I keep wondering where you do your shopping and what you put in your food for $1 or $2. When I make a soup it's $1 for the garlic, $2 for the broccoli or bok choy, $2 for the mushrooms, $1 for some lentils...of course mine is a lot better than chinese buffet.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

My wife jokes that when we were in Italy every time she'd turn her back on me I'd head for a gelato stand.  If we lost each other in a crowd, she could usually find me by looking for the nearest gelattaria.  It's hard to find good gelato in Chicago.  Now if you are looking for pizza...

"It's hard to find good gelato in Chicago.  Now if you are looking for pizza..."

Indeed.  I've been to Gino's in Chicago a couple of times.  Excellent!  

The Pizza Port in Solana Beach, CA is pretty formidable, too.

Here, near Cleveland, we've got Antonio's on the west side, and Geraci's on the east side.  They're both pretty good, too.

there's only one way to find out...

I haven't been to Caffe Gelato but I would add that Capogiro in Philadelphia is amazing.  It's set the standard for gelato so high that no other gelato has come close to it in my experience ever since.

They have seasonable flavors according to the fruits available.  Their granny smith is so close to the original fruit that its as though you can feel the apple all crisp in your mouth.  

"They have seasonable flavors according to the fruits available.  Their granny smith is so close to the original fruit that its as though you can feel the apple all crisp in your mouth."

I might have to try making that.  There are lots of recipes for it, and it sounds simple enough to make.  Eggs, milk, fruit (I might throw in some Ovaltine, too).  Sounds easy to make, and I'm stuck at home tomorrow -- major snowstorm.  WTF?  It's worth a try.

there's only one way to find out...

Ok, seriously dude, how the hell are you making pizza for a dollar?

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

"Ok, seriously dude, how the hell are you making pizza for a dollar?"

Fair enough question.  Little ones, on pumpernickel bread with sausage, cheese, tomato sauce, spices -- probably closer to $0.50 than a dollar.

What can I tell you?  I take after my Bohemian grandmothers.  They survived the Great Depression, and maybe they knew a thing or three.  One grandmother back then made lots of lentil soup (cheap at the time) and my dad hated it.  I tried some recently, and share his distaste for the stuff.

I like cheap, simple, homemade food best.  Yes, I did once go to a $250 for 4 lunch in NYC.  Two hours out and three bottles of wine.  Was it worth it?  Heck yeah!  I didn't have to pick up the tab, the magazine editor took care of that on his card.

I guess my point is that you can eat at home, good food, for far less than you can eat out -- anywhere.

there's only one way to find out...

You couldn't hear someone from the other side of the table.

Our favorite isn't quite that loud, but it's loud enough that you don't have to worry about anyone eavesdropping, or about hearing TMI from the idiot at the next table.

Good grief.  

Having grown up with different variants of soy food all my life (miso, tofu, soy sauce, soy milk, as well as a little known by-product in making tofu that can be used in Asian cooking), I was shocked when I just googled soy and food.

I had no idea that there were all these Americans thinking that soy is the end all, be all of health.

This is always happening where some medical report comes out on a little used food product and it becomes the panacea to all health problems.  In many ways, it's no different than America's embrace of the Atkins diet.

East Asians don't sit and consume soy all day long, not even every single day.  As with any cuisine, there's a rich variety of foods that can be consumed.

What matters in a healthy diet is getting a good variety of different foods for a mix of nutrients and minerals.  Depending on one item is ridiculous...and also sounds very unappetizing.

The problem I think comes when people think they can simply replace every meat on their plate with soy. Plus, it substitutes for so much that it can quickly permeate your diet. I think it's wrong to say soy is bad but personally I put on par with chicken, something that is generally deprecated in my diet to once every week or two. I'd rather have soy than wheat but I'll take brown rice and quinoa over either.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

The problem I think comes when people think they can simply replace every meat on their plate with soy. Plus, it substitutes for so much that it can quickly permeate your diet. I think it's wrong to say soy is bad but personally I put on par with chicken, something that is generally deprecated in my diet to once every week or two. I'd rather have soy than wheat but I'll take brown rice and quinoa over either.

It's much more insidious than that.  Google 'soy aliases' and you'll find that there's soy in your water packed tuna, most of your canned, frozen or boxed foods, and nearly everything  you get in restaurants.  I literally cook everything from scratch and read labels obsessively because you cannot eat the stuff in moderation when they are subbing it for everything.  It truly chaps my ass.  

Of course, I've discovered I can pick up huge bags of flour at Costco and bake bread and burger buns all month for much less than I can buy them, and I make my own version of bisquick, cake mixes, pancake mix, and so on.  I had to find palm shortening at a health food store, and I'm all kinds of pissed off about having to put my olive oil in the fridge to see if it solidifies, since that's the only way you can be sure it hasn't had canola added.    I've found recipes for substitutes for nearly everything processed, though my husband and the kids still eat Oreos, which just squicks me out.  Crisco between 2 chocolate wafers, yummy.

I'm fortunate I like to cook, and I have the time to do this.  But not everyone has that luxury, and it's no wonder we have a nation of people who are obese, or that thyroid disorders are much more prevalent than they were 40 years ago.

When I hear some talking head on the news spouting about how Americans are getting fat because we're lazy, while in the same breath telling us to eat more healthy soy, it makes my head explode.  Have some more of the very thing that suppresses your thyroid and slows your metabolism, that'll help you lose weight.  Never mind that pesky exhaustion that makes thyroid patients unable to exercise as much as they might like, it'll never happen to you.  And then there are the possible links to migraines.  I can't think of a single good reason to be putting this crap into so many products, it just doesn't make any sense.

http://www.cbn.com/health/nutrition/soytrigger.aspx
http://www.meritcare.com/news/world/viewarticle.aspx?id=7215
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/04cancer.htm
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/03summary.htm

I can testify to the effects of soy formula and early puberty, as we rushed our daughter to the pediatrician at 6 because we were freaked out by signs of puberty.  I cannot understand how, when it was considered normal for girls to get their periods around 12 when I was a girl, it suddenly jumped to being normal for  me to have to give a 6 year old girl the talk.  Bullshit.  Evolution doesn't happen that fast, but a mutation damn sure does.  

It wasn't until years afterwards that I found out many women who are hypothyroid have problems breastfeeding, and putting children on soy based formulas is the worst thing you can possibly do.  Fortunately, we only made this mistake with one child, but the damage is done. :(  Oh, and guess what?  Abbott Labs, who make soy formula, and soy based Ensure, also make the number one prescribed thyroid drug, Synthroid.  Coincidence?   Those bastards create their own customer base from day one.    

How convenient.  With a little help from General Mills, Stouffer's, Betty Crocker, Campbells and Pillsbury, they should be raking in the cash for years to come.

"It was an ancient rule of Hawaiians that no one should hurt another bodily, or through theft of goods or through injury to feelings.These were the only sins."

Looking back, Oliver Garden was likely kind of my awakening to a food awareness. It was supposed to be "food" but my body never accepted it. Probably four or five times I went there and horribly sick each time. In college Applebees was the default fall back. We all had favorite places but that was the only one we could all settle on being OK with. Hell, I would have rather gone to waffle house at the time. At least it only cost like $3 total, including tip. I still refused to go to Friday's.

After working in one of those Chili's/Applebee's/Flinger's chains and then quitting for a genuine italian restaurant, I really started to open my eyes about what the "food" consisted of.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

Oh, I'd eat kale -- if it's fresh and tender and sauteed with a little lemon and garlic or maybe used in soup or in a pasta dish. And I'm a big fan of spinach in just about any form.

I am rather beet-deprived, mostly because it's one of the few foods of which even the mere mention makes my husband gag. I think it's due to those canned beets that you used to see in salads quite often. I bet he'd like fresh beets properly prepared, but I'm not going to be the one to suggest it.

Well, if it took that many ingredients then you should have had quite a few leftover meas out of that, no?  When I make vegetable of chicken soup it's usually enough for at least four meals for myself and my wife (usually we have it the night we cook it, then a day or two later, then freeze what's left over in single serving containers to eat later as convenience food).  So, it's not entirely fair to match up the $55 cost against one single $30 meal.

It does sound like you go for somewhat more complicated recipes, though.  I tend toward simple, fresh, single ingredient food.  Grill some meat, steam a vegetable, and I'm good to go.

"This particular recipe called for making a chicken broth with an entire chicken and a vegetable broth with about a cubic foot of chopped vegetables.  Then both broths go into the soup with yet further various vegetables.  Probably the most expensive single ingredient is porcini mushrooms."

Well, I admire your determination, but I cheat somewhat.  I use Knorr boullion and dried porcini mushrooms and vegetables.  Add in a few Kluski noodles, a couple of chicken thighs (they're cheap), and I can easily make a gallon of good soup for <$10.  

there's only one way to find out...

Haha.

I admit it.  I absolutely used to do this kind of cooking, and frequently, when I was in my mid-twenties.   The really expensive recipes were the ones calling for special kinds of liquors.

Now, I am more interested in different kind of ethnic cuisines or long-term equipment investment. There've been so many great recipes developed over the last couple of years that focus on getting a rich flavor for food.

The two items I would like to get are:

1. a real tagine with an unglazed interior
   
2. an ice cream maker

One of my friends is crazy about sous vide and has all the equipment.  I won't go that far.  Happily, I get invited to their house for dinner frequently.

Ah, but which one to get?  I had a cuisinart I liked, other than having to store the innards in the freezer.

Kitchenaid makes an attachment for the  mixer, but it's kind of pricey and I don't know if it's any good.

This thing is cheap, but quite possibly a piece of crap.

What can you do with a Tagine that makes it special?  I've never seen one before.

"It was an ancient rule of Hawaiians that no one should hurt another bodily, or through theft of goods or through injury to feelings.These were the only sins."

I have been eyeing the Cuisinart ice cream maker since I've read some good reviews about it.  I agree that the Kitchenaid is pricey, particularly since I don't own one (I actually find the Kitchenaid more cumbersome than a handheld mixer).

Tagines are used for certain Middle Eatern cooking, particularly Moroccan and Egyptian cuisine, I believe.  Along with the cookware, the food is also called a tagine. Generally, its similar to braised dishes...but as with all braised dishes, the food tastes better when the cookware is tighter around the ingredients being braised, allowing for a tighter circulation of air while cooking.

The key is to buy a tagine with an unglazed interior.  There are more expensive models by French cookware makers, but all of them have a glazed interior and generally cost about $30 to $40 dollars more whereas an unglazed tagine is a more modest cookware product.

If you are ever in New York, you can get some incredible tagines at either Kebab Cafe or Mombar in Astoria, Queens.  There's also a really wonderful Egyptian restaurant I went to in Boston but I've forgotten the name.

You can look at tagines, the cookware, here.

And here are some recipes.

Actually, go here for tagine, the cookware.  Better selection and better prices.

Prices are so good on this website that I really think I should just buy one now.

Yum!  Thanks.

The cuisinart is a nice little machine and easy to use.

You find the Kitchenaid cumbersome?  I use mine almost daily, it's the stupid cuisinart food processor I find a pain to use.  I have a mini chopper I use sometimes, but usually I just get out the knife and the cutting board.

"It was an ancient rule of Hawaiians that no one should hurt another bodily, or through theft of goods or through injury to feelings.These were the only sins."

Kitchenaid makes an attachment for the mixer, but it's kind of pricey and I don't know if it's any good.

We have an ice cream attachment for our Kitchenaid. It works reasonably well, but it doesn't freeze the ice cream batter all the way (the best I've gotten is a really thick milk shake consistency). I've found the best thing is to make the ice cream about an hour before you want to eat it, then stick it in the freezer and let it solidify a little, and then it should be good to go. Don't let it go too long though, or it will get pretty solid and then you won't be able to scoop it easily. The best ice cream freezers are the ones like this. They're a bit of a pain, since you have to provide ice and rock salt, but they work far better than the type of freezers that require you to pre-freeze the bowl.

The best ice cream freezers are the ones like this. They're a bit of a pain, since you have to provide ice and rock salt, but they work far better than the type of freezers that require you to pre-freeze the bowl.
Sure, if you make it all the time, but I don't know if I can justify the expense no more often than I would use it.   The cuisinart on sale or the cheap catalog one I can probably talk myself into.  

Those sure bring back memories, though.  

"It was an ancient rule of Hawaiians that no one should hurt another bodily, or through theft of goods or through injury to feelings.These were the only sins."

"Does recipe contain at least 4 different kinds of flavored vinegars?
Does it require one extremely expensive ingredient that you will use just this once and never again for as long as you live?
Do you have to go out and buy a type of pan you've never even heard of?".

Well, I guess I'm guilty of all of those.  I have lots of various vinegars, some balsamic that cost me $50 for 250ml, cider vinegar, rice-wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, cheaper balsamic vinegar, and probably more that I'm forgetting about at the moment.

Lots of kinds of oils.  Extra-virgin olive and peanut oils are mostly what I use, but I've got some toasted sesame oil and Chinese chili oil that will probably last for years.

I just got a new stainless-steel wok, but I've been cooking in woks for years, so I don't know if that counts.  I did get a pro-quality frittata pan, but it will double as a fry pan.  I just wanted to get rid of all the aluminum/teflon ones pans (I had lots).  They're all gone now.

As for the suggestion to just buy a slice of cake, that submitter is right.  I almost never bake (mostly just brownies), and a whole cake would be stale before I could finish it.  

I still contend that you can eat healthier (and for the most part cheaper) at home.  

there's only one way to find out...