MarketStEl

I see you have a Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery in your collection! I got one of those as a gift from my Dad after I headed off to college. It's a quirky collection--you will find different recipes for the same dish in different volumes--but I like it. (Trivia question: Woman's Day was originally published by what supermarket chain?)

I see that we can count you among the bi-condimental. I congratulate you on your courage in coming out of the fridge and acknowledging your equal affection for mayonnaise and Miracle Whip publicly. But do your neighbors know? And what do the Latter-Day Saints have to say on the subject anyway?

Just got a note in e-mail about a big change at the Reading Terminal Market. This is good news for me, as it means that--unless I want to patronize the Amish merchants--I won't have to carve out time on Saturday in order to hit the Market. I suspect it will be good news for more than a few of you, too. Let's all pitch in to help make this "trial" a permanent fixture!

Does the statement above also describe your fridge (hint, hint)? Thank you for the trip into Kane Creek Canyon and the messages from the past.

Posting separately to say that this is a welcome change of pace from the recent run of foodblogs. I hope to see some spectacular scenery aside from what's in your avatar. What led you to decide to pursue your career as a prosecutor in Moab? As for "Polygamy Porter," one of the slogans posted above is reminiscent of a well-known ad slogan from the 1960s and 1970s that should resonate with many in the land of the Metroliners^WAcelas: "The one to have when you're having more than one." This slogan sold many a case of Schaefer beer before the brewery went out of business sometime around 1980.

Denver won't cut the mustard?

Dorine: Even though you sit down at tables and have your pie delivered to you at your table, I consider Pietro's a fancier version of Celebre's--after all, it's a pizzeria first and foremost--and thus eligible for inclusion. Peace a Pizza, a local chain, won the "best" award for Delco back in the mid-'90s. Their Wayne location was specifically mentioned, but I am willing to hazard a guess that their quality is consistent from store to store--I really must solve that Santucci mystery!--and that therefore we could do a Delco trip consisting of a visit to Peace a Pizza's Olde Sproul Village location in Springfield and the original Apollo in Media. (The third Delco pizza joint to win a prize was a Pizza Hut, back in the first year PhillyMag deigned to give honors to suburban places. Having concluded way back in this thread that this was their version of thumbing their nose at pizza in the 'burbs, it's been excluded from the Review Tour.) But back to the original proposition for this tour stop. I'm still jonesin' to try Mama Palma's, but as I suspect that fewer of you have experienced the high-quality pies NYPD Pizza serves up, I will arbitrarily declare that we will start our Center City exploration on my side of Broad Street. I think that we could do all three of the real pizza places--NYPD, Apollo (modified), and La Cipolla--in this one swing. Choice of dates: Saturday, Sept. 23, or Sunday, Sept. 24. Lemme hear from ya via PM. If you want to suggest another date after the 23d, let me hear from you too.

I should note that Celebre's in the Packer Park shopping center in South Philly serves a Northeast Philly-style tomato pie (see the latest Pizza Club report), but its tomato sauce is sweet.

I'm sure I'm gonna get blasted for moral relativism on this, but: Once we have accepted the basic proposition that it is okay for humans to kill animals for food--much as other carnivores do, with the difference being that the others don't bother to skin them, cut them up into neat pieces, and cook the pieces first--then what aside from cultural preference dictates that we may kill this animal but not that one? I'm sure that there are more than a few Americans who cried when Bambi's mom got shot and get up in arms when hunters are sent in to thin deer herds that threaten to ruin urban parks or suburban lawns, yet do not think twice when offered venison for dinner. Philosophically speaking, while I wouldn't want to be near anyone that does this, if someone in this country wanted to open an abbatoir that produced dog meat for export to countries where it is an acceptable dish, I wouldn't stop them from doing so. I am pretty sure, though, that the operator would have a very hard time finding willing workers. Horsemeat falls into this same category, with the only difference being that it seems to me that the taboo against eating it, despite what the House of Representatives says, is not as strong as that against eating dogmeat. While I was typing this, it just hit me: Are there any human societies that eat cats?

Good question. Is that idea more or less repugnant than <a href="http://www.slashfood.com/2006/09/07/baloney-is-people/">Baloney is People </a> ?? ← I note that the lunch meat in question is British. Looks like it's made to go with Charlie Cheese. Is there something about British children where their food has to have faces on it?

Hmmmm.... Cross MST3K and "$40 a Day with Rachel Ray"... Mutant food-travel spawn of the demon seed? Maybe. It'd definitely be funnier than s**t.

They certainly seem to be doing this these days.

And where is the Wensleydale that gets exported made? Still in Wensleydale? Or somewhere else now? Which, I guess, means that we won't see no Stinking Bishop in the States. Great name for a cheese, though. I vaguely recall reading how it got its name, but indulge me and share the tale with the rest of us if you can. I generally pass up Whole Foods' cheese counter in favor of DiBruno's, but as I noted before, it strikes me that WFM has a wider variety of English cheese than our homegrown cheesemongers. However, DiBruno's makes up in quality what it lacks in variety: they carry many of the best English farmhouse Cheddars--more than WFM does.

Yes! Liz and I guessed it immediately. I usually guess three times before I ask the counter guys to tell me what the answer is. Once, it was "which US President earned a PhD?" Another, "In which Disney Movie was "Bare Necessities" featured?" ← (Former Princeton University President and New Jersey Governor) Woodrow Wilson; "The Jungle Book." Okay, where's my prize? Oh, I forgot to ask you, since I haven't made one yet: Was the duck fat grilled cheese tastier than the buttered variety?

No, I don't. I haven't even made it yet to any of the social events sponsored by the local chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, of which I am an associate member (public relations being journalism's hired-gun cousin, they let us flacks join too). 1) A special Nobel Prize will no doubt be awarded to the person who invents a shelving or storage system that keeps everything right up front where you can see it, and no, shallow shelves don't count--though the lazy Susan comes awfully close. 2) What pleases me even more about these photos is that your freezer is about as neatly organized as mine is. I've been collecting shrimp shells for the same reason you've been stockpiling chicken bones. Hmmmm...maybe a reason for me to buy breasts and thighs bone-in and debone them myself.... heh. have you ever seen those suburbs? they're not exactly levittown. ← Besides similar names, Westchester and West Chester--which is a good way to distinguish locals from aliens in Philadelphia; the locals know that West Chester is nowhere near Chester--share something else in common: they're fabulously affluent. Whoa. Let me backtrack a minute. The counties--Westchester in New York and Chester in Pennsylvania--are fabulously affluent. The county seats--West Chester in Pennsylvania and White Plains in New York--are not quite as wealthy, but both are stable communities with healthy town centers. (You will all have to wait for my next blog to find out why West Chester is nowhere near Chester.)

Oh, I harbored no such ill notions about the Fressman. Having spoken with him over the phone, I know he is a very funny guy, and I can see both of you laughing so hard that the coffee is coming out your nostrils. I haven't come up with anything yet that I consider worthy of his Borscht Belt blog. Worse still, I haven't come up with anything lately that I consider worthy of my own blog, "Sandy's Spew Stew."

Paloma is located where?

Okay, Labor Day is now behind us, and meterological fall has already begun. (Funny, isn't it, how half of hurricane season coincides with the fall? Which means it's time for the next stop on our tour. Our last tour date demonstrates that (a) relatively unsung places can definitely hold their own alongside or even improve upon more famous spots and (b) one man's meat is another man's poisson when it comes to pizza, so I hope some more of you die-hards can join us for potential surprises. IMO, it's time to work Center City into the mix. I understand from the old pizza heads that Center City excursions usually stay on one side of Broad Street, and I see no reason to change this. Besides, there are at least two winners on each side of Broad, although one of them--Patou in Old City--is a fairly chi-chi restaurant whose pizza is an appetizer. Still, we can produce two itineraries: East of Broad: La Cipolla (Old City), NYPD Pizza (Wash West), and the in-town restaurant run by the owners of Apollo Pizza in Media (7th and Chestnut; this used to be called Apollo like the place in Media, but I think it's been renamed since to "<mumble> at Apollo"). There are also two white-tablecloth restaurants in this bunch: the aforementioned Patou and Upstares at Varalli (Broad and Locust). West of Broad: Mama Palma's (Fitler Square), Pietro's (Rittenhouse Row), Towne Pizza (near Rittenhouse Square, one of the earliest winners), Montesini's (Liberty Place food court), Pete's Famous Pizza (Logan Circle). The white-tablecloth places are really outside the spirit of this odyssey, though if enough people really want to try one, we could arrange for a group visit. There are clearly more winners west of Broad than east of it; however, the place that's currently serving the best pizza in Center City, IMO, is east of it--NYPD Pizza. We could add one South Philly winner we haven't hit yet--Lorenzo's at 9th and Christian in the Italian Market, a by-the-slice honoree--to the East of Broad stops, or perhaps a very good but as yet unhonored place like Paolo's (Pine just east of Broad). My own personal preference would be to visit the original Apollo in Media over the Center City outpost as part of a Delaware County tour segment, but there's no reason we can't do both. So the first thing I'd like to sound people out on is which of the Center City places they'd most like to visit, and the second is what days in the rest of September or early October work--or definitely do not work--for them. As I've not yet tried Mama Palma's, I'd lean towards doing the west-of-Broad places first, but right now, the floor is open for suggestions from all interested parties.

given the British penchant for understatement who could doubt them. Amazing though that the British themselves don't seem to know/ Then? who buys all of these varieties.? ← Whole Foods Market customers, maybe? I've noticed that WFM cheese departments usually have a decent selection of cheeses from the British Isles and especially Britain itself. I usually see more varieties of British cheese at WFM on South Street, for instance, than I do at Philadelphia's premier cheese emporia, DiBruno Bros. and Downtown Cheese in the Reading Terminal Market. Included among these is a variety that is obviously aimed at small children called "Charlie Cheese." It's a combination of mild Lancashire and red Leicester shaped into a rectangular loaf. The red Leicester is injected into the Lancashire (the Lancashire is formed around the red Leicester?) so that each slice of this cheese contains a smiley face.

How many kids did they have? My husband and I are polar opposites. I'd have killed someone like me, or at least gone insane. Two: Me and my younger brother, born nine years later. I've come to the conclusion that Sean was a last-ditch effort on Dad's part to "save the marriage." (I only found out years later that Mom concluded she had made a mistake as soon as she married him in 1954, four years before I arrived on the scene.) I occasionally joke that I come from a family of two only children. That wouldn't surprise me at all. Do tell! Inquiring minds want to know! Sandy, tell me more about this. Intriguing. Maybe it's time to Google again ... ← Sure thing! Wikipedia explains it all for you: And I learned something else here: it turns out that there is a real autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Titled "What Is Remembered," it was published in 1963. Her book ends abruptly with Stein's death in 1946, which speaks volumes about what Toklas thought of her own life apart from Stein's. Edited to add: I made Alice B. Toklas brownies once, in 1981, for a party I was hosting.

When, Sandy? I'm a November baby. No, really. See my member profile. I actually put some information in mine! Let's just say I'm a Libra, Scorpio cusp. Mom and Dad were both Scorpios, as I assume you are too. Care to guess how their marriage turned out? The funny thing about The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book is that it is probably better known among a large segment of the public for a recipe that was removed from the first American edition and restored when the book was reissued in the early 1980s with a new foreword by M.F.K. Fisher. (I have a copy of that edition.) But it is wonderful writing overall, and demonstrates that Toklas could hold her own with Stein when it came to literary prose.

Cotswold! I thought it also had onion in it--I certainly recall it having an oniony note. Agreed about the character and flavor of the best British cheeses, though "Wensleydale" sounds to me like the name of a shopping mall or suburban subdivision. What led the producers of that cheese to adopt Wallace & Grommit as spokescharacters, though? And American cheese...well, like so much else about America, it's a technological marvel and very convenient, but not terribly authentic. (It may or may not be interesting to note that the only two well-known cheeses indigenous to [what is now] the United States, Colby and Monterey Jack, are both very mild--mild to the point of blandness, some might say about Monterey Jack. Of course, there are now scores of American cheesemakers producing worthy cheeses of many types, but none represent new varieties--at least none that I am aware of.)

FWIW, we understood what he meant, but I think the word he wanted instead of "commodity"--which is something that is considered a basic item, relatively undifferentiated, widely available and usually bought on price--is "rarity" or "delicacy." "Delicacy" carries with it the connotation of being both edible and highly prized, which "rarity" does not necessarily. Thus endeth the Usage Lesson for today.

Depends on the cheese sauce. The orange glop served in the Widener University dining hall is some sort of off-brand orange glop with a weird, slightly metallic/slightly sour aftertaste. I keep meaning to suggest to the manager of our campus dining service (run by Aramark) that they should switch to a better brand of orange glop--Cheez Whiz if possible, but something other than what they have now. Not that I'd start liberally ladling it on fries if they did. It's bad enough I'm eating the fries to begin with these days.

I'll join you on that plateau in about a month and a half. Several friends and most of my Pem-Day classmates insist I have a book in me. I suspect they're right, but I haven't figured out how to extract it from the depths of memory yet. I do know this: It will have food in it somewhere, no doubt, but it won't be a cookbook. I don't think I could pull off the neat feat Alice B. Toklas did back in the 1950s when she wrote her autobiography in the form of a collection of recipes. Edited to add: No, I'm not talking about The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. That, as I assume you all know, was written by her soulmate Gertrude Stein.