Carrot Top

Yes, that was a nice thing for her to do. Absolutely in agreement.

I am considering a trip to Rome during the week following Christmas, and am seeking information, advice, recommendations...of any sort that anyone would like to give! My desire would be to spend the time exploring. It would be great to hear of any street fairs, entertainments, markets, and anything that comes to mind that is a natural and integral part of Roman life in all its variety. I am not specifically looking for 'restaurant' recomendations (I'd rather wander around and hit some maybe bad and maybe good ones but all a surprise) unless there are any I need to be particularly warned to stay away from! (Is that possible in Rome?!) Unusual sites or shops or foodmarkets would be great to hear about....please do not restrict any suggestions to the central area of the city for I am willing to travel around a bit. What's 'new' in Rome? And what is so traditional that it is always done around Christmastime...so traditional that you might not even think of suggesting it? Another question...Vatican City. Tell me, where does the Pope eat? Obviously it is all 'in-house'...does anyone know anything about that? And what about the lesser dignitaries? Is there a, uh...Papal Cafeteria of sorts? Would love to know.... Thanks for any suggestions!

Will do, seahawg. Though my favorite dose of local culture available on CD is always the latest by Bill Lepp, the five time Champion of the West Virginia Liar's Contest. His latest CD is called ' Mayhem Dressed as an Eight Point Buck'. Wonder if he'll be at the festival....

For some bizarre reason I promised to give a simple cooking/history lesson to the sixth graders at the middle school who are now studying Native Americans (in 'Colonial' times)...the date for this is growing close and am just starting to put together bits and pieces of research...so if anyone has any ideas, or Heather if you do go to the Museum and like the menu...I would love to have some additional input...would you post? Thanks! FunJohnny: Nice quickly made recipe...might add it to the menu...I know for sure the kids would love fry bread...am unsure about pemmican, but it certainly would 'wow' them and give them something to think about. Most of the focus for the lesson so far has been on the importance of corn and all that it signified....

Phew. Thought for a moment you wrote 'sharp wench'.

This has been an ardent and marvellous foodblog, jackal10. Whomever follows will be a brave soul. Thank you for the incredible effort that went into putting this together for our pleasure.

Yes, you do have the makings of lots of good stuff there! The first thing I see at a quick look-through as a possibility would be a layered Mexican-themed sort of gratin. You could use up...the chorizo, lots of peppers, leeks/scallions/garlic,potatoes, parmesan and squash. Brown chorizo....roast peppers...saute the onion family...slice the potatoes very very thinly....grate parmesan...slice squash very thinly or grate. Layer up...add some sort of tomato-y base somewhere in there if you have it on hand....any herbs you like...season and cook in a slow oven till potatoes are tender. The rice could be made into round little balls...bound with beaten egg (and parmesan if you would rather use it here than in the other recipe) rolled in breadcrumbs and gently sauteed to brown. Nice collection of stuff, rsincere. Must go investigate my own fridge, too, now!

I think a tiny smidgeon of good-quality tomato paste (be very very careful with the amount...the slightest bit too much will head into overkill) will pump up the intensity of flavor.

Thank goodness for small touches of style in our daily lives. You are giving me hope, bloviatrix. But I am still hoping that some enterprising eGulleter will decide to manufacture these (very inexpensively made!) items in bright colors and market them to fancy food stores at some exorbitant price. I'd buy it!

'Nice' is a definite understatement. How long did it take you to drink it? (I had the same bottle once...and if I'd had more, I am sure they would have been calling me to drink them up one per day right in a row till done. Glorious taste.)

Small pieces of meat are difficult to roast well, I've found. I don't have a 'scientific' reason to give you....someone else probably can put it into words. I would rather pan-roast a small piece of meat or grill it.... Sad, to have it overdone. My sympathies...

Oh I doubt if you are delusional, Cusina. But you are a nice person, and that might make people think you are! I dunno....it might take me awhile to decide to open this book...and I might need to buy some new outfits first just to feel right about myself as I skim the pages, you know. I have no problem with that. Can't wait to see what you'll report on next. Hey, who needs to read when you provide such a good summary!

Michelin Tires? In West Virginia? Fine food, indeed. Someone....recently gave me the name of a poem written (a quite serious poem, actually) about 'roadkill'. Will hunt it up and post it.

Ribbed green? I dunno, Nullo Modo....that might make me think of okra, and that would make me laugh, and then I would not be able to shout out my incantation correctly. But as you say, there is hope.

Mmm. I'll take a look at it. Was afraid to before, Cusina...but you obviously have survived it, so I will sally forth and test the waters. My mind kept wandering....Mr.Latte....Mr. Goodbar....Mr. Latte...I simply could not focus on who it was she was cooking for. Scared me. But Boeuf en Daube? Comfort food. Surely it is Mr.Latte who enjoys this sort of thing....not Mr. Goodbar. Uptown New York, you know. Scatters the mind.

Growing up in a house with a mother that did not cook, a Franco-American spagetti sandwich on white bread was a good thing that a seven-year old could make themselves...yes, that was a strange delicious treat for me, too! FFR....ice at the end of a drink? Ooooh....a huge icicle pulled off the side of the gutters at the end of a snowstorm is so much better....and has a, uh, 'bouquet' of dried leaves and rusty minerals to boot!

I'll tell you what bothers me about those rubber thingies though. The color. I've never seen them except in pig-tongue pink. And they are textured, aren't they? I have a sort of shocked memory of opening a kitchen drawer somewhere and seeing one stuck in the back...old and battered and somewhat gooey. Frightened me half to death! Maybe if someone came along and made them in 'cool' colors.....

You've put together a well-written and thorough piece about that book, Cusina. I honestly can not think of a question that I would ask...except perhaps what percentage of the recipes were actually interesting and do-able, to you. And...were they in any way 'different' than other recipes of the same sort you've seen elsewhere....or were they basically derivative or simple variations... Interesting how the 'style' of that book, to my mind, stands out over what substance it might enclose. Did the 'style' make the book appealing to people in general that have bought it and really enjoyed it, do you think? Or finally, was it the substance?

Thanks for the report, Marlena. I could see it, feel it, taste it and hear it, and yes, from here on forward in time will think of you as a little wild animal goddess. And also thanks for the link to your website. I had not seen it before, and it is quite a nice site.

Okra is just plain funny. It is little. It is an ugly green color. It is a pod, and not a pretty pod either...it has strange alien-looking ridges along it. Cut it open and slithery gook and seeds smile out at you. Its best value is as a conversation and/or ardent argument starter. Sometimes, it's even good to eat.

I realized that I hadn't seen Al's butt either (don't know why I didn't try harder) so logged back on and then realized that I had confused snowangel's butt with Susan's, who isn't on this thread, and whose butt I have never seen.... Must have been the tears of laughter making me type wrong. Or thoughts of butt are making me even more confused than usual. Sorry, snowangel. It is your butt that is beautiful. I can't compare Al's to it for obviously he has spread himself all over the countryside. But apparently it was fine.

Your butt is truly beautiful, Susan. And the title of this thread is pretty good, too.

It must be that whatever chemical is in anise is also in fennel and also in licorice root....for all these are used as teas in various cultures 'as a digestive aid' or to soothe the tummy. Yummy...they are all good. The licorice tea in particular is so sweet fresh from brewing that you can't believe you didn't forget, and put sugar or honey in it.

Very nice responses! We came up with a total of ten ways to open a jar...and that number does not count either of the options of sending Toliver flying around the country to open jars OR the option of my becoming a lady body-builder! ('Becoming a lady body-builder' has actually been on my list of Things To Do for some time, but somehow it keeps slipping to the bottom of the list... ) My own method is to take the Chinese cleaver and whack the jar with the back of it. If that doesn't work, you must shriek out a number of obscenities in a certain order at the top of your lungs at it. Sort of like the obscenities that one must also holler out when entering the West Side Highway on a Saturday evening from the Henry Hudson Parkway...in order to be taken seriously and let into the brawl that is called traffic. Usually this incantation will work. It scares the jar into opening. But you can't use this method with kids around....so I am glad of the other suggestions! Thanks! P.S. Cusina, I loved the way that thing seemed to be flying right off the page. You have a talent for photography!

OK, I've got one. Also from childhood. Bread Balls. Take a loaf of Wonder Bread. You might need the whole thing. Sit somewhere like the couch and do something mindless like watch TV. Take a slice of bread out and tear off the crusts (discard them or feed the birds). Then ball up each slice of bread into either one large ball or several small ones. Eat. Yum.