purplewiz
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Posts posted by purplewiz
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Cake.
No question, hands down, not even a contest.
Pie's ok. I like pie. If pie's what's for dessert, I'll probably have some (assuming it's not cherry or lemon, which has less to do with the pie and more to do with the fact that I don't like cherries in any form and I don't like sweet lemon desserts). I've had ethereal coconut cream pah, made by someone's gramma in a diner in West Upper Buttcrack, Wyoming. My mother won contests with her pie.
I'll take mediocre cake over all of 'em.
Two reasons:
- Flourless chocolate cake. 'Nuff said.
- Frosting.
Ok, make it three - I also love the texture of cakes.
Marcia.
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How about creamed eggplant?
What she said
. Since seeing this in the blog I've made it a number of times (substituting cheeses for variety), and it's simply fantastic. I've used it basically anywhere one might use a creamy polenta.Marcia.
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When I was growing up, my parents canned tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. We lived in New Jersey, where tomatoes are a garden pest, and we had a huge backyard that got sun all day. We kids were so sick and tired of tomatoes by mid-August - if we only knew how lucky we were! Mom made bread and butter fork pickles from all the cucumbers.
We also had raspberry bushes, so Dad would make raspberry jelly. I miss that.
I started jellymaking when I lived in California - people I worked with who owned actual houses often had huge amounts of fruit from their generous trees, and I always needed something to give to my family members for Christmas. Making interestingly flavored preserves solved both problems - Strawberries Romanoff jam, Orange Lemon Brandy Rum jelly, Pear Brandy jam, and my all time favorite, Plum Orange Spice jam.
When we moved to CO, I continued the tradition for awhile, adding a garlicky zucchini relish to the repertoire when I discovered that zucchini was one of the vegetables that would overproduce just as well in this climate as they did when I was growing up in New Jersey.
But I really don't anymore, for a number of reasons:
- gardening is tough here. Tomatoes have to be babied along, and we eat almost all of the ones we grow while they're fresh.
- a family of zucchini-loving neighbors moved in next door, so we no longer have to worry about what to do with overruns
- fruit doesn't ever seem to go on sale for cheap prices anymore, the one store that continued the tradition longest went out of business, and as mentioned above, this is not much of an agricultural area
- our eating plan changed and high sugar foods are no longer large components, which would leave jars and jars of jelly sitting around forever waiting to be eaten because
- postage went up enough to make it no longer cost-effective to send jellies and relishes as gifts to relatives.
I still have all my equipment and a couple cases of unused jars (they were on sale!), and I have been getting the urge to do a batch of plum orange spice jam or cranberry orange jam. But unless life changes drastically again (and I'm not ruling that out - one never knows), I don't foresee doing large scale canning and jellying again.
Marcia.
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When I was growing up, everything that I was taught was healthy tasted terrible.
Everything that tasted good, that I wanted to eat, I was taught was unhealthy.
Is it any surprise that we're neurotic - caught between food we were taught we should eat but don't want to, and stuff we want to eat which we were taught we shouldn't eat.
The amazing thing is that we're not MORE neurotic. Stuff like that will drive anyone crazy.
And not everyone moves on to understand that this is a false dichotomy.
Marcia.
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I'm another fan of Classico - I like the fire roasted tomato and I think the roasted garlic.
But like others, jarred sauce always gets doctored in some way, even if it's just a little sauteed onion. I figure since I'm mostly incapable of following a recipe exactly, I'm not going to just use what's in the jar as is, either.
Marcia.
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I was reading my new Cuisine At Home today, and there's a recipe in there for lemon cumin chicken salad. I was thinking that without the chicken it would be a great side for steak - chick peas, cucumbers, feta, cucumbers, greens. Or topped with steak. I love how a salad pairs with steak - the contrast of the crunchy greens and acidic dressing with the creamyness of the steak.
Marcia.
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The general consensus is that Frasca is the best restaurant in the state. Ok, technically it's in Boulder, not Denver, but it's close enough. Reservations required.
I've always been happy with the meals I've had at 240 Union. Again, it's not exactly in Denver, but out in Lakewood, but again, it's a technicality.
There have been a couple of interesting articles lately in The Denver Post about fine dining in and around Denver. Fortunately, they're online:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3669279
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3695988
I haven't eaten at any of the places mentioned in the second article, but I'd bet you'd do ok there.
Marcia.
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Tony introduced her as "the artist formerly known as The Grill Bitch".
That'd be the one I was thinking of
! Thanks!Marcia.
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Another fan of the episode....gads, I want to try that meal at Au Pied De Cochon. It's been too long since I last had foie gras. The breakfast and poutine didn't look too shabby, either, and I'll admit I've been curious about seal eyeball ever since I saw Les Stroud snack on one in "Survivorman".
I missed the introduction of his assistant during the cooking demonstration - my spousal unit was asking for help debugging some software. I think I heard her name was Beth, but was it the Beth who was, uh, mentioned in one of Tony's earlier books?
Marcia.
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I HATE my island. You can have it. Since the day we moved in it's been nothing but a junk magnet, no matter how vigilant I am.
I'd love a new kitchen - ours is mostly original the house when it was first built, and it's ripe for remodeling. But a move may be forthcoming, so it's just not worth it at this time.
Marcia.
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Grilled zucchini (the little ones; not the overgrown ones approaching the size of a loaf of bread that seem to be prevalent in August) . The only problem is that my kids love it so much I am hard pressed to find enough grill space for meat and zucchini! Olive oil, salt and pepper before grilling.
I'm with you - but if you can only find the big ones, if you cut them into slices on the diagonal or cut them into sticks, they'll do just fine. I usually just olive oil them first, and hit them with seasonings right before serving - garlic salt and Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle are the two favorites.
I've probably mentioned grilled eggplant salad somewhere around before - eggplant, peeled or not, sliced, lightly oiled, grilled until soft. Toss with a balsamic vinaigrette (or any other vinaigrette), some fresh herbs and garlic. Serve warm, room temperature, or cold, it's all good.
Grilled string beans are great, but they take time - you have to move carefully to keep them perpendicular to the grill grate, and they require watching and turning, but they come out so wonderfully chewy that it's worth it. Olive oil before grilling, dill/lemon olive oil/salt afterwards, mmmm.
Marcia.
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That looks really good.
Thanks...I wish the picture had been better! The chicken and eggplant had both been grilled first, so there were all those grilled/smoky flavors under the brightness of the tomato sauce. But it just doesn't photograph so well.
Marcia.
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I just wish I could afford to do it. When I see it done, I'm totally envious.
That's pretty much been my thought as I've been reading this thread - man, I want THEIR jobs
!Marcia.
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This looked a whole lot better in person than it does in this picture. It's chicken and eggplant parmesan, made specifically to showcase the flavor of the homemade tomato sauce (made from the last of the frozen homegrown tomatoes). Sadly, the tomato sauce is hidden under the cheese, and the whole thing looks like oozing roadkill:
But damn, it was good.
Marcia.
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Chive flowers, thyme flowers, salt and pepper to taste. My favorite - and very pretty with the pale yellow butter, the white thyme flowers, purple chive flowers, and a few green thyme leaves.
I make lots of this in the spring and freeze it for use all year.
Marcia.
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I'll join the chorus of finding all that out AFTER the meal is like shutting the barn door after the horse has escaped. All it's going to do is make me feel guilty and then associate that guilt with the restaurant, making me less likely to return.
If you're going to give me nutrition information, I want it up front so I can make an informed decision NOW, not sometime in the vague future.
And to be honest, a lot of the time I don't want the information at all. Unlike many folks here, we don't go out to eat very often, and when we do, it's not about nutrition, it's about socializing and flavors and enjoying the experience. If I was eating out 4+ times a week, the information would make a difference, but at our current rate, it wouldn't at all.
Marcia.
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If we're driving, the powered cooler. It plugs into the 12v jack in the back of the car, or has an adapter to plug into a standard outlet in a hotel room. While it doesn't get quite to refridgerator temperatures, it does stay darned cold, allowing us to pack a nice assortment of fresh veggies, yogurts, cheeses, etc. to snack on.
If we're flying, there's always a bag of nuts, a bag of jerky, protein bars, and sometimes a bag of cheese sticks or vegetables. Since there aren't meals on most flights we're likely to take, and the airline snacks are nasty, we pack our own.
I haven't done an international trip in quite some time, and I'm not sure what we're going to bring then.
Marcia.
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I've tried to write this several times, let's see if I can get it out this time....
When I was growing up, my food choices were limited but not awful. We were presented with a series of hearty, healthy, wholesome, but ultimately uninspired and underseasoned meals....and I knew there was more out there, because I read. Still, I happily chowed down on homegrown Jersey corn and tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers, appreciating their unique tastes even as I was complaining about Not Another Tomato Platter.
Fast forward to Silicon Valley in the late 80s, early 90s. It was the boom, and I was in the middle of it...not just computers, but food. Everywhere there were new tastes, new cuisines I'd never tried, restaurant srunning the gamut from hole in the wall to four start, farmer's markets, produce markets, ethnic markets - a bounty of culinary resources, and I had the other resources to take advantage of as many of them as possible. I developed an actual palate, and learned to appreciate so many different cuisines.
And now, times have changed. Medical issues have resulted in a change in diet, I now live in an area with few culinary resources, and the other resources are being put towards other priorities. Yet in many ways I'm a better cook because I can't just rely on the ingredients to carry the weight of a dish - I have to COOK it. While I admit to some envy of those who don't have to plan very far ahead when they want to go out for an elaborate meal, I also have to admit that I really, really like the food we're eating now.
So I guess my tribe is Bloom Where You Are Planted. Circumstances change, resources change, but I can change with them and still maintain the level of food I desire. Now that I think of it, this is a variation on a long held value of mine: Be Happy Anyway.
As for aspirations, I maintain two lists: one is restaurants around the world I'd like to eat at someday, and one is foods I want to try someday. The former includes Tetsuya and the buffet at the Bellagio in Las Vegas; the latter includes Moreton Bay Bugs, Kobe beef, and deep fried Twinkies. My tastes are nothing if not eclectic, and many of these goals are on the list simply because I haven't had or pursued the opportunity yet.
I'm not sure what that says about me, other than I'm a work in progress. (So's my fashion sense, but that's another essay.)
Marcia.
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I've given up on the whole food hiding thing - I used to hide some foods so my spouse wouldn't finish them off and not tell me about it, but after a few screaming hissy fits when I went to get something that was no longer there and that behavior stopped fast.
We've also been in this house nearly 10 years and I'm out of hiding spots.
I simply don't buy the foods that I know I can't control my consumption of - it's really the only way. Top on that list is Oreos - if there is an open package, I will finish it. I don't even like them all that much, but there is something about them that is completely irresistible. The only solution was to give them up completely - it's been about 10 years since I've had one.
But after seeing the deep fried Oreos, I am going to have to try them someday. They seem to come in a small portion and they probably would be soggy greaseballs if I kept them around the house, so I think I'll be pretty safe.
Edited to add: potato chips and onion dip. Not fancy onion dip, either, but California Dip made from Lipton Onion Soup and sour cream. When I make it, I never make more than I'm planning to consume right away, since I'll consume it all anyway.
Marcia.
whose cat in her avatar is named Oreo. Coincidence?
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Protein and chocolate.
And yes, I'm another coffee achiever, but I tend to keep it to two cups a day before noon, switching to tea or decaf after noon if I feel the need for another hot drink.
The last time I didn't have any protein or chocolate, though, was when I was stuck in the hospital on a clear liquids diet while awaiting surgery. First thing I ate when they would let me have solids again was a ham and cheese omelet. Chocolate followed later in the day.
Marcia.
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Purplewiz: I was unsuccessful in trying to post information created by using a spreadsheet. Would you provide helpful guidelines for those of us who find the challenge daunting? The presentation of your data is exemplary. Using a Mac and a combination of Microsoft Word and Excel, I am unable to paste my own neat lists and columns onto the board. Thanks!
Thanks very much for your kind words!
What I did was to go to the bottom of the eGullet reply screen under "Post Options" and turn HTML on. I think I used Raw Linebreak mode. Then go to whatever program your data is in and export/save to HTML (Save as Web page). That will give you a file with all the HTML tags.
Open that file you saved with Word, and then go to View -> HTML source. That will show you all the HTML tags. Cut and paste all that HTML into the eGullet reply screen, and your reply should be formatted properly.
You may still have to do some manual editting of the raw HTML to get it to show up properly - I gotta admit, I did all the HTML in mine by hand. I'm kind of old school that way
. Thank goodness for the "Preview Post" button!I hope that made some kind of sense!
Marcia.
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I won't throw it away, because its French and very old! I still have the original box it came in!
ebay?
I have been diligently going through cupboards and donating everything I possibly can. The last pickup contained a waffle iron we got for our wedding and never opened (because we got two and liked the one we use better) (we've been married over 11 years), my old crockpot that was still in the box it was moved out here in 9 years ago, and a horrible vegetable/rice steamer that my parents unloaded on me...uh, gave me as a present.....when I moved out of their house about 20 years ago.
All of these things should have been gotten rid of ages ago, and in the case of that awful steamer, I thought I HAD gotten rid of it, but no, when I looked in the cabinet above the refrigerator (which I hadn't looked in since we moved in), there it was. It's not there any longer.
Marcia.
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So what is it? Does your city or town continue to embrace mother cuisines and celebrate them? And has it developed an identifiable regional cuisine, with ingredients, flavours and techniques integrated from elsewhere? Or, with the effluxion of time, or attitude, or the effect of local terroir and merroir – has it slowed, or even stopped, in its evolution?
I don't know which this place is. It certainly doesn't embrace ingredients, etc. from elsewhere - for example, Thai took most of the country by storm, but not here. Most ethnic restaurants are very Americanized.
But it's not like there's a distinctive regional cuisine being embraced in its place, unless you count meat and potatoes (and the potatoes aren't grown here).
Which category would you use for a place where chain restaurants count for at least 50% of the people's choice awards in the local newspaper's annual "best of" survey?
Marcia.
feeling very cynical about the area in which she currently lives
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Hi -
These cook offs are always interesting, even if I don't actually cook anything, because they usually inspire at least some research into the topic. In this case, I wanted to figure out what, exactly, would be the defining aspects of "chowder".
After looking at several hundred recipes, the answer seems to be: a chowder is what someone says it is
.The biggest modes of commonality seem to be: inclusion of diced potatoes, thickened by flour, inclusion of cured pork (bacon or salt pork most commonly), a cream/milk base, some form of seafood, and roughly chopped ingredients. But even all of these don't seem to be required - I've found recipes for vegetarian corn chowder, clear broth chowder, lots of recipes for chicken mushroom chowder with no seafood or potatoes, some thickened with rice instead of potatoes.
The trait most common found is the rustic, hearty aspect to the soup - to borrow the advertising phrase, it's a soup that eats like a meal. So given that, I took aspects from several recipes that looked appealing and put together a salmon spinach chowder:
Roughly chopped celery, onions, and carrots (the carrots should have been cut somewhat smaller), garlic, bacon fat, chicken stock, thickened with flour and simmered until tender, then half a pound of chopped spinach, a mess of salmon in large strips (because I expected them to break up some and planned for it), and a cup of half and half, heated through until the salmon was cooked. Garnished with the diced bacon.
It made a warm and hearty dinner.
Marcia.
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Seasons 1-5
in Food Media & Arts
Posted
Thanks for mentioning that - every time it was called "knitting" I was yelling at the TV "no no no! It's CROCHETING!"
And they had a good crochet technique, too. (I don't, I'm self-taught.)
The meatballs looked good, though.
Marcia.