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Mar. 29th, 2004 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ciciaye, a food meme which likely appealed to me more--and led to some verbosity--because I started into it hungry. *g*
What's your favourite cheese?
A local cheese (or number of small variations on it; most of what we get now comes from around Fancy Gap Mountain on the VA/NC border, I believe). I'm not sure of the name, if it has one, but the milder sort reminds me slightly of a Double Gloucester. Another current favorite is Kashkaval, though I've yet to run across a cheese I disliked.
What's your favourite fish?
The one currently in front of me, save fresh tuna. ;) Very little can beat freshly-caught freshwater fish, particularly bass, pike, and native trout. I also have a special weakness for shad and salmon.
What's your favourite fruit?
Cantaloupes/muskmelons and the similar green-fleshed melons, Eastern peaches (similar lusciousness to both), especially wild strawberries, oranges, tart apples.
When, if ever, did you start liking olives?
As soon as I was on solid food and someone offered them to me, I believe.
When, if ever, did you start liking beer?
I went from thinking it was noxious-smelling, to tolerating it, to actually enjoying it gradually during adolescence.
When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish?
See above, concerning olives.
What was the best thing your Mum or Dad used to make?
Mom: Lasagne, spaghetti, soups and stews, bean dishes, summer squash dishes, biscuits and gravy (sausage, chicken, pork tenderloin, it doesn't matter--just bring it on!). Bill Brewer: Judging by notes in cookbooks and not my memory, probably a risotto with vegetables, which I like to fix now. Sid: Puffs, little doughnut things a lot like beignets, but served with honey. He's not known as a cook. ;)
What's the native specialty of your home town?
A slightly different approach is necessary than in the U.K. In the immediate vicinity, fish from the river and creeks; particularly earlier, crawfish and mussels, as well. Abundant game, though access was readier before the decline of farming as a feasible way to make a living. Going truly native, highly localised varieties of maize, squash, beans, peppers, tomatoes, muskmelons, etc., which some of us are trying to keep going.
What's your comfort food?
Almost anything with cheese, sometimes just hunks of cheese. Proper baked, layered macaroni and cheese, particularly. Tomatoey stuff--occasionally macaroni and cheese made with tomatoes. *g* Nice creamy mashed potatoes with plenty of butter and milk.
What's your favourite type of chocolate?
Depends on my mood--sometimes dark chocolate, sometimes a nice milk chocolate, with or without almonds. Fruit and nut is also good.
How do you like your steak?
First, I prefer venison or local bison to beef when I can get it, for about any purpose. Cooked on a grill, or pan-seared; I like them broiled too, but this annoying electric oven doesn't give great results. :/ I like them marinated or rubbed with seasoning, depending on the steak, meal, and my mood, and cooked medium to medium-well. Too much ooze is disconcerting. A good piece of meat doesn't need any sauce, to my mind.
How do you like your burger?
I don't eat many burgers. Preferably homemade, or from a little restaurant which makes huge tasty ones to order. Making them myself, I like to season the meat a bit with at least salt and pepper, if not a seasoning salt blend. A mix of meat, or just something else, is better than ground beef (though ground chuck is sometimes OK). Cheese melted on the browned top of the patty while it cooks is tasty sometimes. Served with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise on the top; mustard, onion, and perhaps dill pickle on the bottom. Cole slaw, with or without tomato, is a good substitute for the lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.
How do you like your eggs?
Scrambled, fried over-easy (mmm, runny yolks), in egg salad, just hard-boiled (but the cats or dog get the yolks), hard-boiled and sliced on a sandwich, deviled, or poached in a yummy tomato sauce for an Indian dish whose name I don't remember. Fluffy omelettes with at least cheese, sauteed onion, and mushroom are great. So are something like grilled cheese sandwiches including scrambled eggs cooked with onions and sweet peppers. Various frittatas/tortillas. Yes, I like eggs. *g*
How do you like your potatoes?
Mashed, scalloped, pan-fried with onions (don't cook them first!), baked, boiled with butter, as Papas chorreadas, in multiple sorts of potato cakes, as potato salad, in pierogies with cheese, mashed and seasoned as filling in various yummy Indian things, in soups and stews (mmm, potato soup and its unreasonably hyped cousin vichyssoise). I think I've gone on too much already, but potatoes are one of my favorite foods, besides their long history here.
How do you take your coffee?
Not as much as I'd like, unfortunately; I hyperreact to it. :( These days, I have the occasional cup or two of Louisiana-style dark-roast coffee with chicory--delicious, with greatly reduced caffeine and synergist content. Anytime, I prefer café au lait with about half a spoonful of sugar per cup.
How do you take your tea?
Generally a rich but mellow Indian blend, iced, made with about a cup of sugar per gallon. (I forget where I heard it, but the "house wine of the South" characterisation is close to the truth. *g*) When not being a heretic, I prefer the same sort of blend, brewed strong and liberally dosed with milk and two or three spoonsful of sugar for the size mug I generally use. I also drink a reasonable quantity of mainly Chinese green and jasmine tea and Oolong, and wouldn't think of adding anything.
What's your favourite mug?
Whatever is clean, though I prefer that it hold at least 12 oz.
What's your biscuit of choice?
I don't eat sweets very often. Graham crackers (sometimes with peanut butter, yum) and digestives are good, in not being too sweet. Chocolate digestives, while a bit sweeter, have addicted me. Homemade sugar cookies or shortbread (not that much difference here, really) are great. On the sweeter side, the strange little packaged devil's food cakes and homemade peanut butter cookies are yummy.
What's your ideal breakfast?
Leftovers, generally, or whatever catches my eye, now that I've gotten back in the habit of eating breakfast. Ramen, particularly Kimchi ramen, has been a favorite lately. I'm not that fond of most cooked cereals for breakfast, but occasionally feel a need for grits or mush (a.k.a. polenta, among others), with butter and salt. Traditional breakfasts of eggs, sausage/bacon/ham/tenderloin/fish, biscuits, gravy (if sausage or tenderloin is included), sliced (not cooked!) tomato in season, etc. are occasionally nice, on a lazy weekend or holiday.
What's your ideal sandwich?
Variations on cheese, pickle, and possibly vegetables to round things out. Breads can vary wildly.
What's your ideal pizza (topping and base)?
A thick, yeasty, chewy crust with plenty of cheese and a well-seasoned, not-too-sweet tomato sauce (take heed, Papa John's!). Sometimes I want more toppings, sometimes fewer, but things like sweetcorn, tuna, and pineapple--among the apparently more mundane offerings some places--simply do not belong on a pizza I'm going to eat.
What's your ideal pie (sweet or savoury)?
Apple, peach--both well seasoned--or cherry, either the usual baked variety or the regionally popular fried variety. Cooked fresh apples, more heavily/variously spiced to my (and family) preference work well, and I've seen less fat used in the pan to cook them, but that recipe doesn't look too bad. I haven't had many savory pies besides quiches, but enjoy most variations.
What's your ideal salad?
A mixed-green tossed salad with plenty of tomato and cucumber at the minimum, and a vinaigrette. Tabouleh is marvellous, for a different style.
What food do you always like to have in the fridge?
Enough varied things to be able to throw together meals without having to go shopping for several days, at a minimum. More, if I've caught things on sale or reduced for quick sale.
What food do you always like to have in the freezer?
A small supply of the less-icky-when-frozen veggies, and a small stockpile of meats and other items picked up on sale/reduced. Leftovers/purposely extra cooked things to fill rumbling bellies quickly.
What food do you always like to have in the cupboard?
Rice, dried beans/lentils/peas, pasta, variety of canned goods, flour, sugar, cornmeal, broth powder/cubes of some sort, onions, potatoes, garlic, vinegar, oils--basically, all the staples, and I'm sure I've omitted a number.
What spices can you not live without?
I could live without them, but unhappily. The ones I use rather frequently are too many to mention, but I might go into seizures if forced to cook for even a few days without pepper, some form of chile, and a number of originally Mediterranean herbs.
What sauces can you not live without?
Good soy sauce, a few hot sauces. Worchestershire sauce, red oil, hot bean paste, and yellow bean paste are handy, offhand.
Where do you buy most of your food?
Here: Kroger, Wade's, Oasis, and produce stands. In the U.K.: Sainsbury's, Iceland (convenient, being 300 yards from the house), Tesco--though I need to find sources or better ones for some things I've been accustomed to buying here.
How often do you go food shopping?
Here: Only once every couple of weeks; my parents do most of it. There, so far: Several days a week.
What's the most you've spent on a single food item?
I have no idea, and I should, thrifty as I tend to be. ;)
What's the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own (excluding 'white goods')?
I quoteciciaye:It's my parents' house, so the stuff in the kitchen is theirs.
As an aside, that just struck me as an interesting difference in philosophy; I live with my parents for now, but consider it my house and my kitchen stuff, as much as theirs. The most expensive thing I've bought is a dishwasher (because my mom wanted one), though it hasn't been installed in the several years since (*long* story.)
What's the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen?
Some wooden spoons, or other basic utensils?
What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without?
Probably what remains of the last set of Corning dishes--things have become more difficult as they've broken. :) Replacements really do seem in order.
How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients?
At least once a day, when my health is good. I've been the chief cook--though, thankfully, not bottlewasher--around here for a while now.
What's the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients?
A quick supper of macaroni and cheese and a cucumber and tomato salad with a dill dressing tonight.
What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig and poultry?
Lamb, venison, rabbit, squirrel (very tasty), bison, frog legs. Besides domesticated poultry: quail, grouse, turkey, duck.
What's the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor?
I'll admit it--I ate a piece of cucumber earlier, after washing it off.
What's the last time you ate something you'd picked in the wild?
I like to gather wild stuff, but this time of year things aren't so abundant yet. I did nibble on a very young chicory leaf in the yard as I went by a few days ago, now that I think about it. Chicory, dandelions, and wild lettuces (among others) should be ready here for a bit of salad addition in a week or so now.
Place in order of preference (greatest to least): Italian, Indian, French, Thai, Chinese, Sushi?
Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi, French
Place in order of preference: Vodka, Light Rum, Dark Rum, Tequila, Brandy, Gin, Whisky?
Dark Rum, Tequila, Light Rum, Brandy (if you count Applejack), Gin, Whisky, Vodka
Place in order of preference: Garlic, Caramel, Mint, Lime, Aniseed, Basil?
Garlic, Lime, Mint, Basil, Caramel, Aniseed (unless Star Anise counts, as used in Five Spice or red oil)
Place in order of preference: , Strawberry, Apple, Cherry, Orange, Watermelon, Pineapple, Banana?
Orange, Cherry, Strawberry, Pineapple, Banana, Apple, Watermelon
Place in order of preference: The Internet, Music, Food, Sex, Sport, Fashion?
Music, Sex, Food, The Internet, Fashion, Sport
Bread and spread:
Whole grain or multi-grain bread, biscuits, cornbread--butter and/or jam with all
What's your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order?
Fast food isn't one of my favorite things. I do have a strange weakness for Taco Bell, a remnant of my vegetarian years. I still generally order a combination of their bean burritos and whatever beany one is closest to the Seven Layer Burrito, which I don't think they offer anymore. Sometimes I'll go for one of their chicken options.
Pick a city. What are the three best dining experiences you've had in that city?
Roanoke, Virginia--hey, I've spent a lot of time there! Dependably good choices are Nawab near the City Market for Indian, the classic New Yorker Deli, and Luigi's for Italian. Narrowing things down to three particularly enjoyable experiences was difficult, but I somehow managed. ;)
What's your choice of tipple at the end of a long day?
Iced tea, or occasionally wine or beer. I can't recommend Shiner Bock highly enough for those hot summer days, to those who can get it, despite the brewery's terrible website and recent introduction of "Shiner Light". Their Hefeweizen is also excellent.
What's the next thing you'll eat?
A sandwich and some yogurt, most likely; I'll probably be up for a while.
ciciaye, a food meme which likely appealed to me more--and led to some verbosity--because I started into it hungry. *g*What's your favourite cheese?
A local cheese (or number of small variations on it; most of what we get now comes from around Fancy Gap Mountain on the VA/NC border, I believe). I'm not sure of the name, if it has one, but the milder sort reminds me slightly of a Double Gloucester. Another current favorite is Kashkaval, though I've yet to run across a cheese I disliked.
What's your favourite fish?
The one currently in front of me, save fresh tuna. ;) Very little can beat freshly-caught freshwater fish, particularly bass, pike, and native trout. I also have a special weakness for shad and salmon.
What's your favourite fruit?
Cantaloupes/muskmelons and the similar green-fleshed melons, Eastern peaches (similar lusciousness to both), especially wild strawberries, oranges, tart apples.
When, if ever, did you start liking olives?
As soon as I was on solid food and someone offered them to me, I believe.
When, if ever, did you start liking beer?
I went from thinking it was noxious-smelling, to tolerating it, to actually enjoying it gradually during adolescence.
When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish?
See above, concerning olives.
What was the best thing your Mum or Dad used to make?
Mom: Lasagne, spaghetti, soups and stews, bean dishes, summer squash dishes, biscuits and gravy (sausage, chicken, pork tenderloin, it doesn't matter--just bring it on!). Bill Brewer: Judging by notes in cookbooks and not my memory, probably a risotto with vegetables, which I like to fix now. Sid: Puffs, little doughnut things a lot like beignets, but served with honey. He's not known as a cook. ;)
What's the native specialty of your home town?
A slightly different approach is necessary than in the U.K. In the immediate vicinity, fish from the river and creeks; particularly earlier, crawfish and mussels, as well. Abundant game, though access was readier before the decline of farming as a feasible way to make a living. Going truly native, highly localised varieties of maize, squash, beans, peppers, tomatoes, muskmelons, etc., which some of us are trying to keep going.
What's your comfort food?
Almost anything with cheese, sometimes just hunks of cheese. Proper baked, layered macaroni and cheese, particularly. Tomatoey stuff--occasionally macaroni and cheese made with tomatoes. *g* Nice creamy mashed potatoes with plenty of butter and milk.
What's your favourite type of chocolate?
Depends on my mood--sometimes dark chocolate, sometimes a nice milk chocolate, with or without almonds. Fruit and nut is also good.
How do you like your steak?
First, I prefer venison or local bison to beef when I can get it, for about any purpose. Cooked on a grill, or pan-seared; I like them broiled too, but this annoying electric oven doesn't give great results. :/ I like them marinated or rubbed with seasoning, depending on the steak, meal, and my mood, and cooked medium to medium-well. Too much ooze is disconcerting. A good piece of meat doesn't need any sauce, to my mind.
How do you like your burger?
I don't eat many burgers. Preferably homemade, or from a little restaurant which makes huge tasty ones to order. Making them myself, I like to season the meat a bit with at least salt and pepper, if not a seasoning salt blend. A mix of meat, or just something else, is better than ground beef (though ground chuck is sometimes OK). Cheese melted on the browned top of the patty while it cooks is tasty sometimes. Served with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise on the top; mustard, onion, and perhaps dill pickle on the bottom. Cole slaw, with or without tomato, is a good substitute for the lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.
How do you like your eggs?
Scrambled, fried over-easy (mmm, runny yolks), in egg salad, just hard-boiled (but the cats or dog get the yolks), hard-boiled and sliced on a sandwich, deviled, or poached in a yummy tomato sauce for an Indian dish whose name I don't remember. Fluffy omelettes with at least cheese, sauteed onion, and mushroom are great. So are something like grilled cheese sandwiches including scrambled eggs cooked with onions and sweet peppers. Various frittatas/tortillas. Yes, I like eggs. *g*
How do you like your potatoes?
Mashed, scalloped, pan-fried with onions (don't cook them first!), baked, boiled with butter, as Papas chorreadas, in multiple sorts of potato cakes, as potato salad, in pierogies with cheese, mashed and seasoned as filling in various yummy Indian things, in soups and stews (mmm, potato soup and its unreasonably hyped cousin vichyssoise). I think I've gone on too much already, but potatoes are one of my favorite foods, besides their long history here.
How do you take your coffee?
Not as much as I'd like, unfortunately; I hyperreact to it. :( These days, I have the occasional cup or two of Louisiana-style dark-roast coffee with chicory--delicious, with greatly reduced caffeine and synergist content. Anytime, I prefer café au lait with about half a spoonful of sugar per cup.
How do you take your tea?
Generally a rich but mellow Indian blend, iced, made with about a cup of sugar per gallon. (I forget where I heard it, but the "house wine of the South" characterisation is close to the truth. *g*) When not being a heretic, I prefer the same sort of blend, brewed strong and liberally dosed with milk and two or three spoonsful of sugar for the size mug I generally use. I also drink a reasonable quantity of mainly Chinese green and jasmine tea and Oolong, and wouldn't think of adding anything.
What's your favourite mug?
Whatever is clean, though I prefer that it hold at least 12 oz.
What's your biscuit of choice?
I don't eat sweets very often. Graham crackers (sometimes with peanut butter, yum) and digestives are good, in not being too sweet. Chocolate digestives, while a bit sweeter, have addicted me. Homemade sugar cookies or shortbread (not that much difference here, really) are great. On the sweeter side, the strange little packaged devil's food cakes and homemade peanut butter cookies are yummy.
What's your ideal breakfast?
Leftovers, generally, or whatever catches my eye, now that I've gotten back in the habit of eating breakfast. Ramen, particularly Kimchi ramen, has been a favorite lately. I'm not that fond of most cooked cereals for breakfast, but occasionally feel a need for grits or mush (a.k.a. polenta, among others), with butter and salt. Traditional breakfasts of eggs, sausage/bacon/ham/tenderloin/fish, biscuits, gravy (if sausage or tenderloin is included), sliced (not cooked!) tomato in season, etc. are occasionally nice, on a lazy weekend or holiday.
What's your ideal sandwich?
Variations on cheese, pickle, and possibly vegetables to round things out. Breads can vary wildly.
What's your ideal pizza (topping and base)?
A thick, yeasty, chewy crust with plenty of cheese and a well-seasoned, not-too-sweet tomato sauce (take heed, Papa John's!). Sometimes I want more toppings, sometimes fewer, but things like sweetcorn, tuna, and pineapple--among the apparently more mundane offerings some places--simply do not belong on a pizza I'm going to eat.
What's your ideal pie (sweet or savoury)?
Apple, peach--both well seasoned--or cherry, either the usual baked variety or the regionally popular fried variety. Cooked fresh apples, more heavily/variously spiced to my (and family) preference work well, and I've seen less fat used in the pan to cook them, but that recipe doesn't look too bad. I haven't had many savory pies besides quiches, but enjoy most variations.
What's your ideal salad?
A mixed-green tossed salad with plenty of tomato and cucumber at the minimum, and a vinaigrette. Tabouleh is marvellous, for a different style.
What food do you always like to have in the fridge?
Enough varied things to be able to throw together meals without having to go shopping for several days, at a minimum. More, if I've caught things on sale or reduced for quick sale.
What food do you always like to have in the freezer?
A small supply of the less-icky-when-frozen veggies, and a small stockpile of meats and other items picked up on sale/reduced. Leftovers/purposely extra cooked things to fill rumbling bellies quickly.
What food do you always like to have in the cupboard?
Rice, dried beans/lentils/peas, pasta, variety of canned goods, flour, sugar, cornmeal, broth powder/cubes of some sort, onions, potatoes, garlic, vinegar, oils--basically, all the staples, and I'm sure I've omitted a number.
What spices can you not live without?
I could live without them, but unhappily. The ones I use rather frequently are too many to mention, but I might go into seizures if forced to cook for even a few days without pepper, some form of chile, and a number of originally Mediterranean herbs.
What sauces can you not live without?
Good soy sauce, a few hot sauces. Worchestershire sauce, red oil, hot bean paste, and yellow bean paste are handy, offhand.
Where do you buy most of your food?
Here: Kroger, Wade's, Oasis, and produce stands. In the U.K.: Sainsbury's, Iceland (convenient, being 300 yards from the house), Tesco--though I need to find sources or better ones for some things I've been accustomed to buying here.
How often do you go food shopping?
Here: Only once every couple of weeks; my parents do most of it. There, so far: Several days a week.
What's the most you've spent on a single food item?
I have no idea, and I should, thrifty as I tend to be. ;)
What's the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own (excluding 'white goods')?
I quote
ciciaye:It's my parents' house, so the stuff in the kitchen is theirs.As an aside, that just struck me as an interesting difference in philosophy; I live with my parents for now, but consider it my house and my kitchen stuff, as much as theirs. The most expensive thing I've bought is a dishwasher (because my mom wanted one), though it hasn't been installed in the several years since (*long* story.)
What's the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen?
Some wooden spoons, or other basic utensils?
What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without?
Probably what remains of the last set of Corning dishes--things have become more difficult as they've broken. :) Replacements really do seem in order.
How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients?
At least once a day, when my health is good. I've been the chief cook--though, thankfully, not bottlewasher--around here for a while now.
What's the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients?
A quick supper of macaroni and cheese and a cucumber and tomato salad with a dill dressing tonight.
What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig and poultry?
Lamb, venison, rabbit, squirrel (very tasty), bison, frog legs. Besides domesticated poultry: quail, grouse, turkey, duck.
What's the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor?
I'll admit it--I ate a piece of cucumber earlier, after washing it off.
What's the last time you ate something you'd picked in the wild?
I like to gather wild stuff, but this time of year things aren't so abundant yet. I did nibble on a very young chicory leaf in the yard as I went by a few days ago, now that I think about it. Chicory, dandelions, and wild lettuces (among others) should be ready here for a bit of salad addition in a week or so now.
Place in order of preference (greatest to least): Italian, Indian, French, Thai, Chinese, Sushi?
Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi, French
Place in order of preference: Vodka, Light Rum, Dark Rum, Tequila, Brandy, Gin, Whisky?
Dark Rum, Tequila, Light Rum, Brandy (if you count Applejack), Gin, Whisky, Vodka
Place in order of preference: Garlic, Caramel, Mint, Lime, Aniseed, Basil?
Garlic, Lime, Mint, Basil, Caramel, Aniseed (unless Star Anise counts, as used in Five Spice or red oil)
Place in order of preference: , Strawberry, Apple, Cherry, Orange, Watermelon, Pineapple, Banana?
Orange, Cherry, Strawberry, Pineapple, Banana, Apple, Watermelon
Place in order of preference: The Internet, Music, Food, Sex, Sport, Fashion?
Music, Sex, Food, The Internet, Fashion, Sport
Bread and spread:
Whole grain or multi-grain bread, biscuits, cornbread--butter and/or jam with all
What's your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order?
Fast food isn't one of my favorite things. I do have a strange weakness for Taco Bell, a remnant of my vegetarian years. I still generally order a combination of their bean burritos and whatever beany one is closest to the Seven Layer Burrito, which I don't think they offer anymore. Sometimes I'll go for one of their chicken options.
Pick a city. What are the three best dining experiences you've had in that city?
Roanoke, Virginia--hey, I've spent a lot of time there! Dependably good choices are Nawab near the City Market for Indian, the classic New Yorker Deli, and Luigi's for Italian. Narrowing things down to three particularly enjoyable experiences was difficult, but I somehow managed. ;)
What's your choice of tipple at the end of a long day?
Iced tea, or occasionally wine or beer. I can't recommend Shiner Bock highly enough for those hot summer days, to those who can get it, despite the brewery's terrible website and recent introduction of "Shiner Light". Their Hefeweizen is also excellent.
What's the next thing you'll eat?
A sandwich and some yogurt, most likely; I'll probably be up for a while.