to our neighborhood a decade ago. We had two conventional dowdy supermarket chains, one small upscale market, and several ethnic/produce places. Nobody was doing half the stuff that Whole Foods did.

    Now, forget about it. Two Mariano's have opened, each of which does about 90% of what Whole Foods does at a cheaper price. Two Trader Joe's have opened. And a massive ethnic market that sells not just produce and spices, but every type of food. Similar quality and types of meat, fish, cheese, and breads as at WF, at 50% to 70% of the price. (That store is our go-to place.)

    I mean, it's game over for WF. Turn out the lights.
     
  18. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    Actually this cookbook has provided some tasty vegan sweets.

    [​IMG]

    I think the key is that she is not ashamed to use white flour and sugar. It's vegan but not all whole-wheaty and otherwise full of weird stuff. Or vegan but not necessarily all that good for you, as I like to say.
     
    bungadiri repped this.
  19. chad

    chad Member+

    Jun 24, 1999
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Are you talking Fresh Farms?

    The drive to stores tears away at my soul.
     
  20. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    I am.

    Talk to my wife about youth soccer.
     
  21. bungadiri

    bungadiri Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 25, 2002
    Acnestia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, when I'm not being faux-grouchy (or at least I think it's faux) I'm ready to recognize that I've had some wonderful, creative vegan foods. The key to (me, at least) enjoying vegan desserts is to remove ahead of time any expectation that the dessert will be unctuous or rich or other stuff like that. It's possible to enjoy vegan desserts, especially if you're pre-calibrated for the cleaner, harder end of the taste spectrum.
     
  22. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    the best ice cream i think i've ever had was vegan. the two flavors i tried were licorice and geranium, both great.

    you could make just as good with real dairy but the thing is, there's no need. just like arguably the best kosher deli in manhattan, the much regretted Ess-a-Bagel, had tofu-based cream cheese undistinguishable from the dairy version.

    you're right on the money with creative - the restaurant where i discovered the above ice cream was probably the best i've eaten at in years, and Lyon is known as a capital of gastronomie. the chef there is german, which gives her a completely different starting point on herbs and spices and on textures compared to french cooking. i went there ready to make allowances, none were necessary. i was blown away.

    but i'm still dubious about the one perhaps impenerable wall between me and veganism - french cheeses. cream cheese is one thing; a Salers or Beaufort, a real Morbier de fruitière or a Roquefort papillon, well that's something entirely different. it may be possible to make the same with vegan ingredients; who knows? but the guys capable of doing it aren't there yet. it's not something you improvise.
     
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  23. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    My wife has tried 4 recipes, I think, and they have all involved chocolate. :)
     
  24. Auriaprottu

    Auriaprottu Member+

    Atlanta Damn United
    Apr 1, 2002
    The back of the bus
    Club:
    Atlanta
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Is it just me, or has the "Plump White brunette with nerd glasses and an Asian girl hairstyle" become a thing beyond porn?
     
    Dr. Wankler repped this.
  25. dark knight

    dark knight Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 15, 1999
    Club:
    Leicester City FC
    Next time you are in new york remind me to bring you vegan gluten free brownie bites from this coffee shop in Bklyn. They are pretty unrecognizable as "special".
     

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