Vervain

I agree. Several times he demonstrated that he cared little about food and even less for talking about it. And it felt like Reichl, for one, was getting a little irritated at the almost condescending attitude he was taking. This conflict came through particularly when he assumed that they'd all prefer bad conversation and good food to great conversation and mediocre food, as though ideas beyond the newest way to plate trout were lost on them.

I was baffled by that too and wonder whether that bit was mistranslated. He kept saying he wanted more intimacy, so wouldn't the kitchen smells and sounds add to that? Like if you were sitting in someone's kitchen while they cooked? And thank you savvysearch for the link! I very much enjoyed all three segments.

Please do start a post about your reading food parties. I'd love to hear more. Which book is that story from?

I agree with those of you who say she is fabulous but best in smaller doses. So I'm trying to decide on one, individual book. Potentially this is for a literature class in food writing I hope (fingers crossed ) to teach in Winter, so The Art of Eating is just too much to take on. I've used The Gastronomical Me before in another class, and it has problems. It begans incredibly well, but then gets choppy and even confusing.

If you were to give one MFK Fisher book to someone who had never read her before, which would you choose and why?

These are really wonderful! Thank you. "Practically Edible" gives its sources and credits the writer, like any good reference book. Has anyone been able to figure out the sources and credits for the Hormel site? And why oh why does Hormel have this resource (along with some more under the "knowledge" drop-down menu. Who is their audience? or Who do they think their audience is?

This indeed is a poorly written article, but he/she has a point about too heavily-oaked wines: " Wood-flavored wine. Americans know as little about wine as they do about coffee. California winemakers throw oak chips into vats of fermenting chardonnay in order to simulate the effect of aging in oak barrels. That is true only for the cheaper wines, but the dearer ones taste just as woody. The American idea of a "big wine" is to suffuse cabernet sauvignon (properly used to produce a delicate wine) with the taste of oak. At best, American wines offer a soporific sort of smoothness, but never achieve the quirkiness, eccentricity and character which make European vineyards an enchanted realm. " But, oh my dear, European vineyards are "an enchanted realm"????

Saara, You're the BEST! Here's the deal, we're going up for a week to scout out locations to move to. And we're NOT rich Californians looking to drive up real estate prices. We rent and have never owned a house. We're looking to move someplace we can afford where we can have an acre (or two), quiet, can meet interesting people, and enjoy nature. We visited Bellingham 4 years ago and liked it then. We're also thinking of checking out places to the South of Bellingham (but North of expensive Seattle). And we'd love to be near (in view of) mountains (part of our wish-but-willing-to-compromise list). We're checking out Bellingham again because we want to be near culture, bookstores, coffee houses, etc. But near could be a 45 minute drive. Anyway, I'd welcome any and all suggestions. Thank you so much for taking the time.

We're visiting Bellingham, WA next week and we'd love suggestions for some interesting places to visit: gourmet stores organic markets cheese shops kitchen supply stores wine shops Thanks!

We were there with another couple a few months ago and it was fabulous!!!! In fact the other couple had eaten there the year before and kept at us to take a few days and drive up especially to go to Manka's. They pride themselves on using local produce and meats: "Mr. Wolfe's Quail grilled in the fireplace nested in grilled leaves of Annabelle's escarole etangled with her ember charred onions and apple." And they're not kidding. I think they specialize in set menus that are longest and most involved on Saturdays. Ours was 8 courses for $88 and well worth it. I think the lodge itself is pretty pricey, but we stayed at a lovely B & B 5 minutes away. Here's a link: http://www.mankas.com/mankas/home.html

Frankly, for cooking I mostly just use Trader Joe's "Italian President's Reserve EVOO." They say it's cold pressed and made in Italy with olives from Sicily and Puglia; TJ just distributes and sells it. It tastes pretty good and is very cheap (as long as there's a TJ near you).

David, Please be sure to post here and/or PM me if you need signatures or letters. I'm sure there are other SoCal market-goers here at e-gullet who would be happy to help. Life without good mushrooms is no life at all! Emily

David, I haven't been to the market for a few weeks, but I went Wednesday (Feb 9th) and saw your vacant space and the cryptic sign. So what's happening with all this? Is there anything the shoppers can do? This just seems so weird. I'm terribly sorry you're having to go through such nonsense. Emily

OK, I hope this string (and my addition to it) isn't verging on some wacked fan site babble However, I've got an idea for how Luke can win over Emily (who was in the original A Chorus Line by the way). Remember how he cooked a fairly fancy meal for Lorelei but was interrupted by his sister and brother-in-law (my least favorite characters )? He's got it in him to wow the rich people. In a way, this show reminds me a little of Northern Exposure. By the way, how does Luke know about such good food? Does he have a secret stash of cookbooks or food mags? Food porn under the bed?

Suzanne--Sounds yummy !(and comforting, which I could use about now). Recipe? I just made one last night. It's pasta with chickpeas and spinach. Please don't flinch, but the recipe was from FoodTV (Emeril ). Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/re...6_17945,00.html The recipe is vegetarian, but I made it with chicken rather than veg. broth. And I used a lot more garlic. But it comes out much richer and with a deeper flavor than it sounds. Really good.

I love Russ Parsons's writing, but am not familiar with his bean cooking method. What is it, please?

I am a relative novice (took a four-part wine class earlier this year and LOVE drinking good wine with good food), and I enjoyed the show. It was basic, but it didn't claim to be anything else. Yes the choice of Merlot as one of the three basic red grapes seemed off to me (but I truly am no expert). But I have one quibble. Other than the occasional gallery opening where one can't (simply can't) walk around and view the art without a glass of cheap white wine in hand, I don't drink wine without having food with it. For me, wine and food matching is THE most difficult and most exciting challenge of wine. All these wine competitions where wine is consumed without regard to food mean little to me. As you all know, food changes the taste of wine just as wine alters the experience of the food. So I feel awfully lucky to have a fantastic wine store nearby with an exceptional staff. One wine guy in particular has grown used to our almost weekly "stump the wine guy" challenges. We give him the recipe or menu and he makes the wine matches. There's a lot to learn and I would love to see Cleese do a follow-up show on wine and food pairing, especially one that goes beyond overly simplistic pairings.

There's a pretty scathing review of some of the recipes in today's (October 20) L.A. Times food section by Leslie Brenner: "All Smoke and Swagger?". It hasn't yet been posted/pinned in the "California" forum, but you can go right to the Times' website to read it. According to jschyun: "Viewing the LA Times website, www.latimes.com requires registration, but you can log on with username 'egulleteer' and password 'lafood'. " Have any of you tried the recipes she talks about yet? Is she right?

I'm just amazed that it's not playing on WNET or in Houston. Did you check the list on the website I mentioned in the first post? When you get to the home page, click on "Program" and then click on "national broadcast schedule." It will list all the markets and dates/times. We can get two (sometimes three) public television stations here, so maybe it's playing on one of your alternate stations.

So what specifically makes Mario or Julia or Jacques or Sarah or (fill in with whomever else) a great TV teacher? And what do the others do or not do that keeps us from learning anything? Do the good teachers talk more about ingredients (quality, variety, freshness, etc.)? Does the camera work focus more on their hands, showing us technique? Do they work slowly enough for us to follow what they're doing, but fast enough so we don't get bored? Do they explain why they use what they use in a recipe? Are the "bad" teachers failing because of bad or overly difficult recipes, their tone, bad camera work, they move too quickly to follow, the entertainment focus overrides the instructional one?

Watching Jacques Pepin's new show made me think about how some people, like Jacques and Julia, are wonderful teachers. I think Sarah M. is good at this too. So, in your opinion, which chefs really aren't so good at teaching on TV? Whose show is/was too obscure, intimidating, unclear, etc.?

Did anyone get the chance to see Jacques' new TV show: Fast Food My Way ? It was on here in L.A. last night at 5 p.m. (a really weird time--we taped it). First let me say that I love that man, I really love that man! ! I've learned so much from him over the years. As with his other shows, Pepin is pretty much all business and no flash. And it's such a relief! He doesn't kvell over his own saute skills or have an orgasm over the taste of his own food. He does taste things, but responds in a completely natural way. If something tastes good, he says so without getting weak at the knees. What I did notice, and have been curious about, is that once again we get to witness his undying love-affair with (good quality) apricot jam. Here's the show's web link: http://www.kqed.org/w/jpfastfood/home.html __________________

Creamy raspberry or maple centers! Whenever my parents got a big box of assorted chocolates from See's or Allen Wertz (sp?), I'd stick my little-finger nail up in the bottoms to find the ones I wanted so I wouldn't waste a choice on nuts or caramel.

Thank you all for the great replies! But I have a few questions: Jinmyo: a stew with "arteries and other tubes"? Could you be more specific (or is the memory a little nausea-producing? I'm curious because in the "Invalid Cookery" section of The Settlement Cook Book, there's a recipe for Liver Soup. hathor: Drambui? Really? Why? Russ Parsons: Was the tapioca a craving or just what was around? Or was this something from your childhood? Several people mentioned flat ginger ale. I'd forgotten about that. Why do you think that was recommended? You'd think the bubbles would help a sensitive stomach.

Teaching a class where the topic came up, I found that my students had strong (really strong) attachments to certain foods from childhood, the most powerful being the foods and beverages served to them when they were getting over colds and flu. So now I'm doing some research on the subject and I have a few questions for you folks: What did your mother (or caregiver) feed you while you were recovering from an illness? Do you ascribe any special healing properties to those foods? Do you crave them when you get sick now? What do you serve your family and friends when they are getting over being sick? Are any of these foods tied to a cultural tradition that you know of? Personally, besides being drowned in some form of Campbells chicken soup (my 50s Jewish mother drew the line at making any kind of soup from scratch), I remember getting elbow macaroni and cottage cheese when I was just past the melba toast (what a vile invention!) stage of stomach flu. I haven't had that concoction in years, but it still sounds comforting to me. __________________