The Spanking New John Cleese Forum - The Good Food Thread

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T02:52:03+01:00

Tonight, Mr. Thing and I went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. I like it because the food is really good, and the chef/owner is a nutcase. It's a fixed price menu, but if they don't have what you want on the list, he'll do his best to make it for you. He comes out and talks to the customers when there's a lull, and he's full of attitude, but he's funny, not abusive. And he's a fabulous cook!

Tonight I had picked fresh lobster meat over angel hair pasta with a Maryland crabmeat sauce that was out of this world. And he put allspice in it! It never would have occurred to me to use allspice in a lobster dish, but that's why I'm just an average cook and he owns his own successful restaurant. It was absolutely wonderful! I didn't taste the clove taste I associate with allspice, just a hint of cinnamon (he insisted it was allspice), but it was perfect!

The sauce was very rich and aromatic anyway and went perfectly with the red wine we brought: a Chilean Syrah, 2006, quite fruity, but with a good amount of tannin to cut through the richness of the sauce. I usually have the filet mignon, because he's one of the few chefs that will cook it really rare the way I like it, so the red would have been just right for that. But I was tempted by the lobster. I do love lobster , and this was so wonderfully fresh. Another thing Rick and I have in common: a passion for absolutely fresh fish. He told me where I could buy it, too, because despite living 3 miles from a harbor full of commercial fishing boats, it's very hard to get fresh fish around here.

I'll regret it in the morning (indigestion, puffy feet), but oh god, it was soooo worth it!

So let's talk FOOD! Recipes, great ideas, wines, etc.

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T03:48:22+01:00

I can't tell the difference between Whizzo Butter and a dead crab.

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T10:16:47+01:00

i'm a terrible cook. When i was living at my own place with the ex - he insisted on doing all of the cooking because i was so terrible at it - and i agree with him, i am terrible.

I once made some hamburgers catch fire in the oven, and i undercooked some chicken nuggets once and they were all runny in the middle.

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T15:06:57+01:00

Oh, all right. BE that way! [heavy sigh] You must at least appreciate good food when you get it, don't you? That dinner I had last night was amazing, and it wasn't just the wine talking. Good food is a powerful healer of the soul--at least, for me it is.

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T15:10:59+01:00

I love good food.Ive had plenty of humble pie in the past.But thats not good.Italiano is a super fast way to my heart.

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T15:51:04+01:00

My mum's boyfriend does a great dinner.

It's chicken breast, stuffed with cheese filling or cheese and onion filling, with bacon wrapped around it, served with big mushrooms and melted cheese all over them.

I don't really like mushrooms much - but they're beautiful done this way!

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-20T16:18:54+01:00

I have no use for white mushrooms, but I love portabella and baby portabella. I put them in the pasta sauce I make. MMMM! (Here's the travesty: I use canned tomatoes to save time! But everything else is fresh.)

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-21T16:06:03+01:00

Haute Cuisine of the South

Country Fried Cube Steak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn-QP_ytqoE

Country Southern Style Sauce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muh0zVuJEKs

If the hurricanes don't kill you, the cooking will

The Good Food Thread

2008-09-22T03:41:32+01:00

"Chicken Fried Spam"--now there's a dish guaranteed to give you a heart attack!

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-21T00:27:03+00:00

I've been on a chicken kick lately, in part because it's been on sale a lot at the store, and I'm trying to eat less red meat.

Though I usually eat chicken breast, I much prefer the dark meat, and wouldn't you know, leg quarters were on sale, buy one package of 4, get another of the same or less weight free! Find two of the same weight and they're half-price! So I did, then wondered what the hell I was going to do with them.

I found this recipe in a cookbook, "Mediterranean: Food of the Sun" (published by Hermes House). Given that it was my first try, I think it came out really good, though it didn't look quite as beautiful as the picture in the book. I'd give it 4 stars out of 5 for flavor, 3 for presentation. Miss Thing didn't like the sweetness (there's honey in the sauce), and Mr. Thing didn't like that it was dark meat. It *was* rather greasy, and I think another time I might use a combination of breast meat and dark meat, and skin the dark meat. I also didn't have any sesame seeds--well, I had some, but they were rancid. Ew. Anyway, here's the recipe:

2T sunflower oil (I used canola)
2T butter
4 chicken quarters or one whole chicken, quartered
1 onion, grated or finely choppped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 generous pinch ginger (I used 1/2t, and couldn't taste it)
1t cinnamon
3+ pounds of tomatoes, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped (I used a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes)
2T honey
1/2C blanched almonds (I left the skins on)
1T sesame seeds
Salt and pepper to taste

Dry fry or toast the almonds and sesame seeds. (I put them on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for 10-12 minutes.)

Heat the oil and butter in a large casserole. Add the chicken pieces and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until the chicken is lightly browned.

Add the onion, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and heat gently until the tomatoes begin to bubble.

Lower the heat, cover and simmer gently for 1 hour. Stir and turn the chicken occasionally so that it cooks completely.

Remove the chicken and set on a plate. Increase the heat and cook the tomato mixture, stirring frequently, until the sauce is reduced to a thick puree. (It took about 20 minutes for me.) Stir in the honey, cook for one minute, then return the chicken to the pot and cook for 2-3 more minutes to heat through.

Transfer the chicken and sauce to a warmed serving dish and sprinkle with almonds and sesame seeds. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-21T01:37:40+00:00

yummm, yummm...

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-21T01:57:25+00:00

I love good food.Ive had plenty of humble pie in the past.But thats not 
good.Italiano is a super fast way to my heart

Poor Pythonesque with the humble pie.

I'm also a fan of Italian food.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-21T02:19:43+00:00

I'm basically a fan of whatever tastes good, which is just about everything other than fast food and my mother's cooking (God rest her soul).

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-27T01:05:30+00:00

I'll read the recipes later and come up with a spanking new Spam dish for Niwiman.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-27T01:24:47+00:00

I had another one the other night: stewed chicken with a thick walnut sauce--oh my god, it was soooooooooo good! But it was too rich for me after months of a low fat diet. The sauce is just walnuts, bread, raw garlic, and chicken stock creamed together in a blender, so it has a bazillion grams of fat, but almost all unsaturated, non-animal fat. But it was still fantastic!

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-27T01:51:59+00:00

Spam-dish? What does it contain? Spam-spam-spam-spam-egg-bacon-and-spam... No... that would be Spamish-dish only... Spam-dish should contain spam-only...

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-27T05:52:09+00:00

Niwi likes his with everthing on top! Cute Spamman! He's the Man!

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-27T05:55:07+00:00

I love cooking and baking! I just try not to do it so often because last summer I gained 10 pounds when I started experimenting with making food that normally comes out of the freezer (or a can).

Remember, though, I like spicy food (the type that makes my acid reflux do backflips), so I don't think many people would be into it.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-27T13:54:33+00:00

I have acid reflux too, but spicy food *never* bothers it. Ditto for greasy foods. Acidic foods do: coffee, cooked tomatoes, and most raw fruits. And anything with high fructose corn syrup, which is an amazing array of foods, including things labeled "natural".

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-28T04:22:23+00:00

I love Italian, Chinese and Indian food the most.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-28T12:37:19+00:00

I have a couple of great stir-fry recipes. I made them some years back, before my wok rusted, and they came out really good. They actually tasted like Chinese food! I'm not crazy about Italian food, but that's probably because there are so many Italian restaurants around here. There's a huge Italian population in this area, so we're getting pizza, parmagiana, and pesto rammed down our throats everywhere! We have one or two *good* Indian restaurants, and a lot of wannabes that are just awful.

I love vegetarian food, though I can't make a steady diet of it. We have a couple of good vegetarian restaurants not to far away. And there's a really good Eritrean restaurant in New Haven, with a combination of African, and Italian influences. It's authentic Eritrean--it's part of Ethiopia that was occupied by the Italians during WWII, hence the mix. But my favorite restaurant is the one we went to for Valentine's day--the chef is a nut job, but he's a fantastic cook. *Everything* he makes is wonderful! He doesn't specialize in anything in particular, and you never know what's going to be on the menu, though there's always meat, fish, poultry, and pasta, in one form or another. And he'll make anything you want if you don't see what you like on the menu and he's got the ingredients in the kitchen.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-28T20:11:31+00:00

Are eggs considered vegetarian? I went for two years once without chicken or meat. Eggs became a staple but now it just makes me think of Niwi's eggs, Spam and something dish on a Nausea thread once. I begged him not to eat it but you know how kids are, they just do not want to listen!!!

I personally love asian and mediterranean recipes.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-28T22:58:49+00:00

Are eggs considered vegetarian

There are differences between vegetarian and vegan. Vegetarians eat eggs, bacon, sausages, spam, spam, spam... ohhh, no... So, they eat eggs, dairy products, veggies. Vegans eat only vegetables, or veggie-rooted food.

The Good Food Thread

2009-02-28T23:46:08+00:00

Not all vegetarians eat eggs or dairy. Some are strict without being vegan. But yes, you can be an ovo-lacto-vegetarian.

"Veggie-rooted food"?

I believe vegans eat nuts, seeds, legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-01T02:12:30+00:00

Veggie-rooted food

I meant food that contain veggies! The basic material is vegetable, plant, whatever.

I believe vegans eat nuts

I believe vegans are nuts.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-03T04:50:57+00:00

They sound nuts. Who has the time to do all that and where do you get your protien-iron burst? OOOOHHHH.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-03T04:55:00+00:00

From some artificial rubbish, I suppose!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-03T11:05:10+00:00

You take supplements. You can get iron from spinach and beets; protein comes in non-animal forms: nuts, legumes, grains. Most Americans eat too much protein anyway.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-03T11:11:55+00:00

Oh!:

(I still like a rare filet)

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-03T11:13:33+00:00

Yes, I do too. YUMMMMM! And we can get them fairly cheap around here, either in the store or in restaurants.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-03T19:59:05+00:00

Mrsthing-- you're lucky about the spicy thing! I ate cajun food a month ago and was up all night w/heartburns and upset stomach (I get nausea from my acid reflux).

Then the next morning, I was stupid enough to eat a chicken gordita drenched in this exceedingly hot salsa. I didn't feel too good for a while...

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T00:01:32+00:00

I made bread yesterday, ate a few chunks of raw dough, and was up all night with tummy rushes--waves of weird sensations, like when you're nervous. Yeast does that to me, especially if I have sugar too. Bloat up like a water balloon! But only raw dough--regular bread is fine.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T00:06:27+00:00

Can you make bread, MrsThing? Wow!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T00:18:35+00:00

It's very cool. Like a little miracle. You mix all this stuff together, it looks like a mess, you put it in the oven, and out comes yummy bread! It's very easy, really. The hardest part is the kneading. Getting it to a shape that will come out in a sliceable form and not split as it heats is a bit of work. But it's way fun! And it tastes better than anything I can get in the stores around here, even the "artisan" breads.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T00:28:00+00:00

It sounds good and easy indeed. Do you have a special-bread-maker, or you bake it in a normal oven?

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T10:41:41+00:00

No, I do it by hand. I love kneading. It's therapeutic. Yes, regular oven. Bread machines make pretty good bread, but I just like doing it by hand. I'm not good at drawing or sculpting or needlework or any stuff like that, so it's nice to make something, especially something useful that isn't going to just collect dust or be in the way.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T23:03:13+00:00

Oh, I see, so, it's a sort of artist-activity for you, MrsThing! How often do you make bread? Daily? Weekly?

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-04T23:49:44+00:00

Whenever I feel like it. Never in summer, because it makes the house too hot and I don't have AC. I don't eat as much bread in the summer, anyway.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-05T00:12:12+00:00

I see. I'm sure it tastes much better than the ones in shops! Some of them are very good, but even those are full of artificial stuff.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-05T03:44:08+00:00

Are you, Hungary, Chrissy?

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-05T04:31:53+00:00

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-06T17:29:11+00:00

If so, Turkey is only a few countries away!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-06T20:19:51+00:00

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-07T02:53:00+00:00

Is it a country or a Thanksgiving bird? Bird: yes. Country: Who knows. Have you ever been a war.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-07T02:54:03+00:00

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-07T04:59:12+00:00

Advert:

ARE YOU HUNGARY? EAT TURKEY!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-07T15:09:47+00:00

I was hungry, but I just had my breakfast.

The old Greeks still refer to Turkey as Asia Minor. Hard to imagine cooking Asia Minor for Thanksgiving dinner. For one thing, it wouldn't fit in the oven.

I have never been a war, but I've been one or two good fights.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-07T15:14:33+00:00

It is just a minor Asia so it shoud fit in an oven, or you could deep fat fry it. Fried Minor with Asian seasonings.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-07T18:51:24+00:00

Yes, Zelda, good idea. And the food could be called as A Minor Asia!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-08T03:33:11+00:00

Mabe we could get a country named that!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-08T04:29:49+00:00

What about TURKEY, THE COUNTRY THAT PREVIOUSLY WAS KNOWN AS ASIA MINOR-dish?????

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-08T22:47:32+00:00

I'd eat it.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-08T22:48:21+00:00

Me too, I think.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-10T20:34:18+00:00

I'm sure it would be good with Chile (hot sauce AND South American country).

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-10T22:53:01+00:00

I've eaten turkey chili. It's gross. Just have some lean beef and worry about your cholesterol tomorrow.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T00:08:19+00:00

Turkey is for holidays,sick days and white bread sandwichs. It has lots of fat and cholesterol. They are brautiful birds and shoud not be eaten...

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T01:59:25+00:00

I'm sure it would be good with Chile (hot sauce AND South American country)

I want to eat Turkey with Chile!!!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T12:16:27+00:00

White meat turkey is quite lean, but the dark meat has lots of fat. They domesticated ones are so stupid we're probably doing them a favor by eating them. They've had brains bred out of them, and just have a vestigial stump that allows them to eat, sleep, shit, and fuck.

Like some men I know, actually....

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T17:24:03+00:00

That's really interesting, I didn't know these facts, MrsThing. (I mean about the colour of turkey-meat...)

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T18:34:22+00:00

We obsessive dieters know much about meats and their fat/protein/calorie counts.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T18:39:02+00:00

MrsThing-- technically, we use "chile" for "pepper". I don't think I'd mind peppered turkey! Doesn't have to be that brown stuff people like to put on hot dogs...

And I like turkey...I just like chicken better...

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T19:43:17+00:00

We obsessive dieters know much about meats and their fat/protein/calorie counts

I'm overweight but I don't mind dieting. I still have time to be a skeleton... Most of my (after)-life I'm going to live as a skelly. How beautifil I will be!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-11T23:38:15+00:00

But "chile" is only one kind of pepper. Don't you use habanero peppers, sweet peppers, etc.?

My favorite hot sauce of all time is called "Scorned Woman"--as in "hell hath no fury like..." It's hotter than anything you can imagine. One teaspoon gives a pleasant amount of heat (to someone who likes spicy-hot foods) to 6 *quarts* of soup!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T01:03:32+00:00

I had always hated eating anything hot until one day I went to an Indian restaurant. I ate there not-hot food, but also tried others from the taster. The very hot ones were reccommended by my friends, so I tried those too, I tasted only 1 pieces of everything, but I thought I'd die in a minute. But since then I also order hot food in Chinese take-away and I like to eat chili-bean.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T03:18:35+00:00

Um, we use the word "chile" in Spanish to mean any kind of pepper. It's probably like how people here say "Band-aid" even though they mean any brand of bandage. Very few people would say, "Oh, no--I don't have a Band-aid. I have a Curad, though..."

Sometimes, when asking for salsa, I'll say, "chile rojo" (red "spicy stuff", basically) and no one ever gives me weird looks because that's basically accepted.

Wow, Chris-- I'm surprised. Usually when people hate spicy-hot food, they never 'develop' a taste for it!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T03:51:10+00:00

I had never eaten anything hot or spicy before that. I had never liked it previously. I hadn't been able to eat anything spicy. But after this event, I tried it gradually. And I don't eat spicy food very often.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T03:54:24+00:00

I <3 Thai food. Yuuum.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T03:55:25+00:00

Welcome back, Clo!!! How are you?

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:13:44+00:00

doin good. :D
Like my new hair? I think I look much better as a blonde. I've been adding highlights to it for a while, but I finally decided to just do it all.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:14:48+00:00

even though that has nothing to do with food....

although my cats sometimes try to eat my hair. It must taste good. (??)

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:18:52+00:00

I like your new hair, it's better than the pink.

My budgie enjoys eating my hair... Pets are strange sometimes!

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:22:31+00:00

oh, the bright pink wasn't my real hair. that was a wig I wore on halloween. My hair was reddish black before... then kinda faded to dark brown, then I put highlights in it.

Pets are certainly strange... especially mine. I have 4 cats and they're a bunch of crazy kids.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:28:47+00:00

It was a realistic wig.

Yes, cats are fantastic! So are the budgies.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:35:50+00:00

I love Thai food as well.

And the blond does look good. I was thinking of going platinum myself...

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:38:17+00:00

do it! blondes have more fun and all... lol ;)

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:40:27+00:00

Oh everybody's going to be blonde, but me!

I was blonde as a kid, I don't know if it counts. My hair is brown, sometimes darker, sometimes it's brighter. At the moment it's brighter. I've never dyed it, and it's not up to the season, either. It's just strange.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:45:39+00:00

You have mood hair hehe.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T04:54:41+00:00

Yes, you're right, perhaps. My eyes are definitely mood eyes: normally it's blue, but whenever my mood changes, the colour of my eyes changes with it, too.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T05:48:31+00:00

Chris-- that sounds awesome.

My husband had white hair when he was little, but now it is dark blonde. I think everyone's hair generally gets darker with age.

Mine was a very light auburn up until I dyed it in 8th grade.

It still looks different from normal "brown" hair, but it's not nearly as light as it was. People definitely notice the amount of red, though, especially when I'm in the sun.

(Btw, the pictures of me you may have seen-- my hair is dyed black. I haven't taken recent pics in a while).

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T17:23:22+00:00

Dark-haired people's hair doesn't get darker with age. Duller, but not darker. I'm almost totally white now, so I dye it my original dark brown color. I tried going blonde once, but never found a shade I liked. And old friends who remembered the slim, pretty girl with the long dark hair didn't recognize me, which freaked me out. I was born with black hair. My mother said I looked like an Indian (Native Amer.) baby.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T17:24:54+00:00

My brother was a tow-head, but now he's just a fat head.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-12T22:11:19+00:00

Dark-haired people's hair doesn't get darker with age.

Yeah, I couldn't imagine black hair getting "blacker"...that wouldn't make sense.

You're right about the duller thing, though-- but I think that's for everyone. My hair certainly isn't as shiny or pretty as it was when I was 12.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T00:44:45+00:00

i WAS A TOW HEAD UNTIL 13-14, THEN LIGHT BROWN. HATED THAT SO BECAME BLOND, UNHU. DARK BROWN,YES BUT EVENTUALLY WENT BACK BLOND. NATUR1ALLY.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T02:07:09+00:00

Yeah, I couldn't imagine black hair getting "blacker"...that wouldn't make sense.

I couldn't imagine it, either!

Zelda: I hope my hair goes back blonde, naturally. It'd be great.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T05:47:46+00:00

Just stop coloring it.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T05:53:34+00:00

I never coloured it. Just it became darker, but sometimes it's lighter and sometimes it's darker than normally.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T12:30:51+00:00

Mr. Thing had very light hair when he was a boy. It didn't darken until he was 10 or so. Now it's so dark brown it looks black. But he's gotten quite gray in the past few years.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T21:44:44+00:00

I don't know if it's true or not, but I once heard that certain contaminants in water darken hair (like iron or something). Of course, this might have just been a myth.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-13T21:48:49+00:00

"Hair darkens because genes that control hair color switch on. The more pigment produced in the hair follicle, the darker the hair. Much pigment results in dark brown hair; little pigment causes blond hair."

Oh...well, I looked it up and I guess it must've been a myth.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-14T00:44:14+00:00

I recently read that hair lightens as hair follicles loosen around the scalp allowing air to lighten the color(grey). Sounds reasonable but then so do the other suggestions above. Just remember to wear a hat in the winter, (or summer).

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-14T04:03:43+00:00

Yes, Bunni, it can be true, I think.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-14T07:05:31+00:00

Hmm-- I wonder if this is true (the video):

http://www.netwellnessmd.com/content/default.aspx

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-14T13:18:06+00:00

My L'Oreal holds up very well against sun, wind, salt water, tannic lake water, and shampoo. I think my gray is hereditary: my dad was completely gray in his 20s; my mother at 84 had less gray than I do now. At least the thinning seems to have stopped.

The Good Food Thread

2009-03-14T23:13:30+00:00

Thanks, Bunni, I'll check it!