Jason Perlow

A friend of mine, who is genuine Boston Irish -- certainly not WASP but a real New Englander -- has told me that during the 1950's, 1960's and 70's, it was extremely difficult to get fresh vegetables of any kind during the winter months, so they mostly ate canned or frozen. New Englanders use a lot of convenience product for that very reason, and I guess even though good veggies and fresh foods are now avaliable that time of year, they have a "taste" for canned vegetables and canned goods now, if you want to call it that, its now part of their DNA.

Interesting to see the native perspective, Megan. I'm not exactly sure where this New England WASP affinity for convenience product comes from, but there has to be a reason for it.

I beleive their chief wine buyer and beverage director recieved some accolades and awards, from Wine Spectator, I think.

No, not yet, but I'd probably substitute pecans for walnuts, as Rachel hates walnuts. The one I am actually considering is this one from Joan Hamburg and Arthur Schwartz: http://www.thefoodmaven.com/diary/archives/00000073.html But the nuts sound like a nice touch.

Thanks very much, Daniel. If anything, my choice to make it this year it pisses a lot of holier-than-thou people off, and that's a reason as good as any to prepare it, I think. Next year, I'm thinking about Ritz Cracker Stuffing. But I might have to succumb to the demand to make this again.

I have to disagree with that -- I find the Paramus Legal to be making some of the best seafood locally -- especially their fried clams and oysters and crab cakes -- and their prices are extremely reasonable. I also like the fact that they have lots of appropriately paired wines by the glass and half bottles. Every experience we've had at Legal in the last year or so has been pleasant and the food surprisingly good.

The K-Cup pod system that Keurig uses is really interesting, I'm hoping I can get a hold of one to evaluate shortly.

Yes, and it was a huge hit. The phrases "Oh my God this is so good" and "This is the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life" were bandied about the table at least a dozen times. When and if eGullet does its Holiday Cookbook, I'll be sure it makes it into the short list.

BTW, Pretzels in the UK are no laughing matter. You can't find a bag of them to save a dip, anywhere in that country. Maybe its the German thing, I dunno. They're a little touchy when it comes to Germans for some reason.

The very best chefs in the Navy come out of the Submarine corps. Actually, I'd love to get one of those guys onto the site and learn some of their recipes.

For Presidential Texas 'Q, you want to look at LBJ, not Bush. Its well documented. Walter Jetton wrote a LBJ Barbecue Cook Book in the early 60's. Its way out of print, but some of the recipes are on the 'net. http://www.grilldome.com/cgi-bin/GDForum/s...i?tpc=8&post=35

I seriously, seriously doubt the Bush family actually eats like this on a regular basis. The recipes have to be archival at best.

This is the same columnist who derisively referred to eGullet as a Gourmetocracy and "Food Blue Bloods" a year or two ago -- and clearly The eGullet Society is anything but exclusive to the food snob or haute cuisine point of view. Maybe I am completely off base here, but I think she likes to point fingers and making snap judgements of anyone she pleases without having any ideological compass or having done any informed research whatsoever.

Guys, I think this is a legit topic, but I would like to give some advance warning that the moment this thread turns political, we will remove posts without warning or notification. Please stay within the bounds of food discussion, thanks. ← Is this representative of family cuisine in the US today? Anyone really cook like this still? Yes, many families still cook like this. Especially at the lower income scale. It's one of the reasons why educating people on how to eat well is such an important component of the eGullet Society Mission Statement. That doesn't mean, however, that the occasional dish of White Castle Stuffing during Thanksgiving isn't necessarily bad, either.

This is a review coming from the same country that enjoys eating mushy peas and invented the bastard that is Chicken Tikka Masala, so I would say people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Not every world leader has the culinary sophistication of say, Winston Churchill, or even Kim Jong Il for that matter. I don't think a British paper really and truly understands that a lot of these dishes resonate very well with the common man -- just look at how popular Sandra Lee is -- it's very blue collar in concept. If the book was a political exercise -- which it probably was -- then it is likely serving the exact purpose the Bush family wants it to play. Some WASP-y lockjawed New England old-money cookbook (which likely would have done very well in the Kennedy era) probably wouldn't resonate that well in this day in age with the American public, although I think that version is probably much closer to reality of the Bush family than Campbells condensed soup casseroles are.

Yeah, it said you didn't have permission to receive one... is your inbox/outbox full? Try deleting a bunch...

Right, but this is why she needs to take an accurate survey of how many real coffee drinkers she has and how much they really drink. If most only drink 1 or 2 cups a day and only a few drink 3-5 you're not talking about a huge margin. You can also use the honor system and charge 25 cents or 40 cents a pod, to offset costs. You would be surprised how effective honor systems are in tightly knit office environments or even large ones. Another thing about pods is that people can bring in their own stash of pods and teabags (which work in most pod brewers just fine) and its very convenient to do so.

Guys, I think this is a legit topic, but I would like to give some advance warning that the moment this thread turns political, we will remove posts without warning or notification. Please stay within the bounds of food discussion, thanks.

So said the Coffee Forum Host. You're going to be seeing a lot more pod talk from me Owen, I figured I'd give you a heads up. Get your crucifix ready. I like them, a lot, especially in my single coffee drinker household. I am now finally free of the shackles of having to grind the damn beans, boil the goddamn water, and manually brewing the damn coffee. When I'm half asleep and groggy, 10 minutes to do that is a freaking eternity. With my little Melitta machine, from cold power up to hitting the brew button to having a piping hot mug of joe, its a minute and thirty seconds, tops. If the reservoir is already primed and hot from the initial power up, a whole 30 seconds. Is it a replacement for fresh ground, French Press? Or a Moka? Or a really nice pulled espresso shot? No. Convenient and quite good for what it is? Hell yes. Look man, pods do not have to be ordinary. You don't have to buy the Senseo or Melitta stuff you get at the supermarket -- even though after sampling it, I think that stuff is way better than your average office swill and would be a vast improvement to just about every workplace. Even local hippie roasters have the ability to make pods, although it does require a fairly substantial investment in equipment, like fifty grand, so only the medium sized mail order companies seem to be able to produce them so far -- but that is going to change as local manufacturers get in the pod contracting game. Say whatever you want, Pods are here, they are a huge freakin' success, they ain't going away, there's huge variety in them if you go 3rd party, and for people who need instant gratification, like people who work for a living, they are a godsend. And if anything else, I like the fact they piss off coffee snobs.

Robyn, would you happen to have any online sources for ordering Florida satsumas?

I know the fresh-ground fresh-roasted whole pot at a time snobs are going to get up in arms, but I would say go with a good quality pod machine -- the realities of an office environment aren't conducive to a highly-optimized, "slow coffee" experience like you can do at home or even in a good cafe. You want coffee to be dispensed quickly, you want to have easy cleanup, and you don't want whole pots of coffee sitting around for a long time going rancid. With pods, you get some nice variety (you can buy several flavors at a time) and each pod is individually pre-wrapped, eliminating waste, each serving is always fresh, easy cleanup, and they can make tea with teapods as well. Any coffee distributing company should be able to get you decent prices on pods. http://www.bunnmycafe.com/ http://www.simplehuman.com/

No, I'm afraid we are not quite that organized...

Lucy, you looking to get your Project Manager certification or something? I think we could use someone like you in the IT consulting field...

Its all about the Cheesesteak porn.

Lutece, when were you there? We were there today at around 1-2PM. Had the Seafood Pan Fried Noodles which I thought were excellent, as well as a number of new dimsum items (tried the quails, which were very good -- snow pea shoot dumplings, excellent -- deep fried squid tentacles with cashews and green pepper, excellent -- Galbi-like mini veal chops in a soy glaze/bbq sauce, excellent)