balmagowry

Oh, I know. And besides, we were all kidding around anyway. Actually, though, I think it's a point that bears making. Referring to "the US," in the lump, is roughly equivalent to referring to "Europe" the same way. The US is half a continent. and it's always seemed kind of weird to me that it should all be one country, especially given that some of its states are bigger than whole nations on other continents. And yeah, though theoretically we're all divided by one language, we've got enough diverse regional identities and cultures to sink a fleet of battleships. How much sense does it really make to lump Mayhaw Man's distinctively Southern and distinctively Louisianian blog in the same category as my Lawn-Guylandy one, DoverCanyon's California Wine Country one, Nessa's Habanero-Chipotle Texan one, GG Mora's New England Thanksgiving one, Hathor's New York New York one, adoxograph's Astronomical one? And if anyone ever decides to tag Mongo and beguiles him into accepting, what will we get? India? Colorado? Both? I put it to you that all these are as regionally diverse, and damn near as culturally diverse, as if they were all from different countries. As of course the forebears of their authors are. Size does matter, if only because there's so damn much space here that there's room for a whole cross-section of climates and traditions. OK, so we have certain cultural stuff in common - increasingly so as McDonaldsism creeps over us all. All I'm saying is, having 10 US bloggers in a row does not necessarily make for the same degree of homogeneity as, say, having 10 Catalan bloggers in a row.

If you really char the outside, you can call it a Black Hole....

The real problem was merely one of nomenclature; you could have told him it was a regional variation on a daube and he would probably have been perfectly happy. But oh dear, what an agonizing moment! And what a useful warning. Remind me to watch out for that old-world Irish temper in future. The things you learn about the people you know....

If you candy your own peel, even I might join - it's really only the candied fruit that usually puts me off.

We're putting the band back together... Does ours go to 'leven? Not quite. Think closer to Chicago Oh - duh! of course.

We're putting the band back together... Does ours go to 'leven?

Britain, South Africa, Malaysia. Don't forget New York, Dallas, Nashville, Long Island, New Jersey, Central New York... Those locations are all in the U.S., Lucy. I have a feeling Lucy is aware of the fact. Is there something wrong with the US? (Um, yeah, plenty, but as a blogging location I mean.) EDIT: Um, not to spoil sport or anything, but couldn't this whole question be resolved with a quick glance at Soba's shiny new Foodblog Index?

Boulder, Colorado. A very cool place for blogging. :wink wink nudge nudge:

Good point. It's a favorite of mine - I can never decide which is better, hot tongue for dinner or cold tongue sandwiches on rye the next day. But... pickled? Aren't you thinking of smoked? At least - I don't know that I've ever had it at a deli, so maybe what they serve is different, but I rather doubt it. IAC the tongue we always had at home was smoked. Mmmmmm.... tongue. And spinach. And boiled potatoes. Oh man, now you've gone and made me all hungry.

But... but... I thought the levee was dry!

Yes, yes, it's true! I have my own personal definition of shame! I tried it at an Xmas celebration with my Swedish fiancee, where resolved to try at least a little of everything. Oooh - watch your linguistic step there. If memory serves, the Swedes call it "lutfisk," not "lutefisk," and can get pretty indignant at being confused with those Norwegian scum. Hmmm - maybe they prepare it differently, too, and that might account for... nah. Nah, you're just weird. Now hang on a minute - that actually sounds pretty good. Only - you weren't eating it at the same meal, were you? I thought the Christmas meal had to be all white. EDIT: Oh, man, I just googled Janssen's Temptation - WHERE has this dish been all my life? I can hardly wait to try it!

Do! but make sure you get the pronunciation right: it's "oo" like in "good," not like in "food."

Or Old Overcoat.

Thread convergence! Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat - I confess. Ramen can be "souped up," as it were, to several different levels of acceptability - peas, bits of ham, sherry.... Though sometimes of course you have to get down & dirty and just go for the Flavor Packet. Eeeewwwww. You lost me there. You have Gone Too Far. Mine is Almaden Merlot in the box. AKA "Iniquitous Plonk." Sometimes the spot you need to hit just happens to be the Rotgut Spot. Buy it by the case when it's on sale. Cook with it; feed the vinegar mother with it... drink it on those nights when you really just don't WANT something good. Cheap. Nasty. Gotta have it. Nero, save that line - don't change a word or a punctuation mark. You'll need it when you become an Important Food Writer writing your no-holds-barred gastronomic memoir. It has a wonderful ring to it. (Actually, it reminds me of my cousin, a marvelous writer who uses "twodogs" as her e-mail handle for much the same reason.) Me, it was my mother and the accompaniment for potato chips. I have to have cold milk with them; she had to have coke; neither of us could understand how the other could do anything so awful. Oh, man, I wish you hadn't told me that; I didn't know they had them. Now I have to go there and try it, and I just know it'll be instant addiction. Yes, yes, and yes. haven't tried the Gerber, but what's not to love? Like applesauce. Hey - you're OK. EDIT: Ah - I see I'm not the only one who picked up on the "like a dog" line. It's gold. Gold.

pastilles. in an oval tin. i thought they tasted like sachet. Yes - those aren't the ones I meant, though. I'm thinking of the ones packed together in a foil wrapper with an outer wrapper that was purple and silver. Damn, this is hard to describe, but I can see it so clearly in the old mind's eye. Guess I should look around on one of those obsolete foods sites or maybe on eBay; I'm sure it's out there somewhere. I loved them for their strange awfulness. EDIT: obsolete my foot. A quick google on "violet candy" brought up Choward's on the first shot. Guess I'm not the only one perversely attracted to strange awfulness. Now I gotta go out and get some, see if you can go home again.

Oh dear, this would be torture for me - damn near impossible. Favoring fish over red meat I can deal with, but having all meals at regular hours? Sigh. I bet it would be good for me. But I just can't imagine it. How did I ever do it at boarding school, I wonder? Yes, they look and sound wonderful. I love that soaking-in thing, just as every once in a while I crave a wilted salad. Something tells me I am going to have to emulate your Cervelle des Canuts before long. BTW, I see you've picked up my ("my"? La-di-dah, do we think we invented it? Sorry...) trick of storing pictures off-site. I wonder if Jinmyo can see them - it occurred to me belatedly that she might have her browser security set not to load images stored on a different site from the web page displaying them. If memory serves, the solution to that lies in hathor's foodblog: wasn't there a lunch toward the end there where they ate in the office and trotted out proper placemats and silverware and linens? I remember some discussion of that custom - seemed very civilized to me. Why not keep a little table-setting kit in a desk drawer?

Or wash with cilantro? How do people know it tastes like soap, anyway? How do you think? Didn't you ever swear when you were little? Hmmmm - there was a violet candy that tasted like soap, too - different kind of soap, though.

Sheesh - I stand corrected... and bemused. Raw cilantro, neat - who'da thunk it? Course, as andiesenji says, palates differ in radical ways. But nothing is so bemusing as laurenmilan's lutefisk confession. Like it? Like it? That's scary. Maybe it's the gooeyness - I've never known it to be gooey, more slimy/gelatinous. Ate it at the home of a Norwegian friend who really did love it - but then, he was Norwegian, so he didn't count. Never met anyone else who actually voluntarily consumed any more of it than was required by scrupulous courtesy. Likes Lutefisk. Wow. Now I've heard everything.

Yes, Mongo does have a good point (though on reflection I don't think my costs were unusual during my blog week; then again, I'm not exactly living on a very predictable budget/schedule these days) - but y'know what? I don't think he's all that interested in the answer. The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks. I bet deep down he's kind of tempted, and that's why he keeps prowling around muttering about how he's terrified of being tagged. Keep him on the radar, kids. Is this like those mango-loid perversions Mongo was suggesting on that GM thread? What if we don't want to be a crab roll? EDIT for emphasis

The fingeree always has the option of refusing... but I must say I think a mongo blog would be pretty damn interesting - with all due regard to Ms. V and Kiefel's marvelous and engrossing blog, I'm almost starting to regret my decision not to tag you when I had the chance.

Even dyed-in-the-wool cilantro lovers don't eat it straight and unadorned, so far as I know. A more accurate approach might be to grate soap shavings into the dish, same as you would with parmesan. Especially convenient if it's a cooked dish because the soap would melt into it and blend smoothly; I don't think cilantro melts. A nice green Irish Spring, for instance - "cilantro-y, yes, but I like it too!"

Don't know about statistics or studies, but beg to remind you that I started my blog with a trip to the local diner. The only thing easier than that is ordering pizza.

Neither will I. But there are a few things I... well... just don't LIKE. There are also one or two things that give me that scary tingly feeling in the back of the throat that warns me that if it goes down it will soon come back up and I'll be sorry - or dead. I freely admit that my dislike of beets is based on early experience with canned ones; as per your post I hereby open wide my mind (and my gullet) for the fresh thing... but I have never liked borscht, not ever, no matter how it was made. And I gotta admit I have some conceptual trouble with some of the cultural-leap-of-faith stuff: insects; dogs; cats. I know these prejudices are not logical and I know all the arguments that prove it. I'm sure I'd eat those things if I had to; I might well enjoy them; I'm just as glad not to be confronted with them, though. Generally, though, I'll try anything. Once was enough for lutefisk and haggis - but I et 'em, by cracky. As a rule, though, I'd rather stick to the things I love. Seems like a better way to spend one's life. Oysters. Mussels. Clams. Raw or otherwise. The pope's nose. Jerusalem artichokes. Broccoli rabe. Broccoli. I'm with whoever it was that declared for brussels sprouts, lima beans and cabbage; kale, chard, all them brassicas; not a spam-lover, but an eager eater of hash. Don't generally care for okra or tofu (but in each case must make an exception for specific experience of small pieces delicately fried); not a cilantro fan (has anyone ever figured out how to make subtle use of it?) but will happily eat just about any other culinary herb, except maybe rue or too much lovage; love boiled chicken skin and boiled onions; love fat and groozly bits and unidentified offal; am happiest when without offending anyone I can not only have the beautifully presented meal on my plate but also discreetly pick at the fascinating crumbs and scrapings and glop in the roasting pan (that dark dark thing... is it an onion? is it a piece of skin? which would be better? either! let's find out!).... Oh, and suet puddings. EDIT to add: liverwurst sandwiches, with or without onion - YES! Canned black olives - YES! (They're especially good in my quickie tomato sauce - I posted about this somewhere a few weeks back - made from last year's frozen tomatoes.) Hot dogs, baloney, stinky cheese, sauerkraut - YES!

Here is cuisine and culture in today's news. From the Salon article about Bush and the G-8 summit: "When his turn came to speak, Chirac did not mention the dispute over Iraq but spoke instead of how much he had enjoyed the G-8 summit, particularly the food. "Over the last few days, this cuisine here in America was certainly on a par with French cuisine," he said. "He particularly liked the cheeseburger he had yesterday," Bush quipped. Chirac responded: "Excellent." Coming from a Frenchman, especially that Frenchman, at any time but especially now, that is an extraordinarily conciliatory remark. Wonder if he meant it. Not that that matters - the mind-blowing thing is that he said it, in public and on the record. Oh, BTW - the other book, the wonderful one I couldn't put down, was A Case of Curiosities, by Allen Kurzweil. Beautifully written, engrossing, with touches about it that remind me of Robertson Davies.

Am not. Liver and onions. Liver and anything. Chicken liver. Calf's liver. Beef liver. Chopped liver.