Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dressing

Failing this, does anyone know a good cobbler in 19104?

SansPoint — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:06:40 -0800

Help me find a pair of decent, grown-up shoes to wear to work, that will last me more than six months. Preferably for less than $100 a pair. Maybe it's just my feet. A few months ago, I picked up a nice looking pair of brown leather Steve Madden shoes from a nearby shoe store. They were on sale for $65. They looked good and were comfortable, and figured they'd be a great option to replace my previous shoes (Rockports), wherein the soles had been worn down to the point where parts of the heel were even with the front sole. *Those* replaced a pair of shoes (Bill Blass) that had detached from the sole.

Anyway, those nice Steve Maddens? They've fallen apart. The leather on the outside edge of BOTH shoes has detached from the sole--looking like it's been ripped, not just popped.

So, in eighteen months, I've gone through three pairs of not-cheap shoes. I just want a pair that won't fall apart that fast. I really don't know where to go here.

Am I underpricing my shoes? I really don't have the ability to drop $2-300 on shoes. I need to eat, after all. What can I do?

(Pertinent Info: I'm a size 11, and normal-ish width. I manage to wear Chuck Taylors, which run narrow, with no discomfort or falling-apart issues. I've had my two pairs of Chucks for over a year.)

Below the hemline...

lois1950 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:13:57 -0800

Fancy restaurant tonight = black/white jersey wrap dress. It's October in Seattle. Can I wear panty hose? I have not worn a dress all summer and I missed the memo about not wearing panty hose anymore. I don't think that black or white tights will look good with the dress; nude or bare would be better. Is this a big fashion no?
The alternative is dress pants. I am in my 50s and no one has ever accused me of having any fashion sense. Thanks for any advice!

Caesar Salad Dressing

frankly mister — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:31:35 -0800

Why I can't find an awesome Caesar Salad Dressing recipe? They all suck! So lately I've tried a number of homemade Caesar Salad Dressing recipes, and while one or two have been okay, on the whole they're far from the spectacular thing I've had at some restaurants. I love love love a great Caesar Salad, and being unable to replicate one at home is making me mad. I've tried recipes from How to Cook Everything, the Gourmet cookbook, America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, Alton Brown's Good Eats, and a couple others that I can't recall. And none is spectacular dammit!

The romaine is fresh. I dry it to the max with a salad spinner, then put it back in the fridge for a little while. I don't over-toss the salad with the dressing. Etc. So that stuff's not an issue.

I'm convinced that the bomb diggity Caesar Dressings have a lot of stuff in it -- that is, not just olive oil, lemon juice, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and an egg or two, like the original ones had or whatever. There must be some Worcestershire, Dijon, garlic, buttermilk, anchovies or anchovy paste, and stuff like that. But I've tried ones with all that stuff, darnit, and the shit is not happenin'! Maybe the proportions need to be adjusted, but that's where I'd need your help.

So, please, if you know an aweeeesome Caesar Salad Dressing recipe -- not just a good one, an awweeeessomee one -- please, would you share it with me? I'll be so happy. Thanks!

Give me your best vinaigrette recipes.

MaryDellamorte — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:38:13 -0800

I love a good vinaigrette, but I would like to make my own. What are you favorite recipes? I've never made it before, so some tips would be helpful also. Restrictions include no meat or dairy. Thanks!

Join me in the Quest for the Mexican Salad Dressing!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:30:16 -0800

Help me recreate an awesome Mexican salad dressing! So I just had one of those pre-packaged salad kits, and it came with an awesome dressing. It was a Mexican chicken salad, and the dressing was a tangy, sort-of tomato-ey sort-of corn-y delight with quite a bit of a bite (but no apparent capsaicin heat). I think it or something similar would work brilliantly as a home-made dressing or cold sauce. The ingredients as listed on the packaging:

Water
Soya oil
Tomato purée
Vinegar
Sugar
Dextrose
Herbs and spices
Onion
Modified corn starch
Salt

I'll spare you the food acids and other additives, but suffice to say that, big surprise, MSG was in there (but none of its cousins in the E620-E630 range).

I believe the tomato purée refers to the concentrated kind; it definitely tasted like it (although Dutch tomatoes I feel are generally quite watery so I'm somewhat easily impressed with the concentrated and processed stuff). In fact, the overall taste held the middle between concentrated tomatoes and something corn-like, strongly reminiscent of tortilla chips (the non-cheese kind). Add a faint vinegary tang, and you're pretty much there.

It had about the consistency of common chili sauce (but as I said, no heat). It was very different from any salsa I've eaten, and completely smooth; without any onion or tomato chunks like in salsa or adobo.

Has anyone ever made anything like this? Any pointers? Thanks in advance, guys!

I need a ranch that won't drive me crazy...

Spyder's Game — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:31:05 -0800

I love ranch dressing. So does my wife. But we really only love the ranch dressing you find in restaurants.... So you go to a restaurant and order ranch. It's good. REALLY good. It's thin and creamy and has little bits of stuff (parsley?!) floating around in it. So you go to the store and want to buy some for yourself. But the only thing you can find is this THICK stuff that tastes NOTHING like the dressing you find in just about ANY restaurant. We have literally tried six or seven different types of "ranch" dressing off the shelves of our grocery store, and none of them taste anything like the restaurant dressing. They're all much thicker, and the taste is not even close. What gives? And where can we get ranch that tastes like restaurant ranch?

Examples of a few we've tried....Hidden Valley, Marie's, Hidden Valley Buttermilk, Lighthouse

Vegetarian Caesar salad dressing

Morrigan — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:48:59 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good bottled vegetarian Caesar salad dressing? I used to love Caesar salad but every time I try a new anchovy-free version, it ends up in the trash. Making my own is, unfortunately, not a realistic option, as my culinary skills are on a level with a three year old's.

How to party like it's 1899?

The Whelk — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:59:47 -0800

Steampunk Party On a Budget? Music, Decor, and Give-Aways. I have been tasked with creating a "Steakpunk" theme for our semi-weekly event. We'll have some costumed folk but I need music suggestions (beyond Gilbert and Sullivan) and ideas for dressing our stage. It's a small triangular stage with a dark wood back. Ideally, all decoration should be able to fit into a large duffel-bag and be carried across town. Ideally, it shouldn't cost more than 60 bucks. We are willing to construct simple things. I have til Saturday.

Help me blend, not bland, my way through summer

Unicorn on the cob — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:10:32 -0800

It's about to be summer in Texas. I bought a smallish food processor. Please give me your best food-processor recipes. I realize there have been discussions of salsa, baba ghanouj and hummus here on the green... and wondered, what else is there? In the summer it's too g.d. hot to cook lots of times, so for example, we make a cold pasta salad with a vegan pesto that's tasty. What other things can I make with the food processor that are like this? Sauces, dips, dressings, salsas, guacamoles, etc.? Soup base, maybe? Can I make nut butter in this thing as well? I have a rice cooker too, and can use it without overheating the kitchen, so if you have a recipe for something that goes well over rice, couscous or quinoa, bring it on!

I prefer vegetarian recipes; however, if you have a bizarre meat-based recipe, let's hear that too, just for the heck of it.

Should I bother with the make-up?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:01:01 -0800

What are the benefits of "dressing-up"? I am female, in my 40s, professional in a fairly casual office. Make-up, hair-dos, and other markers of being more dressed up seems like a waste of time. What (if any) are the benefits of being more dressed up that would make it worth the time/cost/effort? When I don't have to interact with the public, I wear jeans and tee-shirts. Occasionally, when I have to interact with the major higher-ups, I get out the suit. Most of the time, though, I wear what most people would call "dressy casual." Oxford shirts and khakis, sweater sets and dress pants, etc. Admittedly, though, my button-down shirts are usually not ironed and I wear them untucked. I also never wear make-up. My hair gets towel dried, and is usually mostly dry by them time I get to the office. It gets cut twice a year, to get rid of the split ends. The office I work in is casual, and most people wear clothes similar in the level of dressiness (oxford shirt and khakis, sweater in the winter, polo shirt/tee-shirt in summer). There is a spectrum, though, and I am on the "less-dressy" side of it, though still well within the norm. There are people who dress up more than I do, and I'm wondering if there might be tangible benefits to being dressed up more that would make it worth the time and effort? In my 20s, I did bother with the make-up and dressing up more formally because I looked so young and dressing up made me feel more secure and gave me more c readability, especially in the eyes of older white males. Now that I'm older and pretty much look my part, am I losing anything by not bothering? I know some people really enjoy the way they look when they have make up on and have the hair done a certain way, and it gives them self-assurance, etc., but that's not me. For me, it really is a bother. The time and the expense of having to buy the stuff, use the stuff, dry clean the suit, etc etc. is something I don't want to do.

So, are there any benefits of being more dressed up that would make it worth the time/cost/effort? Thanks for your answers and sorry for the long explanation.

Flickr for Clothes, y'all! Good idea?

Firas — Sat, 12 May 2007 23:36:14 -0800

Wardrobe software. Has nobody done this? Wouldn't a social webapp for clothing be fiercely awesome? I'm not the target user really (I assume a hypothetical userbase would skew heavily towards the other gender) but even to the extent that I see it being personally useful, it does seem awesome.

Think something like: being able to list everything, add pictures, define combinations, take pictures of yourself in those combinations, get people to suggest combinations for you, etc. Basically a heavy emphasis on organization and communication instead of just spreadsheet-style itemization.

I know that 'social shopping' is an exploding niche and that people have done this with eg. perfumes (basenotes), but I'm concerned that this may be a solution looking for a problem.

Whatcha think?

Help me find fashionable women's winter boots

friendlyfire — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 16:53:18 -0800

Help me find women's winter boots! Rumor has it that it will be a very snowy winter. I want to avoid what happened to me last year... struggling through the snow it my very impractical heeled boots. There were days when I didn't go to class because I was too afraid of slipping! I had never lived in a cold climate before las year, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. I just want them to be nice looking women's boots that will be warm and prevent me from slipping. Hopefully not too expensive, too (below $200 if possible). If it matters, I like round toed shoes. I'm a 20 year old college student living in Manhattan. It would be great if you could post links to boots that I can actually buy. Telling me what to look for in a winter boot would be appreciated as well. Thanks!

Good lactose-free ranch dressing?

sirion — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 23:43:17 -0800

Good lactose-free ranch dressing? I like ranch. My stomach doesn't. Provide me with good fake ranch. (Mostly for dipping chicken tenders and things)

Dress up a skinny dude!

lemonfridge — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:49:05 -0800

Help a skinny guy get dressed! Im skinny, and quite lanky, so i have a problem finding clothes that look good on me. Shirts and stuff usually arent too much of a problem, but trousers are a pain because I end up looking even skinnier, apart from with jeans (maybe because the fabric is thicker?). My legs are stupidly skinny and tend to look skinnier in "work" trousers as the fabric always seems to be thinner.

Whats a guy to do where he's required to wear something that looks bad on him, and still look smart?

I start a new job on th 27th, and need to wear trousers, but I dont want to look dorky.

dressing like a grown-up

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 23:05:51 -0800

Fashion-eye for the middle-aged guy. I'm 6'7, 230 lbs., 40 years old, and I dress like crap. T-shirts and walmart shorts. White tube socks and running shoes. I'm slowly morphing into a sad caricature of Suburban Man. I teach at a small college and don't want to do the anti-establishment river sandals and ideological t-shirt thing, nor do I want to look like an insurance salesman, or someone who's trying to hard to not be 40, if that makes sense. Oh, and I don't have loads of disposable income.

Suggestions on dressing up and specifically finding stuff that fits someone my size that doesn't look like it belongs to my father are greatly appreciated.

(I'm leaning toward owning fewer, higher quality, better-fitting pieces of clothing. additional complication: I'm going on weight watchers with my wife, but I don't really want to wait until I've lost 20 lbs.)

best salad dressing?

footnote — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 15:37:00 -0800

What is your most delicious salad dressing recipe?

buying dress pants

yonation — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 16:07:31 -0800

i need a new pair of dress pants. the problem is that i can't find *anything* that isn't for chubby people! even when I go a waist-size down from what I am (to 30), the pants fit at the waist and then slightly balloon out until the legs taper. I've checked Daffy's, Sym's, Century 21, Banana Republic, Zara (all in NYC). No luck. Can a guy find a pair of slim, "sexy-ish" dress pants any more (ie 60s-style), or is our country just too fat? And i'm not talking about a pair of $300 Prada pants, those are out of the question. Can anyone help?