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Posted
14 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I imagine it gets real awkward when the waiter brings your wife the cosmopolitan. 

Laugh all you want, but that's a damned fine drink.

But personally, I leave out the fruit and go straight with a dirty martini.

Posted
39 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

How do your raspberries do here? I have most of my backyard fence line growing thornless Arapaho Blackberries and those seem to grow like weeds. I bought two blueberries when I got the blackberries, but they died in last summer's misery.

Well, they didn't do shit last year for the same reasons.  But they are flowering beautifully right now, so that is already boding better for this go-round.  

Posted
14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I tried to grow a basil plant last year.  Took me about a week to kill it.

I love growing basil on my deck. Plant it in early spring and have some until the first freeze, usually in September. I also do thyme, rosemary, and then decide what else I want from year to year. This year I think I'm going to do chives. Have done oregano and sage in the past. Might do sage again. I've done jalapeño but it takes a while and I only end up with 5 or 6. I'm also going to try cherry tomatoes for the first time this year. I just go clip whatever I want, depending on what I'm cooking. That's how I always infuse flavor. 

My other tip is anchovies or anchovy paste. It's a great flavor enhancer in tons of stuff. And no, it won't taste fishy. Most people would die if they knew I put it in many dishes, so I done tell them. They just comment about a great taste, and have no idea what it is.

Posted
2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I tried to grow a basil plant last year.  Took me about a week to kill it.

You should try growing Basil II.  Just keep adding new things until it works.  That's how international finance works.  

Posted
2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I tried to grow a basil plant last year.  Took me about a week to kill it.

Huh.  I actually have great success with herbs.  I have oregano and thyme in the year-round rotation, and basil from spring to first freeze.  Mint, oddly enough, I have, but it never really flourishes.  

Hell, one of my favorite salads is a "spring roll" salad: greens, shrimp, shredded carrots, and then cilantro, basil, and mint shredded, topped with a bit of spicy peanut sauce as dressing.  It's fantastic.  Herbs = flavor bombs.  Spice = flavor bombs.  American health food = zero flavor bombs.  

Posted
Just now, Brisketexan said:

Huh.  I actually have great success with herbs. 

You probably water your plants.  I have limited multi-tasking abilities, and I'm all maxed out already.

Posted
1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

You probably water your plants.  I have limited multi-tasking abilities, and I'm all maxed out already.

Fair.  I actually do enjoy spending a bit of time on the back porch in the fresh air tending to the herb garden.  It's a little thing, but I like it.  If it was much bigger, though....yeah, it would get away from me.

Posted
5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Fair.  I actually do enjoy spending a bit of time on the back porch in the fresh air tending to the herb garden.  It's a little thing, but I like it.  If it was much bigger, though....yeah, it would get away from me.

If I set a basil plant on my front porch, will the deer eat it?  Or is basil one of those weird things that the deer won't touch?

Posted
Just now, Ghost of LL said:

If I set a basil plant on my front porch, will the deer eat it?  Or is basil one of those weird things that the deer won't touch?

They left ours alone.

Posted
1 minute ago, Ghost of LL said:

If I set a basil plant on my front porch, will the deer eat it?  Or is basil one of those weird things that the deer won't touch?

I truly don't know -- I don't trust those fuckers.  Last year, I DID find out that some birds will eat it.  I'd had it outside for years, never touched.  Last year, I'd plant it, and in a day, down to the stem.  I had to buy bird netting and cover them.  This year, my plants are out, and haven't been touched.  Don't know what was up last year.  Hope we don't get a repeat.

Posted

I blame the seagulls.  We have (no shit) a seagull that has taken up residence on our property.  Sits on the peak of our roof and makes those seagull calls.  We must be 150 miles from the nearest coastline, but no, he hangs out here in Austin.  Dude, you're lost.

Posted

chicken breast i cook sous vide in the marinade.  no problem with it drying out upon reheating. 

chicken thighs have enough collagen they almost glue themselves together while sous vide. 

8 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

I truly don't know -- I don't trust those fuckers.  Last year, I DID find out that some birds will eat it.  I'd had it outside for years, never touched.  Last year, I'd plant it, and in a day, down to the stem.  I had to buy bird netting and cover them.  This year, my plants are out, and haven't been touched.  Don't know what was up last year.  Hope we don't get a repeat.

tree rat ate the leaves off my basil one year.  never seemed to have a bird problem. 

  • 1 month later...
Posted

someone has decided panera is the only thing we're ordering at the office anymore.  while the steak/arugula sandwich isn't bad, for some reason we've gotten these fruit/chicken salads with sad pre-mix lettuce about 2 days past its prime with it.  weird combo of roast chicken, shitty lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, and pineapple.  

Posted

The trick with a lot of flavor is besides salt, fat, spice, one must add some acid usually to make something sing. Citrus juice and zest, vinegars, tart fruit all make dishes no bettah.

Posted
7 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

The trick with a lot of flavor is besides salt, fat, spice, one must add some acid usually to make something sing. Citrus juice and zest, vinegars, tart fruit all make dishes no bettah.

No way, that's too strong.  The only flavor that should be strong is sweetness.  Karen wants her sweet nonfat sugar free vanilla soy latte, and a "meal" that tastes like nothing.

Posted

Don’t knock the vanilla. It’s a powerful aphrodisiac and as elemental to cooking as salt and pepper. There’s a reason nations spent their treasures seeking it out centuries ago. It’s only knocked because of its ubiquitousness.

I had an employee who would at Starbucks order something like a white chocolate decaf latte. I pointed out he was getting neither chocolate or coffee.

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