racheld

We're getting another umpty-dozen ears Monday, I think. It's cooled off considerable, and doesn't look to heat up again for several days. Whew!! And that butter-and-sugar stuff is DEEE-licious. Something about corn-shuckin' off a tailgate just brings out my COUNTRY side!! And Welcome, Gingersnap!! You picked the right place to make your first post---A GRITS girl come home.

PRAY tell about the cake!!!

Tiny pat of butter sunk in the middle, then stirred into the thick, almost-raggedy-edged oatmeal. Brown sugar sprinkled over. Very small moat of cold milk poured around the edges, to get the whole effect: Dip of spoon yields clump of buttery oatmeal, melty sugar, and a little cold milk, all in one bite. Raisins if you gotta. Turbinado sugar for special, with that crunch across the smooth.

Bowls of Pho, each to his own, made by DD with lightly-steamed broccoli flowers, thawed baby peas, fresh fat crisp beansprouts, sliced scallion tops, quick-cooked flat noodles, sriracha, sesame oil, soy sauce, and the BEST little wisps of fried garlic from a packet found at the Asian Market. She also got the fried shallots, but we haven't opened those yet. Guess you could call it sort of faux pho, cause we each assembled our bowls, then ladled out the broth from a simmering pot of chicken noodles cooking for dinner. We just scooched the ladle around the baby carrots and chicken chunks and spooned up that rich golden liquid to pour over our bowls of vegetables---delicious. Decker melon chunks, cold in the bowl, for dessert. Perfect after that double-hot soup.

What a terrific breakfast!!! Beans and rice and the eggs---we'll have to try that. Masa Brei, anyone?

What a perfect day at the beach!! And the heat didn't seem to deter all you young folks from having a marvelous time. That salad plate was outstanding---great combinations and flavours and colours. I'm really enjoying all these adventures in Canada; we've been up only three times, twice to the Falls and once a dash across the border to Windsor when we were in Detroit at a conference. We spent the night in London on our way from the Falls across to catch the ferry across to Sandusky?, thence home, and spent a leisurely two days meandering the beautiful highways and small towns. We were almost midnight getting into London, but we had a guaranteed reservation. We arrived at the same time as the cutest bride and groom, still in their wedding regalia, he in a tux jacket and red kilt. We went up to our room and opened the door, much to the consternation of the sleepy couple already occupying it. The boys and I waited wearily in the hall, slumped against each other and the luggage, and Chris came back with the key to a second room---occupied as well. The poor desk clerk was just frantic by then, and told us there was not another room to be had. Then he offered us the "office" half of a suite in which another couple had taken the bedroom, but declined the adjoining rooms. So they set us up with four rollaways, and we slept amidst the faxes and computers and conference tables, with a neat kitchen and espresso machine. Next morning, they cleaned the bedroom as soon as the people checked out, and opened the entire suite to us, with a BIG basket of lovely toiletries. After our showers we went down to breakfast and were waved away from the desk when we tried to pay. It made a good travel story, as well as being right nice of them. And so we remember London fondly.

I'm late to the party, but wanted to add my word of admiration and congratulations. What a lovely celebration, and such a wonderful meal to mark it. We sponsored young soldiers for several years here until our base closed in 96. Our first two were from Nigeria, older than Chika, both Colonels, married men who missed home and family. The Army sponsored wonderful trips for them, took them to Disneyland, D.C., all sorts of sightseeing tours. We had them to lots of meals, and we took them local sites on the weekends---the 500 track, a baseball game, parks and museums and a couple of movies. On the last night of their tour here (5 months of class), we had them over for a celebration party, and they both wore their beautiful formal wear, exquisitely sewn and embroidered silk tunics and trousers, with matching hats, in honor of the special occasion. They loved everything we served when they visited, from collards and fried chicken to a picnic on the lawn. They both enjoyed covering their plates with rice, then layering each other item in turn, making beautifully plated dishes garnished here and there with all the Southern pickles and relishes. On that last evening, Chris asked them what had most impressed them about their trip to the USA, and they were very gracious in their mentioning of the hospitality. The one THING they mentioned which impressed them, out of all their travels and sightseeing tours, was the grocery store where they helped me shop a couple of times. Wish I'd seen this thread when it came out---brought back some really good memories of serendipity friends who added so much to our lives. And Chika will NEVER forget you.

We're not Maine, but the corn we cut and put in the freezer last week might have been Butter and Sugar---it was super-sweet, extra-full kernels of both colors ranged round the cob. Not a blemish, not a cutworm, not a single ear unfilled. Terrific batch---fourteen dozen ears. Hope we can get that many more about twice in the next week or so. DEEE-licious on the grill, from the pot, creamed with just a dash of salt.

Chris came home the other day with a little plastic "rice cooker" for the microwave. It was $1.49 in the paw-through-it basket in the grocery store, and had originally been marked 15.99. I tried the rice recipe---it was AWFUL. Soggy grains on the bottom, still-rattly bits on the top--absolutely inedible. I ran it through the dishwasher and stuck it in the pantry, then just now, I used it to steam a couple of cups of broccoli florets---three minutes over the water and they are bright green and just perfectly cooked. We're having the broccoli and lemon butter with our fried chicken, sides of Looziana rice and slaw. Glad I didn't toss the thing. Other lately-founds are a new "air" rectangular cakepan--2.99, Four chrome-steel kitchen chairs (horrid orange burlappy upholstery, but they'll be great for outdoor parties---bent legs that won't sink into the lawn)--30.00, and a LOVELY Doulton two-tier pastry stand in a pale pattern of plums and leaves--2.92. And Anna--dish-envy of those blue plates!!

Funny you should ask---just Saturday in our goings round town, we passed a deserted one, no markings, no arches, just the telltale-shaped roof and the windows. I craned back out my window to be sure, and there was the tall black-lettered sign, "McGONE." And, does that 50's McDonalds in your town have a B/W picture of Elvis on the wall, standing in front of a crowd with the little RCA dog statue? If so, I'll tell more.

Simply amazing. All that work and the finesse with which each dish is made and presented!!! Boggling, I tell you. And so many hours with guests to hang with---was there ever a time you wished you had your kitchen all to yourself? And all those DISHES!!!! I see five courses presented in stemmed glasses---did you buy out the crystalshop or was there dishwashing? I love hearing the logistics of such an endeavour; could you elaborate more on when and how you put together the dishes? I know there must be pictures of more than just the finished products. And I love the little vignettes with extraneous items in the background---a sweater casually draped on a chair, a leaf of butterpaper beside that glorious bread, the long vista of the table leading up to that perfect wagyu, with all the glasses in various stages of emptying and enjoyment. And the giveaways that the house is full of youthful adventure: sets of earphones, a laptop to check the progress of the courses---what a beautifully engineered, marvelously executed feat you have accomplished. Your friends will be talking about this party for years to come. And you and your family will mark time by it: "I think that was a year or two after the party." "Did they move here right before the party, or after?" Best wishes in your new home---you've certainly made your mark on the old one.

We had a lazy morning, didn't "brunch" until almost eleven. Buttered grits and two over-easy for Chris, with pepper-edged extra-crisp bacon and half a huge skillet-toasted croissant. Orange marmalade and Dr. Pepper. I had my croissant a la BurgerKing via Daniel, with two soft yolks melting gently onto the crisp buttery bread. Key lime yogurt and third cup of Folgers. DD wandered down later---likes her eggs room temp...had hers OE with leftover mapo tofu, a bit of pork fried rice, and half an apple/gouda sausage with Gulden's. It's her only meal til perhaps 3 a.m., as she sleeps days and goes in to bake her bread at 11 p.m.

I rise to introduce myself, ditto. But everybody knows---I've been to so many Meetin's that it's old news. And you gotta love a writer who says "might could." Except for a few quite unusual ingredients from the Asian food aisle, and adding in a plethora from my own shelves, I could claim just about any item listed above, in each and every post. Pantry is laundry room. It used to be for food, but the heat of the dryer seemed to reach way back into the shelved alcove and make dry foods lose some of their freshness sooner. It now houses cleaning products, cloths, brushes, spare clickers for the stoves and grill, and any and all unedibles needed for maintaining kitchen and home. THE ROOM is downstairs, just off the den & dining room (near second, but most-used kitchen); it has a COOL of its own, Winter and Summer. The Room holds a big clothing rack, built by Chris as a Mothers' Day gift years ago, the spare dining chairs, and FOOD. Dry food in a big screen-front piesafe thing, crinkly bags of every shape of pasta known to man. 20 lb. bags of Calrose rice, smaller burlaps of basmati and jasmine, both decanted into heavy-duty extra-seal Tupperware tubs. Mixes and envelopes and boxes and cartons; coffee-on-sale, coffee-with-a-coupon, coffee-cause-it-sounded-tasty. A huge bookcase houses cans, mostly bought at case-lot sales, three or four cases of each at a time, and stacked in their own little sections like books of a color. Jars of on-sale pasta sauces, with fanciful names like "Sicily Sunrise" and "Five-Herb;" cans and jars of chutneys and pepper jellies and every jam, jelly, marmalade, conserve and preserves in all the hemispheres. Bottles of juices and Mary mixes and all the host-gift wine we receive, along with quite a sizeable bar selection, accumulated over our many years together. Baskets of potatoes and onions and any other vegetable which will keep well outside the refrigerators--an upstairs one (new) and downstairs one. I cannot name all the things present in that room, as some of the dry/canned/bottled stuff is still in the opaque white bags (yes, I know---paper is better, but our best store has handle-less paper bags, and bringing in the groceries requires a trip UP the steps, then another DOWN the stairs, and I can manage only ONE paper bag at a time, vs. three or four plastic---excuse over). I Do remember to take shopping bags often. And I could cook almost anything you could think of right now. One fridge holds a whole roast chicken, which I'm gonna bone and make into chicken salad with apples, grapes and pecans, for stuffing some of these glorious still-on-the-vine tomatoes for supper. There's a tea-cabinet, with probably twenty boxes and cans, and all the accoutrements of brewing and sipping. Nearby is a pretty four-foot wrought stand, three shelves' worth, holding twenty or so MORE cans, pots, cups and saucers, as well as a life-size stained-glass teapot lamp. I just love the IDEA of tea, as well as the drinking. The whole point, I suppose, is that this is a tangible assurance that all CAN be right with the world, if assurance is needed. One freezer is getting a much-needed airing-out after its cleaning this week. It will go out into the sun for a few hot sunny days, then be stuffed with fluffed-out newspapers until DS and DDIL move into their new home in the Fall. I really don't NEED two, with the tops of fridges as well. But this is sort of on the level of You-shoulda-seen-how-it-useta-be: When we lived on the farm, it was not unusual to have four or five hundred quarts of home-canned goodies shining from shelves, filling closets, the attic stairway, lurking case after case beneath beds. We grew it, we made use of it. Our small garden now has 24 tomato plants, all mostly still in the walk-out-and-pick-some-for-supper stage, with the beans bearing once a week, cucumbers lengthening from sunrise to sunset into a nice salad-size. Not much preserving and canning this year, but the pantry, the ROOM, the freezer and shelves and cupboards swell with bounty. I guess all that's missing is the duck confit.

TAG LINE!! TAG LINE!! Get a copyright. And Daniel--how did you bite that tiny sandwich without having a Percy-yolk-shot? Looks like you slurped it out all in one inhale. It's OK if you don't remember.

This is just the most amazing thread---it's like wandering those wonderful streets and stepping in for a bite or a feast. And Welcome, markemorse; your posts are SO entertaining and informative--you really LOVE that place, and it comes through in your words. I'm not officially on the welcoming committee, as I'm WAY-South USA, but Chufi, Ambassadress of all that is cheerful and charming, has made me an Amsterdam-Addict, so there you are. Y'all keep enjoying and writing, and I'll just revel.

Lovely and evocative, Priscilla. The whole piece is written in ethereal dimensions, echoing that wistful face in the soapbubble tomato---hoping, hoping. And in addition to seeds and sun, that's all there is.

I don't know about the numbers, but we have a picture from a trip to Virginia last year---the McD's sign read: KAROAKE TUESDAY

How very kind of you to do all that searching!!! I so fondly remember that as the most elegant ice cream I'd ever eaten, child as I am of the make-a-freezer-of-homemade-custard-every-Sunday generation. It was carefully rationed out, and did not go into the "everyday" bowls that our family could have a scoop in while watching TV; the Plum Nuts was for SPECIAL, and went into the clear stemmed tall "Sherbets" which lived in the glass-fronted cabinet in the dining room. The dish sat on a clear saucer as well, sometimes with a little paper doily beneath, and always a thin, crisp brownedged butter cookie at its foot. One slight slip taught me to keep a thumb securely on the little bowlfoot as I served; I came near to a mishap at a special dinner party, and learned a valuable lesson all on my own. All that elaborate setup also shows the regard in which this particular dessert was held---not like cobbler and pie---oh, no. I don't remember the spoons---seems that set must have been thought up by a designer who didn't have children---only one "character" spoon per set, and everybody else had to settle for the plain ones? Never work. Thanks for caring about my hankering---I appreciate your finding the address. rachel

Sealtest's Plum Nuts ice cream. One of those flap-end cartons that won't stay closed, and mookeys up the outside of your hand everytime you dip toward the bottom. You could get it only one place---our smalltown drugstore, though the grocery stores carried quite a few flavors, just not that one. It was a rich vanilla ice cream, swirled through with a tangy clear purple plum sauce, and studded with crisp bits of salty, toasty almond. My favourite flavor of my childhood, and of all time. Silly name for a delightful dessert. It's so gone, it's not even listed on Google.

We had the most wonderful Chinese restaurant down South in the little town near our home out in the country. Any trip in merited at least a stop for takeout, and we always joked that if we won the lottery, we'd just hire all the family, build them a house on our big farm, and let them cook for us every day. They didn't close. They're still there, upward and onward, the little flap-windowed takeout section converted into a respectable dining room with sheets of glass atop all the pink-clothed tables. Saves on laundry, I guess. The food is still spectacular, and they will cook anything for you---our boys used to take them venison, dozens of mallards, fish by the hundreds, and they would cook the most fantastic dishes with them, then put the game dishes on a hand-printed menu for as long as supplies held out. They're there, popular as ever, growing and expanding, feeding the masses. But I'm not there anymore. I'm hundreds of miles away, and haven't been back in two years. That's almost as sad as a close-by-night of your favorite place.

I'm glad you had time to unload all those groceries before the thievery---keep us posted. This is a great picture-tour of all the places to shop, and in such easy walking distance, as well. So, DO you? Walk, that is. I assume you drive to the location, but then do you hustle back to the car with bags? Push or pull a little cart? Interesting trip, that. And about all the snooty butchers---are they really snobbish in that they ignore customers, pretend you're not there, or jostle each other to the front to accept your lowly custom and tribute? Or is that just your way of referring to them as very upscale, the way my family refers to several stores in our area---we call them Gucci Groceries. They always have truffles and Kobe and glorious cheese selections. DD shops there sometimes, because she makes all the bread for one, but we don't make it a habit when we have so many other nice stores to choose from, with all but the most esoteric ingredients for a MUCH better price.

I am SO CRAVING this!!! I've been wanting some for several days, MADE myself not look at hzrt8w's thread, and HOPED no one would have it for dinner and put up that enticing picture, and now THIS! I just innocently wandered in here and you set off a midnight CRAVE! We've had all the ingredients for a couple of days, and I can just smell all those good aromas as it cooks---last two times have been on Saturday mornings, as DD cooks it, and she put on a pot when she got home from work at 7 a.m. Now it's one of our favourite breakfasts. All that lovely spicy red sauce, with its gingery, sweet hot overtones. I'd cook it myself, following the tutorial, but it's HER dish, and it would be wrong, somehow, to just jump in there and get going---like maybe writing a chapter of a book when she was away from her desk. Anyway, yours looks terrific!!

Just lovely, Maggie. Your own sense of childhood is still quite evident in the piece, and evokes the days of standing on a stepstool, dipping down into the flour bin, stirring and checking and hoping, til the magical rise and brown and there was cake. I still go to the children's section, every library trip, and the cookbooks are always part of my trove. Some of the fondest memories of literature are of dinners and their preparation, the March family's almost-breakfast, Alice's none-yet tea, the color and the fantasy of teaparties and banquets and wedding feasts. Since by nine, I was also turning out biscuits and cornbread and all manner of cakes (still haven't mastered piecrust---just don't have the "hand" for it, my Mother said), I found the Betty Crocker Kids books a quick read, perhaps from the library or borrowed from a friend. I loved to delve into the old Mrs. Seeton's on my Mammaw's shelf, for the cooking as well as all the home remedies and old wives' advice; some of the cures sounded much worse than the malady. I'd never heard of Julia Child til I had my own home and kitchen; no such citified volume ever reached our little town. We DID, however, for some reason unknown, sport two copies of MFK Fisher's writing-about-cooking, and they were the source of unending pleasure, from an early age. Just reading the richly-phrased sentences, the descriptions of sumptuous sauces and delectable dishes---those voluptuous words flowed like bechamel, igniting all the senses to receive the rich offering. Thank you for the remembering, the re-living, and most of all for being such an articulate advocate for helping children learn to cook. We have so many young kitchen stars on these boards, and we're all astonished and proud and entertained. Every day, we marvel at the next picture and the next menu, set out shining and perfect to feast our eyes. And may I say, Mrs. Fisher had nothing on your own way with words, culinary or otherwise. edited because my midnight meanderings sometimes take on the windbagness of Foghorn Leghorn.

A tradeoff is a tradeoff. Two hours of frenetic music, children running in all directions (we swear that once our Grand #1 changed direction and ran entirely out from under her ponytail), and huge mechanical rodents dressed in leftover wardrobe from Deliverance, moving just enough to make your napeskin tickle. Good thing you're not videotaping---that one scene alone could set tourism back fifty years. Then BookHeaven!!! Our favourite bookstore, and we have THREE branches!!! After "dinner" you'll deserve some browse-time.

They separate pocky like signs on restrooms? I can see it now---Food Network borrows from HGTV and the new show is "Pocky for the Sexes."