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hathor

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Posts posted by hathor

  1. Its sort of turning into a tradition...a big, lavish meal for teenagers.
    That is so nice to hear. Brought back memories... That's the sort of thing we did for our boys and their friends when they were young. They all loved it, and we had quite a reputation for it. Everybody wanted to be invited! Even on regular week nights, the friends would casually ask what we were having for dinner, because they knew (1) that we cooked a good meal almost every night, even if it was after the ball games and practices, etc. -- only once in a while did we order pizza -- and that we sat at the table to eat no matter how late and (2) it was always something different than they were used to. It was amazing to me how few kids had dinners cooked for them. Often in their families, it was each person on their own, take out or eat out.

    Congrats to you. Thanks for the post. Great sounding dinner menu, too, BTW!

    that about describes what goes on at our house! :biggrin: Now that everyone is back from college, I usually call my son around 8:00 to get the head count for dinner!

  2. We had a birthday celebration for our son last night. Its sort of turning into a tradition...a big, lavish meal for teenagers.

    Amuse: cold watercress soup finished with some sweet red onions marinated in fresh orange juice

    Rhode Island Bay scallops served in an orange beurre blanc sauce. Must of have been good, people were drinking the sauce!

    Pistachio crusted crown roast rack of lamb with roasted herb potatoes.

    "Winter Cauliflower": roasted in a white sauce and finished with some parmigiano cheese to brown the top. Have you ever seen teenagers fight over cauliflower? Just because it was on your plate did not mean it was not fair game.

    Sauteed green beans. (at this point, they were so content I was able to put on some Dinah Washington music and they were happy)

    Fresh Greenmarket leaf salad with excellent cheeses! We ate the cheeses on slices of ripe pears. A mild blue sort of cheese (carephilly), a really goaty goat cheese (the nice guy at Dean & DeLuca described it as just like they sliced the goat), and this runny, oozy Italian 3 leche cheese, that I do not want to remember the name of because then I would get it every day!

    Fruit platter with rainer cherries, gooseberries, figs, strawberries and bing cherries

    Cranberry cheese cake. (by now we were listening to the Doors, turned up very loud)

    Warning: do NOT try this on a Wednesday night...it's nearly suicidal.

  3. Ms. Hesser's review is dead on about breakfast...but clearly she has not sniffed out the donuts yet.

    I don't care if its not 'hip', it's great to have around when you HAVE to have a plateau, and a trip to Bofinger is out of the question. :smile:

  4. OH... were the meats extra bloody by chance?? :biggrin: And surely there is a tale to be told with tete de veau.

    I love a good scary story..or, as my grandmother would say, "schpooky story".

    When the kids were little and we would go camping with friends, one person would start the story, and then hand it off to the next person. "Icy Joe" lived in a cave at Snowbird, and everytime we go by, we still are on the lookout for "Icy Joe" :laugh:

  5. The Pugliese bread looks really, really, really good. How do you dimple? Just by pinching it? That must be fun....sure the kids enjoy 'dimplin' with dad'!

    Have you ever had or made the hard, dry, bagel shaped Puliese bread? It gets dipped in water before eating, then a little olive oil and salt? Its kind of an 'acquired' taste, but very good.

    And with the crummy weather today, left over short ribs would be just fine!

  6. Disclaimer: I really believe the best way to stay sane as a parent is to keep your sense of humor. Please keep this in mind as you read the following.

    Hokay, so armed with lots of good advice and intentions, we decided to take the kids to the Japanese Hibachi place last night in search of something different for them, to broaden their horizons.

    5:30, Monday night, place is empty. We are shown to our grill/table at which point we explain carefully to the children (4 and 6) what is going to happen. The table is a stove, it's going to get really hot, the meal will be cooked in front of us, yadda yadda. Now, this isn't too much of a stretch, the kids love the Mongolian BBQ grill style place here in town and so they seem to understand. We order. My son, 4, says straight out he isn't interested in anything except grilled cheese or popcorn shrimp. Oh boy...

    So we order him the shrimp (non-popcorn, but oh well). My daughter orders the filet mignon, which I know she will love. The choice of soup or salad with their meal is met with hesitation and then an order of the soup. Which they actually both eat and enjoy. Gee, we think, this was a good idea.

    The chef arrives, tall funny toque, nice young hispanic guy (I know, I know... serious shortage of Japanese folks in the upper midwest). He proceeds to do his stchick, tossing knives and spatulas every which way. My son's eyes get HUGE and he very seriously warns the chef. "Be careful" We laugh, thinking this is cute. The vegetables come out. My son declares he doesn't like mushrooms. The chef makes a little tower with the onions, my son declares he doesn't like onions either. The chef fills the tower full of oil, pours quite a bit of another substance into it and then lights a match. WHOOMMMM, a giant fireball flies out of the tower right at us. Startled me, freaked my son out to no end. He was HOWLING, climbing up my leg. Holy shit. When we have done this before there was a polite little pflume of flame coming out of the top of the tower, not a rolling inferno.

    At this point my son is in hysterics, in my lap crying. I am apologizing profusely to the chef and suggesting that maybe the pyro-technics shouldn't continue. Thank god the restaurant was still empty. Son finally calms down after about 5 minutes and many reassurances there will be no more fire. He makes it through the rest of the show, crying intermittently every time the chef makes a loud noise or tosses something his way. Eats half his bowl of rice, a few spoonfulls of soup, a bowl of orange sherbert and finally we manage to drag ourselves out of there. In the meantime my son has declared that he hates shrimp, hates steak, hates vegetables and doesn't like this restaurant either. I, literally, had never heard the word 'hate' spoken by him before.

    So, um, yeah. We basically scarred him for life. He will never try a new food again without fearing for his life and now associates chicken soup with giant fireballs. We, as parents, learned such a good lesson tonight. There is serious truth in that old saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. :rolleyes:

    While there may be a serious shortage of Japanese chefs... I sincerely hope there are plenty of psychiatrists! I'm sure this will go down in the oral family history books... :biggrin:

  7. I did send off a letter to Jack and Grace Lamb describing our experience there.

    Last night I got a lovely response letter with a sincere apology. The most impressive part of the letter was "Needless to say, we have all read it-every member of the restaurant-and are working to address all weaknesses in service and quality".

    What more can anyone ask? To address and try to correct a problem is the best course of action.

    They also very generously credited back to us the cost of the meal.

    In fairness, we will have to go back again.

    Regards.

  8. Traditional cole slaw can be a thing of beauty and I have been on a cruisade to revive its tarnished image. One Tanya Harding does not mean all skaters are crass. Forget that nasty Tanya slaw you had at the last little league picnic. The joy of great cole slaw is in supreme tension. The dressing is simply mayo, salt, pepper, white vinegar, sweetner and celery seed. The mix is perfect when its almost too salty, too tart and too sweet all at once. I generally use a bit of honey as well as sugar. I cut my cabbage using an antique tripple blade slaw cutter that cuts off cabbage slices that are a bit thick so they retain some good crunch. Here in Oregon in the fall, you can get giant sturdy heads of cabbage that are grown specifically for slaws and krauts. They have terrific crunch. Look for heads with big veins in the leaves rather than a bunch of thin, tightly packes leaves. Be generous with the onion so it can contribute to the bite of the dressing. A good dressing mix is a bit thinner than crass-slaw, so be sparing.

    I have eaten Milo's cole slaw and can attest to its perfection!! And I'm lusting for that cutter! :raz:

  9. I learned about 'suckering' from DoverCanyon...but what's verasion? The ground in the vineyard is looking more 'baked'.

    As always...so glad you are doing this! Thanks.

  10. basic black in some permutation for the lady.

    This cannot be emphasized enough.

    No color. We only wear black. Stilettos, of the OWTD (Only Wear To Dinner) classification. Must have manicure (pale pink) and pedicure (wise choice of color is acceptable). Current facial is also required, we must appear moist, not sweaty. Ponchos are the 'in' wrap. Poncho can be colorful, but none of this summer fur trim unless you are really tall and thin. Legs should be bare and bronzed. One bare shoulder instead of two. :biggrin::raz::laugh: Yes, yes, I'm kidding!!!

  11. If you bake in ceramic, there's no worries about sticking. You also get a more consisent, enveloping heat in ceramic. I like to make lasagna bolognese with fresh pasta, very thin layers. Its actually quite delicate and very delicious. Cover for most of the time, and then uncover for brownig.

  12. My son's first sentence, I remember it clearly, was "I want more pate'".

    Pate was my son's lunch of choice as well. :biggrin:

    We always subscribed to the you must taste it first, before you can reject it doctrine, and what's good for the goose: I was required to taste pineapple and bbq chicken on pizza. OK, I tasted it, and I dont' have to eat it anymore.

    Our son grew up helping out in the kitchen, then he went thru a I'm not going near the kitchen phase, to a ramen/mac and cheese phase, to perfecting his Tuscan style steak dinner. Which means, lead by example and give the child room to grow in their own way. Respect your child's instincts (within reason!), and then you can expect some respect and trust in return.

  13. Saturday night: grilled red snapper. I stuffed the snapper with some herbs from the garden (parsley, basil, rosemarry, oregano, thyme) and 2 orange slices. Served with an orange beurre blanc sauce. Very delicate flavors. The cat thought it was excellent!

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