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The Lobby
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Anything and everything related to food and cooking!

Feel free to share recipes, pictures, kitchen equipment, pantry ideas, an interesting type of flour you read about, your dream kitchen, long grain vs short grain rice, Thailand cuisine vs Laos cuisine, favourite Iron Chef, which country has the best BBQ, how to season a cast iron skillet, favourite breakfast, fresh squeezed orange juice vs store bought…

Which potatoes to boil and which to bake in the oven, how to use chop sticks, tastiest hot sauce, if there is such a thing as ¨too much garlic¨, do you serve guests on their right or left side, tea vs coffee, wine vs beer vs liquor, fondue, paper napkins vs cloth napkins, pancakes vs waffles, knife sharpening, and of course your favourite snacks while trading…and anything else on your mind related to food.

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I’ve been curious about mortars and pestles lately, for some reason. I used to have a small one a long time ago. It could fit in your palm.

Then, I saw a Thai cooking show, and she had a big one made of granite.
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Then I saw a picture of the same thing in Ivory Coast. But even bigger!

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And in Mexico they have a version made from volcanic rock!
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Hopefully we get some interesting/obscure quisine :blush::blush:

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Be careful what you ask for…in some places it’s common to eat roasted insects! One day, I hope to try it, though. It looks gross, but it could be pretty good.

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Hommos, humus, humous, ground chick peas. Whatever you call them, there is such an enormous variety of quality. Visit a good arabic restaurant and try some in a restaurant with arabic bread. You will never buy from a supermarket again. We took our friends out last weekend to a new local restaurant. We took two servings of their hommous home in a doggy bag for our son with some authentic arabic bread. It was gone in 10 minutes.
This one is too crunchy for me. I like it very smooth. Chick peas, tahini, lemon juice. So simple and wonderful.

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It’s such a strange thing to notice the difference in quality, isn’t it? Suppose you have been buying hummus from the supermarket and you have your favourite brand. Then you go to a restaurant that serves you amazing hummus. Now, your favourite hummus from the supermarket doesn’t seem so great! Haha.

Next thing you know, you’re in the kitchen making it yourself because the supermarket stuff just doesn’t make the cut.

Funny how a food with such few ingredients can vary so much in taste!

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Speaking of bread, I remember a long time ago when I got interested in making bread, and I had no idea what I was doing. I had a book from the library, and I just jumped in.

It said 98° water, so I boiled some water and added the yeast and the flour. I mixed it and waited a bit for the bread to fluff up. Nothing happened. Long story short, I killed the yeast.

The book meant 98° fahrenheit, not celcius!! The funny part is that I didn’t realize this until after I did this twice!

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The book meant 98° fahrenheit, not celcius!! The funny part is that I didn’t realize

:laughing::laughing:I’m sure your not the first

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So my husband is having poker night this weekend, what should I serve everyone? Being that it’s officially September, I was thinking chili or something like that, but we live in the south, and it’s like 90 degrees down here. Cocktail weenies and finger foods maybe? Jalapeno poppers? I can’t decide.

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Why not just ask him? haha Give him a few options, maybe some pictures (?), and let him decide. If you ask him what he wants, he may request something that’s not available like deep fried ice cream, spring rolls, or one giant meatball. Who knows?

I say, give him some options based on what you’re willing/able to make, then let him choose. That way, there’s no guessing if you got it right, and if it’s wrong, he can’t complain because you just did what he asked.

What do you think?

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I think the best option is to ask him us men aren’t shy about saying what we want to eat lol
Pizza is always a good option :yum:

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He won’t ever answer me when I ask, he just tells me to pick something, but when the time comes, he always gets excited to eat whatever I’ve made lol, so I have to try to guess what everyone wants :sweat_smile:

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we love us some hummus :relaxed: :relaxed: :relaxed:

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Wow! What an amazing wife!

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I think wings. Oooooo or salmon cakes I think they guys would love that.

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That must be a great feeling!!

It seems you know your man well. I think you should trust your instincts!

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No complaints here!!! Both of those choices are winners!

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A few weeks ago in the supermarket I passed the shellfish isle and saw the clams only cost $0.60

I thought to myself, ¨why don’t I ever cook those?¨ Well, for starters, I didn’t know how.

I looked online and found some recipes, but I didn’t find any recipes that mentioned how long to steam them for. Also, the recipes called for white wine, and other stuff I didn’t feel like spending money on.

Eventually, I decided to try it with some simple ingredients and see how it goes. I bought some clams, a lime, ginger, and some garlic.

I scrubbed the outsides of the clams and put them in salted water for about two hours or so.

I got a pan, put the fire at medium, put about an inch (about 2.5cm) of water, and when the water was hot, I put in some salt, three cloves of garlic, ginger, and half a lime in. Then dropped the clams in, and put the lid on. Fifteen minutes later, they all opened up and were ready to come out.

I gotta say though, the ginger was strong! I only put a few small slices in! The flavor was great. The dish turned out just fine. But when I smelled the pan and the remaining water, I mostly smelled ginger…

In the end, it turned out better than expected.

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Good idea! I’ve never thought about salmon cakes before for it, and I’m sure they all love wings

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How did it go? What did you end up serving?