Carrot Top

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...

All of you have written such interesting, heartfelt and beautiful words about this subject.... I've struggled to try to sort out what it is to me. I thought that the common thread that ran through it all these years was basically the giving and nurturing part...but it is not just that. In ways that play more minor parts are the ideas of creativity, artistic outlet. That is what first drew me to it. The colors, the textures, the tastes and aromas of food...the endless techniques and combinations, the vast amount of culturally related creative ways of doing things.... and then of course as time went on it was a great way to make a living...for a while...till the purity of the original intent was distorted by the nature of the business I was in. To have to look at it in this formal cutthroat business-like way unfortunately made for an eventual loss of savor. I found I had no blood-lust for competition at high stakes...no matter that the underlying focus and beauty was food. There was a period (perhaps others have experienced this too) where I lost my vocabulary in the subject. It became dull, and though I knew a lot there was just plain boredom. Then, to add insult to injury, I married someone who had no taste for good food. How could I do this? Can't claim I was drunk, but maybe I was stupid... All of you, with your love of food, have been inspiring to me...as I go quietly back up the path of re-defining my own vocabulary of food...and my gratitude goes out to you. But here is the nugget of what I found 'a good meal' is to me, after all. It is safety. I think Rogov brought this initial seed of thought to my mind, as I read his answer and thought about where, geographically, he was writing from. A good meal, food, cooking, to me is safety. It is something I can create and feed my children, so that along with other memories, far into years hence, they will smell an aroma, taste a taste, and feel the care that was put into the dish when it was made for them at home (Mayhaw Man spoke of this briefly in another thread...these memories...), a feeling that should give them a sense of sure-footedness and security. We can not count upon the corporations and businesses for financial safety as perhaps some other generations did. We can not count on safety in our homes, really. And...unfortunately...sometimes we can not count on safety even in the choices we make in marriage...that institution that we vow will 'last forever'. In an unsure world, a good meal can provide a simple safe comfort. The egg will cook if you put it on heat...the tomato sauce will smell of herbs and garlic, giving an aromatic security to whomever is stirring it. Yes, and even the lettuce will rot if you leave it in the fridge for too long...but all these things provide a small sense of safe harbor just in the fact that they do happen. We eat within our traditions, the foods we know, and that helps define us, it shores us up to walk out into the daily world which sometimes is loud and battering. It helps us know ourselves and be pleased. Reminds me of something A.J. Liebling wrote: "A good meal in troubled times is always that much salvaged from disaster." A beautiful safe harbor of comfort...that's what it is to me.

You've been doin' a bit of drinking this week, girl! That takes practice..I admire your perseverance all in the goal of getting the reviewer's job done! Nice review. Sounds like a highly entertaining book. The review itself was an entertaining read, too. Loved the paragraph about 'Sex and the City' in TV...made me laugh out loud...

If the idea of looking outwards toward the audience is not giving the creative impetus you are looking for in this 'name game'...and if you do not want to take the time of the FOH people for whatever reason...it might work to look inwards. Your pastries are your creations (even if they are adaptations). You have seen them, felt them, played with them, thought about them. Each one will have a different 'core idea', a specific feeling, to you, if you focus in on it...even variations on a Black Forest Cake will have different nuances. If the external wording is not coming, think about what the particular and personal qualities are of each piece. This may seem silly. Simple words like 'soft and creamy', 'intense and fruity' and those sorts of words will probably come to mind first and naturally they sound sort of...well...both repetitive dull and ridiculous, like packaged goods. Write them down anyway, as you focus on what the thing really IS, to you. Then go to the thesaurus and find words that can subsitute for what you originally came up with. Thesauses are little worlds of wonder for words. Just an idea, anyway.

There is an article on msnbc.com today about two scientists who just won a shared $1 million-plus Nobel prize for work on aromas/scents and memory. And what did one of them say when asked what the first thing he was going to do now? "Go have a cup of coffee".

Never went to the CFN that far uptown, Pan. Probably the space costs were less so they could allow a bit of leeway in actually allowing a customer to have a table! The one(s) I would go to were mid-town...crowded at lunchtime but still you could eat in about the same time it would take to grab a slice of pizza and walk with it... I really hate to think of how many years ago this was, but it must have been around thirty years ago (the only satisfaction one has in getting older is knowing that nobody else can escape it, either! )...I was a teenager working at various office jobs midtown and CFN left enough time at lunch hour to eat and then stop in one of the local junky clothes stores to shop a bit, too! The culture of tipping was not so prevalent then. It was done by most people but not everywhere as it is now. Life and economics were just simpler, a bit. Now I feel badly if I don't tip 20% even to baristas but then, it was not like that. There were people who worked at CFN or at gas stations as attendees or at other (what would now be considered transitionary or low-level jobs for the average American) for years...and nobody really tended to look down on them too much for not having "it all". They were just a working part of society. Well...I shouldn't paint too pretty a picture of those times, though. That was NYC in the seventies and you could get mugged leaving the subway as likely as not....

LARB. I like that name. Is he a movie star? Sounds hunky.

Yes, isn't it pleasant! Wait a minute...what did you write?...I can not seem to see beyond the end of my nose.... A cup of coffee will fix that, I hope. Must go to the Coffee Forum to learn how to make one....with.... well, you know. The A word.

One day in Philly. A Sunday. Coming in from the airport and leaving the next day on another flight. What would you want to see and where would you want to eat if you were me? (I did read the Best Eats listing...but would like to hear more from your own personal recommendations!) Not really interested at the moment in the Haute Cuisine thing...but any other ideas would be appreciated!

It sounds vaguely familiar somehow. Of course Chock Full o'Nuts was an extremely inexpensive place to eat...all counters, no booths, really fast service, just basically coffee and five or six pre-made sandwiches available. Could be that in order to eliminate some book-keeping chores, they just paid the servers a higher hourly wage than usual and left it at that. Zum-Zum was a chain quite similar, but with a German slant to it....

Thank you for telling me that. I feel much better. But you must realize that now you have said this on paper, you cease to be 'an authority' and have become The Authority.

A wonderful book of fiction with a thread running throughout it of coffee as 'The Devil's Brew' is "Memoir from Antproof Case" by Mark Helprin. The protagonist, who leads an...extravagant...life to say the least, wages life-long war against 'the world's most insidious enslaver: coffee'.

I don't see why an adult decision would be any better than a childish decision, in this case. Right now, I am going to throw my cup of coffee upon the floor in a fit of childish rage...and then demand help...help... ............................. I guess academics need to earn a living somehow, too, huh? Great idea for your study program, Lalitha. Please include me in your list of participants...I am sure you will find a grant!