La Niña

Tuna noodle casserole. Gotta love it. Once when I was in 4th grade, I had to bring something to a girl scout potluck. And they asked me to do tuna noodle casserole. My mother told me that if I ever even mentioned something like that again, well...god knows what would have become of me.

Wait a darn minute. I thought he was talking about my Ruchel Welch comment.

Pringles. Okay I said it. I love Pringles. Original, none of this reduced fat baked bullshit. Oh here's a gross thing. Balogna with cream cheese spread on it and rolled up.

Wasn't she born Ruchel Welch?

Ah, John, you're getting so wise in your old age

So in other words, I would bring several versions of one particular kind of salami, say a Hungarian one, and we'd compare them...

Nina, could you please post a thread on these? Or just describe them a bit here? First of all, you gotta check this out: http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/cujs/cholent/cholent.htm - The Cambridge University Cholent Society, I kid you not. Note especially the disparaging comments about the Oxford University Cholent Society. Hilarious. Onto the question at hand: first of all, Cholent is the name for the Ashkenazi version of this dish. The dish (all the versions_ is eaten on the Sabbath, since it's prohibited to make a fire - it's prepared ahead of time, and cooked in a verrrrry slow oven for many, many hours - overnight. Could be as much as 16 hours. It's then eaten for Sabbath lunch, when the men get back from prayer. The smell, overnight, as it's cooking is unbearably enticing. All the versions traditonally use potatoes and barley in them. There are as many variations on these dishes as there are Jewish cooks. Typically, cholent (we're talking the Ashkenazi dish) is made with white beans or lima beans, brisket, and is a little sweet - sometimes it has honey or prunes in it. Sephardic versions are all over the place. The Iraqis and Egyptians call it D'fina, or Adafina. Moroccans use the word d'fina and also the word Scheena. It usually includes chick peas instead of beans, chicken in addition to the meat, and the meat is stew beef or lamb. It also has cumin, turmeric, and one lays whole eggs on top and they roast into this gorgeous brown color and end up tasting like nuts. The Iraqi version is my personal favorite. Steve described but one version of a Moroccan one above. Indian Jews call it Hameen, and this one has cardamom and basmati rice in it, along with the usual Indian suspects. Typically made with chicken, no beef or other meat. Hungarians call it Shalet - obviously a lot of paprika, and made traditionally with goose. If anybody's curious, I can post the recipe later from home from an Iraqi Jewish family I know - I have their generations-old recipe and it's really good. And it makes me feel very urban and contemporary

I just don't see why certain European traditional foods aren't "urban and contemporary." Cassoulet is an old traditional food - why is it more "urban and contemporary?" Because it's what you've incorporated into your particular "urban and contemporary" lifestyle? Because its flavors are more complex? Why does that make it "urban?" It's a countryside kind of dish in any event. Define "urban and contemporary" in this context, if you will. And for the record, Sephardic cholent, called "hameen," is a much more interesting dish than the traditional Ashkenazi one.

"Yes the occassion where I might eat Eastern European Jewish style stuffed cabbage are less, partly because it is too heavy, partly because it doesn't express an urban contemporary lifestyle in any way" I don't get that at all. Do you mean that eating home cooked food isn't "urban and comtemporary?"

Many of my favorite childhood foods are still my favorite adult foods. I was brought up in a family where food was taken seriously - there was no distinction between what the kids ate and what the adults ate. We were simply expected to eat what everyone was eating. I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't eat virtually *everything*. But if I have to make some sort of bridge in my head between the foods I especially loved as a child that I still especially love now, I'd say: wiener schnitzel, chicken paprikasz. Indonesian ristaafel, szekely goulash, ukrainian style winter borscht, good cheeses of all kinds, salamis and wursts, fondue, pastries of all kinds, liver, caviar, a good traditional Thanksgiving feast, good chocolate, wine...you know, the list is really endless. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I been a passionate eater since I could put fork (or fingers) to mouth, so for me there's little distinction between those foods I loved as a child and those foods I love now. For the record, neither of my parents is American. On a tangent, regarding children - what do people think about exposing kids to, and educating them about, food? In my family, kids are expected to eat what they're given from a very young age. Seems to me that kids live up to expressed expectations, regardless of what those expectations are. My nephews, who are 4 and 2 respectively, know already that they are expected to at least try every food. If they give something a good try and still don't like it, then they can eat something else. But that rarely happens - inevitably, they like it.

What do, for example, GT and Bouley charge for BYO?

I'm so in. Salamis.

Ali of Kebab Cafe made me this unusual dish called Abou Malouf (I had asked him to make something he enjoys making but doesn't get to cook often), which consists of the mead of the head of sheep (it can also be veal), including the cheeks, but minus the tongue and brains (served separately). The dish is reminiscent of Ropa Vieja - kind of shredded looking, except the cheeks. Meat was sauteed, spiced, with lots of vegetables mixed in, on top of rice. The eyeball, which was whole, was on top, as were the cheeks. Only a tiny bit of it looked like an eyeball - this blackish part, but it was for the most part surrounded by light-ish meat, I suppose muscle or membrane of some kind. I was freaked out, as was my companion, but Ali talked us through it beautifully. He suggested that we first try a little of the "surround" part and not the pupil-looking part, which we did. It was good. Not at all slimy, a little chewy, sort of like a very well cooked piece of chicken gizzard in texture. After that, I was no longer scared, and I ate the rest in one bite. My companion did the same. No trauma. We were extremely proud of ourselves. By the way, Ali calls this meal his "tongue in cheek" meal.

For me, vis-a-vis fennel anyway, I feel like I must be missing something, and I don't like the idea that I'm somehow not experiencing some pleasure that so many others manage to experience. Once upon a time I didn't like lima beans, and now I love them. Same with certain bleu cheeses (which I can't get enough of now). I want to be able to enjoy all things edible, and not allow anything to spoil any part a meal for me. So I keep trying.

lxt, did you try the spicy hot chocolate or the regular one? I find the regular one too sweet, but the spicy one has quite a nice kick to it.

Water chestnuts have almost no flavor. They are a big waste of weird crunchiness. I remove them when faced with no other option. They just seem so...foolish. I ate a sheep's eyeball on Sunday. It was actually quite good.

Maybe the trying it 10 times thing does work. I mean, I keep trying fennel over and over and over and sometimes it's even tolerable. I'm not sure I"ll ever seek it out, but maybe it'll stay tolerable at some point. That's different from being totally repulsed by it, which has been the case.

I'm planning on going, and would be delighted to have company. Let me know, I'll reserve.

I've been to the shop several times. I always get the spicy hot chocolate, which is thick and gooey and rich and very nice on a cold day. They also sell as a mix, which I use enthusiastically at home.

Last year a friend of mine came back from Italy with this fantastic basil liqueur. Sweet and interesting and green...anybody ever tried this? Could I find it in NYC?

It's next week...was interested in whether people thought it seemed worthwhile...

Taste of Summer Italian Food and Wine Menu Tuesday, June 18th at 7:30pm Luce 475 Sixth Avenue (11th Street) Brooklyn, New York (718)768-4698 Sixty-five dollars per person Presented in association with Tricana imports First Course Crostini, Olives & Bagna Cauda Vagnoni, Vernaccia di San Gimignano Second Course Scallop Risotto with Lemon Figini, Gavi di Gavi Third Course Minestrone with Pesto Illuminati, "Riparossa" Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Fourth Course Roast Capon with Borlotti Beans and Corn Savese, Primitivo di Manduria Fifth Course Grilled Leg of Lamb with Fregola Salad La Monacesca, "Camerte" Rosse della Marche Finale Pistachio Gelato with Apricots Savese, Primitivo di Manduria Dolce

Fennel, it's fennel! I'm very ashamed. I try, again and again, in all of its forms. Licorice, anisette, sambuca, ouzo, shaved fennel, fennel seeds - whatever. I just can't stand the damn thing. The only time I came close was eating buccatini con le sarde which had some fennel in it, but I think it was mostly because the sardine flavor was so intense that the fennel got lost.

Sometimes I make a creme patissiere and just eat it.

Doesn't quite work like that. It's not a tasting with one seating, or even two. One makes a regular reservation at Aureole - 8:45 was the only time left when I made the reservation. 5:30 just happens to be the earliest dinner reservation they take.