Houstonist

Breaking Foodie News: Opens and Shuts

Mary Jane — 2010-07-07T09:30:00-06:00

Houstonist has long been a fan of Kanomwan, located at 736 Telephone Road. As many of you may know, the "Thai Nazi", as we affectionately referred to him, passed away last month. His family will reopen Kanomwan today. If you plan to head there for a meal, please call first, we do not know if they will be open for lunch and dinner, or lunch, or dinner. We do know that Kanomwan has long served the best Thai in the city. We plan to go by soon, you should too! Seriously, this is very exciting food news.

Ray's Franks N' More has closed and the phones have been disconnected. They were briefly and most recently known as Hung's Burgers and More, however, they are now just no more. Shut. Now where are we going to go for a bacon-wrapped hot dog?

Mint Cafe, located at 2800 Sage will not be reopening as Mint Cafe. They were repainting and such because the new eatery in that location will be The Burger Palace. We love a good burger, especially with bacon and cheese.

Bubba's At The Park, shut. We haven't been by there in quite some time. The burgers were pretty damned good. What we remember best, the Phi Slamma Jama t-shirt that was hung on the ceiling. Ah, the days when UH dominated round ball.

This Just In: Magnolia Bar & Grill Shuttering

Mary Jane — 2010-06-28T15:30:00-06:00

Houstonist received the bad word this weekend: Magnolia Bar & Grill will close it's doors Wednesday. We went by last night for dinner, to have a last cup of gumbo and some of the city's best seafood. We understand that escalating rent, a decrease in business (due to our nationwide economic woes, probably) and the "little" moratorium on fishing, shrimping and oyster harvesting off the coast are all to blame.

While we have not heard of any plans to reopen in another location at a future date, we do have our fingers crossed that they find a new place to hang the oyster plate collection. Don't miss your opportunity to have one last meal with them. Also, please be patient as they close in a couple of days and may run out of some things (like some of the wine selections and the Opelousas Duck). We find this perfectly acceptable, after all, why order a mess of inventory when you are shutting? Makes no sense. To the fine folks at the Magnolia - we hate to see you go and we hope you come back soon now, y'hear?

Magnolia Bar & Grill
6000 Richmond Avenue @ Fountainview
11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
713.781.6207

Daily-ist Thursday: Get Stoned at Rudyard's

Marc Brubaker — 2010-06-24T10:30:00-06:00

Who doesn't want to get stoned, right? Wait, not that kind of stoned, although there will be munchies. Tonight, the 30th installment of Joe Apa's beer pairing will feature beverages from Stone Brewery in Escondido, California, matched with a unique menu built by Apa himself. If you're curious about which brews will be on the list, we're told that the cast "in order of appearance" is as follows:

Stone Pale Ale Oaked Arrogant Bastard Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale Stone Ruination IPA Stone Smoked Porter

The five course, five brew pairing is $50 per person, and is limited to 35 people. If you're going to try to sneak yourself in to a seat, we'd recommend calling Rudyard's with haste. In addition, Stone's regional representative will be present to provide some more information about the various ales.

Stone Brewery Beer Tasting
Rudyard's Pub
2010 Waugh Dr
Houston, Texas, 77006

Let's Do Lunch: Miller's Cafe

Mary Jane — 2010-06-17T13:00:00-06:00

Miller's Cafe Bacon Cheeseburger

Houstonist used to do a plethora of burger reviews. We've toyed with the idea of carrying that forward and giving you our "Top 10", however, that requires a commitment to try-out for a certain reality show on our part. So, well, we're half balking at the prospect. We do still enjoy getting our bacon cheeseburger on occasionally. Driving Westheimer and trying to decide what to do for lunch, we spied a Miller's Cafe we were sorta unaware of. At the end of a strip center at 6383 Westheimer sits a Miller's Cafe. Score!! Visions of bacon cheeseburger immediately danced in our heads and we whipped into the somewhat empty parking lot.

The burger was properly cooked, pinkish and juicy (to our taste) with a nice amount of fresh crisp veggies and thick crispy bacon. You can see the bacon all hanging out of the toasted poppy seed bun in our fuzzy cellphone photo. We also ordered us some onion rings and got the whole shooting match to-go. Five minutes later, we plopped in the fly-swatter chair at the pod farm and the burger was warm and the rings, well were not so warm. Also, the onion rings appeared to be of the frozen variety. We are not snobs when it comes to rings, but a crispy tater tot or semi-limp french fry might have been a little better. We ate it all anyway (there's a trend, it's in front of us, we typically eat it - unless it's huge, then, we take it to-go and pray for an eco-friendly container). if you haven't eaten at Miller's, you need to remedy that situation, promptly. Miller's offers much more than just burgers, they even have *gasp* salads! All locations are closed on Sunday's and the Downtown Tunnel location is also closed on Saturday.

Summary: Juicy burger, crispy veggies (drag it through the garden), toasted bun and thick, crispy bacon. Burger win! The onion rings, well if you're dining in, go for it. Dining out? Get the fries, they are always good and hand-cut. Total drive out, without a drink was $8.61 - the price is right. We will go back, it's close to work and hugely, way and ever so-much-better than a fast food burger that costs just as much or more.

Locations:

Westheimer
6383 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77057
832.252.0500

Clear Lake
2403C Bay Area Blvd.
Houston, TX 77058
281.461.8998
Downtown - Tunnel
1001 McKinney B-4
Houston, TX 77002
713.658.0400

Medical Center
6560 Fannin, Ste 110
Houston, TX 77030
713.791.1717

Garden Oaks
3830 N. Shepherd
Houston, TX 77018
713.699.2947

Let's Do Lunch: The Spaghetti Western Italian Cafe

Mary Jane — 2010-06-14T13:00:00-06:00

The Spaghetti Western Shrimp and Pesto Pizza, by the slice.

There's only one small problem with dining at The Spaghetti Western - trying to make a decision. Everything is really good, even The Bad and The Ugly are good. The wings are divine, the fried ravioli is crispy and addictive and the pizza is outrageous. Our favorite pick, when we tear ourselves from the specialties of the house is the pizza and salad combination. For a very measly "eight and a quarter" you get a slice of your choice of pizza and a house or caesar salad and breadsticks. The "slice" is the size of a dinner plate and the salad is a nice-sized bowl. We can't believe we ate the whole thing.

We did eat the whole thing, we were unable to stop ourselves. Normally, we order The Ugly (grilled chicken, red onions, roma tomatoes and a delectable chipotle tomatillo sauce) and a house salad. This time, we "left home" for the Shrimp and Pesto (pesto, shrimp, mozzarella, feta and freshly chiffonaded basil) and have attached the best photo our cellphone can manage. We choose the "usual" House Salad - it has a homemade feta vinaigrette that will make you swoon. Unless you dislike feta, that is (which is just wrong in our book). The breadsticks came out first and were soft garlicky mini-loaves of perfection. Then a nice, crisp salad followed. We were almost licking the last of the dressing and tiny feta crumbles out of the bowl when the plate o'pizza arrived. Hot, fresh, cheesy goodness - holy lusciousness, Houston. While no pizza was actually sliced to make our lunch it's technically a slice. The dough is formed into a slice shape and you really get your own piece of never-saw-a-heatlamp, made just for you pizza. We have our eye on the meatball sub for next time, or maybe a calzone? That is, if we don't get the Portabella Crabcake, or maybe a po'boy.

Here's the menu - Appetizer/Pizza/Salad/Sandwich Page and Pasta/Specialties. You want some "bezerk"? We can highly recommend the Boston Cream Cake Cheesecake.

Summary: The decor says "Fist Full of Dollars", all of the staff are friendly and the service was great! The food is always freshly made and delicious. The pizza slice and salad is a huge meal and well-priced at $8.25. There is a nice patio on the back of the building that is covered and has fans to keep you comfy in the dreaded Houston heat. They have ample parking and have a parking lot attendant. If you haven't given them a try, you need to!

The Spaghetti Western Italian Cafe
1608 Shepherd Drive
Houston, Texas 77007
713.861.1313
Monday - Thursday 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.

Frustration: Doggie Bag Style

Mary Jane — 2010-05-25T13:30:00-06:00

Here at Houstonist we have not been really eating less, we have just been spending less on "going out" and we've taken the brokeass college student approach to eating in. No reviews and no advice as to the 100 best uses for those "many for one dollar" noodle packets or other such "no money cooking". Come to think of it, we should share some cheap, healthy eats. We'll get right on that.

On the odd occasion that we venture out for a meal, we always have to bring half or some of our food home. Stupid weight management program ideas coupled with our "clean plate club" upbringing force us to take what we don't eat, as we're chubby and forced into frugality, home ~~so we can eat it an hour later, when no one's looking and the calories don't count~~ for the next meal or tomorrow's lunch, whichever the case may be. Frustration. Enter stage right. Styrofoam go boxes or metal contraptions are the doggie bag containers du jour at most establishments. We take our meal remnants to work with us, where our ~~owner~~ employer has conveniently provided a microwave for our use. We are apparently inherently lazy and do not also bring along a separate plastic-ware container or dollar store plate to heat up our lunch. Styrofoam, in particular, is the scourge of our existence and offends our sensibilities, in general.

Read more about the evils of takout containers after the jump.

Polystyrene: These clamshells are not readily biodegradable. We have been trying to determine what, other than fill up valuable landfill space, one can do with them, once said food has been consumed. Technically, these containers are either manufactured from polystyrene foam or XPS foam that is injected into a mold to form the clamshell. It takes 500 years for one of these bad boys to biodegrade if composed of polystyrene. The degradation of such materials release potentially harmful liquid and gaseous by-products that may contaminate our ground water. Although it is possible to recycle polystyrene, it is not common practice. Over 100 cities in the United States have banned the use of these containers in restaurants. Biodegradable/compostable packaging is available, though not widely used. Houstonist would like to send a shout-out to Feast, at this time for using ecologically friendly takeout packaging (and preparing some of the most amazing meals we have ever had, anywhere). We don't know if you have had the pleasure of re-heating food in the clamshell. We have, the container warps, food just melts into it and it sometimes smells "funny plastic". We've decided for ourselves that this is a "bad thing" and such containers should be avoided at all costs.

Aluminium: We are not fans of the metal tins either. If properly rinsed, you can recycle them - we like this a lot. However, metal does not play well with the microwave - we don't like this. Again, this is sheer slacker on our part. We have to take the takeout out of the metal and plastic contraption, recycle that noise and repackage for reheating. We aren't asking for much, just a recyclable doggie bag that goes from fridge to nuke-o-blaster in one easy step. We will work on our sloth-like behavior, now that we've admitted our laziness, we only need to seek out 9 more steps to a cure.

In lieu of the City of Houston banning restaurants from using takeout containers that have a mind-boggling half-life, you can take the bull by the horns. Okay, it's potentially gauche, but, one could carry their own reusable plastic leftover container in one's purse or man-bag. If you see someone conducting themselves in such fashion - it's probably us.

Save the planet! Reduce, re-use and for the love of Houstonist, recycle. This includes composting all yard waste, coffee grinds, fruit and vegetable scraps, etc.

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31 Flavors For 31 Cents

Eric S. — 2010-04-28T13:00:00-06:00

31¢ Scoop Night Benefits Fallen Firefighters

Tonight, Wednesday April 28th from 5-10pm, Baskin-Robbins® shops across the country are honoring America's Fallen Firefighters by donating $100,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation™ (NFFF).

You can help too by stopping by any participating Baskin-Robbins® ice cream shops for 31 Cent Scoop Night. Participating stores will reduce the regular scoop price to a mere 31 cents and you will also have the opportunity to make donations to local fire charities.

Find the kids, the neighbors and Aunt Mimi and load them up in the car for cheap ice cream all while supporting a good cause.

Please visit the Baskin-Robbins® 31 Cent Scoop Night website for details and times.

Bad Cook, No Biscuit - Worst Cooks comes to Houston

Mary Jane — 2010-03-16T14:00:00-06:00

Houston, here's your chance to nominate your spouse, friend, family member or co-worker who needs help in the kitchen! If you know someone who only brings the sporks to potluck dinners or has never put a palatable plate of grub in front of you - nominate them for the show. Food Network is coming to Houston on March 21st to select new cast members for Season Two of the show, Worst Cooks in America. If you haven't seen the show before, you can find out more information here. Effectively, two acclaimed chefs will bravely attempt to guide/teach persons who don't cook well through an elimination series. The last two contestants standing will cook for a panel of culinary critics and the winner nets $25,000.

Here's the only "kicker" we've found, and it makes perfect sense. If you nominate someone, you have to go with them to the casting call. So, make certain the person you're nominating knows that you're doing this with love. Also, your nominee should have a few really good stories about their own kitchen mishaps and foibles. All potential contestants need to bring a dish which they have made, two photographs (of themselves) and a completed entry form. Entry forms can be found HERE.

Worst Cooks in America Casting Call
Sunday, March 21st from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Magnolia Hotel
1100 Texas Avenue
Question? E-Mail HERE

Daily-ist Sunday: Chicken Soup Cook-off

Mary Jane — 2010-01-24T10:00:00-06:00

Not so much on the football? Looking for something fun, yummy and on the cheap to do before the Saint's game? Head on over to Congregation Emanu El at 1500 Sunset Boulevard today, between 11:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and check out the 9th (almost) Annual Chicken Soup Cook-off! Admission? $8 for adults and $5 for the kids. Not very expensive and you can sample chicken soups from local restaurants. It's a souper day, the sun is shining and you just ought not be "cooped up" today. Proceeds benefit the temple and The Houston Food Bank.

The 9th (Almost) Annual Chicken Soup Cook-off
Congregation Emanu El
1500 Sunset Boulevard
11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
$8 bucks for adults
$5 buck s for children

Eat This: French Onion Soup

Kaylan Tannahill — 2009-12-16T15:22:55-06:00

French onion soup is a perfect dish for our damp and chilly Houston winters. It is not tough to prepare, but takes a little time to soften the onions to perfect consistency.

4 cups beef stock
2 large onions sliced in thin vertical strips (rather than across) 1015 or yellow onions are best
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon sherry wine
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
French bread
2 cups Gruyere cheese (sliced thin)

Carefully slice French bread loaf into very thing ¼ inch slices while your oven is heating to broil. If you are a cheese lover like we are, place the slices on a cookie sheet and grate a fine layer of Gruyere on top. Put the cookie sheet of Gruyere bread slices into the oven and watch them closely. (They only need about 2-3 minutes to dry and crust.) Remove from oven and set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large heavy iron skillet. Put the 2 sliced onions in the pan and cook, covered, over very low heat until they are soft (stirring occasionally). Then, take the lid off and turn the heat up to high. Brown the onions, stirring constantly so they don’t burn. When they are browned, turn the heat back down and add the ¼ cup of white wine and tablespoon of sherry wine. Cook until the wine is almost absorbed. Add the pepper, salt and beef stock. Mix together and simmer for 5 minutes.

Pour the soup into oven-proof bowls. Place thin slices of bread on top of each bowl of soup. Allow to stand until the bread is saturated with soup and has expanded. Place thin slices of Gruyere over each bowl. Bake at 325° and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is slightly browned.

(Makes 4 servings)

If your not in the mood to stay in and cook, we suggest these restaurants for the best French Onion in town:

Mockingbird Bistro
1985 Welch Street, 77019

Brasserie Max & Julie
4315 Montrose Boulevard, 77006

Le Mistral
1400 Eldridge Parkway, 77077
(no website) 832-379-8322

Photo courtesy of flickr user ilmungo.

Houstonist Cooks: Popper Dip

Mary Jane — 2009-12-15T14:30:00-06:00

It's "high party season" and dips and the like are big hits on holiday tables of nibbles and treats. You need one hand for a petite plate of snacks, which balances on the top of your cocktail glass, the other hand is "finger food fingers" hand and holds the plate for you while you sip your drank. We have seen "Cousin Eddie" in action. This is quick and delish and a wonderful change from the standard french onion, or even last years buffalo chicken (which we still just adore). This tastes like fried jalapeno poppers-ish and is at least not all fried and oily. You can lighten it up by using Neufchatel and low fat mayo, or just go all out and use the real deal, it's Christmas, for the love of Mike. Crudite is for reindeer!

Popper Dip

2 boxes cream cheese
1 cup mayo (props to Paula, ya'll - hey, no butter in this!)
1 cup shredded cheddar (or pepper jack)
1 small can chopped jalapenos
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped (optional)
1 cup grated parmesan

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup parmesan

Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl, stirring until well-blended. Place mixture in a baking dish. Mix the panko and parmesan together and sprinkle on top. Bake at 375 until hot and nicely browned, which should take about 15 or 20 minutes.

Serve with your choice of tortilla chips, baguette slices or your favorite crackers. Be sure to save some for your guests, this is good stuff.

Depending upon your penchant for heat, you can use a combination of cheddar/pepper jack, increase the jalapenos or get all crazy and put some cayenne powder up in there. As an aside, do not use the "green can parm", buy the shreds in the deli section, or, better yet, get a wedge of reggiano and shred it yourself.

P.S. We love Paula "Stick of Butter" Deen, even though her use of mayo and butter is not healthy, it's damn good.

Houstonist Cooks: Gingerbread

Mary Jane — 2009-12-03T10:00:00-06:00

It's cold, it's December and the Christmas holidays are right around the corner (how it sneaks right up on us, every year, is just baffling). This year, things are kinda tight in the money department, so, rather than head to Neiman's (or the "it's alla dollah" store), we're planning to give homemade gifts and baked goods to friends and family. The warm, rich spices and gentle, unrefined sweetness of gingerbread is on our gift list. Here's our adaptation of a pretty damn good recipe we found (we just wanted more gingery, warmy spice than the original called for - it was too "meh" for us).

Dense Gingerbread

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses (Grandma's)
3/4 cup honey (local is luscious)
1 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar (we are toying with using piloncillo)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk (2% - organic is our preference)
2 packed tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
Lemony, sweetened whipped cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 square cake pan (or spray with Baker's Joy) and line with parchment, allowing opposing sides of paper to hang about two inches over the edge of the pan, This allows for easy cake removal.

Combine the butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the butter is melted, and all of the ingredients are well blended. Remove from the heat, pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves, and set aside. When the molasses mixture feels just warm to the touch, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in milk. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter in four parts. Lumps are okay, don't over work the batter. Stir in the grated ginger.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then, using the overhang of parchment, lift the cake out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting, it will "settle" some as it cools. Whip a pint of whipping cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and the zest of a lemon (you can get all crazy and mince some crystallized ginger and fold into the whipped cream...just saying)- dollop next to a serving of gingerbread and enjoy.

For "small gift loaves", use either a pan which makes six small loaves, or get some decorated "wee loaf pans" from the dollar store, or wherever aluminium bakeware products are sold in your area. Spray with Baker's Joy (we're pimping a product, but, it works crazy good) and fill 1/3 of the way with batter, bake 20 - 40 minutes (ya gotta eyeball the little pans). Feel like this is Scrooge-like? Give these with a jar of lemon curd (lemon and gingerbread is like peas and carrots...seriously).

Sliders in Hermann Park

Kaylan Tannahill — 2009-11-27T16:16:08-06:00

Little Big’s is now open in Hermann Park on Zoo Circle Drive. This is the second location of the joint venture between Reef chef Bryan Caswell and Bill Floyd. The laid back atmosphere and menu of Little Big’s makes it a great fit for Hermann Park, which has been in need of a respectable food venue. Little Big’s serves a variety of sliders along with crispy fries, milkshakes, beer and a descent wine list. We love to chow down on the twice-fried fries with roumalade sauce and we still order The Dude (White-Russian milkshake) in chilly weather.

Photo courtesy of flickr user garyrwise.

Eat This: Pola Artisan Cheeses

Kaylan Tannahill — 2009-11-16T15:23:29-06:00

Ashy and Bloomy Rind Pyramid cheeses made by Pola Artisan Cheeses here in Houston.

New on the Houston artisan foods market is Pola, a local cheesemaker. While most ‘local’ cheeses are from Texas hill country, Pola Artisan Cheeses are made right here in Houston with milk procured from small dairy farmers in the area. Pola produces a wide range of cheeses using old world methods. Varieties include both raw and pasteurized goat and cow milk cheeses.

Charoomy: Made from pasteurized cow milk, this cheese has a light texture and delicate flavor.

Ashy Rind Pyramid: Made from pasteurized goat milk, this cheese is creamy in texture and has a more tangy flavor than the cow milk. The colorful rind is delicious as well, the result of coating the rind with vegetable ash.

Bloomy Rind Pyramid: This cheese is also made from pasteurized goat milk. Bloomy cheeses age from the outside to the inside, giving them a range of texture. The tart flavor of this cheese and its velvety rind made this one our favorite.

Currently, we have only been able to find these cheeses at the Whole Foods Market on Kirby. If you have seen them elsewhere, please leave us a comment.

Photo by Kaylan Tannahill / Houstonist

Houstonist Cooks: Bean Soup

Mary Jane — 2009-11-10T14:00:00-06:00

Another cold front is breezing through H-town today, and it is causing us to have visions of hearty bean soup. We make ours with bunches of ham, because that's how we like it. However, we'll give you the very veggie option, if you are not so omnivorous. This soup is quite good the first day, but, we prefer to make it a day or two ahead of time and let all of the flavors marry and the starch from the beans break down and thicken it. This is simple, inexepensive and freezes well - so, make a nice large batch and freeze some for later.

Bean Soup

1 lb dried white beans (we prefer navy, but, you can use any white bean, even limas)
1 lb ham (you can subsitute turkey ham and cut some fat/calories)
32 oz of stock (chicken for meatatarians, or veggie - we use organic, free range, low sodium and fat chicken broth)
2-3 carrots, scraped
3 ribs celery
1 medium onion
1 medium bell pepper
3-4 cloves garlic
water
olive oil
2 teaspoons each, thyme, mexican oregano, white pepper and poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon each cayenne, black pepper, (cumin is optional, we like it)

Pick through beans for "detritus" and discard anything that doesn't look like a normal bean, rinse well and drain. Clean and dice the onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper and garlic (you can press the garlic, if you prefer - or use a heaping tablespoon of pre-minced). In a large dutch oven, preheat a good turn of olive oil and add the vegetables to begin sweating them down, stirring occasionally. While this is going on, dice the ham into bite sized pieces. Once the vegetables are soft, which should take about 5 minutes, add the stock, ham and beans. Add water to cover and bring to a soft boil, skimming all of the foam off of the top before reducing to a simmer. Add seasonings, cover and simmer over low heat for about two hours, until the beans are softened. Taste for seasoning and adjust (this is when we add any salt, if needed).

Veggie variation: Use a good vegetable stock and, once the beans are soft, add additional carrots, parsnips, broccoli, diced butternut, chayote or acorn squash - any "sturdy" vegetable you like that's in season. Just prior to serving, add chopped swiss chard or baby spinach until wilted.

Serve with crusty bread and a nice big salad!

Once we "tire" of the standard soup, we convert ours into a frugal "cassoulet" of sorts by adding smoked sausage, sliced into bite sized pieces. This stretches out our meals and keeps it "on the cheap".

Note: You can alter the spices to fit your herb garden, tarragon, basil, sage and rosemary are great in this application - our measurements are for dried herbs, when using fresh, start small and build to suit your taste. If you like the heat, toss in a chili piquin (or two) or add some minced fresh habanero. Soups are pretty forgiving, use some imagination to personalize this one!