DATES...what's the catch?

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Plentiful, delicious, and healthy. There must be SOMETHING wrong with them!

See also: Asparagus.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link

I was not expecting this thread to be about food.

― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

the catch re asparagus is pretty common knowledge, no?

― a giant mechanical ant (a giant mechanical ant), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost: heh, that was part of the plan! :P

seriously, though, i've been thinking about this a lot recently. dates and asparagus should be far more entrenched in our dietary mindsets than they currently are, being as they are uber-foods.

i don't care what colour my piss is to be honest.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

asparagus? it's more the smell than the colour. I don't like even being in the same room as the stuff.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:31 (seventeen years ago) link

dates are kind of high in calories, and relatively high in sugar.

― Lauren (lauren), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:24 (seventeen years ago) link

meanwhile, back at the oasis...

― urghonomic (gcannon), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link

THE ARABS ARE EATING THEIR DATES

wakka wakka

― urghonomic (gcannon), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:28 (seventeen years ago) link

TS: Asparagus vs. broccoli?

― A Radio Picture (Factory Sample Not For Sale), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:34 (seventeen years ago) link

THE CATCH RE: ASPARAGUS IS THE PRESENCE OF THE CARCINOGEN ACRYLAMIDE

― 1/2 paleontologist 1/2 basketball player (teenagequiet), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:36 (seventeen years ago) link

WAHT

(i've just eaten about 20 of the bastards for dinner)

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:40 (seventeen years ago) link

oh c'mon, that's tenuous to say the least: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide

i shall continue to happily munch upon the sparrow's grass.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:43 (seventeen years ago) link

hah, just trying to unnecessarily freak people out - asparagus isn't even remotely close to the top of the acrylamide-containing heap, and links between dietary acrylamide exposure and cancer are really not established at all.

― 1/2 paleontologist 1/2 basketball player (teenagequiet), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:44 (seventeen years ago) link

WTF ASPARGUS GIVE CANCER!?!1?

― max (maxreax), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:46 (seventeen years ago) link

nah not really, don't sweat it

― 1/2 paleontologist 1/2 basketball player (teenagequiet), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:48 (seventeen years ago) link

dates, the calories can be run off with EXERCISE

asparagus, piss where nobody can sight your stream

problem solved.

what's the catch NOW?

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:49 (seventeen years ago) link

They're expensive.

― C J (C J), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:50 (seventeen years ago) link

No more so than many of the slightly more luxurious foods that you're inevitably gonna buy unless you live on Pizza Hut!

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:52 (seventeen years ago) link

and Pizza Hut is quite expensive, despite the fact that it isn't food.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 19:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Dates were $6/lb. at the grocery last night. I was astonished, mainly because my super cheapo mom cooked w/them all the time, leading me to believe they would not be the $$$.

― Abbott (Abbott), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Dried fruit is hard to figure, though! Because the water girth/weight is mostly gone, the resulting dried fruit is so much smaller than its fresh size...I have this problem with apricots, too, because it's easy to eat like 9 of them while you're reading the news.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Best thing I've had lately: dates stuffed with gorgonzola, wrapped in bacon, grilled.

― I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:14 (seventeen years ago) link

*envy*

of course, i could go to sainsbury's tomorrow, buy the requisite ingredients, and make it myself...

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:15 (seventeen years ago) link

I tried that myself the week after we had them, and it was not very successful. I used the broiler instead of firing up the grill, and was not able to keep a close eye on them because the broiler is at floor level and I had other dishes to finish. The cheese leaked out of the dates and the bacon got a little overdone, because I didn't want to risk it being underdone. On a grill, able to tend the morsels, would have been better.

Getting gorgonzola into dates is fucking tedious. Perhaps the restaurant (Fuego in Atlanta) froze or partially froze the cheese, which would help with the stuffing and have it be the right consistency about the time the bacon was done. The flavors were right when I made it, but the leaky overdone bites didn't look so good.

― I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:29 (seventeen years ago) link

I take it the dates were fresh, not dried? If I make this, I might put sparing amounts of gorgonzola into each date in order to a) limit spillage and b) ensure that more dates can be equipped. I'd imagine that gorgonzola is the most expensive of the items required.

My mouth is currently watering, incidentally. Cheese+meat+dates is practically my idea of culinary perfection!

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Best thing I've had lately: dates stuffed with gorgonzola, wrapped in bacon, grilled.

-- I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (crumpw@bellsouth.net)

they serve this as bar food at fuego in atlanta & its pretty much the best thing ever

― and what (ooo), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:41 (seventeen years ago) link

haha, crumpw's already mentioned that restaurant!

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:44 (seventeen years ago) link

Put as much as you can get in there. They don't hold much. I did 15 or so and barely touched the cheese, which I bought in the smallest quantity I could find.

xpost, rofl

― I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Dates don't do too much for me but figs, I love.

My friend's 'panty dropper':

Take fresh fig, and while maintaining eye contact with object of desire, bite off stem. Insert thumb in resultant break in fig skin to make hole. Fill with port or other appropriate liquor and hand to object of desire. Repeat as necessary.

― Michael White (Miguelito), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:45 (seventeen years ago) link

cheers, shall definitely give this a go. hopefully the parents and brothers will get to try some as well...

michael white, i don't really know you, but that is awesome

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:48 (seventeen years ago) link

mostly for the fact that your default liquor is port

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:49 (seventeen years ago) link

It's not my default liquor but it seems to suit the taste of figs well.

― Michael White (Miguelito), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Port will do the job sans figs probably 70% of the time.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, but why should the elaborate rituals of mating suffer?

― Michael White (Miguelito), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:53 (seventeen years ago) link

No, that's true, an elegant delivery system is always in style. Cf also the French 75, which: ginny!

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Port is a magnificent drink, the sine qua non of any extravagant after-dinner dessert. Mating rituals are to the wooer's discretion, although the method you mention is one of which I most thoroughly approve.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:57 (seventeen years ago) link

ha i didnt even see that

fuego is like 3 blocks from my building, i like goin there during happy hour & get in drunk arguments w/ libertarian accountants

― and what (ooo), Friday, 15 December 2006 20:57 (seventeen years ago) link

My after-dinner drink is usually calvados, these days.

― Michael White (Miguelito), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Calvados is an unexplored passageway as far as I'm concerned. I shall have to investigate!

Sake is another excellent post-meal tipple, although only if sipped extremely slowly. It has the capacity to overwhelm one's palate otherwise.

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:12 (seventeen years ago) link

My friend's 'panty dropper':
Take fresh fig, and while maintaining eye contact with object of desire, bite off stem. Insert thumb in resultant break in fig skin to make hole. Fill with port or other appropriate liquor and hand to object of desire. Repeat as necessary.
-- Michael White (mwwhites...) (webmail), December 15th, 2006 8:45 PM. (Miguelito) (later)

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cheers, shall definitely give this a go. hopefully the parents and brothers will get to try some as well...

Best xpost ever!

― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:15 (seventeen years ago) link

...and on that note, I'm off to eat some dates!

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:17 (seventeen years ago) link

... with your brother?

― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:20 (seventeen years ago) link

With my two brothers...

― I am the best lyrocost since Dylan (Scourage), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Medjool a trois

― C J (C J), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:22 (seventeen years ago) link

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