Seattlegirlychef

I just saw the flick last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was amazed at how well the creators did so much homework on the actual workings of a kitchen and bringing so much passion for cooking into the movie. I'm wondering if anyone knows about the sweetbreads special that Linguini becomes famous for...what exactly was in it? Collette rambles off the menu description so fast, it was hard to follow. Thank you Busboy who posted the ratatouille recipe from Thomas Keller, my husband wants me to make it tomorrow night! What an ingredient list! At least it's a fairly cheap dish to make. I'm just wondering how he made it so compact and small, without the the thin disks of squash toppling over and losing it's shape. Interesting, anywhoo, back to life....

Jaime rocks my socks off, I fell in love the first time I saw him on the Food network!

SOMEONE PLEASE tell me why the idiot-intern Drew was sitting at the table with Chowderhead and his minions while taste testing Ralph's food? Was Drew not fired??? Hello?

Did anybody catch the previews for the next show, something about 'who's the hottie? oh, he's Rocco's replacement'? The camera pans to a tall, dark and handsome guy sitting at one of the booths. If I'm not mistaken LAST WEEK they teased us with the same 'replacement' gag and showed a nerdy, bushy haired 30-something attempting to saute pasta. ...getting desperate???

'See my enormous ego here'...a picture of Rocco (my blog). Rocco is insane, the show is crazy, mama knows nothing, poor mama, so much drama! Poor Antonio cooking in the kitchen and not speaking English, what is a fullatore? I know...do you? I know why they're losing money, Rocco's ego is getting in the way of payroll. Just cuz the place is packed everynight, doesn't make it profitable, Duh, look at your food cost! I didn't go to cooking school just to cook, I learned a thing or to about running a restaurant.

You're right mnebergall, I do believe the breast has no fat on it. I'm discovering from other posts that goose breast is served like you described, grilled or seared to med-rare, either that or cooked to oblivion until it's mush. I'm cooking for my family, and I don't think they're too keen on eating such a rare piece of meat, but I would try it! I will be cooking it this weekend, thanks for the suggestion, I'll let you know how it goes, Leah

I need some advice on what do with 2, close to about 10 oz. each, goose breasts I have in my freezer. My dad got them from his boss after a hunting trip. I've never cooked goose before, should I sear and then roast? I wish i could smoke it...but have no smoker. Could I marinate it and grill it? What flavors should I use? I need some help please! thanks!

Another Installment, yeah for me: 18/7/03 I filmed Eva in they kitchen making the sweet cake the serve at Patsatzis. It's made mainly with semolina, sugar, yolks, baking soda and powder, lemon zest, and egg whites folded in, baked, then a cider type of syrup is poured on top-sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and water, then set to cool. She also did lamb's neck-roasted with mustard, s&p, retsina wine, bay leaf, lemon juice, water, and roasted in the oven at 300C-about 450F for 3 1/2 hours-I can't wait to try it. Nikos is a cutie- he reminds me of one of the guys I cooked with at school-Matt- but Nikos is actually nice. He just asked me, "You write letter now?"-"no, It's my journal", I say. 23/7/03 Yesterday we ate at the Canadian Pizza place-blech. I learned that you should never eat at a place like that-where they make frood from another country-named by another country-served in another country. I think even the CANADIANS would be embarrassed. It was pretty sad-I ordered a 'calzone'- A squishy pocket filled with gobs of unidentified white cheese, sliced kalamata olives, some greasy mushrooms and slathered in tomato sauce...which was actually ketchup. And the 'cobb salad' was actually large chunks of iceburg lettuce, cubes of edam cheese-which I'm still not clear on the origin of-kalamata olives, slices of canadian bacon, and the dressing which was mayonnaise...yes, straight mayonnaise, not oil, vinegar, s&p...eek! I made an attempt to be as gracious as possible picking through the this messy dinner, trying to recover the somewhat edible bits. The Greek family I was eating with seemed unphased by this culinary humiliation. It was pretty sad, I learned I need to eat at places where the food is made by people that actually know how to make it-in a region where the ingredients are local and used appropriately. Yeah and I won't eat at Goody's ever again-I need to eat some calamari!

Ah moussaka, you guys make me so happy, stuff to read! woowooo...I was informed from Evagelia that ground beef is harder to come by then ground pork. They used very little beef anything in their dishes, mostly pork, chicken and veal. And lamb as well, but not as much as you think. They don't use lamb for the gyros like most places here in the states. Eva tells me that lamb is too expensive and greasy for the majority of Greek's taste. So instead pork and chicken is used, seasoned and skewered onto a huge metal rod, propped up vertically, not horizontally, cooked over hot coals. Most eateries have the gryo displayed proudly for passerbys to see and smell the delicious meat. ~~~ Pictures from my travels here. more to come!

And now, something about Greek food, yes, I did learn some things on my voyage overseas last summer. I have my journal sitting here next to the keyboard waiting to be transposed into this lovely message post. I added in more descriptions and information. Here we go: Monday 14/7/03 (notice the change in date display) So, today is Monday, My parents anniversary-30 years- I'm sitting here in the tabepna (taverna) that's how you write it in Greek. Evagelia helped me write it. Were' listening to Josh Groban on the stereo, she likes his music. My tummy is upset-I think it's freaking out from all these new things I'm putting into it. We had moussaka earlier-sliced potatoes, eggplant, ground pork, and mornay sauce, layered, very rich and heavy. I didnt' eat much, some bread, tzatziki-yogurt, cucumber, dill, and onion, some salad-with green peppers, tomatoes, olive oil and dried herbs. And now I'm drinking sprite to calm my stomach. It's not as sweet as the US's drink. The main soda beverage's of choice here are coca-cola, diet coke, sprite, and fanta. No dad's root beer, dr. pepper, mt. dew, overly complicated sugary soft drinks, etc. All the soda comes in refillable glass bottles so the restaurant doesn't have to pay extra for new bottles. Themis took me to buy some ice cream at the village 'convenience store'-an outdoors kiosk of sorts, with all types of candies, chips, drinks, cigarettes and magazines on display to sell. These kiosks are located almost every other block, super convienent for that momentary sugar fix. There's all types of ice cream novelty treats-cones, bars, 1/2 pint containers, pop-ups-and all different flavors-chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, caramel, mocha, hazelnut, peanut butter and various fruits. Some topped with nuts and fudge, some with a frozen fruity sauce, they're definately big here on the ice cream. more to come~

Hey, for those of you wondering (quina), I'm still in the process of actually typing up some of the FOOD stuff from Greece, it's all in my handy journal laying on my desk in the other room, but I'm too lazy to get it and about to retire for the night. I know, I gotta start living up to my 'chef' name eh? Believe me, I did try plenty of Greek foods, and yes...some eats from "Goody's", their version of an 'upscale' McDonalds. All in due time, but for now, one more email....and I think I actually mention something in here about cooking: Sunday, Aug. 10, 2003 Hello my fellow Anglos~ This will be my last report from Greece. I know so sad, but not sad that I'm finally going home! It really does seem like an eternity since I've been home. I'm missing all your happy faces too much. I went to the beach with Maria this past week. I finally got some color, sort of, but nothing like a major tan. We went to Goody's, one of the major fast food chains here in Greece, even bigger then McDonalds. Goody's was the first fast food place I've been in were the serve Heinken on tap and the majority of the seating is for smoking. Pretty crazy. I made some grilled pizzas for the crew in the tavern on Thursday. Evagelia bought me some top ramen noodles so I could make some stir-fry. I have been craving Asian food like mad. I don't trust the Greeks to do Asian food. I made some more lemon squares on Friday for a family lunch we had today at church. They turned out pretty yummy. Today was my last day at church. It was such a blessing because the had one of the tall black Nigerian guys pray for me and an older lady that was going back to Africa. We ate lunch after church and I talked to a lady name Ute ("ewe-tah") from Germany. She's really sweet. I took several pictures as well so you can all see the faces of this very international church. God is good! We've had about 2 more rainstorms this past week which I always get a kick out of. We have been pretty lucky with the rain, unlike the other countries here. I had seen several shots of forest fires of Italy on the Greek news, but didn't realize how severe it was till I read the news online. They even had the Pope ask everyone to pray for rain. Well, I was hoping to make this last email longer then the rest, but my brain's fried. For those of you that would like to meet me at the airport (hint, hint) I arrive this Wednesday, Aug. 13th, around 4:30pm on British Airways. My parents will be there was well, at the top of the escalator. On my flight back I take an hour flight to Athens then I'll be camping out in the airport till the morning when my 8am flight to London leaves. Fun times! Pray for a safe trip home, love you all, Leah The English word for "Ya sas" is "Health to you".

seabeasties...as in seafood? no shrimp, I thought I said already, but i did eat lots of grilled fish, a bit of calamri, evagelia said it's never seriously fresh so she didn't want me to try, but I did anyways (not much to say, a bit chewy, no flavor)...I think that's it!

hey guys, thanks for that, you're right, I should write more about food...duh...I will probably type up some stuff from my journal then. I think those might be more insightful. thanks~ Leah

Hi folks, okay, no need to get snooty here, but I was hoping for more people to actually reply to my posts, ie ask questions, comments, whatever, just let me know you're reading. Thank you Pan for commenting :) I need some feedback! I'm thinking of simply taking excerpts straight from my journal while I was in Greece instead of posting more emails...though I only have about 4 left, well tell me what you think~ thanks love :) ~~~~~~ Wednesday, July 23, 2003 Halkidiki is beautiful! I'm learning that the three "legs" of the beaches (look at map for you none-world travelers http://www.halkidiki.com/english/sinfo_e.htm ) are where people take their long summer holidays to get out of the city. Themis' parents and I drove to Neas Marmaras, http://www.halkidiki.com/marmaras/index.htm the middle leg of the beach, where the water is as blue as I have imagined, much better then the beach I went to last week. We drove up to a small kids camp where Themis sister, Maria was working. She's a very energetic 22-year-old, greeted me with the traditional kiss on each cheek (right to left!) They chatted for a while, then the parents and I drove down to the beach and went for a quick swim. There were actual waves for me to jump through and over, lots of fun. Luckily, it was much later in the evening and so I didn't have to worry about the sun scorching my skin. I haven't gotten much browner, I need to work on that! I collected some pretty rocks (mom) too. The sand is really nice, not too grainy, more like little tiny pebbles that are comfortable to walk on bare foot. After words we drove into the small tourist town, I think I actually passed by English speaking families, made me feel not so foreign. We should be going back on Friday, looking forward to it... I have been doing a minimal amount of cooking, more eating then cooking. Themis tells me "you come home 100 kg fatter!" Well...I don't know about that. Evagelia tells me not to worry about helping in the kitchen because I'm on vacation, "no need to work!" I'm gonna try making my yummy lemon squares, I'll see how the Greeks like them. I have to first convert the measurements into metric, I hope they turn out alright. Anyways...almost 1/2 way through the month...I am looking forward to coming home :) The language barrier hasn't been too hard, well sort of, Evagelia has been helping me with the words and the pronounciation. For those of you unknown to the Greek culture, they use a completely different alphabet compared to the Latin one. The "R" is a "P", the "L" is an upside down "V", the "G" is an upside-down "L", the "S" is a squiggly looking "C", the "B" has a "V" sound...well you get the picture. It might as well be any Asian alphabet for that matter. Until next time, same bat time, same bat channel! Love you, Leah -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Greek word for "Bless you" is "Stin-ee-ya-sas".

My mother is not home yet, I am hungry, did she go grocery shopping or not? I wonder. Please do not get me confused for a 20 something adult that STILL lives with their parents and mooches off of them, that is only partially true for me. I've lived on my own for a cumulative number of years and do know how to shop and cook for myself. I'm just lazy and would rather sit here and eat these delicious kettle potato chips instead. And now for my 3rd installment of my emails from Greece. FYI: If you would like to know more about what this is all about, please return to the main "adventures in eating" board and click on pt. 2 of my emails, you'll understand it better. So without further ado ~ Monday, July 21, 2003 Wow...email every 2 days from me, how exciting.... I made it to church! The bus only took a half hour, considering almost all businesses are closed on Sundays in the city, so there's less traffic. The church is pretty small, maybe 20 people max. The pastor and his wife, Ernie and Gladys Guitterez, are Phillipino and speak fluent English and a good amount of Greek. I met 2 girls, Kristin from Wash. DC, and Brenda is from New Zealand. They were at the church for several days, working for YWAM, and had just back from Georgia and Albania, preaching the gospel. How awesome is that? There were some family's from Nigeria, Switzerland, Germany, and of course here in Greece. It was great to finally have some fellowship, it really helped me keep my eyes focused on where God is putting me. I thanked Ernie and Gladys and they were very friendly and offered to take me to the beach while I'm here. I gave Kristin my email and contact number so possibly I might get together with her and Brenda for their time here. Very awesome... Yesterday after church I went to my first REAL big, fat, Greek Orthodox wedding. Evagelia, Themis and I all drove about an hour and a half north, up to this early Christian Basilican church, on the side of this mountain, literally. The drive was crazy, a winding, curvy road, if I didn't keep my eyes on the in front of the car, I was sure to get sick. The wedding was outside, in front of the church where we all gathered and waited a half an hour till the bride and her entourage showed up. The groom's family was waiting there as well. The bride and her family entered from a long dirt road visable from the church, with a band playing music in the front of the procession. They made it up to the front, while the priest blessed them and did the ritual of reading the orthodox bible, drank some wine, smashed a glass, placed a round ring and on the bride and groom's head, and then we all threw rice and crossed our hearts like 10 times. It was pretty interesting :) We couldn't stay for the reception because we had to get back to the restaurant. I did take some amazing pictures though. I'll get those all scanned when I get home. Tomorrow I'm going to Halkidi beach with Themi's parents...we were going to go today but they cancelled because they had a funeral to go to. There seems to be a lot of those....I'm mailing out some postcards to some of you, I hope they get to you before I get home! Until next time, love you~ Leah ------- Also, you can always see my pictures from my journeys here.

Hey folks...and now for another installment of Leah's Travels in Greece. For those you just tuning in, I'm posting emails that I wrote while I was away from my family and friends, when visiting my pen-pal friend and her family and restaurant in Thessaloniki, Greece for a month this past summer. Give me your feedback, questions, comments whatever. It's all appreciated much. And don't forget to check out my pictures from my travels here. Saturday, July 19, 2003 On my way walking to the cafe to type this email I past by my first fig tree :) I picked one off but I wasn't sure if it was ripe or not. So last night John (Evagelia's bro-in-law) and Raya (her cousin) took me out to one of the many upscale clubs in Thessaloniki. Raya is a law student at the university so she speaks pretty good English, yet John does not. So I conversed mostly with Raya, while she translated with Greece. So anyways I just got to say that Seattle's clubs (spokane too becky) aint got NOTHING compared to the clubs here. We drove out some where near the airport so its in a pretty rural, open area. You walk in greeted by the security guards and valet parking guys, and they'll give you a nod as an okay to walk in. You pay your cover at the counter, about $10 with a drink and then you get this ticket to give to the bartender. The size of the place was insane, maybe 10k sq ft. with 20 ft. ceilings, huge circular lighting fixtures with Asian style paper light "globes". The ceiling is semi-opened, with a retractable roof for when it rains. There's big white couches, leather ottomans and long, flowy curtains stretching the height of the ceiling. John says most of the seating is reserved, so you have to call in advance to make sure you have a seat. If not, it's standing room only. We got there about midnight, but the place didn't get packed till about 1. The music was a mix of top 40, 90's (all american) and upbeat Greek pop. When we sat down we were served complimentary caviar on crackers with butter (my first) and this crunchy pretzel sticks, very tasty. There is definately a dress code, some of the women go far beyond "dressing to impress". The place was packed by 2 and that's when they turn on the effect lighting and the smoke machines and everyone starts shaking their groove thing. It was pretty awesome. I just had a margarita (on the rocks, blech!) I guess "something fruity" doesn't translate well with the Greeks. It was over all a great night, there was nothing scary about it, no slimy guys getting in my face. I just don't think I could ever go to a club in the states after knowing how nice it is in Greece! Tomorrow I make my hour long trek on the bus into the city to go to church :) Luckily Evagelia and I took the bus on Thursday to the city so we could find the place. I was able to contact a gal that works for YWAM and she gave me the name and address of a foursquare church in Thessaloniki. It's called "Glad Tidings Int'l church" where the service is done in all English. I might actually get to meet some people that speak the same language as me! I'm looking forward to it. Monday I think I'll be going to one of the legs of Halkidiki (famous beach) and go swimming with Themi's parents. Oh what fun....did I mention how loud it is this cafe? It's 17:40 and there's 3 drunk men at the counter yelling at the 2 women bartending....aye aye. So until later, love you all, Leah -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Greek word for "Where is the bathroom?" is "Poo-i-ne i too-a-le-ta?"

Hey All~ I hate to confuse you folks already....but I already went to Greece. I mean I was there for a month this past summer, mid-July-mid-August 2003 (notice the date in my email). I'm just now getting around to posting my emails that I saved from my trip. So quina~ I'm sorry I can't check the labels on the shrimp, I actually never ate any shrimp while I was there though I should've. Anyway, I will post more later from my second email. thanks again~ beah

Hey wow...I feel so honored that y'all are reading me already! really...and it's people like you...older then myself that actually know things about life, cooking, and writing...okay i do know SOME things...i shouldn't kick myself like that...well anyways, it's just nice to get feed back. And for those of you that would like to see pictures of my travels go to: Leah's Greece and London Pics thanks again!

hey thanks....fa....wait no sorry, no way am I going to respond like that. I know you have a name...and that would be Steve. Thanks steve! I was hoping you'd see my post since you are one of the big kahunas here. I will keep the stories coming for sure!

Hey folks... This is my first official post on the E-gullet. How cool am I. My name is Leah, I'm a 24-year-old aspiring food writer, working my way up while getting my skills and knowledge in the kitchen. I took a trip to Greece this past summer for month, visiting my pen-pal and her family, cooked and ate in their restaurant and wrote some interesting emails you might all find interesting :) It's my first shot at sharing to others my raw writing skills, so give me some feedback. This is my first email, a bit too 'staged', they get better with age. I'll put more up later. Thanks! July 15, 2003 Hello to all in the US~ I've arrived safely and soundly and miss you all too much! Greece is very dry and hot, not too hot, about 28' celsius (90F). My penpal and her family are all very friendly. There's so many different and new things here, the smells, sounds, sites, people, it's hard to believe I'm so far away in such a different place. I had a 10 hour lay over in London, I ended up taking the tube into the city and spent only about 3 hours while I was there. It was too hot, crowded and crazy, I've never seen so many tourists in my life! From all different places too. And of course everything is so old, you don't realize how "young" the US is until you come to a place like this. I was able to go to Jamie Oliver's restaurant (the 'naked chef'), it's called 'Fifteen" for the 15 young people that Jamie is training to cook in his restaurant. I made it too the place, after wiggling my way through London's crazy streets. I had a margarita pizza with some strange greens on top, not like basil, tomato and mozzeralla in the states. It was fun. So now I'm in Asvestohori, a small suburb outside of Thessaloniki. I've been hanging out with Evaggelia (ev-ah-gah-lia) and family in the kitchen, trying new foods. I haven't gotten into the city yet, hoping to do that later. Please write me back and let me know how you all are doing! Love you all~ Leah

Okay not as exotic as fried scorpion, but I did try 'kokoretzi' while in Greece. It's the innards of lamb, seasoned, pushed onto a skewer, wrapped with the intestine, cooked over a spit, covered in foil and sliced to serve.