Dr. Funk

Well, we may have met, I did spend a lot of time with the 1/27 - and the 2/27. I always sat on my flak jacket. ← I always try to nab a second - I notice the pilots do the same. I still think the junk we're flying around in in Colombia is Viet surplus - old 212's. I must say though, the camp food on these drilling rigs is fantastic as long as you don't eat beef. Seafood stew with baby squid, baby octopus, clams and shrimp in a nice creamy sauce over rice can't be beat. Goat chops are pretty good also. But you can't get me to try another hamburger because I don't have that many teeth I want to lose.

Grind your own or know your butcher. If it's past pink it's not worth eating. I know the rancher and his son the butcher and I can walk out back into the processing area any time I want. That's what knowing your source is all about. Try to find a butcher who knows where his meat is coming from rather than boxed, vacuum-sealed primals and bulk ground beef which comes from GKW and GOK when it was packaged. I have a source I trust with truly rare tenderloins ( going to have them tomorrow for St.V day and our 10th) I feel sorry for all you right-siders. Hello from Wyoming

I just got back on this after spending 2 years in Colombia (sometimes reminded me of my '68 senior trip) and I still can't eat a lima bean. I think I met you while I was there, having spent all my time in the 1/27. I try not to think about it, but when you're being coptered into drilling sites, you automatically look to see where the patches on the bullet holes are located so you know whether to wear the flak jacket or sit on it.

Thanks for the lovely words, Maggie. Thank you and Dave for the opportunity to publish here. I apologize for my very tardy thanks. I have been incredibly busy - I've completed writing one culinary novel (mystery, with a chef as the protagonist) - editing going on now - and am halfway through another. I hope the new year is good to you and yours. ←

I've never been able to eat that stuff unless it was just after closing time. Then I'd pig out on the grease.

I find all of this (apparently genuine) ill-will towards Flay quite funny, if very hard to understand. When he was on the original IC, I got the impression that he was obviously playing the "heel" character. Getting upset about his behavior seems a bit like getting upset that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin didn't show enough respect to Hulk Hogan. Both the original IC and ICA seem to have as much in common with WWF as they do with serious cooking (which is why it's such an odd, entertaining concept). Let's not fool ourselves that it's anything really worth getting upset about. Also let's not pretend that the original IC was some high-minded tribute to haute cuisine. It was fun. Although, like most games, it did have it's serious side, it was still a game. It wouldn't surprise me if the whole standing on the chopping board thing was "suggested" by producers. I believe that both Morimoto and Bayliss are both on very good terms with Flay in real life, so I don't see why anyone else would take it so seriously. I also highly doubt that Flay is "jealous" of anyone. He seems to be doing quite well. ← Only people with no life take this seriously

Pour it out - it has no value - but then again neither do California olives other than entertainment value. 'fess up - after eating a Kalamata olive, do the black pearls in a can do anything for you?

McD's fries were fantastic when they were still fried in beef tallow - those are the fries everyone remembers (can you say congestive heart failure). Clam strips from, I forget, was it Church's or Popeyes's - I think it was the latter. I will occasionally be driving down an Interstate and get a craving for a Big Mac - about every 2 years - then I wonder why. I'll still eat McD's double c'burgers when I'm going down the road, but at no other time and won't eat a 1/4 pounder cheese. Oh well. go figure.

The eating scene in "Tom Jones"

I wanted to stay out of this, but I have to note a couple of details here. Even though the US does not have a domestic banana industry, American companies like Dole, Chiquita etc in S.America have complete control over the banana trade. They dont own land down there, but distribution of banana to the rest of the world(1/3 of banana trade goes to the US, 1/3 to the EU and the remaining to the rest of the world ..Japan etc and ALL banana exports from the South America is controlled by American companies) is a full fledged American enterprise. South American 'banana' economies are propped up by the strength of the USD and the foremost reason why the majority of the S.American population simply cannot cope with the cost of living down there. So much is the hold over these weak economies that when the EU gave preferential treatement to banana import from former colonies of Britain and France and slapped tariffs on South American bananas, the US threatened and finally did slap a 100% export duty on goods from the other side of the pond.(There is a Bush.Sr angle to this, but then this would become a naked political discussion). This is why Roses lime cordial and lemon marmalade costs so much at the local Safeway. robyn, maybe you can see these as economic discussions instead of political discussions(as i do)? we can expand the scope of these discussions if we can agree among ourselves that it is all going to be purely objective. my humble opinion. ← When did the big banana growers sell off their holdings? Go back and do your research and you'll find that they still own all the good land.

Wyoming also - I'm 50 miles from the nearest super?market.

A squeeze bottle of chocolate sauce and a can of whipped cream with perhaps a cherry? Or a la Erica Jong - apple butter?

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Harvest crew in Hooper is potatoes. What did the sheepherders have to do with that? (my in-laws are in Center in case you want to know why I know about that area)

I have had exactly 1/2 of one Christmas day off in the last 25 years. I don't mind working then as I give someone with kids the day off. I don't even get paid extra as the oilfield doesn't recognize the concept of holidays.

Favorites: Bourdain (his cookbook is great) Mario - I've learned more from this man about basic cooking technique than anyone else. Paula Dean - say what you want, the lady can cook - go to her restaurant sometime. Losers: ALTON BROWN - as a professional chemist, he offends me by professing to know anything about chemistry. The man is just a loser who's found a gullible audience. Do a little background check on him and his wife (producer) and you may be surprised at what you find. Emeril - what a joke! Have you ever seen the meatloaf episode? If you have you know what I'm talking about. The man is a walking disaster. There are a lot of other losers out there, but these are the cream.

I've watched that remodeling show she's on and always felt that she was the weak link. She couldn't cook herself out of a wet paper bag. An Iron Chef? She's never done anything to get even close. I wouldn't trust her with a backyard barbecue from what I've seen.

Oh Lordy! - cracklings. Whenever my mother cooked up a chicken for chicken and dumplings or pot pie, she'd save the skin, cut it in strips and fry it in chicken fat. A little salt and we were in heaven.

9/11

Rehovot - if you're looking for pumpkin, use any large dry-fleshed squash. Most commercial canned pumpkin is actually Blue Hubbard, but Banana or any of the Japanese varieties such as Kuri or Kabocha substitute equally well. Just cut it up and steam it and then mash.

Fine, but what about those of us who have 10 different ground chiles and then we start getting into the herbs and spices. I started figuring out what I'd need and decided to keep everything in ziplocks.

I'd never even heard of brining 'til this year. What is this? Kashering for Goys? I don't care what anybody says, soaking any meat in a salt solution is just a waste of good meat. Even my sister the Rabbi agrees with me on this one.

I don't know - haven't had a store-bought turkey since I was married to wife #1 and that's been 27 years. Of course, with her cooking skills it probably wouldn't have mattered.

"Plenty of it, such as it is" and "Good, what there is of it" - both from my great-grandfather.

Among others, that broad-breasted whites can't breed. If so, what were mine doing out there in the yard? And how did I get fertile eggs? I've been raising these birds for 48 years and if you let them out into the field, they are the best ever. I've also raised Bronzes and they are just as stupid as the Beltsville Whites. Actually, all domesticated turkeys are pretty stupid - you have to teach all of them how to eat out of a feeder.