Carrot Top

Well, okay, project. You have definitely left me speechless this time. ............................................... Except for one note. If computer systems did manage to control everything, life would be very boring. And fewer "real" creative opportunities would arise if there were no longer any problems to be solved. Creative opportunities within the real metier, not within the computer field. There's many a delicious dish that has come about from the serendipitous, which is part of the flip side of total control. And the drive that leads one to create something that is "above the usual" generally does not start with the idea of control or of money. It starts with a love of beauty and surprise. Not the final dollar that is to be made. .................................................... But of course one would have to have actually cooked for a while to realize that, maybe. And not be scared to color outside the lines while doing it.

I can't quite decide whether those squid legs are smiling or ready to attack, torakris.

Yes, that "Don't Try It At Home" looks fun, doesn't it. Just noticed that this was your first post, Tony, so hello hello and welcome!

I've always wondered about two things to do with those MRE's. The first is, what are the portion sizes? The second is, how would someone "out in the field" (i.e. without a table to lay it all out on to organize it) manage to put it together. . .is it a hassle? The inclusion of Tabasco in every MRE is as it should be. I have no questions about that. And that is one reason why New Orleans will be back and kickin' soon. For who could live without Tabasco, I ask? Sh**load of work to do, though. But it's cheaper than joining the Health and Fitness Club for getting in shape, I guess. Or at least that is something to sort of think of as you haul trees away and hope the insurance people will be nice. Good thoughts to you and yours.

Nothing to add to the excellent compendium of names, here. Lately I just call either one of them by a conjuction of both their names because it is impossible to figure out who is the one causing the trouble, so in the middle of their bickering I confusedly shout "Just stop it, Krdrew!" (thereby combining the names Kristen and Drew and covering all bases ). There is a food term I use often with them, though, often. "Stop percolating!" Sigh.

This looks like something Carl Sagan would use to demonstrate The Universe, really. Hey. The "nice" dinner thread is very nice. But here, you get to compete among thousands for the silliest-looking things ever. Gloves are off, competition is strong. I'm thinking that a nice little show in a gallery on the Upper East Side would not be remiss as the collection grows. The only question would be: What would we serve at the Opening?

Iceberg, cooked, only in that peas recipe. But there is a nice recipe for "Lattughe Ripiene in Brodo" (stuffed lettuce leaves in broth) that uses Boston lettuce, if you are interested.

Here is a link that defines the initial development of the study of proxemics, Chris: Edward Hall: Proxemics Although the name of the website sort of makes me snicker (Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science) it is rather a serious course of studies. I still have not found any more specific information on your question but that is due to the fact that I am a story-teller and have never been too interested in How to Find Facts. Unless those facts pop up right in front of me in real life. That, I can accept. You might have better luck than me in tracing more information if it does interest you to do so. Bon chance!

Yes. Busboy as a character in Ulysses. I am enjoying this thought. With the home kitchen as a metaphor for a Life on Rough Seas. . .an adventure, a saga. . . (I still say that that clean-well lit space was rather jolly, really, as Ernie wrote it. He must have had some really good red wine that night at dinner. . . )

Ei yi yi, project. I think that you have such a deep interest that you might want to really get a job in a restaurant. And luckily for the world, restaurants (though not usually ADNY) do have lots of openings, often, for those who want to work and who want to apply themselves. Good restaurants do have a number of planning systems. A great number. Again, I will refer you to Amazon under the Professional Books. Seek "Restaurant Management and Operations" and you will find them. There are well-thought out policies and procedures that cover each tiny element of detail that happens. One of the driving systems of the kitchen is a Production Schedule, which is made up based on anticipated needs which are based on knowledge and experience. Which I would guess they have at the restaurants mentioned in the book above. There is also menu engineering, pricing structure, food and labor costs, etc. etc. Running a restaurant is a complex undertaking but people do know how to do it. But guess what. Life happens. People walk in the door to be fed, and people are all different. Nothing is completely stable, ever, in the restaurant business. And software, and systems, will never be able to iron it out. It's just that darn aggrevating human element that messes things up, you know? For goodness sakes, if people would just do as anticipated, the thing would run right ship-shape. People. Life. Food (which in its own way is also alive). They simply refuse to be totally controllable. Unless you aim to be a McDonald's and even then I imagine that sh** happens. And that, makes for creativity often. . .and it makes for challenges in the kitchen often. . .and it makes for a day where at the end of it anyone who has faced these challenges which will never be finally captured before they happen. . .it makes these people go home knowing that they used their brains and training well, to put out a good meal that would make people happy. Life. It happens. And when life happens, and it can not be pinned down onto a production schedule nor a written menu, this is where writings such as these stories above are useful. They show the reality vs. the planned. They show how one can manage it and manage it well, if one does feel they need a useful reason beyond entertainment for the reading. P.S. I keep having this feeling of deja-vu in these discussions with you, and finally I realize what it is. I feel like we are those two movie reviewer guys on TV who keep taking completely different viewpoints on everything. It works for them. Maybe we should go on the road.

Yes. There definitely is a sense of "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" in this piece. Just set at home in the kitchen rather than at a table in a bar.

Imagine you are seeking a recipe. For anything. The specifics of the exact thing you wish to cook is not the point at the moment. You start looking in books, speaking to friends, or searching on eGullet. Finally you have a variety of recipes in front of you, all for the exact same final product. Let us assume that all are in a good basic form to start off with. They are all clear, all set up in a way that can be easily read and understood. But then the differences start. There are some recipes in front of you that go beyond the others in certain ways. Instead of just answering your original question that was basically for a list of informational items and exact things to do, these recipes have some additonal information. The information might have to do with the sort of pan to use. The information might have to do with the variety of fruit used and how it may affect the final product. The information may be that a certain sort of knife will make an easier and finer job of it. These recipes include information that expands upon what you originally asked for. Which recipe would you prefer to receive or use? The one that is blunt and unadorned, useful and clear yet with nothing beyond the original point? Or the recipe that adds more information on one or on a variety of the things that are involved in the process of final creation? Which would be more useful to you? Why?

Well. . .okay. This is hard to admit. But I'm a "neat freak". I've found that it is not a quality that is attractive to most people. It seems to make them feel like I think they should be neat freaks too, which I don't, but they do anyway. My only excuse for this failing is that I can not pull my mind together if the house is not orderly. That shows how very fragile the sinews of my mind are, I realize. Oh well. Really. It is totally incredible how one's sanity can seem to rely on (to use Busboy's example) the dishes being clean. Aaaaaaaargh.

Sounds about right to me, too. Nothing should interfere with reading.

Naturally Rogov you know that I am interested in learning what the philosophic answer is to the idea of waste either of intent or of actuality within the structure of the world as we know it with so much want and so little thoughtful intent, would be, in this idea of diet and the eating of one-third. If there is one. I can understand if this concept needs to sit outside the box of the idea. But if there is an answer in your mind to this, I'd love to hear it. As far as the rest of the diet goes, I say for the most part it is a good one. A third of a whole, used ad continuum (if that is a word) finally will be used up if so desired. I would personally have a problem with the two 50 minute meals per day and agree that this is wrong. Time should be found for this. And glue for the children's behinds to stick them to the seats perhaps. The other thing I do not do is the wine but that is because I want to take a nap sometimes after wine. But I guess if the children can be glued to their seats, then they could stay there for a while and I would not be so tired. Or else I could take a nap. Either way. And their fussing would not bother me if the alcohol content was high enough, it is to be imagined. Nice diet. Now do you have a recipe for some good glue?

I think that this is simple yet very true. You know that, by the end, things will be as they should be. This experience is different than, say, my attempts to make bread. ← Not to wander off again from Busboy's quite beautiful post, but it must be admitted that any time people mention cleaning the house in a way that makes it sound desirable, delicious, doable, and even sometimes done my mind starts wandering off to the realities that I see. Regardless of the income level of the household, I see about 75% of the houses I've been in lately dirty, unkempt, messy and unorganized. Often there is a half-hearted "sorry" given by the people when you walk in. Followed by a "there is no time" "in between work and getting the kids places". The other reason given (again, without any asking or any looks of askance at all) is "There are so many better things to do than clean the house." (Unfortunately, I do not think they were talking about what I was talking about before but anyway. . ) Look at the popularity of these television shows like "Clean Sweep". They are popular because so many people have houses like this! Then when you read magazines and such they still report that women (who work outside the house) still manage about 85% of all house-cleaning responsibilities on a daily basis. That makes me cranky too, to hear that. So. Busboy. Chris. Fresser. Whoever you are that does this. You are One in a Million. Can you teach the others? Please. This notion of "things as they should be" is absolutely brilliant and loveable. And so is the notion that a man can do it too.

Yes, consistency is vitally important to any customer. In any field. It's the right thing to do, to be consistent. He wasn't. Shame on him. Really. And it is the sad fact that chefpeon is caught in the middle. I don't like this man.

project, my questions that mentioned music and mathematics were simply rhetorical instruments that seemed to make what I was writing sing better than it would have without them. I have to say though that to me there seems to be a lot of books out there without VEFE. And please understand that I clearly understand what you say when you write VEFE and did understand from the first moment you used the word. Studying the ways people are formally or informally educated, how they learn and what they learn in a variety of situations and ways is one of my own deep passions and interests and one that I keep up on through sites like VASNET which is the only national "scholars" website that does have interactive qualities for the users. To be philosophic for a moment, it might be that what we humans seek in life is what we generally find. If VEFE is in your field of consciousness as a problem, then wherever you look you will be likely to find it (which is sometimes defined as the concept of "self-fulfilling prophecy"). It does not seem to me that VEFE is anything new in the history of the world though. Although this sort of romanticism is said to have been invented only several centuries ago, it still lurked in the hearts of the human race and did exhibit itself in various ways in various metiers. Not only in writing. VEFE to me is like a crappy casserole (made from a mass of dishonest and not well-thought out ) ingredients that one finds at many Pot Lucks or indeed at many people's houses. It is mediocrity dressed up in cheap finery and fussed over. But too bad. This is what many people have chosen. Let them have it if it makes them happy, finally, is what I say, and I truly mean it. Because their happiness and pleasure in this is more and better, finally, (to my mind) than any derisive carping I could do about their choice of way of being. If you approach the idea of finding books that have the things you want (if you could do this, but given your background and history that might nigh be near impossible perhaps ) without the idea of VEFE, you would find them. Many. Many. And that, then, would be the reality. And finally, to get back to the point of the original story that we are supposed to be talking about, I enjoyed it. Just plain simply enjoyed it. Edited to absolve the honest casserole and define the other.

Thinking of ground beef reminded me that a Shephard's Pie made of it, with nice bits of onion, carrot and celery for texture . . .bayleaf, thyme, oregano as seasoning with a hint of Worcestershire, a touch of tomato paste, bound together with beef broth thickened either by roux or by cornstarch binder, all topped off by mashed potatoes topped with buttered crumbs or even with crumbs and cheese then baked, rarely goes awry. Add some nice long smiles of crisp-cooked green beans on the side and the meal is set.

All kidding aside for the moment, really there are some plates of food that can be made to look absolutely magnificent. Yet that is no assurance that what hits your mouth will be delicious. Sometimes these things that are not so photogenic can surprise with oodles of taste and flavors. And that is what it really is about, isn't it? As they say, "You can not always tell a book by its cover." ...................................................................... You are all brave good souls to post your army of bowls and plates full of personality and ideas for all of us to enjoy. Do please find more.

My 13 year old daughter just walked in while I was scanning this and she said "Ewwwww. What IS that?" I really didn't know what to say. ........................................................... But the thought of how it TASTED is making me happy. . .

The way you describe it is really funny, but it actually looks pretty tasty to me. ← I understand what you say, Pan, but I must tell you that to me it looks like the Cuyahoga River did in about 1962. Just a bit prettier. But that doesn't mean it might not taste good.

If the owner really wants to save his trifling pennies, then what could be more appropriate than to make him a trifle? A trifle is the only place bad muffins can go and belong. ....................................... Don't know if this would work in your situation, chefpeon. But trifles can be made individually in cute little cups and sold that way, if that helps. I still say dump the stuff, but if you can't, you can't.

It sounds even better than my version, Jaymes. Please definitely post it if you come across it. . .

I think I've made it twice since I've grown up (if indeed, that could be said to be true) and it was before I became a professional, so it is hazy but yes, you are right the tomatoes are not drained. What I seem to remember (which of course is not in the recipe but that's how she wrote it ) is that they may have been canned "stewed tomatoes" (you know, the ones cooked with celery and peppers and onions that used to be served as a side dish some places?). I'll try it sometime soon and let you know better. Because I am also a bit worried that she might have used "Minute Rice" because that's the only variety that was ever in her cupboard.