jjbrr Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Edit: UPDATE. HEMANT WANTS TO COOK TONIGHT! Hemant cooking is not one of the poll options obv. That sort of sucks the fun right out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrothgar Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Jeremy does this wayyyyyy better than I do. edit: UPDATE. HEMANT WANTS TO COOK TONIGHT! This suggests that your dad is a good cook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Jeremy does this wayyyyyy better than I do. edit: UPDATE. HEMANT WANTS TO COOK TONIGHT! This suggests that your dad is a good cook? Good cook is an overbid. Though I like what he makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo81 Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Grill some steak or salmon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Grill some steak or salmon. We don't have a grill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy4hoop Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 I personally really enjoy Pappadeaux. You, as you may already know, don't have to limit yourself to just Cajun there. They have an awesome Greek salad as well as other dishes besides fish if I remember correctly. The draft beer selection I think is ok, too. BOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 ate in obv thanks for everyone's participation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmat Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Grill some steak or salmon. We don't have a grill. george forman to the rescue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmat Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Agree with Phil re. PF Changs and Chipotle. I like their spicy corn salsa on there. the corn salsa is quite good. I'm not a big fan of pf-changs. chipotle is ok for what it is -- but there's also baja fresh, poquito mas and probably some other chains around that serve the same stuff for a little less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmat Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 You can never go wrong with 4 star Italian, just double check it really is 4 stars if you are paying for stars.. sure you can. i never quite understood the appeal of italian restaurants. the food is generally simple enough that you could throw it together at home in under an hour. So I guess if you don't like to/ can't cook, fine.Whenever I eat out I try to get food that I wouldn't know how to, or it would be substantial effort to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 You can never go wrong with 4 star Italian, just double check it really is 4 stars if you are paying for stars.. sure you can. i never quite understood the appeal of italian restaurants. the food is generally simple enough that you could throw it together at home in under an hour. So I guess if you don't like to/ can't cook, fine.Whenever I eat out I try to get food that I wouldn't know how to, or it would be substantial effort to make. i more or less agree with this. i wouldnt go to someplace fancy and get spaghetti and meatballs. however, giving people options and variety is a good argument for eating out. plus the bread, obv. Also, we don't have a Foreman grill either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherdanno Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 You should try Italian Italian restaurants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmat Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 You should try Italian Italian restaurants. i intend to when i wind up in italy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 You should try Italian Italian restaurants. i intend to when i wind up in italy. mamma mia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnneM Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 If you lived in San Francisco you could go to the Safeway on upper Market. The produce department is a real "meat" market - at least that is what my son told me before he got married. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 See if you can find a copy of James Beard's How to Eat Better for Less Money. My stepmother (a gourmet cook) gave me a copy when I was about your age. It's probably out of print, but an online search might turn up a copy. Excellent book, lots of good recipes. Sushi is easy to make at home, and there are easy Indian dishes as well. One trick I've used many times: buy (for example) a decent sized rib roast (at least 3 ribs). You'll have a good roast beef dinner, and then you'll have leftovers for a week or more. Note: "leftovers" is not a dirty word. Beard's book gives all kinds of good idea about what to do with "leftovers". In fact, that's where I got the original idea for the rib roast thing. Remember what Julia Child said: "I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food." :) If you can find a good cooking class (Wegman's supermarkets up here runs several every year, and "The Learning Annex" used to do them in San Diego when I lived there) take it. Take more than one. You'll learn good stuff, and who knows who you might meet there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 See if you can find a copy of James Beard's How to Eat Better for Less Money. My stepmother (a gourmet cook) gave me a copy when I was about your age. It's probably out of print, but an online search might turn up a copy. Excellent book, lots of good recipes. Sushi is easy to make at home, and there are easy Indian dishes as well. One trick I've used many times: buy (for example) a decent sized rib roast (at least 3 ribs). You'll have a good roast beef dinner, and then you'll have leftovers for a week or more. Note: "leftovers" is not a dirty word. Beard's book gives all kinds of good idea about what to do with "leftovers". In fact, that's where I got the original idea for the rib roast thing. Remember what Julia Child said: "I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food." :) If you can find a good cooking class (Wegman's supermarkets up here runs several every year, and "The Learning Annex" used to do them in San Diego when I lived there) take it. Take more than one. You'll learn good stuff, and who knows who you might meet there? it seems a lot of you missed my post about being a much better cook than i made out to be. im well aware of the internet and finding recipes on it. i, shockingly, know how to use google and how to find recpes for dishes i want. thats not the problem at all. im also not averse to leftovers, which im actually quite big on, though the lalls have a much different take on. my family freezes leftovers to have later. we like variety so we try to space things out. the lalls make a big pot of indian curry and eat it for 4-5 days until it's gone. then we make more. this, of course, isnt a problem at all, but it limits the variety in a given week. this thread was intended to get you to think outside the box; i wanted to do something spontaneous and random. you all selected the same old same old. you took the safe, sure bet. as a relatively young person, im afraid of the sure bet. i want spice and surprise. i understand your reasons for taking the safe bet. the long-term return on learning to cook are clearly worth the effort. but i already know how to cook, so this was a misconception on your part, in my opinion. so in conclusion this was a little bit of a disappointment. obviously i didnt meet anyone new. i didnt branch outside any sort of comfort level or anything like that. it was really just like every other week. i guess that was expected, but i was hoping for a little different. perhaps unrealistic on my part. ok. i have to make sausage for jlall. BYE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerben42 Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 You should try Italian Italian restaurants. Agree with this. If they do not have an open kitchen and you cannot follow the chaos which is loudly commented in fluent Italian, you are just in a restaurant that serves Italian food, NOT an Italian restaurant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherdanno Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Btw, Jeremy and Matmat, if you can really make ravioli and a main dish in an hour, I am coming over next time I am close by! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrothgar Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 this thread was intended to get you to think outside the box; i wanted to do something spontaneous and random. you all selected the same old same old. you took the safe, sure bet. as a relatively young person, im afraid of the sure bet. i want spice and surprise. i understand your reasons for taking the safe bet. the long-term return on learning to cook are clearly worth the effort. but i already know how to cook, so this was a misconception on your part, in my opinion. so in conclusion this was a little bit of a disappointment. obviously i didnt meet anyone new. i didnt branch outside any sort of comfort level or anything like that. it was really just like every other week. i guess that was expected, but i was hoping for a little different. perhaps unrealistic on my part. If you want to do something spontaneous and random, don't ask a committee for their opinion. Just go out and do something. I'll note in passing: A lot of people provided you with a wide variety of different options. Eat in was certainly the most popular choice. However, 2/3rds of the folks who voted recommended going out and doing something. You might have also run into issues like the following: For me, really special nights are ones when I get together with a group of friends and we cook something. We go out to dinner when we don't have the time/energy to do things right. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant as much as anyone. However, whats the point of hitting PF Changs or Chipotle??? That's just being lazy. Your mileage may vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 " Obviously this restaurant is too expensive to indulge in too frequently, but the quality is certainly worth it. I'm willing to spend a large part of paycheck for you voters, but this is quite an event on a 22 year old's salary." Yes, getting together with friends and going to a nice restraunt is a special event at any age but esp. at 22. Going to PF Changs once a year and a 4 star Italian restraunt once a year is nice. I certainly do not get a simple meal that I could have prepared at home in an hour. btw even my homemade spaghetti sauce takes hours to make. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 The trick to being able to whip up a good meal in an hour lies in knowing what you're doing and in having the stuff you need on hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherdanno Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 The trick to being able to whip up a good meal in an hour lies in knowing what you're doing and in having the stuff you need on hand. Still there are many dishes that you cannot cook in an hour. Like Spaghetti with tomato sauce, as Mike says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmat Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Going to PF Changs once a year and a 4 star Italian restraunt once a year is nice. the 4 star italian, sure... the pf changs... ... ugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrothgar Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 The trick to being able to whip up a good meal in an hour lies in knowing what you're doing and in having the stuff you need on hand. Agreed I find making sauces takes much more (active) time than just about anything else. (Especially Indian sauces, which always seem to require caramelizing massive amounts of onions and shallots) However, most sauces keep. And once you have a nice select of sauces in the freezer / fridge you can make something pretty good with minimal effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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