Carrot Top

I'm bringing spagetti bolognese and a big salad. And 'garlic bread' if my suitcase is big enough. Isn't anyone bringing a good bottle of red wine?

Let's not forget Rex Stout...

Yikes. I first read this as saying "exorbitant and insulting MAKEUP". In agreement, either way!

Being now from the South, I am allowed to say that reading this combination of ingredients made me 'throw' a conniption. Whew. That sounds like something a truly tired mother from the 1960's who didn't enjoy cooking at all with six complaining hungry kids around her feet would make. (And they probably would love it, too! ) I guess it could be all made better by just being at a soda fountain place, though...

I love that response! Beautiful... But you seem to have taken the New World back to the Old ...for there you are, writing from Merrie Olde England. Will you be spending Thanksgiving there? If so,will it affect the foods you serve in any way at all due to lack of certain ingredients or substitutions of other ingredients in any baked goods you buy that would alter the 'usual' way you would do it at home? And I am also very curious to know your own specific menu...I am sure it will be seasoned differently from, say, the New England or Southeastern Thanksgiving dinner...

The way that you are looking at it, Shalmanese, is exactly the way corporate analysts (usually in the accounting department of a large corporation) do when top management looks at costs of everything that it takes to run a business, including the cost/benefit analysis of providing foodservices (of any sort, even coffee service or areas) to the employees. Coffee service, areas for vending machines, cafeterias, executive dining rooms all come under scrutiny at least annually and sometimes quarterly. Every detail of running the operations is detailed including below and above line budgetary costs...and then it is up to the department head to justify the expense(s), bearing in mind what the overall corporate philosophy is in terms of employee benefits and perks. Cafeterias are generally subsidized to a greater or lesser percent and are provided in part as a benefit to the employees. The prices finally charged to the consumer and the quality of the food provided are finally the result of delicate and detailed negotiations between the client and the service provider. Often the 'client' (the person in charge of foodservices) in smaller corporations is a facilities management person and does not have the background in foodservice to sort out exactly what it is the service provider is saying...and to ask the right questions about each line item in order to negotiate the best product for the company. Therefore often cafeterias are not run as best they might be (in terms of economics for the client). In executive dining, where costs can be very high, the manager of the dining rooms can be asked by the analysts to provide a competive cost/benefit analysis...in order to justify the large expense of having an in-house fine dining service. This can involve providing average costs of outside restaurants that would be considered competitive (depending on the corporation and the style of food and service, this could range anywhere from the corner bistro to Lutece, for example...depending on exactly where the 'executives' would be going rather than dining in-house) and including whatever costs would be involved in final cost of the meal(s), and transportation or other needs. The final report is then presented to the management committee or board, and they must make the decision as to whether their dining rooms are actually providing a competitive service in terms of style, quality, services, and costs. Thank god this does not usually have to be done at home. The kitchen...of a home...should be more a warm and loving place, free of the constant fuss that the outside world hammers out each day. I say keep it. Whether it is just used to microwave a cup of tea or whether it is used to cook up a storm of tasty delights. It's a symbol.

The red wine surely would taste better but the champagne idea combined with the excess of the idea...shouts "Money!" to a lot of people...and that is what this whole concept is about...shouting "Money!" Won't work though, if a bunch of college kids go into the place (about ten or twelve) and decide to split the thing between them. Total style ruination. Someone should try it.

I don't know the exact name for it, (you would have to ask a scientist but they are all at the coffee shop right now) but it is the same chromosonal deficiency that creates the blind spot for...uh...avoiding the edge and the back of the john when they aim for the center. I could take this a bit further in terms of blind spots....you know, those places that men just can't seem to find without some really good training but...nevermind.

Sounds like some great places...thanks!

Burp. Oh! Sorry...was that...me? I'll be back in a bit....must take a nap....good cheesesteak, yeah.... Zzzzzzzz...........

I feel healthier already!!!

Our menu is expanding. Maggie has moved us to a tropical island and is bringing a full breakfast. And here I thought I was going to get answers like "a block of tofu' or...'a crate of spinach'... Don't forget that little black dress, please. Surely it will get us all in to dinner somewhere....

Isn't there a smilie face over there for a deep deep longing sigh? There ought to be. Sigh.

Ah, Cusina. Always pushing the envelope. We will think of a way.

I am happy to know the rest of you, for you have made some nice choices. When I figure out what I would bring, hopefully we can do a pot-luck. Pho with garlic. Chicken pot pie with carved Spam toppings. StudentChefEclipse, I am sure all the neighbors will be visiting you with that salad....

Ever since I saw Anna capitalize LARB in another thread, I think of LARB as a sexy movie star sort of guy, not a food. Does that help you any, in making your decision?

We would be there, Melissa. And quite likely buying it from you too, and attending your cooking classes on how to make it. What top five cheesecake flavors would you tempt us with?

Isn't that more like sixteen years and a greenhouse if you happened to land in Maine?

Odd (or not really) how the word "hubris" is popping up all over the place all of a sudden. Haven't heard it for years till a commentator on NPR used it about six months ago in a discussion about Martha Stewart and her uh...woes. Keep on hearing it and seeing it everywhere now, including the WSJ discussing the 'troubles' our corporations seem to be having in figuring out how to maintain clear and ethical bookkeeping procedures. It was suitable then, and it is suitable now...in this article about Starbucks. Of course, the rule is always "Charge what the market will bear", and that is fair. And there's also the sayings "There's a sucker born every minute" and "Gotta keep up with the Joneses". Ah, well, Lalitha. If the coffee thing becomes too absolutely ridiculous, we could take to strong drink, no?

I think the 'boiling in water' part is for the purpose of extracting the large amounts of salt that originally were used in 'corning' the beef. No reason why the change from stove-top to oven could not be done as long as the close-to-simmering point was kept during cooking...then finished up by draining and glazing. At the very least, it is a way to obtain more burners if you need them for cooking. I have a recipe for home-made corned beef if anyone has an urge to do that, by the way. Kinda fun.

Imagine you have been shipwrecked... in a strange land where all the food came in frozen clumps and metal tubes called 'cans'. Before you left home, however, you were prescient and wise enough to have brought along one food. One food that you believed would bestow ongoing good health wherever you went. What would that food be?

Whooo-eee. An eGullet Chili Cookoff Contest would surely be a fearsome thing to behold. Starting with...who would dare to volunteer to judge? (Although the eating benefits would surely be great...) Nullo Modo is the only one in this thread that has mentioned okra in his chili. Pickled okra. (Sounds good to me...) I wonder what the resident Okra Expert thinks. Okra with chili. Should it be added, (pickled or not)...or fried up and served as a side...or made into a foam and extruded from a spray can onto the top of the chili bowl? Does okra go with chili?

This is a double-edged sword in the South, as far as one transplanted Northerner here can see. I got kinda cranky upon reading an earlier post (don't remember the forum) where the discussion was of a road trip to be taken...the writer said that West Virginia was absolutely the worst state she had had to drive through in terms of 'where to eat'. But of course she was looking for places to eat that were close to the interstate. It seems to me that the more agrarian and rural the particular area...the more it is that the people that live there really don't give a damn what any 'outsiders' think of them...and there is absolutely nothing done to try to tempt anyone into the area that might just be passing through. Again, another outcropping of the way southerners tend to keep it all at home, don't make a fuss, and take care of things themselves. It does take some work...to find the special off road places to eat...at least in my experience here. Bad for local economy...but then again, who cares? Locals don't want people to come in and see the potential of the place, for then they'll move right in and demand more public services and higher taxes. Personally, I like it this way. It makes for more of an adventure...a treasure chest to be unearthed...then perhaps quietly buried again till the next visit. Quiet-like, you know.

Hey, hey Holly...if it weren't for the unchurched like me, there would be no one out there to preach to, sweetie! Yet here I am, awaiting conversion.... Yes. I will confess my sins. Yea, as an ex-New Yorker I confess to the sin of having the idea that the earth as we know it drops off into an unknown netherland after the geographic boundaries of Manhattan and certain sharply delineated outer neighborhoods end.... Yea, and verily to the greater sin of believing in haute cuisine...no, that's not what I meant...I meant haute couture. Haute something, anyway. Fashion that pisses people off if they don't wear it themselves, is what I mean. Yea, I am a rude ex-NewYorker...but that is what the rest of the world expects of us so I must fulfill my obligation. I await conversion to many good things in my trip to Philly. Baptise me with either cheesesteak or hoagie...I am sure my religious experience will be a wonder. Hey, P.S. didn't you guys used to make beer there? Nobody said anything about any breweries, micro or other....

Wow. More to Philly than one would a thunk, huh? Really, it seems like a three day thing to me, but will have to make do with a day this time. Holly, I am as mobile as a taxicab and my feet will take me. Katie...I would love to have a city tour with you but this trip is actually falling right after Christmas...a time when things are so busy of course. But will take you up on it another time! Milt, that is a fantastic idea for 'something to do'. Thanks! MarketStEl...great idea for ice cream. There is always room for ice cream, isn't there... Jason, thanks for that great thread on Carmans. Why am I setting my itinerary so early? Just allowing lots of time for the best laid plans to go awry, you know.... OK here's the scoop so far: Arrive Sunday mid-morning, find hotel in town (will do ahead through Travelocity or something)... Quickly! On to the Italian Market for a tripe sandwich at Georges. Why tripe? It is so macho. A little wandering around or else on to the National Constitution Center. Panorama for dinner because I don't eat much and the choice of 120 wines by the glass sounds staggering. The meal will consist of an apertif wine with a light snack, a nice full bodied wine with another light snack and then if I am still standing (that depends on how full they pour the glasses, actually) a dessert wine. Back to the hotel to sleep till Carmans, which sounds...operatic in many ways. I hate setting expectations of a place, so will just say I really look forward to it... Quick! Run over to the Italian Market again and get a cheesesteak or maybe a caseful packed on ice (one for the plane ride to Rome and the rest to sell to the Italians when I get there, to finance the trip...) and that... will be it! For this trip, anyway. Thanks again, everyone. I am looking forward to Philly more than I anticipated...