Malawry

Fondue Night is over. I ended up making about 20 cups of fondue, which filled the 5 pots I had nicely. Reality set in after a given point and I ended up just giving the girls fairly typical dippers--marshmallows, graham crackers, pound cake, strawberries, pineapple, mango and pretzels--without any "roll-ons" like sprinkles. I just didn't have time. The fondue was just a basic ganache with butter and sugar added--I used a little more corn syrup and sugar than usual, thinking they might make the dark chocolate taste a little better to my girls. Thanks to all for the advice here.

I think most of the food I prepared at Varmint's Pig Picking was prepared through at least a mild haze of inebriation, and lots of my fellow cooks were in the same position. The food was some of the best I've ever consumed.

Chrisamiraut, that reminds me of a fib my mom once told me. I always claimed to hate the onions in her spaghetti sauce when I was a child, and I'd always ask her to leave them out. Once she told me, "I left them out once and you and your brother both hated the sauce." For some reason, I believed her, and I never bothered her about the onions again! I'm now well over any onion issues from my childhood, FWIW.

This leads into other food ethics questions: 1. If you drop it on the ground or the floor, do you pick it up and eat it anyway? Do you serve it to others? 2. Do you tell people what your ingredients are? I do eat things off the floor, but I do not feed them to others. And I always, always disclose ingredients if asked. But that's just me.

Onion soup, in duck stock with duck confit. Quack. Chicken leg quarters, seared in bacon fat then roasted. A big green leaf salad.

Well, it's easily made, isn't it? Some mayo, some relish or a couple of diced cornichons and capers, a squirt of chili sauce or ketchup. Works for me. I stir it up in a little ramekin. I also eat a lot of Reuben dogs--kraut, Swiss, and the dressing on a Kosher hot dog instead of corned beef.

You really took one for the team, didn't you, Beccaboo? I'm impressed. My esteemed spouse and I, who are both former vegetarians, had a good chuckle over the existence of this product. In all the years I didn't eat meat, intestines were NOT among the foods I missed. I missed bacon, hamburgers, steak, fried chicken--but never intestines!

Pecan-crusted chicken with lemon-thyme beurre noisette Green beans with bacon and vinegar Real biscuits Watermelon For 40 (and for JPW and Mrs. JPW, too.)

You would be surprised. These girls eat.

I'll try to get a look at the pots tomorrow, or if nothing else on Sunday when I go in to cater a BBQ they're hosting. (I love rush week, I tell ya.) This is not a full meal. Normally I serve dinner around 5pm on Mondays but this Monday they want trays of sandwiches available between 3 and 4pm, the fondue ready for 5:30ish, and then I leave some trays with "healthy snacks" for late night post-game noshing. I'm not worried about them filling up or anything, and expect to have to provide a decent amount of everything. Many of the girls will be coming straight from class and will miss the sandwiches. They will be dipping into the fondue, not ladling. As for food cost--it's the recruitment budget, not the grocery budget, so I'm not terribly worried about it. I will probably need to buy more pistoles afterwards though!

Pork fried rice is excellent. For that matter you could combine leftover pork with hoisin sauce, some julienned vegetables and whatever else sounds good to make some lettuce wraps. You can also send leftover pork to me.

Fried rice An omelet and a glass of wine (thank you Elizabeth David) A reuben sandwich--I normally have all those ingredients around Chicken parmigiana--I don't bother with breading the chicken breast, and even if I don't have a thawed breast around I can thaw one in just a couple of minutes using the microwave Turkey or beef burgers A big salad with whatever cooked meat or cheese is laying about, with a glass of iced coffee--my Bubbe's favorite dinner.

I'd do something like a watercress aioli, just a big dollop on each serving of salmon. Sounds goooooood to me. Or just sear the salmon and serve it atop the watercress so the cress gets wilted and fishy from the heat and juices.

These are great ideas, guys. Especially yours on presentation, Sinclair--those ideas will really knock them dead, if I have time to implement a couple of them. Carbo--is 1 quart per 10 girls a good measure of how much to make? I'm really a little lost on quantity here still.

I make garlic oil and roasted garlic exactly the way Andie just described at work. I use up the oil within two weeks, keeping it in a squeezie bottle and using it to flavor or cook foods or adding it to vinaigrettes. It's awesome.

It's not too late, no. I don't know what the fondue pots I will be using look like. How can I regulate the Sterno heat? I think most pots have cups for Sterno a set distance from the bottom of the pot. Should I leave the cans partway covered? FWIW I plan to transfer the fondue to the pots at the very last minute, since I'm aware this can be a big problem.

Looks like you did a beautiful job! I love the last photo.

I already decided not to do the marshmallows, Hillvalley. I bought some today while at the store. One of these days I will attempt Nightscotsman's famous marshmallows, though. It may be for friends instead of for the girls. Pretzels are already on the docket, as are graham crackers. I'll bake a couple of pound cakes to dice. While Carbo's recipe sounds good, the cocoa powder I have at work is simply crap--I use it to dust things occasionally and that's about it. I haven't the time or energy to source a better cocoa powder, so I will almost definitely be using the Noel pistoles to make a thin ganache. I plan to make one big batch and divide it among the 4 or 5 fondue pots my girls say will be given to me for this occasion. If I need to refill I will. I like peanut butter and chocolate together, but am avoiding nut-type dippers and additions in case one of the guests has a nut allergy. (The one girl with nut allergies in the sorority graduated, fortunately, but I still have to consider other guests.) I thought frozen bananas in fondue would be yummy--like a frozen chocolate-dipped banana is yummy. But if it would muck up the fondue, or fall apart as soon as you dipped it, I wouldn't use them. So that was sort of my question--has anybody tried frozen bananas in fondue? I can always buy fresh, firmer bananas and use those without freezing them.

My spouse does not eat beef, so Sunday nights when he always has rehearsal I usually make either a steak (flat iron or a NY strip, purchased at the Sunday farm market) or burgers. I can't eat it all, so I have the rest the next night...sliced on a salad for a steak, or warmed just enough to avoid overcooking in the microwave for a burger. Mmm, beef.

Last night: The second-to-last rack of ribs of the season...pork spareribs, rubbed with a homemade spice blend and slow slow slow cooked. Green slaw (no carrots or red cabbage) Tonight: Grilled (brined!) chicken thighs Grilled vegetables...zukes, mushrooms, peppers, etc A big salad with mustard vinaigrette

Oh, I am so relieved to see you guys also have irrational emotional attachments to places that just aren't that good. I even have some of the same attachments...Nadya, I used to end up at Kramer after clubgoing too, either for peanut-butter pie or (the next morning) for eggs and deep-fried homefries. And I still eat at Austin Grill sometimes, particularly since I think they're the least offensive sit-down option in the new improved downtown Silver Spring.

No. See, part of the reason I started this thread was I couldn't see somebody like you or Mark or Don developing an irrational attachment. In some ways, that whole thread on L'auberge was about possible irrational attachment. And yes, Hillvalley, that will do for starters.

OK...but I'd still like a little more guidance on ganache proportions, if a thin ganache is indeed the best possibility. Also quantities--I really have no idea how much of this stuff to make. Liquor is really a no-go, due to dry campus laws. I'm not supposed to cook with wine or anything.

I have an irrational attachment to discussing irrational attachments. I know I've started threads on them on other eGullet fora before. My interest in starting this thread was seeded by a discussion I had with DonRocks the other night. He mentioned offhandedly visiting a restaurant in my neck of the woods recently--Parkway Deli in Silver Spring. I asked if he tried anything from the pickle bar, and he said he didn't since he ordered to go. I immediately waxed rhapsodic about the place. He quietly asked me, "do they make the pickles in-house?" And, to be honest, I don't think they do. I think I can buy similar pickles at any decent supermarket, and get a pretty good version thereof. I tried to think about Parkway objectively since we had this chat, and I've come to the conclusion that it probably isn't that great. It's no Katz's or anything. But I love it anyway--it's one of very few places of its type around here, and eating there takes me back to my childhood in North Carolina when it was a huge treat to go to a city and eat in a Jewish-style deli. So I have an irrational attachment to Parkway. OK with me. I also have an irrational attachment to Lightfoot Cafe in Leesburg, where I almost always eat at the bar and get the same soup and salad and cocktails. (It's good, but it doesn't merit the eagerness with which I look forward to future visits. I eat there the three or four times each year I attend concerts in Leesburg.) Do you eat in places even though you know they aren't that great, and love them despite it all? What caused your attachment?

Psychocandy! Now there's a name from the past...glad you found your way to eG. I planned to do just chocolate, and a big batch of it to divide between the pots. I'm having to get this together in addition to my regular lunch and dinner service, so I'm trying to make it relatively easy on myself. The rollable goodies are a great idea. I already have sprinkles and nuts around, and could easily toast some coconut. I love candied coconut and was considering doing some as a dippable if I have time to make it next week.