Hello there! I was a Chowhound many years ago and spent lots of time on the forums (probably most active during the mid-aughts), but drifted away when changes started and have missed it ever since. I’m so glad to have found this spot to re-engage on all kinds of food-related topics.
I’m located in the Seattle, WA metro area.
I don’t know that I’m answering this question exactly, but I have a deep love of threads that go on and on and on (I have fond memories of a number of “what are you snacking on right now?” CH threads as well as the weekly meal planning ones) and threads that go deep on ideas or discussion on a very specific, sometimes just-slightly-out-of-the-ordinary ingredient (“what’s your favorite way to eat tinned sardines?” “How should I use up a tube of liverwurst?”). I also love talking about leftovers/kitchen scraps and creative ways to use or repurpose them.
The first time I ate the cumin lamb hand pulled noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods in NYC was incredible. I’d never had a combination of flavors and textures like that before and I fell hard for those noodles.
I have two small, lovably annoying senior dogs who are spoiled as dogs should be. One of them, my mini poodle mix, loves human food so she sits next to me while I snack and rests her paws or sometimes her chin very delicately on my lap waiting for me to drop something.
I’m a fan of those Xian noodles, too … the sound the dough makes when “thwacking” the counter in front of the chef even has its very own Chinese character: https://www.chinasimplified.com/2014/02/28/biang/.
Thank you! Yes, that sound is quite satisfying. I went down a rabbit hole at the start of lockdown and learned how to make the noodles at home (surprisingly simple! Just lots of waiting time required) and have made them a bunch since. I haven’t tried making cumin lamb yet since I never buy lamb - but I was serving the noodles with hot fresh chili oil and other proteins.
Welcome to the forums. I’m from a rather unknown island in the Indian Ocean but I am enjoying it here. You will surely find a lot of things to read and comment on in here.
Welcome to HO @calmossimo ! Glad you found us. Sounds like you’ll find lots to peruse on the boards here: monthly and weekly cooking threads, ingredients and memories . . . even discussions of our spoiled pets (Our Pets and Their Gourmet Palates - #5 by gaffk Enjoy!
Welcome! I’m in your corner of the world, and we HO’s from the PNW are a small but mighty bunch. Every add’l person is an exponential increase in our total number That said, I hope we hear from you from time to time on the regional PNW board as well as on the more topical what’s for dinner and so on boards. I’m located in Bellingham. College kid in Tacoma. Lived for about 6 yrs in a studio apt in SEA for work until covid. Near the I5-90 crossing. But since it was a work apt and I was alone, I didn’t do much more dining in the 'hoods than to occasionally grab takeout from the ID. Anyway, good to have you here!
Shizuoka, Japan (formerly in Tokushima, hence my handle). Shizuoka is famous for tea and wasabi. Fish (especially bonito) and citrus (of any kind) is big here, too.
There’s honestly nothing like that I have to say about me/myself.
Eating the original Pastéis de Belém at the shop of the same name in Lisbon. I loved all the food I ate in Portugal except for bacalhau. I felt bad about that because it’s the national dish, but I just couldn’t stomach it. I didn’t care for Port Wine either which I also felt bad about that too because Porto (Oporto) is the favorite city I’ve ever visited.
I’m a NY born, LA raised American on my 3rd stint living in Japan. I lived in Osaka from 1984 to 1987, Tokyo in 1996 and have lived in Japan continuously since 2009. 2009～2021 in Tokushima and now in Shizuoka since September 2021. I love food but am definitely not a foodie or gourmand. And although I live in Japan, Japanese food is not my favorite. That would be Chinese food. My favorite Japanese food is “kinpira gobo”, which is thinly sliced, sautéed burdock root in a soy sauce, mirin and chili pepper coating (not really a sauce, I’d say). Every family’s recipe is a bit different…sometimes salty, sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy.
I just read your post Tokushima and I found myself agreeing, strongly, about your bacalau comment. I have a Brazilian friend who prepares one version of bacalao andvi really love it! What I did not realize is that there are hundreds of bacalao recipes, each of them VERY different from the one I love! It is funny now but during my stay in Lisbon last week I searched in vain for that type of a dish and ate 4 different versions that were each different and each disappointing.
But I did find a good bottle of port! Though it’s strength and sweetness take a little getting used to.
Then I visited a touristy bacalao pastel place that was surprisingly tasty and it was served w a decent, not great, port.
I think the type of bacalao i was looking for was a Bacalao a Gomes de Sa with tomatoes, potatoes, boiled eggs and olives. Never found it though.
YMMV.
Thanks for the warm welcome! I’m currently based on the Island of West Seattle but went to college in B’ham and have fond memories of that lovely place. I’ll check out the PNW regional board!
I’m curious about how you and @ZivBnd had bacalou in Portugal. I don’t recall eating it there, but I find that hard to believe since I love trying it different ways. I grew up eating the Trini fish cake version.
There is a salt cod thread here somewhere if you’re interested.
I am from New York and lived in LA for awhile too. Now I am in the N. California Bay area.
I’d eat all the bacalhau and drink all the port, for you, but we split this right down the middle, though!
Love bacalhau, especially in cream. All the best ports remain in Portugal. I visited a bunch of port producers and did lots of tastings.
Mt. Fuji forms a dramatic backdrop for Shizuoka. Stunning views. Would love to visit the “big island” again but we are still taken with the small far southern islands.
Btw, we have a forum member living in Japan who likes to tackle complex recipes and produces beautiful dishes. His video clips are brilliant, too. He’s not around lately, though. (cteavin is his name, and IIRC, he’s also from CA.)
A youngster! We did a poll of average HO age a while ago and it looks liked the majority of folks were 50+ with a smaller chunk in the 40-50 range and a much smaller chunk younger than that. I graduated college in '95 Not at WWU.
I’m sure I had it more than one time, but the most memorable dish I had it in was “Caldo Verde”, the famed hearty soup (which is often referred to as Portugal’s national dish) of kale, potatoes and bacalhau (I’ve seen it spelled as you typed it “bacalao” as well.) and although some recipes/places use lingüiça/chouriço this restaurant used bacalhau. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant because I went to Portugal in 2005 and while I have a good memory, such details from 18 years ago are too hard to recall. I do remember it was highly rated and I was able to sit outside facing a busy pedestrian only street near a public square. I didn’t like bacalhau because not only was it fishy (which I generally find cod to be anyway), I didn’t like the preserved taste of it (living in Japan which has lots of preserved foods generally isn’t a problem, though.)
As for Port wine, in general I don’t like hearty/robust or sweet wines. I did LOVE Vinho Verde, though. Light, refreshing and quite different from any wine I had drank in the USA.
That said, I hope we hear from you from time to time on the regional PNW board as well as on the more topical what’s for dinner and so on boards. I’m located in Bellingham. College kid in Tacoma. Lived for about 6 yrs in a studio apt in SEA for work until covid. Near the I5-90 crossing. But since it was a work apt and I was alone, I didn’t do much more dining in the 'hoods than to occasionally grab takeout from the ID. Anyway, good to have you here!
Not at WWU.
