MarketStEl

Yes--a bread stuffing with celery and onion. I took pains to remove the stuffing from what was left of the bird before putting the bones in the stock pot and did not use the rib bones for that reason.

Okay, here's a report from the latest round of stockmaking: I dismembered the bird I cooked the day after Christmas (for photos, see the "Dinner!" thread) and tossed all the large bones into the Crock-Pot along with about 1/4 of a jumbo carrot, sliced, a rib of celery, sliced, two small onions, sliced, two quarts of water and a little Old Bay. I then turned the Crock-Pot on Low and let it do its thing for about 30 hours. Not once did it reach the low boil it usually does on High. There was only a little fat to skim off when I returned to the pot at the end of the cooking. I strained the liquid and put it into a two-quart jar. That jar is now sitting in the fridge, and there are solids slowly separating out of it: What did I do wrong this time?

So far, these items number two: 1) Biscuits. I haven't yet gotten the hang of making flaky rolled biscuits (clues appreciated), but I make bang-up drop ones that everyone likes. 2) Pizza. Of course, I'll still order from a pizzeria--there are at least three good ones within a three-block radius--but making your own is so much more fun! If you looked at my culinary promises for the year ahead elsewhere in this forum, you will see that I'm interested in taking the next steps bread-wise. I'd put cheeseburger macaroni in this category as well, except my partner really likes the taste of Hamburger Helper. However: He has to watch his sodium intake now, so homemade will be the way to go from here out. I've made my own pesto once, but since I didn't buy it all that much before I made my first batch (it came out quite good), I don't really count this in this category. But having found out how easy it is to make your own pesto, I can't see why anyone would buy it instead.

This may sound incredibly naive, but is it possible to donate any of the uneaten stuff to a local food bank or soup kitchen?

They're in metropolitan Boston. They don't know from cheesesteak or hoagies up that way, let alone cheesesteak hoagies. Having lived in both cities, I believe I can speak from experience.

I think I had better take this as a warning, after all.

"Hamburgers." Take a look at any images of vintage (1955-1968) McDonald's restaurants, and note well the large sign at the front. However, the use of the possessive adjective without a modified noun when referring to a person's home or business has long been accepted English usage. (The French equivalent is the use of the word "chez" before a name.) "Let's go over to Fresser's to read his user manuals and have some beef 'n' beer." "House" is understood in this sentence. Similarly, with "McDonald's", "restaurant" is understood. Please attribute the following to me should you use this phrase in future: "In order to break the rules properly, you must know what they are first." Strunk & White is the indispensable reference for any good writer. Add the AP Stylebook or the Chicago Manual of Style, depending on what sort of writing you do, and you should be set, unless you're in a specialized technical field. 'Scuse me? Never saw this one before, though I'm assuming "MMV" = "mileage may vary" and "OL" = "out loud."

I would have said Alan Richman was displaying hometown bias in his GQ roundup of the country's best burgers around this time last year. Then I had a Rouge Burger. No, it's not hometown bias at all. Pricey for a burger and fries? You betcha. Worth the $15? You betcha. The fries are great too, but the burger's all that: Thick, fresh, juicy and beefy.

What wrong with that one? "I could care less...but I don't." Well, when you put it that way, the misstatement takes on an almost Seinfeldian quality. But I don't think most of the people who say "I could care less" when they mean "I couldn't care less" are that sophisticated or have such a finely developed sense of sarcasm. Bringing this back to food, once I've caught those 10 pounds that are running loose out there (they might hurt someone): What about ineptly used foreign phrases? I still remember a wonderful passage in Edwin Newman's book "Strictly Speaking" where he skewered a bit of malaprop restaurant prose as follows: "'French Dip: Aged prime roast beef, dipped in au jus.' And wheeled in, we suppose, on an a la carte."

Wanna come over for dinner tomorrow night? I'm serving steak tartare. Tell your husband he's the one with a problem.

Grammar nit: It's a "cheesesteak, whiz wit."

The Arch Card -- the new official card of being dumped. ← Anniversary guide: 1st anniversary: Gift certificate for a night out at the club where the two of you first danced 5th anniversary: Dinner at that nice little trattoria down the street from the club 10th anniversary: A dinner cruise on the river or in the harbor 25th anniversary: Dinner at Le Bec-Fin or its equivalent where you live Partner leaves you for some cute young thing: Arch Card

i was going to say something about e.e. cummings until you pointed out that thing about the trademark being capitalized however i notice that you haven't even touched on the punctuation in that ad copy and how did you manage to launch this thread twice?

Okay, time for another scribbler for hire and member of Fresser's fraternity to chime in. Oh, yes, I had trouble with "gift it" -- even as the present imperfect verb "regifting" spreads throughout the language, this back-formation from the latter neologism is unnecessary. "Give it" is equally punchy and gramatically correct to boot. (I have less of a problem with "regifting," as this new term describes a phenomenon that existing terms cannot quite describe accurately: the practice of taking a gift one receives but either does not like or cannot use and turning around and giving it to someone else.) But I did not have trouble with understanding the phrase "load it. gift it. love it." as English, perhaps because I've been exposed to so much advertising copy over the years. (Ad copy is really a breed apart from ordinary written English.) The previous phrase -- "the new Arch Card" -- gave me the context in which to decipher the imperative sentences that followed. Gift cards have become big business as Americans increasingly neither want to take the time to figure out just what sort of gift might please a loved one nor want to risk disappointment at the hands of a well-meaning giver who chooses an unwanted or undesirable present. (Any sense of dismay you may pick up from the foregoing sentence is there by design.) And for businesses that offer products that don't easily lend themselves to gift-wrapping, like restaurants, the gift cards are an easy way to grab a bigger share of the gift market. (I for one would love to receive a gift card from a really good restaurant as a present from a friend or relative. But please, no Arch Cards.) These cards work like debit cards or prepaid phone cards: you pay money and a card of equal value is issued. This transaction is often referred to as "loading" the card with money. So unlike that sentence about colorless, sleeping green ideas, the phrase "load it. gift it. love it." made semantic sense to me, even if it was a grammatical abomination. Now that I've driven this topic into the ground, who wants to tackle "I could care less"?

And you just hit on the Catch-22 in that last sentence of your post. The reason Howard Johnson, Emmons Wilson (Holiday Inn founder) and Roy Kroc became so fabulously successful as Americans became more mobile in the years following World War II is that they promised patrons a uniform, dependable experience no matter where they went. For an unseasoned traveler not accustomed to taking chances on unknown local places, or even for seasoned travelers who did take chances and got burned, this predictability was mighty reassuring. (Or, as Holiday Inn put it bluntly in their 1970s TV ads, "No surprises.") There are times when even the adventurous among us don't want to chance a bad experience. And the majority of humans aren't that adventurous; most of us are creatures of habit and largely risk-averse. Until that changes, the chains shall always be with us.

← Never mind that quote--how about the caption? (We'll overlook the fact that the caption writer misspelled "casserole" and the editor missed the error.) Or, for that matter, the last sentence of the article, which sums up my mac 'n' cheese philosophy quite nicely? I've done macaroni with cheese sauce in which an entire pound of Cheddar and a good amount of blue cheese (for good measure) were thrown in, and this without even knowing who John Thorne is. I've only recently started making my mac 'n' cheese sauce with evaporated milk. Since I add cayenne and dry mustard to my cheese sauce, I don't get that pronounced sweetness. As for the person who wondered about using process American: You can still find American cheese both in unwrapped slices and in whole chunks. I'm sure the deli folks at your local supermarket would be glad to cut you off a solid chunk of American cheese from their slicing loaf if you asked them. If they have it, ask for Cooper Sharp. Another option would be to ask for process Cheddar. Yes, there is such a thing. I've seen it at several deli counters. Hoffmann's Super Sharp (a Kraft product) is one variety; all of the horseradish Cheddar I've ever seen (from Dietz and Watson and from Cabot) is process cheese as well.

You mean to tell me I should order two of those? (Certainly you're not telling me I would need to have someone along to polish off all that cheese. I can do that all by myself! )

In 2006, I will eat ethnic dishes I've never tried before. I will make real dinner rolls--sayonara, Doughboy!--and real bread. I will find either permanent employment, or more freelance gigs, or both--and maybe even my voice as a food writer! I will learn more about wine, now that Jonathan Newman's made it more affordable to do so. I will teach myself how to prepare great meals that my diabetic roommate can enjoy. I will read Steven Shaw's book, and maybe even subscribe to Cook's Illustrated. This is the year I will try all those unusual cheeses I see at DiBruno's every time I visit. I will taste a little bit of everything the great buffet of life has to offer. Except deep sea diving--I can't even stay afloat. I will use more fresh ingredients and locally produced foods this year. I will give myself permission to override my innate impulse towards frugality every now and then in order to splurge on really good food and ingredients. I have much to be thankful for, including good health and good friends. I resolve to have more of the latter over for dinner, or to dine out with them more often. We don't go out together much anymore. I'm of two minds about fixing this, but I'll continue to offer him the chance to accompany me to a good restaurant meal when I have the opportunity to write about a place to eat. My kids? What kids? I've got my hands full with my partner, two cats, a roommate and a cast of friends, acquaintances and hangers-on. Feeding them is challenge enough.

Baked, not fried--the really airy, puffy variety, of course, right? Here in Philly we go Cheetos one better: Herr's Hot Cheese Curls These have a nice little afterburn. The more you eat, the stronger it gets.

Following myself up to note that the UglyRipe™ FAQ Web site Anne posted above has the explanation for what I saw at the Acme: Of course, New Jersey's prime produce-growing regions are just beyond Philly's South Jersey 'burbs. Vineland--the Cumberland County seat and the heart of New Jersey's tomato-growing region--is about 30 minutes away from Center City via the NJ 55 freeway.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), you can only get these in Florida, for these tomatoes flunk the state's standards regarding grading of tomatoes for export out of the state, which place a high value on uniform shape. No matter, at least not around Philadelphia. For in the peak season (late summer), we get equally ugly, equally ripe, maybe even more delicious New Jersey tomatoes. Unfortunately (not "perhaps fortunately"), Jersey growers are producing more tomatoes for the supermarket trade these days, and the supermarkets also place a premium on uniform shape and appearance. Those glorious misshapen tomatoes can only be found at the Reading Terminal Market, on 9th Street, and at some of the seasonal farmers' markets throughout the city. The great-looking ones the supermarkets carry, while better tasting than what you usually find in those places, still don't hold a candle to the ugly ones. Though I have seen some "ugly ripe" tomatoes at my local Acme (Philadelphian for "Albertson's") from time to time. I don't think they're the Florida variety.

Sandy, the deli stuff at the Super Fresh is so disappointing after we make our rounds at the Whole Foods. We once noticed a sign at WF by their salsa/guacamole/hummus station that looked something like: sam-ple A portion, piece, or segment that is representative of a whole. (Please be considerate and take only one.) ← Gotta second your overall assessment of the Whole Foods vs. Super Fresh deli counters. Their deli Cheddar's Tillamook (as opposed to Hoffmann's or Master Choice processed), and their rotisserie chicken is better, too. Hmmmm....wonder if their prices reflect the cost of feeding all us shoppers off their sample trays?

You mean to tell me they've branched out from leather goods and fragrances into food? God save me if my partner ever finds out.

My mind must be in its perverse mode right now. I first read the topic line as "French Laundry Dishwater."

Be sure to invite Zippy the Pinhead over the next time you pick up an order. ← OK I'll be the first to admit that I need an explanation. I went to the Zippy site & did numerous searches, but only came up with strips that deal with Singapore Slings, clam chowder and Lo Mein Lounges. If there's a joke here, it's lost on me. ← "Are we having fun yet?"