Depression Meals

[Auspice]

@Tinuviel said in Depression Meals:

@Ghost Oh don't get me wrong, we have buffets with every kind of food under the sun (that can be cooked in massive batches in 20 minutes or less) but we just... call them buffets.

Chinese buffet is its own special beast where there is, as mentioned, more than just Chinese food. But they're generally cheap, don't rush you out the door to make room for more customers (other places will do this), and open 365 days a year.

[Derp]

Re: Aglio e olio --

I make this a lot. Like, a LOT a lot. Because it's yummy.

While the recipe above is good, I do a few things differently.

First, don't crush the garlic. The point isn't to have an even distribution, the point is to have slices of blonded garlic in the pasta for a lovely hit of it when you bit into a garlic slice. You just slide them into the oil long enough for them to just start changing color, and voila, lovely garlic.

Second, you should add both garlic and red pepper flakes to the oil. Maybe not much, but you want a bit of heat in it.

You can go crazy on the parsley or not, but the earthly flavor of the parsley offsets the citrus from the lemon and the spice from the red pepper and the garlic.

When you're only working with like six or seven ingredients (pasta, oil, parsley, red pepper, lemon, garlic, maybe some parm or romano cheese though I don't think it needs it) leaving one out can drastically change the composition of the dish.

[Ghost]

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

I'm still so glad I broke myself of buffets years ago.

Too many days in my early twenties of getting stoned AF and going to Cici's or a chinese buffet.

Indian buffets are pretty unfair, IMO.

If you go to an Indian restaurant/buffet, then you can have everything you want (biryani, naan, etc) for $12 and unlimited plates. But if you want ONE meal (say, just Chicken Korma) then they unleash this weird TIERED PRICING payment thing that results in it coming to around $17.

Curry chicken? Yes.
With rice? Yes (cash register sound)
With naan? Yes (cash register sound)
One naan or two? OMGFUCKOFF.

[Derp]

@Ghost said in Depression Meals:

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

I'm still so glad I broke myself of buffets years ago.

Too many days in my early twenties of getting stoned AF and going to Cici's or a chinese buffet.

Indian buffets are pretty unfair, IMO.

If you go to an Indian restaurant/buffet, then you can have everything you want (biryani, naan, etc) for $12 and unlimited plates. But if you want ONE meal (say, just Chicken Korma) then they unleash this weird TIERED PRICING payment thing that results in it coming to around $17.

Curry chicken? Yes.
With rice? Yes (cash register sound)
With naan? Yes (cash register sound)
One naan or two? OMGFUCKOFF.

Me, but with egg rolls.

[Auspice]

@Ghost said in Depression Meals:

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

I'm still so glad I broke myself of buffets years ago.

Too many days in my early twenties of getting stoned AF and going to Cici's or a chinese buffet.

Indian buffets are pretty unfair, IMO.

If you go to an Indian restaurant/buffet, then you can have everything you want (biryani, naan, etc) for $12 and unlimited plates. But if you want ONE meal (say, just Chicken Korma) then they unleash this weird TIERED PRICING payment thing that results in it coming to around $17.

Curry chicken? Yes.
With rice? Yes (cash register sound)
With naan? Yes (cash register sound)
One naan or two? OMGFUCKOFF.

My favorite Indian buffet in SC was like this. Everything they made was just holyshitsodelicious ... but it was like, you had to go to lunch on a weekday or else you'd be paying $20-25 a person. Weekend buffet cost more. Dinner entrees were insane.

Oddly enough, Greenville, SC had some really awesome food options that I just haven't found elsewhere. No Indian as good as that one. No falafel as good as Pita House (run by three generations from Jordan). No Vietnamese as good as Mekong (that place kept a garden out back for fresh herbs/veggies and homg you could tell- it was also cheap... two people could eat lunch w/leftovers for $20).

[Ghost]

@Auspice I cant do those "Mongolian Grill" places anymore. They depress me, but for reasons that aren't conducive to a thread about depression eating.

[GreenFlashlight]

@Derp said in Depression Meals:

I make this a lot. Like, a LOT a lot. Because it's yummy.

RIGHT?!

Second, you should add both garlic and red pepper flakes to the oil. Maybe not much, but you want a bit of heat in it.

I've never regretted red pepper flakes, but I've never found it necessary either. With a whole head of garlic in there, it has that nice garlic burn throughout the oil.

[Auspice]

I need to get a new garlic press. I prefer fresh garlic, but crushing garlic by mincing / squishing with flat of knife blade is just so tedious. So I began buying the jar stuff.

[Tinuviel]

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

squishing with flat of knife blade

Big knife + rubber mallet.

[Auspice]

@Tinuviel said in Depression Meals:

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

squishing with flat of knife blade

Big knife + rubber mallet.

I don't have space for a rubber mallet in my kitchen

[saosmash]

I think hitting something with a mallet could be good for my depression some days, actually.

[surreality]

• Whatever can of soup is handy in the fridge.
• ...do we have leftovers of anything worthwhile?
• Instant udon from Costco
• ...is there string cheese?
• ...how many tiny cups of yogurt do I feel like carrying right now?
• Fuck this, do we have ice cream?
• "I could roast those brus--WHY DO WE NOT HAVE ICE CREAM?!"
• Fresh mozzarella (in season for the farmer's market)
• . o O ( Is there mac and cheese made? )

[Tinuviel]

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

@Tinuviel said in Depression Meals:

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

squishing with flat of knife blade

Big knife + rubber mallet.

I don't have space for a rubber mallet in my kitchen

All kitchens have space for a rubber mallet.

[surreality]

@saosmash This is a real meat mallet.

(This may or may not have been a 'SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!' sort of purchase re: how I know that.)

[Ghost]

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

@Tinuviel said in Depression Meals:

@Auspice said in Depression Meals:

squishing with flat of knife blade

Big knife + rubber mallet.

I don't have space for a rubber mallet in my kitchen

Get one.

• Can get dents out of cars
• Can crush garlic
• Temporarily confuses forensic investigators when used as a weapon

[saosmash]

@surreality I love that meat hammer. I bought a pizza cutter in the shape of the starship Enterprise once. (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C or D)

I use it for all my dough cutting!

[Derp]

@saosmash said in Depression Meals:

@surreality I love that meat hammer. I bought a pizza cutter in the shape of the starship Enterprise once. (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C or D)

I use it for all my dough cutting!

HEY. HEY. Don't you diss the D.

[Ghost]

@Derp said in Depression Meals:

@saosmash said in Depression Meals:

@surreality I love that meat hammer. I bought a pizza cutter in the shape of the starship Enterprise once. (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C or D)

I use it for all my dough cutting!

HEY. HEY. Don't you diss the D.

[saosmash]

@Derp I'm not dissing it. It's just not relevant to those particular needs.

[Auspice]

The D is always relevant.