Cusina

Now, this is a great thing. Your daughter's response then builds not only an appreciation for the dimensions of food, but you go one step further in encouraging well thought out communication about it. The negative response to a food becomes a road for a positive outcome. I need to be doing this with my kids. Enrevanche, I loved reading your post. You painted such a great memory and gave me lots to think about. Thank you.

Seth, I remember your demi-blog and can't believe that baby is already 7 months. Time flies. I'm glad to see you here for that last precious week of leave. Being at home IS harder with two isn't it? Holy moly. Funny how adding one more little body to a household somehow turns your laundry pile into K2. The bread is beautiful. I'm looking forward to more opportunities to gush over your baking and your kids. Love the giant pot, though if it is 90 outside and your air conditioners aren't in yet, I'd be just looking at it and thinking how purty it is for a while longer. Or maybe you could just serve lemonade out of it? You are going to make some kick butt meals in that eventually though. (p.s. not it... I done blogged already)

As for natural PB, I like Far East smooth style, salted. Once you have given it an initial stir, it doesn't separate again and it stays fairly spreadable even when refrigerated. I don't enjoy the unsalted varieties as much and the Smuckers variety is weird to me... all at once greasy and grainy. Not my favorite. Mass Market, I like Peter Pan creamy, but I don't buy it unless I need to feed other people's picky children (or certain eGulleteers :grin: ).

Ninadora... I believe, though I've never been, that is is more of an amateur school. The kind of place where you take classes for fun rather than profit, but perhaps someone will correct me. Thanks, marie-Louise for the info and the link. I love the sound of the school's cooking parties. I think it would be a hoot to throw one. Too bad I'm so far from san fran. I'll be sure to try the chicken too.

I love this thread too. The Cabin Escapism at it's best.

I'm not sure what the definition of strange is... but. Most exotic, for me, was in Greece, on the island of Corfu. We befrended a local bar owner and she took us to an eatery for dinner. It was, to my eye, just someone's house that they served food in. Ancient quintessential greek home on a hillside with about 6 foot ceilings. I think I remember the floor was partially tiled, partially dirt. Rickety chairs, big slab table, goats and chickens wandered around. The meal was simple, but delicious. Roast chicken and vegetables, home made red wine. If I remember correctly it cost us each about $2.

Deconstruction, in extreme, is definitely off putting. One of my girlfriends absolutely cannot eat pizza without completely tearing it apart first and then consuming the ingredients separately. I love her, but that just isn't fun to watch from across the table. However, in reading this thread, I realize that she is extremely allergic to pork and is probably checking to be sure that no stray bit of sausage has snuck into her pizza accidentally. I should cut her more slack.

How about hopps? Can't do much with them raw... but beer definitely has it's charms. I'm not likely to chow down on raw coffee beans either or cocoa beans.

I can remember making these as a kid with a friend and her mother. Now I think they are kinda creepy. Apple face dolls My favorite spoon rest was a ceramic tile, decorated for my by a second grade friend. Clouds and a sunshine. Sadly it broke in our last move, but I loved it. On a more serious note, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the craft of the potter. I have some beautiful serving pieces that came from my husband's aunt's wheel.

Woo Hoo! Congratulations on the new house. Your first is such fun. We have had a 1950s house in the past, and it had a vent fan like the one you are describing. It's just fine for normal cooking. It's major fault is that you will loose heat/ac from there, but not enough to worry about (or at least that was our experience). With a standard 30" range, you should be just fine without a hood. Definitely go with the hardwood in the kitchen, I did and haven't looked back. Have a few contractors come in and price out the install for you. I was suprised at how relatively inexpensive the cost was to have it done vs. just purchasing the raw materials. Maybe that is just our area, but it's worth checking it out. I LOVE my Dacor. It's a standard 30" range, gas burners, convection/electric oven. It was the big splurge in my kitchen (I think it was about 2,000 or 2,500)and so well worth it. I did have some small problems with the self-cleaning function, but they came out and fixed it immediately. link! We have the stainless version. It was not terribly expensive to run the gas line up to our kitchen. As long as you have gas in the house already it is no big deal, any plumber will do it for you. I love this stove for it's huge burners. Also look into having your cabinets refaced instead of replaced. That can be a big money saver. And don't go with black formica countertops... we made that mistake in our first house. They look cool, but every single little waterspot or bit of salt spilled on the counter was visible. Kind of a nightmare. Good luck!

I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at this. I swore exactly the same thing about 7 years ago. Unfortunately my son has consumed roughly 20,000 grilled cheese sandwiches in his 4.5 years on the planet. He is such a bear when he is hungry. ( I swear he gets this from his father. ) I definitely was a much better parent before my kids were born.

On a recent road trip through the countryside I asked my daughter, who is six, if she likes cows or horses better. To my surprise she answered that she liked cows better. Why? Because they taste good! I think that is definitely not the typical 6 year old girl answer, but that did tell me that my kids have a good idea of where what they are eating comes from. I'm very discriminating about what I buy in the grocery, and I tell her why I choose what I do because she is curious about that kind of stuff. The author in this article says that we are supposed to pass along our knowledge of food but not judgment of the food so that kids can make their own choices. Hmm... now this is great in theory, but almost impossible to do in practice. These are not children in a school room lecture setting, they are in my daily life. They certainly are going to be aware of my value judgments when I decide to buy free range chicken instead of the "juiced up" birds or avoid the brussel sprouts in favor of the broccolini. Plus there is the whole list of reasons why I will not buy them fruit roll-ups or mountain dew or caustic orange mac and cheese. We do, however, reinforce the fact that everyone has different tastes and that they should never criticize the food that other's are eating. Each person has their own choices to make. Nothing worse than sitting down to a dinner you have worked hard to produce and having a child pronounce "gross, ew, how can you eat that?!" So getting them to grow up to be healthy thinking individuals is a balance with kids. As a parent you have to set boundaries somewhere, and in setting those boundaries you are very likely to pass along some judgments.

So, here's the outcome of the meeting. Chris likes it as an investment. Thinks that they are the wal-mart of the family dining segment. Their sheer size gives them quite a bit of purchasing power with their distributors and therefore a price advantage. Their car-side delivery has been a huge thing for them too. Basically, you call them up and drive over there, they run the food out to your car so you don't take one more step than necessary. Interestingly, their food itself is almost exactly the same as many of the other chains. They just introduced a baby back rib platter. Those ribs come from EXACTLY the same supplier as the Outback, as Chili's, as any other chain you can think of. Applebees, however with it's purchasing power, can offer these for $14, while the Outback charges $20. So, in the middle America mindset, if these places are pretty much interchangeable, you're going to go where you get more for your money. He did ask about marketing and product line research. They target as their core customer the busy family household that brings in about $65,000 per year (20,000 over the American average) and eats what they want to, without thinking too much about it. This group eats out at least once a week. They spend a huge amount on marketing. 120 million per year! Which is about 3 times the usual in the segment. Like I supposed, they walk the middle of the culinary road (if you can call this culinary) very purposefully, this way they can be very flexible and follow the trends. P.F. Changs, for example, a more trendy place, is very limited because of their niche, they only can serve foods that seem "Asian" in flavor. If that happens to go out of vouge with the fickle American public, they're kind of screwed. Applebees can put just about anything on their menu. They can be a steakhouse if they want, or a rib joint, or a salad bar. (Of course, in my mind, this means they are doomed to mediocrity foodwise, as they never develop a specialty.) Right now their deal is the new Weight Watchers menu, which has been quite successful. Their management is top notch, finance wise at least. They work like dogs to keep this beast in shape. Chris was very impressed with them. So, like it or not, he felt this was a very good long term investment. Applebees isn't going anywhere any time soon. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news... Edited for accuracy and spelling.

Absolutely beautiful. I'm using you for escapism as well. You're going to be hosting the next eGullet gathering if you aren't careful.

I know this won't meet most eGullet standards as it contains *gasp* frozen lemonade concentrate, but damn, these are good. I'm sure you could use an equal amount of intensely flavored lemon sorbet if you were really cool. Mango Margaritas 1 24 oz. jar of sliced mangos in juice 1 can frozen lemonade concentrate 1 cup gold tequila 3/4 cup Cointreau crushed ice Spoon a little of the mango juice into a saucer. Dip glasses in mango juice then rim with sugar. In blender, add lemonade concentrate, mangos and juice, tequila and Cointreau. Blend till smooth. At this point, pour half of the mixture into a separate pitcher. My blender isn't big enough to do a whole batch at once, and my liver isn't anywhere near being able to process that much either. Add crushed ice (about 3 cups) to the remaining liquid in the blender, process. Pour into glasses and enjoy immediately. Repeat.

pssst... cansel, the red letters in a post means that if you click on that spot it will take you to the link Welcome to eGullet :)

vive la bacon!

Thanks for your responses... I'll pass them along to him and I'll report back later after the meeting. They have a new menu that follows the weight watcher program. I was curious why they chose to follow that trend and what kinds of market research that they do to determine what the "average american" diner would like to see on their menu. They must be doing something right, I guess, as the two here in town are always pretty full. hehehe, Toliver, Riblets is just a funny word all around. Is it some sort of piglet part? ew. Bux, in my part of the world (north eastern Wisconsin), Chili's and Applebees are indeed destination restaurants. I know, I know, it's not pretty. That is why I feel like they must be doing something right in their market research. They manage to attract a following without a tremendous amount of advertising. You all should see the place here called the Machine Shed. You would about die. It's shaped like a barn there is a kitchy gift shop and all the wait staff are forced to wear horrific denim overalls. It was very popular here. It feels weird and contrived to me and the food is nothing beyond basic stuff I could make a whole lot better myself. This is a good example of the more extreme chain restraunts. The problem with being extreme is that it is trendy, and therefore goes out of style. This place has been steadily declining over the past few years after a really strong opening. I wonder if Applebees walks the middle of the road deliberately to avoid becoming a fad. My husband, of course, is interested in the big financial picture, the profit they make and how well managed the chain as a whole is. It is an extremely competitive segment. I'll get back to you all after the meeting this afternoon.

Jen, your blog is fascinating. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Just out of curiosity, what does your signature mean? Paper mache?

I just purchased Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook by Mary Risley. It is a great read... I think there is much for me to learn as her goal is to teach you the guidelines of cooking and serving food rather than just presenting a bunch of recipes. Though, the example recipes do sound divine and I love that she gives her instructors lush praise and credit for the recipes that they contribute to the text. She obviously has an appreciation not only for the techniques that she presents, but for the context in which they were developed. I love getting a little bit of cultural history with each recipe and lesson. I definitely can see it becoming a reference tool for me. I'm curious, have any of you attended her school? It sounds like quite the institution. Edited for trigger finger, posted before I was quite ready... oops.

My husband is an investor. He has a meeting tomorrow with the CEO of Applebees and he is curious, what questions would you ask in this meeting?

Thank you Dave! speelllling was never my forte. oops.

Think over the vast sea of knowledge and reasonable facimilies thereof that is eGullet. Which threads stand out in your mind? My virginal eGullet experience (you never forget the first time) was in the great bacon amorphisms thread (which I couldn't google, help!), followed closely by thetoast and serve magic bag. I also love the travel threads Mongolia, for example was an amazing experience to live vicariously. And some of the great blogs like Jackl'schristmas feast.

Don't they sometimes use lye in brining olives? It's a very old practice but still done. http://www.oliveoilsource.com/olive_recipes_.htm

Good question. In my mind they are different but not much. Shallots tend to cook more quickly and are less likely to have a dominant flavor in a finished dish to me, they seem a bit more subtle. But I've always kind of viewed them as an expensive cousin to onions. I'll be interested to see what others have to say. I've wondered if they are more in the onion family or are related to garlic?