[blackjack21]

I have that same grill and it is super. The steaks come out much 'juicier'. You are right though. It is a PITA to clean but I will try your method.

I cited a 2 1/2 inch brush. I think it works better with a larger diameter wheel brush, like 4" or so.

[Victoribus Spolia]

I regard myself as a foodie.

I go by the mantra that "I will eat anything if it is prepared correctly or I am starving; preferably the former."

I have started cooking once a month, typically the Cuisine-Bourgeois subset of the Haute school.

I likewise enjoy cooking traditional Japanese and Korean dishes as well and have for awhile, my favorite, super-easy, Japanese dish is a cold soba noodles with the traditional garnishes and dipping sauces, which are incredibly refreshing after working hard outside in the summer heat.

This being said, the only dessert I have learned to cook, or care to cook, are custards like Creme Brulee or Caramel Flan, and I wouldn't even know how to make breads or cakes etc (my wife bakes several loaves of bread and makes several pizza pies EVERY Friday night)

My wife has likewise been entrusted with the family recipes, which are the typical and traditional western Pennsylvania dishes usually of Slavic, German, or British origin, along with classic American home-style dishes. She also makes the classic New-Orleans and Cajun Cuisine that I was also raised with from my mother's side which is from Central and Southern Louisiana.

As for me, since I have picked up the hobby (fairly recently);

I have made the following:

1. Beef Wellington.

2. Lemon-Caper Schnitzel A La Florentine.

3. Froie Gras A La Terrine with Rasberry Preserve.

4. Classic Venison Bourguignon with Pommes Aligot

Upcoming Dishes that I intend to make are a (1) Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Liver Pate Loaf Au Jus and (2) Lievre A La Royale.

I also want to prepare (3) Homard à la parisienne and (4)Duck à l'orange, the latter because I never had it.

For Christmas this year, I intend to order a Caviar sampler with Blinis and Creme Fraiche included as well as Quick-Ship Raw Oysters as a "shared-gift" for my parents and brother, who are likewise amateur foodies and they have not had either of those items.

I have also become a foodie regarding spirits and have fallen in love with high quality Rums, Brandies, Gins, and Single-Malt Scotch, but have yet to take the dive into a quality vintage wines; though that is next on my list and as I sought out Potemkin as my guide in Scotch, I intend to sit under the guidance of @Drlee in the area of wines.

I also used to be pretty active in brewing my own beer, and still grow my own hops and several different grains, but have not brewed in a little while now, but hope to pick it up again.

Regarding other pleasures in life, tobacco rates pretty highly for me as well, I enjoy quality tobaccos, aromatics and English blends, typically smoked from my 100 year old Meerschaum pipe.

My general philosophy to food though, with some exceptions, is that food should be local, organic, and humanely raised;

Obviously, seafood is not local where I live, but all of my poultry consumption, beef consumption, pork consumption, and game consumption is either farmed by me or my relatives or hunted by me or my relatives. Indeed, every single meat item I have eaten in the last 6 months was killed with a 30 minute drive of my house. Likewise, almost all of my produce and condiments were grown in our family gardens and either canned or frozen by me and my wife or my parents.

This gives a great deal of satisfaction that the mere pleasures of its taste could not convey alone.

Being a foodie is merely an aspect of my philosophy of life; stemming from a my variant of the Christian worldview, that a man should enjoy the "wine of his vinyard" the "fruit of his labor" and "the wife of his youth."

[ness31]

You have a rather refined palate VS.

[Victoribus Spolia]

You have a rather refined palate VS.

That is what I aspire for, but if I am hungry enough, I will eat pretty much whatever.

I LOVE cheesy puffs.

[Bulaba Khan Jones]

I'd say I'm very adventurous with food and I'd like to think of myself as a foodie. I enjoy gourmet food to simple, rustic, peasant stuff (I almost said "fare" but that's something lame a certain Debbie Downer would've said). A dish doesn't need to be prepared with blood, sweat, and tears to taste amazing, and there's such a wide variety of excellence. This also includes things that are unique, strange, and exotic. I grew up partly in LA so I was exposed to different styles of food as a child. My parents worked on teaching me to use chopsticks at the same time/after learning to use a fork, and I apparently loved vindaloo and falafel (this was my birthday food as a kid) most of all.

I am an asshole when it comes to meat, as I don't like strong marinades and I don't like using sauces. I like every vegetable I've ever met and I enjoy the gamey flavor of meat. I enjoy sampling (and loving) Chinese food here that is not found in the US. I like surprising my Chinese friends when I routinely order century egg congee or dine on pig brains in my hot pot.

I like good food, variety, and quality over quantity. That said, when I'm hungry I am not too picky, but when I have choices, I am far more discriminating. Lately I don't cook, but I used to cook a lot (I posted some pictures in the "dinner" thread, not colliric's one), including pastas (gnocchi arabbiata in particular), NY-style pizza with my beloved baking stone (which I sorely miss now that I'm in the PRC), roasts, proper steaks, homemade gravlax, and so on.

Unless something is unclean in some respect, I'll basically try any food at least once, the exception being fried tarantulas in Cambodia.

[ness31]

the exception being fried tarantulas in Cambodia

Pfft, wuss.

[Victoribus Spolia]

Pfft, wuss.

Agreed. I'd totally chow down on some fried tarantulas.

[Drlee]

I am with Bulaba. I would not eat a tarantula either. No brains and no tongue. You can all wax philosophical about how good tongue is but unless it has Padma Lakshmi on the other end it is not going in my mouth.

[ness31]

omg VS I was being sarcastic All those eyes and legs crunching about in your mouth..bleh. And the hair! omg the thick bristly hair would smell as it singed away. No thanks.

[Victoribus Spolia]

but unless it has Padma Lakshmi on the other end it is not going in my mouth.

How about that wine list O' Master Lee?! Teach me your ways!!

[Victoribus Spolia]

omg VS I was being sarcastic All those eyes and legs crunching about in your mouth..bleh. And the hair! omg the thick bristly hair would smell as it singed away. No thanks.

I've already eaten insects, so not a biggy to me.

i've eaten stir-fired mill worms, chocolate covered crickets, etc.

I will still eat ants on occasion just to freak my kids out. Taste like lemonheads.

[Victoribus Spolia]

@ness31, are you a man or a woman?

[ness31]

I’m pansexual

[Victoribus Spolia]

I’m pansexual

I can't say i didn't see that coming...........well?

[One Degree]

Is ‘pansexual’ derived from the difficulty of figuring out what Peter Pan is?

[Victoribus Spolia]

Is ‘pansexual’ derived from the difficulty of figuring out what Peter Pan is?

Pan means "all."

[One Degree]

Pan means "all."

Thanks, but it wasn’t a serious question.

[ness31]

Is ‘pansexual’ derived from the difficulty of figuring out what Peter Pan is?

Possibly from the idea of never wanting to grow up

[Victoribus Spolia]

Possibly from the idea of never wanting to grow up

so.....do you have a penis?

[ness31]

Lol, I was trying this thing on PoFo, where people can’t judge my posts based on my gender. It’s actually a super boring approach and I’m very restricted in what I say, but I made a conscious decision to do it.