Comfort Me

This thread has opened a recent wound. I am a creature a habit. Habits which are etched in stone. Any deviation can cause my poor, OCD personality to take a nose-dive. I like to rise 30 minutes before my wife. I make coffee and heat milk. I slip on shoes and run downstairs for the newspaper. By the time I'm back in the kitchen, the coffee has completed it's transformation from water to ambrosia and the milk is steaming hot. Sometimes a use a frother, sometimes not, but it has been my habit to combine milk and coffee in a white cafe au lait bowl I brough back from my first trip to France 23 years ago. I have used it ever since. Until a week ago yesterday when my six year old accidentally knocked it out of the cupboard. I pretended it didn't bother me -- it was an accident, after all -- but not a day has gone by that I haven't missed it. Mugs seem foreign and -- well -- uncivilized. I've lost more than a bowl. That bowl reminded me of so many things -- my youth, Paris, first love, staying out all night drinking coffee, loosing my virginity, my first hangover, my first boulangerie, my first offal tasting, my culinary awakening. Now all I'm reminded of is the passing of time and the ravages of age. I guess I should start saving for a vacation in France. Wow -- I'm a real downer today. I usually don't get depressed reading these posts! Hope I didn't bum you out too badly! Who would have thought a cafe au lait bowl would prompt a midlife crisis!

Blov -- Let us know how they turn out and how you like them. Comfort -- Yes, I believe I've added vanilla in the past. Why not? It's perfect with the rest of the ingredients. I've never made compote but it sounds great. Do I just soak in the slivovitz? Is there heating involved? How long? Proportion of fruit to spices to liquid? Thanks. First -- re blending the cottage cheese. I just mashed it really well with a fork. I didn't think about the blender. THAT would have been faster. I learned to cook from my old-world grandmother -- hence I cook like a little old lady -- many of my recipes are naratives rather than formulae. I like to start by taking a couple of handfuls of dried apricots and cover them with boiling water and let them sit while I assemble everything else. You can use whatever dried fruits you want. Papaya makes a lovely color -- I haven't tried dried mango, but anything to add color is nice. I love dried pineapple in this, too. Dried blueberries make it look like Smurf compote. I haven't tried dried sour cherries, but I think I might. Even if they turned the syrup red, I think it would be pretty. I halve the figs and put them in a non-reactive saucepan. I add a handful of prunes, a nice, wide strip of lemon peal, a nice wide strip of orange peal, a vanilla bean, the drained apricots, sugar to taste and water (I use the water from the apricots) to almost cover. Then a splash of slivovitz. A whole star anise or maybe two, depending on the quantity you are making. Bring to the simmer over a medium flame. Cook until the fruit is softened and fragrant. Remove from heat and let cool a little bit. Can be served warm (not hot -- I made that mistake once -- burned my mouth BAD)or room temperature. This is really nice with pound cake or warm over ice cream or, with, slightly drined with some fresh flaked coconut added, as the filling for a rustic gallette served with cheese course. For the latkes, I place a ladle of compote on the plate, then arrange three latkes around the fruit. Garnish as you like. I am alergic to raw alcohol, so I add my shlivovitz before cooking. You can add it after, if that is your preference.

“Latke” Cookies These cookies, adapted from a recipe my grandmother, z"l, made, are very rich, very delicate. Making them always brings back the many happy times I spent making these cookies at her side! Although they started life as a Christmas cookie -- I think my grandmother got the recipe from my cousin, who is a nun -- they have become a regular feature of our holiday celebrations and are wonderful to give as gifts. Don’t worry that the cookies won’t hold together without egg or liquid – they will – yet another miracle of Chanukah! 1 lb. Butter, at room temperature. 1 cup sugar 2 cups crushed plain potato chips (NOT kettle chips! Too tough) 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour 2 ½ tsp. Vanilla Powdered sugar 1. Preheat oven to 350°. 2. Crush potato chips between layers of paper towels to absorb the excess grease. 3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the potato chips and mix gently, but well. Gradually add flour and vanilla. 4. Roll a rounded teaspoon of dough into a ball and flatten by hand. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cookies should not brown. 5. Remove immediately to cooking rack. When slightly cooled, roll cookies in powdered sugar or dust the cookies with powdered sugar run through a sieve. Makes approximately 7 dozen. Note: Pecan meal is very good added to this recipe. If desired, add 3/4 cup finely-ground pecan meal when adding the potato chips.

Camelia! Thank you! I felt magnolia wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finer on the right brand! Thanks for the tips. I will definitely put them -- and any others which follow -- to good use!

My son and I will be accompanying my wife when she presents at a conference in NOLA near the end of January. I have, in the past, asked friends going to NOLA to pick up red beans for me. (I think they were Magnolia brand, but I might be wrong.) Where is the best place to pick up provisions such as red beans, rices, spices, etc. Not fancy. Not touristy. Best. Also, does the French Market still have the best (and cheapest) bowl of red beans and rice in town? I have a real fondness for street / market food. Can you tell I'm looking forward to this trip? My six-year-old and I plan to start each day at Cafe du Monde! My wife swears we only want to go for the powdered sugar. I assured her she is wrong. There is also spicy olive salad. Oh -- another thing. I've yet to figure out -- is it possible to get to Metarie by public transportation? There is a kosher restaurant there, Casablanca, that I want to try out. The next 48 days are gong to drag!

When the missus and I were first dating I made a chili without beans. You would have thought I had told her that her outfit made her look fat! She took it personally. She's a woman who likes her beans. So over the years I have created a chili which keeps her happy -- coursely ground chuck, chipotle chiles in adoba, garlic, lots of onion, red beans (Magnolia brand? The ones I have friends bring me from New Orleans), hominy, diced tomatoes, beer, and often times sliced button mushrooms. I like it heavy on the spices. My wife is very fond of the hominy, and complains if I omit it, too. Otherwise, she isn't very demanding. And I like to serve it over a base of stiff garlicy polenta, garnished with chopped scallions and cilantro. (I'm way too lazy to make tamales, but this goves me a close approximation. Possibly the only way I've succombed to "Rachel Ray-itis".)

Is your stand mixer dairy? I made these last year when my dairy food processor bowl was broken. I used my stand mixer fitted with the paddle. The cream cheese should be at room temp, and I added it before the cottage cheese so I could make sure it was well dispersed before adding the cottage cheese. Then I switched to the wisk attachment and added the flour. I can't see why this couldn't be done with a hand mixer, either. You could cream the cream cheese and sugar, add eggs one at a time, then add the cottage cheese. Just make sure everything is mixed well before adding the cottage cheese. The first time I made these I served them with the jam. WAY too sweet and somehow the flavors felt juvenile. The next time I made them I added a splash of vanilla to the battter and served them with a compote made with dried (plumped) apricots, figs, and prunes flavored with a star anise, vanilla bean, and a splash of slivovitz. Yum. (I happen to love compoted fruit on anything I've been known to have it for breakfast on a piece of cornbread!)

If I might say a word in support of the KA 6 qt. Pro. It is not ideal for many pastry applications -- especially whipping a small amount of cream or beating two egg whites. Large volumes of cake batters and cookie doughs do well, however, and it does a wonderful, wonderful job with bread doughs. My work is breads or large cake jobs. I knew when I bought the machine that it would not be appropriate for small volume jobs -- so if I need two egg whites beaten to stiff peaks or one cup of cream whipped, I do it by hand or with a hand-help beater.

I have never made turnip latkes, but I have made latkes from sweet potatoes with great success. Also with mixture of yukon gold and celeriac -- with a little curry powder thrown in. Most yummy! Every year I have one guest at Passover who is a vegetarian. I make him a veggie potpie and, instead of a crust, make a sweet potatoe latke. (He had this once at our house and now requests it every year. It isn't varied or exciting, but he enjoys it so much I can't say no!) The latke makes a wonderful "crust".

Growing up, my Grandmother, z"l, who was a fine cook, made latkes with some regularity. They were the only thing she ever made that I could not abide. It wasn't until I went to NYU and tasted latkes at the B&H Dairy on 2nd Ave. that I learned latkes could be a religious experience! (My grandmother served them with maple syrup. A combination I still shudder recollecting! ) If anyone here ate at the B&H in the 80's, you'll know why I tried my first -- because The Man behind the counter -- the one who used to take off his wooden leg and sit it next to your dinner plate -- INSISTED I would like one of HIS latkes. And he was right -- if not a bit scary and more than a bit endearing! And they were crisp, and savory, and, with a little sour cream, divine! I'm digressing, but I would occasionally take girls I was dating to the B&H. The Man -- I never knew his name -- would take one look at my date, and if she didn't look Jewish, he would say things to her like "That's a nice boy you got there, Ma'am." or "You must have had this one when you were in your teens." But there were times when money was seriously tight when he would package food up on Friday as a gift to eat on Shabbat. And if I was ever depressed or lonely, it was like having a (verkachtah) family I could drop in on anytime. No girl I dated could understand my devotion to the restaurant. I guess you had to like eccentric short-order cooks and cabbage borscht in order to appreciate the place. It's still there, but it isn't the same. The Man is gone, z"l. They sell wheat grass juice out of the front window and they don't have cabbage borscht on eruv Shabbat anymore. Anyway, back to the latkes. For several years I cooked a latke feast for my synagogue. Latkes, homemade creme fraishe, bowls of salmon roe, and homemade applesauces -- one spiced and one raspberry. For 300 people. You can't imagine the amount of grease in the air, on the floor, in your hair, on your clothes -- EVERYWHERE! I was never happier than the day we decided to farm that particular event out to a caterer. Now I grate my spuds with onion -- probably more onion than most people -- add egg, matzah meal, flat-leaf parsley, lots of salt and pepper, then fry them up in goose grease. Served with a bit of creme fraishe on the side -- THAT's eatin', my friend! As they say in the South, where I come from, "Hag Sameach, Y'all!"

I also love the Inspiration Soup: "When one first arrives here one may believe the Soup tastes like ass. That is not so, my child. The Soup is Inspiration and the Soup is Love. Your name is now "Harmonia." " And if someone is going to deny it tastes like ass, wouldn't they have to admit to having a point of reference? Of course, if someone says it tastes like ass, wouldn't they have to admit the same? I'm almost giddy at the thought of THAT dinner table disagreement! "Mom! THis tastes just like ass!" "It does not -- I used the canned asparagus just to make sure!" "No, Mom! Billy's right. This tastes just like ass." O. My. I wonder how the censors are going to edit this. Peace & Love, Harmonia

Only 150? I'm somewhere around 700, and I've got 10 more or so I want to buy right away. Plus my MIL keeps threatening me with her collection, which would easilly bring me over 1000. (I don't look for that to happen soon, though. As many of you can, I'm sure, relate -- she'd go crazy without her cookbooks!) As for hard vs. soft, I come down on both sides. There are books I will read but probably not cook from that are just fine for soft cover. But stuff I'm going to cook from with any frequency had better be hard bound. I avoid the problem of the book slipping from my sleep-laxed hands onto my lovely wife's windpipe by reading them while laying on my stomach. Then I can absorb information through my cheek by osmosis! Occasionally this has resulted in a wee puddle of drool -- but nothing too destructive.

I feel a strange need to whip up a batch of Mackerelly!

I recently used sumac as a garnish on a Ravani -- a greek syrup-soaked cake made with farina. (I'm currently collecting recipes for different syrup-soaked cakes.) The syrup was lemon scented. For some odd reason, the cake was cooked through before it browned on top -- and since I had a guest with a nut allergy coming, I couldn't hide the pallor with my usual toasted almond garnish. I plated in the kitchen, piped a bit of whipped cream / sour cream on top, then dusted the cake and dessert plate with a bit of sumac. The taste was great. It added a zing, but didn't come across as savory, which had been my fear. Next time, though, I'm going to put it through a clean spice grinder, grind it some more, then tap it through a sieve. It didn't sprinkle as delicately as I would like -- which I attribute to the grind. What is perfect for something rustic like grilled meat or hummos b'tahina isn't always perfect for dessert!

Now I haven't lived in New York for several years, but it can't have changed THAT much. You won't be complaining about reservations -- nobody who's ANYBODY will be in New York City in August! That's what G-d made The Hamptons -- and Fire Island -- for! But I'm still glad they cancelled the boat. Bad idea. All Hail the Powerful Bourdain!

The toddy is great for iced coffee. I still don't prefer it for my morning cuppa, but in the summer you can plop a shot into a glass of ice and then fill it up with cold water and milk if you prefer. Many people love the toddy for their hot joe. I am still completely sold on my Bunn drip and wouldn't think of replacing it for the world. (I've actually taken it with me on vacation!) Oh -- The Nescafe stuff sounds perfectly dreadful. Run -- as far and as fast as you can!

My grandmother, z"l, always sprinkled smoked salt on buttered baked potatoes. It is one of my top-ten comfort foods -- not only do I enjoy the taste, but I enjoy the association. I actually can't think of anything else I might have used it with -- just potatoes.

OK -- I know it is truly juvenile, but one MUST check out these vintage Weight Watcher Cards from 1974. Click on the first one and then you can fihnd your way through them all. The author's commentary is so funny I had tears running down my face. It's cold and dreary here in Chicago, and I had to come to work today. This gave me a great lift, and I hope it does you, as well. Do me a favor though -- don't cook any of these!

Thank you so much for posting the pics. They helped me get my six-year-old excited about our upcoming trip to NOLA! Hmmmm. I wish I had an order of begniets rignt now!

As the holiday approaches, my haiku gets harsh. (Said to my wife at last year's dinner, "It's too bad you didn't marry Billy Cherry. He's a CPA.") Thanksgiving again Another harsh reminder Why I hate your mom.

Muffaletta, beignets, Jambalaya, beans and rice, Reasons for living. Searching for meaning, Seeking the ultimate truth, What is in the sauce?

There are several fine Korean restaurants here in Chicago -- I heard another reviewed on the tube just the other day. I love Korean food, and I always choose a Korean restaurant for dinner on New Year's day. I think the bigggest obstacle to the popularization of Korean food is language, not flavor. My six year old eats kim chee, chopchae, tofujigae, monuguk, etc. But we never go to a Korean restaurant without friends who are Korean. The one time we went alone was a disaster -- mostly because of the language thing. If Korean restaurants invested a little money into having menu's and descriptions translated well, I think it would quickly reflect in their bottom line. I know I would go more often.

25 years ago I had a salad at The Ranch in Ojai, CA that I have never forgotten. It was a salad of pears in a tarragon viniagrette with crumbled Maytag and toasted pecans (or maybe it was almonds and I just make it with pecans) on a leaf or two butter bib. Nothing "Bammin'" about the dish, but as delicious and rich as anything I've ever eaten.

Geaux, Squeet, & Seth: Thanks. I'm feeling much better today -- it just hurts when I write. I really wanted to know what remedies people who get burned more often than I use when they get a nasty one. My wife is looking over my shoulder right now saying "Anthony Bourdain isn't going to stop a meal in the middle of a live snake to go to the emergency room with a burn." I think she's right, though I'm slightly disturbed by her story of Bourdain eating a live snake. Ick. Of course, Bourdain is so macho, I imagine he calls people around to watch it blister, then has a bottle of vodka and feels no pain! Anyway -- are there any HOME remedies which have been successful?

Last night I made a mistake. I let the wok get super hot while I chopped garlic I had forgotten to do before putting the wok on the heat. I added the oil, grabbed the bowl of prepped onions from the counter, and tipped them in, using my free (right) hand to coax them out of the bowl. Oil (at about 400 degrees) splashed up and got me good on a part of my hand that has never been burnt before. Now I've been burned 100 times before, and I find it generally more of an irritant than anything else. Maybe it's just the combination of really hot oil on really tender flesh, but this puppy hurt. I put ice on it, which eased the pain, but the minute I took the ice off, the pain was back. I've never kept ice on anything for more than 10 minutes in my life -- I generally find icing something to be really uncomfortable. But I kept this bad boy on ice for the next 5 hours -- and then went to bed with it resting on a fresh cold pack. The burn spray with pain releaver didn't do bubkus, neither did the triple antibiotic ointment with pain releaver. What do you guys use on burns?