Foods for those that just don't care anymore

[Cygnia]

 

[mattingly]

[Cygnia]

 

[Cygnia]

 

[unclevlad]

So...I could safely anticipate that I'd get some Harry and David pears...and did.  What I decided to do?

 

https://confessionsofabakingqueen.com/pear-custard-tart/

 

Graham cracker crust, cuz I'm super lazy.

No sugar...maybe a teaspoon of stevia instead.

No almond extract, so around a teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon.  

 

Oh, and the pears came with 4 oz of roasted, mixed nuts.  Turns out I've got some tooth issues where they're not a great idea on their own...so, fine!  Chop em up and toss them in too!   

 

It didn't look anything close to pretty, but my, my, the custard set everything up quite nicely!  Tasty, not real sweet.  Got the pears (and all other ingredients, including crust) to do another;  may or may not use em.  This one will last thru Christmas night's dessert, which means the pumpkin pie may be on hold until NYE.  

 

Might try a pear-berry smoothie or two....hmm........

[Grailknight]

And today and tomorrow's menu in the Grailknight household. All of this is done as I type this.

 

BBQ ribs, baked beans and potato salad.

 

Gumbo (chicken, crab and shrimp), white rice, cucumber/squash/okra succotash.

 

Turkey, dressing with gravy, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, cornbread and rolls.

 

Plus, about $400 of assorted liquor and soft drinks.

 

Sweet potato pie and pound cake.

 

Can you tell we live in the South?

[Cancer]

I dismantled the pomegranate into its sarcotestas for everyone else.

[Cygnia]

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie w/Pecan-Gingersnap Crust 2023

[unclevlad]

Just pulled out...pear custard tart.  The custard here is whipping cream, eggs, and a bit of flour.  Flavorings added...pureed ginger, cinnamon, vanilla extract, fake sugar.  No crust per se;  I laid down a layer of slivered almonds.  Figure they'll toast somewhat, being on the bottom of the pan.  Pears went on top of that, then the custard.

I'm too lazy to neatly thin-slice the pears then lay out the slices all nice and pretty, so I just diced em up small.  The custard has enough structure to hold things together.  

PS:  it's yummy.  The almonds in the center didn't toast...oh well.  Some did at the edge.

 

 

 

 

[Cygnia]

 

[Cancer]

That sets me thinking about buffets near me ... only one that pops to mind is a Chinese one.

[unclevlad]

There's certainly fewer here than there used to be.  One Asian...used to be 3 or 4.  One Golden Trough..I think there were 2 or 3.  Yelp lists one that's on campus, and is principally for students, and 2 Peter Pipers where the buffet is at lunch only.  (Pizza Hut used to do that too, IIRC.)  

 

That's it.  Not much.  Some of that is local conditions, some is likely that fast food is dominating more and more.  Chick Fil-A closed in the (pretty poor) mall...but opened a *large* facility on the most important surface street, about a block down from Wal Mart.  Some of it is, it'll likely take longer to recover here...CNN has a story that GC, Cici's, and Pizza Ranch (never heard of em either) reported business up 125% in March '23, over Jan '21.  But we're gonna be the tail-end Charlie, pretty much.

 

I used to do one of the Asian buffets from time to time, but now, they're just not particularly wise.  I think I went to Golden Trough...once...and that was with some gaming friends who were poor student types.  UGH.  There used to be a place that focused on a salad bar and several soups...they were pretty decent at first, but after a while, went downhill.  More corporate, like pre-made muffin mixes and commercial salad dressings that were a notable step down.  They're LONG gone;  the owner retired.

[Ternaugh]

The buffets here in Las Vegas casinos mostly didn't reopen after the shutdown. They were generally operated as promotional loss leaders to get folks in to gamble.  Most buffets were delayed from reopening by the Nevada state government, and the casinos didn't see a very big hit to the gaming revenues. So, now many are being turned into food courts or other restaurants.

 

Sizzler pulled out of Las Vegas sometime before 2020, but Golden Corral seems to be going strong.

 

The old Asian buffets have mostly disappeared, but a few newer ones have popped up.

[Cygnia]

I had an ex who loved Old Country Buffet...*sighs and shakes head*

[Cancer]

So, while spending time in Yet Another Medical Facility Waiting Room today, the TV was set to some channel where all the on-camera personnel and all the in-audience people seemed to be women.  From this I infer that it was intended to be a women's food or cooking channel.  I did not look at the channel information or anything else, so I don't know what channel or program it was.

 

One topic discussed, and I Am Not Making This Up, was "Wine Pairings with Potato Chips".  This discussion went on for several minutes, though I do not know what was said, because the closed captioning was not on, and the sound was turned down, and I wasn't really interested anyway.  I was, however, repulsed and horrified, because it seemed not to be a joke.

 

Now, I want to compare this to a a nearly-forgotten media item I recall seeing in the 1980s, which consisted of a punch line like "Bachelor Breakfast: Pop-Tarts and Beer," and then a lot of women's snide remarks about what men do for food when left unsupervised.

 

Not to be judgmental or anything, but is this a latent thing that's always been there,  has the replacement of Western aesthetics by tasteless marketing penetrated to hitherto unimagined (by me) levels, or is it just long-in-coming validation of my suspicion that the Pop-Tarts and Beer thing was simply a sexist slur back in the day?

 

[Cygnia]

Oh, we've had tasteless marketing for decades, alas.

 

That being said, I've read (well-written) articles about what wines pair well with various fried potatoes ala fries and potato chips.  Dry sparkling wines like Champagne and Prosecco are on the top of that list.

[unclevlad]

Well-written does not mean sensible, meaningful, cogent, relevant, or accurate.

 

I'm not about to drink decent Champagne with chips...it's a waste.

 

But that would STILL be preferable to trying to force bad sparkling wine down...the cheap stuff is an abomination, across the board.  And that's what I think they're talking about.  There's quite decent blended reds that aren't expensive.  I'm not a fan of the flavors of most low-end whites but there's some that are OK.  But the bad sparklers....GAH!!!!!!  Hideous.  

 

I remember a story from some years ago...kids who grow up on McD burgers prefer them to serious burgers...not those with funky toppings, but just the better meat, bun, etc.  It's what they grew up with.  Lots of people drink the mass market swill sparklers...and like them.  So this is, to me, more like an effort to assuage their feelings.  Kinda like McD ads that talk about quality.....................

 

 

[Cygnia]

Before COVID hit and back when my friendly local wine shop was still open, they'd hold at the end of the year a "Nectars, Bubblies and Ports" tasting.  A range of dry sparkling wines (Cava/Prosecco/Champagne) to sweet wines like Madeiras, Sherries, and Ports.  And my guilty pleasure was to hit the nearby McDonald's beforehand for French Fries... 😈

 

And come Girl Scout Cookie season, we'd have a tasting pairing cookies with wines (sponsored by a local troop, of course).  And twice a year (Valentine's and Halloween) was the wine & chocolate pairing.

 

I miss that shop

 

https://www.foodandwine.com/wine/red-wine/potato-chips-and-wine

https://www.wineenthusiast.com/basics/how-to-pair/how-to-pair-wine-and-potato-chips/
https://www.allrecipes.com/best-wine-and-chip-snack-pairings-7966899

 

 

 

[unclevlad]

Some wines work with chocolate.  

 

Way back when...mid 2000s...Great American Beer Festival brought in Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, and author of a beer and food cookbook, for a session about beer tastings...with food.  And contrasting wine/food and beer/food tastings.  It was awesome.  I *think* it was the same year they also had some good chocolates with some appropriate beers.  YUMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm.  And, yes, i got a copy of the book signed by him.  

 

Very few people think broadly about beer and food...pizza?  Sure.  Burgers?  Sure.  Roast chicken?  Nothing, and I do mean nothing, beats Saison Dupont.  Fruit-based and vanilla-based desserts?  Belgian goldens.  Milder sausages?  Belgian singles.  I'll still pick a good red wine for roast beef, mind.  

[Pariah]

Whenever we visited my brother in Colorado, we'd take him to Golden Corral for lunch. It was always a great time.

 

We've made it something of a tradition to go to Golden Corral on his birthday since he died. 

[wcw43921]

If memory serves, there was something about champagne and potato chips in the movie The Seven Year Itch.  The grease in potato chips was supposed to absorb the alcohol, so one could drink more champagne without getting drunk.  So maybe there is something to the whole "wine and potatoes" thing.  I wouldn't know because I don't drink.

[Cygnia]

 

[Cygnia]

 

[Cygnia]

 

[Cygnia]