Cusina

In many places in the U.S. garbage cost is hidden. Unless you live in a very high density or very green aware area or strangely, way out in the country and have to haul it to the dump yourself, you have no idea what you pay for garbage. I was completely appauled at the amount of waste we created at the holidays this year. I definitely attribute some of it to increased food packaging. There are some products I just won't buy because of it. I understand some things need protection during shipping, but it gets extreme.

Oh, and Debbie welcome to eGullet.

oh I have this too... it's so bleh out there. In January Wisconsin isn't exactly a garden spot and so much is out of season. Can't get a good tomato to save your life right now. I peruse cookbooks, sometimes something will grab my attention. I just ordered Bourdain's Les Halles from Amazon with a gift certificate I received. I also have a few new toys to try out. A 2.6 le creuset gratin with lid is making me want roasted veggies. I rely heavily on menu planning this time of year. I find if I plan the stuff and buy for it, I'm more likely to make it. And sometimes the act of planning, which involves perusing through old menus, will take me off on a tangent "hey, remember that eggplant dish we did in October, we never did get that quite right... let's try it again"

Waaay back upthread, there was a comment about touching being from servers of the opposite sex. In my experience the "friendly touching", which happens to me every now and then, has come from female servers... and generally while eye contact is being made with my husband. Perhaps I'm jaded (or perverted) but this makes me assume she has stripper experience and is working my husband for tips rather than she has just taken a sudden liking to me. I think you can be a perfectly friedly server without either of these transparent tricks. Plus, who wants to spend half your lunch service on your knees? My advice would be to tell your server to knock it off... kneeling is for day care workers, not for wait staff.

Did anyone else think it was ironic that the ads at the bottom of the article were for the South Beach Diet? Judith, thanks for that reminder. I definitely take the auditory for granted in my meals. I also know that I eat way too fast. I attribute that habit to my small children and their impatience, but perhaps it is more than that. I work hard on making our meals and choosing our wines, I should slow down and enjoy them more. Have there been any real studies done that control for variables comparing the French and American lifestyles and effects on obesity rates? Or is it all pure speculation?

This is a great thread... the submarine story is my hands down favorite. :) Talk about subversive. (bad pun, sorry) Here are my two contributions. Mind you, I'm typically an upstanding citizen but... In college I convinced my good friend Jill to swipe an adorable 1/2 pint mug from an ancient pub in London as a "souvenier". She put it in the "kangaroo" pocket of her jacket and then promptly forgot about it, until she put the jacket on and bashed herself in the head with the mug. Those things hurt a lot, I hear. I still have the mug and laugh every time I use it. After a nice lunch with some friends and my 10 month old son I was folding the stroller up into the car when a lovely spoon from the restaurant came tumbling out. The little guy had swiped it from the table and stashed it without my noticing! I couldn't get him to confess but we did covertly return the spoon at our next visit. It was funny to sneak a spoon out of my purse and leave it on the table. Reverse theft.

J. Garner, thanks for mentioning that humidity tip. I forgot that detail. I also forgot to note that I put a pinch of salt in when I added the vanilla. My dad grew up eating pink divinity which included chopped marischino cherries and a few drops of red food coloring stirred in at the end. I think many folks would include chopped pecans. I used whole cashews and it turned out pretty well. I ran across this posting on another board that charmed me. Scroll down to the post by chefmom. It's not just candy, it is a character building experience! http://community.cookinglight.com/showthre...hlight=divinity

This recipe is our favorite... it's from the hopefully soon to be restored recipeGullet. It's wonderful stuff. * Exported from MasterCook * Skillet Shortbread Recipe By : Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 3/4 c melted butter 1 1/2 c sugar 1 1/2 c flour 2 beaten eggs 1 pinch salt 1 tsp almond extract Mix butter and sugar til creamy; add aggs and mix well; add flour, salt and extract and mix well. Grease your standard cast-iron skillet and line completely with foil. Pour the stiff batter in and spread it to the sides. Sprinkle the top generously with slivered almonds and more sugar. Bake @ 350 30 mins. Cool completely before removing. Notes: this is so easy it's addictive. I use the Kitchenaid and pretty much just dump in the ingredients in the proper order and let the machine do all the work. I recommend taking the pan out after 25 min. and checking that your oven isn't cooking too fast. The top of the cookies will brown only VERY slightly. You might think they aren't done and want to stick them back in for 5-10 minutes--DON'T. Becasue I was making them during a cold spell, I took the skillet out on the porch and let them cool overnight. Once completely cool they set and firm up. Cut them into thin slivers and serve them with coffee or tea or alongside another dessert like chocolate mousse. Description: "recipeGullet"

Since I didn't get responses to this topic, I figure I shoud post my experience for posterity. After researching a bit I decided on a recipe. This is the basic one from my grandmother's collection, which seems like it's very typical. Divinity 2 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/2 cup water boil over medium heat in a large saucepan to hard ball stage. 260 degrees, stirring only until sugar dissolves. Beat two egg whites until stiff peaks form. Pour hot syrup in a thin stream over egg whites, beating in mixer continuously. Add 1 tsp. vanilla (or brandy) beat untill stiff and mixture loses it's gloss. Stir in 1/2 cup nuts. Drop by tsp. onto wax paper. Allow to harden. Now, even after following this recipe to the T (I used salted cashews for the nuts) my mixture was still too soft to form little poofs rather than little pools on the wax paper. I found that you need to beat the finished mixture by hand for about 5 minutes beyond what the kitchen aid will do. This is a serious workout, but it just wouldn't come together without a little hand mixing at the end. Just keep mixing until it your biceps burn and the stuff holds its shape on the paper. I can't imagine how strong you had to be to do the entire recipe by hand. I would not have made it as a farm wife in the old days. The result was very good, smooth nougat balls with salty cashew crunch. I hope my dad enjoys!

My kids, when they were under two years old, both loved tofu. Firm, right out of the box. It made a huge mess, but hey, good for them. Of course now they wouldn't touch the stuff. Oh well. Maybe later. I always loved black olives... used to get a can of them in my stocking sometimes when I was a kid.

Well, hardly comparable to that beautiful spread of booze you posted Percy, but today with dinner we had a Cline Oakley 5 reds blend. 2002. For an under $10 Thursday night bottle, it was pretty smooth. Medium body, not too fruity. Little bit of cinnamon and cloves in there. Good solid red wine for a cold night. OT ... Katie, Austrian Schnapps makes me think of growing up in Milwaukee. There was a liquor store called the Schnapps Haus, think 60s idealized hoky chalet full of red cheeked German ladies and Santa Claus look alikes. I used to love visiting that place as a kid! Though I didn't get why everyone was so jolly in there. ;) I might have to have some later on in honor of the memory.

The word that jumps out at me from that definition is trust. "AUTHENTIC implies being fully trustworthy as according with fact" If you say something is authentic, in food at least, you imply that you have both knowledge of the real deal and ability to reproduce it.

Oatmeal. The steel cut variety is worth the effort (not that it's terribly difficult). If I'm feeding a crowd, I like stratas. Endless variety. Here's an example. http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_recipes_lunch/...1377643,00.html

My everyday dishes are this pattern. This picture is a bit odd, but you get the idea. I chose them because they are extremely durable and replaceable. We are demading of our dishes. I have olive green, dark red and butternut colored plates and bowls, with serving pieces in ivory and dark red. I like having a selection of colors. I find myself reaching for the dark red plates most often as many things look beautiful them, especially vegetables. My china is a very simple white Noritake pattern which is suitable for more formal meals. If I were to buy another set, it would be more 'spring to summer', though I'm not sure exactly what that means yet. I'll know it when I see it.

I agree with the bell curve idea. I can see a rate of diminishing returns. I've, in my life, had just a few fine dining meals. A handful in the $150 per person range and one in the $300 per person range (Gordon Ramsay, London). I would be unlikely to repeat the $300 per person meal because, while it was excellent, I didn't see it as a significant step up from the $150 meal. (assuming there is no expense account, of course) However, when we do these meals, it is with much research and I know very clearly what I'm getting into and decide purposefully that is what we want. We do a fair amount of research. Perhaps I'd be tempted by a truly special place and occasion to try that 2 standard deviations out price point again, but it would have to be really compelling, not just a because it's there sort of thing. I find that "social climbing through fine dining" idea to be very strange. I believe it exists, but I can't imagine buying into it. Perhaps it is just because I don't live in a very competitive place, economically at least.

There's another one. Meathead. JGM, heheheh

oh and how could I forget the dairy group? When you go to far you're milking it. Or maybe you are just plain cheesy.

(Have we had a thread about this before? I searched and couldn't find one.) Struck me funny this morning, how many food related insults there are. For example: You can be going nuts. Getting lily livered, be a cream puff, a cupcake or a marshmellow if you aren't brave enough. Or be chopped liver if you don't mean much. You can get fruity. Look porky or beefy or shrimpy or like a string bean. Your story can be fishy. Your hands can be clammy. You're whipped if you can't think of anything but him or her and half-baked if you can't get it together. If you attract too much attention to yourself you're a ham. If you don't work at all you're a lemon or maybe you are just plain toast. There are a million more... what else?

One more variable. Americans love variety. And we have gotten very used to having what we want when we want it. It's very difficult to become an expert cook of everything. I can make a lot of things, but some of the stuff I like to eat at home I just can't do or don't have the time to. If I want a five course dinner at my table one night and only have time and/or expertise to make 3 courses, I'm going to purchase the other two prepared. So, expectations are higher, we demand a lot more from ourselves and need dumbed down food sometimes to fill in the blanks. Some of us just have more blanks than others. I expect the typical home cook in 1910 could survive a decade or two knowing maybe 30 or 50 recipes. I'll bet I use that many in a month.

oops, posted this in the wrong place at first... sorry. One of my Dad's all time favorite candies is divinity. His great-aunt used to spoil him with it when he was a kid. I want to make him some for Christmas this year, but I'm a bit daunted. I understand it's tricky stuff. Would any of you be willing to share a tried and true recipe and your technique. He is particularily fond of cashews, so if I could incorporate those it would be great too, but it's not essential. Thanks! Alice

Interesting slate story, indeed. Thanks for illuminating. What do you serve on the "leftover" gold bars?

Ate at my Brother-In-Law's this year. His paternal grandparents are from Italy... one Milan, one Rome and his father was born in Western Mass. His Maternal grandparents are Scandanavian/German. Both from born in the Midwest. We had pumpkin and apple (storebought varieties) on the table, with ice cream and whip cream in a can or lite cool whip ... but if it had been my choice I'd have made pumpkin cheesecake and dutch apple pie with maple whip cream.

Thanks for the clarifications on the soup and the timeline. Very interesting to see it broken down like that. One more question, and pardon me if I missed this upthread, but where did you get the slabs o' slate for the oysters and granita? They look too thick to be tiles. They're brilliant.

Sam, will you look this over and tell me if you think I've gotten the proportions and technique right? I wish I could do this "by feel", as you have, but I need a more solid outline. * Exported from MasterCook * Cauliflower Soup with Hidden Spinach puree and Curry Oil Garnish Recipe By : SLKinsey, eGullet Turkey Day blog 2004 Serving Size : 10 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 head cauliflower, large -- chopped milk -- enough to cover caluiflower in pan 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup Extra Virgin olive oil 1 Tablespoon curry powder 1 package spinach -- cleaned and sorted 1/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 4 shallots -- sliced fine, sauteed untill crispy Place chopped cauliflower in large dutch oven over medium-low heat. Pour in milk to within 1" of the pan lip. Simmer uncovered until tender, but not overcooked. Drain, reserving cooking liquid. Run cauliflower through a food mill to remove fibrous texture. Then place into blender with about 1/2 of the reserved cooking liquid (ratio should be about 2:1 cauliflower to milk). Blend till silky. Can be chilled overnight at this point. Before service, reheat soup, adding cream to taste. For curry oil, add curry to olive oil, let steep overnight. Strain through fine mesh sieve. Pour into squeeze bottle. Saute spinach with 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil in heavy skillet until completely wilted, place in food processor with cream and nutmeg. Process until smooth. For assembly, in a small bowl with high sides, place 1" of spinach puree, top with a sprinkle of crispy shallots, then 3 or 4" of cauliflower mixture. Garnish with curry oil drizzle and a few of the crisped shallots or a single chervil leaf. Description: "SLkinsey, Thanksgiving 2004 blog egullet" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks, it really does sound beautiful. Can't wait to give it a try.

Wow... What a gorgeous thread! I just had to add my thanks for your time and effort in documenting this most organized process for us onlookers. The cauliflower soup... I can practically taste it, I'll be "QA"ing that this week for the Christmas dinner menu. And I loved the MOM cameo! Kathleen, would you be willing to share your sugarless apple pie recipe? I'd love to try that too.