srhcb

Being a complete outsider in both the food and media worlds, I don't feel the need to reserve judgement, (aka, give it the benefit of the doubt). It'll suck. SB

Wouldn't the question be, "Am I spongeworthy?" SB (talk about a loaded question!)

Everybody on this Thread check back in a couple days, okay? I'm setting up a web site to sell a new product I've invented called: SOAP WASH! Why take a chance with your family's health and wash your cloths and sponges with dirty soap? SB (I'll make a killing!)

The perqs, which I thought were rather cheesey, were a turn off. Why would I be thrilled to have my name appear on their web site. ← That was one of the things that bothered me too, although I imagine you could opt out of it? That whole aspect smacked a bit of Penzeys management having been captured by marketing mavens. Still, the company has done a pretty good job of positioning so far, (store sales are expected to exceed mailorder this year, which I'm sure ties into the strategy), so I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the the doubt. Or, just wait until after the second issue comes out to subscribe, and avoid the Day One hype altogether?

http://www.penzeysone.com/ Penzeys catalogs have always been nicely done; informative and well photographed, with good recipes. I suspect their mailing list gives them somewhat of an advantage compared to other upstart food mags, but I still wonder about the concept. SB (wishing he had some Penzeys Hot Chocolate Mix on hand for this weekend, with the forecast HIGHS below zero!)

Can ya share that recipe? I've been craving a good Walnut Pond Cake and the bundt pan is waiting on the counter! ← I think the recipe was in, (get ready for this one), "Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cook Book"! I'll check tonite. SB ← Here it is: Harriet's Carmel Walnut Pound Cake It's one of those recipes that doesn't quite look right, if you know what I mean. I recall it took considerably longer than 1 hr to bake, (more like 1 hr 45 min), but it tasted great. 1 Cup Butter 1/4 Cup Shotening 1 1 lb Boc Brown Sugar 1 Cup Sugar 5 Eggs 3 Cups Cake Flour 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1 Tbl Vanilla 1 Cup Milk 1 Cup Walnuts finely chopped (org recipe used Black Walnuts, if you have some) Grease & Flour a 10" Bundt Pan (org recipe was for a 10" Tube Pan) Preheat Oven to 325 Cream Butter and Shortening Add Sugars and beat well Add Eggs one at a time, beating well Sift together Cake Flour/Salt/Baking Powder Add Vanilla to Milk Alternately Add Flour and Milk Mixtures to Butter/Sugar/Egg Mixture, mix well Fold in Nuts Pour into prepared Pan and bake 1 hr or until it tests done (see note above)

Can ya share that recipe? I've been craving a good Walnut Pond Cake and the bundt pan is waiting on the counter! ← I think the recipe was in, (get ready for this one), "Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cook Book"! I'll check tonite. SB

Here's the original Tunnel of Fudge Cake recipe from Nordicware's website: http://www.nordicware.com/b2c/recipes_index.cfm It's a very simple recipe, but I found the footnotes most interesting: "*Nuts are essential for the success of the recipe." & "**Since this cake has a soft tunnel of fudge, ordinary doneness test cannot be used. Accurate oven temperature and baking time are critical." SB (has, shamefully, never tried the recipe)

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/10566597.htm "The elder Dalquist, founder of Nordic Ware in St. Louis Park, died Sunday of heart failure at his home in Edina. He was 86. The company has sold more than 50 million Bundt pans, and it remains the top-selling cake pan in the world. Dalquist designed the first one 54 years ago at the request of members of the Minneapolis Chapter of the Hadassah Society who had old ceramic cake pans of somewhat similar designs but wanted an aluminum pan. Dalquist created a new shape and added regular folds for easy cake cutting." SB (has a good Walnut Pound Cake recipe for the Bundt Pan)

Although he is only two dimentional, being a character in the Japanese comic, (manga), "Heibon no heibon", (The Ordinary Extraordinary), the chef Yamaoka expressed a similar sentiment, (quoted in the current issue of Gastronomica magaze), when he stated: "The idea behind cooking is to bring joy to the person who is eating your cooking. If that's the case, you would naturally prepare and season the food to the tastes of the person whom you wish to be happy, wouldn't you?"

"Class" is the inconspicuous absence of unpleasant distractions. Sort of like the dog in the Sherlock Holmes story: Inspector Gregory: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. From "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Arthur Conan Doyle

Nearly thirty years ago, due to a minor violation of California law and the inablity our my roommates to recover from a drunken stupor long enough to come bail us out, my friend Lightning and I once had the "pleasure" of dining in LA County Prison, whose most famous resident then, as now, was Charles Manson. "We", assuming Charles, who nobody I spoke with had ever seen there, ate the same fare as less notorious inmates, had swiss steak with a tomato based sauce, corn, mashed potatos, bread and coffee. I recall the potatos and corn as being a bit watery, but otherwise the meal was completly acceptable. At least none of the several hundred diners in my party objected too strenuously. I don't remember if there was a dessert or not, and we didn't stay long enough to check out the breakfast menu.

Carolyn, Congratulations for another wonderful synopsis, especially considering the personal ordeals you've been through lately. This wasn't my favorite issue, although the cover photo ranks near the top of my list in that category. Too many of the articles seemed too have pretentious, or maybe even strained? "Food Stories", by John Clark, with the little three dimensional diagrams, pretty much lost me completely. The article on GM food, along with just about every other article I've seen anywhere on the same subject, falls into the same category. On the other hand, "Grinding Away the Rust – The Legacy of Iceland’s Herring Oil and Meal Factories by Chris Bogan - An exciting, rousing adventure-like account of the author’s account of a local effort to build a the Herring Era Museum and his involvement with the museum. ", despite the esoteric title and topic, was great. The author's obvious interest in the subject, and the great photos, made for enjoyable reading. I'd also like to note that "Alan Davidson (1924-2003) by Tom Jaine A eulogy and mini-biography of food writer, Davidson. ", was about the editor of "Petis Propos Culinaires", a curious publication I was introduced to in this forum, and author of, "The Wilder Shores of Gastronomy", excerpts from that journal. The man and his works are well worth becoming aquainted with. Like I already mentioned, Gastro often seems a little tedious to me, but at least a few artilces from each issue make it worthwhile reading, if only because alternate publications are so few. THANX AGAIN SB

BTW: When did you all receive your last (Fall 04) issue of Gastro? There was some discussion about article in it on another thread nearly a month ago, but my copy just arrived (here in MN) last Monday. Another subscriber I know (in MI) got her's last Friday! Is Gastro discriminating against their Midwest readers? SB (maybe "we" are the corpus of Gastro's Midwest subscribers?)

Coming Soon, to your local cable provider: THE POKE IN THE EYE WITH A SHARP STICK NETWORK

What is it that supposedly done last is done best?

I don't care. Her stock is up into the 20's and I bought last spring at 9.

But, has anybody ever heard Thomas Keller admit he knows Sandler?

I have been informed that similar recipes indicate that 3 Tbls Coca-Cola would be used for the frosting. The Gastro version must be a misprint. Also, I'm told most versions of Coca-Cola Cake use less sugar but include mini marshmallows! SB (it must be another Southern thing?)

I've actually had occasion to try the Coca-Cola Cake recipe from the last issue of Gastronomica magazine twice now. The first time I was (dis)ably assisted by a 13 month old baby, giving me the opportunity to try my hand at baking with only one. This worked passably well until it came time to remove the cake from the pan for frosting. The resulting odd sized chunks of cake were perfectly suited to a toddler's eating style just as they were, so I didn't bother with the frosting. Last weekend, having all my faculties avialable, I tried again. Coca-Cola Cake Mise 1 Cup Sugar 1 Cup Flour 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1 Stick Butter 2 Tbl Cocoa Powder 1/2 Cup Coca-Cola 1/4 Cup Buttermilk 1 Egg, beaten 1 tsp Vanilla Frosting: 1/2 Stick Butter 1 1/2 Tbl Cocoa Powder 3/4 Cup Coca-Cola 2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar 1 tsp Vanilla 1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Grease and Flour an 8 x 8 Cake Pan Mix together Sugar, Flour and Baking Powder in large Bowl In a med Sauce Pan bring to a boil Butter, Cocoa, and Coca-Cola Pour Wet ingredients over Dry Ingredients, mixing well Combine Buttermilk, Egg and Vanilla in a small Bowl, mixing well Add Buttermilk mixture to Batter and combine well Spoon into prepared Pan and Bake 25-30 min Prepare Frosting: In a med Sauce Pan bring to a boil Butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola Remove from heat and Stir in Powdered Sugar and Vanilla Turn the Cake out onto a Platter and Pour Hot Frosting over it, Sprinkle with Chopped Pecans, and cool before serving. Now, if you're an experienced cake baker you may think this recipe looks a bit odd. That's what I thought too. The cake doesn't rise much, it ends up only about 1" thick, and there's way more than enough frosting to cover several cakes no matter how lavishly you pour it on. I end up saving over half of it, which I might try using on chocolate cookies or something? Never the less, it makes for an interesting flavored cake. I doubt that anyone would ever guess the "secret ingredient". SB (wonders if there would be a big market for a "Cooking One-Handed With Babies Cookbook"?)

Carolyn, Thank you for posting the beautiful piece about your Mother's passing. Where you wrote '"That was the last thing your Mom cooked," Dad says.' is where I broke into tears too. Thankfully, both of my parents are still with me, but I can imagine just how powerful a moment that was for you. Maybe your Mother didn't live to see your work published, but I'm sure she understood that her love of food and cooking lives on as a part of you. She'll be there to share your joy when you are published, although, if she's like my Mom, she'd modestly decline any credit. Might I suggest submitting this very article to Gastro? SB (and WOW!, what a great knife!)

Tony smokes LARKS?! He used to be one of my heros.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving! "According to one Canadian resource, the Canadian table usually features venison and waterfowl. Another source says that turkey and ham is the featured food. Conversely, a third source adamantly stated that when he was young "wild duck/goose was always served for Thanksgiving and, if they were fortunate venison as well! This was a common practice in that area at that time." SB (in honor of the occasion, DOES NOT make a joke about vinegar on French Fries)

RE: "the distinctions between the three periods are most clearly evidenced when examining restaurant service, not food,” Dr. Lam said in italics I've always had difficulty understanding anyone with an Italican accent.

the living embodiment of "class act"