balmagowry

Here's another nice tribute from Newsday: Inspired by Julia, followed by a few recipes. Erica Marcus has tried to go for the "man in the street" approach, i.e. the kind of non-celebrity testimony to be seen in this very thread. I wouldn't say it's entirely successful, given that the ostensibly non-prominent interviewees include Helen Studley and Julie Powell; still the general idea comes across, and it works.

The thing is, these books haven't been used since my mother died, nor is there any likelihood that they will be any time soon. I have my own copies, and though I do cook over there now and then, it isn't generally the kind of operation that requires books - or if it is I can always look stuff up ahead of time at home. These books shouldn't have to sit on a shelf gathering dust for the first time in their lives, they're not used to it; they should be used. You need 'em, I don't; and I hate that they're wasted where they are. Much better they should go where they're really wanted. Better for you, better for them, and therefore better for me. Well, this is one way of doing it. Not that I'm parting with any major first editions, but.... Actually, what I'll probably do is keep her copies and send mine instead, and that way I don't have to confront that particular dilemma just yet.

That would be Virginia Lee. Good, I have that one for you; also the Settlement Cookbook, the New James Beard and Beard on Pasta, Julia's The French Chef Cookbook, Ada Boni's Talismano della Felicita, Hillman's The Cook's Book, Corriher's Cookwise, maybe some Harold McGee (not sure whether there are dupes or not), Thorne's Serious Pig, probably a Time-Life or two (I'm pretty sure at least British Isles is a duplicate), a couple of the Pierre Franey 60-minute books, and I think there's also some Dione Lucas (remember her?!) and some Elizabeth David - the Mediterranean and French stuff. Don't have Joyce Chen, but do have Gloria Bley Miller (The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook) and Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China (probably signed). And a few more esoteric odds and ends. I also have... duplicates of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both volumes, and of Gourmet Vol I... but truth to tell I don't think I'm quite up for parting with those - the households and collections aren't being consolidated, and seems like one oughta keep a set of the baseline stuff in both places, don't you know. So lemme know what talks to you. BTW, are we getting to the point where this discussion oughta go into PM territory? or is everyone cool with it staying in the thread?

Whee, definitely. A positive move, always good after an awful experience. Getting back to the book tastes - any interest by any chance in more "furrin" stuff? French, Chinese, Italian?

Welcome to eGullet! but you won't be able to post a Member Bio, or to read them, just yet - that's one advantage of posting instead of lurking, because it's only after you've posted 20 times (I think it is) that they let you into that part of the Pantry. Meanwhile, what you just did is exactly how most of us got started: jump right in and post, then sit back and watch the welcome messages pouring in on whichever thread you started with. Introducing yourself here with your treasures more precious than gold (and how right you are about that!) is an auspicious beginning. Then again, I beg to differ with Suzanne on one point; some of us are perfectly aware of how much we reveal in our posts!

I have Gillian Riley's book along similar lines - A Feast for the Eyes, based on the, um, other National Gallery, and very accurately titled.

Just what I was wondering. I was over at the other house this evening and made a note of the duplicates and there are more than I thought - some 30 or so - but it's a pretty eclectic mix, and it seems silly to try to choose for you - Murphy's Law is almost bound to rear its ugly head. Give us a feel for your proclivities, and I bet I'll have a nice batch of goodies for you. Meanwhile, Spies, Black Ties, & Mango Pies has just arrived - pristine 2nd-hand copy via ABE - so that's one more for my tally, please, Maggie; and log another salute going out to Julia.

Forwarded by permission from a friend of mine who is a retired writer for the Washington Post. I thought those here might enjoy it.

I too am sorry to hear of your tremendous loss. An idea just occured as I was hitting the reply button: Judiu's collection would definitely "rise again like the pheonix" if some of us who have duplicate cookbooks could send them to judie. Judiu, are there any particular titles you desperately need? I may not have any that you lost, but this may be a good way to start new passions? I was thinking this too. I have at least two duplicates in need of good homes: Madame Maigret and... oh damn, now I can't remember what the other one was - maybe the Davidson Dumas on Food? But actually I should do some digging, because I'm pretty sure there are more than two - especially as I now own my mother's collection as well as my own. She wasn't a big collector, but there is certainly some overlap. Should we branch off into a separate thread for this? (I bet I have at least four different editions of The Joy of Coooking... )

Ahem. Lucy who?

More information about that.... The owner of this domain: Domain Name: JULIACHILD.COM Administrative Contact: Yong Li Yong@ukr.net P.O. Box 904 Beijing 100029 China 10-62043326 Technical Contact Zone Contact: Yong Li Yong@ukr.net Believe me, I sent a scathing e-mail to this clown. There's probably something that can be done about this, if one can figure out who'd have standing to do it. The Authors' Guild has been very active - successfully so, I might add - in suing to recover the rights to the URLs for its members' names. (So if anyone out there is thinking of nabbing lisagrossman.com, save yourself the trouble; now I think of it I haven't bothered to register it myself, but if anyone's beaten me to the punch the full wrath of the Guild will come down on the miscreant's head!) Don't know off-hand whether JC was a member, but I'm sure she belonged to other such advocacy organizations, any of which (IACP? Beard House?) would have sufficient clout. Not that clout is needed, but it does come in handy sometimes. And I bet the legal team at the Authors' Guild would be willing to share strategy in such a cause. IAC, of course it'd be up to her heirs/estate to authorize any action. But maybe a little public outcry wouldn't hurt.

I don't think she's back from her trip yet.

A day late but not a dollar short: here's her obit by Sylvia Carter in today's Newsday.

I was thinking the same thing, and you know what? She will. She is too permanent and marvelous to stop living forever, just because of a stupid little thing like death getting in the way. Some people are like that: being dead is just... totally out of character for them. She's still here. "Sometimes it's fish, and sometimes it's chocolate." Blessings on her. I'm so glad she went out easy. EDIT because Lala is right and is more appropriate.

Mine also comes from a sign, the one in the long-lost window of The Last Wound-Up: DON'T POSTPONE JOY.

I do admit she's not in your league stylistically, Lisa! Still, there's lots of good information in there if you're willing to plow through it. :blush: :blush: Aw... thanks, Squeat! Yup, there definitely is. Actually, I think there's a reason for the dryness. I'm too lazy to go look it up, but if memory serves Food in History was written at a time when food books, and especially food history books, were far less popular and salable than they are now; I think that the dry scholarly tone was necessary to get people (i.e.,publishers) to take the subject matter at all seriously. I have another Tannahill book which is much lighter in tone; indeed we writers on food history have all benefited from the ground-clearing done by FiH back when it was still the go-to book on the subject instead of one of so delightfully many.

Ah - that one. Thank you! Yes, I do remember the beginning of it, but had lost track since. Will go back and bring myself up to date. Ahhhh... that's what I love to hear. Hope you enjoy. Oh - you'll probably find that one cheaper (at least I hope so) to buy new from Amazon or its like than from ABE. Unless of course you're determined to get the hard-cover. PM me if you are but can't find it....) BTW, you might want to add to your list the Toussaint-Samat book fifi mentioned on that thread - it has its off-the-wall moments, but it is indeed great fun. Then again, Carolyn is right about the collecting mania for these things: once you get started it is awfully hard to resist continuing. I have more such books on my shelves already than I can ever seriously expect to read, and I keep getting more. The thing is, even if one doesn't read them through they are the most marvelous references when arcane questions come up, so it's not as if they go unused. I guess I've just confessed that my attention span for non-fiction is not what it probably should be. I can lose myself in browsing through antique cookbooks and food history books, but my attention tends to go off on tangents and make me pounce from one to another because of some vaguely remembered connection. Next thing I know I'm sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by open books and scribbled notes, and damned if I can remember what I set out to read in the first place. I'm telling you, life is rough. And speaking of tangents, I'm not sure what sent me off on this one. But no matter.... Probably for the very reason I suggested when I got my tongue out of my cheek- I'm betting Adam moved the image and your browser hasn't figured that out. Hit "Refresh" - or right-click where the image oughta be and click "Show Picture" - one of those oughta do it. EDITED to add Carolyn's quote & response, also more details re acquiring L&SD.

Yes, Pan and Carlovski must definitely be evil. Speaking as a computer geek and a food historian, I can tell you that that image normally ought to be visible to all here because it resides on ImageGullet. I have occasionally encountered a similar problem (Jinmyo faced it on my blog, I believe), but only with images that were stored off-site. Some people's browsers are set by default to refuse images that reside on a different server from the page that displays them - it's a security thing. OTOH, I see that Pan's browser is identifying the image as being on a different server even though it's not - said server ID clearly being an evil one. Another possible explanation, I suppose, is that Adam's original post referred to an off-site image and that he then edited it to refer to a copy on ImageGullet. This would explain his reference to fixing his own mistake, but would be far less exciting. Damn! I missed a historical cooking thread???? take pity on me; point me to it, please. Phooey - the things that happen the minute my back is turned - it ain't fair. Pick all of 'em up for a song via ABE.Every one of them is well worth having, though the Tannahill book is a bit of a dry read. So - spose I really need to pull myself together and start posting those pie and archipelago images, eh, Adam?

How about a refrigerator that powers itself by eating leftovers over a week old? BB Waaaah! I want it! I just did that job yesterday, and I'm not even telling how old some of the stuff was, let alone how revolting - let's just say the trunks had too many rings to count. At the same time... how guilty did I feel on realizing that I had enough wasted food to fill two large lawn-&-leaf bags (this from an ordinary mortal size refrigerator)? Oy... very. It ain't all my improvident fault, either - The Boy brings home stuff and stashes it, and often I don't even realize it's there let alone that it's becoming a new and dread kind of Science Project - but still. Oy.

Y'mean, like this one or this one?

Fill 1/2 to 2/3 of the way with warm water. Add one or two drops of dishwashing liquid. Blend. Rinse. Voila, clean blender. Smoothie on. I already do that. But somehow even after I've done it, the blender is still sitting on the counter. I say it ain't a real self-cleaner unless it also puts itself neatly away in the cupboard! Oh, if someone would only invent a Counter-Space Extender.... That's the Peace Prize, right? As for existing gadgets, I'd like to put in a word for the recently-ecstatically-rediscovered Unicorn pepper grinder, which I've already praised on the Pocket Pepper Mills thread - best one-hander ever. Take that, Pepper Rabbit! Oh, and my beloved Colony Cup, which I know I posted about on some other gadget thread, but it's still one of the best things I've ever had - a far more intelligent design than any fat-separator on the market today. Kind of like BetaMax vs. VHS - the best man didn't win on that one.

Second the motions re aloe vera and Vitamin E oil (I too used the latter on a surgical scar and it made an enormous difference). As for minor burns, I don't know exactly how effective this is or why (though I suppose it might come under the heading of protecting the burn?), but I remember from my childhood that my grandparents' housekeeper always applied corn oil ("Oil-Mazola," as she called it - generally the only type of oil she'd have handy) and flour. Then again, this is the same woman (a Chilean indian, i.e. Mapuche, I assume) who used to put half a raw onion on her head to keep her from crying when she cut onions - and this long, long before any of us read or saw "Like Water for Chocolate." Can't remember whether I've ever mentioned this before: we learned this because one day my grandmother walked into the kitchen and found Isabel cutting up onions, tears streaming down her cheeks, half-onion on her head; of course my grandmother asked her "Isabel, why do you have an onion on your head?" and Isabel sniffled and replied "to - sob - keep me from - sob - crying!" But the Oil-Mazola/flour poultice seemed to work pretty well.

The version I use de-emphasizes the soap, using only a drop or two per cup of peroxide, as a surfactant. More to the point, it also includes 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp baking soda per cup of peroxide. Do NOT store this formula in a closed jar - I'm no chemist, so I'm not sure just how volatile it really is, but I don't care to find out. Supposedly the chemical reaction which is the only thing I know that will kill the stink of mercaptans (i.e. ancient decomposing critter urine) in a carpet is also the one that will make a nice little explosion if sealed up. BTW, that mixture is only warranted to kill smell, not stain; I'll have to try your version for stains next time there are any. Which there aren't right now in the carpet in question because I just tested another homespun remedy for that and to my utter astonishment it really does work: aerosol shaving cream. Also BTW, my cousin Jenny (Wine and Rosen; column currently appears weekly in the Rocky Mountain News) frequently complains that though she has written many witty and substantive columns on wine, the most popular one, the one that has garnered by far the most fan mail over the years, is the one that deals with such homebrew stain remedies. Apparently it includes all the above and then some. Guess I'd better go back to the archive and read it. Guess I should have done that before posting this, but when did I ever do anything in proper order? EDIT: OK, so here's the link to that column, and guess what? a cursory glance tells me that she too endorses the Dawn/peroxide (1:2 ratio, in her case) mix as the hands-down winner for wine stains. Hmmmm. If my dog and cat peed wine, maybe I'd have tried this by now. Course, if my dog and cat peed wine it'd be a whole different ball game anyway.

Some of 'em do. Some of 'em disagree. We've just been having a big argument about this on another list I belong to. There's no actual proof either way, and though I myself incline to the belief that under the circumstances it would have been impossible, over time, for Catherine de Medici not to have had an effect on French cookery; still, if you argue the point with Alain Sailhac, Barbara Wheaton, or Andy Smith, you may find they'll give that school of thought a hell of a run for its money based on hard evidence... or rather, the lack thereof. I did a lecture on this once at Long Island University and I thought it was rather convincing, but in retrospect it's kind of comforting to know that I couched it all in terms of what was likely to have happened at that juncture, rather than claiming to have the straight dope. I do think the truth falls somewhere between the two camps, and could give you political and cultural (if not strictly culinary) chapter and verse as to why... but I'll spare you.

Yes, but... yes, but... didn't we discuss this upthread, way back when? Vatel was not a cook. And BTW, I hate to keep raining on parades, but the linked page leaves a thing or two to be desired. First of all, that is not the only letter Mme. de Sévigné wrote about the Vatel suicide - the two letters complement each other somewhat, and it seems a shame to put up one of them without the other. Second, the translation is not entirely accurate (though to be fair it's closer than some I've seen). Third and most important, the remark about "throwing one's bonnet over the mill" is not only mistranslated and misinterpreted, it's just so out of place and so wrong it couldn't be much out-of-place-er or wronger (the only mitigating factor being that at least the guy doesn't accept it as proof that the story is apocryphal). OK, that phrase does occasionally appear in children's stories, but it has nothing to do with their being fiction. To throw one's cap (NOT one's bonnet) over the windmill means to throw caution to the winds, to act on impulse without bothering about consequences. In this context, what Mme de S means is merely that she is repeating the story as it was told to her and sending it off immediately, even though it may subsequently be proved redundant or incomplete.