jgm

There is no rhyme or reason to potlucks. An organization I belong to has 2 to 3 potlucks a year, and I have given up getting all excited about what I'm going to take. The last straw was the year I took a homemade apple pie, and Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies (chocolate sables) which my husband's co-workers call "ransom cookies" because from time to time they threaten to kidnap him and hold him for a ransom of these cookies - and we ended up bringing home most of what we took. I'd say around 75-100 people attended that particular event. The Oreos and the Chips Ahoy were eaten. It made me sad, because although we can freeze the cookies, a partial pie doesn't freeze well and so we each had a piece and we threw the rest out. We don't need the calories we'd be in for, finishing up 2/3 of a pie between the two of us. (Next time, I'll just make the neighbors happy.) I am known, in most (non-foodie) circles as one of the best pie bakers 'round these parts and the pie tasted as good as it looked, even if I do say so myself. Oh, and the store-bought and freezer-case pies were nearly finished off. Now when we go to these events, we stop at Sam's and pick up some potato salad. Every now and then, if I'm really hungry for a certain homemade dish, I'll take it, but I definitely don't put out the effort I used to.

Perhaps those recommendations refer to the supermarket versions that come in a can. I don't actually know, but I could believe there wouldn't be much difference between those two versions. Flavorless being flavorless, and all.

It's never occurred to me to just eat it, since it's always called for as a possible substitute for grated Parmesan. But hey, why not? It's too salty for some situations, but I thought it was a revelation with tomatoes. I'm sure the same is true for a number of other foods, too. Looking forward to finding more ideas on this thread!

I think you're probably on the right track. The key for an event like this, is to know your audience. Having several offerings would seem to assure that everyone will find something they can eat. It also lets you off the hook if someone insists there's nothing there they can eat. I learned the hard way, a couple of years ago, when doing once-a-month appetizers for a friend who owned her own business, that someone's always going to whine. Let them whine and don't worry about it. They're not going to starve. I suggest that you have the salads ready, and let them build their own sandwiches. FYI an extremely successful party I helped throw, many years ago, was a fruit "fondue" bar. All kinds of fruit were cut into bite-sized pieces. We had a number of granular-type things, such as coconut, nuts, powdered sugar, chocolate shavings, etc., and dip-type things, such as sour cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, and actually about anything you can think of, and we allowed people to grab a toothpick and start composing their masterpieces. It was a great ice-breaker and people pigged out. A do-it-yourself combo of some sort, whether it's salad, sandwiches, fruit, or whatever, allows people to feel they have a lot of control over what they're eating, and that seems to make them happy.

Saw the movie, and found it delightful. Is it one of the great movies of all time? No, of course not. But I don't understand why it's getting negative reviews. I thought it accomplished what it set out to do and stayed fairly true to both books. Nora Ephron took great care to draw the parallels between the two women's lives, and while some think she hammered that point too much, I think it wasn't too much for a movie aimed at a general audience. I found the first few moments pretty disturbing, because Meryl Streep really does capture Julia, and for some reason it kicked up some fresh grief over losing her. Fairly quickly, however, it dived into the story, and some of the scenes were hilarious. I found it to be a very entertaining movie, and one that didn't significantly depart from the real story, as so many modern productions do, just to enhance the action for the movie audience. Keep in mind that people like us are not the audience; it's intended for the general public and I think it very successfully introduces dear Julia to the next generation of cooks.

Looks perfect! Thanks! Jenny

I'm still reading and deciding, but if there are novice cooks who'd like to join in but are a little nervous about taking on a Julia Child recipe, may I suggest her potato soup recipe in the front of Vol. 1. Potatoes, leeks, salt, and water. You can't go wrong. You will get a soup I keep in the freezer and it will cure whatever ails me in the dead of winter. It's one of the most soothing soups I've ever eaten. If you have a pot, a knife to peel and cube the potatoes and cut the leeks, and a fork to mash it all up with, you have the equipment. Jenny

Rather than starting a new thread, I will post a request here since it's only just a tiny bit off-topic. I frequent a local informal Japanese restaurant, and the woman who runs it has often commented on my habit of bringing cooking magazines in with me. From time to time she asks me about American ingredients and recipes. Her latest request is for a chili recipe that she can use to make chili dogs. It needs to be thick, of course, and fairly simple; she's not someone who's going to want to search out special ingredients, etc. She just wants to make chili dogs. My husband is the chili maker in our family, and 1) his recipe isn't written down; 2) it's far more liquid than would be wanted for chili dogs; and 3) in my mind it's not really a standard style chili. In fact, I often doctor it up before eating, although I've gotten used to it over the years. Can anyone point me to a basic, straightforward chili recipe appropriate for someone who's not obsessive about such things, as we are?

I think I dated him just after college. Glad to know he's found a good woman and is doing well! (Just kidding. It's surprising, though, to learn that there is more than one person with THOSE food preferences.)

You guys in KC need to stop hogging all of the forward-thinking land development types, or make missionaries out of them and send them to Wichita to save the heathens.

Soba, I'm sitting here eating a chocolate cookie, wishing it were one of those tomatoes. Considering that my favorite anything is chocolate, that's saying something. MAN they look good! Thanks for posting.

I'd love it if eG'ers would join in the tradition of cooking something from one of Julia's cookbooks on her birthday, August 15. Who will join me? After I have a chance to go through her cookbooks, I'll post again with the plan, and if it turns out well, I'll post a picture. If not. . .then just a description. My goal is to challenge myself with a recipe I haven't made before. Julia would have liked that, don't you think? Jenny

If one accepts the problem as it's framed in Pollan's article (and I'm not sure I do), I think the answer is in teaching people to cook. I grew up in Western Kansas, where vegetables were canned, meat was cooked to death, and we had the same handful of dishes over and over, in a sort of informal rotation. I developed an interest in cooking early; not sure if it's because my brain was wired that way, or because dinner bored the s--t out of me and I knew something had to be done. My mother, by the way, was known as an extraordinarily good cook. Watching the Food Network can give a potential cook a little courage and a little information about food, but it doesn't teach anybody to cook. I've been trying to figure out how, in the last few years, I made the transition from someone who had an interest in cooking, to someone who does cook, and does so pretty decently. I think the answer is eGullet. I've taken some cooking classes, and that's been helpful, to be sure. At the risk of sinking into syrupy sentimentality (which goes well with bacon, I hear), I've received an enormous amount of information from my fellow eG'ers, and I have the confidence to try things because I know that if they bomb, I can do a search or even start a thread, and find out why. There is no other reference in the world like this one, unless it's the brain of someone's mom, grandmother, or aunt. This is where I find my bridges -- those incidental pieces of information that help me make the transition from not wanting to cook anything for another month because of last night's failure, to someone who's willing to get back into the kitchen tonight because little by little, I've gained enough experience to have the confidence to do it. Our local extension offices are full of home economists who, for the most part, can't cook but are a wealth of mostly useless information about food. My home economics teachers (you knew who they were by their little pearl earrings and scarves around their necks) taught us things we didn't need to know, such as how to make nearly anything with powdered eggs. Not one single egg in its shell ever graced our home ec lab. We didn't learn how to cook eggs, which in my mind is an extremely basic skill that nearly everyone could benefit from learning. They looked down on the fact that I made pie crust without measuring, and insisted that we follow their recipe exactly, no matter what kind of flour we were using or what the humidity was, and they certainly didn't take into consideration the amount of water in the fat they were using. I could go on and on; I'd say ". . .but don't get me started", but clearly I've already gotten started. No one could take the Joy right out of Cooking like my home ec teachers. Our muffins had no tunnels, by God, but they also had no flavor. Long story short, if we rely on home economists to teach our communities how to cook, we're doomed. So who will? And how do we convince people to become interested? One of my barriers was that while many dishes looked interesting, I had no idea what they were supposed to taste like. Cooking classes took care of that, but it wouldn't have happened had I not been interested enough in the first place to come up with the money for them. We have a long way to go. One of my best friends has never had escalloped potatoes that didn't come out of a box, and she has no interest in learning to make her own. She tasted a canned mushroom 30 years ago, found it slimy, and now won't eat mushrooms. We can't trade recipes because mine are too much trouble for her, and because I don't use the canned soup that is in nearly every one of hers. People see cooking "from scratch" as way too much trouble, and they don't know that it can become a highly rewarding activity after they've learned enough to make something really tasty. They don't know what I learned: it's a lot of trouble to make a new recipe the first three times. By the fourth time, you no longer have to check every step multiple times before you do it, and you know what you have to have ready to use, and when. You know which pot it will fit in. You know how much time it actually takes. I'm not sure what the answer is. Like Michael Ruhlman, I haven't lost hope altogether. Reforming school lunches, as Jaime Oliver says, is one place to start. eG member Torakris (who lives in Japan) tells me that her kids come home from school requesting that she make some of the dishes they've enjoyed at lunch. People like us who share our passion for cooking with our friends, are another start. I think, though, that this needs to be viewed as a public health issue, and an economic issue, and that nothing will change until our nation realizes that our lives really do depend on it. Jenny (relinquishing soapbox now)

Although I'm not qualified to diagnose anybody, I want to bring up something I've seen. I know there are real food allergies and intolerances. The people who have them, know they have them, or at least figure it out. And I'm not saying every blood-tested food allergy is the same thing that I've seen with my friends, but for what it's worth: Years ago all my friends were running to one doctor in particular, who was doing blood tests for food allergies. Every single one of them came up with a long list of things they couldn't eat, and the supposed allergies were the reason they were using for why they had no energy, were depressed, or couldn't lose weight. And they all stopped eating everything on their list of foods. For awhile. Now all of them are eating whatever they want, and the problems for which they sought help, except for the weight problems, resolved in one way or another. Some lost weight and some are still overweight. When I ask them what happened to their food allergies, they shrug and change the subject. So I guess what I'm saying is: your friend should cease all eggs and dairy, for a long period of time, and see if it really makes a difference or whether there was a placebo effect to begin with, and then she was back to where she started. In my opinion, some of the food allergies diagnosed by blood test are nothing more than a racket. There may be some legit operations somewhere doing the testing, and maybe the information is accurate in some instances. I just haven't seen it.

Pimiento (sp?? nothing looks right.) cheese packed into celery sticks, with muffin. Sushi Cold lentil salads I sampled some white bean and artichoke spread in a grocery store the other day. I don't have a recipe, but it wouldn't be too difficult to duplicate. I'd try the artichokes packed in oil, drain them, and then add the oil back in as a seasoning. I'll keep thinking. Jenny

Here's an alternate idea: When forming the crust, simply line the pie pan, and cut it around the edge. Don't do a fluted, stand up crust like you normally would. Prebake, then add filling, and make an edge out of pieces of pie dough. You could cut out specific shapes with a small cookie cutter and overlap them, all around the edge of the pie. I think you could successfully adhere them with egg wash. Then bake as normal. This way, the edge of the crust is going into the oven for the first time. I've never tried this, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. (But maybe someone else does!!)

Here's an idea that probably isn't what you're looking for, but it might start the wheels turning and morph into something useful. Years ago I made a dessert that was in, I believe, Bon Appetit. (We're talking c. 1981). The first step was to line a bowl with plastic wrap, then piece together a crust made out of a brownie type cake that was a little thinner than the normal brownie. The crust lined the bowl, and then it was filled with a bittersweet chocolate mousse. The whole thing was refrigerated to set, then unmolded, and a milk chocolate thin ganache was poured over the whole thing. My friends called it "chocolate Vesuvius." Immediately, what I think of is to take this idea down to the individual-serving size. Not sure where I'd go from there. . . Jenny

Here's an idea: This year's Heartland Gathering had quite a few people who weren't from the Heartland (but nevertheless were quite welcome!). I see no reason why there couldn't be a second type of event; one where all interested eGullet members, or maybe whoever is willing to organize it, would choose the location/theme/agenda and we could have an event in any other city. There certainly are a lot of cities which would make interesting venues, but which also don't have many eG members. This second type of event wouldn't necessarily have to be modeled on the Heartland Gathering; it may be out of the question for it to have an element where we all get together and cook. And maybe it would include some other type of activity. I don't think it necessarily would need to be held annually; it seems like it would work better on an ad-hoc basis anyway. The downside that I can immediately see, is that a second type of event might draw attendance away from the Heartland Gathering. An upside might be that eGulleters would have an opportunity to explore various festivals, farms, etc. that we might individually not get to do. Maybe we'd meet Jane and Michael Stern in a city and enjoy an event with them where they were the main speakers, and took us to their already-planned stop. Maybe we could all go to somewhere like Nieman Ranch and learn how they do things. Or to the Napa Valley or Sonoma; or maybe we could all drop in on Rancho Gordo and learn all about beans. Is there any interest in an alternate kind of get-together? This probably needs to be a whole 'nother thread, but I couldn't figure out where to put it. Jenny

Hmmm...I've been looking for the Steve Paul article in the KC Star. I thought it was supposed to be published today. I'm not seeing it online. Anybody know anything? Jenny

Very, very good! This one's definitely a keeper!

As I live in a community that can be a bit intolerant*, I always try to be kind and respectful of those who were not born here. A couple of years ago, in a local pho restaurant, I was greeted by a lovely hostess who said, "You are some more? King?" Try as I might, I could not figure out what she was asking me. She repeated it several times and it didn't help. When she led me to the booth, she pointed at the 'no smoking' sign there. She looked very upset. I was mortified. She was trying so hard. . .and I wanted so much for her to feel accepted. ETA: *Actually, in saying that, I'm being very generous to my fellow WASPS. But don't get me started.

My husband and I shop at a military commissary. We get beef and pork from a local butcher, and buy Smart chicken and produce at a regular grocery. Over this past winter/spring, I haven't cooked much because of other obligations, so our monthly expenditure is up around $500 to $600. We usually eat out about twice a week, and that averages about $75 a week. But now my husband is laid off, and although we really don't have serious financial worries, we're cutting back. He's cooking more and I'm cooking more, and we're eating out less and eating less pre-prepared food. We're probably saving $200 to $300 a month, total, from the above figures.

Foccacia hogs? You speak of that as if it's something less than respectable! Let's not get started about me and the bacon chocolate. (How do you spell a combination moan and oink? Oooooooooohiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink?)

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. I have heard that Streep did an excellent job with her role. I'm not sure how the movie deals with it, but for me the interesting part is the juxtaposition of the two women's lives. Julia was a pioneer, to be sure, and someone who absolutely would not be successful in today's media circus. Can you imagine The Food Network putting her in a skin-tight, low-cut top?????? So many of her antics, which endeared her to so many of us, would have been coached into submission if she were on television today. Julie Powell, however, is someone who combined the old (MTAOFC) with the new (blogging). From what I've read, it wasn't so much that Julia disapproved of what Julie was doing, as much as it was a form of communication she didn't really understand or care about. I plan to see the movie for entertainment purposes. I don't expect it to be entirely authentic. If it lets me live in a world where Julia is still alive, for a couple of hours, that will be fantastic. And if the result is a new printing of her books, and (dare we hope?) a new emphasis on cooking, we'll all be the better for it.

Add me to the leftover meatloaf sandwich camp, except I like to fry it first, getting the edges nice and crispy (everything's better with butter, you know). Either ketchup or mayo on that sandwich works well.