Carrot Top

The idea of nouns becoming verbs does not bother me - as you say, things alter, grow, change. What does bother me is the attitude the words gather round them as they alter or grow, sometimes. An aura of snotty self-complacency seems to sprout in the way the word is "meant" that has a sense of either truffles or barnacles settling down upon the thing - really I can not decide which one seems better fit for what happens in the way the intent the words gain.

So it's at the more formal gatherings with strangers and so forth that you bring up the topics that are likely to provoke a visceral reaction of nausea? If you ever care to write a book, a collection of these topics and lines of discussion would be a best seller to each and every ten year old boy on the planet. They, however, have no qualms about attempting to bring up these topics at the family dinner table.

You're right. It is chewing gravel. The correct way to say that word is "dissin". As in "Don't go dissin' that dish, or dis dishtowel's gonna disrespect yo face." (or butt rather than face, as the case may be, depending on how familiar the disser.)

Nevertheless, please be sure that your little pinky finger is ready to be raised when using these words for their full and intended effect. Wearing an Hermes tie or scarf will not harm the intended goal, either.

Interesting word. The overtones of it are curious, to my mind. Other common uses of the word are in journalism (as in "I wouldn't be caught dead letting on who my source was!") which has an aura of excitement and a bit of shadiness. . .then of course in the lingo (old word - some of you might have to look it up in the dictionary ) of the street "My source dried up" means that your drug dealer just got busted or is recovering from a drive-by shooting in the hospital therefore unable to provide the "goods" which is also rather shady, no? Then there's the other side of the picture. As when someone speaks of "the source of all power" meaning the magnificent whatever-it-is from which our universe has sprung. This is not as often used, though, I don't think. But of course I don't watch Sunday morning religious television shows, so I could be wrong. Thank you, Sir Charles, for an excellent conundrum upon which to muse. P.S. At first, I thought your last line read "You want to get puffed up about buying stuff? Please. We'll talk about it after YOU'VE turned into dinner." I sort of liked that idea. Gave the whole a thing a rather fairy-tale-like aura.

My condolences, too, Julia. Similar to you, I didn't know my father's parents. It might have been interesting to, for they arrived in New York as Jewish refugees from Amsterdam - and my father (though I knew him but briefly) did seem to be rather interested in and mildly obsessed with food. My grandmother also lived in an apartment, but in a medium sized town in Maine - and also had strange bits of food tucked away here and there that she seemed to want to keep for some time that would come where there just might not be any food. How a ten-year-old jar of B&M Baked Beans would save life as we know it (in case of any terrible plight) I do not know - but she seemed to believe it would. And besides, it was *made* in Maine, and she had even seen the factory, so it had a certain sense of assurance to it. I don't remember her eating anything, really, ever, but for tuna-fish sandwiches on white bread that had been spread with butter. The tuna had nothing in it but mayonnaisse. . .none of this fancy pickle relish and why bother with celery? The strongest memory I have of her though, is one night while sleeping on a cot near her bed during the summer when I was seven while visiting my relatives in Maine. Somehow I fell off the cot in my sleep, and all of a sudden she sat directly up in bed and hollered out "Time to eat!" really loud, then lay back down and went back to sleep. I giggled myself back to sleep. She didn't remember a single thing the next morning. "Time to eat!" (Still makes me laugh. . . )

I think that a slightly sweetened acorn mousse (perhaps using maple syrup for that essence of America) wrapped in very thinly sliced hot dogs would be an admirable appetizer. Yum.

I'm glad you found that for it makes me feel slightly more sane than usual. All my herbs and spices live in the fridge. Yes, it does get crowded. But the freshness factor is much improved over leaving them "out", I've found, through experience.

It is true that the Californian American eats acorns. The Californian American eats many things, but the acorn is something that belongs to their folklore. It is fascinating that this fact has finally been unearthed. To be precise, when Americans can not find a hot dog to eat, they quite naturally turn to the acorn for sustenance. James Michener tells us of the origins of this natural occurence in the book "Texas" when describing settlers heading west to Texas from places like Virginia (where of course, I live). As they headed west through places like Kentucky, everything was fine. There were hot dogs there to be had. But then further south, near some dreadful river that I can not remember the name of, food was not to be found. No hot dogs, no nothin'. And any extra money had to be paid to the guy who would take them across the river and on to Texas (where of course they lived for a while then picked up all their stuff and moved further west to California). Thank god for the Native Americans, or "Indians" as they used to be called. They saved the settlers' asses one more time, in showing them how to eat acorns. The Cambridge World History of Food informs us that "In North America, acorns sustained many Native American groups, who exploited some 20 species". Naturally this exploitation of the poor acorn led to the settlers feeling it would be okay to exploit the Indians, then of course further along in time the Brits arrived to exploit America's offerings of hot dogs to their own ends. Euell Gibbons (who never knowingly exploited anything, of course!) tells us that "It seems a pity that the food which nourished the childhood of our race is today nearly everywhere neglected and despised" and offers five or six recipes for acorn cookery, of which he admits that the candied acorn is his very favorite. Waverly Root has a different take on acorns than Euell. He claims that they are "best eaten indirectly by man in the form of pork" which of course is the reason that all those Brits came here after the war. Decent hot dogs. The Oxford Companion to Food avoids involvement altogether with any of this, preferring to go to Spain for their information, telling us that "The Duchess who, in Don Quijote, asked Sancho Panza's wife to send acorns from her village would have been seeking especially fine specimens of this kind (Ilex or Ballota Oak, found in the Mediterranean). There is currently a growing interest in the acorn among some groups in the States, and one of the best-kept secrets is of an annual trek made by the Nutty Bunch, a group of acorn-lovers who gather to march the same route from Virginia to Texas each year, eating only hot-dogs and acorns along the way. Yes, surely acorns will be the next big thing, gastronomically.

It doesn't seem to me that there is anything inherently morally damning about employing people to help run the household if it is financially possible and desirable for the family involved. An environment is healthy and happy (or not) for a family based on so many other things than either money (really ) or personal choice of lifestyle. There are many families who do have "help" of sorts in keeping things running in their homes but it displays itself in ways other than having someone unrelated to them in a familial sense in the home to help. The first example that comes to mind is the growing involvement of grandparents in many families lives, who care for the children while the parents (their own children) work. When I pick up my children at school, at least one-third of the other cars are manned (ha, ha!) by Grandma or Grandpa. Nobody would think of ever questioning this sort of "help" as anything but positive for the young family. Another example is the growing number of families who order take-out or go to fast-food places or out to dinner at restaurants almost every night per week. In a recent post on eGullet, a newspaper reported that four out of five dinners are eaten at restaurants rather than at home in the category of "families with children". If the environment is not a good one for whomever is experiencing it, it is not due to simply the titillating fact of "rich people hiring other people to do stuff for them". We don't question why anyone in this day and age in business has a secretary (or administrative assistant if that is the correct phrase to use). It really is no different, having help in the home. Surely having a well-run home is every bit as important as getting the letters responded to. . .and really, when you think of it, not all *that* different from the ways that many other, less wealthy people are living their lives.

Life takes people funny places. My own grownup life started at fourteen years old when my mother decided she did not want to care for a child. After working all sorts of entry-level jobs in Manhattan, the world of food became important to me - more as an interest, a way to be artistic, a way to have a rich sort of home life with the man that I married at nineteen. This led to my becoming a pastry chef, a cook, a chef, an executive chef to some of the wealthiest people in the world (Wall St investment bank private dining) then finally into management as a VP in the operations division of that corporation in charge of foodservices. Against all advice, I left that job because there were aspects of it that I greatly disliked. It did not matter to me what reasons there were in any intellectual or practical way, and neither title nor money finally carried any weight in terms of what really mattered to me. So I completely understand what you're talking about, and I have also had friends that worked as private chefs in positions similar to yours in scope, nature, and client. You've got to follow what your intuition tells you. My concern, in your situation, was more that within the exhausted state that you may be that the wrong sort of jump might not be made. (Been there, done that. ) And also, as I am a single parent with two children with the other parent sort of "missing in action" due to divorce and then his move to a state far away it sort of behooved me to bring up the fact of how much your children do really need you - now - while they are growing. . .so much more than they need other things. I hope this does not sound like I mean to lecture, I don't - I just have a sort of "thing" about parents being there for their kids - and that is only "my" way. It doesn't have to be anyone else's. Change can be harder on the kids than it is on us - and goodness knows the hours the usual restaurant gig brings with it. Your ideas sound good - they sound better than good, they sound responsible in a way that is larger than just your own "stuff". Sometimes, just the right thing does happen for people with jobs - I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed that it does for you. Sante!

I have the Sanchez book, too. Good recipes, some further afield in scope than one might imagine in a "home cookery" book. But I'm still searching for that "perfect" book that makes everything taste the exact way that everything did that a friend's mother cooked, many years ago around a table in Spanish Harlem. That taste, the taste of memory, is often hard to replicate.

The missed-meal thing can also happen, I've heard, when one's own children become teenagers and able to fend for themselves food-and-transportation-wise. And of course in that case, the (non-professional) parent-chef does not even have that paycheck to look at for doing the job of cooking and putting up with the aggravation. Nor any title that is greatly appreciated by the outside world, either. The title "Mom" or "Dad" as opposed to "Private Chef" does not generally make for dinner companions with lots of wide-eyed questions. But there are things that make up for it , just in doing the job. It's a tough call, deciding which things are important in life - and balancing the personal and the professional. I hope that (when) you do make your next move to the next thing, you will be able to do it from a place of desire for something that you see, rather than from being bitten by the insistently grating mosquitoes of daily life at this job. Best of luck. It is not easy, no.

whisks, it looks like a gentle yet firm rice pudding of sorts. No heaviness at the base unless either the rice was packed down too firmly or if the oven is off-temp. ruthcooks asked me to add it to RecipeGullet, so here is the link: Torta di Riso Buona fortuna!

Torta di Riso Serves 6 as Dessert. There is a magnificent Torta di Riso (rice custard cake) in the Williams-Sonoma cookbook series. Served with a cherry-vin santo compote, to me it is the epitome of the soul of Tuscan cooking. Simple and evocative of the warm pleasures of hearth and home - no hints of pretension yet pure, strong, proud. Almost naive yet imbued with a canny instinctual intelligence. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190C) ....................................... 1 lb. cherries 1 Tbs. butter 1 Tbs. sugar 1/4 C vin santo 1 tsp. almond extract 1. Put cleaned and halved cherries, butter, sugar in pan over high heat for three minutes till beginning to soften. Take off heat, add vin santo and almond extract. Over medium heat, cook till alcohol has evaporated (several moments). Set aside. ......................................... Semolina flour and butter to dust pan 1/2 C short-grain white rice 2 C milk 7 eggs 1 C plus 2 Tbs. sugar 1 tsp. rum 1/2 tsp. lemon zest 1/2 tsp. lime zest 1. Lightly butter a 9" round cake pan -dust with semolina flour. 2. Bring enough lightly salted water to a boil over high heat to allow rice to cook "freely". Add rice, reduce heat to medium high, boil ten minutes. (Test to be sure rice is not too underdone before draining.) Drain well, then spread evenly over the bottom of the cake pan. Set aside. 3. Warm milk in saucepan till small bubbles appear along edge of pot. Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar together with electric mixer till thick and pale yellow (about 5 minutes). Add rum and zests and mix well. 4. While constantly stirring, slowly pour 1/2 C of the warm milk into the egg mix. Stir in remaining milk, then pour entire mix into saucepan. Over low heat, stir constantly till custard forms thick enough to coat a spoon (about ten minutes). Do not allow to boil. 5. Remove from heat, pour over rice in cakepan. 6. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, till toothpick will come out clean. Put pan on wire rack to cool for half an hour, then invert onto plate to remove. Allow to cool to room temp. 7. Serve with compote, cut into slices. ........................................................................... Probably good quality jarred cherries would work in a pinch if fresh are not to be found. Keywords: Dessert, Italian, Intermediate, Rice, Tart ( RG1609 )

The recipe calls for "dark sweet cherries". Of course, what a "dark sweet cherry" is to one person may be different than what a "dark sweet cherry" is to another person, in another place or from another background. Given the quality of the only cherries that I can generally find at my market, honestly if I were making the torte I might use the jar of sour cherries (a good brand) in light syrup that is in my kitchen cupboard that I keep on hand to use in chocolate-cherry torte (and of course, not cook them for so long but barely heat etc etc. . .) But then I love desserts that are not utterly weeping happy tears of sugar glee.

Those were some good suggestions. And as far as labels go, often I give up and just decide to consider them "Americana". But the one thing that caught my eye in your post was this: I thought it read: N Tyrant Water (which is how I often feel about these sorts of waters when the cost is totalled at the cash register ) And now I know - it's all in the packaging. Absolutely tyrannical, it is.

whisks, I got your PM so here is the recipe. . .simply rewritten in different form than the book, but altogether the same. Torta di Riso (serves 6) ...................................... Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190C) ....................................... 1 lb. cherries 1 Tbs. butter 1 Tbs. sugar 1/4 C vin santo 1 tsp. almond extract 1. Put cleaned and halved cherries, butter, sugar in pan over high heat for three minutes till beginning to soften. Take off heat, add vin santo and almond extract. Over medium heat, cook till alcohol has evaporated (several moments). Set aside. ......................................... Semolina flour and butter to dust pan 1/2 C short-grain white rice 2 C milk 7 eggs 1 C plus 2 Tbs. sugar 1 tsp. rum 1/2 tsp. lemon zest 1/2 tsp. lime zest 1. Lightly butter a 9" round cake pan -dust with semolina flour. 2. Bring enough lightly salted water to a boil over high heat to allow rice to cook "freely". Add rice, reduce heat to medium high, boil ten minutes. (Test to be sure rice is not too underdone before draining.) Drain well, then spread evenly over the bottom of the cake pan. Set aside. 3. Warm milk in saucepan till small bubbles appear along edge of pot. Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar together with electric mixer till thick and pale yellow (about 5 minutes). Add rum and zests and mix well. 4. While constantly stirring, slowly pour 1/2 C of the warm milk into the egg mix. Stir in remaining milk, then pour entire mix into saucepan. Over low heat, stir constantly till custard forms thick enough to coat a spoon (about ten minutes). Do not allow to boil. 5. Remove from heat, pour over rice in cakepan. 6. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, till toothpick will come out clean. Put pan on wire rack to cool for half an hour, then invert onto plate to remove. Allow to cool to room temp. 7. Serve with compote, cut into slices. ........................................................................... Probably good quality jarred cherries would work in a pinch if fresh are not to be found. Karen

There is a magnificent Torta di Riso (rice custard cake) in the Williams-Sonoma cookbook series. Served with a cherry-vin santo compote, to me it is the epitome of the soul of Tuscan cooking. Simple and evocative of the warm pleasures of hearth and home - no hints of pretension yet pure, strong, proud. Almost naive yet imbued with a canny instinctual intelligence. If it sounds like something you would like to try, PM me and I'll send along the recipe.

They take care of preparing the bird for you. There is special equipment that allows them to quickly slaughter, de-feather, and blanch for pinfeathers within a few brief moments while you wait. It is a cost that is built into the "price per pound". As noted earlier in the thread, it is a good idea to go the day before to allow the bird to rest in the refrigerator overnight for tenderness. Someone also mentioned earlier being worried about going to these places "now" and I am assuming it is from a fear of bird flu. Is there anyone out there capable of speaking knowledgeably upon this subject for us? There are no markets near where I live, so the subject has not come up "personally", but certainly it is of some interest. Naturally, these sorts of places do have to be licensed and I would imagine that they are regulated very closely. . .

One thing I also remembered is that sometimes these places *are* listed in the Yellow Pages under "Live Poultry", by the way. . .so if you haven't actually seen one in your city, searching the Yellow Pages may be a way to find them, too. . . . Karen (who finds the library first in any new town, then the live poultry market )

This is something that most people do not think about a lot at this point in time, but certainly there have been times and places where the subject was not moot. In older British (and some US) cookbooks written during the WW2 period you will find notes on this concern, and of course it is said that many of the techniques and cooking methods and cooking vessels of China were developed because fuel (at that time wood or perhaps even coke/coal?) was scarce. One of the ways to address this "today" without really doing any worrying or adjustments in daily life is simply to add some more things to the oven when you do use it, things that can be made into other things later. If you are roasting a chicken, you can throw in some baking potatoes for the purpose of making twice-baked potatoes the next day. . .or a small ham or pork roast which can be made into Cuban sandwiches. . .or beets to roast for a salad or soup. . . or a "oven" rice pilaf that can be dressed and served as a salad after cooling. . .some quick buns, breads, or muffins. . . all sorts of veggies that may taste good roasted then served in a tasty marinade. . .the possibilities are really endless if you put your mind to it, and besides being fuel-efficient it is also time-saving during the week, for when you look in the refrigerator - voila! There is something to "start" something with for a good meal.

Can the dead and the fictional mingle? As in. . .Ghandi and Huckleberry Finn? And can the fictional include characters from television (such as Mr. Ed the Talking Horse) or only print sources? And I also wonder, Maggie, if time-travel is allowed among the dead. . .as in allowing Escoffier to respond to Caesar?

Doesn't it just do your heart good to think of the hundreds of thousands of children that "get their wish" (that they quietly intoned under their breath) fulfilled every day of the year, when they end up breaking off the larger part of the wishbone from the chicken?

Olive Oyl became a cooking show host. Brutus, naturally, is a network producer. What nobody ever really knew about Olive Oyl, though, is something that belongs in this thread, too. Drinking coffee will stunt your growth.