500 Favorite Foods

[IggytheBorg]

146. Chocolate Covered Cherry Jellies Not sure if I like these better than the raspberry brethren. I'm leaning toward yes, because they're not quite as sweet. But milk > dark chocolate on these for sure. And being refrigerated and adding that snap/crunch works even better here than w/ the raspberries, for some reason.

[IggytheBorg]

That last entry should have been 147, so this one is
148. Scrambled Eggs Face it: if these are done well, they're awesome. A little salt & pepper is all you really need, but you can jazz them up with hot sauce, melted cheese, peppers, onions, crumbled bacon or sausage, diced ham. . . the possibilities are almost endless. And all these take as their base. . . their foundation. . . the humble concoction of beaten eggs and milk.

[V]

No milk... water.

[IggytheBorg]

And since I didn't post one yesterday for some reason:
149. Thomas' English Muffins Aside from rye toast, my favorite breakfast bread. Believe the hype, there IS a difference. They ain't kidding about the nooks & crannies to hold the butter. Most other brands? Small holes, and a sponge like consistency that soaks up the butter. Thomas'? Big holes, that crisp on the outside, so the butter melts & stays topside, and you can really taste it. And yet, unless you cook the shit out of them, they remian chewy inside, with a sort of sour dough flavor. All others seem dull and flavorless by comparison.

[IggytheBorg]

No milk... water.

Really? How much (not that I measure the milk; just kind of eyeball that as a generous splash)?

[Lisa]

Pfffft! Geeze, Iggy, even *I* knew that!

(Because Vin told us in the recipe thread a few months ago!)

[V]

Really? How much (not that I measure the milk; just kind of eyeball that as a generous splash)?

Go with 2 tablespoons for each egg. Keeps them from getting runny, and if you stir them with a wire whisk in the pan, the curds come out smaller and more 'maneuverable'... for lack of a better term.

[IggytheBorg]

Don't recall that one. I must say, it'll be a tough sell to the wife and kid.

[V]

Don't recall that one. I must say, it'll be a tough sell to the wife and kid.

Don't tell them. When they ask why your eggs became so epic, then tap the side of your nose and say 'ACS'*

*Ancient Chinese Secret

[BillyG]

Yup, water is king. I actually don't use shit in my scrambled eggs. I heat the skillet, put in a bit of butter (just a tad to grease my cheap skillet) then crack the eggs over a warm skillet and scrambled them inside there. And I almost never make scrambled eggs by themselves. I will crumble bacon in it, chorizo, some Jimmy Dean, something like that and make breakfast tacos.

[IggytheBorg]

150. Ham and Cheese Calzones A big, fat pocket of pizza dough, with sliced ham, mozzarella and ricotta cheese baked inside. Need I say more? With a side or marinara sauce, even better.

[Chris Miller]

151. The Stromboli at Delta Pizza, in Delta PA
Delta Pizza is a small family owned restaurant in a tiny town in Southeastern PA. Joe (rest his soul) and Maria Farrini opened it decades ago, and for a long time, it was the only pizza place for 30 miles. And while the pizza was good (big greasy new york style), the star of the place was their Stromboli.

This is how my friend Gibbs and I would get down. We'd order the extra large stromboli to split. Joe would bring out this monstrous slice of heaven, which was their signature dough, wrapped around an insane amount of capricola ham, salami, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. He would also adorn the table with two gravy boats of his home made marinara sauce, fresh parmesan cheese, and garlic salt.

People talk about comfort food, this thing is bliss food. This is "I don't care if I get hit by a 90 mile an hour bus when I walk out this door, I have made peace with this world" food.

[Lisa]

There was a place like that where I went to college, Chris. Lock Haven, PA, small-town Pennsylvania Dutch country at it's finest - where are you going to find good pizza and subs, am I right? We didn't have the choices that we had in NY, Philly and Atlantic City. But we were lucky enough to have only one - The Original Italian. Owned and operated by a family who emigrated over from Sicily, and for whatever reason, decided to settle in small town central PA where the only other Italians in town were kids like me who went to the college.

Everything there was amazing, but the thing they did the best were their cheese steak subs. Done Atlantic City style but with one exception. Instead of loaves of Italian bread, they'd make a sealed pocket out of their pizza dough (still shaped torpedo style), which was the most amazing dough in the world. Then you'd get it, and you'd cut it in half so that all the steam and the melted cheese just oozed out, and it was amazing. The pizza dough made it truly rival the stuff I grew up with in AC.

When we were broke - which we often were because we were college students - my roommate and I would pool together whatever loose change we had, part with our couple of bucks for cigarettes (because we smoked back then), check for change in the vending machines - anything, to come up with the $3 plus a $1 for the tip back then to order one of these babies. And you told NO ONE! We'd each come up with two bucks, and then hide from the rest of our gang after it arrived - no answering the door, no answering the phone, nothing. The absolutely last thing you wanted was for another friend or two to show up and say, "Oh! You ordered the cheesesteak from The Original? Can I just have a bite?" She and I would split it just for the two of us, and only when it was gone would we show our faces around the rest of the gang.

[IggytheBorg]

That woulda made a great 152. [Sigh]. If only that could happen somehow. . .


And I wanna make a pilgrimage to Delta, PA. Who's with me? With a name like "Delta", Vin's probably the fucking mayor.

[IggytheBorg]

152. The Margherita pie at Nunzio's in Scotch Plains, NJ What's white & green & red all over? The best fucking margherita pie anywhere, that's what. Slathered all over (the whole top is like a round sheet of red velvet) with nunzio's signature marinara sauce, w/ big round discs of melted mozzarella, and chopped fresh basil scattered just so. Their regular pie is excellent, and I keep telling myself someday I'm gonna order another one. But I somehow never get around to it, this one is just so good.