Catness

Last summer, my guy brought home a copy of one of her cookbooks for me, the one which compiled all of her PBS show menus. I noticed that Julia had autographed it and I spent the next twenty minutes dancing around the house exclaiming: "Julia Child touched this book! She touched this book! No, see, Julia Child touched MY book!"

Lemme know if you want the details. I can PM or post to recipeGullet. I would be interested in the details!

Asparagus tarte? Oh that sounds interesting. Any recipe in particular?

We usually host the "Lost Souls" Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for our friends. It's true that when it comes to Thanksgiving, people seem to appreciate it when the menu stays more traditional; Christmas is another story. Two years ago we made three different lasagnes from scratch (including the pasta) and that was a big hit. We usually have anywhere from 10 to 20 people over. Since we don't have a dining room table, we serve on two card tables and everyone eats in the living room. This year our menu so far includes: Turkey 20lb+ We'll be brining and butterflying it again, since it was such a success last time. Mashed Golden Yukon potatoes, very basic, just sour cream, salt, pepper, and butter added. Cheese and Fruit selection. Fresh baked bread, both a garlic and rosemary potato bread and brioche. We haven't decided on the vegetable side yet. For wines we'll probably go with a Reisling, a Pinot Gris, and a Beaujolais (our old standbys), and we have some guests who love to finish with a nice tawny Port. Our friends will be bringing: Some sort of sushi or sashimi appetizer from our friend the sushi chef Pumpkin Cheesecake The Green Bean Abomination. You know this one, I can't stand it, but our guests require its presence every year. Frozen French cut green beans baked in cream of mushroom soup with French fried onion crispies on top.

Galeria's menus are probably two or three pounds. Helps you work up an appetite, certainly. The food is really good, and I put up with the menus for it.

My friend, who owned a fine dining restaurant, will seethe with fury if a plate is left in front of her when she's done eating, whether or not the other diners are finished with their meal. "Once I'm done eating, this is a dirty dish." I think make-your-own take away box thing might be a regional and chain restaurant occurence. I had never experienced it before I moved to the West Coast. During a trip back to the Midwest a few years ago, we dined in a variety of restaurants (fine to chain) and not one of them made us box our own leftovers. Al Dente, if you hate oversized menus, you'd hate Galerias here in Seattle. Not only are the menus tabloid size, but they're about 10 "pages." The pages? Yeah, they're about 1/4 inch thick with a deep and heavy pressed tin border, bound with three big loose binder rings. At a two-top they're a nightmare.

When I have leftovers, I hate being made to box them myself. This practice has become more and more prevalent the past few years, and I don't know why. How is this supposed to work customer service-wise? I'm sitting at a table, I have no large utensils with which to scrape my plate or lift pasta (or other unmanageable bits like rice or sauce), and usually restaurant plates are overlarge so that balance and getting the food safely into the wee box is an additional problem. Often, I'm also dressed up, and as I mentioned, trying to maneuver food into the box from a sitting position is awkward at best. If the server brings me a box now, I usually send it back, politely requesting to have it boxed for me, and then mention to the management how distasteful I find the "self-serve boxing" policy. If the server won't box it for me after I ask for it. I leave the whole thing on the table. It doesn't have to be wrapped in gift paper and mangled into a swan, I'd just like to get my leftovers without risking massive spillage and drycleaning bills, y'know?

Bartending has changed a lot in the past few years. It seems to be much less about craft and pride in one's work. At least, that seems to be the case here in Seattle. My partner, the Sicilian, tells this story about when he was a "two year" bartender, you know, at the point where he thought he knew everything. He was working in an NYC tavern and a guy ordered a Scarlett O'Hara. Rather than ask his customer what was in the drink, he, as he puts it, "made something that was red." His customer looked at the drink, then laid a $20 on the bar saying "Thanks, kid." The Sicilian says his heart sank; he knew he'd just been given a big tip to take a lesson. And so he did. At a martini bar, should one have to coach the bartender on how to make a martini? One night we stopped at a well-known martini bar. I'm not a big fan of the martini bar trend, but we decided to give it a chance anyway. A couple of weeks earlier, I'd tried Grey Goose vodka for the first time in a vodka tonic. At that time I'd commented that the flavor of the vodka was so clean, it hardly had any taste, so it'd probably be better in a martini than with tonic. So, the Sicilian brought me a Grey Goose martini this night, I took one sip and said "You know how I said the Grey Goose didn't have a taste? Well, they woke one up and it's not good." Worst. Vodka. Martini. Ever. I've since had the same vodka in other bars with beautiful flavors and chemistry. So for that I blame the bartender.