REALLY good mashed potatoes

[RazorJAK]

Heh, I've made RGMP as the only thing for dinner before.

6 cloves of garlic go in with the potatoes to boil.

Whilst mashing, start adding a bit of heavy cream, REAL butter, and the cheese of your choice. ( Most commonly cheddar ... but experiment to your heart's content ... and clogging )

scoop up, sprinkle on some french fried onions, serve with a good beer and you have dinner.

[Rapscallion]

I've had dijon mustard, finely chopped fried onions, and grated cheese in RGMP before.

Damn, but my belt winces at the memory.

Rapscallion

[RazorJAK]

The thing about the fried onions is that you do have to add them at the very end.

I gave directions for this to a friend and she thought she'd add a bit of flavour by adding onions in with the garlic and potatoes during the boil. She didn't take into account just how much liquid that onions maintain.

Told her to add a bit of chicken stock and some bacon bits. She ended up with some tasty potato soup.

[Travellar]

Today I shall be making another batch of chili!

~2.7 Lb ground lean beef
12 oz tomato paste
2 small ripe tomatos
half on onion
chili pepper to taste
and 2 very finely diced Habeneros.

mmmm... good stuff!

of course, the usual reasons for me having a single course meal involve not being able to make smaller portions for just one.

[Ruestir]

Funny, this reminded me how much my daughter loves mashed potatoes. Girl could eat nothing but that for a whole meal.

[sableagle]

Funny thing about a fortnight in a surprisingly cold sea-level forest with very little sleep and shifts in an incredibly cold radio truck: you learn to really appreciate a whole raw potato. *grab*om-nom-nom*

[Lithanial]

Everybody knows, Badger loves MASHED POTATOES!

[Travellar]

badger?

[Mike Taylor]

Having bacon & beans with brown rice right now.

Oh and a nice tall Faygo Redpop!

[Corscaria]

o.O Is that a Sim City manual? i didn't know there were potato recipes in there.

[Leffy]

*ganks Mike's RedPop* i've only had moon mist in the last forever x.x i miss redpop and orange juice cocktails.

my mashed taters are usually the little red tatoes unskinned and mooshed with butter, cream, half a tsp garlic juice and some pepper. its heaven.

[kitty!]

I had WKD in the UK. And Lager. 'Twas a pleasant experience. And I've had champagne and orange juice mixed.

I don't like red wine. It's smells and tastes so strong.

[Mike Taylor]

*ganks Mike's RedPop* i've only had moon mist in the last forever x.x i miss redpop and orange juice cocktails.

You know, I'd have poured ya some if you'd have asked.

Dollar Tree's got Faygo right now. Three liter bottle for a buck each. I also have some of their root beer in my fridge.

[sableagle]

I had WKD in the UK. And Lager. 'Twas a pleasant experience. And I've had champagne and orange juice mixed.

Wow! Someone in the USA who knows that lager is only a subset of beer! YAY!

The champagne and orange juice thing is called buck's fizz, or Buck's fizz, or Buck's Fizz, or some such. I think its sole purpose is to allo people to join in and not refuse the champagne while actually drinking mostly orange juice.

I don't like red wine. It's smells and tastes so strong.

See post elsewhere about this one. Red wine covers a wide range, from sweet to lemon juice, from coarse to silky, from fruity to cabbage juice, from strong to watery, from smoky to flowery and from light, clear ruby red to the purple-brown colour of a good tempranillo. There are a lot of different varieties of grape used in various mixtures and grown in various climates, so the amounts of various flavours in the grapes will vary considerably within one variety, and they make the stuff in different ways too, filtering at different times for instance.

I could never stand the stuff until I got the last of a wine-tasting party where the challenge had been to match the glasses of wine to their official descriptions in the wine catalogue, and to their shelf prices. I got "a knee-capping red" fairly easily, because it was 15% by volume and I could tell. The bogus description "award-winning garagiste" with "sweet berry flavours" ... organiser's friend's blackcurrant wine that took second place at the craft fair ... wasn't too hard to spot. Mostly it was *sniff* "Cheap plonk" *sip* Yep. *sniff* "Not-so-cheap plonk" *sip* "Ew, cheap plonk" *sniff* "Ick" *sip* "YICK! EW!" *mouthwash* but then I got to *sniff* "Ooh, nice." *sip* "Meh, not as bad as the others" followed by *sniff* "Mmm, that one really is nice" *sip* "Actually still nice. Hey, what is this stuff? We need to get more of this."

Following that one to Spain led me to two that I have here waiting for the right occasion. If you find red wine generally too strong and like lager, you might prefer the milder of the two:

Varietals: 80% Tempranillo, 20% Mazuelo.
Vineyards: Santa Ana (Rioja Alavesa) and Seminario (Rioja Alta)
Aging: 30 months in French and American oak.
Total Acidity: 5.65 grams/liter
Tasting Notes: Deep, cherry red color, with concentrated herbaceous and
vanilla aromas. Meaty and rich flavors of cherry, plums and almonds with
well-integrated oak, a rich velvety texture and a long, elegant finish.

Critics Choice Award Wine Spectator three consecutive years.
2004 Value Brand of the Year! Wine & Spirits Magazine
Brand of the Decade – 1990’s Wine & Spirit Magazine

The other one's Faustino, which wine.com describes as "Grape Varieties
90% Tempranillo; 10% Mazuelo and Graciano" and it has a stronger flavour, so Valdemar goes better with lamb and stuffed peppers and Faustino with roast duck and spicy potatoes.

It's a dangerous journey, that wine. I started with the £7 stuff at the wine-tasting, then tried the £10 recommended by Oddbins, then the £13, then the £17 ... and couldn't go back.

[RazorJAK]

*ganks Mike's RedPop* i've only had moon mist in the last forever x.x i miss redpop and orange juice cocktails.

my mashed taters are usually the little red tatoes unskinned and mooshed with butter, cream, half a tsp garlic juice and some pepper. its heaven.

Leffy, Faygo started in michigan.

As a rule, I DRIVE to Dragon*Con.

If you're not more than a few hours off the beaten path on my way to or from Atlanta ... I just might be convinced to bring a shipment down for you of the flavours you're fiending for.

Hell, I might even bring you a bottle of the centenial soda ( a clear blueberry creme soda that came out last year to celebrate the 100th year of Faygo )