MGBush504's Profile

On Christmas Eve the Cuban side of my family has a huge dinne with roast pork, congris, and yucca topped with this stuff. Except my grandma makes it herself and it is divine. I blame my one-head-of-garlic-per-recipe addiction on her and this.

I would never say anything. I'm a guest in their home. Unless there's a catastrohe afoot ("Hey, should the flames be that high?") I keep my mouth shut. My MIL is a terrible cook (and knows it) but unless she asks for my help, I keep my mouth shut. I'm just grateful she cares enough to cook or invite us over (not that our relationship is strained; we're actually great friends, but... you get the point).

Hard choice... I only like muffulettas from Central Grocery. But po-boys are pretty good *almost* anywhere you go in NOLA. I would say my favorite is either a sloppy roast beef po-boy with lots of gravy or a dressed shrimp po-boy with Crystal hot sauce.

The Cuban side of my family ALWAYS has yuca at any get together. My grandparents grow it in their yard. We boil it (after peeled) in highly salted water and then top it with olive oil infused heavily with roasted garlic. If we have leftovers (which we usually do after the typical Cuban Christmas Eve dinner) we usually slice the cooked leftovers and fry it to make crispy yuca. Also, Pollo Campero (a delicious Latin American fried chicken chain) serves pretty good yuca fries.

Do you know if this is anything like fufu? When I lived in Brussels I had several friends from Nigeria and Ghana who made fufu and I like it, but haven't been adventurous enough to try it since moving back to the States.

Belgian chocolate is the best. When I lived in Brussels I lived near the Leonidas factory and passed the Godiva chocolate quite often. But my very favorite brand is Galler chocolate. Preferably dark and praliné. It's based in Liège, so a bit outside of Brussels. But of the different regional chocolates I tasted while in Belgium, Galler was my favorite. Neuhaus is also quite delicious. And yes, I think it's because of the cacao they got from their colonies.

My favorite is Belge (I think my last 10 pounds of weight gain is from friteries and fry sauce). Also, there's a really good Irish restaurant here (the chef's even Irish) and I've grown to love that. I also like British pub and Dutch food.

I'm a native New Orleanian and when I was away for school in the frozen tundra of the Northeast, I had my parents ship me Tony Chachere's and Crystal hot sauce. Crystal is SO MUCH BETTER than any other hot cause I've tried. And I guess I'm partial; growing up we lived down the street from the plant so on certain mornings you could smell them brewing their magical concoction. I married a Texan and whenever we visit his family we stock up on copious amounts of Rudy's BBQ sauce. I'm not a BBQ sauce person (my poor mother would have to cook separate pieces of meat because I was a brat and didn't like the stuff) but I LOVE Rudy's...

Thanks for sharing! As a lover of history (especially Victorian) and food, this was a delightful read. And a great point was made at the end. But I won't lie. It is still a bit weird to see this as a toy....

I hate the word veggies. I really do. Whenever I hear it I roll my eyes; it's just a natural instinct.