Priscilla

The Travel Channel has been showing old Keith Floyd shows during the day, which Tivo has been nice enough to corral. Many of them I first saw (in repeat already then, I imagine) sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. They are brutally edited in places, but still so worthwhile. I find Floyd charming and disarming, and very inspiring--he can really cook. I never grill a sardine without thinking of him fondly, to this day. I got his Far Flung Floyd, Floyd on Fish, Floyd on France, and Floyd on Spain back then, and seeing other shows reminds me I should get the rest of his books, too. Floyd fans can find some earlier eG Floyd topics here, here, and here. And here's Floyd's own home page Edited to repair link to Keith Floyd's home page

Cake. Cake cake cake.

Good to get a rat update! They are so cute. Beautiful fur. Klary, your food always has such a refined aspect, it's an inspiring pleasure to see and read about. I too believe in week-long b.d. celebrations--yours seems to be hustling along very nicely. Blog on!

Trains, and kitties, and Erica Kane's nearest Big City! But how far to Pine Valley? I love the shots of the arriving buses--excellent work. Your making lunch for your partner every day is lovely. Do you cook with lunch-worthy leftovers in mind?

I can appreciate that time must be of the extreme essence in many cases, especially for small restaurants and businesses. The sooner people go down there to help, visit and spend money the better. If people want to visit New Orleans, they should fight any reticence in delaying a trip. Thank you for also sharing the trip here on eGullet, Rachel. ← Yes; another thanks, Rachel, from me. Lovely reporting. And if anybody oughta know it'd be Brooks, eh? I couldn't resist lifting (with permission!) Jason's blog photo of K-Paul's breadbasket, after it turned up in my entry for Maggie's NOLA-themed contest.

Roasted in a hot oven last night, sea salt, olive oil, bit of pepper, as reported in Dinner! So good.

Waaah. I want PBC next to MY copy of PB&P. Yesterday scored for a buck a crispy-newlike Mayhaw-Man-endorsed Cotton Country Collection. Have been meaning to buy regular-price for ages, but the gods of thrift shopping finally hadda step in. Happens. ← We share a mutual envy, Priscilla---I bet I would really like the "Cotton Country Collection" as well. It may be too difficult to describe, but how do you see it fitting in with other Southern Cookbooks, if you have them. (Maybe if I look back at Mayhaw Man's previous posts I can get an idea here as well.) A silly question probably, but are the recipes mainly Cajun/Creole? ← Ludja, of course it goes without saying, although I shall say it anyways, that Mayhaw Man is a font of ineffable stature on this topic. He did drop the the irresistible tidbit somewheres that female Hamaker antecedents contributed to CCC, which is pretty much what made me add it to the old ongoing mental list.CCC is a Junior League compilation cookbook, so there is a touch of that which is typical to the genre. But this Junior League is from Monroe, LA, so there's a lot else besides. The Southern cookbooks I have relied upon as an amateur-hobbyist if not the dread enthusiast have been Chef Paul Prudhomme's, as well as Craig Claiborne's Southern Cooking, an underappreciated gem.

Waaah. I want PBC next to MY copy of PB&P. Yesterday scored for a buck a crispy-newlike Mayhaw-Man-endorsed Cotton Country Collection. Have been meaning to buy regular-price for ages, but the gods of thrift shopping finally hadda step in. Happens.

In my experience, lamb from any of the sources available to me (in Southern California) is quite mild in flavor. But then, lamb is a favorite in our household, so we are looking for lamb-flavored lamb. The Superior Farms stuff from (I think) Colorado has been unfailingly excellent, and I am glad it is easy to get. Just cooked some Australian rib chops (from a Trader Joe's fresh rack) that were stupendously good. I have found the little NZ racks to be very very, maybe too, mild. Edited to add, Cook's Illustrated has the uncanny ability to make just about anything they cover entirely UNappetizing.

A recent spate of asparagus appearances over on Dinner! made me think it was time to revive this discussion. Had asparagus quite a bit already in 2006, the other day blanched and dipped in mayonnaise as a finger-food accompaniment to sausage sandwiches. The next day, cut-up leftovers went into a Japanese udon soup with teensy Manila clams and cubes of soft tofu. Anticipating roasting, grilling, proscuitto-wrapping, Pecorino-Romanoing, cream-souping, & c.

Tea.

Henry, your live/work is so cool! I love that concrete column--and your ingenious trash receptacle placement. Anticipating tonight's dinner party... blog on!

I love the windmill! We must share a similar sense of humor, Kathy. Hazarding a guess at the spices... Top row, cloves, cayenne, black cardamom, ? 2nd row, sumac maybe, peppercorns, fennel seed, fennel ground 3rd, turmeric, black mustard, cumin ground, cumin whole It is admirable, the care with which you prepare, (including packaging), the food for your lucky children. What have we got in store, dinner-wise, between construction?

Now that is a FANTASTIC idea! I've been pondering a metal replacement for my years-used beans, and that'll do it.

Megan, your blog is an inspiring breath of fresh air. You definitely should be thanked the proverbial twice!

Very timely discussion--I have been, in that cooking-obssession kind of way, somewhat paralyzed by the need for a larding needle since last week when surveying veal recipes. And the preparation causing the paralysis wasn't even the dish I was making. Ah, c'est la guerre. I am SO getting one right quick here.

I counsel non-cooking friends to make fairly simple things, but practice making them value-added. E.g., I told a friend how to make browned goat cheese rounds covered in breadcrumbs and herbs, and home-made croutons of diagonally-sliced baguette rubbed lightly with garlic, both placed just so on a plate of (exquisitely rinsed and especially dried) dressed special greens. Nut oil and delicious vinegar in the (made ahead) vinaigrette. Dead-simple daily stuff to a cook, but she couldn't believe how impressed her guests were, and has gone on fearlessly making this in variation ever since. Also, in very early days of dinner-party-giving, I agree that perfecting what amounts to a signature menu is good--so long as it's a well-thought-out menu, maybe with seasonal adjustments, that people look forward to with relish, and is not solely based on ease or cheapness or other non-taste criteria. Anna, the family cook in the Betsy-Tacy books, said as much to Betsy in Betsy and Joe, I think it was. More wine than you would imagine your planned group could consume, definitely. A couple bottles pre-opened, and the rest at obvious intervals, as mentioned. Non-alcoholic option, always. Plenty of ice, already socked away. More bread, if it a bread-accompanied meal, than seems necessary, as well. Small, great-looking portions, whether plated or (as we often do) served at table. Overlarge servings make people uncomfortable. I think having more to whisk out for those who have scarfed the first with alacrity is often the perfect thing, can be a real conversation spur (and is of course a boost for the cook).

Found a very nice copy of Richard Olney's Provence the Beautiful cookbook at a little used-book bookstore I'd not been in before, tucked in among the antique stores who were putting on their now-and-again outdoor flea market, which was what we were perambulating.

I feel compelled to put a word in for poor maligned Moros. (And not only because I have a baby Moro tree in my garden, neither!) I have been buying them from Southern California farmer's market vendors, esp. North San Diego County growers, since the mid-1980s, and they have been unfailingly delicious--superior, even. Perfumily fragrant, juicy, gorgeously colored, virtually seedless, rich oily peel yielding rich oily zest--what's not to like? Course there is no accounting for dry old yucky supermarket citrus, no matter its variety.

As an occasional cake baker, I can vouch for Parrish's (of Gardena, CA) Magic Line, which I know have been mentioned often before. What a difference they make, plus there's the pleasure of working with such a well-made tool. One of the lowest-cost, easiest improvements to the old batterie around. The 3-inch-deepers esp., as aforementioned.

People I know who have quit smoking all seem to agree that it is the sort of thing that, once done, makes you feel as if you can do anything. Best of luck to all of you!

John, happy birthday upcoming, from a fellow fractional Cherokee. I like this unfolding-cassoulet premise, and I love the market pix! The South Indian veg place I used to frequent here in Southern California had a lot of signs, too--not health-related messages, but the overall look strikes a familiar chord. Looking forward to the bean component.

Utter coolness. Can't wait to see it, Chris!

!!! Where o where was such a book back when I was doing all that research for all those godforsaken American Studies papers. Possibly a twinkle in the author's eye at the time, I suppose.I forgot two others which arrived mysteriously in the mail the other week from a glamorous and erudite Canadian Midwestern correspondent: A Meal Observed by Andrew Todhunter, and Fagioli: The Bean Cuisine of Italy by Judith Barrett.

I got my copy of Charcuterie the other day (in the same package as The Office DVD box, immaterial here IknowIknowIknow). Materially, also the 1st two Ruth Reichl autobio volumes recently. So, three new.